The Firm

On Christmas Day, Abby drives to her parents’ home alone. Mitch drives to Panama City Beach, Florida with his dog, Hearsay. He searches for a home in a trailer park but doesn’t approach the door. He takes a hotel room and makes several phone calls until he locates the Waffle Hut that employs a woman named Eva Ainsworth. He hires a taxi and sits outside to watch her, telling the driver Eva Ainsworth is his mother. Mitch never goes inside. The next morning, he jogs on the beach with Hearsay and drives to Brushy Mountain to see his brother. At the same time, Eddie Lomax is approached by a man asking him to take pictures of his cheating wife. Eddie agrees and goes with the man. While waiting to take the pictures, Eddie is shot in the back of the head by a stranger who slipped into his car from a van parked nearby.

Back at work on December 28, Lamar visits Mitch, who tells him that the partners are dividing up bonuses based on production. Mitch learns that each of the partners got over a quarter of a million dollars last year, while the rest of the lawyers got around $9,000. They expect it to be more this year. However, unlike previous years, they likely will not name a new partner this year. Later, while everyone is out to lunch, Mitch learns that new copiers have been installed that require a case number so that each copy can be billed to the appropriate account. At the same time, Oliver meets with DeVasher and learns that he believes Mitch is still talking to the FBI and he wants him to remain close to the office, but learns he is about to travel to Washington, DC for a tax seminar.

Mitch meets with Tammy Hemphill, Eddie’s secretary. Tammy is scared that the people who killed Eddie will come after her. Mitch instructs her to get out of town, but to send him notes under the name Doris to let him know where she is.

Mitch travels to Washington, DC on the firm’s Lear jet with Avery, and Avery continues to the Cayman Islands. After the plane lands in the Cayman Islands, it is stored in a hangar at a private airport. In the middle of the night, Avery returns to supervise the removal of 25 boxes loaded with cash. “All cash. U.S. dollars. Hundreds and twenties” (221).

On the first morning of the tax seminar, Mitch is approached by an FBI agent posing as a lawyer. The agent instructs Mitch to take a specific taxi to a meeting on the National Mall with the director of the FBI, F. Denton Voyles. When Mitch arrives, Voyles explains that the Bendini Firm was founded by Anthony Bendini, a lawyer married to a member of the Morolto mafia family. He started the firm to launder money for the Morolto family out of the view of law enforcement. All the partners at Bendini, Lambert & Locke are aware of what the firm does, as are all lawyers who have worked for the firm for five or more years. Therefore, no one ever leaves the firm unless they die or retire. Voyles wants Mitch to provide the FBI with files that prove the illegal activity and reveal the connection to the Morolto family.

Abby meets Mitch at the airport upon his return to Memphis. Mitch leads her into a crowded bar in the airport so he can tell her about his meeting with Voyles. Abby is frightened by this new information, but supportive of Mitch’s desire to get them out of this difficult situation. A week later, Wayne approaches Mitch on the mall in Memphis. They go into a shoe store, but they are spotted by one of DeVasher’s men. Mitch immediately pushes Wayne away and acts like it was an unwanted interaction. He goes directly to Avery and tells him and the partners what happened with him and Wayne, making it seem as though he was uninterested in Wayne’s approach. DeVasher doesn’t believe Mitch and warns Oliver that they might have to eliminate Mitch just as they did Marty and Joe. DeVasher meets with Mitch later that day and shows him the pictures from the beach on the Cayman Islands, warning him that DeVasher will send those pictures to Abby if Mitch does anything to put the firm at risk.