“And the hiring partner didn’t even remember having hired me to begin with, didn’t look up from his BlackBerry, and generally sucked. I’m definitely not cut out for a law firm.”

“Not so many people are, Sheila,” Matthew sighed. “Some of us have astronomical law school loans to repay, but if you don’t, there’s no need whatsoever to subject yourself to it.”

“Yeah, I know, so I’ll call the ACLU tomorrow. Speaking of—so the HR lady there told me something pretty interesting. Her sister works for Tarmac—a company owned by Robert Nussbaum.”

“Don’t you mean Tartac?”

“Ha! I had this same conversation with her. No, it’s definitely Tarmac, a spinoff from Tartac that specializes in tar for runways. Hence, the name,” I said, parroting Anika.

“And?”

“And they have no Web presence, are allegedly a tiny company, and I wonder if it’s possible that Tarmac, and not Tartac, made any contributions to Mayor Adams’s campaign and that’s why they were so chummy that day. It’s possible that the powers that be here just didn’t know to do a background check on Tarmac.”

“I suppose that is possible,” Matthew said, rubbing his forehead. “And I hope for everyone’s sake that that’s the case. Apparently Judge Greenman just decided today to vote with Adams in Nelson and the judge is furious. It didn’t help that Bob was ‘acting out’ again at home and she had to leave early. I honestly think if we lose the Nelson case, you and I might be going to the electric chair with Dell.”

Chapter Nineteen

Condoleezza Rice came to the Independence Center in early May. She was honored as one of the “Women Who Have Made America.” So, too, were Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Sandra Day O’Connor, Helga Friedman, Linda Adams, and a dozen or so others. Kate, Matthew, Evan, and I joined Judge Adams’s law clerks at the reception honoring our respective bosses. It was a sea of middle-aged and elderly women in pantsuits with their groupies—mostly young men and women like yours truly—also dressed in pantsuits.

Judge Friedman presented Columbia Sheila and Yale Matthew to Senator Clinton. Pregnant Kate was introduced as, well, Pregnant Kate, and Evan introduced himself to the cheese plate, where the rest of us assembled once the judge cornered the senator.

“Hillary, you don’t mind if I call you Hillary, now do you?”

“Of course not,” our former first lady said, shaking her head. Her coiffed bob didn’t budge. The judge needed to switch hairdressers.