The Color of Law_ A Novel - Mark Gimenez [65]
Scott was white and worried.
Scott, I need an answer for McCall. Now.
What if he said no to McCall? What could Mack McCall do to Scott Fenney, Tom Dibrell’s lawyer? McCall might be the senior senator from Texas and Dan Ford’s former fraternity brother, but he paid no legal fees to Ford Stevens. So saying no to McCall would not harm the firm; of course, it wouldn’t help the firm either. But still, no harm, no foul. Sure, McCall could block A. Scott Fenney’s future nomination to the federal bench, but that did not concern Scott; he had no intention of taking a pay cut to only $162,000 a year. Saying no to McCall would result only in a pissed-off U.S. senator; Scott could live with that.
But could he live with a pissed-off senior partner?
How would Dan Ford take no for an answer? Saying no to Dan would be breaking new ground for Scott; he had never said no to Dan, never even considered saying no. Now Dan wanted to be the president’s lawyer, which required that Mack McCall be elected president, which required that Scott Fenney hide Clark McCall’s past, which required that Scott say yes.
Dan would not be happy if Scott said no.
But Scott brought in over $3 million in fees for the firm each year, and that always had a way of brightening Dan’s mood. And if Scott promised to increase his billings to Dibrell to $4 million this year—which would require some seriously creative accounting—surely Dan would forgive Scott (who was like a son to him) this one act of rebellion. Surely.
Still, Scott Fenney had never said no to a coach, a client, or his senior partner. If the coach called an end sweep on third and 20, he ran it. If a client wanted him to coerce a sexual harassment settlement by threatening to bring up the woman’s sexual history, he threatened it. If a senior partner wanted him to rubber-stamp a decision to fire a fellow partner, he did it. But now a U.S. senator and his senior partner wanted him to hide critical evidence and watch his client be executed. Could he do it?
What if he did? What if Scott Fenney said yes to Mack McCall and Dan Ford? Both men would be very happy. McCall would be elected president, Ford Stevens would be the president’s law firm, and Dan Ford would be the president’s lawyer. The firm would open a Washington office, new corporate clients would pay millions in legal fees to the firm, and the partners would double their income. Scott Fenney would be filthy rich. All of which sounded good until he heard Pajamae’s little voice: “Catch it, Boo!”
Mr. Fenney, are the po-lice gonna kill my mama, too?
Scott heard the French doors behind him swing open and felt the rush of cool air against his warm neck. Rebecca stood beside him and he smelled her sweaty scent. She was wearing a tube top and short running tights that clung to every surface of her lean body. Scott felt the urge to pull his wife onto his lap and hold her close; but like a dog who had gotten smacked the last hundred times he had gone after a bone, Scott did not make a move in that direction. They watched the girls play.
“It’s good she has a friend now,” he said.
“She has friends,” Rebecca said, “girls from the best families in Highland Park. She just refuses to do anything with them.”
“Then they’re not her friends, Rebecca.”
They watched in silence again. After a moment, Rebecca said, “A black girl for her best friend. That’ll be such a positive on her debutante application.”
She abruptly pivoted and went back inside. Scott shook his head. Her debutante application. Barbara Boo Fenney would never be a Highland Park deb; she just wasn’t the right type. Neither would Pajamae Jones; she just wasn’t the right color. She had been born on the wrong side of life, just as Scott had been, but she could not run with a football to the right side of life as he had. Maybe that was why Scott felt a bond with this little black