Neil Cooper was comfortable in his office that morning. He had just poured himself a short glass of Johnny Walker Blue and leaned back in his executive chair and gone back to watching on-line porn. Then his intercom buzzed. It was Kate.
"Come join us in the board room," she said, her voice shimmering with prospect.
Neil drained his scotch, found a breath mint in his desk drawer, picked up a fresh yellow legal pad and pen, and stood up. As Alexis Linser walked into the conference room, her heel caught the edge of the carpet and she suddenly stumbled. Neil had just come down the hall and caught her elbow. Alexis looked up with a helpless smile. He was instantly charmed. He pulled out a chair for her and then took his place across the table beside Kate Hong. Alexis looked Neil over with her tired eyes and found instant comfort in his powerful build, hair slicked back, with just the right amount of gray at the temples, and his sleek impeccable suit. A powerful, charismatic - and American - defense attorney - exactly what she needed. She knew instantly she could get him to do whatever she wanted.
Mi Rae tiptoed in with a cup of coffee and left it for Alexis, eyeing her curiously.
"Naomi Linser - is my daughter," Alexis sighed. "She made the papers eight years ago in an… unfortunate matter.”
One statement, and it took all the wind out of Alexis. Oh - the enormity of it! Her body sagged and she crumbled forward as she talked, her head bowed, black hair covering her face, revealing the pale back of her neck, as if waiting for the executioner.
She absently played with a long gold necklace which had different colored gold rings dangling from it. Neil sat across from her with his arm spread over the next chair. Occasionally, he would shift positions and cross his legs towards her, his strong big hands steepled at chest level, his spread - and carefully manicured - fingertips lightly tapping as he watched and listened. Alexis spoke for the next hour, her fingers nervously toying with the rings on her necklace. It took every ounce of energy she had.
"I have a copy of the police report," she finished, handing it to Neil with both hands, Korean style, who received it with appropriate solemnity.
"She was covered with the Councilman's blood," he read ominously. "The knife entered his body with such force he died upon impact. It cracked his sternum." Neil bobbed his head up and down slowly, impressed with the strength of the blow.
"Was she involved… romantically… with the Councilman?" Kate couldn't help herself. She hoped that adding the word "romantically" would soften the question, a gesture which was totally out of character.
Alexis shrugged. "All men like my daughter, that is nothing new." Her jaw tightened and her nostrils flared a little. "He was infatuated with her and convinced himself that he was in love. Every man fell for my daughter's beguiling ways. The late Councilman McClellan was no exception. He was just the only one to die from it.”
Alexis's eyes were dark and sad and rested on Neil. Would he like her, too? And handle her defense, pro bono, in exchange for the publicity? She wondered. Well played, it would make him famous. He looked photogenic, had a deep voice. It wouldn't even matter what he said.
"What about the father?" Neil asked. "Is he in the picture?"
"Step-father," Alexis corrected, bristling but then stopped herself. "Wolf Linser is still in prison, so I will be making any decisions about my daughter’s case.”
What a mess, Alexis thought and then couldn't help but think of Wolf. She bit her lip. "Human capacity for self-deception is unfailing, isn't it?" Alexis said as she looked up. Neither Neil nor Kate commented.
"I was an immigrant without a dime but I made my way. I was aware of every nuance of social distinction and tried so hard to adopt the Western influence for Naomi and myself. In due course I married Wolf Linser and took his last name, the gateway into the 'American' world. I wanted Naomi to belong to the other world and not the immigrant world. I insisted Naomi go to private schools, she took modeling classes and rode horses - I wanted her to belong to a world where nobody could look down on her," Alexis stopped and glanced at Kate, not wanting to offend, but not really caring either.
"All of us who are immigrants struggle with such choices for our children," Kate said as neutrally as possible. Kate had no children, but lack of direct experience had never stopped her from having an opinion.
"There are thousands of tales of successful immigrants which all end with them looking back at their beginnings with a feeling of nostalgia and cheap sentiment. They are fools," Alexis tossed her hair, an almost equine move. "I realized too late, that Wolf, for all his charms, was past his time, no more than a gifted horse wrangler living off his wife's wealth. But he liked Naomi from the moment he saw her. Of course, she was just a little girl when they met. He was enchanted by her and took care of her and I was grateful, I was free to do as I pleased. Sometimes I felt they didn't even want me around. But somewhere along the way she grew up..." her voice trailed off.
Neil stared, he wanted to say something intelligent, wise, comforting, she was so damn beautiful, but nothing came out.
"It happened so quickly," Alexis sighed. "At the end of the day, he was just a man, and men are weak. Naomi was under age, and he is still in prison for it."
Alexis took a sip of coffee and leaned back, deep in her story, deep in her sorrow and rage.
Even Kate Hong was intimidated by Alexis Linser. By her beauty, her articulate and perfect English, and her dignified manner, even in such profound distress. She was like a leopard to be disturbed at one's peril.
"I always wondered what men saw in her," Alexis said, frankly. "But I suppose mothers are always a little dismissive of their daughters. To me she was ordinary and I never gave her too much thought. I always wonder how different life would have been if I had borne a son."
Kate nodded. There was no need to elaborate.
"Does she have any type of criminal record?" Neil's loud voice broke the hushed tones. He had never been involved in a murder case but where he lacked experience he made up in volume.
Alexis's eyes widened then her pupils quickly constricted and she squinted slightly, her arms stiffening for the slightest second. "No," she said, her hands trembling as she lifted the coffee cup to her lips.
Neil pressed his fingers together and was about to speak when Alexis turned her body towards Kate and slowly twisted a ruby ring from her finger and placed it in the middle of the conference room table, exactly half way between them. "I've had this for twelve years," she said softly, a single tear forming and running down her cheek. "It was given to me in Istanbul, at a very special time in my life - a happy time." Kate could barely conceal her delight as she had been eyeing the ring since Alexis walked in and had not been fooled by Alexis playing with the Cartier trinity rings around her neck on a chain. Kate had never seen such a big stone in her life. It took every ounce of self-discipline for her to not grab it. Instead, she leaned forward and spoke, in her best, most sympathetic tone. "Of course we can help you."
Outside, Alexis fumbled for her cigarettes and car keys as she crossed the street to the $6 All-Day parking lot. She badly needed a cigarette. Finally she steadied her hand enough to light one with a gold Dunhill lighter. The lighter had once been Wolf's, but he didn't need it where he was. She was pleased. She had her strong Jewish-American lawyer. Of course the ruby ring was a very good and expensive fake, intended for women who kept their real jewelry in safes and rarely wore it, wearing the copy, but a fake nonetheless. The case would be well underway before the true value of the ring was discovered and Neil would be stuck as her counsel. In their greed they hadn't even asked to have the ring appraised. Alexis knew a greedy woman when she saw one.
Chapter 24
The next morning Kate burst into Holly's office eager to gossip.
"At one point, I thought Alexis would spill her coffee she was shaking so badly," Kate's eyes were electric as she marched up and down in front of Holly's desk, unable, in her excitement, to stand still.
"Oh, I wish I hadn't been in court so
that I might have seen her!" Holly breathed. "Is she truly so beautiful?"
"Yes, though that family has been the subject of rumors for years - all kinds of rumors," here Kate Hong dropped her voice to a confidential whisper.
Kate's laugh was high pitched and shrill. “Alexis Linser appeared all over headlines one day, a Korean, married to Wolf Linser a former Olympic Equestrian,” Kate went on, excitedly. "Five years later, the family hit the headlines again, this time, accusing Wolf Linser of molesting her daughter."
"Were the accusations true?" Holly drew a breath sharply, asking.
"Only Wolf and Naomi know the truth. Wolf took a plea deal. Fifteen years. Could have been worse." Kate was never so happy and animated as when she was gossiping.
"The problem is Alexis didn't foresee the firestorm of publicity, though to be fair, nobody did. Naomi couldn't leave the house, so her mother sent her to Korea."
"But..."
"Yes, she came back. Mother apparently not too happy about it, especially now, of course."
"Why did she come back?" Holly asked.
"Nobody knows," Kate smiled smugly. "For all their beauty, wherever they go a trail of destruction follows them. I told you, they are a family of witches."
Holly felt shivers.
"Neil can't do much, but I don't think anyone can under these facts," Kate snorted. "There's no defense, just a deal to be made," Kate rendered her verdict. "And no bail, she's a flight risk, certainly. Anyway, who would pay it?"
"What if she's innocent?"
Kate whirled around. The air stood still. Kate Hong was old school Korean. How dare Holly Park question her or even speak before spoken to? The jealousy deep inside unleashed. The anger had nothing to do with Naomi or the case. It was about the Dumok.
Kate's expression contorted and changed to ugly. All Holly offered was the bloom of youth, and that faded quickly enough. It took time for a woman to ripen and truly beguile a man. Holly could not compete. Kate felt slighted. The high profile murder case of Naomi Linser had just walked through her door and Kate Hong was not about to let Holly steal her thunder.
Kate's face puckered into a forced half smile, "Now Holly - she began, "I just retained the case of the century. I am going to need you focused. You know how Neil is. The clients love Neil because they are separated from him by their own ignorance. But Neil doesn't actually work. You know that. So I need you. I know you have been focused on the Dumok lately but - Holly, he is old enough to be your father, never mind all the other reasons you should stop thinking about him. He has doehmes, much prettier, more charming and younger than you lined up for his taking,"
Kate stopped and leaned in. "You haven't even gone to bed with him, have you?"
The expression in Holly's eyes made Kate push more. That was Kate. Always pushing. She would never leave things alone. Then her voice changed. Kate was always engineering, manipulating the situation. In a hard voice that tangled with cold admiration Kate said, "The Dumok is using you and he will get tired of you quickly. So stop being silly. He is a worldly man and sees you as an amusement. Nothing else. Now, I need you focused."
With that, Kate left, her rude words tingling in Holly's ears. Holly watched Kate and suddenly felt sorry for her. Kate Hong was a middle-aged, hardened woman, full of coarse words with eyes that softened only at the sight of dollars. For all of Kate's roughness and unfeeling talk, it was really only a cover for her loneliness. Kate had no man and she didn't want Holly to have one, either. The world seemed suddenly small, bitter and troubled.
Chapter 25
Choi walked softly on his toes up the thread-bare stairs to the second floor of a cheap hotel around Alvarado and 7th street. The sign over the entrance said ‘color tv’. Inside it was dark and he wondered if the place were kept that way on purpose so they wouldn't have to clean it.
Outside of room 214, which was on the backside of the hotel, Choi leaned on the door. The key he had coerced out of the desk clerk made only the slightest click, then opened. There was a day-bed by the window and Huck Stryker, a skinny white intermittent junkie type, who was in fact a very good software hacker from a decent home, was there. He could have easily passed for dead, except he was snoring like a chain saw.
There were two other people in the room whom the snoring didn't seem to bother. Raoul, a tough looking Mexican, maybe twenty, in a tank top to show off his tattoos and baggy striped boxer shorts, and a pretty Mexican girl, very naked under a cheap dressing gown that made no effort to hide her ripe puppy fat body. She didn't look more than fourteen as she played cards at a small table with empty beer bottles between them and a messy stack of ones. Raoul's wallet was on the table. The single greasy window let in some light, if not much air. The stuffiness of the room was nothing a Santa Ana wind couldn't have fixed. The girl, whose back was to Choi, turned and put a hand to her mouth, not as if she was happy to see him, but not like she'd never been rousted, either.
"Hey, Chiquita - throw some water on this guy's face," Choi pulled a hand-rolled cigarette butt out of the ashtray and sniffed it. Mexican marijuana. Must have been some party. Choi had no interest in drugs. His nervous system was so, well, nervous, that an occasional beer or one drink was all he could handle.
Meanwhile, the Chiquita wiggled her way over to Huck and threw a filthy glass of water in his face. She looked like she enjoyed doing it. God knows what he and Raoul had done to her - and each other - last night. Huck sputtered and opened his eyes.
"Hey Choi," Huck groaned his greeting. "This is what I get for playing at being immortal."
"Don't die - yet," Choi responded. "I'm here on business."
Huck sighed, sitting up. "Would you please pass me my pants?" Huck asked politely, struggling to get it together. "Nothing kills faster than immortality."
"How much money do you have in your wallet, Huckster, when you got here?" Choi pulled Huck's wallet from the pants and flipped through it. It was as empty as a promise.
"It looks like I came at the right time." Choi said, tossing the wallet. Raoul shrugged and shuffled the cards.
"You got a job for us?"
"Big job," Choi nodded.
"Then you can fuck her no charge, if you want. She likes it," Raoul cut the deck.
"My medical insurance isn't that good," Choi looked down and studied his fingernails and instantly regretted wasting the joke on Raoul.
"Who is it?" Raoul asked.
"A lawyer. Female."
Raoul shook his head. "I got my standards, man. No women or children."
“Think of it as a social service. It’s a lawyer." Choi said. “And it has to look like an accident.”
"That’s harder. Ten grand. Half up front and half after the job’s done."
"You're one sorry ass motherfucker," Choi said
“When?" Raoul asked, suddenly serious again.
"Friday," Choi kept looking awkwardly around.
"You ain't wearing no wire, are you?”
Choi ignored the question and stared out into empty space. He was gone, wandering down memory lane passing his fingers over the edge of the card table, drumming his feet to an imaginary beat in his head.
It was that one excited phone call from Kate Hong, of course, bragging that Neil Cooper had been hired to represent Naomi Linser, that made him finally snap. The walls were closing in. It would be no time before Holly figured out that Nara Song was living under the alias of Alexis Linser. Up to now, everyone had been fooled.
The Dumok had always accepted that Nara Song had died in childbirth, until now. Wolf Linser had never questioned Alexis or Naomi's identity. Now with Holly poking around and Alexis walking into American Legal Services, the truth would all come out and the Dumok would surely find Choi’s hand in all this. Especially when the truth of the other daughter came out.
It was all too much for Choi and he began to shake as his face clouded over in memory. Damn Nara Song. After they had gotten rid of the other daughter, Nara had lived for five years under the alias of Alexis
Lee then Alexis Linser. Choi had put her out of his mind until she had called again.
"We agreed never to speak again," Choi said, his voice tight. Time certainly had past quickly.
"I need a favor," she said, refusing to take no for an answer. “Not for me, for Naomi.”
Finally, Choi capitulated. It was Choi who made the 911 call to get Wolf Linser put away. It was Choi who coached Naomi what to say to the police.
Now, with the Dumok involved, there was no way Choi could capitulate a second time. There was only one thing to do. He would get rid of Holly. Choi sat up and methodically organized his thoughts. Once and for all, he would free himself from the rocks that hid between the waves. His voice was hollow, and his face contorted as he spoke. Raoul listened while playing solitaire. Huck drank a Coke and slowly came back to life. The Chiquita was bored and had fallen asleep on the bed.
Choi made the deal with them, in careful detail, their voices fading, like people leaving shore in a small boat. Soon the soft sound of the waves were all that would remain. Only in getting rid of Holly would he truly be free. There was only one problem. Slight, incidental, a mere annoyance - yet potentially disastrous. He didn't have the ten grand.
Chapter 26
Big office buildings have a different feel at night, empty, silent. It was just sunset and American Legal Services had a warm glow. The security guard sat in the lobby flipping through a magazine. Kate Hong was wearing a white dinner jacket and black pencil skirt and standing looking out the window at the bruised orange sky.
Choi was in business. He'd caught Kate Hong at the office dressed up with nowhere to go. He said he would pick her up. In the car, Choi refined his strategy, working until it was simple as possible.
Kate got in the car, and as he drove she spoke without looking at Choi, as if he'd been there for hours.
The Virgin Whore Trial: A Holly Park Legal Thriller Page 10
