“I really don’t. It’s shocking and completely unexpected. However, if you’re looking at anyone on the plaintiff side of the litigation as a suspect, I can tell you, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Yes, a lot of people were angry at Brink, but I made it clear to the women and their families that any kind of violence or illegal behavior worked against us. The last thing we need to do is give the judge an excuse to rule against us on key motions.”

“That didn’t work out too well for Erica Brink,” I pointed out. “She got a face full of pig’s blood.”

“You’re right. Except that wasn’t us, either.”

“No?”

“No. Erica wasn’t the target, and neither was Gordon. Jay was. It was kids at school who did it. They simply hit Erica by mistake.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I am. Will told me.”

“Do you know who did it?”

“Yes, I do, but I’m not going to tell you. Sorry, but it’s not my job to help you do yours. Anyway, Will laid into the kids who did it, and you don’t want to mess with my son. They won’t do it again.”

I shook my head, because Norm had an answer for everything, and his replies left us nowhere to go.

“We talked to Sandra,” I told him.

“Yes, I heard about that,” he replied smoothly. “Please don’t do that again without me present. She’s my client, and I don’t want her answering any questions without counsel.”

“Even if she’s innocent?”

“Because she’s innocent,” Norm said.

“Okay. Well.” I found myself stumbling, like Ajax. “If it was no one on the plaintiff side—”

“Then was it someone on Gordon’s side?” Norm continued calmly. “I have no idea about that. I didn’t see any of his people outside of the deposition proceedings, and hardly any of them said a word to me. They were all eager young associates. None of them struck me as Jack the Ripper, but as Darrell likes to say, you never know.”

“Sandra mentioned a secretary who didn’t seem too happy with the questions Gordon was asking. She didn’t know her name, but said she was sort of an Amy Irving look-alike.”

“Penny Ramsey.”

“Did you see any tension between her and Gordon?”

“Hard to say. Penny’s young, so she may have a few remnants of her soul left. Souls don’t last too long at corporate firms, you know. But tension? I didn’t notice. Sandra probably has a better eye than me for things like that. If she saw it, it’s probably true.”

Norm checked his watch, which was the signal for us to move it along.