Lady Luck Loves Lawyers
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LADY LUCK LOVES LAWYERS
Donald W. Desaulniers
LADY LUCK LOVES LAWYERS
Copyright 2018, Donald W. Desaulniers
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other, except for brief quotations, without the prior written consent of the author.
E-BOOK ISBN: 978-1-987888-72-0
PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-987888-73-7
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, businesses, locations and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental or entirely fictitious.
Table of Contents
LADY LUCK LOVES LAWYERS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1 (Cold Weather Blues)
CHAPTER 2 (Lady Luck Loves Lawyers)
CHAPTER 3 (A Timely Proposal)
CHAPTER 4 (A Long Journey)
CHAPTER 5 (Meeting Steve Carling)
CHAPTER 6 (Scouting the Enemy)
CHAPTER 7 (A Bit of Enjoyment)
CHAPTER 8 (More Detailed Searches)
CHAPTER 9 (Land Registry Records)
CHAPTER 10 (A Novel Inspiration)
CHAPTER 11 (A Glimmer of Light)
CHAPTER 12 (Interesting Times)
CHAPTER 13 (Factory Visit)
CHAPTER 14 (Going on the Offense)
CHAPTER 15 (Guenther Schenteck)
CHAPTER 16 (Counterpunch)
CHAPTER 17 (Road Trip)
CHAPTER 18 (Setting the Trap)
CHAPTER 19 (Back In Vegas)
CHAPTER 20 (First Contact)
CHAPTER 21 (Flirtation Failure)
CHAPTER 22 (Lost Chance at Romance)
CHAPTER 23 (We Lost Him)
CHAPTER 24 (Lady Luck and Lovely Lady)
CHAPTER 25 (Epiphany)
CHAPTER 26 (Stood Up)
CHAPTER 27 (Sneaking to New Digs)
CHAPTER 28 (Registration Day)
CHAPTER 29 (Closing Day Blues)
CHAPTER 30 (What’s This?)
CHAPTER 31 (Brinkmanship)
CHAPTER 32 (Growling Guenther)
CHAPTER 33 (Everybody’s Happy)
CHAPTER 34 (Retribution)
CHAPTER 35 (Full Holiday Mode)
CHAPTER 36 (Muscle Man)
CHAPTER 37 (Danger Lurks)
CHAPTER 38 (Bloody and Sore)
CHAPTER 39 (Low Profile)
CHAPTER 40 (Lifestyle Change)
CHAPTER 41 (The Final Week)
CHAPTER 42 (The Final Tricks)
CHAPTER 43 (Bye-Bye Vegas)
CHAPTER 44 (Unexpected Encounter)
CHAPTER 45 (True Joy and Fake Joy)
CHAPTER 46 (Dumped by Lady Luck)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald W. Desaulniers is a Canadian real estate lawyer from Belleville, Ontario, his beloved hometown. He operated his own legal practice in that picturesque small city from 1973 until he retired in 2009.
Donald is a graduate of University of Waterloo (1968) and University of Western Ontario Law School (1971). He still lives in Belleville with his lovely British wife, Jane.
He began writing novels as a retirement hobby and has now penned more than fifty books.
All of his books are available exclusively through Amazon in either E-Book or Paperback form.
Listed below are the other novels by Donald W. Desaulniers. Please check out his Author Page on Amazon to learn more about each “treasure.”
Happy reading everyone!
LAWYER SERIES
SLIMY LAWYER (#1 in Series)
SLIMY SUES AMERICA (#2 in Series)
SLIMY GETS SHAFTED (#3 in Series)
SLIMY GETS DISBARRED (#4 in Series)
SLIMY TASTES THE GOOD LIFE (#5 in Series)
SLIMY LAWYER CHECKS OUT (#6 in Series)
THE WRONG LAWYER (#1 in Series)
SNARKY LAWYERS (#2 in Series)
VANISHING LAWYER #1 (A WORLD WITHOUT ME)
VANISHING LAWYER #2 (UNWANTED WITNESS)
VANISHING LAWYER #3 (FUGITIVE ALIEN)
VANISHING LAWYER #4 (SAVING THE PRESIDENT)
VANISHING LAWYER #5 (SWINDLING SENIORS)
LAWYER MURDER MYSTERIES
LUCKY LAWYER
PARADE OF DEAD LAWYERS
TERRORIST LAWYER
THE TWIN SHADOWS
NOVELS WITH ROMANTIC THEMES
LOVE SAVES A LONER
SWEET ROMANCE BACK HOME
LUCKY LAWYER
LOVE SEDUCES A FOOL
THE CHEAPSKATE TWINS
REVENGE DELAYED
THE LIPPY LAWYER’S ROMANCE
BROKE, DISGRACED AND ALONE
A RETIRED LAWYER’S DOOMED ROMANCE
OTHER LAWYER NOVELS
LADY LUCK LOVES LAWYERS
LOATHING THE LAWYER, LOVING THE LAWYER
THE LORD SNATCHES AWAY
RICH LAWYER, POOR PRIEST
THE CHRISTMAS LAWYER
FAKE LAWYER
NAÏVE LAWYER
BUYING REDEMPTION
LAWYER IN THE TOILET
TERRORIST LAWYER
THE LAWYER’S MUSLIM NEIGHBORS
FIFTY YEARS LATER (Hitchhiking in Donald Trump’s America)
ACTION NOVELS
DIVERGENT LAWYER
ESCAPE FROM EVERYTHING
ALIEN SPECTATORS
MARTY MARCOTTE’S REVOLVING LIFE
TY WARD HITS AMERICA (#1 in Series)
TY WARD’S HOLIDAY FROM HELL (#2 in Series)
TY WARD’S NEXT WAR (#3 in Series)
DEADLY WITNESS (#4 in Series)
A YOUNG HOOKER’S THANKS (#5 in Series)
TY WARD’S LAST WAR (#6 in Series)
TY WARD’S SHATTERED PEACE (#7 in Series)
YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
YOUNG BUT NOT STUPID
REVENGE DELAYED
FAKE LAWYER
CELESTIAL COINCIDENCE
MYSTERY OF THE OLD DESK
SCHOOLBOY/BAWDY HUMOR
LOVE MOCKS A LIMP DICK
CRAZY OLD LAWYER (A TALKING SKIN TAG)
CHAPTER 1 (Cold Weather Blues)
As soon as I woke up I could hear the snow driving against my bedroom window. January in Canada was a brutal month and I was completely sick of winter already.
Since I’d been retired for the past few months, at least I didn’t have to lug myself in to work on such a miserable day.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that another day of useless and unproductive leisure was spread out before me.
A bizarre series of coincidences had driven me into retirement late last summer.
The biggest factor was that the twenty-year lease of my office space in downtown Toronto finally ended. I had negotiated a fantastic deal in 1997 when Ontario was mired in a lengthy recession and commercial property values had plummeted from their 1989 highs.
The rent for my second floor law office in a small house just a few blocks from City Hall had been fixed at $1,200 per month for the entire twenty years and that bargain price even included heat and hydro.
Another factor was my growing dislike of the practice of law. Running a one-lawyer law office was becoming increasingly difficult. Real estate transactions had been a large part of my business and the Ontario government had brought in an electronic system a dozen or so years ago. I detested the new system and the mushrooming cost of using it. The government went into partnership with a private company and the fees for searching titles and registering deeds exploded. Even though it was the clients
who were stuck with those increases, they made my total legal bills look outrageous. Consequently I was embarrassed every time I had to show a client my account.
Coincidentally I was involved with three incredibly complex real estate transactions late last spring. The attorneys on the other side of each deal were dreadful to deal with. All three of them were rude and unreasonable. The deals dragged on for months and I finally managed to get all three sales closed in late July. The stress from those horrible deals fuelled my dislike of the whole legal business.
Handling court matters had also become problematical. With no other barrister around to share the caseload, it was next to impossible for me to take vacations. Getting sick was also not an option. No matter how lousy I felt on any given day, I had to drag myself into my office and churn the work out.
My elderly secretary abruptly quit on me last July when her sister suffered a stroke. Florence pulled up stakes and moved immediately to Stratford to live with her younger sister. She only gave me three days’ notice and was already gone by the time those three deals from hell finally closed. Fortunately I was a decent typist so I was able to handle the double workload for the ensuing month. At that point I abruptly decided to retire.
In retrospect Florence’s timing was perfect. I was spared the expense of severance pay and her departure convinced me that it was time to close up my practice.
Doing so was surprisingly quick and easy. A law firm in a building right across the street purchased my files and equipment and on August 31st last year I was suddenly retired.
At the same time I decided to sell my house. It was within two blocks of a subway terminal and Toronto real estate values were astronomical.
I had purchased the home in 1995 for $350,000 when residential house prices were sadly depressed. On September 29th last year I closed the sale transaction. The whole process was seamless. Within two days of placing a private “FOR SALE” sign on my front porch early in September, I found a buyer willing to pay a million and a half for the place which meant that I was able to sell the house without having to use a realtor. The purchaser was also agreeable to a quick closing.
It would have killed me to be forced to pay some agent a whopping five percent commission in such a hot market. Jimmy Corbett, the attorney who purchased my legal practice represented me on the house sale and didn’t charge any legal fee. We had known each other for many years and assisted each other when either one of us was on vacation. Jimmy was also a sole practitioner.
Since I was sick of the big city, I moved to my home town of Belleville, Ontario even though I had no family or friends left there. I arrived in town late in the afternoon on September 29th which was a Friday.
Lady Luck was beside me all the way. At first I had intended to rent an apartment for a while in order to determine where in the city I’d like to reside. I put my furniture in storage in Belleville and took a modest hotel room for the first few days.
As soon as I hit town I began scouting out the real estate market. Prices were remarkably cheap compared to Toronto.
It only took two days to make up my mind that I wanted to live in a condominium where I wouldn’t be bothered with cutting grass or shovelling snow.
There wasn’t much of a selection listed with the real estate agencies but as I walked around the main part of Belleville, I spotted a private “FOR SALE” sign in the front window of a townhouse on South Front Street. There were only eight units in the complex and they backed on to the inner harbor. Boats were moored right behind the complex and I was blown away by the location.
I knocked on the door of the unit that was for sale and an elderly lady answered. I introduced myself and the woman, Jean Powers invited me inside for a chat.
Absolutely everything fell into place beautifully. The lady’s husband had passed away two months earlier but she was too frugal to hire an attorney to handle the estate.
Since I had retained my license to practice, we came to a mutually beneficial agreement. I would prepare all the necessary documentation to transfer the estate into her name and she agreed to sell me the condo for the price she was asking less the real estate commission that she would save by selling privately.
I thereby picked up the upscale condo for $360,000. It would have cost at least four million in Toronto.
Preparing the estate documents turned out to be ridiculously simple. The condo as well as all the bank accounts and other investments were held jointly with her late husband so very little was required in the way of paperwork.
My good fortune didn’t end there. Jean couldn’t drive because of poor eyesight. Her husband’s 2016 Cadillac ATS was sitting idle in her garage. He had paid $59,000 for the car in the late fall of 2015 but dealers would only offer Jean $15,000 for the vehicle.
I purchased the luxury car from Jean for $18,000. In Toronto I hadn’t owned a vehicle for many years. There was little need for a car in a city with such a glorious public transportation system, especially since both my home and office were so close to subway stops. On the other hand, a car was a necessity in a small city like Belleville.
Jean had to hire a real estate lawyer to represent her on the condo sale to me because I was acting on my own behalf and couldn’t represent both sides of the transaction. We closed both the condo transaction and the vehicle purchase on October 6th and suddenly I was fully ensconced in my new home.
My bank accounts were flush with cash and I felt that Lady Luck had been especially kind to me. Timing is everything in real estate and it seemed that my timing was perfect. I had sold at the top of the market in a huge metropolis and purchased twice the house for a fraction of the cost in the small but picturesque city of Belleville.
The only downside from the combination retirement and relocation was boredom.
I had no hobbies, no friends and no romance in my life.
By the way, my name is Scott Baxter. I’m sixty-three years old, six feet in height and weigh about 170 pounds. My hair is still sandy colored with only the tiniest hint of grey around the temples.
I lay in bed for another twenty minutes while I pondered how I’d spend the day. It was Friday, the 26th of January which happened to be my half-birthday.
I decided to hit the local casino.
After eating some toast and cereal, I showered and got dressed. The weather forecast called for the snow to ease up by noon and cease altogether by mid-afternoon.
To pass some time I read a novel in the spare bedroom which I used as my computer room and study.
My condo unit comprised three main levels plus an unfinished basement. The ground level at the rear was taken up with a spacious den with fireplace. The door from the den opened to a small patio. Normally some ice skaters would be on the harbor about twenty feet west of my back door, but the blizzard had kept the folks at home so far today.
There were a few stairs leading from the ground level den up to the front foyer which contained a small bathroom with just a sink and toilet.
Then a few more stairs went from the foyer up to the main living area which contained a nicely-sized kitchen and a lovely combined living and dining-room. A patio door led from the living-room out to a balcony which overlooked the Belleville inner harbor. A metal spiral staircase allowed access from that balcony to the patio below.
Inside the unit there was a winding staircase that led up to the top level. My unit contained only two bedrooms. The standard size spare which I used as the computer room and study was at the east or street side of the building. A full bathroom was just down the hallway and then my main bedroom took up the entire back or west section of the unit, a full twenty-four feet in width.
A small private balcony off that bedroom provided me with a glorious view of the Bay of Quinte with the Norris Whitney Bridge in the distance leading from Belleville south to Prince Edward County.
There was also a combined walk-in closet and laundry room which led from my bedroom to a full private bathroom with a walk-in shower rather than a bathtub.
My own personal boat mooring was at the end of my unit but I’d never liked boating so had no intention of purchasing any sort of watercraft. As far as I was concerned, a yacht was nothing more than a hole in the water into which an owner poured money.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that my lifestyle itself was quite lavish but living in luxury wasn’t enough to erase the boredom of having no hobbies or activities to fill the long winter days.
CHAPTER 2 (Lady Luck Loves Lawyers)
As predicted the snow had stopped by three o’clock. I waited an hour in order to give the snowplows a chance to clear the roads, and then drove to the Shorelines Casino in the north end of the city.
The casino had only been constructed a year earlier but since arriving in Belleville, I’d become a regular customer.
For a guy with no romance in his life, playing the slot machines was an enjoyable way to pass the time without looking out of place. Casinos were filled with folks on their own.
I had only discovered the place on Christmas day. Since arriving in Belleville last fall, the lack of family and friends hadn’t bothered me until Christmas morning. That was the one holiday which drove home a guy’s loneliness.
I scoured the Internet looking for some activity that would take my mind off being alone and unloved at Christmas and read an on-line advertisement in the Belleville newspaper by the casino indicating that they would be open on Christmas day.
I couldn’t get out of my condo fast enough and wound up spending the entire day at the casino. I ate supper there and played slots until my eyes were almost popping out of my head.
A crazy saying that I’d invented years ago proved to be correct once again.