Free I Told You to Be Careful (Gold Streaks Book 2) by Sylvie Nathan Page A

sink. Comes back to the table.
    “I'll see you after your slow day, then.” She leans in and kisses Sue's hair. Sue grips her hand.
     
    “Do that.”
     
    “I will.”
     
    Ten minutes later, the sun has risen over the hills and the kitchen is empty; its occupants off to begin the new day at work.

Chapter 2
     
    “Ms Marsden? Telephone for you...”
     
    “...As I was saying, we have a client with a malpractice case...”
     
    “...Don't forget the budget meeting...”
    “L? Do you have paperclips?”
    Chaos . Lisa thinks it. Somewhere under her carefully-schooled exterior, she is laughing; a bubble of joy welling up somewhere in the region of her stomach. Ever since her elevation to the position of senior partner last month, Lisa has been the eye of the cheerful storm of chaos that is the Naidu and Marsden legal practice.
     
    “No, Titus. No paperclips here...try the front office?” Lisa grins over the shoulder at the junior lawyer who is sitting in front of her desk, to the tall African man who has appeared in the doorway in full legal regalia. She turns back to the man in front of her.
    “...You were asking?” She prompts him, kindly.
    Lisa sits and listens to the young lawyer's dilemma. He looks nervous despite the fact that Lisa is not particularly intimidating; or at least not today. Her red-pale hair is tied back in a French braid, wisps of it escaping to fluff around a freckled, open face. She is wearing a maroon blouse and tweed blazer; the mahogany brown offsetting the warm, lively red-brown of her eyes. Still, he seems nervous.
    She is about to reply, when the secretary reappears.
     
    “Ms Marsden? Telephone call for you.”
     
    “Sorry, Laura. I didn't hear you the first time.” Lisa grins wryly. “I'll take it in the front office.”
    She smiles apologetically at the young lawyer, makes a promise to return as soon as the call finishes.
     
    “Lisa Marsden; from Naidu and Marsden.” Lisa answers the phone. Then, “Yes. Yes of course.”
    A few more minutes finalizing details, and then Lisa is back in her office.
    She spends a few minutes advising her junior partner on his problem with the case, and when he leaves, she turns to her appointments-book, smiling, to make a note. Then she goes online and starts reading; researching the case as best she can thus far.
     
    “I found some.”
    Titus has reappeared in the doorway, a box of paperclips in hand and a broad grin on his face. Since he started with the firm six years ago, Titus and Lisa have been close friends. Now that she is a partner in the firm, he has taken her position as the most senior lawyer, and Lisa enjoys his company and advice now as always.
     
    Lisa smiles. “Well done!” She indicates the seat opposite her desk; inviting him to join her.
    “T? What do you make of this?” Lisa asks.
     
    “What, L?”
     
    “Well, I just had a call from Brinkman Car Assembly. They want us to defend them in a suing case.”
    Titus smiles “That's great! They'll certainly pay, anyway.” He raises his eyebrows archly.
    Lisa nods, smiling. “That's true.”
     
    Brinkman Car Assembly is the local car assembly factory, and one of the firm's newest and most prestigious clients.
     
    “Is there a problem with the case?” Titus asks. He knows Lisa must have a concern, or she wouldn't have mentioned it straight away like this.
     
    “Well...” Lisa begins. “It's fairly straightforward, on paper. One of the luxury cars assembled at the plant recently malfunctioned – a faulty connection to the battery, apparently; which caused the car to stall at the wrong place and time. A woman was killed in the resulting accident. Her husband blames the company for issuing a faulty car, and is suing them.”
     
    Titus looks surprised, eyebrows raised.
    “That's a terrible thing, that happened.” He says, sympathetically. “That poor woman. Her poor husband.” He sighs. “Besides the sadness of the whole thing, is there a problem?” He asks