I felt a thrill ripple through me just then, the thrill of a settlement on the horizon, of money in my bank. Without changing a card, my poker hand had grown brawny.

Keeping his eyes focused on mine, he said, “Madeline, what were the most recent figures discussed?”

“Plaintiffs demanded half a million dollars,” she said through a smirk. “We offered five thousand.”

“It hadn’t seemed worth pursuing,” I said.

“Well, let’s try, Victor,” said Prescott. “Even if you won everything you’d win what? A million dollars?”

“We’ve asked for punitives.”

“Yes, and we’ve asked for sanctions for the filing of a frivolous lawsuit. We’ll say a million. You received tax benefits on the losses of about thirty percent, so let’s put actual compensatory damages at seven hundred thousand. Now tell me honestly, Victor, since this is all off the record, at what do you put your chance of actually winning? Five percent? Ten percent?”

“Fifty-fifty?” I hadn’t meant it to, but my answer ended up being phrased as a question.

“That’s a joke, right?” said Madeline.

“Be reasonable, Victor,” said Prescott. “We’re trying to work together here. Let’s put it at ten percent.”

“It’s not worth seventy thousand dollars,” said Madeline.

“Ten percent, Victor? Seventy thousand dollars. What do you say?”

One third of seventy thousand dollars came to something like twenty-three grand, enough to pay off our firm’s bills and make payroll and rent for the next month. I had to hold myself back from shouting yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. “It’s not enough,” I said. “You couldn’t try this case for less than a hundred thousand, and you still might lose. I’d go back to my clients with an offer of two hundred and fifty thousand.”