Adam's Daughter by Kristy Daniels Page A

too late, Adam.”
    “No,” he said. “I gave you up once. I won’t give you up again.”
     
     
     

    CHAPTER NINE
     
    Adam drove slowly along Mission Street, searching for the address. He found the number on a door sandwiched between a rundown dry-goods store and a butcher shop. He got out of the yellow Cadillac and looked up at the second floor window with its neatly painted letters: J. HILLMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW.
    Upstairs, he looked for a secretary but there was no one to be seen. An interior door opened and a young man with glasses looked out.
    “Mr. Bryant?” he asked. “Please, come in.”
    In contrast to the bare anteroom, the office was crammed with books. It was clean but dimly lit by an old overhead fixture. The young man extended his hand to Adam. “I’m Josh Hillman,” he said. “Please have a seat.”
    Adam shook his hand and took quick stock of Hillman: about thirty, with a thatch of sandy brown hair atop an earnest face. His brown eyes were trained on Adam, also taking stock. Adam saw them flick over his expensive clothes and back to his face.
    “I was very surprised when you called me yesterday,” Hillman began. “It’s not every day I get a call from someone like you, someone so well-known.”
    “I appreciate your being able to fit me in.”
    “That is no problem, I assure you.” Hillman sat down behind his desk. “What is it I can do for you, Mr. Bryant?”
    “I need a lawyer. A good one.”
    “I would imagine a man like you would have a squadron of them to help you run that newspaper of yours.”
    “What I need help with has nothing to do with the Times. It’s a personal matter.”
    Hillman leaned back in his chair . “A personal matter,” he said, “one requiring the utmost discretion. Something a little too touchy perhaps for the corporate boys.”
    “Yes,” Adam said.
    “Well, besides the fact that I’m a nobody, Mr. Bryant, why me? Did you just pull my name out of the phone book?”
    “I remembered a case you handled a few years ago. You defended a longshoreman who was accused of attacking a cop during the Battle of Rincon Hill strike. I remembered your defense...brilliant . But I couldn’t remember your name so I had the clips pulled from the morgue.”
    “I lost that case,” Hillman said.
    “Everyone wanted the unions broken. You were fighting public sentiment, as well as some very powerful people.”
    “Nonetheless, I lost.”
    “It was an impressive defeat. Especially considering you were, what, twenty-seven at the time?”
    “Twenty-eight. A year out of law school.” He paused. “What exactly do you want from me, Mr. Bryant?”
    “As I said, I need a good lawyer . You’re right that this is something I can’t allow my usual attorneys to handle.” Adam locked eyes with Hillman. “I don’t know you but when it comes to people I rely on my instincts until I’m proven wrong. I feel like I can trust you, Mr. Hillman.”
    Hillman folded his hands in front of his face. “Go on.”
    “I want a divorce,” Adam said. “I know my wife won’t agree to it. I want to force the issue, whatever it takes.”
    “Why do you want the divorce?”
    “So I can marry someone else.” Adam told Hillman briefly about Elizabeth. “I don’t take this lightly,” he said. “I have a son to consider and I want custody because I believe his mother is turning him against me. And I’m Catholic, so I do not like the idea of excommunication. But I will do what I must to get this divorce.”
    Over the bridge of his hands, Josh Hillman stared at the man across from him.
    Bryant radiated such power, but it was a hard power with no warmth. This was a man, he decided suddenly, that he could respect, maybe even come to like but never be close to. His thoughts went to the task Bryant was asking him to do. He had always avoided domestic cases, and a contested divorce could be an ugly matter.
    As for custody, the courts never went against the mother unless she could be proven unfit.