Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) Read Online Free

across my lawn.
    I finagled my hand away from her when we got to the steps and I
sat down with a good four feet of space between us.  She moved over and closed
the gap to less than two.
    “I need a lawyer,” she declared.
    “For what?”
    “Sexual harassment.”
    Why wasn’t I surprised?  “Someone’s charged you with sexual
harassment?”
    She held her hand to her large bosom and I couldn’t tell if she
was feigning shock or if she actually was.   “Charged me?” she said in
disbelief.
    “Well, you do come off as a bit of a flirt,” I told her.
    “Why would you say that?  You’ve only known me . . .”  She
stopped mid sentence.  “Why you . . . you think I’ve been flirting with you? 
Is that it?”
    “Are you saying you haven’t been?”
    “Why the hell would I flirt with you ?” she demanded.
    “It seemed like . . .”  I started to say, but she cut me off.
    “What is it with you men ?” She said men like it
was a dirty word.  “How can you possibly translate my telling you I need a
lawyer into flirting?”
    “I’m sorry, it . . .”  She cut me off again.
    “You are sorry.  You’re a sorry excuse for a human being.  Just
like my boss.  Screw you both!”  She got up and stormed off back towards her
house.
    She was right.  There was no reason why I should have assumed
she was flirting.  It was the hair .  I had taken one look at that hair
and automatically assumed she was a flirt.
    “Maddie wait!”  I said, chasing after her.  I caught up to her
and got in front of her so she had to stop.  “Your boss is harassing you?”
    “Yes,” she said, and she burst into tears.  “That’s why I need
a lawyer.”
    “Well now you have one, so stop crying.  Here, let’s try your
steps,” I said, motioning to her porch.  She wiped her eyes and we sat down on
her front steps.  “Tell me.”
    “My husband died last year and ever since, my boss has been
coming on to me.”
    “Coming on how?”
    “He makes lewd comments.”  She looked down at her chest.  “I
have a baby that I breastfeed and I’ve got these enormous things ,” she
said, as if they were foreign objects.  “Yesterday, he promised me a promotion
if I’d let him touch them.”
     “Who’s your employer?”
    “Datacare.”
    “Really?”   I knew of the company.  It was a national research
and development company and they were big.  “What do you do there?”
    “I’m an Administrative Assistant.”
    “How long has the harassment been going on?” I asked.
    Maddie looked away and got real quiet, then she started crying
again.
    “Okay, let’s get something straight,” I told her. “Tears are
not going to solve anything.  I need you to be in control and just tell me the
facts without getting all emotional.”
    She wiped her eyes again and tried to regain her composure. 
“Last year, we were about to undergo a reduction in force and my supervisor
told me that if I had sex with him, I’d keep my job.”
    I did my best to hide my shock, but my heart started racing.  I
was seeing big-time dollar signs.  “And did you?”
    She nodded her head and started crying again.   “Just the
once.  I couldn’t afford to lose my job.  I had just lost my husband and I have
two kids to support.  After that, he started touching me and saying disgusting
things to me.”
    “Did you ever complain to anyone in management?”
    “Yes.  To his immediate boss.  He told me not to take it
seriously – that Larry was just teasing.”
    If what she was saying was true, we had a major cause of
action.  It had the potential for being the biggest case to come across my desk
since I’d been practicing.  The kind of case that Plaintiffs’ lawyers dream of.
    “Monday morning, we’re going to file a sexual harassment charge
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” I told her.
    “So you think I have a case?”
    “I think you might just be sitting on a gold mine.”
    I took the case on a