Sadie lunged for the receiver again, but Babushka moved it out of her grasp, clearly not done with the conversation.
She licked the tip of a ballpoint pen and, in careful script, jotted a name.
Barrett.
Sadie watched with odd fascination as Babushka’s perfect cursive relayed the name.
“Give me the phone.” Sadie grabbed for the phone yet again.
Babushka waved her away. “Yes, she vill call back. Very busy, this attorney. Very popular.”
Sadie felt her cheeks lose all color—actually felt it. How did one feel that?
“Yes.” Babushka paused. “As I say, she vill return your call. You vill vait your turn.”
Babushka placed the phone back in the cradle and folded her hands.
“What the heck was that?” Sadie asked.
“You have new client.” Babushka clicked the pen closed and set it beside the notepad that simply readBarrett. “Good news. Vife is alive. No children. No problem.”
“I…Ihave a problem,” Sadie said with high-pitched punctuation. “You just hung up on a potential client.”
“I made it clear you’re a very busy voman.” Babushka acted like Sadie was a misbehaving grandchild. “You vill call back tomorrow and, as they say, seal the deal.”
Sadie tapped on the desk. “No. I’ll call him now.”
“Sadie?” Tonya set her magazine back on the table where she’d found it. “Should I come back at a better time?”
Sadie shook her head and held up her hands. “No, just give me one moment—”
“She is very busy.” Babushka scrawled more details from the phone call next to the name.Wife is not dead. “I vill make you an appointment. Let me find the schedule. It’s here somewhere.” She began to dig through the drawers.
“I can talk to her now,” Sadie assured. “Let’s go to my office.” She waved for Tonya to follow her.
Tonya stood.
“You said you vill call this man back. Now you vill meet vith her? Make your mind up. I am not mind reader.” Babushka licked at an envelope that had nothing in it and sealed it shut.
“I’d call him back, but you didn’t get his phone number.” Sadie pointed out.
“Oh dear.” Babushka set the envelope aside. Then she clicked through the buttons on the phone and came to something that made her go, “Ah-ha.” She jotted down a telephone number beside Barrett’s name.
Sadie reached for the note. “I’m going to talk to Tonya here, and then I’ll go call him. Please don’t answer my phone again. You should go home now.”
That all sounded very resolute if she did say so herself.
“No. That vill not vork. Do not call right away, you vill look desperate.” Babushka was apparently still ignoring Sadie’s request that she leave.
“She might be right,” Tonya said, diving right into the fray. “You don’t want to look desperate. Maybe let him sweat for a day before you call him. Then he’ll be even more excited to hire you.”
“I like her. It is like vith you and my Roman,” Babushka said. “You play hard to catch. Then he vants you more.”
“Who is Roman?” Tonya asked like she was really part of this conversation. Which, apparently, now she was.
“That is not what’s going on with Roman,” Sadie said to Babushka. She turned back to Tonya. “He’s no one.”
“He’s my grandson,” Babushka said, pride evident. “He is kind, lots of muscles.” She pinched her biceps in illustration. “Are you single?”
