“I’m happy for both of you,” Evelyn said, turning her attention back to the booking sheets on her desk.

Before Guff could say another word, the office door opened and a man wearing an olive-green suit walked in carrying a small stack of booking sheets.

“More?” Evelyn asked.

“The afternoon’s just warming up,” the man said as he left the office. “See you soon.”

When the door closed, Evelyn put the new sheets in her in-box and went on with her work. She continued to ignore Sara and Guff.

Sara shot Guff a look, then addressed the receptionist. “Listen, I’m sorry to bother you. It’s just that I’m new here and-”

“Actually, why don’t you listen,” Evelyn said, putting down her stapler. “I know you’re new here, and I know you want a good case, but I don’t know you from Adam. So if I let you cut the line, I’m jerking over all the people who I not only like a whole lot more, but who bother me a whole lot less.”

Stunned, Sara didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t mean to be a bother. I’m just trying to save-”

Once again, the door to ECAB flew open. But it wasn’t the man in the olive suit. It was Victor Stockwell. Striding across the reception area, Victor looked at Sara. “Still not fired?”

Sara forced a smile. “Can you believe it? I made it through another whole twenty minutes.”

“Hiya there, Vic,” Guff said. When Victor didn’t respond, Guff added, “Love you, too, baby. Kiss ya, hug ya, squeeze ya.”

Without another word, Victor headed for the ECAB supervisor’s office. Evelyn picked up a stack of booking sheets and followed him.

When she was gone, Sara leaned on Evelyn’s desk. “I can’t believe this.”

“It could be worse,” Guff reasoned.

“How? How could it possibly be worse?”

“You could be on fire, or you could have poison ivy. You could even have chicken pox – that would be a whole lot worse.”

“Guff, not now,” Sara begged.

“I’ll tell you what: Let me go beg to Victor. Maybe he’ll take some pity on us.” Before Sara could object, Guff headed off behind Victor and Evelyn.

Now alone, Sara closed her eyes and started to massage her temples. Once again, the front door opened. It was the man who delivered the booking sheets. “Where’s Evelyn?” he asked, holding the newest pile of crimes.

“She’s in the back with Victor,” Sara explained. As he put the booking sheets in Evelyn’s in-box, Sara asked, “Anything good in there?”

“No idea,” he said. “But the one in the folder is a request for Victor. You can bet that one won’t suck.” Sure enough, on the top of the pile was a booking sheet in a plain manila file folder. On a yellow Post-it attached to the folder were the words Request for Victor Stockwell.

“That’s great for him, but do you have anything for me?” Sara asked.

“Let me guess: You need a good case so you can wow your boss.”

“Something like that.”

“So hasn’t this city taught you anything? If you want something, take it.”

“I don’t get it,” Sara said.

“The case,” he said, pointing to the folder. “If you want it, that’s your case.”

“What do you mean that’s my case? It’s marked for Victor.”

“It’s not marked for him – it’s a request. That just means the arresting officer, if he had the choice, would like to see Victor on the case.” Looking down the hallway, the man checked to see if he could spot Evelyn. He turned back to Sara. “If they request Victor, it’s a good case. You should take it.”

“Are you crazy?” Sara asked. “I can’t take it – it’s not my case.”

“It’s not anybody’s case. It hasn’t been assigned yet.”

“But if it’s marked for Victor…”

He pulled the yellow Post-it from the folder and crumpled it up. “Not anymore. Now it’s marked for no one.”

“Wait a minute-”

“Half the cases in this city have requests for Victor. Trust me, he can’t do them all. Besides, Victor’s a real asshole. He could use losing a few good ones. If you really need it, just take it.”

“I don’t know,” Sara said nervously.

“Listen, it’s your life. I can’t tell you what to do,” he said as he walked to the door. “But I can tell you that Victor won’t miss it. He has dozens of cases.” Leaving the office, he added, “Hope it works out for you.”

Once again alone in the office, Sara stared at the now-unmarked folder. She couldn’t move. It’s a guaranteed great case, she told herself. And Victor will never miss it. Unsure of what to do, she could hear Guff and Victor arguing. From the sound of it, Victor wasn’t offering his assistance.

“It’s not my fault,” Victor said from his office. “Welcome to life.”

Seconds later, Guff returned to the reception area. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, noting the concern on Sara’s face.

Sara pointed to Victor’s case. “The delivery guy said that one was an absolute winner.”

“Oh, man,” Guff said with a smile. “You’re thinking of taking it, aren’t you?”

Sara didn’t say a word.

“Are you sure it’s a good case?”

“Yeah, pretty sure,” Sara said. “Why? What do you think?”

“Take it. Without a doubt. Believe me, if you want a winner, you’re not getting any help from this office.”

From up the hallway, Sara could hear Victor and Evelyn wrapping up. Tentatively, she approached Evelyn’s in-box. “I shouldn’t be doing this.”

“But you’re going to,” Guff said. “Just take it. It’s not a big deal.”

Sara grabbed the file folder. “This better not get me in trouble.”

“It won’t,” Guff said as they darted to the door.

By the time Evelyn returned to her desk, Guff and Sara were gone. And so was the file marked for Victor Stockwell.

“Have you been listening to anything I’ve said during the past half hour?” Jared asked. “Four hundred thousand’s not even close. If you’re going to stick with numbers like that, we’ll see you downtown.”

“Jared, I’m getting tired of this,” Hartley said with a sigh. “You say you want to settle, but you thumb your nose at everything I put out there.”

“That’s because you’re putting out nonsense. There’s-” Jared was interrupted by the electronic ring of his phone. He had given Kathleen strict instructions: He should be interrupted only if Barrow called. Lenny Barrow was Jared’s best private investigator. While prosecutors had entire precincts of police officers and detectives to dig up dirt on the opposing party, defense attorneys were forced to rely on private investigators for their snooping needs. For the past week, Barrow had been searching for information on Hartley’s client. And now, Jared smiled to himself, he would finally have the information to force a reasonable settlement. As always, the research would pay off. Picking up the receiver, Jared wondered if even fifty thousand was too much. Maybe twenty-five and an apology was sufficient. Or just twenty-five. “Jerry, please excuse me for a moment,” Jared said, lifting the phone to his ear. “Hello. Jared Lynch.”

“J, it’s me,” Barrow said in his usual calm voice.

“I was wondering when you’d call. Any good news?”

“Actually, I couldn’t find a thing. Nothing dirty, nothing juicy, nothing controversial. The woman’s a regular yawn convention.”

“That’s just wonderful,” Jared said, trying to look like he was getting good news. “I’ll tell him as soon as we hang up.”

“You got Hartley in your office?” Barrow asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Jared said, smiling. “Right in front of me.”

“Then let me add this to your plate. Because I love you, I also did a little extra homework. The guy Hartley filed the claim against – your client?”

“Yeah?”

“He’s a real scumbag, J. At the last company he worked for, he had four complaints lodged against him – two of them proven. You just better pray Hartley doesn’t have good friends like me, because the way this is going, you’re in for some pain.”

“No, that’s even better,” Jared said. “What more can I ask for?”