The Great Divide by T. Davis Bunn Page A

more than prepare an extremely expensive funeral. The client had subsequently thrown a ton of money at the firm and begged them to save his worthless hide. Marcus had, in fact, drawn from the jury an astonishingly lenient sentence. Logan watched Randall Walker sitting and feasting upon Suzie Rikkers’ monologue and decided the aging attorney knew a lot more than he was letting on.
    Randall Walker was not an attractive man by any stretch of the imagination. Age had pulled the folds of his face down like melted tallow, until his chin appeared to be held in place by his starched collar and his tiepin. Even his freckles had stretched into age blotches. Buthis blue eyes twinkled and his smile charmed juries and ladies alike. Randall Walker’s reputation did not end in the courtroom.
    He even seemed to be working his magic on Suzie. “I can’t tell you, Ms. Rikkers, what a fine assessment like yours means to an outsider like myself.”
    Logan decided it was time to get some answers of his own. “Why are you interested in Marcus?”
    “His name has come up in several recent discussions.”
    He felt a bitter surge. It would be just like his old nemesis to land on his feet and be offered a job with Kedrick and Walker. “Within your firm?”
    “No, with a client.”
    “Marcus is trying to steal one of your firm’s clients?”
    “Actually, sir, Marcus might be calling a client of mine as a defendant.”
    Suzie burst in. “Then your client doesn’t have a thing to worry about.”
    The benign smile resurfaced. “And why is that, Ms. Rikkers?”
    “Marcus had a total breakdown eighteen months ago.” She did not even try to mask her pleasure. “After the accident.”
    “The accident, yes, how tragic. To have lost both his children like that. It must have been a terrible blow.”
    “Marcus went to pieces. I watched it happen.” She actually smiled. “The firm was going to let him go.”
    Logan started to correct her, decided there was no point.
    Randall said, “He resigned of his own volition, I believe.”
    “Only after the firm carried him for almost a year. Marcus was dead weight.”
    “And you say he still has not recovered?”
    “You didn’t see him at the divorce hearings. He was pathetic.” Suzie was cheered by the recollection. “If Judge Nicols hadn’t stepped in I would have eviscerated the man.”
    “Most interesting.” Randall Walker rose from his seat, walked around the table, and took Suzie’s hand in both of his. “Ms. Rikkers, I must thank you for a most enlightening little chat.”
    “My pleasure.”
    “Logan, perhaps you’d do me the kindness of walking me out.”
    Randall left the room, still very much in charge. Once the twomen were alone, he went on, “I can well imagine you must share a taste of your colleague’s venom for Mr. Glenwood.”
    “Marcus and I weren’t friends.”
    “Indeed not. I understand he was your principal adversary almost every step up the firm’s ladder.” A piercing blue glance shot his way. “And won more times than he lost, did he not?”
    Logan halted midway down the empty corridor. “Who’s your client in this case Glenwood is taking up?”
    “There is no case at this time, but I take your point. Some matters are not to be bandied about lightly.”
    Logan remained silent, immobile.
    “No, indeed not.” If anything, Randall appeared pleased by Logan’s reticence. “Perhaps you would be so kind as to answer one question: How would you like to act on my client’s behalf if this unfortunate matter does proceed?”
    Logan could not help showing his surprise. “You want me to represent your client at trial?”
    “If need be, sir. Only if need be.”
    “State or federal court?”
    “That has yet to be determined. But my guess would be federal.”
    “And the plaintiff’s attorney is Marcus Glenwood?”
    “So it would appear.”
    “Does he have a case?”
    “Weak at best.”
    “To have the chance to shame Marcus Glenwood in federal court,”