Not bothering to lock her car, she followed the redbrick walkway to a fourteen-foot door of carved oak. Through the leaded windowpanes of frosted glass, Elsie could see lights on in the hallway. She screwed up her courage and pressed the doorbell. Nothing. She rang again, and pressed her eyeball to the peephole in the front door. When the center went from light to dark, she knew Madeleine was inside. The massive door creaked open, just wide enough for Madeleine to stick her head through. “Where have you been? What took you so long?” The plastic smile of greeting on Elsie’s face disappeared. “I didn’t have any trouble finding the case law, but I searched for law review articles to support our position. Then I drafted suggestions from scratch. It took a while.” “You should have been prepared in advance. I can’t believe you froze on the case citation in court. How hard is it to remember a case name?”
