Page 37 of Insidious Threats
“I don’t know. These drawings are obviously related to the Milltown case.”
Sasha’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she glanced back down at the one she still held. “You think so?”
“Yeah, I do. And I think you know more than you’re letting on.” Ellie flushed as she said the words.
Sasha eyed her calmly, wondering how much she knew. “Why’s that?”
The young lawyer pushed through whatever discomfort she was feeling. “After you visited Dad at the office, he resigned immediately. Or at least, that’s what I was told. I’d quit the day before.”
“Mmm-hmm. That’s right.”
Ellie eyed her. “Did you have anything to do with his decision to resign?”
Sasha gave her a level look. “No comment.”
“It might be related to what happened later,” Ellie pressed.
“Why don’t you tell me what did happen, and we’ll take it from there?”
She frowned but acquiesced. “I heard this all secondhand, from Lettie, who got it from the Prescott & Talbot rumor mill. After you left, Dad called an emergency meeting of the Management Committee and told the other three that he was stepping down effective immediately. They tried to talk him out of it, but he was insistent. That night, on the news, Maisy broke the story of the settlement and called Leith Delone out for interfering with her reporting. At that point, I think the firm was probably glad Dad had up and quit.”
Sasha cocked her head. “Probably?”
“Yeah, probably. I don’t know for sure what the brain trust thought after they saw the reporting. Remember, I had just quit the day before. I wasn’t talking to anyone at the office, and I didn’t dare show up at the house. Dad and I weren’t exactly on the best of terms. But I do know he shoved the Leith Delone representation down their throats.”
Sasha choked. “You knew Delone was funding the settlement?”
She nodded. “That’s why Dad wanted me on the case. He thought he could trust me to keep my mouth shut. He was so blinded by the prospect of being Leith Delone’s lawyer that the small amount of sound legal judgment he possesses went right out the window.”
Sasha thought of Amanda Teale-James and nodded her understanding. “I’m sure the prospect of working for someone with so much power is tempting—seductive, even.”
“That, and the money,” Ellie said sourly.
Something about the way Ellie had worded her explanation of why she’d been assigned to the Milltown defense was poking at Sasha’s brain. “Hang on. You said your dadthoughthe could trust you to stay quiet.”
“Yeah, so?”
“You didn’t say heknewyou’d keep quiet.”
“Okay, and?”
A knowing smile crept across Sasha’s face. “You didn’t keep quiet, did you?Youwere the anonymous tipster who emailed Maisy the documents she needed to connect Delone to the settlement.”
Ellie shrugged. “No reason to deny it now. Unless you’re going to turn me in to the bar association on an ethics violation. Yeah, that was me.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Only, the weird thing is, I didn’t email Maisy. I sent them to that Summer woman. But, whatever. Maisy responded, and I sent her the trust documents.”
“That was a bold move.”
Another shrug. “I guess. I had to do something.”
“Why? Sure, you were representing an unpleasant person. But that can’t be the only reason. I worked at Prescott & Talbot, remember? We used to say that if the devil himself needed a lawyer, he’d retain P&T.”
Ellie made a face as if she were nauseous. In fact, she did look a bit green.
After a long moment, she sighed. “Yeah, I know. Believe me, I grew up hearing about how every client, no matter how repugnant, deserved representation. But two things happened that I couldn’t stomach. First, when he told me Landon Lewis was dead, he was a total simp about it.”
Despite years of exposure to Jordana, Sasha was not fluent in Gen Z. She took a wild guess. “A simp, like sympathetic?”
To Ellie’s credit, she didn’t roll her eyes. “No. He was fan-boying all over the place because Leith Delone himself called to share the news. That’s being a simp. It was cringe.” She gave Sasha a sidelong glance.
