"No, she'll never leave. She'll never go. She's not from anywhere and she'll never go back."
Judy shook her head. "What are you talking about, Mare? She'll go back to her office in New York."
"She said L.A. Her main office is in L.A."
"The letterhead says New York. I think she's from New York."
"She's not from New York, she doesn't have an accent. You ever notice she doesn't have any accent at all? The secretaries think she went to diction school."
"I thought the dictions went to law school."
"Be serious." Mary lifted her weary head from the papers. "We don't know where she lives. She has houses in Boston, New York, and Florida, I think, but I don't know where she lives. She never talks about it."
"She doesn't live, she just works. So what?"
"So we don't know where she's from. Who her people are."
"Her people?"
"Her people," Mary repeated, without elaborating. Judy wouldn't understand, since she was one of those unfortunates not raised in the Italian neighborhood of South Philly. "We don't know her family, her religion, anything. She's Jay Gatsby, the girl version."
"Erect? You have her blown all out of proportion. You're giving her too much power. Erect is a workaholic and a control freak. She screams without cause and laps up publicity like a dog. In other words, she's a lawyer."
"No, think about it. She hasn't mentioned a single friend. She works alone. We have no idea when her birthday is. Mark my words, she's not of woman born. It says 666 on her scalp, between her black roots."
"You're out of control. You have trial fever."
"Remember, I warned ye. Ye be warned."
"You're nuts."
Mary considered this and rejected it. "And why aren't you tired? We worked this case together. Why am I always tired and you never are?"
"Because I exercise, doofus. I told you, come with me. I'll teach you to rock climb."
"Forget it." Mary dropped her head back on the correspondence pillow and wondered when her life started to suck. Their law firm flopped, things with Ned didn't work out, and just when Mary thought it couldn't get any worse, Marta Richter hired Rosato & Associates as local counsel.
"Then come skiing with me." Judy abandoned the window and plopped back into her chair, swiveling back and forth. "We can go cross-country."
"No. Forget it."
"You'll have the time of your life. We'll go to Valley Forge. It's beautiful in winter."
"George Washington didn't think so."
"Come on, after the verdict's in. We'll have a blast."
"Shut up. Stop being so cheery." Mary closed her eyes, and Judy checked her black runner's watch.
"It's almost dinnertime. I'm hungry. You hungry?"
"No." Mary opened her eyes a crack, but it was still a law firm and not a bad dream. "I'm never hungry and you always are. I'm always tired and you never are. That's just the way it is. There's nothing you can do about it. Nothing anyone can do about it."
"We can send out for something."
"It's a blizzard, Jude." Mary looked at her sideways and paused. "What do you think they're doing now?"
"Who? Erect and our favorite millionaire? Enjoying the sexual tension. Call me crazy, but two months of foreplay would be enough for me."
"I meant the jury."
"They're deliberating, of course. Trying to decide when the defendant will screw his lawyer. It's a role reversal."
"Judy, stop."
"They'd be at it already if Steere hadn't been in jail. It's the only open question in this case. When will they fuck, and how? Is there a way they can both be on top?"
"Judy, the case." Mary blushed. She could curse with any trial lawyer, but she was uncomfortable with Judy's sex talk. To Mary, saying "fucking" had nothing to do with fucking.
"Oh, the case. The case is a winner. It's a good jury and the D.A. didn't prove their case. Steere gets aquitted."
Mary allowed herself to believe it then, on faith. Judy had won every graduation prize at Stanford Law, had published legal articles, and had even been offered a clerkship at the Solicitor General's office. Mary suspected Judy was the reason they got hired at Rosato & Associates. Judy had raw intelligence and legal talent, but Mary had to work hard to get results, and did. "Maybe we'll get a bonus," Mary said.
"From Rosato? Bennie Rosato?"
"It could happen."
"She just started the firm a year ago. She's not about to throw money around, even at Girls '
"Hello, you two," Bennie said, knocking on the doorjamb. She was on her way out, with an overcoat on her arm and a packed canvas briefcase slung over one shoulder. Benedetta "Bennie" Rosato's reputation as a civil rights lawyer was larger than life, and at six feet tall she intimidated the shit out of Mary, whose head popped up from the correspondence.
"Uh, we were just… organizing the file," Mary stammered.
"Right," Judy said, with an easy smile. "We're not exhausted or anything. We work constantly, even when the jury's out." Her blue eyes met Bennie's with a grin, and Bennie smiled back in a way that was friendly if not warm.
"We gonna win, Carrier?"
"How could we lose, boss?"
"That's the spirit." Bennie smiled, satisfied. Loose sandy hair streamed to her shoulders, wavy and careless, and her un-made-up features were large and not unattractive. Bennie wore a pantsuit of black wool, selected without excessive attention to cut, fit, or style. Bennie Rosato looked every inch the sunny, no-nonsense jock who won the scholar-athlete award in high school, which was just what she was. An elite rower in college, she still sculled every day on the Schuylkill River, a narrow ribbon of blue that rippled through the city. "How'd the jury charge go in? Did you get what you wanted?"
"Yes. They looked like they even understood it."
"A first. How was Marta's closing? I wanted to hear it but I had a dep."
"She nailed it, except when she started quoting Sun-Tzu. Their eyes glazed over."
Bennie frowned. "Sun-Tzu, the philosopher? What did she quote him for?"
Judy rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. He's Steere's guru. If you spend any time with Elliot Steere, sooner or later he hauls out Sun-Tzu."
Sitting at the table, Mary marveled at Judy's ease with Bennie. From their start at the firm, Judy acted more like Bennie's partner than an associate. Mary guessed it was because Judy and Bennie were so much alike. Both lawyers, athletes, and monstrously tall, as if from some legal master race. It made Mary nervous. Her chest blotched under her blouse and she wondered if she was cut out for the law. She was too short, for starters.
"You okay, DiNunzio?" Bennie asked. "Don't let up now. You're almost at the finish line."
Mary nodded in a way she hoped was perky. "I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm great."
"She's exhausted," Judy translated.
"Hang in," Bennie said. "Listen, Marta just called from a pay phone. She's on the way back and wants to talk to you. Says it's important. You can stick around, right? You two live in town."
"Sure," Judy answered, and Mary sighed. The same thing used to happen when she was at Stalling & Webb. Mary's apartment was within walking distance, so she was expected to work no matter what the weather. It was so unfair. Mary made a mental note to burn down her building.
"Good. Thanks," Bennie said, and her eyes scanned the conference table. The Steere file was scattered across its surface and manila folders were jammed into the accordions crookedly. It had been all the associates could do to pack the file in the rental car, drive it here, and lug it upstairs. "Better clean this file up, guys. Get the exhibits in order. You know how picky Marta is."