Wearing the Spider (A Suspense Novel) (Legal Thriller) (Thriller)

by Schaab, Susan

  “Well, very few of us will ever have to worry about meeting Trump-like standards,” said Amanda.

  “Yeah, but New York men are so spoiled. All these supermodels walking around.”

  “I dated a guy who wanted to trade resumes before we arranged a second date,” said Evie.

  “Well, I just met an interesting man at, where else, a gallery opening, and he has possibilities,” said Amanda.

  The waiter appeared and scribbled notes as each woman made her selection from the menu.

  “What is his personal capital quotient?” Lisa asked Amanda, adding her menu to the stack the waiter was accumulating. After depositing a basket of bread on the table the waiter disappeared into the controlled roar beyond their table.

  “His what?” asked Amanda.

  “You know. The collective appeal of his looks, education, social status, any sort of unique first name, like Truman, his family name, degree of career success, the cachet of his chosen profession, his net worth and the location of his season tickets at the Met.”

  “Lisa, you’re just as bad as the guys,” said Jenna.

  “Well, let’s be absolutely clear here. A high personal capital quotient equates to enormous power because of the universal appeal to women and because men who score high in multiple categories are so rare.”

  Lisa drank from her wine glass and continued. “The only real power women have over men is sex. Men can’t do without it and women decide with whom it happens and when, if ever.”

  “So how many dates should a woman wait before having sex with a man she really likes?” asked Jenna.

  “It’s not so much the number of dates, it’s the degree of sexual tension she should allow to accumulate before she gives in. And there should be some discernable attachment that develops and coexists with the sexual yearning.” Lisa retrieved her velvet-rose lipstick from her purse and applied a stroke to her bottom lip with her gaze fixed in the tiny compact mirror she held in her left hand. She looked up from the mirror, gesticulating with the lipstick wand, as she continued her answer.

  “Before she gives in, he should’ve spent substantial amounts of money on her, sacrificed something important to him like courtside tickets to a basketball game, introduced her to his mother or taken a trip with her requiring a passport. Or any combination of the above.”

  Evie and Jenna exchanged smiling glances. Melanie almost choked on her olive bread as she tried to suppress a laugh.

  “Men do have the power. The sex scenes in movies written by men almost always portray sex as a ‘wham-bam’ blast of sexual energy. It’s symbolic. Through brute physical force the man is shifting back the balance of power,” added Lisa.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Amanda. “And a man’s portrayal of good sex seems to always include extremes and rarely takes into account the real needs and perspectives of a woman. What do you think, Evie?”

  “Have any of you ever been sexually harassed at work?” asked Evie as she looked around the table. There was a deafening silence for a few fleshy seconds.

  “You really know how to change the subject.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Evie, “but I need some help with a situation at work.”

  “I had a bad experience with a peer,” said Lisa. “He tried to grab me and pull me into a stockroom. After I told him where to get off, he started teasing me in front of other people. There was a group of us in a room on a video conference. He positioned the camera to look right up my skirt.”

  “That sounds like what they call a ‘hostile’ environment, even though he wasn’t your superior. Did you report it?” asked Evie.

  “No. Nobody saw the grab and the teasing was just in front of a few guys—all his buddies. There was nobody to corroborate my story.”

  “That seems to be a common problem,” said Evie. “There’s this partner who kissed me and tried to push his way into my hotel room on a business trip. Nobody else was around.”

  “Oh my God! He kissed you?” asked Amanda.

  “Yes. And I’ve waited too long to report it, I’m afraid.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Well, you know how people become suspicious if time has passed,” answered Evie. “It’ll look like I have some new motive to drag him through the mud.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes. He’s toying with me.”

  “What a nightmare. What are you going to do? Are you going to leave the firm?”

  “Doesn’t it suck that women always feel like it’s up to us to exit?” said Lisa.

  “Well, I’ve thought about it, but I have a lot invested. My track to partnership would be so much longer if I switch firms. So difficult to get full credit at another firm for my record. It could be like starting over.”

  “I know what you mean,” said Hannah. “My former manager put his arm around me and tried to put his hand up my shirt. The company officer I went to didn’t believe me at first, but then he ultimately fired the guy. I was actually promoted after that, but I never felt like I was treated the same. I never felt trusted or part of the inner circle. I was so uncomfortable, I finally quit. Lost all my tenure. So just reporting it and eliminating the offender doesn’t necessarily end the problem.”

  “Did you consider suing?” asked Jenna.

  “Based on what? They fired the guy and promoted me, so they did everything they could to correct the problem. I didn’t think I could make much of a case just based on feeling left out. It’s not illegal to have an almost all-male management team.”

  “Men are such a pain in the ass,” said Jenna. “I wonder what it would be like to work in an all-female law firm. You never know when that testosterone is going to boil over.”

  “I went out with this guy once,” said Melanie trying to lighten the mood. “He took me to Disneyworld. I thought, okay, I’ll go with this. Maybe he loves kids or something. He ended up picking a fight with Mickey Mouse.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “A fist fight?”

  “Yeah. It was so embarrassing. He had words and started trading punches with the guy who was wearing the Mickey Mouse costume. We got kicked out of the park.”

  “I wish I had some advice for you, Evie,” said Amanda. The other girls nodded solemnly.

  “I’d still report it, if I were you,” said Lisa. “My situation was a peer. You’re stuck with working in a subordinate position to this jerk.”

  “I’m thinking about it, but I appreciate all your input,” said Evie.

  Amanda looked at her watch and shrieked. “EEEeeeoo. I’m late for my salon appointment. I hate to piss off Gerry when he’s about to stand over me with a pair of scissors.”

  Melanie counted out the contributions and handed the check to the waiter. Melanie and Jenna walked arm-in-arm, and Hannah, Lisa and Evie gathered their things and walked behind, promising to get together again soon.

  Evie almost gasped when she walked back into her office and saw Alan Levenger sitting in her chair.

  8

  He must have timed us.

  “You’re working on Collburn Regan, right?” Alan said in greeting. “There’ll be some changes. The deal may not proceed.” He rose from her chair and walked slowly around her office as he spoke.

  “What kind of changes?”

  Alan avoided eye contact with Evie, but he seemed to know that her eyes were glued to him. He paused beside her desk to pick up the framed photograph of her and Mireille, which he studied as he continued to speak.

  “Farraway.”

  “The executive vice president we’re working for?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What about him?”

  “I’m going to get him fired.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “He crossed me.”

  “How?”

  “Not important. He’s in way over his head anyway.”

  Evie stared at Alan with nothing to say. Arrogance. How does he think he’s going to convince a client to fire an executive?
Alan looked at her as if he expected her to vocally join his campaign. She moved around her desk and sat in her desk chair, which she noticed was quite warm. She wondered how long Alan had been sitting there.

  “How’s work going on Sangerson?”

  “Wait, Alan. Just to be clear, you don’t want me to do any further work on Collburn Regan, correct?”

  “Yes. We need to get that Sangerson contract out. How’s it going?”

  “It’s going.” Now he DOES seem to remember I’m working on it.

  “Just a reminder. Don’t send it out until I’ve seen it. Email it to me first.”

  He winked and smiled as he left her office.

  She inspected the clutter on the surface of her desk, trying to determine what he might have been looking at while sitting there, but there were only client files and notes. Nothing personal and no evidence that she had been investigating the Gerais Chevas matter. This is not going to go away. It’s a lot easier to get ME fired. She retrieved a file from her briefcase and the next few hours evaporated as she continued drafting a new agreement for the Sangerson-Zoomhelix deal. Alan’s presence seemed to linger in the air like rotting cheese, but she forced herself to ignore it.

  Her telephone rang once indicating an intercom inquiry from Helen.

  “Yes, Helen?”

  “Adam Peyton, from Roma Sori, on line one, and by the way, thank you for the lovely flowers. You are such a dear.”

  “Oh, you’re very welcome. Just wanted you to know you’re appreciated. Thanks, Helen.” Evie pressed a button on the telephone. “Hello, Adam? This is Evie.”

  “Evie! How are you?”

  “Fine, thanks. Hey, Adam, I read that you have a nine percent growth expectation for the third quarter. Congratulations. You and your management team are an impressive group.”

  “Thank you, Evie. Who was it that said ‘No one rises so high as he who knows NOT where he is going?’” He laughed. “I’m never one to succumb to the illusion of my own success. I have to admit, though, it’s always easier to market a winning product.”

  “I’ve actually become a customer myself after Pavi gave me that box of product samples. I love the body oil and that jasmine-based fragrance.”

  “Well, you’re definitely the demographic we’re chasing. Now that I think about it, you would make a great model for our new television spot.” He laughed.

  “I’d better stick to lawyering, but I appreciate the thought.”

  “Well, you have plenty of legal talent, for sure. The purchasing division is really pleased with the database system deal we negotiated for them. Even the rollouts went smoothly. The contractual terms have really kept the techies in line. It seems that we found a software vendor who actually paid attention to your explanation of how the development process should work. I have to tell you, I enjoyed working with you so much I think I’m going to do a deal with SerosaSoft.”

  “You know you could do these deals yourself with one hand tied behind your back.”

  Adam chuckled into the telephone, “Hey, don’t let your billing partners hear you say things like that.” He paused. “Seriously, I need your input. I want you to work with me on it.”

  “Are you serious? So you really have been negotiating a deal with SerosaSoft? What about Blueline?”

  “That one hasn’t taken shape yet. But SerosaSoft is moving faster than I expected. We’re interested in licensing their supplier management software. They’ve proposed customizing it for us. Peter and Tate have unfortunately already seen a demo and agreed on licensing fees. As usual, you and I have been brought in after the systems people have been psychologically seduced and after the business dialogue has progressed to courtship.”

  “What does the timeline look like?”

  “Well. That’s the bad news. Their form agreement is being sent, as we speak, by email, to you, me, Peter and Tate, and those two have cleared their afternoon schedules to review it. They said they will have their comments to us by end of business and they want us to have our initial issue discussion with SerosaSoft tomorrow morning.”

  “No problem.” Evie solemnly glanced at the Sangerson file and an evergreen list of personal To Do’s sticking out of the side pocket of her briefcase. “Do you want Hanover to set up a new matter for this deal?”

  “No, you can just use the general matter number for software transactions. Thanks for meeting such an unreasonable deadline. You are hereby nominated for attorney of the year.”

  “I’m not letting you off that easy, Adam. You owe me.”

  Adam laughed. “And I’m sure you’ll collect! Hey, call me at home tonight if you have any questions. If I read it this afternoon, I’ll send you my comments by email.”

  “Thanks, Adam. Talk to you in the morning.”

  He hung up. Evie sighed to herself at the sacrifice of another evening, but that thought quickly dissipated. She didn’t mind working tight schedules for grateful and respectful clients like Roma Sori.

  A glance through her email inbox yielded the expected SerosaSoft document, which she downloaded to the printer. Another new email emerged from the list of titles representing the day’s electronic communications. It was an internal message from Hanover requesting her to contact him about a team of attorneys he was assembling to fly to Florida for a contract negotiation next week.

  She had been the contract draftsperson on that Florida deal, but had been pulled off of the assignment due to her other commitments. Hanover was personally requesting that she reinsert herself into the matter and take the lead in the negotiation. Well, at least I know its specifics. And to travel with Hanover might present an opportunity to talk to him about Alan and see if he knows anything about the Gerais Chevas matter.

  It would also present an occasion, albeit a bit late, to tell him about Chicago, but she had no idea how to characterize it or how much she should say. Plenty of time to think about that before next week, she told herself. She responded to Hanover’s email that she’d be happy to work with him on the Florida deal and would instruct Helen to coordinate arrangements with his secretary. She cc’d Helen on the message as was her usual practice when she needed travel assistance.

  The rest of the afternoon was quiet, so she was able to finish Sangerson and start her review of the SerosaSoft document. She emailed the completed Sangerson-Zoomhelix Agreement to Alan with a draft cover letter addressed to the client, as he had requested. At 6:30 p.m., she downloaded emails onto her local hard drive, then gathered her pages of notes, the SerosaSoft form agreement and her laptop computer to meet Ralph for their planned dinner to celebrate his court victory. She would have to finish her work on SerosaSoft tonight after going out with Ralph.

  The outside air was cool and welcoming this evening as she walked toward her apartment. The humidity and heat of the day had succumbed to a weather front blown in from Long Island Sound. She hurried to the desk in the lobby of her building, and as the concierge simultaneously gathered mail for two other residents, he handed over a note that had been left for her. It was from Ralph and was full of apologies. An urgent family matter had required him to suddenly travel to London. A question emerged in her mind: should she call Joe? No, he’ll think I’m crazy. It’s too late to make a plan for tonight.

  She left her computer and briefcase with the concierge to run out and pick up some food for dinner. Her favorite Chinese restaurant was three blocks away and she decided to walk instead of dialing for take-out, to enjoy the cooler evening weather. When she left with her bag of sesame chicken, she looked back briefly and noticed a man in a gray suit standing alone looking off into space.

  As she walked, she was aware of the man behind her and he seemed to be in step with her for a few blocks. She focused on the sidewalk ahead, but listened for the sound of his footsteps as she dissected his appearance in her mind. It was the end of a business day, but his suit was crisp, his grooming was fresh and he was holding no briefcase. She visualized him again. His hands had been completely free. As she crossed the
street to her block, she increased her pace and heard him lag behind, continuing on the same path she had. She glanced back and noted that he looked away a bit too mechanically. Slightly spooked, she walked quickly toward her building and its front door, held open by Fred with his friendly smile. She stood in the foyer just inside the door for a few moments to see if the man followed, but he was nowhere in sight. For an instant, she considered alerting Fred to watch for the Gray Suit, but there was nothing distinctive about him and she decided he was probably just a typical pervert looking for a conquest. She shrugged it off.

  ~~

  Friday morning began with a conference call between Evie and the Roma Sori executives in preparation for their discussion with SerosaSoft, during which they all agreed on the numerous problems with the document.

  As they waited for the remaining voices to chime in, she sorted through layers of papers on her desk. Buried under yesterday’s Wall Street Journal was a press release she had found the day before from LEXIS/NEXIS, but had not had time to read, Gerais Chevas Industries Accepts Bid for Software Giant. She had printed it out to see if it might be related to the Gerais Chevas deal referenced in the unexpected email from Adinaldo, but in her haste had forgotten to slip it into her briefcase. With a shudder, she realized it was buried here when Alan was seated at her desk when she returned from yesterday’s lunch. Had he seen it?

  A voice captured her attention as one of the executives announced that everyone who was to participate on the call seemed to now be connected. She placed the press release on top of the stack of paper. Each participant offered introductions and the SerosaSoft sales machine began to churn with Roma Sori as the intended target. After about an hour, the discussion concluded and Evie disconnected her line.

  The pace of the conference call had prevented her from reading the press release, but now there was nothing else to distract her. While there was no real depth to the release, it did contain interesting information.

  BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, 17 April, 2005—Gerais Chevas Industries, a Brazil-based software development powerhouse, has announced that it has accepted an offer to sell the Company’s statistical software division, GC Quadra, to Argentina-based Romez Nuevo for US$179 million in cash and securities. After aggressive early growth, GC Quadra struggled through a widely reported strategic miscalculation to become a recognized worldwide leader in the development of software for statistical analysis. Gaining a respectable market share in corporate planning, its Quadra Numbers software has been successfully implemented by a number of governmental agencies worldwide, to produce a statistical basis for the allocation of government funds to population-dependent expenditures. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2005.