The Devil's Advocate by Andrew Neiderman Read Free Book Online

eyebrows. Kevin knew they didn't believe him, as if there was no possibility of his ever having thought of going to another firm. Their arrogance began to get under his skin. "With another firm in the area?"
    "No. I'm . . . not at liberty to say any more just yet," he replied, the lie almost forming itself on his lips. "But I assure you, you will be the first to know the details. Excepting Miriam, of course."
    "Of course," Sanford said, but Kevin knew these three often made personal decisions without consulting their wives. That was another thing he despised about them—their relationships with their wives and children were too impersonal. He shuddered to think that someday the four of them might have been sitting around this office offering a partnership to a bright young attorney like himself who could easily have a much more satisfying and exciting career someplace else but who might be easily tempted to accept the security and respectability of (suddenly he thought, God forbid) Boyle, Carlton, Sessler, and Taylor.
    "Anyway, I'd better get back to my desk and finish up my paperwork on the Wilson case. Thank you for your half-assed expression of confidence in me," he added and left them staring at his wake.
    When he closed the door behind him, he experienced a sense of delicious freedom as if he were free-falling from an airplane. In a matter of minutes, he had defied his so-called destiny and stood back like someone in firm control of his future.
    Myra couldn't understand the wide smile on his face. "Are you all right, Mr.
    Taylor?"
    "I'm fine, Myra. Feeling better than I have in ... in three years, to be exact."
    "Oh, I. . ."
    "See you later," he said quickly and returned to his office.
    For a long time, he sat behind his desk, thinking. Then he slowly reached into his pocket and took out the business card Paul Scholefield had given him. He laid it before him on the desk and stared down at it, but he was no longer looking at it; he was looking beyond it, into his own imagination, where he saw himself in a city court defending a man accused of murder. The prosecution had a strong, circumstantial case, but they were up against him, Kevin Taylor of John Milton and Associates. The jury hung on his every word. Reporters followed him through the courthouse corridors, pleading for information, predictions, statements.
    Mary Echert tapped on his door and brought in his mail, interrupting his daydream.
    She smiled at him, but he could see from the expression around her eyes that the chatter had already begun.
    "I don't have any appointments today that I might have forgotten, do I, Mary?"
    "No. You are down to meet with Mr. Setton about his son tomorrow morning and asked me to get you the police report."
    "Oh. Yes. That's the sixteen-year-old kid who took a joy ride in his neighbor's car?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Fascinating case."
    She tilted her head, confused by his sarcasm. As soon as she left, he dialed John Milton and Associates and asked to speak to Paul Scholefield.
    Fifteen minutes later, he was on his way to Manhattan, and he hadn't even called Miriam to tell her what had happened.
    3
    Boyle, Carlton, and Sessler had comfortable, tasteful offices back in Blithedale. Almost twenty years ago, Thomas Boyle had converted a small, two-story Cape, Cod house into his and Sanford's offices. Part of the charm of the office was its homey atmosphere.
    One did feel relaxed there; perhaps too relaxed, Kevin thought. He had never had that reaction before. He had always appreciated the domestic touch in the curtains and drapes, the carpets and fixtures. He left one home every morning to go to another.
    That was his original way of thinking.
    But the moment he entered John Milton and Associates, all that changed. He had gotten off the elevator on the twenty-eighth floor, which had a spectacular view of downtown Manhattan and the East River. At the end of the hall were the oak double doors with scripted writing that proclaimed "John Milton and