Counsel (Counsel #1) (16 page)

"Were you ever concerned about Mr. Cordi breaking the law by operating an escort service?"

"Of course, and I confronted him about it. He assured me that he hadn’t set out with that objective in mind. He said he opened Liaison because of his desire to replicate an English gentlemen’s club, and that the escort business started when two members unofficially consorted with a female staff member.

"He canceled their membership and dismissed the staff member, but it later became apparent that the practice was more widespread than he’d thought. The women were being paid paltry sums, given the financial positions of the men involved. He decided that someone had to act in the best interests of the women; he said he intended to phase it out in time."

"And you believed him?"

"I had no reason not to."

"Did you undertake any research on Fidelity Properties before signing the agreement?"

"I questioned Mr. Cordi about the company, obviously, and he said its operations were based solely in commercial property development. I conducted some preliminary research and found that to be true."

"Did you learn anything about Fidelity's subsidiary, Sigma, through those searches?"

"I did not."

"Did you request that anyone else investigate the company?"

"I met with Connor Jones, my accountant, and asked him to conduct the necessary checks."

"Do you realize that Mr. Jones believes you instructed him
not
to undertake a thorough investigation?"

"I learned that fact only recently."

"How do you explain his misunderstanding?"

"I must not have made myself clear. Perhaps my mistake was in admitting I conducted research. I may have inadvertently given the wrong impression about the extent of my investigation into the company."

"Why mention your research? Why not just let your accountants do what they would normally do in the course of business?"

"I foolishly trusted Joseph Cordi; it’s now obvious that I shouldn't have. I believed the Cordi family to be honorable, legitimate and successful businessmen. I made an error of judgment, there is no doubt; but I genuinely believed everything Joseph told me."

"Mr. Wade, the court has heard that you received monthly financial reports for Fidelity; reports which included income recorded simply as Sigma. Why did you not ask questions about such a significant revenue stream?"

"I only cursorily glanced at the results before forwarding them to my accountants. They manage all of my business interests because, for me, my political responsibilities take precedence. Also, I had no reason to question Fidelity’s source of income, particularly, given that I had no inkling that a subsidiary existed. I know my ignorance doesn’t totally absolve me of responsibility, but I didn't
ever
set out to knowingly become involved in an illegal business."

"Thank you, Mr. Wade," Tom says before turning to the bench. "Defense rests, Your Honor," he announces.

Justin may have sounded sincere throughout his testimony, but he had, in my view, provided glib responses to carefully crafted questions. It was a high-risk strategy to have him take the stand, but if he’s managed to convince the jury to accept that he’d been victimized, he will have gained not only his freedom but also a chance to redeem his political career. The stage would be set for a public mea culpa for having indulged in prostitution, and after an acceptable time in the wilderness, during which he’ll undoubtedly embark on suitable acts of contrition, he’ll be seen to have redeemed himself.

That may well be their plan, but I intend to thwart them; not because of any personal vendetta, but because he’s committed a crime, several in fact, and it’s my job to bring him to justice.

He’s composed, eyes meeting mine in silent challenge as he waits.

"Mr. Wade, when were you elected to the Senate?" I ask, breaking the expectant silence that’s fallen over the room.

"September third of two thousand and twelve," he replies evenly.

"And when did you first visit Liaison?"

"I think it was July of the same year."

"You testified that you learned about the sexual benefits on offer at Liaison some weeks after your first visit, is that correct?"

"No one admitted then that the benefits were sexual. At the time, I believed the comment referred simply to having female company over drinks."

"When did you learn the truth?"

"A month, perhaps two months after."

"Was it before or after your election?"

"It was after my election to office."

"And when did you become a member of Liaison?"

"It would have been around early to mid-August."

"Of the same year?"

"Yes, August of two thousand and twelve."

"So you were already a member of Liaison when you ran for office?"

"I was," he says tersely.

"I suggest that you knew the truth about Liaison from the outset, that you applied for and gained membership
knowing
about the prostitution…that you knew the truth about the club while campaigning for office…"

"
Objection
, Your Honor. Badgering. " Tom interjects.

"Sustained," Judge Bolton rules.

"Would you claim to be an intelligent person, Mr. Wade"? I ask.

"People say I am."

"Do you consider yourself gullible?"

"I’d like to think I’m perceptive and not easily swayed to an argument."

"Yet you readily believed the fraternization between members and female employees at Liaison to be purely social?"

"I did."

"Were you gullible then or are you attempting to garble the truth now, Mr. Wade?"

"I am
not
distorting the truth. I had no reason to doubt what I'd been told. The men involved are respected businessmen and people of influence."

"Is
that
what you're hoping for, Mr. Wade; that this court will believe you simply because you’re viewed as a
respectable
man? Are you inferring that men considered respectable
never
lie; that history is not littered with instances where seemingly respectable man have lied, cheated, committed
crimes
?"

"Objection, Your Honor. Argumentative."

"Your Honor, Defense Counsel has sought to convince this court that his client had been ignorant of facts or that he had been misled. It is only right and proper that court is granted insight into the defendant's motivations; that we are given the opportunity to decide whether he is obfuscating or not."

"Overruled." Judge Bolton decides.

"Mr. Wade, when exactly did you learn the truth about Liaison?"

"I can’t be sure, but it was
definitely
after my election."

"You signed the agreement for Fidelity Properties on February first of two thousand and thirteen, did you not?"

"That’s right."

"And the agreement to procure Ms. Bain's services was signed on January sixteenth of the same year?"

"A point you've made a number of times, Counselor," he says with a raised brow.

"You're in a court of law now,
Senator
, not the floor of the house; answer the question, please?" I respond equally pointedly. Judge Bolton interjects with his own caution.

"The defendant will answer," he orders.

"I believe those were the dates," Justin concedes.

"So, approximately five months after the people of Massachusetts voted you into office, you entered into an agreement securing the sexual services of a young woman?"

"Yes," he says curtly, eyes flashing with irritation.

"Then, two weeks later, you entered into an agreement to procure a thirty percent share in a business with a man you
knew
to be involved in criminal activities, is
that
correct?"

"I've already explained …" he starts, but I cut him off.

"Answer the question, please."

"Yes," he reluctantly concedes.

"You chose to overlook crimes being perpetrated at Liaison. In fact, you did more than ignore them; you participated in them. When did you have your first sexual encounter with Ms.Perkins?"

Justin flushes crimson. "Months after I discovered the true nature of the club."

"Why did you choose to condone a crime?"

"As I’ve said; I succumbed to temptation."

"If you expressed your concerns to Mr. Cordi, as you have testified, why did you decide to actively participate in the very thing you objected to?"

"I succumbed to temptation. I regret my actions, and I'm deeply ashamed."

"You knowingly chose to further your involvement in crime by entering into an agreement to purchase a woman’s sexual services, and then you bought equity in a business involved in prostitution. When did you first meet Ms. Bain?"

"I first saw her when she performed at the club; I think it was around October of two thousand and twelve."

"You had only just won the election; you were a state senator by then, were you not?"

"I was."

"Did you
succumb
to temptation again with Ms. Bain? Engaging in illegal sex with Ms.Perkins wasn’t enough, you felt the need to repeat your crime?"

"I stopped having sexual relations with Ms.Perkins once I decided to pursue Ms. Bain," he says tersely.

"Was it your intention to pursue her for sex or for a different kind of relationship?"

"Objection, Your Honor. Immaterial," Tom intervenes.

"Sustained," Judge Bolton rules.

"How did you pursue Angelique Bain?"

"I invited her for a drink."

"Outside of Liaison?"

"I asked her to join me at my table at the club."

"Was that on the first night you saw her?"

"It was a week or so later."

"Did you enjoy her company?"

"Yes, Ms. Bain is an intelligent and captivating woman."

"Was this before or after she became an escort?"

"Before."

"So she was not yet an escort; did you invite her out on a date, perhaps for a drink or coffee?"

"I did not."

"So, you met this lovely woman who captivated you, but you didn’t think to ask her out? Isn’t that what most men interested in a woman would have done?"

"Objection, Your Honor, asked and answered," Tom calls out.

"Sustained," comes the ruling.

"When did you next see Ms. Bain?"

"Some months later."

"Tell the court about that occasion, please?"

"Mr. Cordi called to advise me that Ms. Bain was escorting and asked if I was still interested in her. I said yes."

"So you paid to have sex with Ms. Bain?"

"I did."

"How long after your first sexual encounter with Ms. Bain did you sign the agreement for her exclusive services?"

"Probably a couple of months. I’m not sure of the exact timeframe."

"Why did you sign the agreement when Ms. Bain was already available to you?"

"I did it to help her."

"To help
her
?"

"Yes," he says with a hint of irritation.

"Exactly how did it benefit her to be treated like chattel?"

"I didn't think she should have to sleep with other men," he admits after a long pause.

"Did she ever ask you to protect her from having to sleep with other men?"

"No," he says tersely.

"So you and Joseph Cordi decided that
you
were best suited to determine this young woman's fate, and you determined it was to be tied to you in a sexual contract. On what basis did you decide that?"

Justin’s eyes bore into mine, a frown on his face. I gaze back at him unwaveringly. "Mr. Wade?"

"As I've already said, I felt I was helping her."

"You're a wealthy and influential man. In fact, you are reported to be one of the richest men in Massachusetts, are you not?"

"Yes." He’s clearly unhappy, knowing, like I do, that raising his wealth and privilege only serves to heighten the perception that he capitalized on his position to get away with a crime.

"Why not offer her a loan, something,
anything
, that didn't demand she sell her body?"

For the first time since taking the stand, Justin looks truly uncomfortable. There's a pregnant pause as those present wait, with seemingly bated breath, for him to respond.

"I didn't think she'd want that," he finally says.

"So you arbitrarily made the decision to purchase her body. You gave no consideration to her feelings or wellbeing. Did you
ever
consider offering her an honorable way out… one where she wasn't forced to prostitute herself, a way that would maintain her dignity and self-worth?"

"Objection, Your Honor; leading," Tom’s voice cuts through the growing tension in the room.

"Overruled. The defendant will answer the question."

"I didn't consider that," Justin replies at last, face flushed, his eyes focused straight ahead.

"You
wanted
to bind Angelique Bain to you in an exclusive sexual agreement. You deemed her unsuitable to date but wanted her sexually. You didn't care about her fate or that of the other women who may have been forced into prostitution because of circumstances beyond their control. You selfishly ignored the law. You signed the contract for Fidelity, not because you wanted to
save
Ms. Bain, but because you wanted her for yourself …"

"
Objection
Your Honor. Badgering." Tom interjects indignantly. Justin's jaw is clenched tight, his face deathly pale as he stares straight ahead.

"Sustained." The ruling goes against me, but I don’t care, satisfied that I’ve made my point.

"Mr. Wade…" I call out. He snaps his head back to look at me.

"Your accountant, Mr. Jones, testified that you told him a thorough investigation of Fidelity Properties was not unnecessary. Why would you do that?"

He clears his throat. "It was a misunderstanding. My intention wasn’t to create confusion. I simply wanted to let Mr. Jones know that I'd conducted some basic research into the company. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. I did
not
, however, seek to mislead him, nor did I intend to stop him from performing his duty."

"So, you maintain that you had no prior knowledge of Fidelity's ownership of Liaison or any other nightclub?"

"I did
not
know that the company owned Liaison, or any club, for that matter. Joseph Cordi assured me that he'd provided full disclosure of Fidelity’s financial position and assets
before
I signed the agreement."

"How did you not
once
, in over a year, raise a single question about Sigma and the source of its income, Mr. Wade? You are a highly intelligent man, a trained lawyer, and according to your accountant, astute in business and financial matters. Why did you not ask about such a significant source of income? Why, in the first instance, did you not insist that proper due diligence be conducted? The existence of the clubs would then have been uncovered, surely?"

"Objection, Your Honor. Compound question."

"Your Honor, what I’ve just asked, boils down to
one
fundamental question; why did the defendant, a trained lawyer and astute businessman, fail to do what anyone with an ounce of knowledge would have and should have done?"

"Overruled. I'll allow some latitude."

"Mr. Wade?" I prompt.

"As I've already testified, it was
not
my intention to mislead or to infer that Mr. Jones should forego due process. As far as the source of Sigma's revenue is concerned, I simply didn’t consider it necessary to check. I believed what I'd been told and what my initial research confirmed; that Fidelity was in the business of commercial property development. No subsidiary company was disclosed in discussion prior to my signing the contract or included in the company’s assets register; so for me, none existed. In terms of the financial reports, I perused them, satisfied myself that the business continued to do well and then forwarded them to J.J. and H to deal with. I did not, as you have inferred, enter into the contract for Fidelity with the intention of committing a crime."

"But you
did
, Mr. Wade. You committed several crimes, with
intent
; when you participated in the illegal prostitution at Liaison, when you entered into a contract for the sexual services of a vulnerable woman, and again, when you chose to enter into a business partnership with a man you knew to be a criminal.

"You consciously, and to satisfy your desire to have Angelique Bain for yourself, flouted laws you swore to uphold. 'I did not think she should sleep with other men', you have highhandedly stated. What made you think
you
had the right to demean her instead?"

"
Objection
, Your Honor. Badgering," Tom interjects. I ignore him.

"You willingly entered into a business partnership with a man you knew to be a criminal and, in the process, deliberately ignored the plight of the hapless women caught up in his scheme. Afraid that he might uncover something to hamper the agreement to secure Ms. Bain’s sexual services, you
knowingly
dissuaded your accountant from investigating Fidelity, did you not?"

"Sustained. Counsel, you are cautioned," Judge Bolton calls out.

"No further questions, Your Honor," I reply.

.

.

I feel emotionally drained and, truth be told, somewhat deflated. Jodi and I left court to return to the office to recap the day’s events. We agreed that we had a very good day. "You left him exposed and with no place to hide," she said.

We
did
win the day, but I hadn’t been able to then and still can’t muster up the adrenaline-enthused high I’d normally feel at such an outcome. I arrived home and had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for dinner, then spent time on a final run-through of my closing argument before slumping on the sofa in front of the television where I am now.