Love Vs. Illusion

by MJ Rodgers

  A.J. immediately walked up to the attorney. “Ms. Elling, I’m A.J. I’ve been trying to get through to you by telephone for the past three days. Your receptionist wouldn’t put me through to you or even let me make an appointment.”

  A.J. watched as Elling turned to the young woman with the notepad. “It’s okay, Tanya. I’ll handle this.”

  As Tanya took her chair behind the reception desk, Elling faced A.J. “My receptionist was acting on my orders, Ms. Justice. You and I do not share a common interest. There is no point in our talking.”

  “My brother is in jail on a contempt of court charge because he refused to defend the man your clients are suing. I’d say that puts us both on the same side.”

  “I don’t see it that way. I represent Mr. Harper and Mr. Temark’s interests. You are only concerned about your brother’s welfare. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I—”

  A.J. laid a restraining hand on Elling’s arm.

  “Just give me a few minutes of your time. Please.”

  There was a softening in the attorney’s eyes, but not in her tone. “Ms. Justice, I realize you’re worried about your brother. I sympathize, but there’s nothing I can do to help. Whatever answers you’re looking for, you’ll have to find them elsewhere.”

  Elling stepped into her office and closed the door. A.J. swallowed a well of disappointment as she turned to leave. Just before she exited, she looked back to see Zane’s face, his dark eyes silently following her every movement.

  “SO, MR. COLTRANE, what can I do for you?” Elling asked a few moments later as she sat across from Zane in her office.

  “As I explained on the phone when I called for an appointment, Ms. Elling, I would like to discuss the Fabulous Fantasies case, and I’m willing to pay for your time.”

  “Who are you working for?”

  Zane leaned back in his chair. “I don’t expect you to reveal client confidences, Ms. Elling. Please don’t expect me to.”

  Elling stared at Zane for a moment more, her eyes full of suspicion and curiosity. Then she leaned back in her chair, too, and Zane knew the curiosity had won.

  “All right. As long as you’re willing to pay for my time, I have no trouble discussing the nonconfidential aspects of this case. So what is it you want to know?”

  “Why do you think Adam Justice all of a sudden decided to refuse to defend Linbow?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I did. A man with Justice’s reputation abandoning a client in midstream like that, well, it certainly isn’t something you see every day.”

  “Do you give any credence to Linbow’s explanation that Justice wanted him to lie on the stand and he refused?”

  “Justice is the hardest damn opponent I’ve ever drawn. In the year it’s taken for this case to come to trial, there have been days when I would have loved to wring his legal neck. But he’s come at me with laws, not lies. I can’t imagine he’d stoop to anything so unethical, even when he began to realize he had a good chance of losing the case.”

  “Losing the case?” Zane echoed. “I’ve been following the trial, Ms. Elling. The parade of family and friends who testified for Temark and Harper was impressive. But, Mr. Justice’s cross-examinations—”

  “Were pretty devastating,” Elling finished for Zane. “Yes, I know. He cited study after study about how it was that the family and friends of a couple are often the last to know about the most deep-seated and serious problems in a marriage. But we had heavier guns to fire, and Justice was well aware of them.”

  Zane didn’t miss the disappointment riding Elling’s tone.

  “What were these heavier guns?” Zane asked, bold in his question because he knew Elling was just itching to tell him.

  She leaned across her desk, her voice confident and eager as she counted off the points on her fingers.

  “Psychologists equipped with the latest studies on the adverse effects of virtual reality on susceptible people. A virtual-reality program designer who’s written a book about the druglike quality of the medium. And two of the top people in the field ready to testify that Linbow’s programs seem so real they can distort a person’s sense of reality. I know we had a good chance of swaying that jury.”

  “Did you subpoena the programs the wives experienced so you could check them out?”

  “Adam Justice convinced Butz that seeing the Femme Fatale program the wives went through wasn’t critical because many other wives had gone through the same program and hadn’t returned home to divorce their husbands.”

  “So you never got to see the specific program disks?”

  “The specific program disks weren’t available, anyway. In his deposition, Linbow explained that VR program disks are used over and over, just like VCR rentals. Finding the specific disks of the Femme Fatale program used by Fran Temark and Patsy Harper would have been impossible.”

  “Did you depose the ex-wives?”

  “Yes, but they just kept repeating that they divorced their husbands because the guys were louses and their decisions had nothing to do with their experiences at Fabulous Fantasies.”

  “In the face of the wives’ denials, do you really believe that their experience at Fabulous Fantasies resulted in their divorcing their husbands?”

  “Absolutely. Look, if you were in the courtroom you know that even Patsy’s mother said it had to have been the amusement park. Patsy talked about Bruce in glowing terms until that weekend. All of a sudden, Bruce went from being the only man she ever wanted in her life to some kind of monster.”

  “How could her experience with virtual reality make that happen?”

  “Because those programs are so damn real. I’ve subpoenaed and questioned at least thirty of Linbow’s married female customers who went through the same program Patsy and Fran did. I randomly selected another ten women who went through other programs. I was in depositions for a month.”

  “And?” Zane prompted.

  “They each described how one minute they were lying on a special bed rigged up to a computer and weanng a mask that covered their eyes and ears, and the next minute they were anyone they wanted to be, anywhere they wanted to be, anytime they wanted to be.”

  “Like seeing themselves in a movie?”

  “No, like being there, living it. They could see, feel, hear everything as though it was really happening. It was damn scary listening to them, I can tell you. I believe these virtual-reality programmers can make you believe anything they want to.”

  “Did you talk to any dissatisfied customers?”

  “I couldn’t find a one. All of them loved the fantasies. Only complaint I got was that the food wasn’t so hot.”

  “Did you ever go to Fabulous Fantasies to try out this virtual reality yourself?”

  “I tried. But my application wasn’t accepted.”

  “Linbow screens his customers?”

  Elling nodded. “Even conducts some kind of background check. He says his precautions are there to keep his competitors from stealing his programs and spying on his technology. But it’s more than that. Linbow also refused to let the private investigator I hired make a reservation.”

  “Because he knew you had hired him?”

  “Maybe. Or he might just exclude all P.I.s.”

  “Have you talked to any of his employees to get an idea of what goes on at Fabulous Fantasies?”

  “I’ve talked to all of them. They’re students at UW, except for his programmers and the psychologist, Dr. Clarise Ingram, who Linbow hired to add the human element to his fantasies. Most have been with the park since it opened. The one guy who no longer works there said he only quit because he was susceptible to frequent colds from the moist island air.”

  “So everybody loves Fabulous Fantasies except Bruce Harper and Raymond Temark.”

  “And me,” Elling quickly added. “I’ve seen what it’s done to two perfectly good marriages.”

  “Even if Linbow could have used VR to turn these two wives against their husbands, why would he?” Zane ask
ed.

  “Maybe just to see if he could. When Linbow first hacked his way into defense department computers as a pimply-faced nerd over two decades ago, he bragged he only did it to see if he could. Maybe that’s why he did what he did to these wives.”

  “But he owns a multimillion-dollar company now. Are you suggesting he would jeopardize everything he’s worked for to turn two wives against their husbands just to see if he could do it?”

  “Why not? Linbow has a reputation for being a creative hothead who often does things that don’t make much sense.”

  “Did you ever talk with him directly?”

  “I was in a deposition with him for two days. Knowing his hothead reputation, I kept kicking verbal sand into his face. But every time, Adam Justice stepped in and legally muzzled him. It was frustrating as hell.”

  “Was there any attempt to settle this matter out of court?”

  “We had one settlement conference right after I filed. Linbow offered five thousand each to Harper and Temark, with no admission of liability. It was to avoid the nuisance of having to go to court, as he put it. My clients refused.”

  “What would they have accepted?”

  “You don’t expect me to answer that, do you, Mr. Coltrane?”

  Zane smiled. “I thought you’d say this wasn’t about money.”

  “Wrongs cannot be righted by money. But getting a financial settlement out of the wrongdoer can sometimes serve the human need for revenge.”

  “Is revenge the motivation behind this suit?”

  “How could it not be? These guys lost their wives.”

  “Ms. Elling, didn’t it worry you that without personal experience with virtual reality the jury wouldn’t be able to understand what you believe to be the enormous power inherent in the medium?”

  “Of course it worried me. If it wasn’t for Justice, I would have had everyone on the jury go through that Femme Fatale program so they got firsthand experience of how potent and disorienting it can be to a person’s sense of reality.”

  “But Justice blocked your motion?”

  “That and several others that would have cinched it for us. When I filed this case, I thought I had it wired. But then Linbow hired Justice, and that legal machine that calls himself a man found grounds to shoot down every one of my motions. He’s damn good, no two ways about it.”

  “So when do you refile?”

  Elling’s shoulders drooped as she exhaled heavily. “Their divorces wiped Harper and Temark out financially. I’ve extended them credit for nine months. Now that they’re faced with the expense of a whole new trial…”

  “So the matter might drop here?”

  Elling sat forward suddenly, straightened her shoulders. “No. I can’t let it. My partner will probably end up shooting me, but if Harper and Temark still want to go on, I’ll let them pay me out of the settlement.”

  “If you win.”

  “As you say, if I win. Still, my chances improved considerably the moment Adam Justice resigned himself from this case. Too bad I couldn’t help his sister.”

  “ELLING WONT SEE ME and neither will Scrater,” A.J. said. “Not even my own brother’s legal firm can give me a hint of why Adam did what he did. Willy, you have to help me.”

  Willy Greene sat across from A.J. in the dark cafe, silently regarding her with his perennially pleasant expression as he took big bites of his cream Danish and small sips of his espresso.

  A.J.’s legs fidgeted restlessly beneath the table. If Willy didn’t say something soon, she was going to throttle him.

  “You know Elling has me on the payroll, and you’re the opposition,” he finally offered between mouthfuls.

  A.J. leaned across the small table, reminding herself to keep cool at all costs. “I’m not the opposition. I never worked for Adam on this case. And now even Adam has resigned from it.”

  Despite his shiny face and easy smile, suspicion seeped out of Willy’s dark eyes. He dropped his gaze to the last piece of Danish imprisoned in his fingers and squinted as though he was reading something inscribed inside the thin pastry.

  “There are people around the courthouse saying that your brother and Linbow cooked up this mistrial deliberately.”

  “Willy, you know our folks and the reputation for honesty they established at Justice Inc. before they turned it over to Adam. And you know Adam and how he has upheld that reputation. Do you really believe the courthouse gossip?”

  Willy shoved the last piece of Danish into his mouth and licked his fingers appreciatively. He wiped them on a paper napkin and washed the mouthful down with another sip of espresso.

  “All right,” he said once his mouth was clear. “I guess it would be kind of silly to believe Adam would do ninety days in jail just to avoid losing a case. I’ll tell you what I can.”

  A.J. felt a profound sense of relief as she sat back. “Since Adam didn’t use my people to investigate this matter, it must mean that another private investigation firm had already done the legwork before Adam took on the case. Who was it?”

  “You’re looking at him.”

  “I was hoping you were going to say that, Willy. Who were you working for?”

  “The attorney who handled the divorce for Patsy Harper. A guy name Garther. He wanted me to get the goods on Bruce. Only there weren’t any goods. No women. No sign that Bruce Harper had siphoned off any money. And I looked real hard for both, I can tell you.”

  “How did my brother and Elling learn about your investigation?”

  “Macko, the attorney representing Bruce Harper, knew Garther always hires me to get the goods on philandering husbands. When Garther agreed everything should be settled out of court, Macko figured it was because I hadn’t found anything. He told his client. Bruce Harper later told Elling when he and Temark hired her for this suit.”

  “So Elling knew you hadn’t found anything incriminating against Harper because Bruce Harper told her?”

  “And because I sold her a copy of my report.”

  “The report Garther paid you to do? Willy, isn’t that a little less than ethical?”

  “Elling came to me after the divorce and settlement were history. I had what she needed. Who could it hurt?”

  A.J. reminded herself that this was a very poor time to give Willy any grief about the confidentiality of a report, since he was currently sharing its information with her.

  She sent him a small smile and quickly let the matter drop. “So what happened then?”

  “Soon as Elling read my report and verified Bruce had been a good little boy, she hired me to investigate Raymond Temark. When I couldn’t find anything bad on him, she sent both of my reports to your brother and kept me on for the follow-up work.”

  “And Adam knows how thorough your work is on these matters,” A.J. said. “I can see now why he saw no reason to bring in my team. Did you find anything at all that showed a relationship between Linbow or any of his employees with the Temarks and Harpers prior to Patsy and Fran’s attendance at the Fabulous Fantasies park?”

  “Nope. That was bad news for Elling. She kept at me to dig some more. I did, but I came up with zilch.”

  “Who represented Raymond Temark in his divorce?”

  “He didn’t use an attorney. When his wife filed for divorce, he just folded and gave her what she wanted.”

  “Who represented his wife?”

  “Some guy from Nevada. She flew there and filed. She’s been living down there with a sister ever since.”

  “When is Elling going to file the papers for the retrial?”

  “It was sort of iffy that there would even be a retrial. Only heard a little while ago that Elling had approached Judge Butz for one.”

  “Why was she hesitant about going ahead?”

  “Harper and Temark are out of money. She’s going to represent them on a contingency basis. Butz is being very cooperative. If a case that’s on his calendar for next month settles out of court, as he expects it to, he’s promised Elling he’ll
reschedule the trial for then.”

  “Linbow won’t let that happen. He has to get another attorney.”

  “You haven’t heard? Linbow’s got another attorney, Gordon Vermine.”

  A.J. sat back feeling stunned. “Vermine’s the chief litigator at one of the biggest law firms in Seattle.”

  “Yeah. Apparently, as soon as Vermine heard Linbow was in need, he called to volunteer his services. Elling says that with Sherman Scrater sitting as second seat and still holding on to all Adam’s notes and armed with his strategy, Vermine will have smooth sailing. Maybe that’s why Vermine told Judge Butz he would be ready in a month’s

  time if the calendar clears.” A.J.’s jaw clenched. “So Vermine just swooped down

  like a vulture when Adam stepped aside.” “Vermine’s a lawyer, A.J. What did you expect?” A.J. looked directly into Willy’s eyes. “What I expect

  from anyone in any profession. Integrity. You would never

  catch my brother running in to represent a man who had

  obviously lied about—Wait a minute. How dumb can I

  be? It’s been staring me right in the face the whole time,

  and I didn’t see it!” “Didn’t see what?” Willy wanted to know. “The reason Adam withdrew as Linbow’s lawyer.” “You’ve figured it out? Good, now you can tell me.” “Sorry, Willy. Don’t have time to explain. Thanks for

  your help. See you later.” “A.J., wait a minute. What—” Willy began, but it was already too late. A.J. had dashed out of the coffee shop.

  DR. CLARISE INGRAM leaned back in her chair at the island theme park of Fabulous Fantasies as she held the phone tightly in her hand, a crater of a frown digging into her brow. “Lex, how could you let that reporter goad you into making that accusation against Adam Justice?”

  “I don’t have to explain my actions to you,” Linbow said in that grating voice of his.

  “But if you had just said there was a disagreement between you two, that would have been sufficient enough explanation. You didn’t have to—”

  “Damn it, Clarise, get off my back! I’m the one paying your salary, not the other way around, and you’d better remember it!”