Tides of Truth [03] Greater Love by Robert Whitlow Page B

cave.”
    “Totally.” Julie nodded. “But you usually like to make everything so hard. How did you get to Savannah? Did you finally get a car?”
    “No, Zach picked me up.”
    Julie tapped herself on the forehead. “Of course. Who needs a car? If Zach had been out of pocket, I bet Vinny would have flown down from Yale to squire you around. Are you staying with Mrs. Fairmont?”
    “Yes.”
    “How is she doing?”
    “About the same.”
    Julie turned to Maggie and began telling her about Mrs. Fairmont’s stroke the previous summer.
    “And when Tami and Vince Colbert went to the hospital, he quoted half the Bible to Mrs. Fairmont even though she was unconscious. And guess what, she got better by the next morning. I used to put my math book under my pillow when I was a kid, hoping to understand fractions, but unconscious osmosis never worked for me.”
    “It wasn’t half the Bible; it was only a couple of psalms.”
    “That’s a couple more than I know,” Julie said. “And my people are the ones who wrote all of them!”
    “I was about to show Tami around,” Maggie said.
    Maggie opened a door to the left.
    “This is the clerical area.”
    It was a small room with two secretarial desks. One was in use, the other empty.
    “Maggie and I are going to do a lot of our own word processing,” Julie said. “I can type as fast as I talk.”
    “I doubt it,” I answered.
    “Don’t be so catty. You’ve seen how quickly I can churn out a memo.”
    “Shannon Carver is doing triple duty as receptionist, secretary, and bookkeeper,” Maggie said. “I met her when I was working in the DA’s office.”
    “She wasn’t a defendant in a case Maggie prosecuted,” Julie added conspiratorially.
    “But I met quite a few people in criminal court who surprised me,” Maggie added. “They were ordinary folks who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or made a random stupid mistake.”
    “That wouldn’t happen to Tami,” Julie said, pursing her lips. “She’d have to ask directions to get to a wrong place, and she left stupid mistakes behind when she turned thirteen.”
    Maggie laughed.
    Behind the clerical area was Maggie’s office, a plain room with a single window and view of the access road next to the building. It contained a wooden desk with computer, a bookcase containing legal treatises, and two side chairs facing the desk. If Julie’s father was financing the office, not much of the money was being spent on fancy furniture. Of course, the wisest thing would be to make sure there was enough money in reserve to pay basic overhead costs until the firm began to have a cash flow.
    “Come see my office,” Julie called out.
    Julie was standing in the next doorway on the same side of the hall. Across from Maggie’s office I caught a glimpse of a windowless room with a wooden table surrounded by six chairs.
    “That’s the conference room,” Maggie said. “That’s where I meet with clients, just like they do at the Braddock firm.”
    When Maggie was in law school she’d worked as a summer clerk at Braddock, Appleby, and Carpenter, but, as with Julie, she didn’t receive a permanent job offer and ended up as an assistant in the district attorney’s office.
    When I got my first glance at Julie’s office, I knew where some of her father’s money had ended up. It was identical in size to Maggie’s office with the same view through a single window, but that’s where the similarity ended. It looked professionally decorated. A stylish wooden desk was surrounded by matching furniture. Paintings hung on the walls. Two richly colored rugs hid much of the plain carpet underneath. A floor lamp and two desk lamps gave the room a warm glow.
    “These are original paintings.” Julie pointed to a vibrant coastal landscape created with sweeping brushstrokes. “I brought the last piece down with me from Atlanta this morning. You’re the first to see it on the wall.”
    “And you’ve not passed the bar