Mom and Dad.-

After I left Morcadei office, I drove around and around the city while the snow fell. As a lawyer with hours thado work, wich my clients paid for, I coul not do this sort of thing-just moving with the traffic, not going anywhere. But I was doing it now.








I did not want to go back-Id probably never leave. So I drove. I went through por parts of the city.I had never seen before.







Then I went back to Drake. I went up in Mister elevator again, walked along the hall to my office, and sat down at my desk. For the first time I wondered how much everything in my office had cost- the expensive old desk, the red leather armachairs and the Persian carpets. Were not we just chasing money here in this building.








Why did we work so hard to buy a more expensive carpet or an older desk. Was that a good reason to work? Was this the life I wanted?







In my expensive room, I thought of Morcadei Green, giving his time to help people who had nothing.







I had about ten pink telephone messages from clients on my desk and none of them interested me. I did not like this work. My clients were big companies,and I worked on their lawsuits againt other big companies. The lawsuits continued for years. Maybe a hundred lawyers worked on each one, all sending paper to each other.







Polly came in and brought me cookies, She put them on the table with a big smile, before she left for home for the day. A couple of lawyers came in said...How you doing?and left again.They were probably on their way home too.







Alone in his office again, I picked up one big file and then another one. Wich lawsuit did I want to work on today? I did not make any sense to me now.






I went to my computer and began searching our client files. RiverOkkas was started in 1977 in H. It  was a private Company, so it was difficult to get information about it.









River Oaks was the client of a Drake lawyer called Braden Chance. I did not the name but I looked again in our computer files.








Braden Chance was a partner in real state, on the fourth floor. He was forty years old, married and went to law school at Duke.








There were forty-two files for River Oaks. Four were about evictions. River had bought a warehouse on Florida Avenue. On January 27, some squatters were evicted from the warehouse-one of them . as I now knes, was De Von Hardy. The file on the eviction itself had a number nex to it. The number meant that only Braden Chance could open the file.





I wrote down the file name and numbers and walked down to the fourth floor.







When I got there, I saw a legal assistant and asked him where Braden office was. He pointed to an open door across the hall.







Although it was late, Chance was at his desk. looking busy. He did not like me just walking in from the hall.







At Drake you phoned first and made an appoinment, But that I did not worry me very much.






Chance did not ask me to sit down, but I did and he did not like that either.





-You were next to the guy when he got shot. he said unpleasantly, after I said De Von Hardy name.





-Yes, I said.






-Terrible for you,huh'?







. It over, Mr Hardy, who now dead, was evidect from a warehouse. Was it one of our evictions?





-It is over, Mr Hardy, who ir now dead, was evidect from a warehouse. Was it one of our evctions?







-It was, said Chance, but he did look at me as he spoke. I guessed that Arthur Jacobs had looked at the file with him, earlier in the day.






-What about it ?added Chance.






-Was he a squatter?







-Of course he was. They are all squatters, arent they? Our client just got them out of the warehouse.






-Are you sure he was a squatter?Not a tenant?







-Chance looked angry. What do you want?







-Could I see the file?




-No




.Why not?




-I am very busy. Will you please leave?






If he was a squatter there no problema. Why can not I see the file?







-Because it is mine and I said no. How is that?





-Maybe that is not good enough.








-He stood his hands shaking as he pointed to the door. I smiled at him and left.





The legal assistant from the hall had Heard everything and we exchanged looks and smiles as I passed his desk. The man is a fool, he said, very quietly, I smiled again. Yes.






But what was Chance hiding? There was something wrong and it was in that file. I had to get it. I went back to my office to think. The pone rang. It was Claire.







Why are you at the office? She spoke very slowly and her voice was colder tan the snow outside.






I looked at my watch. I remembered we had arranged to have dinner together at the apartment.





-I, uh well, a client called from the West Coast.








-I had used this lie before.It did not matter.







-I am waiting, Michael. Should I start to eat?






- No, I will be back at the apartment as fast as I can.






I ran from the building into the snowstorm, but I did not really care that another evening together had been ruined.