Page 24 of Maddy's Justice

“No, it’s his office. I want either my ground or neutral ground,” Marc said.

“That sounds a little adversarial, hostile even,” Melanie said.

“How shall I put this?” Marc rhetorically asked himself. “Troy is a defendant. I have dealt with defendant’s my entire career. Almost none of them are willing to listen and help themselves. In fact, most of them believe if they blow enough smoke up my ass, they’ll be entitled to an apology for being bothered about the trouble they’re in. Troy is going to try that, guaranteed.

“I want him in a neutral setting where he won’t feel like he’s in charge and I don’t want you to tell him this. I’m not trying to be adversarial, but Troy’s office is his power base,” Marc said.

“Interesting,” Melanie said. “And I’ll keep that in mind.”

“That’s why, when you want to speak to an employee about something serious, you summon him to your office,” Marc added.

Melanie laughed and said, “Good point. I’ll call him and tell him to meet you in Conference Room B down the hall here,” Melanie said.

“In exactly ten minutes,” Marc said.

“We’ll see how late he is when he shows up,” Connie said. “He’ll be late to send us the message that he’s more important than we are, and we should be grateful he is willing to meet with us at all.”

“He’s not…” Melanie started to say then stopped.

“That bad?” Marc asked completing the thought.

“Yes, but now that I think about it, you’re right, he is,” Melanie agreed.

A full thirty minutes later, Troy McGovern, without bothering to knock, entered Conference Room B. Marc made a point of looking at his watch making sure Troy saw it.

“Yeah, I was a little busy with firm business,” Troy unapologetically said.

He sat down at the room’s thirty-foot long walnut table across from Marc and Connie. He pointed a finger at Marc, flashed a white-capped, toothy smile and said, “Marc,” then looked at Connie and said, “Connie, right?”

With the possible exception of his finely capped teeth, there was nothing noticeable about the man. He was shorter than average and developing a well-fed paunch. If you passed him on the street, few women would give him a second look. Or even a first one. McGovern still sported a full head of brownish-blonde hair and dressed well, tailored suits, shirts, and Italian loafers. Certainly nothing special.

He turned back to Marc and said, “I looked you up. You’re a damn good trial lawyer, I guess. Want a job?”

“No, thanks,” Marc said. “There’s more to life than making money. I’m happy doing what I am.”

There was an audio disc player set up on the table.

Connie said, “We want you to listen to this without comment until it’s done.”

“Sure, no problem,” Troy said. “I assume this is…”

“Just listen, for now,” Marc said.

When the recording finished playing, Marc shut off the player then looked at Troy.

“What?” Troy asked trying to sound innocent.

“Anything? Comments?” Connie asked.

“It’s bullshit. Taken totally out of context. Totally doctored. The bitch should be sued for trying this. Can we counter sue for defamation?”

“Are you denying that’s you?” Marc asked ignoring the defamation question.

“It’s me, yeah. I don’t remember everything that was said, but I know there’s more to it,” McGovern said, his voice rising in anger. He leaned on the table, looked first at Marc, then Connie and angrily, almost yelled, “I was obviously joking.”

“What was she wearing?” Connie abruptly asked.

“What? I don’t know. I mean, I don’t remember, specifically,” Troy replied much more calmly. “She’s a very attractive woman. She’s always dressed as if she’s coming on to you,” he added obviously figuring out why he was asked this. “Besides, it’s clear I was joking.”

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