Irreparable Harm (A Legal Thriller) Page 16

  Chapter 13

  The offices of Prescott & Talbott

  6:30 p.m.

  Sasha tore through her e-mail inbox, trying to respond to as many of the messages as she could by seven o’clock. At seven, she would take a break to go pick up some dinner. Naya had stopped by to let her know she was ordering pizza for the hard-at-work Hemisphere Air team, but Sasha planned to pick up sushi.

  She would need the fresh air. It was going to be a long night.

  After a break for dinner, she would turn to Joe and Kaitlyn’s memos. They would likely require heavy comments and she wanted to give them back early enough that the junior attorneys could work through the night and have them rewritten and waiting on Noah’s desk when he arrived in the morning.

  Only then, would she think about tackling the stack of mail that Lettie had sorted and left on the corner of her desk.

  Sasha knew she wasn’t working at peak efficiency. She was distracted.

  There had been no word from Peterson. No news couldn’t possibly be good news in this case, she thought. Either he was still meeting with Viv and Metz, trying to convince them to go to the NTSB or the meeting was over and he hadn’t been able to persuade them. In which case, he was no doubt washing away the taste of failure with more scotch.

  Her desk phone rang. Hoping to see Metz’s number, she glanced at the display before answering it. It was just the evening receptionist.

  “Hi, Marie.”

  “Sasha, I have a gentleman who says he’s been trying to reach Mr. Peterson all day. He’s left several urgent messages but Noah hasn’t responded. Now, he’s asking to talk to the second in command on the Hemisphere Air team. May I transfer him?”

  Second in command sounded military. But, odds were, it was a reporter. If so, Sasha had no comment. Whoever it was, if the guy were important, Peterson would have returned his call.

  “Do me a favor, Marie. Put him into my voicemail.”

  “Sure thing, honey. Did you eat yet?” Lettie had deputized Marie as her stand-in mother hen after hours.

  “I’m going to run out and pick something up,” Sasha said and then hung up before Marie could lecture her.

  She turned back to her e-mails until the voicemail light blinked red on her phone. The caller who was so interested in talking to Peterson was not a reporter.

  “Ms. McCandless, this is Special Agent Leo Connelly calling from the Federal Air Marshal’s Pittsburgh Field Office. I urgently need to speak to you or Mr. Peterson regarding the Hemisphere Air matter. When you get this message, please call me at 412-555-1600.”

  Agent Connelly’s tone was measured and serious.

  Sasha stared at the notes she’d scrawled while listening to the message, hoping they’d give her a clue as to what to do next. Where the hell was Peterson?

  She was just about to call his home number, when Parker appeared in her doorway, swaying slightly.

  “Do you have a minute?”

  She tucked a strand of expensive honey-streaked hair behind her ear, revealing a diamond earring the size of Sasha’s thumb.

  Sasha glanced at the time. She’d called in her sushi order nearly twenty minutes earlier. “Just one.”

  She gestured toward the guest chair, but Parker leaned against the door frame.

  “Okay, so, I was having drinks . ..”

  “You went to happy hour? You’re on a trial team.”

  “Uh, it was a preexisting commitment?” Parker’s cheeks flushed as she realized maybe she should have cancelled her plans.

  Sasha scribbled a note to lay out her expectations more fully at the next day’s meeting.

  She looked up from her notepad and watched Parker’s blush deepen. Finally, she said, “So, do you want to tell me about your date or not?”

  Parker forced out a small laugh and twisted the ring on her right ring finger. It sported a stone that made the earrings look like chips in comparison. “It wasn’t really a date. I’ve hung out with this guy off and on since law school, and now he works for Mickey Collins. So, he had to get back to the office, too. It was just a couple quick drinks, Sasha.”

  This was going from bad to worse. Aside from the surprise that Parker was slumming with a mere plaintiff’s attorney—which Sasha chalked up to rich girl rebellion—she was skirting a very thin line ethically.

  “You do know that you cannot discuss the case with this guy, right? Tell me you didn’t discuss the case.”

  If they had to remove Parker from the team, Peterson would be livid.

  “Of course not!” Parker had the good sense to sound scandalized. “We only talked about the newspaper reports, and, I guess the complaint, but that’s public record.”

  Sasha narrowed her eyes. Not believable. Lawyers were notorious for honoring client confidentiality in the breach. If strictly observed, the confidentiality rules would put a real crimp in the age-old sport of trading war stories. Most attorneys do discuss their cases with outsiders, they just never identify the client involved by name. That compromise position clearly wouldn’t work for Parker and her friend. Everyone at Mickey’s shop was working on the crash. Had to be.

  “So, I mentioned that I was surprised by their choice of class rep. Oh . . .” Parker trailed off and chewed on her bottom lip. “That’s okay, right? I mean, the complaint is public, and that article named that Caruso guy.”

  “Calvaruso.” Sasha corrected her and ignored the question.

  “Sorry, Calvaruso. My friend, Chase, said Collins called everyone into the office last night after the crash and offered a $5,000 bonus to whoever found him a class rep. Chase has a cousin who works for a corporate travel service, so he called her to see if she could find any reservations for the flight. She found Mr. Calvaruso’s reservation, booked through Patriotech by a Mr. Irwin, and told Chase that Calvaruso had flown from Pittsburgh to D.C., had a layover, and then was booked from D.C. to Dallas.”

  She paused.

  Sasha got the sense the younger woman was waiting for praise, so she said nothing.

  Parker went on, a bit deflated, “So, anyway, Chase found Collins right away and told him about Mr. Calvaruso. He said Collins was really excited until he mentioned Mr. Irwin’s name. Then, Collins immediately said no way, Calvaruso wouldn’t work. But he didn’t say why, and Chase said he got sort of angry when Chase tried to press him about it. A couple minutes later, another associate came up with the Grants, and Collins went with them.”

  Sasha stood and gathered up her office id badge, wallet, and cell phone. Parker’s story was interesting, but it was time to pick up her takeout. “Thanks for bringing this to me, Parker.”

  They walked down the hall together. Sasha stopped in front of Parker’s office.

  “If you want to stay on this trial team, work on your assignment. Act like a grownup making six figures, not a princess. No more happy hours. If you can’t do that, you go back to document review. Is that clear?”

  Parker flushed. Anger flashed in her eyes, followed by shame. She said, “Crystal.”

  “Good,” Sasha said and left to go get her dinner.