Fine-Feathered Death Read Online Free

wearing a shirt, tie, and scowl stood just inside. His glare at Ezra appeared explosive enough to ignite the older guy.
    I was beginning to know the feeling.
    From inside the office came a chorus of “No, no, no, no,” followed by a series of clamorous squawks. I recognized Gigi the macaw’s raucous ripostes.
    On top of that, the stranger spat stridently at Ezra, “You haven’t heard the end of this. Stealing clients is unethical.”
    Before Ezra could shout a retort, Borden stepped between them and stuck out his creased hand toward the stranger. “Nice of you to visit, Jonathon. And I’m sure any clients Ezra brought with him haven’t been coerced to allow us to do their work. It’s because they’re fond of Ezra and the results he gets. Right, Ezra?”
    “Yeah.” Ezra’s eyes were as angry as his accuser’s, but his voice stayed smugly soft. “They like me. They really like me.” He laughed. “Tell the other partners that they’d have been better off if they hadn’t let you convince them I was suddenly too old to practice law—which we both know wasn’t the real reason you got rid of me. Do you have enough clients left to keep the place running?” He didn’t pause for a response. “See ’ya sometime, Jonathon.”
    He stood back, and the man named Jonathon edged around him and stamped his furious glare on everyone nearby—including me. Mostly me. Maybe he’d given up on Borden, since his next comment was definitely aimed in my direction. “You really want to work with this guy? You’ll be damned sorry. Believe it.”
    I already did.
    But he wasn’t through. “He ruins everything he touches. Of course clients love him. He lets them run amok, do whatever they want, even if it’s illegal.”
    Before I could ask for an explanation, he stomped down the hall toward the exit.
    “You okay, Ezra?” Borden asked.
    “Never better, partner,” the snide senior said, then glanced at me. “So, Ballantyne, ready to work on my matter this morning?”
    I blinked, definitely uncomfortable to be suddenly put on the spot like this. I’d intended to broach the bumpy subject with Borden before talking again to Ezra about it.
    “I need to finish the brief I was working on last night,” I said. “And I want to discuss it with you first, Borden.” I hoped my stare spoke enough exclamatory sentences for Borden to understand what I really needed to talk about.
    It did. But spending twenty minutes immersed in the matter with Borden’s door closed behind us, I knew what I’d feared was the fact. Like Ezra, Borden had cadged his own caseload of clients from the firm where we both had formerly worked, Marden, Sergement & Yurick. He’d had a huge workload, which was why he’d wooed me to join him here.
    He’d also hired a growing stable of his own old cronies—stress the word “old.” His caseload was now adequately staffed with aging but agile attorneys who’d do a great job with them.
    The pet law matters I’d begun to bring in were still fairly few, and in any event weren’t likely to be lucrative.
    As a result, taking on Ezra’s clients would help assure my own longevity at the Yurick firm, since Borden wasn’t apt to want to boot out his aging buddies if the business dwindled. Seniors would have harder times finding other law jobs. At my age, more numerous doors might open to me. Supposedly.
    So much for Borden’s promise that we’d all have fun here, practicing law. The practicality of it was that, if I wanted to hang around, I needed Ezra’s meat-and-potatoes legal platter to keep myself employed.
    Ezra needed help. Borden wouldn’t order me to provide it, although we both knew that I owed him.
    But I couldn’t help cogitating on what Jonathon had said. Did Ezra act unethically? Counsel his clients to ignore the law?
    Even though I’d been exonerated, I didn’t need further ethics insinuations interfering with my legal career.
    I returned a couple of calls, then made the interoffice approach