Good Woman Blues (42 page)

“We really need to talk,” Laurie insisted.
She met Nadine’s chilly down-the-nose stare without flinching.

“Fine. Excuse us, Erikka. I’ll call you in a
few moments when we’re ready.” Nadine’s blue eyes flashed anger at
Laurie.

“No problem. Take your time.” Erikka went out
the door and closed it softly behind her. She stood waiting; arms
folded, and leaned against the carved wood door.

Nadine’s secretary looked up. “Anything
wrong?”

‘Take my advice. Go on your coffee break now.
Nadine is about to be in a foul mood.” Erikka could barely hear the
two women’s muffled voices. She didn’t need to, though.

“Gotcha.” The young woman made tracks down
the hall.

Seconds later, Nadine’s distinctive angry
screech made it through the thick wood. Erikka walked a few feet
away. “Laurie, girl. I almost like you today.”

The door jerked open. “I’m sorry you feel
that way, Nadine. I have nothing but admiration for the way you—”
Laurie backed out of the office and away from the furious boss as
she spoke.

“Oh, shove it up your ungrateful—” Nadine
muttered epithets as she spun around and strode back into her
office. The door slammed.

“Problem?” Erikka affected a guileless
expression.

“Not for me. I accepted a job with Jefferson
and Associates in Metairie. I start Monday,” Laurie said, with a
poorly disguised smirk.

“I know. Good luck.” Erikka smiled. Two of
her buddies from Jefferson had called Erikka to ask about Laurie.
Erikka told Gayle and Suzanne that Laurie was ambitious and
ruthless. The two women enjoyed extreme office politics. Laurie had
no idea just how many sharks had scented her blood.

“Guess you’ll be staying put. Limited
options. Too bad.” Laurie tried to look sympathetic and failed.

“Yeah, I’m gonna hang. Bill and Darryl asked
me to.” Erikka continued to smile at her.

“Bill and Darryl.” Laurie pursed her lips as
though trying not to laugh.

“Uh-huh.” Erikka headed down the hall.

“Sure they did. Anyway, I’ve got vacation
days, so I might as well use them. Fact is I’m leaving early today.
Wednesday to Sunday will be a nice long weekend. Before my new
senior position starts, that is.” Laurie walked beside Erikka,
happy to rub in her good fortune.

‘Too bad. You’re going to miss the fireworks.
Goodbye and much success.” Erikka gave her a tolerant pat on the
shoulder.

“What fireworks?” Laurie called after
her.

Erikka headed for her meeting with the
remaining partners. Nadine would have a much bigger reason to curse
and scream by the end of this day.

***

Glasses clinked as the four women toasted
each other, and then laughed. They sat in a booth at Zea’s on St.
Charles Avenue. The tantalizing aroma of steaks and other delicious
entrees wafted around them. Erikka had a virgin daiquiri. Terri
sipped white wine and unconvincingly hissed that her doctor had
said she could. Erikka rolled her eyes, but said no more. Hope
slurped down her second margarita and waved for the waitress. Karin
nursed her one and only glass of red wine.

Hope rested one arm along the back of the
bench behind Terri. “Gotta hand it to my girl. Erikka, I taught you
well.”

“You?” Karin let out a snort. “Please.”

“Yes, me. Tell ’em, Erikka. I told you to
watch ya back around that witch. Go on.” Hope leaned forward.

“She did.” Erikka nodded.

“Thank you.” Hope relaxed against the deep
red seat back.

“Nadine tried to put that knife deep in my
back, ladies. Too bad she didn’t realize that sistas know all about
being lied to.” Erikka laughed.

“Cheated on,” Karin added, with another
snort.

“Screwed over,” Hope jumped in with glee.
“Let’s face it. We have a genetic memory of fighting to survive
when the odds are against us. Passed down from our strong, proud,
and resourceful foremothers.”

‘Too true. Nadine never had a chance.” Karin
giggled, and shared a high five with her.

“Didn’t even see it coming,” Erikka replied,
and snapped her fingers in the air.

“Excuse me. As a representative of blue-eyed
soul sisters everywhere—” Terri paused when the three women hooted
at her comment. “Just let me say that we got a right to sing the
blues, too.”

“Okay, girl. Tell your story.” Hope grinned
at her.

“How about fighting to have a career against
less qualified men.” Terri looked at them.

“I’m a witness.” Karin blurted out her
amen.

‘Trying to live up to an unrealistic Barbie
Doll body image. Girl, I puked my way through high school.”

“Yeah. Who the hell made up them stupid
beauty rules anyway?” Hope said, with a scornful smack of her
lips.

“Don’t even get me started on the head trip
my society mother put on me. Eleanor Wainright Chatsworth lives on
pills. My third stepfather just put her in that fancy drug rehab
program, again.” Terri stared into her wineglass and gave a
melodramatic shudder. “I hate pills.”

Erikka understood for the first time Terri’s
aversion to medications. She put a hand on her friend’s arm. “Not
the same thing with us, babe. You’re nothing like her,” she said
gently.

Terri glanced up at her. “Thanks. Anyway,
here’s to four good women shaking the blues off our shoes.”

“Here, here.” Erikka said. They toasted each
other again. “I had the best damn lawyer in New Orleans. Y’all
should have seen her in court. She had me worried for about a
minute. Then she laid it on the line.”

“That’s wonderful, Terri. Erikka isn’t part
of the lawsuit anymore, right?” Karin pushed down Hope’s hand when
she waved for another drink.

“All of the work Erikka did for Layton was
only as an employee of Lewis, Calder and Brinkhaus. She never acted
independently without full knowledge of her boss. So only her firm
is on the hook. And that case ain’t looking too good. When I
present information about Alison Ray’s treatment history—”

“I’ve been thinking. Let’s not, Terri.”
Erikka had lost her taste for savoring victory all of a sudden.
“I’d feel lower than Nadine if we trashed the woman’s memory. It’s
all her family has left.”

“I know how you feel, but we’re just
presenting facts. I’m going to be very sensitive in the way I
present the in-formation,” Terri insisted.

“What if I convince Bill and Darryl to
settle?” Erikka looked at her.

“Last I heard they refused to settle. I have
to agree with the firm’s attorneys. They have a strong defense.”
Terri laid out her arguments in a clear fashion.

“But you have to admit losing her pension
pushed her over the edge.”

Like any good attorney Terri would not
concede the point. “No, I do not. She had some serious problems.
Alison Ray had years of serious problems pushing her over that
edge.”

“I know, but still,” Erikka replied, with a
pensive frown.

Erikka had spent long hours pushing around
the facts like puzzle pieces. The picture came through clearly. No
matter now she looked at it, her advice had helped corporate
crooks. As a result, Alison Ray’s one frayed lifeline had been cut.
Terri might be persuasive in the courtroom, but Erikka had come to
her own verdict.

‘Tell you what; I’ll have the firm offer to
settle by contributing to Children’s Hospital. They treated
Alison’s kid and a lot more like her,” Erikka offered.

“Nice gesture. But her bum ex-husband wants
the cash. I’ll help slam dunk his butt. Then you get the firm to
give that contribution.” Terri gazed at her.

“Yeah, Erikka. Her ex-scrub doesn’t deserve a
penny. Didn’t you say he was even behind in his child support? I’d
like to whip his ass my damn self.” Hope waved a hand in the
air.

“I have to agree, Erikka,” Karin put in. “Let
Terri handle him.”

Erikka tapped a finger on the tabletop.
“Okay. Now all I have to do is talk to the partners. They’ll see it
my way. More scandal is the last thing they want.”

“Now you’re talking. Wait, what did I miss?”
Karin wore a puzzled look.

“Seems Transome and Nadine were doing the
love monkey dance,” Erikka said, dropping her voice as she leaned
toward them. “Mrs. Transome hired a private detective. She gave the
pictures this guy took to Calder and Brinkhaus. Transome even had
another woman on the side as well, so he cheated on his wife
and
Nadine.”

“I’m too through. He’s got my ex-husband beat
hands down. I never thought anybody could one-up Carlo on being
sleazy.” Karin’s mouth formed a wide circle of shock.

The other women laughed hard. Erikka nodded.
“Oh yes. But the best news is the feds caught up with him. He’s
being extradited. Their financial crimes unit found his assets and
froze them.”

“See? Sleeping with that FBI field supervisor
finally paid off for me.” Terri grinned. She went back to sipping
her glass of wine.

Erikka shook her head with a grin. ‘Terri, we
really need to talk. Soon.”

“Yes, Mother. Until then, the party goes on,”
Terri tossed back with a wink.

“I hope they nail him. So many of those
executives are getting off,” Karin said.

“They will. His wife and Nadine are spilling
all they know. Women, when will we learn?” Erikka said.

She also thought of her mother and aunt.
Erikka wasn’t sure what she’d learned either. Calder and Brinkhaus
had offered her a real plum, junior partner. Nadine was on her way
out. In fact, Nadine had probably cleaned out her office over the
weekend. Monday morning would begin a new era. Nadine’s name would
be gone from the front door and letterhead soon.

“So you’re going to be the new female
powerhouse. The queen is dead; long live the queen. You deserve
it.” Terri lifted her glass to Erikka.

“Thanks, but I’m not going to dance on
Nadine’s grave. I haven’t given them an answer yet on their offer.”
Erikka sipped from her glass.

“What? Girl, you better jump on that job,”
Hope said with force.

“They just want to buy my loyalty and
silence. Nadine is cooperating with the feds. That means the nasty
details won’t come out. Her affair with Transome, the firm’s
negligence in supervising her actions, and more.”

“More?” Terri frowned. “As your lawyer, I
don’t like the sound of that at all.”

“Don’t sweat, counselor. Nothing too bad.
I’ve taken steps to correct a few operating procedures. We’re also
going to cut loose a few clients. Looking over the records, I saw
that the firm’s also been playing some numbers games. Calder and
Brinkhaus won’t survive another scandal, and they know it.”

For over a week, Erikka had put in long hours
revamping the firm’s policies and meeting with staff. Like Laurie,
two other employees had resigned. She’d interviewed three potential
new hires already. All her hard work had made her bosses comically
grateful. They hung on her every word and deferred to Erikka in
meetings. It was all she could do not to laugh in their faces. The
other result was she hadn’t seen Gabriel in two weeks. Their
conversations by phone had been brief. Erikka was either at the
office or at home asleep.

“Erikka is back on top. Correction, she’s
even higher. Go Erikka.” Hope grinned at her.

“That’s my girl we’re talkin’ ’bout,” Karin
added, with a nod.

“I just want to say how much I care about
y’all. Hope, you took me in. Put up with me invading your space.”
Erikka kissed her fingertips and pressed them to Hope’s cheek.

“I was glad to have you, sweetie. Kept me
straight for about a minute.” Hope smiled at her with affection.
She dabbed at the comer of one eye.

“As for you,” Erikka said to Karin. “Thanks
for making me remember values. Those long talks got me
through.”

“Anything for my friends. You know that.”
Karin gave her a quick, firm hug.

“And Terri, you saved my butt. I’m glad we
met.”

Terri blushed. “Me, too. I’m gonna take my
medication, so don’t worry about me. I promise.”

“We’re gonna be just fine. I’ve got a
feeling,” Erikka said softly.

“Good. Look in your crystal ball and find me
a handsome rich man then,” Hope wisecracked, still dabbing at her
eyes. Terri and Karin hooted at her for being superficial.

The poignant moment gone, they went back to
trading jokes and insults. The waitress finally arrived with their
food, apologizing for the delay. Erikka felt a swell of happiness.
They had the world on a string, for the moment, at least. Forget
the blues.

“Hey, Erikka. Don’t forget the little
people,” Hope said. She nudged Erikka in the side with her
elbow.

“I’ll be very gracious.” Erikka dipped her
head like a monarch acknowledging her subjects.

“Soon, life will be back to normal. Hard
work, long hours, and even longer shopping trips.” Karin gave a
contented sigh. “I’m glad.”

“Me, too,” Hope put in, with fervor. “You
forgot the parties.”

“Our fair-weather and so-superficial friends
can’t wait to see you. You know what’s even better than being in
with them?” Karin wore a wicked grin as she exchanged a glance with
Hope, who giggled.

“What?” Terri asked, before Erikka could
speak.

“Rubbing their noses in Erikka’s rise to
power,” Hope crowed gleefully. “They will be green enough to blend
with the grass.”

“What about Vaughn? I can’t wait to see that
chump’s face,” Karin said.

“I wanna come, too,” Terri pleaded.

“More the merrier. Let’s head over to Tip’s.
Some of the gang will be there. Third World is playing. Vaughn and
Charmaine are sure to be there.” Hope rubbed her hands together in
anticipation.

“Love da reggae, mon.” Terri did a wiggle in
her seat.

Their voices faded, as Erikka thought about
life being back to normal. The last thing she wanted was to end up
where she started. No more fast lane. As for the long hours, she
had neglected a certain country boy far too long.