“He was my partner, but he left the firm.”

“Yes. Joined Blaine, Cox, Amber and Cox, didn’t he?”

“They gave him a very handsome offer.”

“Married an Amber, I understand. Their youngest, the pretty one. I was invited to the wedding but was overseas at the time.”

“I couldn’t make it either,” I said, though I hadn’t missed it because I was overseas. I think there was something on television I needed to see that night, The World of Disney on Ice maybe, or something.

“I suppose the marriage might have had something to do with the offer.”

“Something.”

“That leaves you with two lawyers now, is that right?”

“Yes, sir.” Prescott had done more than merely glance through the file.

“I assume Mr. Guthrie took a number of his clients with him,” he continued. “But he didn’t take this case. Tell us why not, Victor.”

“Because it barks,” said Madeline.

I glanced sideways at her and let out a soft growl under my breath.

“Do you know what the key to any successful law practice is, Victor?” asked Prescott.

I couldn’t help my bitter smile. “Obviously not, sir.”

“Objectivity,” he said, with a rich man’s certainty. “It’s all too easy in this business to take positions that satisfy our emotions but that ultimately hurt our clients. It’s all too easy to let our passions stir.”

I tried but failed to imagine passions stirring in the formal upright man before me.

“Now we’ve given you all our files and you’ve found nothing,” he continued. His graveled voice, still precise and formal, now gained a touch of anger, just a hint, but just a hint was enough to send me slinking back in my chair. “Some minor discrepancies between the information we received and what went out in the prospectus, yes, but not enough to show a pattern.