Right let's get this over with. I made my way through Pearson Hardman as quickly as possible. Walking straight into Mr Specter's office I picked up the plain baseball he leaves out sometimes, and threw the ball towards him. "England's most grossing sport in 1995?"
"Soccer."
"You mean football?" Damn Americans.
"Po-tay-to po-tah-to. To what do I owe the displeasure of you treating my office as if it were your own?"
"Ms Paulsen says I have to visit once every few months and apparently I was overdue."
"Oh and you always do what Donna says?" He smirked. This man.
"Actually I didn't come to specifically see you I just thought I'd get you out of the way first."
"So Trent Devon believes he's getting a fair deal but. Oh, I'm sorry-" A man with dirty blond hair and slight stubble came bursting into the office.
"Who's the kid?" Something's up here.
"The kid is the same age as you." He replied as he threw the ball back.
"If he's my age then he's obviously an associate," I started whilst throwing the baseball between my hands, "and due to the fact that only Ms Paulsen, Ms Pearson and myself can walk in here without knocking must mean he's your associate. Now here's my problem, Pearson Hardman only hires from Harvard but he wasn't in my class. What's his talent?"
"Eidetic memory."
"Excuse me Sir what's on page 69 of the Barbary handbook?" I asked the blond.
"Civil liability associated with agency is based on several factors including the deviation of the agent from his path of reasonable inference of agency on behalf of the plaintiff and the nature of the damages themselves." He replied without missing a heartbeat.
"69? Really?" Mr Specter said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yes really." I turned to the other man in the room and asked "What was the first thing you learnt in law school?"
"Uh, well, it was-" My hunch was right, as always.
"So he didn't go to any law school?"
"No."
"Where did you find him?"
"My interviews, he was hiding from the police."
"Drugs?"
"Briefcase full of pot."
"Does Ms Pearson know?" I question. Mr Specter was looking very disinterested at this point whilst the younger man was tugging at his tie.
"Yes."
"Then I would like to take this opportunity to take you up on your job offer." Mr Specter was suddenly very interested in what I had to say again.
"I ask you to every time I see you, why now?"
"Well people like Mr..."
"Oh, Mike Ross." He cut looking a bit lost yet still managing to hold out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr Ross, Adele James." I said shaking his hand. "People like Mr Ross and I have to stick together."
"People like us?" Mr Ross asked confused.
"Mike, name a book you had to read in high school." Mr Specter asked getting up from his chair and rounding the desk.
"To Kill a Mockingbird." I nodded to Mr Specter then sat in his chair resuming passing the ball back and forth between my hands and idling swivelling side to side in a chair that most likely cost as much if not more than my bed.
"Now tell me Mike, how did Atticus Finch end his closing statement?" He asked.
"'I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system - that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen-"
"'Gentlemen, court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.'" I recited throwing the ball to Mr Ross with a flourish, which he unsurprisingly dropped after it hit him square in the chest.
Whilst Mr Ross scrambled on the floor to try and retrieve the ball myself and Mr Specter carried on with our conversation.
"What do you want?" I picked up the signed baseball on the right side of the desk tossing that in the air.
"This baseball, a desk next to Mr Ross', to stay in your apartment whilst I have wait to move into my new one and anything else when I come up with it."
"1 week."
"2 weeks."
"10 days."
"3 weeks."
Mr Specter and I had a silent argument and after I raised an eyebrow showing that II was clearly not messing around Mr Specter admitted defeat, for now. Every time, she thought he's making it too easy now.
"Fine, 2 weeks. But not a minute longer." He said whilst snatching the now retrieved baseball from Mr Ross' hands.
"I'll go tell Ms Pearson the good news."
"What the hell was that?!"
"That was your new babysitter." Adele always new how to make a memorable first impression on people.
"She knows my dirty little secret Harvey! What if-"
"Do you really think I would willingly tell her if I thought she would then go on tell everyone? Like I've said a million times, it's not just your job on the line here." You'd think even without the eidetic memory he would remember that.
"So are you having another associate? I thought you hated the idea of one until you found this diamond in the rough?" Mike replied with a smirk lounging on my couch completely at ease now he knew he wasn't at risk of losing everything.
"I still do. But compared to you Adele is a 24 karat gold ring whilst you're a Haribo gummy ring." That wiped the smirk off his face.
"Well if she's so good, why isn't she already working for you?"
Opening my laptop to get Adele's contract started I replied "Because she didn't want to."
"You're kidding?" Oh, how I wish I were.
"No. Something about being too good for this place. Now, don't you have some big finding that was important enough for you to barge into my office, again?"
This find could not have come at a better time. I'd just finished my second theorem so I've had a considerable amount of free time on my hands so a new job will do just the trick. Plus, I'd began to miss everyone from Harvard. After a brief word with her assistant to check whether she was available I knocked on Ms Pearson's door.
"Come in." She called without looking up from the file she was currently reading. I walked through the threshold of her open door and sat in my usual seat on the left side of the sofa, kicking off my heels and tucking my feet under myself.
"How's my favourite Brit?" Ms Pearson asked finally looking up from her work.
"I'm well thank you. Yourself?"
"Considering you've caught me after a long week, I'm thankful it's Friday." She replied as she joined me on the sofa. "Donna force you into another visit?" She asked with a raised eyebrow perfectly sculpted to complement her round eyes, which makes her extremely persuasive. Useful in her line of work I think.
"Ms Paulsen did say I was due a visit but I was planning one anyway. I met Mr Ross though. Which is why I decided to accept Mr Specter's job proposal."
"Because of the kid?" she asked with her right eyebrow joining her left.
"Yes. I bet all the other associated are wary of him, not only for his memory, but for the fact that they can't remember him from Harvard. Also I bet he can't complete the basic form filling or the procedures to file a subpoena without help. So with me here I can back him up with the other associates saying that I knew him in law school and help him with the basics."
"But what's in it for you?" She asked crossing her legs at her ankles. She always told me a lady never crosses a leg over your knee in public.
"Now Ms Pearson you know that's not how I work. Also I just finished a big theorem and am in need of a change of scene."
"Yes, I heard about that. Congratulations. Although, the Banter Theorem? Where did that come from?" She asked a slight smirk on her face.
"My old school friends from the UK were always doing stupid things justifying it by saying they did it 'for the banter' so I decided to name my theorem that 'for the banter.' Their faces were priceless when I told them."
"Well, I'll be looking forward to the day you start Adele. We were in need of a female to whip the other associated into shape."
My next stop was the bullpen, my work space come Monday. There were only a few people in there Mr Ross being the only one that I recognised, well his was the only hair that I recognised. As I approached I could see that he was hunched over a file highlighting a paragraph and annotating it. I tapped him on his should and his head snapped up with the glassy look leaving his eyes as he recognised me.
"Oh, hey Adele."
"Mr Ross, I see the desk next to you is free already."
"Yeah, a fifth year associate was upgraded to an office."
"Adele?" My head snapped around at the mention of my name.
"Durant!" I said running into to his outstretched arms.
"I had a feeling you'd be by soon. Please tell me it was to take a job here." He said as he pulled back from my hug.
"It is actually, I start Monday."
"That's fantastic. The desk next to mine will be free then-"
"I'm actually on the desk next to Mr Ross."
"Ross? How come?"
"Because I always said in law school that if we both end up at the same law firm I'd work next to him. Right Mr Ross?" I turned raising an eyebrow to prompt him.
"That you did." He managed to get out surprisingly smoothly.
"Well, we'll have to catch up over the weekend," I said turning back to Mr Durant, "the usual coffee shop by yours?"
"Sure, give me a text tomorrow. I'll see you then."
"Yeah, see you then." He walked in the direction of Mr Litt's office throwing a wary glance at Mr Ross. "Come with me." I said in Mr Ross' general direction heading to talk with a certain Senior Partner.