CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
that afternoon, Jordie stuck his head in my office and asked me to come down to the conference room. I grabbed my coffee mug and walked down the hall to join them. Alma had made yet another fresh pot of coffee and I silently thanked her for keeping us caffeinated.
"What's up?" I asked as I walked into the room.
"Come sit down and listen to what we've got," Jordie said. He was holding a stack of papers that looked like they'd been stuffed in the bottom of a backpack.
"Okay, lay it on me, guys," I said as I sat down and prepared to hear their game plan. Jordie looked at Roger and nodded.
"Alright, well, we've gone through Lydia's client list and narrowed it down to the top ten clients we think we might be able to attract," Roger began.
"Just ten?" I asked with mock surprise.
"Well, we've got another ten backups just in case these don't work out," Roger said. "But we thought that if we went after more than ten it would look suspicious."
"Oh, and mining a dead lawyer's client list the day after she's pulled out of the water isn't at all suspicious?" I said.
"There's no need for sarcasm, Brooke," Jordie warned. He was right, but I was thinking about how all of this would play out in the papers. Especially since I'd be the face of the firm.
"I know, I'm just thinking ahead," I said. "You guys have thought about how this is going to play out, right?"
"Yep, we certainly have," Roger said. "That's why we've got a schedule for how each of these clients should be approached and an individual plan for how we can put ourselves in the path of client so that it doesn't look fishy."
"Seriously, Roger?" I said incredulously.
"What? Too soon?" he said with a crooked grin.
"Definitely too soon," Jordie piped in. "Okay, so what we're going to do is fan out and do a wide sweep of the client list. Roger and I are good for the clubs and parties since we're already well-known on the circuit."
"I guess your wild ways will come in handy, after all," I said with a wry grin.
"I told you we were laying the ground for something important," Roger insisted. I wanted to smack the goofy grin off of his face, but I knew he was completely serious, so I let it pass.
"So, where do I come in?" I asked.
"We want you to land the big fish," Jordie said as he handed me a crisp sheet of paper that contained three names. I looked at it and inhaled sharply. "I know it's asking a lot for you to try and talk with these people, but we figured that with your dad's connections you might be the one best suited to approach them."
"Jesus, Jordie, are you serious?" I asked.
"Deadly," he replied. "If we can land one of those three, then we'll be set for at least a year, and the publicity alone will give us a high profile and attract more clients."
"You're talking about vying for one of three different high profile businessmen in LA," I said. "Don't you think that they might be wary of the fact that we'd offer to represent their rivals?"
"We thought about that," Roger said. "And, we decided that it's more of a push game. We play them off of each other and then pick the one that shows the most promise."
"Or we end up pissing them all off and being frozen out entirely," I said. "Did you wise guys think about that?"
"It's a risk no matter how you look at it, Brooke," Jordie shrugged. "Either we go big or we go home."
"What's the game plan if they find out that we're playing them against each other?" I asked.
"We tell each of them that the others have pursued us, but that we only want to represent them," Roger said.
"This is a very risky game, my friends," I said shaking my head. I had a sinking feeling about this for more than one reason. I knew that the guys had done the best they could, but I didn't like where this was headed and I wasn't sure I was willing to do what it would take to play the game the way they wanted.
"It's not worth it if it's not a big risk," Jordie said. "Are you in?"
I looked back down at the list in front of me: William Grant III, Ari Bloomberg, and Dax Malone. I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I'm in, but I want you to know that it's reluctantly. I don't like this one bit."
"Duly noted," Jordie nodded. "We'll do our best to make it work on our end, Brooke."
"We'll do everything in our power to try and mine our list first," Roger added.
"I hope this works," I said as I looked at the two of them. "Because if it doesn't, we're going to be in hot water."
"Well, you know what they say," Jordie said. "Getting into hot water helps keep you clean!"
I raised an eyebrow, nodded and stood up. "I hope that's true, Jordie," I said as I turned and walked out the door clutching the list that was either going to make or break us.