THE DOCUMENTS COVER FOUR RENTED folding tables wedged side by side in the front room of our offices. They’re separated in neat stacks, in chronological order, all marked, numbered, indexed and even computerized. And memorized. I’ve studied these pieces of paper so often that I now know everything on every sheet. The documents given to me by Dot total 221 pages. The policy, for instance, will be considered as only one Document at trial, but it has 30 pages. The documents produced so far by Great Benefit total 748 pages, some of them duplicates of the Blacks’. Deck too has spent countless hours with the paperwork. He’s written a detailed analysis of the claim file. Most of the computer work fell on him. He’ll assist me during the depositions. It’s his job to keep the documents straight and quickly find the ones we need. He’s not exactly thrilled with this type of work, but he’s anxious to keep me happy. He’s convinced we’ve caught Great Benefit holding the smoking gun, but he’s also convinced the case is not worth the effort I’m putting into it. Deck, I’m afraid, has grave concerns about my trial abilities. He knows that any twelve we pick for the jury will view fifty thousand bucks as a fortune. I sip a beer in the office late Sunday night, and walk through the tables again and again. Something is missing here. Deck is certain that Jackie Lemancyzk, the claims handler, would not have had the authority to deny the claim outright. She did her job, then shipped the file to underwriting. There’s some interplay between claims and underwriting, interoffice memos back and forth, and this is where the paper trail breaks down. There was a scheme to deny Donny Ray’s claim, and probably thousands of others like it. We have to unravel it. AFTER MUCH DELIBERATION and discussion with the members of my firm, I have decided to depose M. Wilfred Keeley, CEO, first. I figure I’ll start with the biggest ego and work my way down.