Chapter
Six

Landon stood outside the deli, waiting for his target to arrive. His investigation had led him to a man named Pierce Worthington. He worked in the same department as Ellie at MPC.

His approach had to be cautious, and he might get shut down, but he had to try. Based on his recon, Pierce came to this deli every day for lunch and sat at the counter.

It was risky to go after a current MPC employee directly, but like Cooper had said, there was always a chance that someone else felt the same way Ellie had.

Bingo, he thought, as Pierce approached the deli at 11:45. Just like clockwork. Landon hung back for a minute and then walked in to ensure he’d be able to get a seat beside Pierce.

There were a couple of ways he could play it, and it would depend on how Pierce responded to the initial contact. He listened as Pierce talked to the waitress for a few minutes.

After the waitress left, Landon decided it was time. “Seems like you’re a regular here. Any recommendations?”

Pierce looked over at him. The almost sixty-year-old scientist adjusted his glasses. “Eggs are the best thing on the menu, especially with the homemade biscuits and gravy. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Thanks.” He figured he didn’t have much in common with Pierce—a highly educated scientist with a PhD—but he had to try to form a connection. “I’m sure anything here is better than an MRE.”

“You’re military?” Pierce asked.

“Yes, sir. No longer in service, but I was army.”

“My son’s in the Marines.”

“Deployed?”

“Yes, he’s in Afghanistan right now. Been on a couple of tours.”

“And what about you? Did you serve?”

Pierce shook his head. “No. I’m not built like you or my son. I’m a scientist.”

“Really? Where do you work?”

“MPC, the drug company.”

“Oh,” Landon said.

“You know them?”

“I’ve heard of them, yeah. Drug companies aren’t exactly popular in this country. With all the skyrocketing prices and everything.”

“Yeah, but we do a lot of good too.”

Uh-oh. Pierce was drinking the Kool-Aid. “I just heard on the news about that poor woman who got killed in the parking garage. Did you know her?”

Pierce looked down. “I did. It’s a shame. Ellie was a sweet lady and a brilliant scientist. Such a senseless murder. I hear the police are no closer to finding who did it.”

“Did you work on projects together?”

“Oh yeah. She was top-notch.”

“Do you think she was happy with her job?”

“Ellie was very serious about her work. It consumed her life. But scientists tend to be that way.”

This was quickly leading to a dead end. This guy didn’t seem like he would be willing to blow the whistle—assuming he even knew what Ellie had known. “Do you like working there?”

“Yeah.” Pierce tilted his head to the side. “Why’re you so interested?”

It was time to take a different road. This could change everything, but he didn’t have much of a choice. “I should be honest with you. I’m actually doing some digging around about Ellie’s murder.”

“You a cop?”

“No, sir. Private investigator.”

“Then I’ll give you a piece of advice. Leave the investigation up to the police.”

“And why do you say that?”

Pierce looked around the diner before leaning toward him. “Because you don’t want to get on the wrong side of MPC.”

Ah, how quickly Pierce had changed his tune. Maybe Landon could get somewhere with him after all. “If you know something, anything, no matter how small, about what happened to Ellie, it could be helpful to me.”

“I don’t know anything, you hear me? Nothing.”

Those words told Landon that this man definitely knew something but was afraid to talk.

Jackpot.

When Ethan had received an invitation to Royce’s home for dinner, he hadn’t known what to expect. As he drove through the Buckhead neighborhood and located Royce’s address, he knew he was going to be in for an interesting evening.

The house wasn’t a house—it was a mansion. Even bigger than those of the senior partners at Peters & Gomez.

He’d tried to talk himself down about this case, to convince himself it was just like the others he’d worked on that were high profile, but he knew otherwise. He was the originating partner for this work for MPC. That meant that if MPC hired the firm on other matters, even if they were totally unrelated, he would get credit for bringing the client in to the firm. And at the end of the day in his world, that meant more money, which led to more power.

On the other hand, if MPC never used them again, he’d get nothing further from this case than the disdain and mockery of the other partners, who would question how he’d messed it up. And the worst-case scenario was if he lost a jury verdict for MPC. The managing partner at the firm had given him a stern warning, since he was still one of the newer members of the partnership. A big loss would put him on probation, and he couldn’t afford that, so he was willing to push things as far as necessary.

Royce was a fickle man. He’d fired his former law firm, which had worked for him for years, without a second thought. That made Ethan nervous, because it suggested Royce had zero loyalty, but he would just have to roll with it. Opportunities like this didn’t come around very often. Most large corporations were set with their regular lawyers and didn’t deviate.

He rang the doorbell and waited for a brief moment. A gray-haired man dressed in a dark suit opened the door and greeted him with a warm smile. It didn’t surprise Ethan that Royce had a staff. In a house this big, he probably had quite a large one.

“Mr. Black, please come in. Mr. Hamilton is waiting for you in the formal den.”

He was led through a large living room with ornate crystal chandeliers and then down a long hallway.

The butler opened another door, and Royce rose from his plush maroon chair to greet Ethan. With him was Matt Canton, MPC’s Chief Operating Officer and Royce’s right-hand man.

The den was the largest one Ethan had ever seen. It was bigger than his one-bedroom apartment during law school.

Royce gave him a warm handshake. “Ethan, so glad you could come to dinner. I thought we’d chat a bit about business beforehand.”

“Of course.”

“And I’m sure you remember our COO, Matt Canton.”

Ethan reached out and shook Matt’s hand. “Very nice to see you again.”

“Likewise,” Matt said. The lean, dark-haired man was probably a decade younger than Royce but very knowledgeable about the business from the discussions Ethan had had with him. Matt had been the executive lead for several drugs, including Celix, so he knew the facts of the case very well.

“Do you need anything, Mr. Hamilton?” the butler asked.

“No. We’ll be in for dinner in just a bit,” Royce responded.

The butler left the three of them alone, and Ethan turned back to Royce. “What a magnificent place you have.”

“I’ll give you a full tour after dinner.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“For about ten years, but I did major renovations five years ago.” Royce paused. “I know you probably think it’s a bit much for a single man, but I do so much hosting and entertaining.”

“You work hard. There’s nothing wrong with having nice things as a result of that.”

“I did this all on my own. I didn’t come from a wealthy family.”

“That makes it all the more impressive.” Ethan was laying it on a bit thick, but that was par for the course. Royce was the client, and that was how the dance worked.

“Enough about me. We’re going to bore Matt to death. Let’s talk about where we are on the case.”

“I have a few developments to update you both on. First, the judge appointed lead counsel for the plaintiffs.”

“Who is it?” Matt asked.

“My former classmate, Kate Sullivan from the firm Warren McGee.”

Royce leaned back in his chair. “Interesting they didn’t choose a senior partner, isn’t it?”

“This judge is all about picking who he believes is the right fit and giving people chances to succeed. She’s female, from a top firm, and known as a rising star in the legal community. It was her time.”

“I sense you have a real soft spot for this woman,” Matt said. “Is that going to be a problem? If it is, we want to know right now before we move any further.”

Ethan couldn’t give them any reason to doubt him. “I plan on leveraging my friendship with her to our advantage. Kate is an excellent attorney, but she doesn’t have an edge. She’s as straitlaced as they come.”

Royce scoffed. “That doesn’t sound like someone who’s cut out for this type of work.”

If only they knew the real Kate Sullivan. “That’s why she’s on the plaintiff’s side. She believes she’s fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. That she’s making a big difference in the world.”

Matt laughed. “She’s in for a rude awakening when she finds out that’s not how to get things done.”

“One other thing. She’s chosen the first plaintiff for our bellwether trial.”

Royce leaned forward. “Which one?”

“It was on the short list we went over last week. The Wyman case.”

“I knew it,” Royce said. “They’re going to make the jury feel sorry for the poor little sixteen-year-old and her widowed mother. I assume you have a strategy to neutralize those facts?”

“We’re going to do a mock trial to get a feel for how the jury will react to different strategies.”

“How do you find jurors for the mock trial?” Matt asked.

“A company we hire runs and organizes the whole thing. I’ve used them before, and it’s definitely worth the money. It gives you a real-time sense of what average people think about the case. We’ll have a good idea before we go into the Wyman trial as to where our weak spots are. And remember, Royce, this is just the first bellwether trial. We’ll have more, but this one sets the stage for everything else to come.”

“Don’t even start talking settlement again,” Royce said. “We should win this thing straight up.”

At some point, he hoped to wrap Royce’s head around at least the idea of talking settlement numbers. “I’m not bringing it up, at least not now. But the results of the Wyman case will have to inform our decision and strategy going forward.”

Matt fiddled with his cufflinks. “We have to show that girl’s death had nothing to do with Celix.”

“And that’s my job. We’re closely examining medical records, and our experts are already on the case. But from everything I’ve seen and heard so far, we don’t have another explanation. She was a healthy sixteen-year-old before she started taking the meds.”

“Obviously not that healthy, or she wouldn’t have had the migraines to begin with,” Royce shot back.

“Valid point. Don’t worry. I’m going to find an expert who will argue that the tumor was hereditary, given her father’s cancer, but that’s going to be a stretch. We’re going to run down every theory possible. The plaintiff still has the burden of proof. I just have to poke holes in their case to make the jury question everything.”

Royce looked at him. “I’ll be honest, when I hired you and your firm for this case, I went out on a limb. I wasn’t happy with our past representation and wanted a fresh, new approach. You and your firm came highly recommended to me.”

“That’s good to hear. We want to do everything possible to ensure a robust defense.”

“I’m glad you said that, because robust is exactly what Matt and I are looking for. We need to know that you’re going to be out there on the front lines, fighting the plaintiffs each and every step of the way.”

Ethan nodded, wanting to make sure they understood his enthusiasm. “Of course. That’s my job, and I take my obligations to you very seriously.”

“Your firm has a reputation for being cutthroat, but can I speak frankly?” Royce asked.

“Absolutely. If you can’t speak frankly with your attorney, then who can you speak frankly with?”

“We need you to be willing to push the boundaries beyond what you’d normally do. Do you understand?” Royce gave him a pointed look.

Ethan’s pulse kicked up as he processed what Royce had just said. “Yes, but is there something specific you had in mind?”

Matt exchanged a glance with Royce then said, “I think we need to be a bit more aggressive in screening documents before turning them over to the other side than you’re probably used to in your other cases.”

That put Ethan on alert. “You’re worried the document discovery is going to uncover something you would prefer wasn’t produced to the plaintiffs.”

Royce crossed his arms. “You catch on quickly.”

Ethan took a deep breath. “I think I see the direction this is going. For this relationship to work between all of us, I need you to be completely honest with me.”

“We get that,” Royce responded.

“What is it that you don’t want to see the light of day? For me to be able to protect you and MPC, I need to know the facts. If I’m in the dark, it will make it harder on all of us.”

“I’ll let Matt answer, since he’s a bit closer to the details on this than I am,” Royce said.

Matt’s dark eyes fixed on Ethan’s. “As initially developed, Celix did have some questionable side effects—not brain tumors, of course, but still dangerous side effects nonetheless. As we went through the testing and development process, though, we resolved those issues. There could be, however, older documents out there that could be misconstrued if you don’t have the full context. That type of information would be harmful to the case and the company if it got out.”

He wished they had told him this sooner, but he couldn’t really say he was surprised. This was pretty standard stuff in this kind of business. If there wasn’t any evidence at all, there probably wouldn’t be a lawsuit to begin with. “I know you’re both concerned about this, but what you’re telling me right now is typical of every single big case I work on. There are always going to be what we call hot documents. That’s why we get paid the big bucks to handle them. I’ll argue motions and make objections to fight these things.”

“But that’s what we need to discuss.” Royce cleared his throat. “I don’t want you to treat this like all your other cases. I hired you because I thought you’d be willing to take a different approach. A more aggressive tack, doing whatever it takes to win this thing. I don’t want you to handle these ‘hot documents’ by arguing motions and making objections. I don’t want the documents to ever see the light of day. They don’t even matter, because we fixed the problems anyway.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow but then immediately regained his composure. He couldn’t let them think he was weak. “I understand your concern, and we’ll conduct any document reviews with a careful eye to sensitive issues and react accordingly.”

“I don’t need to tell you how damaged MPC would be if those documents got out,” Matt said. “All the good that MPC does, all the drugs we’ve developed that have saved thousands of lives, would be put in jeopardy. And we have more cutting-edge drugs set to hit the market soon that can’t be impacted by this litigation. We need to have a clear path forward.”

“I hear you loud and clear. Drug companies like yours are put in very difficult situations. To make the next cure-all drug, there will always be some type of collateral damage.”

“I think we’re on the same page, then,” Royce said. “Let’s stop talking shop and go have some dinner.”

“That sounds good to me.” Though Ethan couldn’t help but feel like he may have really crossed over to the dark side.

After a long day at work, Kate pulled into a parking lot in downtown Atlanta. She had an evening board meeting for the Atlanta Women Attorneys group. She’d considered not re-upping her board position with AWA because of time constraints, but she enjoyed the work, and it allowed her to spend time with other women in the profession.

Outside activities were a struggle for her, though. Sometimes finding the energy and motivation to get out and do something that wasn’t part of her work at the firm was tough. It helped that her two best friends also served on the AWA board, but even they didn’t realize the battles she had faced with depression over the years. They were both so upbeat and vibrant. She didn’t think they’d get it, even if they had the best of intentions.

It was easier to keep her issues between herself and God. Her faith was the only thing that kept her from falling into a deep bout of darkness, curling into a ball, and never leaving her house. She was much stronger now. She tried to take it one day at a time.

AWA brought together women lawyers in Atlanta from all practice areas, including the private sector and government. Not all female attorneys had the same experiences, but it was unquestionable that Kate had a special bond with many of the women who were striving for the same goals.

She walked into the conference room of the law firm that was hosting tonight’s meeting. The board members who were at law firms rotated hosting the monthly meetings.

She set down her bag and turned to see Sophie Dawson, who grabbed her in a big hug.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever, Kate,” Sophie said.

“I only missed one meeting.” She’d had a trial in Savannah in the Southern District of Georgia last month.

Sophie frowned. “I know, but it’s impossible to see you unless it’s at our meetings. You work way too much these days.”

Kate did work all the time, but she didn’t know how to operate any other way. “You understand how much I love what I do.”

“I do too, but all work and no play will make you go crazy. There is such a thing as burnout.”

To deflect attention from her crazy work schedule, Kate took a step back and made a show of looking Sophie up and down. “Look at you, rocking that white pantsuit! It’s perfect for this time of year and looks amazing on you.” She’d look like a fluffy marshmallow in it, but not Sophie. “And you chopped your hair off. What, maybe five inches?”

“Yes, isn’t it crazy?” Sophie flipped her blond hair, which now barely hit her shoulders. “I thought summer was the perfect time to do it.”

Mia Shaw walked up to them and smiled widely. “If it isn’t my two favorite attorneys stirring up trouble.”

“Mia, so great to see you.” Kate gave Mia a hug. She stood between her two friends and was reminded again that she was always the shortest in the group. Mia was only a couple inches taller, and then there was Sophie.

“Big congrats on being named lead counsel on the MPC case.” Mia’s dark eyes beamed with excitement. “We’re both so proud of you. Your hard work is paying off.”

Kate’s cheeks flushed. “Thanks. I just hope I can do right by these families.”

“You’ve got this,” Mia said. “I have no doubts about it. Are you about to dive into the discovery phase?”

Mia worked at a large firm too, so she was very familiar with the challenges Kate was about to face. “Yeah. I’ve already started negotiating with Ethan. It’s strange to have to face off against a friend.”

Mia twisted her long dark hair into a bun. “It would almost be like you and me on opposite sides of the table.”

“I hope that never happens.” It was one thing dealing with Ethan, but being adverse to Mia might be too much. “I’d probably ask someone else at the firm to handle it. I wouldn’t want to risk our friendship. It’s too important to me.”

“I feel the same way. You’ve helped me so much along the way.”

She was a few years ahead of Mia and had offered her help and advice as much as she could. Thriving in a big law firm was a difficult task.

“All right, ladies.” The chair of the board was ready to get the meeting started. “If everyone could grab your food and take your seats, we’ll begin.”

Kate listened attentively as they went through the agenda. But almost two hours later, when the meeting adjourned, she was exhausted and ready to head home.

“Kate, I know you’re going to be busy on the MPC case, but do you think the three of us can grab dinner this weekend to celebrate you making lead counsel?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah, that would be nice. You guys need to drag me out of the office more often, because I always come up with some excuse.”

“We can handle that,” Mia said.

“It’s been a long day for me. I’m going to call it a night and head home,” Kate said.

Sophie grabbed her laptop. “All right. Mia and I are going to work on the scholarship program.”

“See you ladies this weekend. Text me details on where we’re going. I’ll let you decide.”

Mia and Sophie laughed. Kate was famously indecisive about picking restaurants. She gave them each another hug before walking out of the room.

She exited the building and briskly walked toward the parking lot. It was almost ten, and dark. She hated walking to her car alone in downtown at this hour, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She moved quickly across the parking lot, grateful it was a well-lit area, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

She looked over her shoulder and saw several other people walking down the street, but none of them had any interest in her. They were going about their own business. Why was she so jumpy?

When she made it to her Grand Cherokee, a knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she looked at her Jeep. Was this really happening to her? She’d parked in this lot multiple times before and never had any problems.

She had an internal debate for a minute before pulling out her phone and calling Landon. He needed to know.

He answered on the second ring. “Kate, what’s going on?”

“I’m at the Peachtree flat lot downtown at the corner of Ivan Allen.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, but my tires are slashed.” She took a deep breath. “All four of them.”

“I’ll be right there. Get in your car and lock your doors. Don’t wait out in the open. We can’t assume that this is random. You may have been targeted by MPC.”