Legal Briefs

“Keep your evenings free for the next week or so, Lily,” Abby said. “Our cousin Rebekah is about to have a baby boy.” Uh oh. I knew what that meant – the ritual circumcision.

“Oh no way! No way am I going to a bris!” Adam said forcefully.

“Why not?” Hannah said. “It’s not like you’ll be the only guy there.”

“And not one male present won’t be cringing and wishing he could grab his crotch the whole time. Going to Josh’s almost traumatized me. I can’t do that again. I can’t look at some infant lying there all happy and oblivious and trusting …”

“Oh Adam,” Sarah said, sounding exasperated. “You don’t remember yours, do you?”

“I don’t care! At that moment, I’m sure I was highly pissed off.”

“We’ll make sure you have the details,” Hannah said to me with a smile.

Adam seemed very agitated and he looked like he was about to tell Hannah where she could stick her details when his phone rang again. He went over to answer it and then went into the other room to take the call.

“I hope you don’t mind too much, Lily,” Abby said. “Think of it this way, you’ll get to meet our whole family.” I knew she was teasing but I actually didn’t mind. It may sound weird, but I had always wanted to be included with the Roth family. Being an only child, I had watched longingly as the kids laughed and joked together. Not to mention the fact that their parents seemed so warm and so … not my parents. I would have loved to have gone home with them, even if it meant having to be around Adam all the time, and that should tell you something.

“Yeah, well keep in mind that we just started trying out this dating thing. Adam and I tend to battle a lot.”

“That’s because nobody else has ever been able to get him so worked up. I’ve always said that he must be in love with you,” Hannah offered.

“I hope you didn’t say that to him, or you may have been taking your life in your hands.”

Adam came out of the bedroom then with a strange expression on his face. He put his phone down and gave me a funny look.

“Lily, you know that report we filed? Well, some people want to talk to us about it. I told them we would be there in an hour.”

“What report?” Hannah asked.

“I ran into a neighbor last night and he said something kind of odd that I thought I should tell the police about. Is that who wants to talk to us? The Philly cops?”

“Yeah, along with some other people. Okay, women. I’ve fed you. We have stuff that we have to do now.”

“Fine, just kick us out,” Sarah said, getting up and clearing up the table. Within ten minutes they were ready to leave, and to my pleasure, after giving their brother a goodbye hug, they gave me one too. As the door closed behind them I turned to Adam.

“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously.

“Apparently, your ex wants to see you. Maybe he misses you. “

“Who, Jacob? Adam, we dated for a few months back in law school. He graduated and went off to D.C. to work for the U.S. Attorney there. It wasn’t a big break-up or anything.”

“Sorry. It’s just that he and I get competitive sometimes. I think because people compare us a lot. Some people even confuse us.” Something about that comment struck a chord.

“Really? They actually confuse you?” I furrowed my brow and tried to think back …

“Yeah, I’m not sure why. We don’t look that much alike.”

“My neighbor, the bleeding one? The first time I spoke to him, I mentioned the bad neighborhood and he said at least I knew a prosecutor. I asked how he knew and he said he had to be in the criminal courts building for his job.”

“Yeah? And?”

“I’m wondering now if it was you he saw or Jacob. He just said prosecutor and criminal courts building. He didn’t say if it was the Philadelphia or federal court. Then last night he said tell the Moretti prosecutor. Maybe he confused the two of you.”

“It’s possible I suppose. I’ll tell you one thing, if a federal prosecutor, about to begin a big trial, is coming in to meet with us on a Sunday, he must be really interested in hearing about the fox in your building for some reason.”

“Where are we meeting them?”

“At the U.S. Attorney’s Office and I think you’re a little under-dressed. I’ll take a quick shower and change and then I’ll run you home so you can change before we meet with them.”

“You don’t want to shower together?” I asked with a flirty smile. God, I was such a little nympho, wasn’t I?

“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that it won’t be a quick shower then,” he answered, heading off to the bathroom. “I’ll make it up to you later,” he called over his shoulder.

Chapter Fifteen

We sat in the conference room for about ten minutes before the door flew open and Jacob, dressed to the nines and looking impeccable, even on a Sunday afternoon, came striding in with four other guys in suits following in his wake. He did really resemble Adam a lot, or at least, they were both tall, handsome men with dark hair and eyes. While they were both also very intelligent men, though, Jacob’s personality was different than Adam’s. He was more serious and he didn’t have Adam’s quick sarcastic wit. As I looked at him, I recognized that while I had once found him sexy as hell, he had never created the kind of reaction in me that Adam did.

Jacob took a seat at the head of the table, of course, while his companions spread out around him. He had the air of a king presiding over his court and I started to understand how he would really rub Adam the wrong way. Adam’s irreverence, in turn, probably drove Jacob nuts. He put the files he was carrying down on the table in front of him, leaned back in his chair and looked up at me without saying anything for a few seconds.

“Lily, it’s good to see you,” he said finally.

“Thanks, Jacob, you too. I understand that you know Adam.”

“Yes,” he answered without actually looking at Adam.

“Well, hello there Sachs. It’s always so nice to see you,” Adam said, brightly. I didn’t like the feeling of tension in the room, and I didn’t have time for a pissing contest, so I got the ball rolling.

“My neighbor, the guy in the report, saw Adam and me together, and I think it’s just possible he may have confused Adam for you,” I began.