Chapter 1

The interview went well. Miss Little was punctual, eloquent, highly knowledgeable of current legal precedent, and, well, to tell the truth, extremely attractive. Her voice was steady and sure, and I felt if she were in front of a jury, it would be commanding enough to win the day. She wasn’t exactly a ‘little’ girl, either, if you get my drift. Her size and stature would not be a negative and she would not be perceived as small or weak. I saw no reason not to hire her for the associate position I had open. The last two people I interviewed were both weak in at least a couple of areas and tried to make up for it with bullshit. That’s the LAST thing a fellow wants to do in a job interview.

“You’re hired, Miss Little, that is, if you want the position. I can’t pay much yet, but as we grow, I’m sure we’ll do much better. You’ll receive a percentage of your billable time, on top of fifty-two grand guaranteed annually. Does that sound reasonable?”

“Yes, Mr. Bigg, and, may I add, since we’ll be working together, and in close quarters, Shara will be fine.”

“Sounds good. Most of my close friends call me Buster, so you take your pick. Mr. Bigg, Farley, Buster, or ‘hey, you’. It’s up to you, except in court, then ... It’s Miss Little and Mister Bigg, or just counselor.” She nodded, letting the cutest little giggle escape. She truly was not a little girl, and having that sensitive, soft, adorable giggle out in the open, emanating from this large, beautiful form, told me I’d made the right decision. She could be compassionate and feminine yet had a commanding voice and the knowledge of the law on her side.

“Hours are from nine to five, however, you’ll find that your actual time will be a bit more radical, kind of like in law school. Late nights preparing briefs, research late into the evening, up early for interviews, and afternoons off after court to celebrate, or find a place to be alone and cry in your martini. I’m not kidding about that, by the way. Afternoons after court are just something we have to deal with. I highly recommend you let your secretary know where you are at all times during office hours. It’s important. We’ll share a secretary and a para, for now. I hope to have two of each within a year, but that will depend on how we do. Your office is the one over there off the reception area. Yes, you have a window,” she giggled again, “and there is enough room outside of your office, in the reception area, for two more desks. The reception area is pretty big, as you can see, and I plan on having the new paralegal across the open area from Rachel, and your secretary next to Linda. That will put them just outside each of our doors. When fully staffed, we’ll have the conference room as well as the two work rooms if we need quiet space to work with our paras or just to let them have quiet time for prep or research. Questions?”

“No, sir. I just want to get to work. I already have a case and I want to get it going now that I am part of an actual legal firm. Can I ask your secretary to help me get some letterhead up and altered so I look like I belong?”

“LINDA!” I yelled. She was there in seconds, smiling, as always. Linda was about fifty, very outgoing, beautiful, and was once married to my uncle. “Linda, can you bring up our letterhead and get some fixed up for Miss Shara A. Little, J.D. I just hired her as an associate counselor. Please treat her with all the respect and kindness you can muster. She seems like a keeper, and I’m tired of looking.”

“Yeah, Buster, can do. I don’t blame you. The last two looked and acted like used car salesmen. I’ll bet they’re chasing ambulances by the end of the month. Probably working for Goldweiss on commission only. That guy and those losers working for him would sue a rock for laying in the wrong place. Shara, I’m Linda Bigg. In addition to helping as your secretary for a while, I’m Buster’s ... Sorry, I’m Farley’s aunt. I was anyway. Come on out when you’re done in here and we’ll get you some template documents together.” Shara started to rise. “Can I have her now, Buster?”

“Yes, Linda. Go. Shara, welcome. Thank you for coming in, too. Seriously. The pickings were looking really slim out there.”

“Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Bigg. Farley. Buster. Let me get used to all of them, please. I know what you want me to call you will vary, and I will vary it, depending on the circumstances.” She smiled at me and left with Linda to get to work.

The case she had was a discrimination suit against a local manufacturing plant that belonged to a much larger company in Chicago. The company’s executive staff and board of directors in Chicago found out way too late about the local manager treating an otherwise beautiful and wonderful person badly because he found out she wasn’t born a she. Well, one thing led to another, and he let her go. Shara thought the employee had a pretty good case, so I let her run with it.

She picked up another case shortly after that, a criminal thing where someone was being accused, but wasn’t in town at the time. The only way to prove her actual whereabouts was with the testimony of the person’s boyfriend, and they were on the outs at the time. Shara had her work cut out for her.

I had my own cases going. I was working on a divorce case and an assault thing where this guy’s wife beat the crap out of him and threw him out of the house. His neighbor called him and told him some big dude left the house about an hour later. Not really what a guy wants to hear after his wife punches him about the head and shoulders, but it explained a lot. I guess I was actually working on two divorce cases.

Shara asked if we had a private eye on call, and when I explained that we didn’t, but that we should probably find one, a good one, she asked if I minded if she looked around for one. I didn’t mind a bit, but I asked her not to spend a bunch of money until we were sure of them.

The next morning, she came in a few minutes late, being followed by a gorgeous little redheaded wonder. It was just a bit funny watching Shara, a big, five eight or nine-ish tall, well-built, and attractive woman, being followed in by the little five-foot nothing pixie behind her. Don’t get me wrong. The little pixie was built like a really little brick shithouse, and prettier than ... Think about one of Tinkerbell’s faerie buddies. That kind of cute.

“Farley, this is Wanda. She’s a licensed private investigator. I met her last night at ... I met her last night, and we talked a bit. She’s looking for work, has a reasonable expense rate, and has some experience with what I need, and one of the things you’re working on.”

“And just what those might be, Shara?” I asked her, giving her a questioning look.

“I need her to sweet talk a certain boyfriend into either admitting my client was with him or at least out of town, as well as getting a certain plant manager to admit he’s a dork. You need her to find a big brute that was hiding in a closet while your black and blue client was getting his head batted in. I think if she can prove herself on these three jobs, we would do well to keep her around.”

“If she can pull three for three, and we can maximize the return on her information, then yes, I agree. Y’all check with Rachel on exactly what we’re looking for, then go to it. Wanda, it’s nice to meet you.”

Wanda surprised me. “Nice to meet you, too, sir. May I ask how you got so lucky as to have not one, and not two, but three beautiful women working around you?”

“Not to come off like a dolt, but it’s four now, and I have no damned idea.” Linda and Rachel laughed. Shara giggled.

Wanda’s eyes lit up. “Thank you,” she said.

I touched my finger to my brow and went back into my office. This was going to be hard to deal with. Literally.

It wasn’t a week later I heard through my open door that Miss Little was seen at a club with a man, then the next night seen with another woman, dancing and having fun, then left with the lady.

I asked Rachel if that was any of her business, and laughing she said, ‘yes, and no’. “Not specifically, but I’ll need the address if I have to go pick her up again!” She and Linda both laughed openly, not even caring that I was questioning the basis for the joke.

“Help me a little here, girls?”

“Wanda is out of town working on the ‘boyfriend in Hamilton’ case, so your associate was out on the town. I’m just relating that the last time this happened, I had to go get her at the woman’s house in the morning and take her home so she could get ready to come in. She was completely sober, boss, don’t go there, but it’s fun trying to keep up with her. She’s a wild woman. I don’t think the man got that far with her. She probably wasn’t all that interested.” Rachel was evidently the one keeping up with her, but...

“Plus, according to your directions, she’s let me know where she is at all times. Not just during work, but at ALL times. ‘Linda, I’m going to The Stockinged Lady’ or ‘Linda, I’m going to Denny’s with Wanda’. She’s having fun with it. Buster, I’ll tell you something funny, if you promise to keep it between the three of us.” I nodded. “Sometimes she asks where you are. ‘Is Buster out and about tonight? We could run into him if he’s out on the town, Linda. What about it?’ I think she wants that, Buster. Just sayin’.”

“Sounds to me like a party waiting for someplace to happen. Not my style, ladies, and you both know it.” They did, too. I’m not a party animal. I like to go out and dance and all, on occasion, but frolic is not a word in my personal dictionary.

“Don’t worry, Buster, she’s not like this either, I don’t think. She’s blowing off steam. Same as you did six years ago when you left Stanford. It was all anyone could do to find you alone, sober, and, well, you know, calm. I’ll bet she’s just like you deep down inside. An incurable romantic with a heart the size of the Sphinx.”

“Well, I’m over all that, and I hope she gets that way, too. If she embarrasses us, she’s gonna have to go.”

Both of them giggled, causing me much consternation. I was as serious on that topic as that sounded.

“Just go out and be seen once in a while, Buster. If you run into them, you might have fun. Seriously. It wouldn’t kill you to have a good time some evening.”

It was a setup. Wanda was back and had the boyfriend on tape admitting that the client spent the weekend with him. They had been arguing the whole time because he cheated on her and she was breaking up with him. “No, there was no way she could have been in town to commit the burglary. It was a two-and-a-half-hour ordeal, and he distinctly remembers that night. At ten o’clock, she slapped him and told his new girlfriend she was stupid for falling for such a two-timing putzball. He remembered her using the term ‘putzball’. They both, the old and new girlfriends, yelled at him until midnight thirty when the client and the new girlfriend left his house together. It was funny. Just before I left, he said, ‘She was probably a carpet muncher anyway. How ‘bout you, Red, wanna ride Herschel the Wonder Pony?’ I told him I was a carpet muncher, too, watched him start to boil, and then hightailed it out of there. I watched them leave from my Jeep, and the new girlfriend was still reading him the riot act for being a dumbass. I’m serious, people, it was funny.”

Wanda was a hoot. She had it all on tape, though, so our client got off Scot free, and the accuser was countersued and had to pay the legal bills. They had known the whole time and under cross examination, Shara pulled out an unintentional confession to that fact. She was marvelous. Three hundred an hour and we spent a whole bunch of hours on it.

In any case, I was talked into meeting the ladies at a bar, or a ‘club’, mostly attended by lesbians, I found out soon after walking in, and had an absolute ball. Wanda had me dancing with not only her, but several other women. I danced with Shara, and another woman I found out later was our client from the manufacturing facility. Her name was Elenore, and she and Shara were trying to settle out of court, but Shara was holding out for a bit more money, and a promise of a good letter of recommendation for employment elsewhere.

I had one too many drinks in me and told the girls I was going home. I called an Uber, and in a moment of failure, said, “If you’re coming with me, get on the train.” Good thing the Uber guy had a soccer mom van.

I woke up the next morning with Shara, Wanda, Elenore, and some cute little blonde with a cute little bobbed haircut all in bed with me. None of us was naked, thank God. Shara was in her blouse, bra and panties, Wanda was in a bra and panties, Elenore was in just panties, with a little bump in them, and the cute little blonde I later found out was Sierra, was in just a bra. She was smooth as a baby’s butt from the neck down. A gorgeous little girl to say the least. I say girl, but she was at least twenty-five and probably more. Fantastically beautiful, though.

I groaned and was told to stay where I was, that no one had been injured during the filming of the movie, causing the others to giggle, and that I would be taken care of to insure no one was sued, went to jail, or had to blow a judge to stay that way. Laughter filled the room.

It was Wanda that brought me coffee. “Shara has a coffee maker like yours, so she figured it out pretty quickly. Buster, are you OK? We all had a good time last night, and seriously, no one got hurt, physically or mentally. We just had fun. I hope you did.”

I nodded. “Wanda, I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in quite a while, but it’s not my normal. I’m normally pretty quiet.”

“We know. I talked to Rachel and Linda. So has Shara. We know. Stay. Have some coffee. Breakfast will be up in a bit.” She moved to leave.

“Wanda, what’s really going on?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

I nodded.

“Shara thinks she might like you. I like Shara. A lot. Elenore says she likes me. Sierra’s just a cute little slut that wanted to see what Elenore looked like with no panties on.” She let loose a little giggle. “There is a little more to the Sierra and Elenore thing, but who knows.” She smiled at me after she finished.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Just be yourself, Buster. Please. None of us knows anything yet, but that’s what it looks like to us. If you want to run, run, but wait until after breakfast. They’re trying to make it a good morning for you.”

“OK,” I said, then smiled at her and watched as a perfect size zero ass walked out of my bedroom. I knew I could reach all the way around her waist with my hands, touching my thumbs and fingers. She was that small. Why I would fantasize about that, at that moment, was beyond me, but I did.

We ate breakfast with the girls all sitting on the bed with plates of eggs and toast. A few had bacon. Sierra didn’t. She just had eggs and toast. She smiled at me a couple of times, getting me to blush a bit. The crowd laughed at that, making fun of the little lesbian slut, not me.

Work on Monday was a bit different. Shara was very formal and maybe apprehensive, even. She appeared to be creating space between the two of us. I didn’t push the issue. I wasn’t looking for companionship. She evidently wasn’t either.

Nothing was said, and nothing was done, for weeks. Shara went out on several dates, from what I heard, and after Elenore’s case was decided, out of court, with about two years’ salary and a glowing letter of recommendation for her future employment, Shara even went out on a date with her.

Wanda stopped in the office late one night looking for Shara but found me, alone, researching a case I was working on involving a property dispute.

“Buster, have you seen Shara?”

“No, Wanda, I haven’t. I haven’t seen her all day. I don’t think I saw her yesterday, either. What’s up?”

“I guess maybe I thought we had something going. Maybe I misread her.”

“That may very well be true, Wanda, but I doubt it and seriously, hon, I’m not the one to ask. I know nothing about women. I’m not looking for one, and I don’t imagine I’ll find the right one, or that she’ll find me, unless we accidentally trip over each other someday. I just don’t ... I’m not looking, Wanda.”

“Buster, what are you getting at? You mean you’re not looking for a woman, or not looking at all?”

“I’m not gay, Wanda, if that’s that you’re asking. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not me. I’m not looking at all. I went there once, and I don’t want to go there again. I was hurt. Badly. Terribly. I was ... I’m not looking.”

“Oh. Well, I am, Buster. I like her. I think she’s the cat’s ass. If she ... Never mind. Thanks, Buster. If you see her, let her know I’m looking for her? I guess you still have me on file for work?”

“God, I hope so. Three for three was the deal, and you laid that out in spades. I had no idea you’d get that plant manager to cave like that and admit he let her go because he was afraid of transsexual people.” She started to explain. “No, stop. I don’t want to know. I just want to know you can do it again if we need you.”

“You said ‘we’.”

“Yeah? So? Me, Linda, Rachel, and Shara, if she ever shows up.”

Wanda giggled. “Tell her I’m looking for her, Buster. Please?” I nodded.

I had no idea what was going on with Shara’s love life, and I didn’t want to. Wanda would be good for her, though. She was at least an adult. Acting, not just in age. Wanda had a fun side, but when she needed to be, she was serious as a heart attack, and deadly, from what I understand. Her mental state was made to fit. She could be playful, but when it came to work, she was hard as stone. I came to understand she was a master in a few forms of martial arts and self-defense, including Kung Kahr and Beretta Fu. She packed accurate weapons and was a good and quick shot.

Shara entered my office very early two days later and told me what was happening. I could have asked Linda at any time and gotten the same information, so it wasn’t like I was put out or anything. She had travelled to Cincinnati to interview a former neighbor of a client who was accused of cheating during a divorce case she was working on. The neighbor actually had footage of the spouse, the accuser, not the accused, having the affair. It was going to turn a million-dollar case upside down. We stood to make a bundle and were told by the husband to drag it out as long as possible and work all the billable hours we wanted. Now, we had the footage, we had the lies, we had the deceit, and we had the witnesses in the bag, he told us to take her for everything we could. They had a prenup, so he wasn’t getting a whole lot of his wife’s family’s wealth, but if he wasn’t the one that cheated, he got a fairly substantial settlement. He told us to get the rest for ourselves in exchange for our trouble. She was a wicked bitch and super rich.