Anything You Can Do(17)

*~*~*

Bailey was working on Larry Haynes' lease the next day when Margaret called, her voice high-pitched with excitement. "Mark Powell just called to offer a settlement in the Miller case!"

"How much?"

Margaret named a sum within a few thousand dollars of what Bailey had expected. Bailey leaned back in her chair and smiled at the ceiling.

"It's not enough," she told Margaret. "You need to call the client and tell her about the offer, but advise her not to take it. They'll come up with more."

"What if she wants to take it?"

"If she wants to take it, that's her decision, but as her attorney, you need to offer sound legal advice."

"Do you want to call her? I think she'd listen to you."

Obligingly Bailey returned to her office and placed the call. She wasn't surprised when Candy's initial reaction was to accept the money. However, when Bailey emphasized that the attorneys' fees would be deducted from the amount, that the first offer was always low to allow for bargaining room, and that the company would almost certainly increase their offer, she agreed to reject it.

"I'll contact opposing counsel if you'd like," Bailey offered when she called Margaret to report the outcome of her conversation with the client.

Margaret accepted gratefully.

Bailey smiled at the phone. It would give her great pleasure to be the one to refuse Austin. Even though Mark had presented the offer, she saw no reason to go through him; Austin was obviously in charge. However, when she called, the receptionist told her Austin was out to lunch. She left her name then decided to go eat also. Gordon was among the missing, but an educated guess told her he would likely be down the street at the deli that featured his favorite beer cheese soup on Tuesdays.

Entering the deli, she immediately spotted Gordon at a table with a large crock of soup in front of him. Seated opposite him, Austin was talking rapidly and waving his hands, his face stormy. Bailey smiled as she ordered a sandwich. She'd caught the man in a foul mood, and her news wasn't likely to improve things. However, when Austin raised his head and saw her approaching their table, his expression lightened so noticeably, she almost lost her train of thought. He did know how to make a woman feel desirable. Damn! She shoved that idea out of her head. All he made her feel was determined, she assured herself.

"Bailey, my friend, come join us," Gordon invited.

"I just tried to call you," she said to Austin after the amenities had been observed. "I spoke with our client, and she feels the amount of your client's settlement offer is inadequate and insulting." Bailey took a satisfying bite out of her sandwich.

Austin leaned back in his chair and studied her for a minute, eyes half-closed and glittering. "It would seem," he drawled, "that you don't have much control over your client or you'd have persuaded her to take my client's generous offer."

Bailey took her time chewing and swallowing then leisurely sipped her iced tea, drawing out the pleasure of the encounter, of the preliminaries to winning. "On the contrary," she said, tenting her fingers beneath her chin. "My client asked my advice, and I told her we should let the jury decide. Obviously this is another case of a corporate entity trying to take advantage of the little man."

"Your client can scarcely be considered little."

"Personal insults are uncalled for."

"Perhaps, but relevant all the same." He leaned forward over the table toward Bailey. "If your client is indeed having back problems, which I doubt, I'd say she should start to solve them by joining a health club, not by trying to defraud an insurance company."

Bailey leaned forward, too, invading his space, refusing to take the defensive, though his comment about Candy, echoing her own feelings, was something of a jolt. She'd hate to think she had anything in common with this arrogant, pushy man.

"I don't think discrimination against out-of-shape people is going to go over too well with a jury, since, by law of averages, several of them will be couch potatoes."

"What makes you think this case will ever get to a jury? Your client is a fraud, and our investigator will prove it."

"If that's your intent, I suggest you change investigators. The man is a total idiot. He gets drunk on the job, makes a pass at my client, can't keep his story straight."

"Our investigator would have to be a total idiot to make a pass at your client, not to mention half-blind."