“Ah, Mr. Davidoff, you’re all done. I peeped in earlier but I could see you were busy so I didn’t bother to disturb you.” Then her face took on a regretful look. “I’m so sorry but I called Mr. Dundix to tell him you were here but he said it would take a little while longer before he gets here. Are you sure you don’t want to meet with Ms. Crawford in the meanwhile?”
Max stood up and shoved his phone into his pocket. He gave a grunt. “I guess I’ll have to. But give me a second, will you? I have to make one more call.”
The woman nodded and turned to go.
“Thank you, Mrs. Stockett.”
The secretary glanced back at him, a quick look of surprise flashing across her face. Then she gave him a tiny smile and went on her way.
Max sighed. He hadn’t planned to spend his afternoon sitting in the visitors' lounge of a law firm but he had no-one to blame but himself. He didn’t have an appointment, after all. Despite that, he’d been pissed when he’d been told the man he was waiting for was still not in, a whole hour after he’d arrived. He’d taken out his annoyance on Mrs. Stockett - it wasn’t what he’d said but how he’d said it - and from the tightening of the secretary’s lips and the coolness that fell over her face, he could see that he’d offended her.
And, as far as he was concerned, there was no excuse for rudeness.
And that was why he’d made sure to thank her for giving him the message. As old as he was, a whole third of a century, he could never forget the lessons his mother had taught him at her knee. And being courteous at all times was one of them.
He dug the phone out of his pocket and dialed Silken’s number. “I’m sorry,” he said when she picked up the phone, “but I’m at my attorney’s and I may not make it back to my office by three-thirty."
"Where's your lawyer's office?"
"De Anza Boulevard."
"That's on the way here. I can meet you there and then we can find a restaurant nearby. This is actually good. It's like halfway between my place and yours."
"I may be a little while."
"No problem. I'll wait. What's the name of your lawyer? Is there a sign outside?"
"It's Dundix and Crawford. You'll see the sign out front."
"Dundix and...are you talking about Carl Dundix?"
"The same. You know him?"
There was a hiss in the phone, an angry sound, and then Silken spoke again. "That snake? You're dealing with him? That scrawny little man, I could ring his neck."
Her vehemence took Max by surprise. He’d been told this law firm was the best in the Cupertino area but based on Silken’s reaction it seemed Dundix and Crawford were not quite as wonderful as he’d been led to believe. “What’s your beef with him?”
“If it were up to him, Suave and me, we’d have lost our business to a greedy shark who wanted that whole block for a strip mall. His client.” The last two words came out in a snarl that dripped with disgust.
“That’s business,” Max countered. “He was hired to do a job and I guess he was doing it.”
“Yeah, by employing underhanded tactics. He came over and tried to bully us to leave. The slime."
That didn’t sound too good. Max placed a high value on integrity and if Silken wasn’t exaggerating then it seemed there was not much of that to be had here.
“You be careful, Max,” Silken said, her voice tight. “Don’t let him screw you around.” Then she gave a quick snort. “He’s taken your money and not delivered, hasn’t he? I bet he took the job halfway and you’ve been waiting months for him to wrap up your business.”
Max grunted. “Not quite months but getting there.”
“I knew it,” Silken said, her voice both triumphant and angry. “He’s no good for you. Take your business and run.”
Max heard her but he didn’t want to make any hasty decisions. He needed to dig further, figure out what she really knew about this man, but he’d let it rest for now and question her when he saw her at lunch.
“We’ll talk later, all right?” he said, not wanting to prolong that discussion, at least not over the phone while he was standing right there in Dundix’s office. “See you around three-thirty, then?”
“I’ll be there.” And before he could repeat his admonition to be careful on the road, she was gone.
In the end it was a good thing that Mrs. Stockett had encouraged Max to go ahead and meet with Ms. Crawford. After forty minutes in her office Dundix still had not shown up. Surprisingly, the absence of the senior partner seemed to have been a blessing. Without the shadow of the charismatic lead attorney hanging over her Ms. Crawford proved to be a knowledgeable and highly competent resource, particularly where licensing laws were concerned. It made Max wonder, was she the brain behind this operation? Was Dundix nothing more than a loud-talking showman?
They covered good ground in the time he spent with the lady lawyer and Max ended up not missing Dundix at all. At the end of the meeting he stood up and when he shook hands in farewell he was smiling. “You’ve clarified a lot, Ms. Crawford. Thank you.”
As he left the office and strode back to the lobby he felt like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders. Even though his problems hadn’t been solved, at least now he had a sense of direction. And now he could put his problems behind him for the moment and go out and enjoy his meal.
A tiny smile crept across his lips. Silken would be here by now, probably in the visitors' lounge waiting for him. It had been weeks since he’d last seen her and he was looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon feasting his eyes on her fresh-faced beauty.
He was almost at the lobby now, just getting ready to turn the corner when he heard her.
“Don’t you dare think you can screw him around like you’ve done to so many others. He’s no fool so don’t even try it.”
What the hell? Max’s brows fell and he turned the corner just in time to see Carl Dundix walking toward him, his face grim. And hot on his heels, like a feisty puppy making sure her voice was heard, was Silken.