He crossed left and rapped on Bill Kelly's door. The plump lawyer smiled at him as he entered, but without much warmth.
"Morning, Jim. Long time no see."
"I've been busy."
"I know. I know all about it."
Harker ignored Kelly's tone and said, "I've just come from the Bryant hearing. Thought I'd let you know that it's over. Poof: fifteen minutes!"
"The will was upheld?"
"What else? It was just a case of willful petty obstruction on the part of the Bryant family. They're mean, twisted people, Bill. They've lived all their lives in the shadow of one great man—Rick Bryant—and I guess they chose this time to show him and everyone else just what Great Big Important Persons they really were." He scowled.
There was a pained expression on Kelly's face that seemed to have nothing to do with the Bryant affair. Slowly Kelly said, "Jim, this completes all the current work you're doing here, isn't that right?"
Harker nodded. "I turned over the Fuller and Heidell cases to Portobello. That was to leave me clear for—"
"Yes. I know." Kelly's face reddened even more than normally, and he squirmed wretchedly in his inflated pneumatic desk-chair. "I've been following the papers, Jim. I've been following the whole thing."