Dead Ringer

“No,” Be

“You’re a great lawyer, lady. Simple as that.” Linette shrugged his quarterback’s shoulders. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”

Be

“Granted, you don’t have much of a track record in class-action cases, but your move in court yesterday, asking for that emergency hearing? It was tough-minded. Brilliant. You turned your low mileage to an advantage. I need someone like you at Linette amp; Associates.” Linette smiled his overbleached smile. “You know, you impressed a lot of people yesterday. Even Herm.”

Be

“Of course, you wouldn’t be a principal like you are now,” Linette continued. “You’d be classified as an associate for payroll purposes, but that would be in name only. You’d be the most senior attorney in the firm, second only to me, accorded all the respect you so richly deserve. And we’d spin it as a merger, not me buying you out, in all the press releases.”

Be

“I’d like to get it done this week, a

“I have some thoughts too,” Be

“Your people? What about them? You want them or you want them gone?”

Ouch. “I want them. I have a receptionist who needs maternity benefits right away, a secretary who needs to come back from layoff, and three smart lawyers who make a hundred grand apiece.” The last part was a complete lie, but Be

“Done.”

Merry Christmas to me. “Also I do a lot of pro bono work. There’s an ongoing case for the Circolo. You must have heard of them. They’re a consortium.” With ca

“Okay.” Linette gri

Be

“Porsche or Mercedes?”

“Only one?” Be

“Of course you were. Your choice. Porsche is for boys, Mercedes is for girls.”

“I’ll take the Porsche.”

Linette fake-laughed again. “Of course you would!” He clapped his hands together with a loud smack. “So, is it a done deal?”

“Let me think about it,” Be

“Fair enough.” Linette gave a brief nod, walked to the door, and paused in the threshold when Be

“Perish the thought,” she said, and watched him walk past her three stu

Linette slithered to the elevator, and the minute he was safely gone, the three associates turned toward her as one, sharing a what-was-that-all-about look. Be

It took Be

When her story was over, she sca

Be

“We think we miss Robert,” Murphy said, and the other two nodded.

“It must have been awful.” DiNunzio’s voice was barely a whisper. “What an awful way to die.”

“I hope this detective is good,” Carrier said. Her pink hair clashed with her grim expression, but then again, her pink hair clashed with everything. “Because I don’t know if I agree with this tourist-killer theory.”

Bingo. Be

“It’s so lame, and it may apply to this Belgian guy, but not to Robert. The money was too high to ignore in this case.” Carrier ran a quick tongue over her unlipsticked lips. “For example, why is it more believable that somebody would kill a man for a wallet, when he could kill him for millions of dollars?”

Be

“Not to go against you, but I am, boss.” Carrier paused. “I think she’s a possibility, but to me she doesn’t follow the money trail. I have a different theory, but it’s not etched in stone. Which means it’s a little nuts.”

“Shoot,” Be

“Let’s take a long, hard look at our new best friend, Bill Linette.” Carrier held up a palm like a traffic cop, a gesture Be