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

by Schaab, Susan

  “I’m happy to cooperate with the FBI within the boundaries of confidentiality. As a licensed attorney, it’s my duty to keep certain matters confidential. If you have a subpoena, my legal duty changes. But, until then …”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He pulled out a small notepad and began making notes. “Are you being blackmailed, Miss Sullivan?”

  “What? No. Not that I know of.” Not that I know of. Setup yes, blackmailed no.

  “Do you own a gun?”

  “No. I don’t own a gun.” She looked up to see Huda walking toward the table with a quizzical look on her face when she noticed the man speaking to Evie.

  “Huda! Hello.” Evie smiled at her friend in grateful greeting and tossed a look at Daniel Weber that seemed to say, ‘Do I introduce you?’

  He saved her the trouble, extending his hand to shake Huda’s. “Hello. I’m Daniel Weber with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

  “Hello,” said Huda, looking back and forth between Evie and the agent not knowing what to say.

  “Well,” he said. “Thank you, Miss Sullivan, for taking the time to speak with me. Here’s my card if you think of anything else you’d like to tell me,” he said as he stood and offered a government-issue business card. “We’ll be in touch.”

  “You’re welcome,” said Evie, taking the card. She shook his hand and watched as he nodded at each of the women and walked out of the restaurant.

  “What the hell was that all about?” asked Huda, sitting down across from Evie and placing her hand on Evie’s arm in a supportive gesture.

  “He said the FBI is investigating something to do with my firm.” Don’t get involved in this, my friend.

  “Oh my God. Really? Why are they talking to you?”

  “I don’t know exactly. They may be interviewing a bunch of different people from the firm.”

  “Scary. Are you worried?”

  Yes. I am a bit. The FBI thinks I murdered a woman who was trying to blackmail me. “No. I’m not. And please, don’t you be. I’m fine.” Evie playacted the most relaxed smile she could manage. There was no use in telling Huda. There was nothing she could do to help. “Huda, thanks for agreeing to meet me. I really needed to see a friendly face.”

  “I can imagine … after a conversation with the FBI.”

  When Evie returned to her office, she decided to check for any updates to the Gerais Chevas documents. She was not surprised that the password remained unchanged—the successful password for both “Neon Three” and “Neon Four” were still her mother’s name. “Neon Three” still showed a $25 million commission, but there were no details or explanations added as to its purpose or recipient. Schedule B7 in “Neon Four” was shockingly different:

  In my capacity as attorney for seller, Gerais Chevas, in the above entitled transaction, I, Evelyn Sullivan, hereby guarantee the award of T-ASA Contract Number 56–8097–244221, and all associated Purchase Orders to the business unit of Gerais Chevas d/b/a GC Quadra, hereby known as DODAAC 639–001. This award is consistent with the DFARS concerning sole source awards in certain circumstances. See Sole Source Justification 23.459. In exchange for my agency, I shall receive a commission as set forth in the Payment Schedule to be paid upon Closing of the Master Purchase Agreement, as defined in said agreement.

  SIGNED: ______________________________

  So, the final phase has begun, she thought. Alan had her guaranteeing that the business unit being sold was going to be awarded a government contract and had apparently enlisted Adinaldo to point to her as the negotiator! Just as Joe had predicted, there was a sole source award in the works. The tax game Senator Arbeson was playing was not his only sport. In his capacity as a member of the Appropriations Committee, he had apparently agreed to hand GC Quadra a government contract and she was being charged with delivering it. And she would receive a commission, it read—the only commission currently detailed in the Payment Schedule was the one for $25 million.

  29

  Even though she had expected it, to see her name inserted into the incriminating paragraph was horrifying, her identity a tool for someone to play with. She tried editing the document and was allowed to do so, but she left it intact so that the partners could see it. She was certain that if she deleted her name, Alan would simply add it again, anyway. She resisted the urge to copy the document to her laptop, creating the appearance that it had originated with her, but she did print a copy for her file.

  As she worked, she pictured a smelly room somewhere with a group of Latin businessmen excited about the promise of a large revenue stream courtesy of the U.S. government, with someone’s voice over the telephone claiming to be her and making lofty promises. Or maybe it had just been Alan on all those calls, and the illusion of her helmsmanship was just part of the conspiracy. She couldn’t understand how the partnership could so easily accept her as the orchestrator. Perhaps the new Schedule B7 would tip the credibility scale in her direction. She dialed Paul’s extension, but Barbara told her he was out at a meeting, so she sent another email to Paul asking him to look at the new Neon Four file.

  After packing up her laptop, she made a half-hearted attempt to organize her client files to be redistributed and cleaned her office. At two o’clock p.m., she called Michael and he told her he was now free at 3:30. She used the remaining time to summarize ongoing client matters and after sending a final email to Paul, grabbed her briefcase and laptop and left the building. She took a quick look around as she slid into a taxi.

  “Okay, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’re dealing with,” said Michael, holding Evie’s copy of the latest Schedule B7 and pacing around his office. Evie had spent a half hour or so relaying the whole story and he’d listened intently.

  She said in completion, “It’s crystal clear now that I’m the scapegoat. It’s certainly unethical for an attorney to act as an agent and counsel on the same deal. And I can’t imagine on what legal basis an attorney could guarantee the award of a government contract.” She coughed, took a sip of the water Michael had poured for her and resumed her thought.

  “Ethically speaking, a commission payment this sizable could have been legitimate agency compensation, I guess, if the agent’s role was pairing the buyer and seller in the transaction,” she paused. “But for me to be acting as an agent to procure … No, not just procure, but guarantee that a government contract will be awarded to the company being sold—”

  “And presumably in advance of the government contract being awarded.”

  “Yes! So it’s not like a representation where an attorney would be declaring that a government project was already in the hopper … like when an attorney represents that a company has the right to a certain patent. In this case, the attorney is promising to obtain or use his or her influence to obtain something … and being paid to do it.”

  “A bribe. One would have to wonder about a company willing to purchase a business unit based on such a subterfuge. It’s not as if there’d be a clear remedy if the attorney failed to deliver,” Michael added as he walked around his desk and sat in a chair facing Evie.

  “Well, apparently at least some of the buyer’s management team was planning a mutiny.” She pulled out the clipping from the Brazilian newspaper and handed it to Michael.

  He glanced at it and said, “I’ve got a colleague here who should be able to translate this.” He buzzed his secretary, asked her to make some copies of the article and pass one to the proposed translator.

  “The Adelios will be a great source of information I would imagine,” he said, “assuming they share Ms. Adelio’s desire to stop the deal. Her death might make them more willing to talk than they might otherwise have been.”

  “Or not. Her murder may have been as much about silencing them as preventing me from receiving information. You’ll know better than I, Michael, but there have to be any number of laws involved here. It depends on whether or not there’s really a government project, whether this deal does follow the rules for sole source aw
ards, where the money’s really going. Who knows how Alan and his conspirators could be planning to divide up this commission?”

  “We’ll have to involve the FBI in order to get the discovery power we need. This guy, Alan, is on the take and perhaps our illustrious Senator is, too. At this point, we don’t have enough in tangible form to nail this sonofabitch, but it exists on the firm’s network … and possibly in the guy’s office or apartment. With the FBI’s subpoena power, we can go for electronic discovery. We’ll want metadata—it will give us shadow information on emails he sent such as the original author, title, creation date, hidden email recipients. But, we’ll have to hurry. Most email systems are purged every thirty days. Do you know how often your technical staff purges the email system?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “We’ll assume thirty. And maybe we’ll put in a few inquiries with the Senator, although we have to tread lightly there until we have really strong proof. Senator Arbeson IS already under investigation for bribery. It’s common knowledge among the guys I work out with. And who knows how vast his playing field is? On the criminal side, I can see possible RICO violations, conspiracy, maybe a Hobbs violation, fraud and, potentially, obstruction of justice, and possibly murder … if Alan can be tied to Miss Adelio. We don’t know for sure yet, but the co-conspirator list might include our beloved Senator.” Michael was standing and pacing again, tapping the rolled up sheet of paper against an open palm.

  “Wait! Michael, you’re going way to fast for me.” Evie turned around in the chair and gripped the back of it with both hands. “I just want to keep myself alive and out of jail. I don’t want to get that aggressive with Alan or the firm. And, anyway, Alan seems to play with the wording on these files almost daily. What’s to keep him from changing them again and making it look like I’m making things up?”

  “Evie, you’re going to have to change your thinking from a business lawyer to a litigator.”

  “With all due respect, counselor, I think the client dictates the course of action. I don’t know how I feel about suing, but I desperately want to solidify a defense and clear my name.”

  “You’ll have to sue to let them know you’re serious—sexual harassment and assault to get things going. By the way, this $1.5 million offer is bullshit. These cases often settle for five times that.”

  Evie frowned.

  Michael continued, “Yes, the evolution of these files makes it difficult to file a claim without tangible copies. That’s why we need the FBI’s subpoena power.”

  “What about my conversation with that Agent Weber? Did I say anything to incriminate myself?”

  “We definitely need to set up a meeting with the feds ASAP. I don’t think they really think you had anything to do with this Adelio woman’s murder, but we’ve got to get them working with us. We’ll just say you were under duress at your firm and not ready to talk when Weber approached you. I’m going to arrange something. We’ll see about getting you some protection, too, since we don’t know who’s sending this guy who’s tracking you and issuing warnings over the phone.”

  “Okay. I’m ready to talk to them, but I want to try to avoid taking the firm down. There are several people there I really care about, Jack Hanover being one of them.”

  “You’ve got to forget about the firm. They’re big boys and girls. They can take care of themselves. Think about yourself now.”

  “Okay. Okay. Michael, okay. But what about this ongoing runaway transaction? I assume it’s going to keep moving toward a closing, and now I have no control over what happens with it. I’m officially on leave.”

  “Well, to a certain extent that works to our advantage as long as you don’t toy with any of the documents. Alan’s now responsible for the deal and anything new that appears would be his responsibility.”

  “But they officially let me keep my laptop and retain access to my office so they could claim I was still tinkering with the documents, in theory. He put my electronic seal of approval on these changes that showed up today. He’s faked so much communication already.”

  “Well, at least some part of the record now reflects that you’re off the responsibility list as of today. You need to stay off the firm’s network from now on. Dates will be crucial. We’ll be able to compare the date that tape was made against the electronic record of when the changes were saved to this file. The date of your conversation is captured nicely for us on that recording waiting for you in Paul’s office. You need to follow through and get your copy of that tape. You’ll have to go to the office and pick it up. We don’t want them to know you’ve hired your own lawyer just yet. We’ll need that recording before we file suit.”

  “Okay.”

  She dialed her office and left a message for Helen to retrieve the tape copy for her and have it messengered to her apartment.

  “After we speak to the FBI,” Michael continued, “I want to arrange a meeting with your firm. I assume Paul will be the managing partner while Jack Hanover is recuperating. I want Alan there, too. He might lose control and say something really juicy we can use. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if you get any reaction from Paul in response to those emails you sent earlier.”

  Evie smiled. “Okay, but I’m not sure they’ll let Alan attend. Oh, something else. I think Joe’s spyware might turn up some good material. Can we use it?”

  “We can definitely use it in our negotiations. Don’t worry about admissibility in court right now.”

  “What about Joe’s PI? He’s doing some checking, too.”

  “Great. I think you should put me in direct contact with the guy.”

  “I don’t know him, but I’ll introduce you to Joe.”

  “Fine. Okay, Evie, I’m going to get started with a strategy. Clear your schedule for a meeting with the feds. We’ll offer a cooperative effort with concentric goals. If we have something to offer the FBI on those criminal matters, it will keep you on the right side of their investigation and could yield something for our civil action. If we can’t find an actual or constructive fraud angle for you, our strongest claim will be a combination of state law tort claims and claims brought under the discrimination and federal anti-retaliation laws. We can make a case that those reprimands and performance reports were a quid pro quo because you rebuked his advances and, recently, because you were looking into his dirty deal.”

  “Well, a couple of those partner complaints are partly true, just blown way out of proportion. The rest I know were manufactured by Alan.”

  “That will be our argument, and we’ll get some backup from discovery.”

  Someone knocked on Michael’s door and a dark complected woman entered, introducing herself as an international associate in Michael’s firm.

  “Here you go.” The woman handed a piece of paper to Michael.

  “Thanks, Maria,” he said and watched her leave.

  Michael shook the paper at Evie, smiled, looked down and read it aloud:

  Friday, September 3, 2004—A new turf battle has begun in the ongoing war among the principals of a once-admired PHC, Romez Nuevo. Owned jointly by the Adelio family and our own international frontiersman, Gustavo Oneda, the privately-held partnership, based in Argentina, boasted an impressive 52 consecutive quarters with expanding net revenue, until Oneda convinced the senior Adelio to grant him control in executing a series of business strategies designed to make Romez Nuevo a global player. In a surprising move, Oneda abandoned the jointly-conceived plan and has implemented an aggressive acquisition agenda, heavy on outlay and vague on integration detail, our sources tell us. The imperialistic plan is said by some to be merely an effort to achieve a superior number of operating units to Hidega Enterprises, helmed by Abel Caldas, a longtime nemesis of Oneda. “He is engaging in business terrorism,” said the senior Adelio of Oneda, who is considering legal options to regain control of the company his family founded decades ago. Our sources tell us that the Adelios are afraid their company will not be able to survive under the burde
n of the new organizational structure.

  “Well,” said Evie after Michael looked up, “the Adelio woman said to me that she would lose everything if the Gerais Chevas deal closed. I guess their family fortune is tied up in the company and this partner of theirs is gambling with it.”

  “And paying $25 million for the privilege, apparently.”

  “Interesting that she would come to me to stop the deal. She must’ve known there was something wrong with the way it was being negotiated, and she must’ve believed I was not in on it.”

  “Probably part of the reason she’s dead. The illusion of your culpability was in danger of being shattered.”

  “Would you approach the Adelios for information while they’re grieving over the loss of their family member?”

  “I’ll have to consider the options. When we get the feds involved, they’re likely to call in Interpol. They’ll have their own ways of gathering information.”

  Michael placed the paper on his desk and began walking around his office as he continued to speak.

  “Anyway, getting back to our short-term strategy, we’ll be seeking details on their investigation.”

  “And the leave of absence. It wasn’t my idea.”

  “Yes. If we can prove our case on sexual harassment, it was Alan who should’ve been put on leave. I’m glad we’ll have on tape that Paul suspects Alan and has questioned his judgment in the past. Retaliation could be a strong case, maybe even constructive retaliatory discharge. That incident in Chicago and those more recent incidents you told me about could support a hostile work environment claim. There’s also a basis for defamation claims here; we can toy with intentional infliction of emotional distress, appropriation of name and maybe even false light. I’ll have to do some more research, but depending on where the trail leads, there may be a whistleblower claim, forgery … and I don’t know what else.”