Page 23 of Motion to Dismiss

“I’ll have to save my thanks until you get me completely off,” he says, smiling. “You understand, don’t you?”

No. “Sure. I’ll handle the paperwork and pick you up at the back. Your sons are at my office waiting to talk to you.”

His smile dissolves. “I need to tell you something in confidence before we leave here.”

“I’m listening.” I signal for the attending officer to give us five minutes alone.

“Look.” Lucas lets out a sigh. “I’ve decided to get my sons their own private counsel. They’ll each have separate lawyers.”

“Why?” I ask. “It’d be easier if I represented them, too.”

“Not if they take plea deals,” he says, frowning. “We may have to go with a different approach, given how things are starting to look.”

“Come again?”

“Let’s just say I have an inside tip,” he says. “We can’t all be in prison.”

“That’s literally my plan for you, Mr. Hunter.”

“But if some of us have to make special arrangements—in order to save the business—it’ll have to be them instead of me.”

“What the hell are you even saying right now?”

“I doubt I have to spell it out word by word for you.”

“What happened to you saying, ‘I don’t want to see any of my sons in prison for what I asked them to do?’”

“I still don’t,” he says. “But I need to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.”

“What does your wife think about this?” I ask.

“I don’t ask my wife for permission on anything.”

“What about Scarlett?”

“What about her?” He grits his teeth at the very mention of her name. “I don’t even know where she is. As far as I’m concerned, she might be the one who fucking snitched on me to the feds.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“You ‘doubt’ it, or you know for sure?”

I don’t have an answer for that.

“Anyway, if my sons get fifteen to twenty years, they still have a lot of life to live when they get out. I won’t.”

“With all due respect, I would like to stay on as their lawyer,” I say. “It’s what’s best for them.”

“I’m not concerned with ‘them’ right now, Mr. Tate.” He looks me dead in my eyes. “I’m concerned with myself, and since I’m paying you, you need to do what’s best for me.”

“So, you’re going to abandon your sons on a sinking ship? Just like that?”

“I’m not abandoning them,” he says, signaling for the officer to take him back to the holding area. “I’m just deciding who deserves the last life jacket.”

GAG ORDER (N.):

A JUDGE'S ORDER PROHIBITING THE ATTORNEYS AND THE PARTIES TO A PENDING LAWSUIT OR CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FROM TALKING TO THE MEDIA OR THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE CASE.

JAMESON