Nothing But the Truth Read Free

returned because we didn’t have instant messaging, wireless e-mail, and itty bitty cell phones we could tuck in our bras. Back then the only people who had cell phones were the fabulously wealthy and people on TV like Charlie’s Angels, and even they looked stupid because they were holding phones the size of bread boxes up to their ears.
    “I always return my messages, even if I don’t do it within nanoseconds of receiving them.” She paused to catch her breath. “I’m going to meet with Mrs. Jarvis now. I promise to sign her up and get a big pile of money. In exchange, you will wait until at least four thirty before you ask me another question about who I’ve called or e-mailed today. Deal?”
    Tony merely nodded his head. She knew he knew she was more exasperated than angry. Brett was well aware her little tirade had no effect on him and, though he might go easy on her this afternoon, he would resume his job as head nag first thing in the morning. Sighing at her lack of authority in this, her own law practice, she trudged toward the conference room to meet with her client of means.
    Mrs. Jarvis owned a string of small ambulance companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, all of which had been raided by a federal task force the day before. Brett was familiar with the scenario. Feds, most of them desk types dressed out for the first time in flak jackets, descended on a bunch of businesses, badges in hand. The employees of the business were detained for hours while the gun-toting feds loaded up their vans with the company’s computers, records, and anything else they thought looked interesting and came remotely close to matching the items identified in their search warrant that proclaimed allegations of Medicare fraud. The guns and bulletproof vests were all for show—a scare tactic designed to convince the employees that now was their chance to start spilling the beans about their employer’s nefarious business practices lest they become targets of the investigation themselves.
    Brett hated these cases. The next few months would be spent interviewing all the employees and reviewing box after box of records in an attempt to convince the federal investigators their allegations of fraud were baseless. She would spend hours thumbing through patient files and billing records. There was rarely ever a smoking gun for either side. Instead, shades of gray would separate her client’s position from the government’s allegations of fraud. But because the legal fees usually reached into the tens of thousands, Brett couldn’t justify turning these paper-intensive cases away. As she watched Mrs. Jarvis sign her contract and present her hefty retainer, Brett knew Tony would be proud.
    Brett walked past Tony’s workspace and let the signed contract and cashier’s check glide through the air to rest on top of his desk. She kept walking and merely waved over her shoulder when he called out his praise. She knew he would waste no time opening a new file, sending a letter of representation to the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, and scheduling employee interviews, all details Brett had no patience for. If she didn’t have Tony, she would never even consider taking these white collar federal cases. She preferred the relatively paper-free atmosphere of the state courthouse where deals were done with a handshake rather than multiple versions of a written agreement passed back and forth between sides.
    Sliding behind her desk, Brett smiled at the fresh cup of coffee faded with heavy cream waiting next to her computer keyboard. No matter how much he fussed at her, Tony fussed over her just as much.
    Brett switched on the power to her twenty-inch monitor and scanned her e-mail. She understood the necessity of having a BlackBerry, but she hated trying to read messages on the postage stamp-sized screen and her thumbed-out responses were usually unintelligible. She preferred answering her e-mails when she could actually see them on