Counsel (Counsel #1)

by Shenda Paul

  "The defendant will answer," he orders.

  "I believe those were the dates," Justin concedes.

  "So, approximately five months after the people of Massachusetts voted you into office, you entered into an agreement securing the sexual services of a young woman?"

  "Yes," he says curtly, eyes flashing with irritation.

  "Then, two weeks later, you entered into an agreement to procure a thirty percent share in a business with a man you knew to be involved in criminal activities, is that correct?"

  "I've already explained …" he starts, but I cut him off.

  "Answer the question, please."

  "Yes," he reluctantly concedes.

  "You chose to overlook crimes being perpetrated at Liaison. In fact, you did more than ignore them; you participated in them. When did you have your first sexual encounter with Ms.Perkins?"

  Justin flushes crimson. "Months after I discovered the true nature of the club."

  "Why did you choose to condone a crime?"

  "As I’ve said; I succumbed to temptation."

  "If you expressed your concerns to Mr. Cordi, as you have testified, why did you decide to actively participate in the very thing you objected to?"

  "I succumbed to temptation. I regret my actions, and I'm deeply ashamed."

  "You knowingly chose to further your involvement in crime by entering into an agreement to purchase a woman’s sexual services, and then you bought equity in a business involved in prostitution. When did you first meet Ms. Bain?"

  "I first saw her when she performed at the club; I think it was around October of two thousand and twelve."

  "You had only just won the election; you were a state senator by then, were you not?"

  "I was."

  "Did you succumb to temptation again with Ms. Bain? Engaging in illegal sex with Ms.Perkins wasn’t enough, you felt the need to repeat your crime?"

  "I stopped having sexual relations with Ms.Perkins once I decided to pursue Ms. Bain," he says tersely.

  "Was it your intention to pursue her for sex or for a different kind of relationship?"

  "Objection, Your Honor. Immaterial," Tom intervenes.

  "Sustained," Judge Bolton rules.

  "How did you pursue Angelique Bain?"

  "I invited her for a drink."

  "Outside of Liaison?"

  "I asked her to join me at my table at the club."

  "Was that on the first night you saw her?"

  "It was a week or so later."

  "Did you enjoy her company?"

  "Yes, Ms. Bain is an intelligent and captivating woman."

  "Was this before or after she became an escort?"

  "Before."

  "So she was not yet an escort; did you invite her out on a date, perhaps for a drink or coffee?"

  "I did not."

  "So, you met this lovely woman who captivated you, but you didn’t think to ask her out? Isn’t that what most men interested in a woman would have done?"

  "Objection, Your Honor, asked and answered," Tom calls out.

  "Sustained," comes the ruling.

  "When did you next see Ms. Bain?"

  "Some months later."

  "Tell the court about that occasion, please?"

  "Mr. Cordi called to advise me that Ms. Bain was escorting and asked if I was still interested in her. I said yes."

  "So you paid to have sex with Ms. Bain?"

  "I did."

  "How long after your first sexual encounter with Ms. Bain did you sign the agreement for her exclusive services?"

  "Probably a couple of months. I’m not sure of the exact timeframe."

  "Why did you sign the agreement when Ms. Bain was already available to you?"

  "I did it to help her."

  "To help her?"

  "Yes," he says with a hint of irritation.

  "Exactly how did it benefit her to be treated like chattel?"

  "I didn't think she should have to sleep with other men," he admits after a long pause.

  "Did she ever ask you to protect her from having to sleep with other men?"

  "No," he says tersely.

  "So you and Joseph Cordi decided that you were best suited to determine this young woman's fate, and you determined it was to be tied to you in a sexual contract. On what basis did you decide that?"

  Justin’s eyes bore into mine, a frown on his face. I gaze back at him unwaveringly. "Mr. Wade?"

  "As I've already said, I felt I was helping her."

  "You're a wealthy and influential man. In fact, you are reported to be one of the richest men in Massachusetts, are you not?"

  "Yes." He’s clearly unhappy, knowing, like I do, that raising his wealth and privilege only serves to heighten the perception that he capitalized on his position to get away with a crime.

  "Why not offer her a loan, something, anything, that didn't demand she sell her body?"

  For the first time since taking the stand, Justin looks truly uncomfortable. There's a pregnant pause as those present wait, with seemingly bated breath, for him to respond.

  "I didn't think she'd want that," he finally says.

  "So you arbitrarily made the decision to purchase her body. You gave no consideration to her feelings or wellbeing. Did you ever consider offering her an honorable way out… one where she wasn't forced to prostitute herself, a way that would maintain her dignity and self-worth?"

  "Objection, Your Honor; leading," Tom’s voice cuts through the growing tension in the room.

  "Overruled. The defendant will answer the question."

  "I didn't consider that," Justin replies at last, face flushed, his eyes focused straight ahead.

  "You wanted to bind Angelique Bain to you in an exclusive sexual agreement. You deemed her unsuitable to date but wanted her sexually. You didn't care about her fate or that of the other women who may have been forced into prostitution because of circumstances beyond their control. You selfishly ignored the law. You signed the contract for Fidelity, not because you wanted to save Ms. Bain, but because you wanted her for yourself …"

  "Objection Your Honor. Badgering." Tom interjects indignantly. Justin's jaw is clenched tight, his face deathly pale as he stares straight ahead.

  "Sustained." The ruling goes against me, but I don’t care, satisfied that I’ve made my point.

  "Mr. Wade…" I call out. He snaps his head back to look at me.

  "Your accountant, Mr. Jones, testified that you told him a thorough investigation of Fidelity Properties was not unnecessary. Why would you do that?"

  He clears his throat. "It was a misunderstanding. My intention wasn’t to create confusion. I simply wanted to let Mr. Jones know that I'd conducted some basic research into the company. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. I did not, however, seek to mislead him, nor did I intend to stop him from performing his duty."

  "So, you maintain that you had no prior knowledge of Fidelity's ownership of Liaison or any other nightclub?"

  "I did not know that the company owned Liaison, or any club, for that matter. Joseph Cordi assured me that he'd provided full disclosure of Fidelity’s financial position and assets before I signed the agreement."

  "How did you not once, in over a year, raise a single question about Sigma and the source of its income, Mr. Wade? You are a highly intelligent man, a trained lawyer, and according to your accountant, astute in business and financial matters. Why did you not ask about such a significant source of income? Why, in the first instance, did you not insist that proper due diligence be conducted? The existence of the clubs would then have been uncovered, surely?"

  "Objection, Your Honor. Compound question."

  "Your Honor, what I’ve just asked, boils down to one fundamental question; why did the defendant, a trained lawyer and astute businessman, fail to do what anyone with an ounce of knowledge wou
ld have and should have done?"

  "Overruled. I'll allow some latitude."

  "Mr. Wade?" I prompt.

  "As I've already testified, it was not my intention to mislead or to infer that Mr. Jones should forego due process. As far as the source of Sigma's revenue is concerned, I simply didn’t consider it necessary to check. I believed what I'd been told and what my initial research confirmed; that Fidelity was in the business of commercial property development. No subsidiary company was disclosed in discussion prior to my signing the contract or included in the company’s assets register; so for me, none existed. In terms of the financial reports, I perused them, satisfied myself that the business continued to do well and then forwarded them to J.J. and H to deal with. I did not, as you have inferred, enter into the contract for Fidelity with the intention of committing a crime."

  "But you did, Mr. Wade. You committed several crimes, with intent; when you participated in the illegal prostitution at Liaison, when you entered into a contract for the sexual services of a vulnerable woman, and again, when you chose to enter into a business partnership with a man you knew to be a criminal.

  "You consciously, and to satisfy your desire to have Angelique Bain for yourself, flouted laws you swore to uphold. 'I did not think she should sleep with other men', you have highhandedly stated. What made you think you had the right to demean her instead?"

  "Objection, Your Honor. Badgering," Tom interjects. I ignore him.

  "You willingly entered into a business partnership with a man you knew to be a criminal and, in the process, deliberately ignored the plight of the hapless women caught up in his scheme. Afraid that he might uncover something to hamper the agreement to secure Ms. Bain’s sexual services, you knowingly dissuaded your accountant from investigating Fidelity, did you not?"

  "Sustained. Counsel, you are cautioned," Judge Bolton calls out.

  "No further questions, Your Honor," I reply.

  .

  .

  I feel emotionally drained and, truth be told, somewhat deflated. Jodi and I left court to return to the office to recap the day’s events. We agreed that we had a very good day. "You left him exposed and with no place to hide," she said.

  We did win the day, but I hadn’t been able to then and still can’t muster up the adrenaline-enthused high I’d normally feel at such an outcome. I arrived home and had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich for dinner, then spent time on a final run-through of my closing argument before slumping on the sofa in front of the television where I am now.

  A vision of the defense team leaving the courthouse fills the screen. Reporters jostle each other and shout questions as Justin guides his mother and Cynthia away. Josh Wade valiantly tries to forge a path ahead, but it’s a hopeless task. I feel sympathy for Mrs. Wade; the poor woman looks terrified. Why, I wonder idly, didn't someone arrange for her to leave earlier or later?

  The picture fades, replaced by one of Jodi and me being greeted by the same mayhem. Having just witnessed Mrs. Wade’s fear, I'm even more grateful that I'd told Mom and Cait to leave ahead of us. I was asked all the standard questions; what I thought the verdict would be, what the penalty would be if Justin were found guilty, to the more salacious about what I thought about the relationship he'd had with Angelique Bain and why she hadn’t been charged.

  Those last questions angered me, but I ignored them. I fought down my revulsion at the way those vultures were metaphorically salivating at the prospect of tearing her limb from limb. As if she’d been responsible for the public darling’s demise. Had these people not been in court? Had they not heard the evidence, I wondered. There can be no doubting that she'd sold herself, but to blame her for Justin’s predicament is simply ludicrous.

  I change the channel to watch an old action movie instead but find it impossible to stop thinking about the trial. It’s annoying yet hardly unexpected, I suppose, given that it’s the eve of the last day.

  I recall my rooftop conversation with Tom. The last vestiges of our friendship have been severed as I knew, then, it would be, but I feel no regret; not about the vigorous way I’ve prosecuted the case and certainly not about the end of our friendship. I’ve never harbored illusions that it meant much to either of them anyway. Tomorrow, I'll deliver my closing argument, and then I can move on to the big fish, Joseph Cordi and his brothers.

  Uppermost in my mind, however, are thoughts of Angelique Bain. I realized during Justin’s cross-examination just how much she’s been taken advantage of. That she had choices can’t be argued, but neither she nor any of those other women deserved to be used in that way. Samantha Perkins has also been publicly linked with Liaison and Justin, but she has, with the exception of one mention in a newspaper article, been allowed to get on with her life. The press, on the other hand, has been relentless in their condemnation of Angelique. For the foreseeable future, at least, she’ll continue to be vilified. This knowledge upsets me and, truth be known, it’s a major cause of my current state of unease.

  I’ve finally had to admit that I’m more than attracted to her. I care about her. I see the parallels between her situation and Eleanor’s, and I don't want her to end up the same way. I couldn't do anything to save Eleanor, but I may be able to help Angelique. And, finally, as I turn off the television, I think about what Cait said about being free to get to know her once Justin’s trial is over.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The courtroom is packed, the air permeated by the low, continuous buzz of muted conversation. I’m surprised when glancing around to where Mom and Cait normally sit to see Dad ensconced between them. He smiles as our eyes meet. I return it, showing my pleasure and gratitude for his support. My family doesn’t make a habit of attending court, at least not since the early days when Mom and Dad insisted on making an appearance at every one of my trials. Mom and Cait’s earlier attendances and their united presence today demonstrate their understanding of the significance this trial holds for me.

  I catch the gaze of Angelique’s companion, Samuel. He’s been in court, sitting in the same place, every day. My errant mind wanders to thinking about where she might be right now, what she's feeling, what she's doing. I berate myself instantly. I have no right to worry about her, especially after the ordeal I put her through. She's probably already forgotten about my existence, and if she hasn't, I feel sure she's hoping to. That thought bothers me. Samuel gives me an almost imperceptible nod, and I reciprocate, gaining a modicum of satisfaction from the realization that he, at least, doesn't appear to hold my interrogation of her against me.

  Court’s called into session and when invited, Tom rises to his feet. He thanks the court before starting his closing argument.

  "Your Honor, Ladies, and Gentlemen of the Jury, my client, Justin Wade, acknowledges his visits to Liaison. He admits to later becoming a member of that establishment, but he did not know the true nature of Liaison’s business when he sought membership. Many may question why, after discovering the truth, he failed to take action. The fact is that he did. Mr. Wade approached Joseph Cordi with his concern. He was assured by and believed Mr. Cordi when he said he planned on phasing out prostitution. Why would my client not believe him? Mr. Cordi was, by all accounts, a well-respected member of Boston society; there was no reason, then, to doubt his word.

  "Mr. Wade admits his shame and regret at having succumbed to temptation by indulging in sexual relations with women employed at Liaison, but I remind you that he is not facing charges of solicitation. His indiscretion should not be taken into account when determining the outcome of this trial.

  "Mr. Wade also admits to contracting the services of Angelique Bain; it was a genuine, if misguided, attempt to help her. He agreed to the second contract only because Joseph Cordi made it a condition of the first, and also because he believed it to be a good investment. He would not have done so if he had not genuinely believed Fidelity Properties to be a legitimate business. He had no knowledge of the company’s
subsidiary, Sigma, and its ownership of Liaison and other clubs when entering into the agreement. Why would he have suspected that Fidelity owned a subsidiary company? Joseph Cordi, a man my client believed to be a respected businessman, assured him of full disclosure during negotiations. No mention of Sigma was ever made.

  "The Commonwealth asserts that my client had prior knowledge of Liaison’s ownership status, that he instructed his accountants not to conduct thorough investigations into the company's business matters. And Prosecuting Counsel has presented a view that ignorance should be discounted in the dispensing of justice; but how can it be when the livelihood and reputation of a good man are at stake?

  "The facts are that Mr. Wade did not know of Fidelity’s indirect ownership of Liaison or any other club. He found out only when police informed him of the fact. He did not instruct Mr. Jones to ignore the need for a thorough investigation into Fidelity. The misconception came about through a simple misunderstanding. Misunderstandings are hardly uncommon occurrences.

  "My client has also testified that he only cursorily evaluated Fidelity’s financial results. He did what he had always done with business related matters; he reviewed top-line results before forwarding them to his accountants. The Commonwealth has failed to conclusively prove otherwise.

  "Through his desire to help a young woman, Mr. Wade was deliberately misled and unknowingly became part owner of an illegal business. The Commonwealth expects you to believe the testimony of a scorned mistress. Ms. Bonnaci's motives remain highly questionable. There is no way of knowing whether her assertions were based on fact or a desire for revenge; they should, therefore, be discounted.

  "My client has led an exemplary life, a great part of it spent in service to his community. He wants to continue his life’s work and should not be stopped from doing so. Mr. Wade made a common human error, that of trusting someone. He should not be punished for having been misled or for trying to help a young woman from falling further into prostitution, however questionable you may view his methods to have been.