Compelling Evidence Read Free Page B

in it."

    "Don't look now, but it's time for penance." Hany's looking up into the beveled olass . U‐ i tis my stomach. Potter's surveying the bar. He sees me, he i tes Us@ enough to tug a little, remove a few of the wrinkles frosmtahis I I @ e s eading a band across the floor. One of the summer intems coined A I 17V called it. Though Potter is as Gentile as Pontius Pilate, e I th 00 fit. His look, wrinkles around theiaw and neck, head I I‐A gravity. The chips always fall on your client's side of the ‐1 my back like a wave before I turn. float the Love Boat. He knew Talia was playing around." _k Ir's all very casual like a surprise. e For a moment I think to myself. It plays like a silent t‐1. "Ben." I smile @id extend a hand. I am almost stunned when my brain. Ben had talked to me one day over @P MWW@M,. v takes it. potter,s expression is an en, . Th_ ,!,I _r myself that he had no details, that he was in the dark 6witt, T "Been a while," he says. "After all the years we've known other, thought it was time we talked. Your departure was" searches for the right choice of words‐‐‐‐@'a little abrupt." '.7 notoriously understated, in his attire and in this case his tion of my wholesale flight from the firm. He smiles. "Can I get you a drinkt' I ask him. "Thought we might do that in Jay's office while we talk." 0' turns again to Harry. "You don't mind if I take Paul away i, few minutes?" ,"Oh no. No. Keep him as long as you like." There's a 1, M " grin on Harry's face, like he's warning me‐telling me to Potter's hands. I grab my glass. Ben turns toward the o1i begin to follow, do a quick pirouette and give a do" kind of shrug in Harry's direction. As I turn, Harry s 7,11 up a slip of paper.
    Suddenly I comprehend the expression ‐c face. While I'm cloistered with Ben in Wong's office, be drinking on my open bar tab. Wong's office, it seems, is an appropriate setting for my ie@,! with Befi. It has the hushed earthy tones, the muted )stgfrtw1òf a tony funeral parlor. An imposing bronze Buddha, I life, sits in an alcove behind Wong's antique desk. I MITI'from the floor, it casts an ominous shadow across the 6AM;.1 some corpulent genie awaiting the order of its liberator. Ben leads me to another area of the room, toward two sofas facing each other, separated by a clear glass pedestal k@, table. He takes a seat on one sofa and gestures toward the t‐' "Sit down," His tone has lost the veneer of polite TMMI, that we're alone.

    1@ He looks at me silently, soulfully, his lips drawn tight, @f slot to his inner thoughts. I sink into the sofa and wait 1W.. words to bury me, in wisdom‐‐or wrath. i
    "Before I forget," he says, "what do you want to
    ‐ MMIV, picks up a phone on a sofa‐side table. "Oh, the same. Scotch over," I say. "This one's on me.@'@, "Nonsense. This is my party." He says it without IM"71, much grace, then places the order. Ben's not drinking Z‐,;7P This is no social outing.

    .‐I We pass several seconds in idle chatter. He talks about a4l"111 at the firm since I left. He asks me how I like the solo He's killing time, getting my drink, the final interruption the way. I tell him honestly that it's a challenge. He admits that he made a mistake in hiring me. I can't tell whether he intends an insult by this. He hesitates for a moment, then explains himself7‐that born leaders don't fit the corporat'e mold, that I was destined for bigger things than hitching my wagon to someone else's star. it's awkward, I conclude, being patronized by someone I admire. The waiter comes in with my drink, and Potter tells him to, put t on his tab. There's a glaze of light off the flat horn‐rim. lenses Ben is wearing. These are new. I can't see his eyes clearly. The familiar half‐frame cheaters for reading are in his sweater pocket. I can see them sticking out. "I've done a lot of thinking during the past several months," he says. "That's two of us. What can L. He holds up a hand, cuts me off. Ben's not looking