Seeley said, “Palmieri's the only one on the team who knows where the evidence is. He has all the exhibits and depositions indexed and cross-indexed on his laptop. If he's not next to me, I can't cross-examine witnesses.”

“Get someone else on the team up to speed.”

“No. I already told Palmieri it's going to be him.”

Barnum turned to Leonard. “Your brother's a real piece of work.”

“I already told you, if you don't want me to run your trial, I can be on a plane tonight.”

“I'm going to be up there with you at counsel's table.”

Barnum would use his bulk, Seeley thought, to hide Palmieri from the jury. “That's fine,” Seeley said. “So long as there's room.”

“I might as well tell you now, I'm not like other GC's you've worked for. They see a trial coming and they run the other way. My first job out of law school was in the San Mateo County DA's office. I like going to trial and, when I get there, I keep a tight grip on the wheel.”

Seeley said, “I'm sure you've taken the company's trial work to a new level.”

After Barnum left, Leonard said, “You haven't lost it, have you? Your talent for pissing off a complete stranger.”

“My only interest is in winning this case. But I'm not going to let your general counsel abuse my team.”

Leonard unfolded and buttoned a sleeve of his sport shirt. “Ed's okay. Give him some room.” He buttoned the other sleeve. “Steinhardt's waiting for you. I'll take you to his office.”

Seeley followed Leonard down a carpeted corridor lined with rows of cubicles, only a few of them occupied.

“Once we scale up and go to market, every one of these desks is going to be busy with marketing and backup.”

They crossed a wide corridor, and linoleum tile replaced the carpeting.

“What you told Ed, that there aren't any holes in the case-you're sure?”