Ray had spent much of the morning as he waited for Corbin to arrive completing his investigation of Dr. Westbrook. When his father knocked on the door, Ray was in the midst of a frustrating search for another chemist they could hire as an expert. Corbin went on to his office, and Ray collected his information and entered the reception area.
“He’s in a weird mood,” Janelle said. “He claims he went to an AA meeting this morning, but he’s acting more like he had a couple of drinks before he left the house.”
“I hope he doesn’t want a drink after he hears what I have to tell him about the expert he was about to hire in the Colfax litigation.”
Janelle pursed her lips together. “He’s your father.”
Ray wasn’t sure what Janelle meant by that, but didn’t want to ask a question to find out.
Corbin had his back to the door and was humming a tune Ray didn’t recognize. Ray cleared his throat, and his father turned around.
“You know Max Hogan, don’t you?” Corbin asked.
“The guy who runs the payday loan service? We investigated him a couple of times while I was at the DA’s office but couldn’t get anything to stick. If you’ve got a possible civil suit against him, I’d like to take a look at it and—”
“No, no,” Corbin interrupted with a wave of his hand. “He’s the one who got me interested in AA, and this morning I was able to return the favor.”
“I’m not following you.”
“It’s okay,” Corbin replied. “I shouldn’t talk about it anyway. Janelle said you wanted to see me about something important. What’s on your mind?”
Ray placed the information he’d uncovered about Dr. Westbrook on the edge of the desk. “Read this. Bottom line, we don’t want to hire Dr. Westbrook as an expert in the Colfax litigation.”
“Why not? He knows what we need and will give it to us if the testing on the wells pans out.”
“That’s part of the problem. Dr. Westbrook gave an opinion last year in a toxic tort case in Puerto Rico that was great for the plaintiff, until the defendant proved Westbrook’s assessment was based on falsified evidence. It resulted in sanctions against Westbrook and the law firm that hired him.”
Ray waited while his father read the information.
“It’s on appeal,” Corbin said when he finished. “What if this was a defense-minded judge looking for a chance to beat up on the plaintiff’s lawyers and using Westbrook as the club? Every one of these allegations was contested during the hearing before the judge.”
“There were two chemists who proved that Westbrook’s findings were fabricated.”
“Testified, not proved. And who hired them? Corporate defendants are always able to throw more money at a case than a plaintiff.”
“But—”
“I see your point,” Corbin cut in. “And we can’t wait for an appellate court to decide what it thinks about Dr. Westbrook. I just don’t want you to have a mindset that jumps too quickly to agree with a big corporation or insurance company. You have to be mentally tough to be a plaintiff’s lawyer.”
“You’re tougher than I am.” Ray couldn’t keep from smiling. “Janelle said you were in rare form this morning, and now that I’ve seen you, I agree. Whatever you and Max Hogan did buoyed you up. I just hope it wasn’t a round or two of Bloody Marys.”
“No,” Corbin replied. “I’m committed to sobriety, one day at a time. That’s what I told the AA group this morning at the Serenity Center on Maxwell Street.”
“That’s great,” Ray said, not wanting to overreact. “You know I’m supporting you.”
“Thanks. But don’t say anything to Cindy or Roxy. I could always slip.”
Corbin hesitated as if he had something else to say. Ray waited.
“I guess that’s it for now,” his father continued. “Since you uncovered the problem with Dr. Westbrook, take a stab at finding another chemist. Also, we need a medical expert. Westbrook claimed he knew someone, but maybe we should steer clear of him too.”
“Yeah, I’ll spend time on it today.”
Ray stood up. He still felt there was something unsaid. Corbin turned around toward his credenza and picked up a file. Ray didn’t leave.
“Would it be all right if I said a prayer?” Ray asked.
“Yes,” Corbin replied quickly. “I’d like that.”
Ray closed his eyes and began to pray. After a few seconds he peeked and saw his father with his head bowed and his eyes closed. His mother would have given anything in the world for a moment like this. Ray’s voice threatened to crack, but he steadied it and said, “Amen.”
“That was good,” Corbin said, touching his chest. “It’s like I could feel it in here.”
The phone on Corbin’s desk buzzed. He answered it and listened.
“Let me see what Ray thinks,” he said and lowered the receiver. “It’s Cecil Scruggs from the newspaper,” he said. “He wants to talk to me about the Colfax case.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Ray replied.
“Are you kidding? This is my first shot at the jury of public opinion. By suppertime tonight everyone who reads the newspaper or knows someone who does will say we’re David going out to fight Goliath.”
“You’re not worried about tainting the jury pool?”
“One article isn’t going to do that, but it will plant a seed I can water when the case ends up in the courtroom.”
“We have a long way to go before that day. And now we have Judge Perry standing in our way.”
“Trust me. I’ve known Cecil for years. I can guide him down the right path.”
Roxy returned to her office in a state of shock. During her entire time at the firm, she’d been mentally preparing for the rejection she knew might come. The sudden possibility of grabbing the gold ring of success didn’t seem real.
Sitting in front of her computer screen, she pulled up the firm’s internal directory and calculated the chance an associate with her years of experience had of achieving partnership status. There were over two hundred lawyers who had been with the firm the same length of time as she had. None of them were partners. That meant she was up for promotion in the first batch of her class. It was stunning.
She then spent over an hour analyzing the track records of a select group of younger partners. It was an amazingly diverse yet brilliant group. It shocked Roxy to think she might be joining them. She wanted to call Peter with the news but decided it would be best to tell him in person.
CAN WE MEET THIS EVENING? she texted him. I HAVE BIG NEWS.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
LATER.
8 AT THE TEAHOUSE ON PONCE DE LEON?
GREAT.
The teahouse was a former private residence converted into a boutique watering hole. The rooms were set up with a few tables in each one, so the number of competing voices would be limited. It was a great place to talk.
Roxy found Peter with a small china teapot in front of him at a table in the corner of a former bedroom.
“How long have you been here?” she asked as she slid into a chair. “I’m not late, am I?”
“No, they just brought it out. I thought you’d want something with low caffeine, so I asked for coconut pouchong.”
Roxy poured a cup of the slightly sweet tea made from long green leaves, then took a sip. “Perfect,” she said.
She took another sip that tasted even better than the first. The tea shop was truly half a world away from the sticky sweet iced tea brewed in Alto.
“What’s your news?” Peter asked. “Is the firm considering you for partner status?”
Roxy almost dropped her cup. “How did you—” She stopped. “Did someone performing a background check already contact you?”
“Is that a possibility?” Peter raised his eyebrows. “It’s an international law firm. You’re not going undercover with the CIA.”
“You’re right. That won’t happen, but how did you guess?”
“Just piecing together what you’ve said about your interactions with Mr. Caldweller over the past few months. He respects you. If you’ve gone to that level with him, the next step logically follows.”
Roxy told him about the conversation. “I’m still not sure what to think,” she said when she finished.
“It’s a tough decision,” Peter replied slowly.
Roxy was puzzled by his tone of voice. “What do you mean?”
Peter tilted his head to the side and studied her for a moment. “Whether or not you’re supposed to become a partner. It’s one thing to work as an employee. You’re an outsider. If you become a partner then you’re more closely linked with the personality and character of the firm. You have to decide if Frank and Donaldson is enough like you that it makes sense for you to become part of them.”
“Are you saying that because I might have to leave Atlanta?” Roxy asked, bristling. “Our relationship is a huge deal to me, and I don’t—”
“I know,” Peter interrupted. “But I’m thinking on a different level. Can you really see yourself treating people the way Mr. Caldweller has treated you?”
“It’s toughened me up.”
“Sure, but what’s excited me recently is watching you soften.”
Roxy’s eyes watered. “If you’re trying to make me cry again, it’s not going to happen,” she responded, even as her voice trembled slightly.
Peter refilled her teacup. As he did, Roxy focused on his hands. They were rock steady, and he didn’t spill a drop. But more importantly Peter knew how to hold her heart.
“Okay,” she said. “That’s a base level question I need to be brave enough to ask myself. But if they offer me partnership status and I turn it down, I will probably have to leave the firm. If that happens, I’ll have to start over someplace else.”
“That’s what you’re doing anyway, isn’t it? In areas of your life that are at least as important as where you work.”
“You’ve lost me.”
Peter pointed up. Then he took out his phone and showed her a picture he’d taken of Roxy, Ray, and her father standing in the kitchen at Ray’s house.
“So not only do I have to deal with Mr. Caldweller, I also have to please God and make my family love one another?”
“Yeah,” Peter replied with a smile. “And throw making me happy in there too.”
Roxy took a sip from her cup. “This is good tea, but to do all that I may need something with more caffeine.”
Ray was worn out. He’d talked to four chemists, all of whom were evasive about the connection between 2,4-D and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He’d exchanged e-mails with two professors with multiple PhDs who claimed to be experts in just about anything that had been developed by Western civilization since Galileo, and a Harvard graduate who promised she could bring a high level of pathos and sympathy to her courtroom testimony about chemical compounds. The retainer fees ranged from two thousand to twenty thousand dollars, all nonrefundable.
“Did you see the article on the front page of the newspaper?” Cindy asked as soon as he walked through the door.
“No.”
She pointed to the paper that was lying on the kitchen table. Ray picked it up and read the headline.
LOCAL ATTORNEY FILES LAWSUIT TO SHUT DOWN COLFAX FERTILIZER PLANT
“What?” he blurted out.
“Keep going,” Cindy replied flatly.
Ray couldn’t believe the alarmist spin Cecil Scruggs placed on the case. The reporter’s emphasis wasn’t on the sick boys, but on the number of jobs that would be lost and the devastating effect on the local economy if Colfax curtailed or ended its operations. But the worst part was a reference to Ray.
Former Assistant District Attorney Raymond Gage has joined forces with his father’s firm and will be actively involved in the case. Upon learning about this development, District Attorney Steve Nelson expressed concern that confidential information obtained by Gage during his time at the DA’s office has been improperly utilized in the civil case. Nelson is exploring the need to file a complaint with the State Bar of Georgia and the State Attorney General’s Office.
“This stuff from Steve Nelson is ridiculous!” Ray cried out.
“If someone knows the truth,” Cindy replied. “How many people would that be? Maybe five?”
“And the reporter gives no context for why the DA’s office was involved in the first place. Judge Ellington found Colfax criminally liable for damage to the environment. That’s not mentioned.”
“Did you finish the article?”
“No.”
Ray turned to the interior page where the article continued. Included was a paragraph about abuse of the legal system by plaintiffs’ lawyers filing spurious lawsuits, and a quote from Guy Hathaway at Colfax. Hathaway said he couldn’t comment specifically about the allegations of the lawsuit, but revealed the company might open a plant in Honduras, which would lessen the need for the Rusk County facility.
Ray closed the paper and tossed it onto the table. “That couldn’t have been worse if it had been written by the marketing department at Colfax.”
“No kidding. I’ve already had one call from a friend whose husband works there, asking why you and your father would try to bring down the company and throw a bunch of people out of work.”
“Who was it?”
“I’m not going to say because I don’t want you to get mad at her. But if one person called, you know a bunch more are thinking the same thing.”
“Yeah,” Ray sighed. He told her about the loss of Dr. Westbrook and his daylong efforts to find a replacement.
“We need to pray about this,” Cindy said.
“I already tried that,” Ray replied. “And things have gotten worse, not better.”
Corbin left the office ignorant of the contents of the newspaper article he had hoped would be discussed around dinner tables all across town. The Rusk County jury pool was about to be contaminated, not educated. Stopping at the grocery story, he passed a sales box for the local newspaper and bought a copy. He stood outside and read it as the door automatically opened and closed for people entering and leaving. As soon as he saw the headline, Corbin forgot about buying groceries, returned to his car, and called Ray.
“Yes, I read it,” Ray said as soon as he answered the phone.
Corbin was so mad he could barely talk. “When I get my hands on Cecil Scruggs, I’ll squeeze his scrawny neck until his head pops off!”
“I don’t doubt you would,” Ray replied. “And they’d add murder to your DUI charge.”
“This isn’t funny!”
“And I’m not laughing,” Ray said. “It took Cindy thirty minutes to calm me down, and I’ve had more time to digest the news than you have. There’s no doubt Ben Hixson gave Scruggs his marching orders and told him the angle to take.”
“The publisher? He lives in Birmingham. His company owns scores of these local rags all across the South.”
“Yes, and there’s got to be a money reason behind what he’s doing. Maybe Colfax donates fertilizer to Hixson’s favorite golf course.”
“I’m still not in a joking mood.”
“Look, at least it happened early in the litigation. There will be time for people to forget the article by the time the case comes up for trial. We know where we stand and can be careful. No more interviews.”
“If the paper has an agenda, they won’t let people forget about it. And it won’t matter if we keep quiet. They can continue to spew propaganda and make it impossible for us to stay in town. If a lie is repeated often enough, people begin to believe it. Our business depends on folks trusting us.”
Ray was silent and Corbin knew he’d raised a point his son hadn’t considered.
“And how do you think the Kilpatrick family and Millie Watson feel right now?” Corbin continued.
“I called them and they’re coming to the office first thing in the morning to talk things over.”
“Are you going to try to convince them to drop the case?” Corbin bristled. “I refuse to be bullied!”
“That’s not my decision.”
“And I don’t want you in the meeting!”
Ray was silent again. “That’s your call too,” he said softly. “Bye.”
Corbin threw his cell phone down on the passenger seat. He should have known that poking Colfax would produce a hornets’ nest reaction that wouldn’t be limited to what happened in the controlled environment of the courthouse. But he didn’t need Ray running for cover at the first sign of battle. Corbin started the car’s engine.
He needed a drink.