Phillip Margolin - The Associate

April Fairweather were both staring, openmouthed. Daniel’s anger turned to embarrassment. He mumbled an apology and rushed toward his office. Daniel was almost there when it dawned on him that Kate had the hard drive. He was about to go to her office when he saw a security guard standing in front of his door. He hurried the rest of the way. As soon as the guard spotted Daniel, he blocked the entrance.

“I work here,” Daniel said. “What’s going on?” “I’m sorry, Mr. Ames,” the guard said firmly but politely, “but you can’t go in until we’re through.” Daniel looked over the guard’s shoulder. A second guard was emptying his files into a box. “What about my things, my personal items like my diplomas?” “You can have them as soon as we’re through.”

The guard held out his hand. “I’ll need your keys.” Daniel was thoroughly humiliated. He wanted to fight, to protest, to scream that he had rights, but he knew that there was nothing he could do, so he meekly handed over his office keys. “How much longer will this take?

I’d like to get out of here.” “We’ll be done soon,” the guard answered. A crowd was starting to gather. Joe Molinari placed his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “What’s going on, Ames?” “Briggs sacked me.”

“Ah, shit.” “It wasn’t a surprise. I’ve seen this coming since the deposition.” “Is there anything I can do?” Joe asked. “Thanks, but it’s over. Briggs needed a scapegoat and I’m it.” Molinari squeezed Daniel’s shoulder supportively. “Look, I know people. I’m going to ask around. Maybe I can line up something for you.” “I appreciate the offer, but who’s going to hire me? What kind of letter of recommendation do you think Briggs is going to write?” “Don’t think like that. Briggs doesn’t control every law firm in Portland. You’re good, amigo. Any firm would be lucky to get you.” “I don’t know if I want to keep practicing law, Joe.” “Don’t be a defeatist asshole. This is like riding a polo pony. When you get thrown you don’t just lie on the ground feeling sorry for yourself. You get your ass back in the saddle and play on. I’ll give you a day to mope, then we’re going to figure out how to get you back working horrible hours and taking abuse from intellectual inferiors.” Daniel couldn’t help smiling. Then he remembered Kate. “Can I use your phone? They won’t let me into my office.” “Sure.” “Thanks, Joe. For everything.” “Aw shucks, you’re making me blush.” Daniel shook his head. “You’re still a jerk.” Joe laughed and they started walking toward Molinari’s office. When they reached his door, Daniel turned toward his friend. “This is a private call, okay?” “Say no more.” Daniel closed the door and dialed Kate’s extension. Joe stood guard outside. “It’s Daniel,” he said as soon as she picked up. “Are you alone?” “Yeah, why?” “Briggs fired me.” “Oh, Daniel. I’m so sorry.” “I can’t say I didn’t expect it.” “You should fight this.” “I’m not sure I’d want my job back even if I could get it. Really, being fired might have been the best thing.” “How can you say that?” “I told Briggs that Geller might be covering up the fact that Insufort causes birth defects in little children. He threatened to have me arrested, to sue me. He wasn’t the least bit concerned that Geller is ruining the lives of all those kids and their parents. So I guess the question is, would I have accepted Reed, Briggs’s job offer if I knew I’d be using my legal education to protect a company that destroys lives for profit? “But that’s not why I called. I wasn’t thinking straight after Briggs told me I was fired and I told him that I had Kaidanov’s hard drive. He wants it by five today or he’s going after me.” “You didn’t…?” “No. I didn’t mention you. He has no idea that you have it and I want to make certain that he doesn’t find out. Can you get it to me? Briggs says he’ll have me arrested if I don’t give it to him and I’m in enough trouble already. And we have a copy, anyway.” “What are you going to do with the information?” “I don’t know, Kate, and I’m too mixed up now to make decisions.” “I’ll get you the hard drive before one.” “Thanks.” There was dead air for a moment. Then Kate said, “You’re a good person, Dan, and good people land on their feet. You’ll come out of this okay.” Daniel appreciated the sentiment, but he wasn’t sure that was the way things happened in the real world.

As soon as she left the medical examiner’s office, Billie Brewster drove west along the Sunset Highway. Twenty minutes later the detective took one of the Hillsboro exits and found herself in open country where rolling green hills and a sweeping blue sky formed a backdrop for the three interconnected, black-glass-and-polished-granite buildings in the Geller Pharmaceuticals complex. The main attraction in Building A was an atrium with a three-story waterfall that started just under a tinted-glass roof and occupied one corner of the spacious lobby.

Billie learned the location of Kurt Schroeder’s office at reception and walked up a staircase near the atrium that led to the second floor. A glass-encased sky bridge connected the main building to Building B, which housed research and development. Moments after Billie flashed her badge at Schroeder’s secretary she found herself seated across from Geller’s chief medical adviser. “Dr. Schroeder, I’m Detective Brewster with Portland homicide.” “Homicide?” Schroeder said nervously. “Yesterday evening I was at a building that was destroyed in an arson fire. There were approximately twenty dead rhesus monkeys inside. They were set on fire in their cages.” “That’s terrible, but what does this have to do with me or Geller Pharmaceuticals?” “The records show that Geller owns the property where the building is located. We think it’s a primate lab.” Schroeder’s brow furrowed. “All of our research is conducted in this building. We do own property apart from this campus for expansion, but it’s undeveloped. If you found a lab, it wasn’t Geller’s.” “A body was discovered in the lab, Dr. Schroeder. The corpse was badly burned, but we can tell it’s a forty-five- to fifty-five-year old white male, and we think it might be Dr. Sergey Kaidanov.” “Kaidanov! My God! He disappeared more than a week ago. We’ve been looking for him. This is terrible.” “Was Dr.

Kaidanov involved in primate research?” “That’s where the problem comes in. The plaintiffs in a lawsuit we’re defending produced what purports to be a letter from Kaidanov in which he claims to be conducting a primate study for our company, but we have no record of his being assigned to conduct such a study.” “A lawyer from the Reed, Briggs firm told me about that. That’s where we got the idea that the victim might be Kaidanov.” Schroeder shivered. “God, I hope not.” “You can help with the identification by sending me Dr. Kaidanov’s personnel file. His dental records would be very useful.” “I’ll do what I can,” he answered, apparently shaken by what he had learned.

Brewster handed Schroeder a paper with the location of the destroyed building. “Can you check to see if your company has a lab on the property?” “Certainly. I should have an answer for you in a day or so.” Brewster stood. “Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Schroeder.”

“Of course.” He paused. “I hope you’re wrong about Kaidanov.” “I hope so, too.” • • • There were several phone messages waiting for Billie when she got back to the Justice Center. Halfway down the pile was a message from missing persons. Even though she was pretty certain of the identity of the body at the lab, Brewster had phoned them from the medical examiner’s office and asked for a list of men who matched the description that Forester had given her. She dialed the extension for missing persons. “Hey, Billie,” Detective Aaron Davies said, “I got a live one for you. A guy named Gene Arnold. He’s a lawyer from Arizona.