The Law (The Dresden Files #17.4)(21)

The look she gave him could have peeled paint and made her glares at me seem friendly by comparison.

Tripp didn’t seem to notice he’d gotten it.

Lapland gave Inverno an absolutely furious stare, even if it only lasted a second. She glanced at the bookshelf. Then she turned and left.

Huh. I glanced at the bookshelf and back to the door. What had that been about?

“We can go as high as fourteen thousand,” Max said reasonably. “That is all the money my client has.”

“Fuck that,” Tripp said, and sipped at his coffee. “I want what’s mine.”

Inverno turned to lean into Tripp and spoke quietly.

Tripp snorted. “Not just no. Fuck no.”

Inverno leaned back, glanced at me without any kind of shame or regret, and spread his hands. “I’m afraid your offer is rejected.”

Max nodded. “I can see that. I’m more than willing to work this out in court.”

“Of course,” Inverno said. “As am I, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Max said. He eyed Tripp with open loathing, shook his head, and said, “I think we’ve exhausted the possibilities here.”

“I concur,” Inverno replied. “We shall settle this before a judge. Though feel free to contact me should your client change her mind.”

Max nodded and stood up, gesturing for us to join him. I made sure he and Maya got out before I left the room, never quite turning my back on Inverno.

I ushered them out, past Ms. Lapland’s flinty gaze, and got them back onto the street without any supernatural violence of any kind coming down.

“Well,” Max said, as we walked to my car. “I see what you mean about Mister Gregory being an unreasonable fellow.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s hard to see a world where he isn’t a complete oxygen sink.”

“He’s vile,” Maya said quietly.

I sighed. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find a more peaceable way through this.”

“It’s all right,” she said. “Some kinds of behaviors shouldn’t be tolerated peaceably.” She looked at Max. “Can you win?”

“Possible,” Max said, nodding vigorously.

Maya frowned. “Possible? But what he’s doing is so wrong.”

The old man spread his hands. “The law isn’t really as black and white as everyone thinks,” he said. “Everyone seems to think of the law as a line drawn on the ground. It’s more of a surveyor’s string—one with quite a bit of play in it. Various factors can pull the string this way or that. In this case, that’s what we’d be doing—hauling on that string to make sure you fell on the right side of the law and Mister Gregory on the wrong side. But I’ll be honest with you--they’ll be doing the same thing. It could go against us.”

“What are your chances in open court?” I asked him.

Max shrugged. “Very difficult to say, even though Mr. Inverno’s approaches are limited. It depends on a number of things, mostly the judge. Knowing what I know right now, I’d call it a coin toss.”

Maya folded her arms across her stomach. “I hate this. I had a quiet life. I just want that again.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry.”

“Now, dear,” Max said, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. “Everyone prefers to avoid conflict—well, almost everyone. This miserable ass is giving you grief I think you don’t deserve. But there is every chance that I can force him to leave you in peace and separate you from him completely. He’s… not really giving you very much choice here. Either you give up everything you have built—or you fight him.”

Maya met his eyes uncertainly.

“You don’t have to choose right now,” Max said softly. “But you do need to commit to a choice. Either fight him or fold your business and leave him nothing to sue.”

“I can’t just give up,” she said, after only a second’s hesitation. “There are too many people who rely on Sunflower.”

“Then you want to fight?” Max pressed.

“I want to fight,” she said.

He patted her hand and nodded firmly. “Good woman. I can’t promise you victory. I can promise you that we’ll make them work if they want to win.”

“For Tripp, that would be a first,” she said, and gave Max a wan smile. “Even with all of us working together, we really don’t have a lot of money to pay you with.”

“We’ll figure that out,” I put in.

Max glanced at me and nodded. “Indeed, we will, Maya. Indeed, we will.”

“Max,” I said, squinting at the lowering sun. “I wonder if you’d be willing to take Maya home?”

“Of course,” the old lawyer said. “What are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to try one more time to talk to Tripp Gregory,” I said.

“What for?” Maya said with distaste.

Max lifted skeptical silver brows. “I might ask the same question.”

“Found out some things about him,” I said. “Maybe I can get him to listen to reason.”

Maya snorted softly.

“Worth a try,” I said. “Otherwise, it’s months of legal conflict. And you might lose.”