The Family Lawyer

by James Patterson

  Chapter 33

  The moment I open the front door, Daniel hurries into his room. Hailey is already asleep.

  Janet is in our bedroom watching some reality TV show. On the screen, a voluptuous redhead confides in a friend that her husband had an affair and has been fired from the show.

  “Why was Daniel with you?” Janet asks.

  I recount what he told me.

  She shakes her head, a mocking glare in her eyes. “Do you believe him?”

  “I don’t know what to believe.”

  There are sobs and hugs on the reality show. Janet picks up the remote and aggressively hits the power button, as if she’s firing a weapon. She tosses the device aside with such force that it hits the floor.

  “You've fallen for his bull ever since he was a child. Don’t you get it? The cops traced that webpage to our house, and all of a sudden he shows up at your office and blames Hailey. Damn it, Matt, he’s the expert in computers, not her. She’s lucky to be able to turn on her cell phone. Tor browsers? HushMail? The authorities are hot on his trail; they just don’t know it yet. He’s trying to cover his own ass. He did this.”

  “I can’t believe—”

  “Believe it for once in your life. He hacked Hailey’s computer and found that horrible nude photo of the girls. Maybe he heard about it at school. It probably aroused him, and he started stalking Farah. He’s stalked other girls, you know. The girls think he’s creepy. That’s why the other parents avoid us like the plague. Because he’s a weirdo, and he’s dangerous. He did this and wants Hailey to take the fall. He’s always been jealous of her.” She sits up, reaches over, and grabs my arm with both hands, and now she’s not hostile but beseeching. “The trial is a disaster, and she’s innocent. Let me take the stand tomorrow and tell what I know about Daniel.”

  “You’d seriously testify against your own son?”

  “To save my innocent daughter, in a heartbeat. The boy is so troubled. Maybe it’s for the best. Hailey didn’t do this. He did.”

  Janet could be right. Daniel has a history of breaking the rules. He’s a computer whiz who could cover his tracks. Especially for a kid her age, Hailey isn’t all that good with computers—she can e-mail and text and use social media, but Tor and the Dark Web? Doubtful. Unless, as I suggested to her, she had help.

  “I’ll talk it over with Debra.”

  That’s not what she wants to hear. “I’ll be ready to testify. I expect you to be ready to protect your innocent daughter.”

  I feel like the mother in Sophie’s Choice, forced to sacrifice one child to save the other. There’s a different way to look at it, though—the lawyer’s way. Maybe if Janet names Daniel as the stalker, the jury will find reasonable doubt, and both my kids will go free. They’ll never be exonerated, of course, but maybe they’ll both avoid prison.

  I leave the room. Daniel is entitled to know what we’re thinking. As a civil rights attorney, I have an obsession for due process.

  I knock on his door, and he tells me to come in. When I explain what Janet and I discussed, he doesn’t deny involvement as he did earlier, just lets out an eerie, chilling laugh and tells me to get the fuck out of his room.

  An hour later, just as I’m finally on the verge of sleep, the front door slams. I roll out of bed and run outside to see Daniel sprinting away like a felon fleeing the scene of the crime. Worse, under his arm, he’s carrying my laptop computer—the one computer that the police didn’t seize and didn’t search.

  “Wait, son!” I shout.

  He doesn’t wait, only runs at full speed and disappears into the night.

  Chapter 34

  Before trial resumes the next morning, I hurriedly explain to Debra why we’re going to call Janet as our first witness, and that we’ve been up all night mapping my examination strategy and going over prep. I expect her to argue, at least to question, but she just nods in agreement. We don’t tell Hailey—she’s protective of Daniel and might try to stop us.

  Lundy stands and says, “The People rest.” Why wouldn’t he? Special Agent Mogren was the perfect denouement for the prosecution’s case.

  “Does the defense have a witness?” Judge Sears asks.

  I stand, but Debra beats me to the lectern and says, “The defense calls Janet Hovanes.”

  Bewildered, I say, “May we take a moment to confer, Your Honor?”

  “Make it quick, counsel,” the judge says.

  “We don’t need to confer,” Debra says. “I’m ready to proceed with my examination of Mrs. Hovanes.” She turns and beckons Janet, who walks to the witness stand. My wife is clearly not happy that Debra is handling this. Neither am I. But we can’t let the jury think we’re disunited, so I yield.

  “Why is she calling Mom?” Hailey whispers.

  I don’t respond. How can I tell Hailey that her mother is going to try to save her by implicating her brother?

  After posing some background questions about Janet’s education and work experience, Debra approaches the bench. Lundy joins her, but when I try to follow, she shakes her head. I sit back down. Again, we can’t make a scene in front of the jury. What the hell is going on?

  The sidebar conference lasts for a full ten minutes. Finally, the judge says, “We’re going to clear the courtroom again. Meanwhile, Detective Ernesto Velasquez, will you go out in the hall and bring Daniel Hovanes in?”

  Janet looks at me in confusion. I shrug, as shocked as she is. More. What does Debra have in mind? Why is Daniel here? Did the police arrest him?

  Velasquez returns with Daniel at his side. They sit in the third row. Daniel is dressed well, at least for him—jeans and athletic shoes, but also a collared shirt and sports jacket. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him in a sports jacket. He’s carrying what appears to be my laptop under his arm.

  When the courtroom is clear, Debra says, “Mrs. Hovanes.”

  “Miss Grant.” The edge in both their voices is palpable.

  “Do you remember that the police seized your family’s computers in connection with the arrest of your daughter?”

  “I’ll never forget that intrusion. We were violated.”

  “And all the computers and devices came back clean?”

  “They did.”

  “But there was one computer that the police didn’t take.”

  “Yes. My husband’s computer. Attorney–client privilege. You managed to stop the police from seizing it, Debra.” There’s a patronizing tone in Janet’s voice, as if Debra had intruded, too.

  “By the way, did your husband, Matthew Hovanes, post the nude picture of Farah Medhipour?”

  Janet flinches. “Of course not. It kills me to say this, but it turns out that my—”

  “You’ve answered my question,” Debra says in a tone so harsh that Janet reacts as if she’s been slapped in the face.

  “Did I post the nude photo of Farah?” Debra asks.

  “You, Debra Grant? No, I…Is this some kind of joke?”

  Without making eye contact with me, Debra turns and nods to Daniel, who walks to the bar and hands her my computer. She spends a couple of minutes hooking it up to the court’s audiovisual system and logs in. Then she presses some keys, and the disturbing, sexually suggestive nude photo of Farah appears—but this one shows only Farah. “Only three people have passwords to this computer, don’t they, Miss Hovanes? Your husband, as well as you and me in case of emergencies. Is that right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And we’ve already established that neither your husband nor I posted those horrible things about Farah Medhipour. Which leaves you, doesn’t it?”

  The gallery breaks out in restrained buzzing. Janet shakes her head in disbelief.

  “As a library science major and a librarian, you know a good deal about computers, don’t you?” Debra asks.

  “It was part of the college curriculum and the job. I’m certainly no expert. And what you’re implying is absurd.”

  I almost believe her—want m
ore than anything in the world to believe her. I shut my eyes, praying that I’ve made a mistake, that I’ve misunderstood.

  “You know more about computers than your daughter, don’t you?” Debra asks.

  “I do. But not nearly as much as my son, Daniel. Not even close. He’s a known stalker of girls, and he would have no trouble hacking Matt’s password. That’s what he does. As a mother, it rips me apart, but he did this. Not Hailey and certainly not me, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “As a mother, it rips you apart, huh? How poignant. Except that Daniel couldn’t have hacked into this computer.”

  “Of course he could. He’s a computer genius.” Strangely, as she tries to destroy our son, there’s a tinge of pride in her voice.

  I’m about to become physically ill from the humiliation, the anger, the despair. My stomach settles only when Hailey grasps my hand.

  “But to access Mr. Hovanes’s laptop you don’t just need a password,” Debra says. “You also need a separate device called a secure token.” Debra reaches into her pocket, retrieves her key chain, and shows the token first to the judge and the jury and then to Janet. “These were issued by the law firm of Grant & Hovanes. There are only three in existence. Matt and I each have one. And you have the third on your own key chain, don’t you, Janet? A key chain that you guard zealously because you don’t trust your son with your keys.” Debra approaches the witness—lawyers aren’t supposed to do that without the judge’s permission despite what you see on TV—and dangles the keychain in Janet’s face.

  Lundy appears too shocked to object, and Judge Sears seems too interested to put a stop to Debra’s tactic.

  Janet squeezes her eyes shut for a moment and says, “Daniel could’ve hacked into—”

  “Oh, come on, Janet. This thing has eight numbers that change every minute. It’s manufactured by one of the top security companies in the world. There’s no way Daniel could’ve hacked that.”

  Janet straightens in her chair like the prim librarian she’s never been. “I didn’t have anything to do with this, Debra. Neither did Hailey. Or Matt.” She looks at me, as if pleading. Does she really expect my support? I glare at her with growing fury. Only when she lowers her eyes do I look away and bury my face in my hands.

  “You know what, Janet?” Debra says. “Daniel came to me last night with Matt’s computer, and I used Matt’s password and my secure token to get access. And you’re right, your son is a computer genius. Once Daniel had access, he verified that someone tried to delete this photo of Farah. But because Matt’s computer automatically connects with my law firm’s server, the image was saved in a backup cache.” Without waiting for a response from the judge or an objection, Debra pushes another button on the computer keyboard. This time, it’s the photograph of Farah and Hailey apparently posing nude together. Debra points a finger at Janet. “This was the photograph that Farah Medhipour sent your daughter, isn’t it? Hailey showed it to you, and you copied it from her phone. And then you edited it back to eliminate Hailey from the image, after which you posted Farah’s photo on that phony website that you set up. And you sent the harassing messages.”

  “That’s absurd.”

  “Please, Janet. Don’t make me call your son to convict his own mother. You’ve already sunk so low.”

  “That girl killed herself,” Janet says. “You can’t convict another person for someone else’s suicide.” She looks at Judge Sears. “I don’t care what you think. It’s not the law. Hailey should never have been arrested.”

  “Mrs. Hovanes, stop talking!” the judge says. And like a cop on the beat arresting a perpetrator, he advises Janet of her rights, tells her that she’s entitled to an attorney.

  “I know my rights,” Janet says, then looks at me with what I can only interpret as hatred. “I’ve been married to a man who’s obsessed with civil rights. So you don’t need to tell me what I can and can’t say, Judge Sears.”

  “I made it stop, Mother,” Hailey says, trying to keep her composure, though I don’t know why. “Farah got the message in the locker room that day. It was all over.”

  “It would never have been over for as long as she lived,” Janet says. “The girl was miserable, wanted to kill herself. It was inevitable.” Then she points to our son. “Daniel did her a favor.”

  “Oh, my God, Mother,” Hailey says in horror and then gets up and runs out of the courtroom. I wish I could follow her, but I’m paralyzed.

  Buying none of Janet’s words, Judge Sears discharges the jury, dismisses the charges against Hailey, and calls Joshua Lundy to the bench. Lundy confers with Detective Ernesto Velasquez, who arrests Janet.

  Defiant, Janet says, “There’s no way you can convict another person for someone else’s suicide. This trial was a farce.”

  “Oh, we’re not only arresting you on charges of cyberbullying,” Lundy says. “You’re also under arrest for distribution of child pornography. You posted that picture of Farah on the internet. The girl was fourteen years old. That will be a no-brainer to prove.”

  As Velasquez escorts Janet out of the courtroom, Lundy catches my eye. He hoped to destroy my family by convicting Hailey. Well, he might not have convicted Hailey, but he’s destroyed my family nonetheless. From that smirk on his face, I know that’s good enough for him.

  Chapter 35

  In the four months since Janet’s arrest, the kids have returned to school. Not the chichi Star Point private school—they wouldn’t have taken Daniel back anyway—but John Greenleaf Whittier, the local public high school. I’m worried about Hailey. She’s decided not to play soccer anymore, she’s given up aspirations for a modeling career, and she’s had trouble making new friends—or hasn’t tried.

  “It’s okay,” she says when I express my concern. “It helps me remember.”

  Janet is in prison after a plea bargain. At her sentencing, rather than showing remorse she tried to justify her conduct, insisting that Farah was crazy, obsessed. Janet firmly believes that Farah would’ve used the photo to ruin Hailey’s future. “You can never delete what’s on the internet,” she told the court. “I had to protect us.” She blames Daniel for making our family outcasts, believed Hailey would redeem us with her popularity, would make us normal again. In Janet’s warped mind, Farah threatened to steal it all.

  Hailey won’t visit her mother. I don’t want to see Janet, either. I’ve filed for divorce. But I do see Janet, because Daniel asks me each week to take him to see his mother. Once inside the visitors’ room, I stand in the back and watch them. Daniel does most of the talking, while Janet looks at him with a vacant stare. When I ask him why he keeps going, he says that Janet needs someone.

  Meanwhile, at Debra’s urging, we hired Daniel part-time to handle our IT issues. Recently Debra has been working on a law journal article about cybercrimes—particularly spear phishing, where a hacker sends a text or e-mail that appears to come from a colleague but that contains malware or a Trojan horse. Daniel is helping her understand the technology.

  On this afternoon, I’m preparing for an upcoming suppression hearing. Suddenly, Debra runs into my office and asks me to come into the conference room. When I demur because of workload, she says, “Come on, Matt. This is important.”

  I grudgingly follow her down the hall. Daniel is sitting at the conference table. The television is on, tuned to the local news.

  “Ernie Velasquez called and gave us the heads up,” Debra says.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Just watch. Daniel, turn up the volume, please.”

  After a commercial, a photo of Joshua Lundy appears on the screen. In the wake of Janet’s arrest, he announced that he was running for district attorney against his boss—an act of betrayal typical of Lundy. The early polls have him leading. Hailey’s trial was highly publicized, and Lundy benefitted from it.

  The beauty-pageant gorgeous anchorwoman says, “Assistant District Attorney Joshua Lundy announced his withdrawal from the race for distric
t attorney this afternoon after it was revealed that he’s under investigation for posting on the internet the horrific image of fourteen-year-old Farah Medhipour immediately after the girl committed suicide. Investigators say that they began looking into Lundy’s involvement after receiving a tip from an anonymous source who claimed to have hacked into the district attorney’s office computer network and traced publication of the image in question to Lundy’s top assistant. The assistant, who’s cooperating with law enforcement, has reportedly stated under oath that he posted the image at Lundy’s behest. Lundy allegedly hoped that release of the gruesome photo would sway public opinion and ultimately influence the jury to return a guilty verdict in the cyberbullying trial of Hailey Hovanes. Lundy has been placed on leave by the district attorney’s office, which is considering filing criminal charges against him. Lundy and his attorney couldn’t be reached for comment.”

  Daniel still rarely smiles, and he isn’t smiling now. But Debra is.

  “You wouldn’t happen to be the anonymous hacker, would you, Daniel?” I ask. “It’s a crime to hack into a government computer, you know.”

  “I instruct my client not to answer that question,” Debra says. “The Fifth Amendment applies in this office, too.”

  “This was the so-called law journal article you two were working on?”

  Debra gives a noncommittal shrug.

  “I’ve gone straight, Dad,” Daniel says. “Maybe I’ll work for Special Agent Mogren at the FBI someday.”

  “I have a feeling she’ll be working for you,” I say. “Or trying to arrest you.”

  “She’ll never catch me.”

  Debra takes my arm. “Come on. Why don’t we all get some coffee? It’s really not nice to celebrate a man’s downfall, but when it comes to Joshua Lundy, I’ll make an exception.”