When Men Betray (26 page)

“Maggie, I need to make those calls we talked about. Is it okay if I use your suite?”

“Of course. Let me get you the key card.”

“I need you to come with me, if you don't mind.” Maggie looked a little surprised, but nodded in agreement

We were about to leave when Clovis came in.

“We're not going to get much out of this guy. He refuses to talk, has no ID on him, and is certainly not from around here. He'll be charged with aggravated assault, but I bet he'll make bail and disappear as soon as he gets out of the hospital—happens all the time. The
police want to interview you, but I told them you were too shaken up. I told them to call Sam if they had a problem.”

He turned to Micki and smiled. “No one knows who you are yet or that you're the one who almost neutered Jack's assailant. Good thing you were there. Jack's lucky—he's no match for a guy with a knife.”

My feelings were a little hurt, but I knew Micki needed to hear she'd done the right thing. Besides, Clovis was right.

I told him he needed to follow up with this guy before he had a chance to run—he was our only physical link to the enemy. He agreed and said he'd do what he could, depending on what the police would allow. But he and Martin had decided to drop the hotel's security assistance and upgrade our own—that came first.

Maggie and I left him to deal with the details of security. Right now, I needed to get these phone calls out of the way.

When we walked into Maggie's suite, she said, “Are you sure you're up for this? I know you pretty well. What just happened has to have shaken you.”

“I'm okay. I need to keep going or I'll run out of steam, and we'll run out of time. But I'm worried about Beth. I should never have let her come.”

“There's no way you could have stopped her. Besides, if she were back at Davidson, you'd be going nuts. She's stronger than you think. I'm just surprised Jeff hasn't shown up.”

I smiled. “So am I, actually. If Beth were my girlfriend, wild horses couldn't keep me away. Have you been able to reach Janis Harold?”

“You and Micki are meeting her at Tucker's at eleven o'clock. She offered to come here, but it's getting a little crowded.”

“Tucker's is better anyway. Woody told me that he left some money to Beth. I don't want her to know until I get verification.”

I looked through my to-do list. “Okay—let's get this over with. I want to get Ron on the speaker, but at some point, I might ask you to step out. I promise it's for your protection. This could get pretty nasty.”

I put the hotel phone between us on the round table. Ron answered with, “It's about fucking time. Don't they have phones in that godforsaken place?”

“Ron, I have Maggie on speaker.”

Ron continued without a pause. “Nice to know. Look, I'm sorry,
Jack, but you forced the firm's hand by going to Little Rock. We had no choice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I told you to get the hell out of there, but now you've damaged the firm's reputation as well as your own. Your partners are fed up. I like you personally, Jack, but you've committed professional suicide.”

I wasn't surprised at his tirade; the question was, what had the firm done, if anything? “What do you propose I do, short of falling on my sword?”

“Sorry—it's too late. We can't let a Banks and Tuohey attorney represent an assassin.”

“Are you saying you don't want me to go to today's meeting with the judge?”

“You still don't get it, do you? You fucking idiot, I don't care what you do now. Last night, the executive committee fired your ass. I'm sorry, but I've had to listen to clients all weekend—and they're plenty pissed. They want you gone. Hell, Jack, you know this as well as I do—we can't afford to lose clients over a goddamned assassin.”

“I'm sorry they feel that way. When do I have to leave?”

“You were terminated as of midnight last night. Your partner's share and all other monies due were deposited in your bank this morning. Your access to our computer system has been terminated. Your office has been cleaned out by security—we put it all in storage. Rose has been reassigned to the associate's pool.” I could see Maggie grimace. “Of course, we wish you all the luck in the world.”
Right
.

“As I said, Maggie's here with me. What about her?”

“Maggie, I'm sorry you had to hear all this, but maybe it's better. I accepted your resignation when I got your letter. We're sorry you're leaving, but I've got good news for you. When a staff member resigns in good standing, we accept that resignation immediately. We'll still pay you the two weeks you have coming, but you don't need to return, and yesterday, the executive committee gave you an extra month's pay.”

I could tell Maggie was about to tell him where to stick this peace offering, but I reached out my hand and touched her arm.

“We deposited the funds in your bank account this morning,” Ron
said. “Your last day was officially this past Friday.” At least he had the decency to sound uncomfortable about Maggie.

“What about my personal belongings?” she asked.

Ron hadn't thought about the insult to Maggie of packing up her personal effects, and he didn't want to piss off the future wife of one of the firm's best clients.

“Uh, well, I guess somebody wasn't thinking. When they were boxing up Jack's stuff, they boxed up yours, too. No offense meant. Where would you like us to send them?”

I knew Maggie was steaming, but you couldn't tell by her cultured purr.

“Just keep mine with Jack's. I'll let Debbie know where to have it sent when I return.”

“I have one question,” I told Ron. “We need to talk about Arcade Oil.”

“Don't even think about it, Jack. Their business stays with the firm. And make no mistake—they were loud and clear that you had to go.”

I thought as much, but Ron shouldn't have told me.

“Now, I know Jerry Prince is your friend, but it wasn't his call. Word came down from the top. Your relationship with them is completely severed. Besides, Jerry's decided to retire.”

“Really? As of when?”

“Friday, I think. Look, Jack, all the best, but I've got work to do.”

Not possible
, I thought, as I hung up. I'd talked to Jerry on Saturday. I should have been angry, but I had mixed emotions. I'd spent a good part of my professional life at the firm, and I liked most of my partners. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I'd like to think that I'd have behaved differently. On the upside, firing me solved an ethical issue that had cropped up last night in Beth's research. As I stared at the phone in my hand, I wondered how much the firm knew about what I had discovered.

Maggie looked puzzled, mad, and worried all at the same time.

“It's okay,” I told her. “I'm glad you got to hear all that. Hey, sometimes things work out for the best. For me, you, and possibly Woody, this needed to happen just the way it did.”

“Do you mean Walter's offer?”

“Well, no, although Walter's offer looks even better than before, if that's possible. First, you'll never have to darken their door again, and you're free to work for me. It bothered me that you were helping me and still employed by the firm. It created some sticky issues I don't have to worry about anymore. Second, if Ron hadn't fired me, I was going to have to take a leave of absence. As of midnight, you and I had no clients, and this afternoon, we'll have our first … Woody.”

Maggie raised her eyebrows at “we.”

“That is, if you'll have me. What do you say? I can only promise we'll have one client, and our job may end tomorrow, but it'll be one hell of a day.”

My mood was contagious, and Maggie didn't disappoint. “Of course I'll work for you on this case, but I warn you—I want a raise. And combat pay.”

We both laughed.

“I have one other condition,” she said. “As soon as we get back, I'm going to open up an office for the foundation, whether you take Walter's offer or not. I'll tell Debbie to have our stuff delivered there, but I won't tell a soul what we're doing—I want Ron to be very confused and a little scared.”

I gave her the thumbs-up, tickled but not surprised by her loyalty.

Handing Maggie the list of donors I'd made last night, I asked, “Recognize anyone?”

“Of course, but what do these people have to do with Woody?”

“What would you say if I told you they all contributed to Russell's Senate campaign? Every one of them. They all maxed out.”

“What does that mean?”

“Hell if I know, but I'm going to find out.”

M
AGGIE AND
I returned to my suite, and I was greeted by a new face. This time I didn't ask for a password.

He was well built, broad-shouldered, and taller than most catchers. He wore his hair short, almost military. His forearms were massive, and a deep tan complimented bright blue eyes. He stood when I entered, and I walked over and stuck out my hand, “You must be Jeff. What took you so long?”

“Sir, your daughter can be pretty stubborn, but I guess you know that.”

He had a good firm handshake. I looked at Beth, who was brimming with pleasure. “I understand you're worried about my daughter.”

“Yes, sir, I am.” He looked me straight in the eye.

“Well, if she's not safe, neither are you. Do your parents know you're here?”

“Yes, sir. And I've told them what's happened.”

“Well, you're certainly welcome. And please call me Jack. No more ‘sirs.'

We all relaxed a little, and I told him I used to throw a decent fastball—maybe I could show him my knuckleball one day. Beth had told me at dinner that he was the starting catcher for the Wildcats. She eased my fatherly concerns by telling me he had recently been accepted at Emory Medical in Atlanta.

Beth was twirling her hair between two fingers, an old nervous habit. “You're not mad? I really didn't know he was coming till he showed up.”

I played the stern dad for a moment, and then assured her it was okay. She didn't look so happy when I mentioned he could bunk in with Clovis and Paul. In truth, I think we were equally pleased that Jeff was here.

Beth and Jeff went down to the coffee shop to catch up, so I went back to work while Maggie updated Micki on the recent developments with Banks and Tuohey.

I caught Jerry Prince on his cell phone, driving to the golf course. He was evasive, attributing his sudden decision to retire to a mutual agreement and confirming that Arcade was staying with Banks and Tuohey. I assured him I didn't need clients, but felt I owed him a call. He laughed and said he'd heard I wasn't going to make our meeting.

Now that we were dancing, it was time to lead.

“I find it hard to believe that on Saturday you offered me a plane ride from Little Rock, and now, two days later, you've retired and Arcade considers me a pariah. What's going on?”

Jerry hesitated, “Look, I'd like to tell you, but I can't. I made the decision to retire and in return got a nice little parachute that's dependent on an ironclad confidentiality agreement. My plan is to enjoy myself, play a lot of golf, drink a lot of gin, and maybe even travel for fun. And that's it. You have an open invitation to join me at Burning Tree, but don't ask me about business again. Be careful in Little Rock, Jack. … Remember, I told you to come home.”

I gave Maggie and Micki an easy summary of the call: “They made him an offer he couldn't refuse.”

I told Micki about the donor list I'd shown Maggie and what had clicked for me last night. More than thirty oil executives, including the president of Arcade Oil, Don McAlvin, were major contributors to Russell's campaigns as well as significant donors to the Townsend Arts Center.

Maggie asked, “So you think Arcade is somehow connected to Woody's behavior? You think Jerry Prince is involved?”

“I hope not. Jerry's been a good friend, so I'm going to assume he isn't involved. He wasn't on the donor or contributor list. Hopefully,
when he realized something wasn't kosher, he left on his own.” I stopped and thought for a moment. “What puzzles me is that Russell Robinson stood for everything Arcade opposed, yet for some reason, its executives gave him a whole lot of money.”

“Maybe they were hedging their bets,” Maggie said. “I'm sure big companies give money to their allies and opponents alike. It keeps the doors open, right?”

I nodded. “And whether this has anything to do with Woody is still an open question. All I know for sure is that Arcade wanted me out of Little Rock from the get-go.”

As we sat in silence, something new occurred to me.

“Micki, let me put what we've discovered in context—we've identified oil executives of five specific companies who contributed to Russell's campaigns over a long period of time. At the same time, Russell was as pro-environment as they come for a politician. I know these five companies, and it doesn't make sense that they supported him to the extent they did. None of them explore or drill for oil in the U.S. They're all importers, so he couldn't do them any special favors like giving them drilling rights in the state parks. And, as Maggie knows, they're all currently under an antitrust consent order not to conspire to fix prices or anything else. We represented the biggest company of the five, Arcade Oil, in negotiating the order, and we know its business backward and forward.