About a week later, Wayne Newhouse hobbled back to Chambers on crutches. Soon afterward, he paid me the honour of visiting my room.
His heavy breathing and the clatter of the crutches were audible long before he arrived. I was already sitting back when he entered wearing a huge grey orthopaedic boot on his right foot.
He said: "Hello, cobber, you busy?"
"Of course not. You look like Long John Silver."
"I feel like him."
"Take a pew, before you collapse."
He limped over to an armchair and flopped onto it with his damaged leg outstretched. Despite his injury, he still looked like he had an extra pint of life.
He stood his crutches against the desk. "That's better."
"Will you be OK?"
"I think so. My doctor says it'll be a couple of months before I can run around kicking people in the arse again, but I can wait. Anyway, I came around to thank you for helping Tania, and for shafting Hoogland of course. Tell me everything that happened at the Tribunal."
I'd already told him, on the phone, that Tania settled her claim for $42,500, but only gave him a sketchy account of events. Now he listened patiently, for once, while I gave him a graphic description.
When I mentioned how, at my behest, Carol Rolfe turned up at the Tribunal, he cackled madly. "Brilliant, just brilliant. He must have freaked out."
"Couldn't settle fast enough."
"I bet he was pissed off with you."
"Almost paralytic with rage. After we settled, he stormed off into a lift."
"Hah. Like all bullies, when someone stood up to him, he folded like a wet paper bag. Have you seen him since?"
"A few times around the floor. He looked straight through me."
"Get used to it. Now, finish the story."
I explained how Toby Hendricks and I batted offers back and forth until we settled the claim for $42,500.
"An excellent result. What a fool that man is! Tania would have taken half that at the settlement conference. If he's that useless at protecting his own interests, what's he like protecting his clients'? I assume you sent Tania a bill."
"Nope, I waived my fee."
He frowned. "Why? You deserve to be paid."
I shrugged. "Every so often I like to do something virtuous, just for a bit of variety."
He smiled. "Thank you. I'm very grateful for your help, and I'm very impressed. You've had a few good victories recently, haven't you?"
"Yup, I'm storing them up for winter."
He laughed. "Which always comes. I hope that appearing for Tania didn't cause too much trouble."
Why mention that I lost the chance to be Hoogland's junior in a massively lucrative case? "Of course not."
"You know, you've caused Hoogland a lot of trouble on the Floor."
"What do you mean?"
"I've heard, on the grapevine, that support for his renovation plan is dwindling fast. In fact, he'll have to bury it."
"You're kidding?"
"Nope."
"What happened?"
"Tania's claim is what happened. A lot of people are distinctly unimpressed with the behaviour of our Dear Leader. They know he's a groper and want to put him back in his box. You know, most of the time, my colleagues really piss me off. But sometimes they act like decent human beings."
"I know what you mean. Maybe we're a bit hard on them sometimes."
A dismissive wave. "Nah, they deserve it. But that's the good news. The bad news is that we're stuck with the dickhead. We won this round, but he'll be back. We must remain vigilant at all times."
I stifled a sigh. I was now a soldier in Wayne's war with Hoogland, despite my best endeavours to avoid that fate. The only question was when he sent me over the top.