The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme 12)

He turned and strode away.

She watched him go. After half a block, he looked back at her fast, and on his face was that boyish smile she remembered so clearly from so many years ago. A nod, then he was gone.

CHAPTER 14

Attorney Evers Whitmore logged onto one of Rhyme's computers and loaded Skype.

He typed in an account and Skype's electronic da-da-da tone of dialing filled the room. Rhyme moved closer so that both he and Whitmore were visible to the callee, as they could see in the bottom right-hand corner of the monitor.

"Juliette?" Rhyme asked. "Do you want to move closer?" She was out of view of the webcam.

"No," she said. And remained where she was.

A moment later an image fluttered onto the screen. A balding man in a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves was glancing at some papers in front of him. The desk he sat behind was paved with stacks of documents.

He looked up at the webcam. "You're Evers Whitmore?"

"That's right. Attorney Holbrook?"

"Yes."

"Now, I will tell you that also present are Lincoln Rhyme and to my right, though not visible, Juliette Archer, who are consultants working with me."

Cooper and Thom were absent. Whitmore had thought it best an NYPD detective and a civilian with no connection to the case might hamper the conversation that was about to happen.

"Accordingly, I am invoking the work-product doctrine. Are you willing to accept that they are cloaked by the attorney-client privilege as well?"

Holbrook looked up, handed a document to someone who had fire-engine-red nails and then returned to the lens of the camera. "Sorry. What?"

Whitmore repeated his request.

"Yeah, sure," Holbrook said. There was a tone of "Whatever" in his voice. Even though he was chief general counsel of Midwest Conveyance, maker of the deadly escalator, the man seemed far from either defensive or aggressive. Distracted mostly. And Rhyme now knew why.

The attorney concentrated on his webcam once more. "Been expecting to hear from somebody who represented Greg Frommer and his family. You're the attorney of record?"

"I am."

"I've heard about you," Holbrook said. "Your reputation, of course. Trans Europe Airlines, B and H Pharmaceuticals. You brought them to their knees."

Whitmore gave no response. "Now, Attorney Holbrook..."

"Damien's fine."

Good luck with that, Rhyme thought.

Whitmore: "Yes. You understand why I'm calling?"

"The press conference was a half hour ago. I assumed the attorney representing Frommer's family would hear. And therefore I'd get a call." Holbrook turned to the side and said, "I'll be right there. A few minutes. Get them some coffee." Back to the camera. "Do you have any theories of defect?"

"We do."

Holbrook offered, "Design flaw, no interlock to shut off the motor if the access panel opened accidentally?"

Whitmore glanced toward Rhyme then returned to the webcam. "I'm not prepared to discuss our theories."

"Well, that's a good one. And I'll go one further. The spring-loaded access panel." The lawyer actually chuckled. "Our design department added that because of workers' comp claims from maintenance people who claimed lifting the door pulled out their backs. Probably spurious... But we went with a spring anyway. And you'll probably find out, after the accident, our safety team went to every location that had escalators with spring-loaded access panels installed and detached the springs--before the city inspection. I know, sir, this's a case made in heaven for your client. You could have introduced post-accident modification to show admission of defect on our part. Under other circumstances we would've written a check, and a big one. Mrs. Frommer's going through a rough time, I'm sure. And my heart goes out to her. But, well, you did hear the news. I'm sorry."

"My paralegal hasn't gotten to bankruptcy court yet. We haven't read the filings."