The people gathered at the table turned to look at the white-blinded windows. Olivia took a seat without stepping into her office. Quinn lifted the first photograph off the table.
"Meet Tood Hartbloom: before."
Male, caucasian, blonde hair, blue eyes. Fairly attractive. Muscular.
"Left a promising, fairly luxurious future to work in construction. Didn't even finish high school," Quinn continued. "And now, meet Todd Hartbloom: after."
"Dayum!" Marcus exclaimed as Quinn smoothed down the photo she had just placed on the window.
"As you can see, the steel rod entered his back and protruded at least half a foot out of his chest," Huck explained, "accident at work: appears to be from a fall. That's what he says. That's what it looks like."
"Mr. Hartbloom wishes to sue his employer: the Pine Resin Construction Company, for unsafe working conditions resulting in his injury," Olivia informed them.
"Didn't he get compensation?" Marcus asked.
"He didn't need it," Olivia answered him, "despite the rather unfortunate accident, Mr. Hartbloom recently stumbled upon an unexpected windfall."
"A payoff?" Marcus asked.
"Inheritance," Quinn answered him. "Todd is sole heir to the Hartbloom Real Estate empire, due to his father being declared insane 5 years ago."
"So he wants to be famous, as well as rich," Marcus concluded. "High profile case, a real estate company and a guy who used to work in construction. He wants a profile to build up a new business. This is basically advertising by courtroom."
"And he's our new client," Olivia informed the room. "Todd may be rich, but he's been slumming it for a few years and has never played this game before. He came to us first before pressing charges because he knows that, and doesn't want to give Pine Resin a chance to prepare themselves."
"Our job," she continued, "is to dig up so much dirt on Pine Resin that they'll beg to settle out of court."
"On it," Huck declared as he attached a projector cable to his laptop. "Pine Resin has been sued at least 12 times in the past for workplace accidents and been cited at least 30 times in other states for safety violations at its sites."
"So they have a pattern of negligence," Marcus concluded, "Huck just did all our work for us."
"Nothing is ever that simple," Olivia remarked as the elevator doors opened and someone walked in. "If all that information can be found in a 10-minute internet search, Mr. Hartbloom wouldn't have hired us."
The person took off the hat they were wearing and folded up the sunglasses they had taken off before they had reached that floor.
"Ready?" Mellie Grant asked. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"You're never interrupting anything, Mellie," Olivia declared as she rose from her seat, "let's get started."
They heard the office door being unlocked and Mellie settled in before the boss returned.
"We need more information. Something more current: most of those cases are from the last millennium, and the most recent incident -apart from this one- is dated 2003. Handle it."
She walked out of the room with full confidence in herself, and those seated at the table behind her.
"So," Olivia stated before she closed the office door behind her, "where were we?"
"I made the changes you-" Mellie was heard saying before the conversation was muffled.
"That is a weird-ass situation," Marcus remarked. Huck and Quinn had the same thought, but kept it to themselves.
"She's obsessed with the fetus of Mellie's campaign," Quinn risked remarking, "and we're handling a simple workplace dispute."
Huck looked at her.
"Well it's true," she defended, "we're going to solve this thing in two hours tops. Easy money. No challenge at all. She wants us occupied so we won't disturb her while she and the Senator edit a memoir."
"She has another plan," Huck stated as he shut his laptop down, "she must have."
"Hey at least we ain't dealing with spies, exploding cars and conspiracies," Marcus declared.
"Huck and I will visit the construction site where the accident happened," Quinn declared as she checked her jeans pocket for her keys.
"I guess that means I'm going to Pine Resin HQ."
"Where else would you go?" Huck asked as he walked out. It was obvious he didn't need an answer.
"Wait," Quinn observed aloud as they made their way to the elevator, "you grabbed a sandwich before you left. You never carry food with you when we're working. Are you...sick?"
"It's for the homeless person across the street," Huck remarked, "been sitting on the sidewalk for a few days. Must be hungry."