Part 19 (1/2)
Fleckstein erupted from his chair, spouting objections.
Melvin, however, was calm. He glanced over at the defense table with a bemused look on his face and grinned roguishly at Becky Baldwin with newfound interest.
CHAPTER.
27.
”Watch yourself,” Cora warned. Court was in recess, and she and Becky were holed up in one of the conference rooms.
”What do you mean?”
”Melvin thinks you're hot.”
”You're kidding.”
”Not at all. I've seen that look before.”
”Cora.”
”He likes the way you're beating up his attorney. He thinks you've got s.p.u.n.k. You do. Don't let him flatter you.”
”Don't worry about it.”
”I worry about everything where Melvin's concerned. I can worry about me. I can worry about you. The nymphet's not in court, so he's running his game. He's always running his game. If he tries to speak to you, be careful.”
”I'm immune to his charm.”
”You think so. And then he says something disarming, and the next thing you know you're in Vegas.”
Becky laughed. ”That's not going to happen.”
”I'm glad you think so. What about the witness? You gonna win the fight?”
”I should. If not, I got grounds for appeal.”
”Appeal?”
”Yeah. You know. The court hearing where you pay me more money.”
”Ha, ha.”
”I wasn't joking. If I can knock out the banker's testimony, I got a shot at the other witnesses.”
”What other witnesses?”
”Well, there's the teller who brought him the check. But she's not a very good witness.”
”How do you know?”
”If she was, they'd have put her on first. Because she's the one who saw you. The one you gave the check to. The one who can identify you as the person presenting the check. The fact she didn't means she's shaky at best.”
Cora grimaced. ”You're doing it again.”
”What?”
”Discrediting the witnesses. The point is I never married the guy.”
”Yeah, but that's hard to prove. We gotta work with what we got.”
There came a knock on the conference room door.
”We must be back in,” Becky said.
She got up to go.
The door opened, and Melvin stepped in. ”I hope I'm not disturbing you. Before court resumes, I thought we could have a little talk.”
”I have nothing to say to you,” Cora said.
”I know that. I meant with your lawyer.”
Becky shook her head. ”You're the opposing party. I can't talk to you directly. I should be talking to your lawyer.”
Melvin smiled. ”Yeah, but he won't do it. He's an old stick-in-the-mud.”
”Actually, we had quite a nice talk over lunch.”
”Reach an agreement? I bet he didn't even pick up the check. You wanna get anywhere, you talk right to me.”
”Get anywhere? I didn't know there was anywhere to get.”
”I thought you lawyers always talked settlement.”
”You're offering to settle?”
”I don't know until we talk about it.”
”We're not settling!” Cora said. ”Becky, don't listen to him.”
Fleckstein stuck his nose in the door and spotted his client. ”Oh, there you are.” His eyes widened when he saw whom Melvin was with. ”What are you doing? Are you crazy? You can't talk to them. For all I know, they're having the conversation recorded. Are you having the conversation recorded? If you are, I'm charging you with bad faith and bringing it before the judge. Don't talk to them. There's no reason to talk to them. It's an open-and-shut case. We're going to win, they're going to lose. That's all she wrote. What the devil are you doing talking to them?”
Melvin's eyes twinkled. He pointed at Becky. ”She mentioned a settlement.”
Fleckstein's mouth fell open. ”She what! How dare you! How dare you, young lady! Try to settle with my client behind my back. I suppose any settlement you reach would very conveniently neglect to mention attorney fees. I'm wise to your tricks.” He turned on his client. ”And you, get back in the courtroom and behave. My G.o.d, it's like running a kindergarten. I should get hazard pay.”