Chapter 9
Maggie Spritzer stared out the Post’s window at the rain slapping against the building like a million jackhammers. She wondered if all the ducks in and around the Tidal Basin were safe. Such a wild thought. Then again, maybe not so wild. Still, it was better than to keep dwelling on Arthur Forrester and the meeting that was supposed to have taken place in forty-eight hours, but Charles had canceled because of flooding on the roads leading to Pinewood.
The only topic of conversation on television was this latest freak spring storm that rivaled a tsunami. Stranded motorists sitting on the roofs of their cars, houses flooded to the second floors, and all the creek beds overflowing to create a monster lake were the only things to be seen on the local television channels. Residents were advised to stay in their homes and not take to the roads. Virginia was the state in the area being hit the hardest. D.C. and the metropolitan area were flooded, to be sure, but that was nothing compared to Virginia. She’d spent the night here at the Post. She’d checked in earlier with Jackson Sparrow, who was living next door to her house in Georgetown, in the house that Jack Emery used to own before he and Nikki moved out to the country. Months ago, they had traded house keys and agreed to watch out for one another. He’d checked on Hero, her cat, cleaned his litter box, and put down fresh food and water and said her basement was dry. So she was good to stay here another day, if need be.
Another glitch, according to Nikki, was that Avery Snowden was pulling out of Washington and heading to Delaware because he was needed by the boys. His rationale for switching up was that surveilling Forrester was about as meaningful and rewarding as watching paint dry. He agreed to leave one operative behind to, as he put it, “babysit the package.” The package, of course, was operative speak for Arthur Forrester.
He added that the wife was clearly not involved in her husband’s high jinks, so there was no reason for a full crew when the boys needed their services. Surprisingly, Charles had not only not argued with Snowden about his decision, but had actually given him permission to go ahead.
Maggie, who for a long time had not been a full-fledged member of the Vigilantes, and so had participated in many fewer assignments, wasn’t sure how she felt about that and complained to Nikki that she kind of felt like they were being treated as second-class citizens. To which Nikki had replied, “Think about it, we can do the snatch as well as he could have. All we need to do is set up a plan, set it in motion, and it’s a done deal.” Maggie agreed, her mood brightening immediately.
Maggie turned around to head to her desk when she had an epiphany. At least she thought it was. She immediately called Annie for permission; then she called Garland Lee to see if she was okay with what they planned to do. After a few questions, the singer gave her verbal okay to go ahead.
It took Maggie a full hour to set up a conference call with all the girls and manage to get Kathryn to stop long enough at a rest stop to be patched through so she could participate. She was sitting in the Post’s conference room now, waiting for Kathryn to call so she could ring the others, who were all standing by. She’d worried about Myra, and Annie, who were stuck out at the farm, and Nikki, who lived nearby and was unable to get into her law firm, but in the end, the telephones were still in operation.
While she waited, she spent her time calling a friend and colleague, Carlie Mason, who worked for one of the major newspapers in Washington. After the social amenities were over, Maggie cut to the chase. “I’ll share the byline if you can guarantee that Garland Lee’s picture goes above the fold and the story underneath, but it has to be the front page. I’ll do the write-up, since I have it sitting in front of me. No one needs to know you didn’t share in the writing. This is important to me, Carlie, really important, or I wouldn’t involve you. It’s a win-win for you, Carlie. What do you say?”
The voice on the other end of the phone bellowed in delight. “I’m in! Give me twenty minutes, my boss just went down to the cafeteria. I’ll get back to you within the hour.”
“Great. I’ll be on a multiple conference call, so leave a message. I’ll have the picture and the text to you by late afternoon, in plenty of time for tomorrow’s early edition. Thanks, Carlie,” Maggie gushed.
“Hey, girl, it’s the other way around. A byline on page one, and I don’t have to do a thing. It doesn’t get any better than that, ya know. Aside from all of that, I love and adore Garland Lee. Who doesn’t?” Both women laughed; then the connection was broken.
* * *
The phone in the center of the long conference table shrilled to life. It took eight minutes for everyone to say they were on board and could hear what everyone else was saying. Kathryn said she had excellent reception and was barely ninety miles away and on her way home.
“Since this call is of your making, dear, I suggest you tell us what it’s all about,” Myra said.
“Right, right! Well, I was staring out the window, and suddenly I had this epiphany. Or the epiphany’s cousin. Whatever . . . I want to do an article for tomorrow’s early edition saying that Garland Lee is planning a world tour. I called her, and she gave me permission to write whatever I want. She really trusts us. It will be half article, half interview. In the interview, she will be coy, neither confirming nor denying the world tour. She’ll say she’s coordinating it herself because her last agent/business manager had seemed more interested in his own financial well-being than in hers. In other words, and this is not in the story, he treated her like his own private piggy bank, ripped her off—none of which she can say without opening herself up to a charge of slander. No names need to be mentioned.
“I can have the story ready for the early edition tomorrow morning. I called a colleague in D.C. and promised her to share the byline if she could get front-page coverage tomorrow also. Every news channel and all the wire services will be repeating it on the hour. Garland Lee is a household name, like a combination of Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. We both think it’s a go, but Carlie has to get approval. She should have it in about an hour. The object, of course, is for Mr. SOP to hear the news and read the paper so he turns himself inside out and hopefully does something stupid. That’s as far as I got in my thinking.”
“And what will this do for us?” Alexis asked.
“It will throw Mr. Sack of Pus for a loop. Garland said he devours the morning papers. Reads them all. At least he used to, when he did his commute into the city when he was working. If that was his habit, then chances are that he still does. Retired people always read the paper, either the actual paper or online. And older people are known for watching the early-morning news with their coffee.”
“So it throws him for a loop. What is the end result?” Kathryn asked. “Am I missing something?”
“I’m not getting it, either,” Yoko said.
“So Mr. Sack of Pus gets upset, so what? What does his getting upset do for us?” Nikki asked.
Maggie had a moment of self-doubt. She raked her hands through her hair and stared at the wall. “I guess what I was thinking was he’d get so furious, he’d do something really stupid. Like try to get in touch with Garland, or maybe try to sue her all over again. I know he’ll try to do something. With Mr. Snowden’s leaving us high and dry to help the guys on their mission, we have to do our own snatch. That is not going to be easy. The guy is alert to what’s going on. For crying out loud, he has turned into a virtual recluse. A Garland Lee worldwide tour is easily worth a billion dollars. That’s gross, of course. If SOP were arranging the tour, he’d be taking his twenty percent right off the top. Then he’d bill hourly for the time he spent, and anything else he could get away with. I’m told by those in the know that if this tour was Garland’s ‘Farewell Tour,’ it could bring in more than a billion. Remember now, the article will say she is coordinating it herself, so she’s saving that twenty percent and the legal fees she would have to be paying out if SOP was running things.
“It was my thinking that he lost out on all those millions from the tour she turned down and fired him over, which resulted in the current lawsuit to recover the money in escrow, and now to lose out again.... Well, I figure that when he hears about this new tour, he would go off the deep end.”
“That’s all well and good, dear, and I think you’re right, but, again, to what end? He can’t very well sue her again. She’s a free agent these days. She can do whatever she wants. Do I have that right, Nikki?”
“You do. Again, Maggie, what stupid thing do you think he’d do once he reads about it?”
Maggie, her hair standing on end, threw her hands in the air until she realized the others couldn’t see her. “So I guess what you’re saying is I went off the rails here, and my idea out-and-out sucks. Do I have that right?”
“Pretty much, dear,” Myra said. “Unless your idea is to make him go insane with jealousy, but that still won’t help us, either. Having said that, I do like the idea of taunting him.”
“He’ll just rot from the inside out, but we won’t see it,” Alexis said. “We need to see it. Garland needs to see it. The firm where he used to work needs to see it.”
“I don’t see its having the effect I think you’re hoping for, Maggie, which was that he will be so devastated, he’ll just drop the case against Garland Lee,” Kathryn said. “Nikki, Alexis, are we right in assuming he can’t sue Garland on this proposed tour? The original case has not been settled yet. Won’t this be more like an extension of the first one, where he claims she cheated him, and that’s why he sued her in the first place?”
“I’m reasonably sure that is correct, but I would have to research it further,” Nikki said. “There can always be extenuating circumstances. Like I said, Alexis and I will research the matter.”
Maggie heard the doubt in Nikki’s voice and pounced on it. “Anyone can sue anyone for anything, right? Doesn’t mean they’ll win in a court of law. He can bring the case to court himself. Or find a way to get the firm behind him on this. With millions and millions at stake, perhaps Ballard, Ballard and Quinlan, the name partners, not the firm itself, might take a second look at things and side with him. Money rules here, and if you think otherwise, then you are wrong. It’s all about the money.”
The room was silent for several minutes before Annie spoke. “I can almost see that happening for some ungodly reason.”
An argument ensued, with everyone talking on top of everyone else. The tone was shrill and bombastic. The moment it turned ugly, Annie whistled sharply for order and told everyone to calm down or she was ending the call. “Now, one at a time, speak.”
When no one said a word, Annie turned the floor over to Maggie. “What do you want us to do, dear? What do you see us doing is more like it?”
“Well, girls, I hate to admit this, but I do not have an answer. That’s why I asked for this conference call. I’m just a reporter. You guys are the foot soldiers here. You’re still the ones who make it come out right in the end. It seemed like such a good idea when it popped into my head a while ago that I just ran with it. I’ve always relied on my gut, my instincts, and I did the same thing this time.
“Maybe in the back of my mind, I was thinking we should snatch him ASAP, before he could come up with something dastardly to do. We have a decent window of time here. If we grab him now, no one is going to be looking for him. Certainly not his wife—at least for the foreseeable future. It’s doubtful his kids will sound an alarm. There’s no one left who would care if he took off for the hills. His lawyer, if interested enough, would probably be relieved not having him to deal with,” Maggie said.
“There has to be a reason why SOP is holding out. It sounds so open-and-shut to us, and we all heard what went down in the firm’s conference room. They want to settle. That pretty much says to me, and I’m no lawyer, that they know they can’t win if it comes to a trial. And the only way it does not come to a trial is if Garland does not get a summary judgment in her favor. And if she does, they lose without a trial. Hence the offer to settle.
“It can’t just be simple greed on SOP’s part. Somewhere in that ugly head of his, he has to have some brains. So why is he holding so firm and not taking the settlement route?” Yoko asked, her tone frustrated.
“Do you mean like perhaps he has a rabbit-in-the-hat kind of thing? If he does, what could it possibly be? Nikki and Alexis have pored over all the legal filings, as did we, and there is nothing there that any of us could see,” Annie reminded them.
“Yes, a rabbit-in-the-hat kind of thing. He has something, or thinks he does, that he’s waiting to spring at just the right moment,” Kathryn said.
“Let’s explore that a little further and call it what it is in plain English, blackmail. Whom would he blackmail? Certainly not Garland. That leaves the firm. At least to my way of thinking. Did they do something he was privy to and kept quiet about? But if that’s the case, whatever it is, he was a party to it. Unless he found out through other means and simply kept quiet because he was a member of the firm, and that’s where his share of the partnership profits came from.”
“I just had a thought. The listening device is still under the table in the conference room. That means everything that goes on in that room is still being heard by Snowden or his people. I totally forgot about that. Should we try to get it back? We don’t have the right to listen to what goes on in that room between clients and the lawyers who represent them,” Maggie said.
The others hooted with laughter. “Considering all the laws we break, do you think this is anywhere near the top of the list? We aren’t going to do anything with the information, unless it turns out to involve Mr. SOP. Don’t give that another thought, Maggie. You did say the device couldn’t be traced back to us, right?” Isabelle said.
“Right. Okay, then. It stays until someone finds it,” Maggie said with a lilt in her voice. “Where does all this leave us now?”
“Hold on, everyone! Charles is right here next to Myra and me, and he just said he’s getting a text from Avery. Okay, okay, seems Mr. Forrester is finally making some noise in that condo. He’s making a phone call. As they say, we’re going live here. Avery’s operative is listening in on his end of the conversation. Bear in mind she can only hear Mr. Forrester’s end of the conversation,” Annie said.
Everyone started talking at once, until Annie whistled sharply. “If you all keep talking, I can’t concentrate on what Charles is telling me.”
The phone lines went silent. The conference room went as silent as a tomb. Maggie twitched in her chair as she nibbled at the cuticle on her thumb. She made a mental note to stop chewing her nails. She’d made the same mental note hundreds of times before, all to no avail. She was a nail nibbler, bottom line.
* * *
Not so at the home office where Arthur Forrester sat behind his desk, his phone to his ear. Sound could be heard, although it was muted from a television tuned to Fox News. Sasha, Avery Snowden’s operative, had her cell phone pressed so hard against her ear that she was getting a headache. She listened, her eyes wide, her jaw dropping as she listened to Arthur Forrester’s venom directed at the party he’d called.
“I want you to listen to me, Henry. And, yes, I agree it did take some nerve on my part to call you just now, especially after the way we parted company the last time we were all together. I want you to cease and desist on planning to file any lawsuits against me. The reason I say this is that if you don’t, I will go to the bar association and file a complaint about your conduct in Tram v Oden.
“Depending on my frame of mind at the time, I might even throw in Matthew Spicer’s name, Tram’s star witness, the one you guys dug up out of nowhere. I have the complete file. I copied it and took it with me when I left. Knowing the way you and the senior partners operate, I thought I might need some leverage someday. I guess that someday is here.”
Sasha listened intently to the small silence that ensued. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Forrester say, “Calling me a scumbag isn’t going to change a damn thing. I learned everything I did from the best, you and the other name partners.
“Now this is what I want. So listen up, and listen good, because I am not going to repeat a word of what I’m saying. You drop any and all suits you have the firm drawing up against me. You inform the insurance lawyers you’ve had a change of heart and want to go to a full trial if the summary judgment does not go Garland Lee’s way. Don’t for one minute get the idea that this is a negotiation. It. Is. Not. I’m going to hang up now, so you can have a discussion with Alvin and Robert. I’ll get back to you later this afternoon. And while you’re all in discussion mode, you might want to see if you can come up with a few more star witnesses for when we go to trial against Garland Lee. I know the firm does not like to lose. Neither do I, Henry. Neither do I.” Forrester repeated what he’d just said a second time, to be sure that Henry Ballard was reading him loud and clear.
Sasha blinked, then blinked again, when she realized the connection was broken. All she could hear were voices on Fox. She rubbed at her throbbing temples. The word blackmail swirled around and around inside her head. The boss was going to be absolutely ecstatic when he heard all of this.
* * *
Back in the conference room at the Post, Maggie continued to nibble on her nails as she waited for Annie to tell them what was happening. Her jaw dropped when Myra said, “I guess we should consider this Mr. Forrester’s rabbit in the hat or the smoking gun, whatever you want to call it. He’s going to blackmail the firm for something they did or allegedly did. I’m no lawyer, but that ‘star witness’ comment makes me think the star witness came out of the blue and perjured himself, and Mr. Forrester is privy to that information. Now, having said that, if it’s true, we all know where this is going. Garland Lee will lose in court if it ever gets there because the firm will suddenly come up with some magical witnesses who will swear under oath whatever the firm wants them to swear to. Fraudulently so, but a loss is a loss. We promised Garland that would not happen,” Myra said.
“Let’s move our timetable up and plan for the snatch,” Kathryn suggested.
“What about my epiphany and tomorrow’s article on Garland?” Maggie asked.
“If you think it will help, dear, then go ahead, but I don’t see it doing anything other than putting Mr. Forrester into a rage. I don’t see it hurting us in any way whatsoever. So no harm, no foul. And it might also take a little wind out of his sails. Right now, I figure he’s thinking he has the firm’s senior partners right where he wants them, under his fist. So you might as well go ahead,” Annie said. The others agreed.
“Forrester said he’s going to be calling Henry Ballard back later this afternoon. I’m wondering if the three partners will go into the conference room to discuss this, or if they’ll leave the premises,” Nikki said. “Perhaps we should set up another conference call for late afternoon to see if it happens that way. In the meantime, Alexis, see if you can dig up the nitty-gritty on the case of Tram v Oden. If nothing goes down, we can at least discuss that during the call.”
“Good thing we didn’t make any plans to remove that listening device,” Maggie said. “I’m starting not to have a good opinion of lawyers,” she grumbled.
“There’s good and bad in everything, Maggie, you know that. How many times have I heard or read about journalists who made up stories to make themselves look good? Look at that TV guy, Brian Williams. That was a hot topic for a while, and now he’s back on the air, doing breaking news reporting for one of the cable news channels. The public, as a general rule, is very forgiving. Not so much for lawyers, though,” Alexis said. “And bar associations can be totally unforgiving.”
The women talked for a few more minutes before the conference call ended, with Maggie’s setting up the next one for five-thirty, after the end of the business day, and reminding someone to call Garland Lee to bring her up to date, as they had promised to do.
* * *
Maggie sat quietly at the conference table staring at her reflection coming off the highly polished wood. It was so quiet in here. She would be able to hear the proverbial pin drop—if she had a pin to drop.
Silence was not one of her favorite things. Silence offered up too much time to think and wonder. She much preferred noise and chaos, especially if she was the one creating the noise and the chaos.
Maggie let loose with a huge sigh as she heaved herself up from the table and headed back to the newsroom, which was rife with sound.
Intrepid investigative reporter that she was, she was in her element. She was exactly where she belonged.