CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
At the law firm, the waiting room chairs were comfortable and the magazines glossy, and the receptionist brought us both coffee while we waited. The caffeine did nothing to calm my nerves. This was turning out to be an all-time worst day ever.
Then Jarrod stretched beside him and yawned, and I remembered the morning. A mixed day.
The woman that came out to meet us was fresh-faced and dressed in the suit that cost a week of my pay. She smiled at us, and said, “Mr. Everett? I’m Francine Perlman. Come on through.” She led us down a wood-paneled hallway, saying over her shoulder. “I don’t have an office to myself, so we’ll use the conference room.”
We sat down at one end of a huge table that I suspected was made of oak, and she said, “The message I was given was that you were having a family law problem.”
I pushed the order across the table, “They served this to me yesterday”.
She flicked through the order and looked across at me. “Let’s see,” she said. “Is there a history to this? Are you pimping?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m the receptionist and driver for a brothel.”
“That doesn’t count as living off the earnings.”
I bit my lip. “I think it's because I borrowed money from Jarrod to make my last child support payment. That’s why she thinks he’s supporting me.”
Francine looked at Jarrod. “You’re Jarrod? And you’re the person she is claiming Mr. Everett should have prevented from having contact with his child…” She paused and glanced at the order. “Billy.”
Jarrod nodded. “That’s me, and I am a prostitute: that it's correct.”
I flinched a little. It didn’t seem fair that Jarrod was sucked into this mess, but it hadn’t been me that had done it.
“Tell me about the contact you’ve had with Billy.”
Jarrod looked puzzled. “I went around for dinner and to watch videos.”
“Were you left alone with Billy?” Francine asked, and Jarrod shook his head.
“OK. Did he walk in on the two of you having sex?”
“Christ,” I muttered under my breath. “Definitely not, though Jarrod did stay the night. He saw us kissing, but that can’t count as endangering him, can it?”
Francine shook her head. “Absolutely not,” she said, and she sounded almost gleeful. “Is there any chance this is about your sexual preferences?”
I shrugged. “Daniela never had a problem before.”
“Damn. This law firm would love to contest a case on those grounds, still, I’m sure we can find something. I suppose she’s a wholesome sort of person who’s never even had a parking ticket.”
I almost choked. “Definitely not. She used to front a punk band. From memory, she’s had two drug convictions, back before I met her.”
Francine grinned. “Really? Excellent. What about you? What’s your criminal history like?”
I smiled back at Francine. I was liking her even if she was an attorney. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Let’s have a look at the rest of your papers; there might be something in there I can use.”
I slid my child support and custody agreement papers across the table to her.
Francine flicked through them and whistled at the child support figures. “That’s punitive. Is this based on your former earnings as a prostitute or something?”
“Er, no. I used to be an actor, had well-paid roles, but I haven’t worked for the past year, not as an actor anyway,” I explained.
“What’s your income like now?” Francine asked, reaching for her yellow legal pad.
“I’m at $15 an hour.”
“OK, we can fix that for you too.” She smiled again. “Markson and Thenard’s policy is that family law cases are managed. That means we fight every inch of the way. Now, because I’m a law clerk, not an attorney, I must get one of the senior attorneys to approve what I plan to do, so if you’ll bear with me for a moment, I’ll find someone.”
She came back a minute or two later, followed by a tall man with gray hair and an immaculate charcoal grey suit, carrying a cup of coffee. I recognized the type: they came into Club Jade all the time. The type of man who only had one vice and indulged it often. His eyes slid over I and latched onto Jarrod with particular interest, and he smiled.
Under the table, Jarrod’s hand found my.
“I’m Paul Carson. Francine said you’re having family law problems. OK, Francine, tell me what you want to do.”
“There’s an ex-parte order barring access on dubious grounds. I’d like to hit the ex with an implied threat of a counter order, just to force her into backing down. And there’s an unreasonable child support agreement that needs to be contested.”
“What are the chances of avoiding a court appearance?” the lawyer asked, picking up the documents and scanning us.
“I think we will withdraw the temporary order. Say, 75% chance of that. As for the child support agreement being contested, I think if I hit them with solid paperwork, there’s a 50% chance of it being resolved without court time.”
The lawyer nodded. “Go ahead with the paperwork. If you run it across my desk, I’ll sign off on everything.” He picked up his coffee and smiled at Jarrod and I. “Good luck, and if any of this gets as far as a hearing, I’ll see you again.”
He whisked out of the conference room, leaving a trail of cologne, and Francine pulled her notepad closer. “I need lots of details on your ex. Then I’ll write a letter to her attorney showing that I have information that would give us a strong case for full custody and that they might want to drop the complaint.”
My conscience demanded attention. “Ah, I don’t for one moment think Daniela’s previous drug use in any way affects her ability to look after Billy. It’s not like she uses now.”
Francine tapped the ex-parte order with a glossy fingernail. “This,” she said, “is a declaration of war. Your ex-has claimed what you do for a living and who you sleep with makes you a bad parent. If you want to see your child, you will fight for him. This is what it takes.”
Jarrod’s fingers tightened around mine. “OK,” I said. “Do it.”
Francine nodded. “And while this is happening, have no contact with your ex. Screen her calls, that thing.” Francine looked at the papers again and frowned a little. “I know nothing about the attorney she’s using. If we have the same policy as them, there might be more papers served to you before her attorney knows we're involved. Do you think you could make it more difficult? Does she know where you work?”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
Jarrod said, “You can come and stay with me. She won’t be able to find you there.”
“Good,” Francine said. “Once her attorney knows we're representing you, the papers will come here, but you can still make her hire a private detective. If we can’t intimidate her into backing down, we can make it too expensive for her to continue.”
It felt like over-reacting to me, going to such extremes, but Francine was right. Daniela had stopped me from seeing Billy. This was war, and I would fight.
It felt like now, a chance for everything. I squeezed Jarrod’s hand back under the table.