Lake News by Barbara Delinsky Page A

you, it doesn’t matter, because no damage has been done. They’ll try to prove that your life has been filled with lies.”
    Lily was beginning to panic. “What about my rights? Why do they come last?”
    â€œThey don’t come last. But the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech.”
    â€œWhat guarantees do I have? The media has no right to do this to me.”
    â€œThat’s why we sue.”
    â€œAll I want is a retraction. I don’t want money.”
    â€œWell, you ought to. This kind of case can cost upwards of a million dollars.”
    She nearly choked. “Cost me a million dollars?”
    â€œBetween legal fees, court costs, jury consultants, experts, private investigators.”
    She felt weak in the knees. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
    â€œFew people do.” He studied her, inhaled loudly, laced his fingers. “Look. I don’t normally take cases unless the client has the full ability to pay—I mean, I have to live, too—but what’s happening to you is a disgrace. So this is what I can do. I’ll handle the case for two fifty, plus an additional fifty for expenses, plus twenty-five percent of what you recover.”
    â€œTwo fifty.”
    â€œTwo hundred and fifty thousand.”
    She gulped in a breath that went down the wrong way.It was a long minute of pressing her chest and trying not to cough, before she was able to say, “I don’t have that kind of mm-money.”
    â€œYour family does.”
    She drew back.
    â€œI read there was a family business,” he said.
    â€œIt’s a working business. There isn’t cash lying around.”
    â€œThere’s land. That would be good collateral for a loan.”
    â€œI can’t ask that,” Lily said. Cash, a loan—it didn’t matter. She couldn’t ask her mother for money. Nor could she imagine Maida giving it. She was the greatest disappointment of Maida’s life—the daughter who went bad, the one who played with fire and got burned. It didn’t matter that Lily led a truly honest, upstanding life. Maida saw her through a different pair of eyes.
    The lawyer sat forward, hands still laced, a little too relaxed now, a little too slick. “I understand your hesitance—”
    â€œNo, you don’t,” she interrupted angrily. “This is my life. I haven’t taken a cent from my family since I was eighteen, and I won’t do it now.”
    â€œI understand your hesitance,” he repeated in a tone—and with a look—that said she would be wise to let him finish, “but if family’s good for anything, it’s for coming to the rescue in time of trouble. I did read that you don’t get along with your family, but if they have money that can get you out of this mess, my advice is to take it. Good lawyers don’t come cheap. You won’t get a better deal than the one I’m offering.”
    But Lily couldn’t ask her mother for money. And even if she had the money herself, she couldn’t conceive of spending it all on this. She hadn’t done anything wrong!
    Quietly she stood. “I need to think. Thank you for coming. I appreciate your time.” She headed for the door.
    He followed, but his face was more mottled when she turned to him next. “I won’t offer this again,” he warned. “If things heat up and get worse, I’ll have to charge you more.”
    She nodded her understanding.
    With one foot in the hall, he turned back, pleasant again. “No need to make a decision now. My offer stands for another day or two. Let me warn you, though. You’ll get calls from other lawyers who’ll offer to take the case on contingency alone, and it’ll be mighty tempting for you to do that, but you won’t get the quality. Given the out-of-pocket costs that a case like this will demand if it’s done right, no good lawyer will work on