Cash Call, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 5

by William Manchee

  Chapter 30

  The Miracle

   After Don's attempted suicide, Rob and Jennifer moved into the Blaylock house to keep an eye on him. His depression had gotten so bad he had difficulty eating and sleeping. He tried to go to work, but he was so distracted that his boss finally made him take a week of vacation to try to pull himself together.

   Near the end of that first week, Rob called and scheduled an appointment to see me. He said he needed to talk to me to discuss Don's condition and get a status report on all the legal matters involving the Golden Dragon. At the appointed time Jodie advised me he was waiting in the outer office. I told her to show him in. I got up and shook his hand.

   "Hi, Rob. How's your dad?"

  "He's a little better. He's starting to eat some."

   "Well, that's good. How's Jennifer?"

   "She's fine. She's starting to show a little."

   "I bet. When's the baby due?"

   "April third."

   "That soon? Wow. . . . Have you talked to your mother yet?'

   "I called her and told her what happened," he said dejectedly. "I expected her to jump on a plane and rush home, but she didn't. She seemed cool and detached, which isn't like her. It was really scary. Do you think they might get a divorce?"

  "God, I hope not."

   "A lot of my friends parents have gone through divorces. I always felt lucky that Mom and Dad loved each other and got along so well. You wouldn't believe the horrible stories I've heard from my friends. I'm not so concerned about myself. I'm almost seventeen. It's Donna--she is so young and has her entire childhood in front of her. I can't stand the thought of her being tossed back and forth between Mom and Dad with no stability in her life. There has to be something I can do to bring them back together."

   "God, I hope you figure out what it is."

   "I've got an idea."

   "Really?"

   "Yes. Jennifer's mom is pretty smart. She's been through a lot of counseling, you know, for her own divorces."

   I laughed. "Right."

   "She says we have to get Mom and Dad back together immediately. The longer they are apart the more likely they will actually go through with the divorce."

   "Did you ask your mom to come home?"

   "Yes, but she said no."

   "Hmm."

   "Anyway, Mrs. Rich says that when a husband and wife have money problems they're usually too embarrassed to talk about it to anyone but each other. Consequently, when they are together that's all they talk about. After a while every time they look at each other they are reminded of these problems. Eventually the mere sight of a each other causes negative feelings and emotions. These negative feelings can destroy the love that they once had. So the problem is they have to learn not to discuss their problems every time they are together. They need to find someone else to talk to when things go wrong."

   "Like who?"

   "Like a counselor, a priest, or maybe an attorney like yourself."

  "Well, you know I really like your parents, and I'd do anything to help them, but some things are beyond my expertise. Many people, like Mrs. Rich, think I'm some kind of omnipotent magician who can solve any problem they bring to me, but I assure you, that is not the case."

   Rob shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his face suddenly becoming quite serious. I smiled, trying to break the tension."But don't give up just yet, I've had few near miracles."

   Rob managed another forced smile and replied, "I know, and I appreciate what you've done. I just needed to get updated on everything. Since my dad is sick, I figured I better keep on top of things until he's better."

   "Well, I'm sure he'll appreciate that when he recovers. . . . Okay, let me see. . . . I answered the breach of lease suit you brought me the other day, so there's nothing imminent coming from that front. Eventually, though, they're going to get a judgment against all of the partners."

   "Can't we fight it?"

   "Ordinarily the landlord would be able to re-let the premises and that would take the partners off the hook for any future loss of revenue. Unfortunately, since this is the second restaurant failure at this location, it's not likely the landlord will be able to find a new tenant. Consequently, he is likely to get a judgment for the full balance left on the lease."

   " You mean there is nothing we can do?"

   "Oh, I can dream up some kind of defense to delay the case six months or a year, but eventually we'll lose. It's just a question of whether it's worth a bunch of attorney's fees just to postpone the inevitable."

   "How much would the attorney's fees be?"

   "Oh, I don't know, probably five or ten thousand. It just depends on how hard they fight me."

   "Are there any other lawsuits going on?"

   "No, they paid the IRS, the state comptroller, and the bank. None of the vendors have sued yet."

   "What should we do?"

   "I know your parents don't like the idea, but I'm afraid bankruptcy is the only realistic solution. If they try to fight the suit it will cost them a bundle in attorney fees, and if they don't fight it and let the landlord take a judgment, then they'll have that hanging over their heads indefinitely. I just don't see any other choice."

   "I'll do whatever I can to help you convince them to file. I agree it's the only option."

   "At least once they file bankruptcy they'll be debt free and they can start rebuilding their lives."

   "If we can get them back together. Right now Mom doesn't seem to care about the relationship."

   "She does. She's still in shock. Your parents had the perfect life and then all of a sudden everything around them began to crumble. She's confused and angry, and I don't blame her."

   "She's angry at Dad, but it's not his fault."

   "No, it's not."

   "Do you think there is any way you can get Mom back here so we can talk some sense into her?"

   "What do you mean? You want me to ask her to come back to Texas, so we can figure out how to save her marriage?"

   "Something like that."

   "Well, that's not really part of a lawyer's job."

   "Aren't you a counselor too?"

   "True, a counselor at law, but--"

   "Divorce is legal, right?"

   "Well, yeah, but--"

   "So, make Mom come back and we'll convince her to quit blaming everything on Dad, file bankruptcy, and start rebuilding their lives together."

   "You've got it all figured out, huh?"

   "We have to try. I want Donna to have the same happy childhood that I had. I don't want her to have to deal with a divorce. It's not right. No kid should have to go through that."

   "All right, I'll get her back here, but then it's up to you to get her to stay."

   "Don't worry. I'll make sure she stays. I'm not letting her leave again."

   I smiled as Rob got up to leave. He was a great kid and I just wished Pam and Don would open their eyes and see how important it was to keep the family together. Rob certainly understood this, and I was proud of him. I prayed I could get Pam back to Texas.

  Later that day Jodie entered my office with a letter she had just opened and said, "Here's the response to your demand letter to Richard Banks from his attorney."

   When I was first retained to handle the case for Keyur Ravi I had sent a demand letter to Richard Banks. He had turned it over to his attorney who was just now getting around to responding to the letter. She handed it to me.

   "Dear Mr. Turner,

   This firm has been retained by Richard Banks to respond to your wrongful death claim recently asserted against him by your client, Keyur Ravi. Please direct all further communication in this regard to this office.

  In evaluating your demand we wanted to point out several factors which might influence your client's decision whether to sue on this claim. First, you may have been misled by the newspaper reports about the accident. Mr. Banks is a grocery clerk making $6.64 per h
our. He has no assets and he never will. His parents have set up a spendthrift trust, which will be the beneficiary of his inheritance. As you know, your client will never be able to touch the corpus of that trust no matter how big a judgment they might get.

   Rather than spending thousands of dollars in litigation expenses, my client has arranged an advance of $20,000 which he proposes to pay your client for a full and complete release of their claim. This is an amount equal to the minimum insurance requirements of the State of Texas under the financial responsibility statutes. Accordingly, by accepting this offer, your client would be no worse off than if my client had been properly insured.

   Please have your clients consider this offer. We firmly believe that a settlement along these lines would be to everyone's best interest. Should you require further verification of Mr. Banks' precarious financial condition, we will be happy to provide it.

   Sincerely,

   Paul Byrom

   Jodie looked at me and said, "Can you believe that? They're only offering $20,000."

   "Well, under the circumstances its probably a generous offer. If Mr. Byrom knew that Key had never met his father, he wouldn't have offered squat."

   "So what are you going to do?"

   "It's just a first offer. If they are willing to pay $20,000 then they must be worried about something. If we can figure out what it is, maybe we can get them to pay more."

   "Hmm," Jodie said. "So what do you think it is?"

   "I don't know. It could be they just want to avoid the cost and hassle of a trial. But most defense firms like to run the meter awhile before they settle a case for nuisance value. For his parents to offer money they must be concerned about something."

   "What could it be?"

   "It might be that mom and dad don't want their son to lose his drivers license. Yeah, I bet that's it. Normally it wouldn't be any big deal because he could just file bankruptcy, discharge the judgment, and get his license back in four or five months. But since there was liquor involved, the judgment isn't dischargeable, so he would have to pay the judgment to reinstate his license." I laughed. "I wonder how much a drivers license is worth?"

  "Can't he get a hardship license?"

   "Maybe. Maybe not. But even so, that would only allow him to drive back and forth to work. It would still be a pain in the ass for him."

   "I couldn't imagine not being able to drive. I'd go nuts."

   "Would you pay, say . . . a hundred thousand?"

   "If I had that kind of money. Obviously, I don't."

   "Let's send them a counter offer."

   "Okay."

   Jodie went and got a notepad and I dictated the following letter:

   Dear Mr. Byrom,

   We are in receipt of your recent offer of settlement and regret to inform you that we must reject your offer. As you must realize $20,000 wouldn't even begin to compensate my client for the extensive damages he has suffered on account of your client's negligent and reckless conduct. In fact, the offer is an insult and has only strengthened our client's resolve to prosecute this action to the fullest extent of the law. Be advised that once judgment is rendered in favor of our client he has instructed us to conduct an exhaustive examination of your client's financial affairs.

   Also, you might remind your client of the Texas Fraudulent Conveyance statutes and how they might affect any attempt on his part to transfer or conceal assets. Finally, since a judgment in this matter will not be dischargeable in bankruptcy, we will continue to monitor your client's financial situation on a quarterly basis.

  Our client does realizes that there may be a limit to what he can recover from your client. He knows he will never be able to get what he justly deserves, but $20,000 isn't much incentive for him to settle. If Mr. Banks really wants to get rid of this case, our client would reluctantly accept $250,000. Please communicate this offer to your client immediately. It will expire in ten days at which time no further offers less than the full amount of our client's damages will be considered.

   Sincerely,

   Stan Turner

   Jodie closed her pad and said, "That ought to shake them up a bit."

   "I hope so. It's our only chance to salvage anything out of this pitiful case."

   The following week, Pam and Don Blaylock came to my office purportedly for a meeting to discuss the several lawsuits against them. Pam resisted the meeting at first but finally agreed when I stressed the urgency of the situation. Don had just picked Pam up at the airport and when they arrived they appeared to be cordial. Pam looked even thinner and paler than when I had seen her last. Don was very nervous and concerned for Pam's comfort. I thought how things had changed from the first time I had met them a year earlier. I knew this meeting might be their last chance to ever restore life as they once knew it. It was time for a miracle.

   "Hi, Pam. How have you been?" I asked.

   "Okay. I'm a little tired from the flight."

   "Thank you so much for coming. I know it was a lot to ask of you, but it's absolutely imperative that we respond to the discovery requests that we just received from the attorneys for the landlord."

   "What kind of discovery?" Don asked.

   "Well, we've got interrogatories, requests for admission, and requests for production. It will probably take us several hours to go through all of this and then you'll have to go see if you can find all of the records they're looking for."

   Pam stiffened up, looked me in the eye and said, "Couldn't Don have done this by himself? Why do you need me?"

   "You need to approve and sign all of this discovery since you're a named party."

   She took a deep breath and sunk back in her chair.

   "Before we get to the discovery, though, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

   "What's that?" Pam said.

   "You know about the time I met you two I got an incredible break. . . . At least it seemed like one at the time. An old client referred a wrongful death case to me. You may not realize it, but a good wrongful death case for any attorney is like winning the lottery. I was elated. I was so excited I canceled all my appointments, went home, and took Rebekah and the family out to celebrate. You probably think I'm rich, right? Most people think all lawyers are rich. Well, that's not the case. I started my practice on a shoestring four years ago, and since then I've spent 110% of what I've earned. Finally, I thought, I'd have a few bucks in the bank and, maybe even a little financial security for a change. It was just a matter of time.

   "Anyway," I continued. "The case was great. The newspaper reports said that our client's father was hit by the son of a rich Oklahoma oil man who was driving a 1982 Porsche. To top it all off, the driver was arrested for DWI and involuntary manslaughter. It was a dream case, I knew I was going to be an instant millionaire. I even promised Jodie a new BMW, if you can believe that."

   "Unfortunately, my dream quickly turned into a nightmare. The 1982 Porsche turned out to be a 1972 Porsche. The driver, it seems, was estranged from his family and was penniless--so broke, in fact, that he didn't even have insurance. Then I discovered my client had never met his father and the extent of his damages were that he wouldn't be able to look his father up some day!"

   "So, my last hope is that this guy gets indicted for DWI and manslaughter. At least that would insure that I could get a big punitive damage award which would at least enhance my reputation and perhaps lead to some better wrongful death cases in the future. Ha! What a joke. The grand jury no bills the driver because his blood test isn't quite incriminating enough. So, now I've got nothing. Actually, less than nothing. Now I've got court costs, expert witness fees, investigation bills and court reporters to pay. If the case has to be tried it could cost me twenty-five grand. But that's not the worst. A wrongful death case could take hundreds of hours away from my practice. I could lose another thirty to fifty thousand easy in billable hours. Suddenly the price tag for this little fiasco is fifty to a hundred thousand buc
ks!"

   I got up and went over to the window and looked out at the Dallas skyline. Don shook his head and gave me a sympathetic smile. Pam shifted slightly in her chair but said nothing. "So," I continued. "What I'm trying to tell you is, I really screwed up. I should have investigated the facts thoroughly before I ever took the case, but I didn't. I got greedy and now I'm paying for it. So, I just want you to realize everyone makes mistakes for one reason or another. We're all just human beings struggling to survive. If we didn't have some bad times, how could we ever appreciate the good times, right?"

   I came back to my desk, sat down and leaned toward Pam and Don, and said, "You know, several years ago I had a client who came to me about a business venture. He wanted my advice about whether to do the deal or not. I looked over the material that he gave me, talked to the principals involved, and even flew to the location of the business to inspect it. When I was done I concluded that the deal stunk and I advised my client to forget it.

   "Unfortunately," I continued, "he was sold on the deal and didn't take my advice. In fact, he got mad at me for telling him it was a bad deal! I tried to reason with him and point out why the deal was bad but he didn't listen. In fact, he ended up firing me.

   "Just a few months ago he called me up and wanted a meeting. I consented, and we met at a bar and had a drink together. He told me the deal was a disaster. Everything that I had told him that would happen did happen. Not only had he lost his investment but he was sued and lost his entire business as well. He concluded by saying that he blamed me for everything that happened to him.

   "Blamed you?" Don exclaimed.

   "Right. I was flabbergasted by his statement and asked him how he figured I was to blame. He said I should have whacked him over the head and made him take my advice. I should have flat forbidden him to do the deal!

   "Of course, I've given what he said a lot of thought, and, you know, he might be right to a degree. Sometimes maybe I'm not getting across to my clients what they should do, particularly when the choice is clear. . . . And this is particularly the case with you two."

   "What do you mean." Pam asked tentatively.

   "I know neither of you like the idea, you've told me you'd never do it and I know you don't want to hear this, but . . . you need to file bankruptcy! It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. It doesn't matter what it will do to your credit. It doesn't matter how humiliated you might feel. It's the only thing you can do considering the desperate circumstance you find yourself in."

   Pam sighed. "Is this why you brought me all the way from Seattle? You thought you were going to convince me to file bankruptcy?"

   "No, I brought you here at the request of your son who has been devastated by what's happened to both of you. We brought you back here to take one last stab at saving your marriage."

   "What? Are you a marriage counselor now?" Pam asked angrily.

   "No, but I do a lot of bankruptcy and a fair amount of divorces and one thing I've observed is that financial stress is devastating to a marriage. You know it's been almost a year ago that Rebekah and I first met you two. Since then we've gotten to know you pretty well. We always admired both of you and your wonderful family. I don't think I've ever known anyone happier than you two were when we met you. . . . Now the only thing that has happened in the last year is you've lost a lot of money and you've incurred a lot of debt. So what?! It's not anybody's fault. It's just money. You still have the most important thing in life, each other's love and the love of your children. Don't throw away the most precious things in your life!"

   I paused a moment and then continued, "So I'm telling you now file bankruptcy! Get on with your life. Once your debts are all forgiven the stress in your life will vanish and the healing process will begin."

   When I was finished neither Pam nor Don said a word. I thought of my old days when I sold life insurance. Once you've made your pitch, the first person to talk loses. After a minute Pam took a deep breath and said, "Do I have to go in front of a judge?"

   I smiled and replied, "No, just ten minutes in front of a trustee and I'll be right there at your side."

   Don looked longingly at Pam and before long they were in each other arms. I got up and left the room to give them a little privacy.

   When I got home and told Rebekah that night the news she was elated. "It's too bad they have to file bankruptcy, but I'm so glad they are back together. When you see a family as strong as the Blaylocks in trouble, you wonder if the same thing could happen to you."

   I looked into Rebekah's eyes and said, "It would never happen to us. Our family will always be together. I promise."

   We embraced.

   Rebekah said, "Now all you have to do is get Jim off the murder charge and everything will be back to normal."

   I sighed. "Yeah, wouldn't that be sweet. Unfortunately, Margie and Laura Bell both have alibis. Margie's is a little shaky but she has no motive unless--"

   "Unless what?"

   "Unless she caught Luther cheating on her which wouldn't be a big shock."

  I let Rebekah go and walked a few feet away.

   "You think he was two-timing Margie?"

   "Yeah--with a stripper named Julie. If Margie somehow found out about it, she might have been pissed off enough to want to kill him."

   Rebekah thought for a moment. "But why kill him? They weren't married. Why not just leave him?"

   "Good question. She had nothing to gain by killing him."

   Margie's lack of a motive baffled me. She had to be the killer. If she wasn't, then Jim or Rob had killed Luther. I couldn't accept that. Racking my brain for an answer and only coming up with a headache, I decided I needed to probe Margie's life a little deeper. There were two obvious places to start--her employer and her ex-husband. I opted for the ex-husband since he would be more likely to give me dirt on Margie than her current employer. He agreed to see me after he closed up his office at five. We met at Denny's a few blocks from his dental clinic.

  "I've talked to Margie, and she's told me some things about you two that I'd like to verify. I know there are two sides to every story."

   "What does our relationship have to do with your murder investigation?"

   "Well, it doesn't directly. I'm more concerned with Margie's veracity than anything else. Have you ever known her to lie?"

   "No, she was always pretty honest."

   "She says you got a divorce because she caught you with your dental hygienist?"

   He shrugged. "Yes, I'm afraid that's true. She dropped in my office just after work, and Mary and I were letting off a little steam. You should have seen her face. Oh, was she pissed."

   "What did she do?"

   "Oh, God. While we were getting dressed she trashed my dental office."

   "Really? She has a hot temper?"

   "Oh, yes. You don't want to be in her path when she erupts."

   "Do you think she would be capable of murder given sufficient provocation?"

   He thought for a moment and then replied, "I couldn't rule out the possibility."

   Now that I knew about Margie's temper, I pretty much had the scenario figured out. Unfortunately, I needed evidence if I was going to get a jury to believe it. I didn't have to prove my theory completely, just create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.