Page 3 of Some Like It Deadly
Armand was a dead man. “Of course.” He mentally applauded his steady voice, but respect shifted through him as he watched her leave his office. The room’s orderly appearance was a testament to Miranda’s handling of everything during his recovery—thank God she hadn’t left him then. Checking his watch after the door closed behind Kate, he picked up the phone and dialed the prince’s private line. Armand answered on the second ring.
“I take it Miss Braddock made it to her appointment on time?” Laughter danced behind the European accent.
“You’re a dick,” Richard said by way of answer. “And she’s perfect. So go ahead and chortle.”
Armand laughed. “Good. I have another call and Gretchen is giving me the eye. Time for another game tomorrow?”
“Sorry, Your Highness, some of us have to work for a living. How’s,” he paused and flipped open his tablet to look at his calendar. “Friday?”
“I’ll have to rearrange some items.”
“You’re the one who wants to play.” Richard appreciated the sentiment. “I have another call to make too. Give Anna my regards.”
“Right. Rick?” Worry coated his tone.
“Yeah?” Richard waited, Armand hadn’t been thrilled with his decision to go back to work and while he might be Richard’s most loyal client and oldest friend—he wasn’t the only one.
“Never mind.” The prince sighed, apparently ceding the argument without making it. “Don’t overdo it.” The last came out a direct order, but one made out of concern rather than arrogance. The call ended as abruptly as they’d begun it, but after more than a decade of friendship it didn’t bother him. Picking up Kate’s personnel file, he slid it into the bottom right drawer and locked it. He would read through the rest of it later. He checked his watch again. Another seven minutes until the conference call with the judge.
Fortunately, from the way Miranda organized his calendar, he accessed the file he needed on the tablet by choosing the date and the meeting. Reacquainting himself with the case took him four minutes more.
At two minutes until his phone was due to ring, Kate returned and set the contract down in front of him. She flipped to the next to last page and had circled one sub-section. “We need to amend this to say both parties and I will sign it.”
Curious, he reviewed the line.
This Agreement states the entire agreement between the parties concerning the disclosure of Confidential Information and supersedes any prior agreements, understandings, or representations with respect thereto.
Changing “the” to “both” would include him in the confidentiality clause of any information she might share with him. With sixty seconds on the clock, he crossed out the word, wrote in “both” and initialed it, before passing over the pen.She turned the sheets around and leaned over the desk. A hint of vanilla and hazelnut tickled his nostrils and he eyed the way she added her initials to each page and then signed the last one before passing him the pen back.
He added his signature and the phone rang. Claiming the handset, Kate straightened. “Richard Prentiss’s office, this is Kate. How may I help you?”
The afternoon flewby in a flurry of phone calls and Richard had to give Kate a hell of a lot of credit. She’d parachuted into the chaos and rode out the storm with an easy smile and cool demeanor. He was on his fifth call of the day, and weary as hell. Judge Ryan’s intractable position was sending his blood pressure skyrocketing, when she stood and set her digital tablet, steno pad, and pen on the desk, inviting his attention.
“Forgive me, Mr. Prentiss,” Kate had interjected in the midst of the judge’s tirade about the number of delays the case had experienced—none of which had anything to do with Richard’s recent stint in the hospital and subsequent recovery.
“Miss Braddock?” Richard stared at her. Interrupting a judge was never a good idea, but she didn’t wait for the man on the speakerphone to voice his objections.
“You have another call with Judge Wilkerson in five minutes and you need to take your medication.” She walked to the wet bar on the far side of his office, opened the fridge and retrieved a can of soda, a sandwich container, then nudged the fridge shut with her leg before retrieving a small prescription bottle from the shelf above.
“If you have Wilkerson in five, Prentiss, you should take your medication before the call.” Judge Ryan gruffed, his contrarytone less biting. “You have a continuance for one week. I expect the brief on my desk no later than Monday morning at nine or I will rule in favor of the plaintiff. Am I clear?”
Surprised, but unwilling to look the gift horse in the mouth, Richard straightened. “Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge Ryan.” The call clicked off and Kate set the clear plastic container holding a deli sandwich down in front of him, along with the can of regular Coke and the prescription bottle. Without missing a beat, she picked up her steno and added a notation regarding the brief, the case number, the time and date it was due.
“I don’t have a call with Wilkerson. How did you know I needed these?” Richard asked, but he opened the prescription bottle because she was right.
Hewasdue for his medication.
Losing his spleen meant he had to take supplements regularly. Losing his kidney meant watching his liquid intake, hence the one can of soda he permitted himself per day, but how the hell had Kate known? They hadn’t had a chance to go over any of those details.
“Ms. Keen kept meticulous notes and set up several reminders in her calendar.” Kate turned the digital pad around and pointed to the message that had popped up.Remind Richard to take medication. Must be taken with food.
“Oh.” Mollified, he popped the can open, and tossed back his two pills. “And Judge Wilkerson?”
“According to the notes taped to the bottom of her keyboard, there are five judges’ calls never to be missed or ignored. Wilkerson sits at the top of the list and is labeled as a total PIA.” Kate’s voice betrayed no hint of humor, despite the gleam in her eyes. “I hazarded a guess that if the judges’ names warranted that type of documentation, they might give Judge Ryan room to walk back his temper.”
So she’d noticed the judge’s testy tone growing more recalcitrant through the call. “I don’t think I paid Miranda enough,” Richard mused then took a bite of the sandwich. “When you have a chance, pull Leonard v Johnson file. I want to go over the previous two continuances. They were from the plaintiff. This is the first time I’ve asked for one. But I have to wonder what pressure the judge is getting.” The judge had been more amenable on the first case he’d called about—one that had begun as a simple divorce—but the plaintiff was a highly respected plastic surgeon and he and his attorney had gone after the soon-to-be ex-wife with everything they had. The sheer malice in their initial filing had incited Richard’s protective instincts and he’d usurped the case from one of his associates. “And put a call into Mrs. Ramsey, let’s see if she has time to sit down with me this week.”
Kate nodded and added another note to the steno. “You have another phone call in thirty minutes. Do you want me to hold your calls so you can take a break?”
