Corrupted (23 page)

“Bennie, this is Yvonne Walker. She wanted to speak with you about a new matter, but I didn't know you were coming in today.”

“I changed plans, sorry about that. Hello, Yvonne.” Bennie extended her hand, and they shook hands while Bear sniffed Yvonne happily, always glad to meet a new client.

“What a nice dog!” Yvonne smiled, patting Bear. “He must be well trained to be able to come to the office with you.”

“He knows the owner. How can I help you?”

“I was just telling your receptionist that I lost my job, last month. They fired me.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” Bennie couldn't help identifying with Yvonne, but didn't say so.

Marshall interjected, “This is quite a story, Bennie. Wait'll you hear.”

Yvonne smiled, warming to her topic. “I was a claims adjuster at Graham Hill Trust. You know the insurance company?”

“Yes, I do.” Bennie knew GHT as a Fortune 500 company based in New York, with offices in major cities around the country, including Philadelphia.

“I was terminated because of my age. So were my two best friends. We're in our sixties, the oldest people in the department, by far.” Yvonne pursed her lips, which were lightly lipsticked. “The VP called it a reorganization, but all he did was reorganize us out. They replaced us with younger people, and our performance reviews have been wonderful. We're not about to take that lying down. We're the Stitchin' Bitches.”

“What?” Bennie smiled.

“It's a quilting club. That's what we call ourselves. GHT insured many businesses in lower Manhattan and the home office got hit with a flood of claims after 9/11. Ever since then, they've been watching the bottom line. ‘Nobody gets bonuses for paying claims,' that's what they say.”

“Ugh, for 9/11? Have a heart. Haven't those people suffered enough?”

“Precisely.” Yvonne arched a perfect eyebrow. “So we want to sue them and we have proof. You see, the three of us were on a conference call last month, when two of the bosses called. They told us we have to step up denials.” Yvonne sniffed, indignant. “We finished the conference and we were about to hang up, but then we heard them talking about
us.
They thought we had hung up already, but we heard
everything
they said!”

“What'd they say?” Bennie asked, intrigued.

“The boss said to the VP, ‘I cannot
wait
to get rid of those
old bags
. It's like having three grannies on the phone!'”

Bennie gasped.

“That's not all!” Yvonne's dark eyes flared. “The VP said, ‘I think it's about time
we checked our bags
, don't you think? Let 'em go next week!' Then they started laughing!”

“My God.” Bennie could imagine how hurtful that would have been, but it was also home-run evidence of discriminatory animus. “Did anybody hear this, besides the three of you?”

“Yes. Raymond did, a young adjuster. I told him to write it down. I thought it would come in handy if they fired us. Pretty good for an
old bag
, huh?”

“Ha!” Bennie laughed, feeling her juices start flowing again. She knew employment law like the back of her hand. She was back in Philadelphia in her own law firm, legally and physically on
terra firma
. She needed to move on from Jason and Matthew.

“So, will you represent us?”

“Happily,” Bennie answered. “Let's get to work.”

 

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Bennie worked in the conference room, drafting a Complaint in Yvonne's age-discrimination case. She barely noticed that darkness had fallen and it was Christmas Eve, in a city twinkling with holiday lights. In fact, she didn't even realize she had missed dinner until Lou materialized in the doorway with an aromatic bag of takeout.

“Special delivery from Lou the Jew,” he said, entering the conference room and setting the bag down in front of her. “Thai red curry. Vegetarian.”

“How nice of you! How did you know I was here?” Bennie looked up from her laptop, and Bear stretched and walked over to Lou, wagging his tail.

“Marshall told me you came in and she knew you'd work through dinner.” Lou eased into a chair, sinking into his best camel overcoat, which he had on with a tie and jacket.

“You're dressed up.” Bennie pulled the bag of Thai food over, realizing she was hungry. Bear came around her side of the table, evidently coming to the same conclusion.

“Going out to dinner with one of my buddies and his wife. She likes fancy places, so I have to wear a noose.” Lou tugged at his tie. “What are you doing here? I heard you won. I thought you'd be celebrating with Sergeant Right.”

“Nah. It might be a few weeks before I see him again, which sucks.”

“What happened? I got a minute.” Lou cocked his head in an encouraging way.

“He got held up on some family stuff, and I got fired, so nobody feels like celebrating.” Bennie reached into the bag and took out the warm white container, small enough to be rice.

“Who would fire
you
? After you won?”

“Thanks, but let's not go into it.” Bennie dug her hand in the bag and pulled out the bigger container, which had to be the red curry.

“So you're not working on the juvenile case?” Lou gestured at the laptop, Xeroxed cases, notes, and empty coffee cups littering the conference table.

“No.” Bennie tried not to think about Jason. She had spent much of the day pressing him to the back of her mind, with varying degrees of success. “I took an age case that came in today. It's just what the doctor ordered. I get to sue a company that thinks it's okay to deny 9/11 claims
and
make middle-aged women feel like crap.”

“God's work.”

“Right.” Bennie popped the top of the curry, releasing an aromatic blend of Thai spices, then reached in the bag for a plastic fork. “I have a great strategy for this case. It's reminding me of what a legal genius I am, thus restoring my sagging ego.”

Lou smiled. “What's the strategy?”

“Our facts are so good that instead of doing the typical bare-bones complaint, I'm writing the most specific complaint in history, but I'm not going to file it.” Bennie took the Styrofoam plate out of the bag, then forked out some rice, making a carbohydrate nest.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I'm going to hand-deliver it to the bad guys on Monday morning. They'll be asleep at the switch, between Christmas and New Year's.” Bennie dumped red curry onto the rice, making a deliciously fragrant mess. “I'm gonna threaten them with filing it, because the statements they made are so embarrassing that it's going to be the worst press ever. Then I'm calling my reporter friends and putting them on standby for a big story, on what is otherwise the slowest news week ever. Stop me when you're amazed.”

“That was three sentences ago.”

“Thank you.” Bennie reached for the fork and scooped some red curry, which tasted awesomely tangy, into her mouth. “I hope I can get a nice juicy settlement in short order. I don't want my clients to have to wait for their money.”

“What about Christmas?”

“What about it?” Bennie gulped down another mouthful of curry. “On Thursday, I have the other plaintiffs coming in to finalize their affidavits.”

“You're going to war.”

“'Tis the season.”

Lou chuckled. “That's my girl. Back in the saddle.”

“More or less.” Bennie thought of Declan and his horses.

“What about Sergeant Right?”

“Crazy about the guy. The guy is
great
.” Bennie scooped more food into her mouth, happy to be talking about Declan with the one person in the world who knew about him. She wiggled her arm to show Lou her bracelet. “Look, he gave me this. Isn't it pretty?”

“Very pretty. I'm happy for you. You deserve to be happy. Everybody does, even lawyers.” Lou rose and walked to the door. “Merry Christmas, honey.”

“Have fun tonight.”

“Will do.” Lou left, and Bennie slipped Bear some rice, then got back to work. She kept at it until almost midnight, when she left the office. She grabbed a cab going home because it was too cold and too late to walk. She didn't really expect to hear from Declan, though she would've loved to, especially on Christmas Eve. She scrolled to the text function and typed in,
merry christmas eve!
She got home in no time, and went upstairs, changed into her favorite cottony nightshirt, and climbed into bed. She read a little, then turned out the light, trying not to think of Jason, frightened and alone in his cell at River Street, motherless on Christmas Eve.

For him, she prayed.

*   *   *

Bennie woke up to her phone ringing beside the bed. Groggy, she reached for it, and the lighted screen read Declan. She answered right away. “Babe?”

“Hey, sorry to wake you.”

“Not at all.” Bennie knew from his voice that something was terribly wrong. Her bedroom was still dark. The bedside clock glowed 4:48
A.M.
“What's the matter?”

“Doreen had a car accident. She's in stable condition but she almost died. I'm at the hospital.”

“My God.” Bennie came instantly awake, sitting up.

“She hit a tree. She had major head trauma. She's been in intensive care all night. She's stable now.”

“Was she alone in the car? Where are the kids?”

“The boys were with me. There's so much to tell, I don't know where to start. The headline is, we went to court and I testified. She threw a fit in court. I got temporary custody. The judge ordered the agreement that I wanted.”

Bennie's thoughts raced ahead, though she felt disoriented in the darkness. Declan's anguished voice seemed disembodied, like she was in the middle of a bad dream.

“I got home, then I got a call. I called the neighbor to stay with the boys. I doubt it was really an accident. I think she tried to kill herself.”

“No!” Bennie gasped.

“It's obvious, to me.” Declan's voice grew hoarse. “She drove into a tree. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt. She always wears a seatbelt. I think she wanted to die.”

“Why?” Bennie blurted out, but she could guess.

“I think she couldn't take losing the boys. Her secret is out. It was just too much for her. She had to face her illness and get inpatient help. Our expert said so. Now she'll get it, that's the only silver lining.”

“But oh, I'm so sorry for her, and you, and the boys. Richie, too. Does he know?” Bennie tried to wrap her mind around what happened.

“Not yet. They say she'll recover her faculties but it's going to be a long process. It'll take three months for her to even get out of the hospital, then she'll be in rehab. It's horrible.” Declan sighed. “I feel horrible.”

“You had no choice.”

“It's still no-win. I don't know how I didn't see it before. I shouldn't have stayed away. I would've known.”

“Not necessarily, you wouldn't have.”

“It's done now. What's done is done.” Declan hesitated. “But Bennie?”

“Yes?”

“I don't know when I can see you again.”

“I know. You told me.”

“No, that was before. What happened tonight changes everything. Now I can't do the custody plan. There's not going to be any transition back to her for a year, if that.”

“You don't know that yet.” Bennie swallowed hard.

“Yes I do. I talked to her doctors. I talked to the shrink. This is bigger than I thought. It will take longer than I thought. It's an emergency. I don't want you to wait around—”

“I
want
to wait around,” Bennie rushed to say, afraid of where he was going. “I don't mind waiting around. Besides, I have so many things to do, I'm doing them.”

“Listen.” Declan's voice softened. “I was happier with you than I have ever been in my life. You know that, right?”

Bennie began to get an ominous feeling. “Declan, wait—”

“No, please listen to me. It's not our time. It's just not. We have to end it. Our timing is wrong.”

“You want to break up?” Bennie asked, stricken.

“Yes,” Declan answered, his tone grave. “We have to. Face it. We're snakebit.”

“Snakebit?” Bennie felt her tears come to her eyes. “What does that even mean—”

“It means that as much as I want to be with you, I can't. It won't work now. There's too much to deal with here. I can't take care of things here and have a relationship.”

“Sure you can, we both can.” Bennie tried to recover, to convince him. “When we get the time, we can get together, we can wait—”

“No, be realistic. I can't come to Philly because I can't leave the boys alone. You can't come here because I can't have you over. It's just too much for them.” Declan emitted a sigh. “I haven't even told them Doreen is in the hospital. They'll freak. It's too much pressure on us. This isn't what you bargained for.”

“I can change the bargain, I can be flexible. You're worth being flexible for.”

“No, please. It's not fair to you. It's not fair to us. It's not fair to the twins.” Declan's tone turned final. “You like that I'm ‘all in.' Well, I'm ‘all in' with these boys. If I don't give them a hundred percent now, they'll turn out like Richie. I can't let that happen. Not on my watch. I couldn't live with myself.”

“Declan, we don't have to decide this now. It's too fresh. It just happened with Doreen. You haven't had time to process it.”

“Yes, I have. I know how I feel. I know what I need to do, even if it's not what I want. These boys were brought into this world and they deserve more. Let me go, Bennie. Let us go. Try to understand.”