Dead Ringer

group. So there are these people, after all, in America.”

“Yes, there are,” Bennie said. It felt like a shameful admission, even though Johnson wasn’t the killer. For a civil libertarian, there were times even she hated the First Amendment.

“So I see I am wrong, and I am glad they have him. I hope today or tomorrow they will charge him.”

“Me, too.” Bennie wanted to shift the subject because she was such a lousy liar. “Julien called, and it may be important. May I speak with him?”

“He isn’t in. He went out with Micheline.”

Bennie’s ears pricked up. “He seems very friendly with Micheline.”

“They get along very well, yes. It’s good that they spend time together, for Julien lost his mother when he was quite young.”

And Micheline is so motherly. “What, did she take him out to lunch?”

“Perhaps, I don’t know. I got my cast off this morning, and when I came back, they had left a note.” Georges paused. “Bennie, I am worried a little bit about Julien. He has been behaving so strangely.”

“With Robert’s death, he would be.”

“No, not sad. Secretive. What was it he talked to you about yesterday? Micheline told me she saw you two talking outside in the square.”

Oh, that. Bennie bit her tongue. She had said she’d keep it confidential, so she told a white lie: “Just a few things about the company. It’s probably what he’s calling me about.”

“Really? You sure that was it?” The doubt in his voice suggested he had a good merde detector. “Micheline said it looked as if Julien was upset, and she knows the boy quite well.”

“Yes, that’s all it was. Business. Please tell him I called.” Bennie said a quick good-bye and hung up before Georges asked another hard question. She sifted through the messages for the next business call, then punched in the number for CoreMed, Inc. “Is Mr. Gupta in, please?” she asked, introduced herself, and was put through.

“Gupta here,” said a voice with a thick Indian accent. “Ms. Rosato, thank you for calling back. It is a pleasure indeed to speak with you. I am a lens manufacturer for medical equipment, based in New Delhi, and I was a friend of Robert St. Amien’s.”

“It’s wonderful to speak with you, then.”

“I see on the news they have his murderer. It is a terrible crime. A terrible shame.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well, to the point. I had the opportunity to see you in court the other day, I was watching your performance, and I admired very much the way you dealt with the situation, and also your liveliness.”

Bennie smiled. “I am lively.”

“I call Julien to send my respects to him and his family, and he is telling me that you will continue as their counsel. Is this true? He is quite happy about this, he tells me on the telephone.”

“Yes, it is true, and I am happy to do so too.”

“Then perhaps I wonder if you would consider serving CoreMed as counsel and representing my company in the class action?”

“Yes, of course,” Bennie said, amazed. It was like picking low fruit off a tree, this plum thanks to Julien. And even while she was saying yes, another call was coming in, which Marshall picked up. “I’d be honored to do so.”

“Excellent. This makes me very happy. When shall we meet to discuss our claim?”

“Let me check next week.” Bennie got out her desk calendar and flipped the pages to the next week. Empty, empty, empty, empty. “Friday looks good to me,” she said, for effect.

“Two o’clock on Friday?”

“Done. Why don’t you send me all the documents that are arguably relevant to the case and I’ll read them before we meet.”

“An excellent idea. I value such efficiency. Now, what about the payment terms?” Mr. Gupta asked, and she filled him in. She’d send the fee agreement, he’d send the retainer check. Bennie could almost hear the ca-ching ca-ching. She was on her way to solvency. Paying back the money she owed. Getting her house out of hock.

She picked up the next message before the phone rang again and punched in the number for Tumflex, Inc. When the call connected, she asked, “Is Mr. Riagrelli in? This is Bennie Rosato, returning his call.”

She spoke with Mr. Riagrelli, who wanted to retain her, then Mr. Grsucjki of Reiss, Inc., Ms. Lutenka of SeeMore, and after that Ms. Hurye, Horst Balshamn, Dreyer Ertmann, and Seji Yamamoto. It was a veritable United Nations of well-paying clients, and they didn’t care that she had taken only high school Latin. They all wanted to speak with her, meet her, or retain her right away, based on either Robert’s reputation, Julien’s recommendation, or what they’d seen of her in court. Of this latter group, they liked her spunk, feistiness, courage, balls, toughness, softness, cleverness, honesty, and oh, yes, muscular legs. Go figure.

Bennie took all comers and worked through lunch, and all the time she was talking, the other phones were ringing. When Marshall brought her a tuna sandwich, which she inhaled, she also had ten more phone messages. By the time Bennie was finished returning all of the calls, she had a list of twelve new clients, nineteen possible clients, and accounts receivable of over fifty thousand dollars, to be paid within the week. It was almost too good to believe. Not only was Bennie back in business, she was back with a vengeance. And if this kept up, there would be no contest at all about who would be lead counsel.

She picked up the last message, from Linette. He had to know what was going on. If he couldn’t feel the almost seismic shift of power, they all had to be buzzing about it. He had called twice while she was on the phone, but she wasn’t returning his call yet. Let him sweat. He’d want to know her response to his offer, but she’d known the answer even when she was broke. Yesterday. And Bennie still couldn’t believe he was Robert’s killer, or had him killed. Not with Alice out there somewhere.

She checked her watch. Three o’clock. Sooner or later she’d have to call David. What am I going to say?

“Incoming,” Marshall said, walking in with another batch of messages. “What is going on, Bennie?”

“It’s like dominoes. When one fell, they all did.” Bennie threw up her hands, astounded. “I think we got our law firm back, and you got enough maternity benefits for triplets.”

“Well, congratulations to both of us.” Marshall smiled, with relief she let Bennie see for the first time.

“You were worried. I don’t blame you. I’m just happy you don’t have to worry anymore, and I’m going to miss you.” Bennie ignored the silly lump in her throat. “When this baby comes, do whatever you want. Stay home if you want to. I’ll pay you for six months, full benefits and all. You have to be free to do what your heart says.”

Marshall looked at her as if she were nuts.

“I read it somewhere.”

“You’re assuming this baby is ever coming out.”

“It’s gotta come out, Marshall. How’s it gonna go to law school?”

“Ha!” Marshall said. She set down the messages and wandered out, her hand on her lower back, and Bennie winced just from looking at her.

“I keep telling you, I’ll come to the desk and get the messages.”

“Walking is good for me!” Marshall called back as Bennie picked up the first message from her desk. Mr. Cho, of Cho amp; Co. He could be her new favorite client. She suppressed a smile and punched in the number.

Bennie was bleary-eyed by four o’clock, when there was a very loud knock on her door. In the threshold stood Murphy and Carrier, looking very pleased with themselves. Bennie set down the telephone receiver. “I hope you’re here to tell me you’ve been working like dogs. Because we got so much work it’s not even funny.”

“We heard. But we’ve been doing something I think you’d approve of, very much,” Murphy said.

“Very much.” Carrier nodded. “We totally stayed away from Linette because he could be dangerous and a killer and repulsive, like you said.”

Bennie eyed them. “So where have you been?”

“Lunch,” Murphy answered. “A really long, really late lunch. But not with Linette. We had a better idea.”

“What did you do and why didn’t you ask me first?”

“I went to lunch with Ross, an associate from Linette’s office, and I didn’t clear it with you because there was