Gray Mountain (49 page)

Mattie was nodding and smiling. “We did the same thing.”

“I guess all law students suffered through it. I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep the night before. My co-counsel gave me a Xanax two hours before the argument, but it didn’t help. I was so stiff I could barely utter the first word, then something strange happened. One of the judges hit me with a cheap shot, and I got mad. I began arguing with him. I unloaded case after case to support our position and really blasted the guy. I forgot about being scared—I was too focused on showing this judge how right I was. My ten minutes flew by, and when I sat down everybody just stared at me. My co-counsel leaned over and whispered one word: ‘Brilliant.’

“Anyway, it was my finest moment in law school, one I’ll never
forget. Which is to say, I’d love to take the Tate case all the way to the Supreme Court of Virginia, present the oral argument, make fools out of the lawyers for Strayhorn Coal, and win the case for Lisa Tate.”

“Go girl. It’s all yours.”

“So that’s eighteen months, right?”

“Something like that. You said there were three things you want to do.”

“The third is simply to finish the cases I have, take some new ones as they come along, and try to help our clients. And in doing so, I’d like to spend more time in the courtroom.”

“You have a flair for it, Samantha. It’s pretty obvious.”

“Thank you, Mattie. That’s very kind. I don’t like being shoved around by the Trent Fullers of the world. I want respect, and the only way to get it is to earn it. When I walk into a courtroom, I want all the boys to sit up straight and notice, and not just my ass.”

“My, my, haven’t we come a long way?”

“Yes, we have. Now, about this internship. If I’m spending the next two years here, I need some sort of a salary. Not much, but something I can live on.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. We can’t quite match your guy up in New York, but we can do okay for rural Virginia. Annette and I both make forty a year, so that’s the ceiling. The clinic can pay you twenty. Since you’ll be handling the Tate appeal, I can get the court to authorize another twenty out of Donovan’s estate. How’s that?”

“Forty might cause a little resentment from you know who.”

“Annette?”

“Yes. Let’s go with thirty-nine.”

“We can do thirty-nine. Deal.” Mattie thrust her hand across the table and Samantha shook it. She picked up Andy’s e-mail and said, “Now I need to get rid of this jerk.”