“I bet your boss said wait for us, not wait with us.” Decker gave her a big smile. “I can’t imagine they’d want to tie up your valuable time, having you just sit back and twiddle your thumbs.”

“Yeah, they know how long a proper investigation can take,” Marge chimed in. “It’s hours of tedium and you know how these corporate types can be. Time is money.”

Decker opened the door. “We’ll call you when we’re done. Thanks for all your help.”

With a dubious look, Marie didn’t budge.

Decker let out a small laugh and held out his hands. “Hey, you can stay if you want. I, for one, certainly don’t object to the scenery.”

Marie lowered her head and stifled a smile. “I think I’m being conned.”

“By moi?” Decker said. “Heaven forbid.” He bowed and showed her the door. “Thanks for your cooperation.”

Marie paused, shook her head, then left with a smile on her face.

Marge whispered, “If some guy pulled an aw shucks stunt like that on me, I’d pop him.”

“Dunn, you would have made a piss-poor Southern belle.” Decker examined the next bit of mail. “Take a look at this, Margie. VerHauten again.”

Dated before the first piece of correspondence, the letter was single-spaced, the language and legalese complex and long-winded. Decker read it to himself. Marge scanned it silently as well, then began reading snippets out loud.

“Disputed certificate of ownership…unauthorized land parcels…international trade violations…” Marge raised a brow. “Looks like our boy Yalom was taking on the big boys.”

“To hear Gold talk, Yalom couldn’t compete. But damned if he couldn’t threaten.”

“And without benefit of an attorney.”

“That’s not as unusual as you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is a certain tiny percentage of the population that thrives on sticking it to major corporations. They usually file the motions themselves and become real gnats…gadflies. They wear the corporations down. Often the companies will settle just to get these nutcases off their backs.”

“You think Yalom was a nutcase?”

“From what we’ve heard, Yalom sounded like a pretty independent thinker. I can see him trying to handle something by himself. What I can’t understand is why a VerHauten representative answered Yalom personally in the first place. Someone should have smelled problem with a capital P. The complaint should have immediately gone to the corporation’s lawyers.”

“You’re the attorney,” Marge said. “Use your three years of night school and tell us why.”

Decker smiled. “Offhand, I’d say someone was attempting to manage Yalom with kid gloves. They didn’t want the lawyers involved right away because they didn’t want him to freak.”

“Meaning Yalom probably had something the corporation wanted. And VerHauten was attempting to keep the guy calm until they could figure out how to get it.”

Decker nodded. “You just summed up my thoughts.”