FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) (8 page)

“I’m in Rob Franklin’s
office at the moment. He wants to know if you’d be willing to sit down with us,
this afternoon if you can get a sitter, and talk about some possible responses
to this?”

“Sitter’s not a
problem. Alicia’s on a play date. I’ll call Joyce and ask her to keep her at
her house until I can pick her up later. What time does Rob want to meet?”

“You don’t have to be
involved in this, Audrey,” Kate pointed out. “I don’t want this to set back
your recovery process.”

“Kate, why the hell
wouldn’t I be involved?
My
crazy parents are suing
my
therapist
over what is supposedly going on in
my
head. Sounds like I’m pretty damn
involved already!”

Kate decided to let it
go for now, until she heard what Rob had in mind. “Can you come at four?”

“No problem.”

“In the meantime,
Audrey, is it okay if I talk to Rob about your therapy, as it relates to this
case? I know you signed a waiver, but that was under different circumstances.”

“Of course it’s okay,
Kate. I like Rob, and you said he’s a good friend of yours. That’s good enough
for me. Tell him whatever he needs to know.”

Rob had been watching
Kate while she was on the phone. When she disconnected, he asked, “How are you
doing?”

Kate shook her head.
“Got a whole bunch of feelings jumbled together. Can’t begin to sort them out
yet, but I can tell you they’re all bad.”

Rob nodded
sympathetically, then punched a button on his desk phone. “Fran, could you do
me a favor and get Kate and me sandwiches from the deli? What do you want?” he
asked Kate.

She shrugged. She
didn’t feel the least bit hungry. “Make it two ham and cheese on rye, mustard,
extra pickles,” he told his admin assistant.

“Hate to do this to you
when you haven’t had a chance to sort out those feelings, but I need to ask you
some questions before we meet with Audrey this afternoon.”

Kate just nodded.

“Okay, when and how did
Audrey’s memories surface?”

Kate told him about the
young woman’s dreams and flashbacks.

“Did you, at any time,
tell her the dreams were memories of something that might have really
happened?” Rob asked.

“No. But the whole
pattern of her symptoms, including the dreams, pointed toward sexual abuse.”

Rob frowned. “Did you
tell her that the flashbacks were valid memories?”

“Yes and no. Look I
have a standard response to this kind of situation. I tell the client that the
essence of the memory is probably valid, because the human mind is just not
programmed to make up bad stuff out of nothing. The exact opposite. We have all
these defense mechanisms to ward off knowledge of bad stuff that really did
happen.

“But I also point out
that human memory is very fallible and the details may not be totally accurate.
That’s another reason why I discourage clients from pursuing lawsuits, because
I really can’t, in good conscience, get up in a court of law and say that a
particular memory is accurate.”

Rob made no comment. He
was taking notes on a pad. “What techniques did you use to help her enhance her
memory of what happened?”

“None. Usually once the
memories start bubbling up, they get clearer over time on their own, which was
happening with Audrey, slowly. But she just wasn’t getting any more information
about who the abuser was, other than he was built like her father and uncle.”

“No hypnosis, no
relaxation techniques?”

“Well, yes, I taught
her how to relax herself to help her cope with anxiety, but I didn’t use
relaxation or hypnosis to do any memory recovery work. I did use guided imagery
recently to facilitate her healing, but we weren’t working directly on a
specific memory.”

Rob grimaced and made
another note on his pad. “So you’re telling me that you in no way, shape, or
form tried to help her clarify her memories?” he asked brusquely, unaware that
he had slipped into court mode. Still looking down at his pad, he missed the
flash of anger in Kate’s eyes.

She took a calming
breath before replying. “I did not use any specific techniques to clarify her
memories, but of course we talked about them. Often, while the client is
working on a memory in a session, it comes back full force, with all the little
details. Because that’s where it’s
safe
to remember, in the therapist’s
office.”

“Is that what happened
with Audrey?” he asked, looking up.

“Yes, several times
snippets of images evolved into a full-blown memory during a session.”

Rob frowned as he
jotted another note. “We’re going to have to work on how to avoid saying all
that in court, or at least how to say it in a less damaging way. Before the
memories became more full-blown, did you ever suggest to Audrey that she might
have been sexually abused as a child?”

“Actually yes, I told
her that her symptoms tended to point in that direction and asked if she
remembered being abused.”

“Crap, Kate! You can’t
be saying that to clients these days.” Rob threw his pen down on the desk.

“Damn it, Rob, I can’t
do my job otherwise,” Kate snapped back. “If a client has certain symptoms that
indicate they’re depressed, I have to ask them about suicide, and likewise,
when the client’s symptoms indicate they might have been abused, I have to ask
them about that. Otherwise it’s like trying to do therapy with my eyes closed
and my mouth sewn shut!”

Fran picked that moment
to open the door, the bag of food in her hand. When she saw their faces, she
froze. “Sorry. I should’ve knocked first.”

“No, Fran, it’s okay.”
Rob waved her into the room, then thanked her for getting their sandwiches. He
busied himself with getting them out of the bag until Fran had closed the door
behind her.

“I’m sorry, Kate, I
shouldn’t have snapped at you.” He handed her a sandwich. “But in the current
climate, you’ve got to be careful what you say to clients.”

“I am careful, but in
Audrey’s case, I trusted her not to turn around at some later date and accuse
me of planting memories. It never dawned on me that her parents might do that.”

Rob nodded that he
understood, then took a bite of his sandwich.

Kate ignored hers,
still in its wrapper in front of her. “Besides, isn’t all that semi-irrelevant.
I never used any so-called suspicious techniques, such as hypnosis. And by the
way, even hypnotically-retrieved memories are as reliable as those we recall
normally, if the hypnotherapist does it right... I’d prefer to take the tactic
that I discouraged Audrey from confronting her parents because human memory is
not infallible.”

“Hey,” Rob said, a
joking note in his voice, “You don’t have to tell me how to do my job. Figuring
out the best tactics for this is my problem.” He meant to reassure her, let her
know that he had her back.

But that’s not how she
took it. One eyebrow arched in the air, she said, “Seems you were just telling
me
how to do
my
job.”

“Oh, yeah, I was,
wasn’t I?” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I just meant that you
don’t need to worry about how to present all this in court. That’s my
headache.”

More to buy time than
out of any desire for food, Kate unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite. It
tasted like cardboard. Without looking at him, she said, “Maybe I should get a
different lawyer for this.”

Rob stopped in mid-bite
to stare at her. “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

“Because I don’t want
this to damage our friendship.”

“What do you mean,
Kate?”

Kate looked up at him.
“Rob I need my
friend
to believe me when I say that, in no way, shape,
or form, have I ever planted memories in anyone’s head!”

After a beat, Rob said,
“I believe you, Kate.”

Kate frowned at the
brief hesitation, then said, “I’d better go try to catch up with Sally.” She
shook her head at the thought of that discussion. “What a nightmare!”

The stifled sob in her
voice got Rob’s full attention. “Hey, I know you’re the shrink here, but can I
offer some advice?” When she just stared morosely at her mostly untouched
sandwich, he continued, “When something bad like this is going on in my life, I
tell myself, ‘In a few months, this will just be a bad memory.’”

Kate managed a small
smile as she stood up. “That’s actually very good advice. Can I steal that and
use it with clients?”

“Be my guest.”

Kate leaned over to
give him a peck on the cheek as she walked past his chair. He stood up and drew
her into a hug instead. “I always believe you, Kate,” he said. “We’ll handle
this, and in a few months it’ll just be a bad memory.”

K
ate managed to catch
up with Sally mid-afternoon when both of them were between clients. She quickly
filled her boss in on what was happening. Considering how passionately
protective Sally tended to be toward the center and its clients, Kate was
surprised by her stoic response.

“With the work we do
here, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner... I wonder now if this is
related to the notes we’ve been getting. These people might have contacted the
false memory group for information and support, and now some fanatic has us in
their cross hairs.”

Kate told her about the
strategy session that afternoon with Rob. “Our insurance carrier will provide a
lawyer to handle this,” Sally said. “You don’t have to pay for one, Kate.”

“Rob’s worried that the
insurance lawyers are only going to look out for their client, not us. And he’d
be highly offended if I ever suggested that he should charge me or the center
for his services.”

“Unfortunately he’s
probably right about the insurance lawyers,” Sally said with a grimace. “Tell
him I’m very grateful for his assistance.”

At four, Rob was
offering chairs to Kate and Audrey in the sitting area at one end of his
office. After they were settled, he said, “So I have a couple of thoughts about
this. First, there’s the issue of whether or not your parents even have the
right to sue your therapist. Normally they wouldn’t since they have no contract
or relationship with Kate. But the Ramona case in California–that’s the one we
were discussing the other day at lunch, Kate. I looked it up. That case has
been used successfully as an argument for allowing such suits. But there were
some aspects of that case that don’t apply here. So I’ll be asking for a
hearing before the judge to argue that the case shouldn’t even be heard.”

“Is that likely to
work?” Audrey asked.

“Depends on the luck of
the draw. What judge we get. How smart he is, what attitude he has toward
sexual abuse.”

Audrey and Kate both
nodded, but Kate knew the odds were poor that this tactic would work.

“The amount of the
lawsuit is quite low. Ridiculously so, actually,” Rob continued. “That says to
me that maybe their lawyer doesn’t have a lot of confidence in their case, and
he’s hoping the low figure will seduce the insurance company into settling out
of court.

“And indeed, without
you on their side, Audrey, they have a very weak case. How can they claim that
certain things supposedly happened in your therapy sessions when you’re saying
that no such thing did happen. I’d say they have about a fifty-fifty chance of
winning if we went to court. Those are not great odds from where their lawyer
is sitting. By the way, is this guy your uncle?”

“Yeah, he’s creepy
Uncle Phil.”

Rob gave her an
encouraging smile. “Well, I may just have something up my sleeve that will
not
make Uncle Phil’s day, but more on that in a minute. It has also occurred to me
that your parents may just be trying to scare Kate into dumping you as a
client.”

Audrey looked at Kate
in horror. “You wouldn’t do that, would you, Kate?”

“Of course not. But
that makes sense. They probably figure that if you don’t have my support, then
you’ll cave under their pressure and come back into the fold.”

Kate looked at Rob.
“One of the dynamics of abusers is that they can’t believe their victims
actually have the gumption to stand up to them. They assume that, if
they’ve
lost control of the victim, it must be because someone else has taken over that
control, that a spouse or a friend, or the therapist, is now pulling their
victim’s strings.”

“That pretty much fits
my father to a tee,” Audrey said, disgust in her voice. “I’ve been yellin’ back
at him since I was fourteen, but he always blamed my rebellion on other things.
My friends, usually... He absolutely refuses to acknowledge that I might have a
mind of my own.”

“This could also be
about your mother not wanting to be cut off from seeing Alicia,” Kate pointed
out.

“And,” Rob said, “if
they can cast doubt on the validity of your abuse memories in a court of law,
which would happen if they won this suit, they could sue for grandparent
visitation rights, and might just win.”

Kate reached out and
took Audrey’s hand. The young woman had gone quite pale. “Then if
we
only have a fifty-fifty chance of winning, maybe we shouldn’t let this get to
court,” Kate said to Rob. “We can’t let them get anywhere near Alicia,
especially unsupervised.”

“Actually agreeing to
an out-of-court settlement could be construed as an admission that you did
plant the memories, and they aren’t for real.”

“Then we’ve got to
fight them!” Audrey said.

“Good, I’m glad you
feel that way,” Rob said. “Because here’s what I propose we do. Sometimes the
best defense is a good offense. We counter-sue, and for a lot more than a
couple hundred grand. Audrey, you sue them for damages from childhood abuse and
Kate, you sue them for defamation of character. For a million or so each.

“That might just scare
them into offering to withdraw their suit if we withdraw ours.” Rob sat back in
his chair. “Are you willing to do that, Audrey?”

Audrey had brightened
considerably. “Hell, yes! I was the one who wanted to sue them in the first
place, remember? But I thought you two were against it.”

“Well that was then and
this is now. I was against it because we would’ve had a weak case, and Kate was
against it because of what you would have to go through in court, and she’s
right to be worried about that. It’s going to get very rough. But since your
parents are forcing the issue, then we’ve got nothing to lose.

“And there’s a subtle
but important difference here,” Rob continued. “If you just sued them out of
the blue, then they could play the underdog. The poor put-upon parents who were
just doing their best and don’t understand why you’re attacking them. But now
they’re the attackers and we’re the ones saying, hey, why are you doing this to
us? Now we’re just standing up for ourselves.”

“Cool! I like it, Rob,
I like your plan a lot,” Audrey said.

Meanwhile Kate had been
mulling over the pros and cons in her head. There was a risk that they would be
throwing fuel on the fire. Abusers didn’t like to be challenged. Indeed, that
was probably why Audrey’s father was suing in the first place, because Audrey
had confronted him.

But then again, what
choice did they have? Let themselves be intimidated into going along with an
out-of-court settlement that might end up jeopardizing Alicia’s safety if it
was used as ammunition in a grandparents’ visitation suit?

Audrey and Rob had
grown quiet, waiting for her response.

A slow smile started to
spread across Kate’s face. “Yeah, I like the plan too. It will send a message
to other abusers who think they can drag their grown children and their
therapists through the courts with false memory charges, with no risk of
consequences to themselves. Another thing about abusers is they don’t play by
the rules, but they assume everyone else will. So, yes, it’s time to stop
playing nice and go after them with everything we’ve got.”

Great,” Rob said. “Can
you two come up with a justifiable figure for how much Audrey has already
spent, and is likely to spend in the future, on therapy? Then we will add a
nice chunk of change for emotional pain and suffering, and then some more for
punitive damages. Kate, I’m thinking an even million for your suit. How does
that sound to you?”

Kate nodded and Rob
stood up. “I’ll start writing up the papers, and let you know when I have them
ready for you two to look at and sign. I’d really like to get them filed by
Friday. I want to hit back fast and hard.”

Audrey shook hands with
Rob and then she and Kate exchanged a hug. After the young woman had left the
office, Kate turned to give her friend a hug.

“It’s a great plan,
Rob. I think all those emotions I was having earlier were mostly about feeling
like a helpless victim myself. But I feel a whole lot better now. Thank you,
dear heart!”

~~~~~~~~

R
ob actually managed to
get the counter suits filed by Thursday afternoon. He called Kate and Audrey
Friday to report that the judge assigned to the case was a decent one, but not
very savvy about abuse issues. He was going to allow the Wells’ suit to be
heard.

Kate decided to put the
whole mess out of her mind for now. The gears of the judicial system moved
slowly and it would be awhile before they would have to deal with depositions
and such. In the meantime, she wasn’t going to let it get in the way of her
enjoyment of the Thanksgiving holiday with her family.

Not all the O’Donnell
clan would be there. Her sister and her family in California and her brother
Jack in Chicago weren’t able to come. But everyone had agreed they would all
fly to California for Christmas at her sister’s house.

For Thanksgiving, it
would just be her parents and her oldest brother, Michael, and his family, who
lived in Silver Spring near Washington, DC. They would be joined for
Thanksgiving Day itself by Mac and Rose. It would be quite crowded around
Kate’s big oak table.

She and Maria spent
Saturday cleaning the house from top to bottom. On Sunday, Skip came over for
lunch. After they had eaten the soup Maria had left for them, Skip escorted
Kate and Edie to the grocery store. Kate had a long list, dictated by her
mother over the phone, of supplies needed to make turkey and all the trimmings.

Once they had carried
the groceries into the house, Skip drawled, “You sure do know how to show a man
a good time, ma’am.”

At Kate’s chagrined
expression, he said, “I’m joking. I loved every minute of today. But I’m afraid
I’ve gotta go. Some surveillance work. Insurance fraud case.”

Her face clouded up at
the word
insurance
.

“What’s the matter,
darlin’?”

Kate sighed. “I didn’t
tell you because I’ve been trying not to think about it. I got served with a
malpractice suit this week.”

“Shit!” he said, then
glanced at Edie who was playing on the kitchen floor nearby. “Oops, sorry.
Guess I’d better learn to watch my language in front of the little one.”

“Yeah, she’s starting
to talk. Don’t want that to be one of her first words.”

“So who’s suing you?”
Skip asked, sitting down at the table.

She sat down across
from him. “Parents of one of my clients. They’re accusing me of planting false
memories in their daughter’s head.”

“Could this be related
to the notes?”

“I don’t think so. Not
directly at least,” Kate said. She couldn’t see the Wells sending the notes,
not when they’d chosen the lawsuit path and no doubt self-righteously believed
they would win. “If it came out that they were sending harassing notes, that
would seriously undermine their case. But Sally was speculating that they may
have contacted the local false memory group for information and that might have
drawn their attention to us.”

Skip nodded. “Guess you
can’t tell me their names, can you?”

Kate thought for a
moment. “My client’s married, has a different last name. And the lawsuit is
public record. No reason why I can’t tell you the parents’ name. It’s Wells.”

“I’ll pass that on to
Rose. See if they’re in that group.”

After Skip left, Kate
called her sister-in-law to suggest that she and Michael and the kids stay
overnight at her house on Thanksgiving and they do a girls’ day out the next
day to catch the Black Friday sales. She had never been particularly close to
her oldest brother and his wife, but they had been supportive in the aftermath
of Eddie’s death and she was now trying to cultivate that relationship a bit
more.

Phyllis agreed with her
that showing up at the stores at the crack of dawn was not what they wanted to
do. “I like to shop that day because it starts to get me in the mood for
Christmas. Being part of a rampaging herd of bargain-crazed shoppers doesn’t
really do that for me.” So the four women–Kate, Phyllis, Kate’s mother and
Phyllis’s daughter, Amy–would head over to Towson Town Center around ten that
morning. The merchandise would already be somewhat picked over, but the crowds
would probably be a bit less horrendous and they would have more fun.

“And the boys can do
some father-son-grandson bonding in front of the TV watching football at your
house,” Phyllis said, with an indulgent chuckle.

~~~~~~~~

O
n Monday morning, Kate
was feeding Edie her breakfast when the phone rang. She grabbed the portable
and wedged it between ear and shoulder as she wiped the baby’s face and hands.
For Edie, eating was a contact sport.

Kate’s stomach knotted
when she heard Sally’s voice. “Got another one. Slid under the outer door over
the weekend. Just your first name on the envelope. May I open it?”

“Of course,” Kate
managed to get out past the lump in her throat. She heard paper rustling.
“What’s it say?” she asked.

“‘All you do is stir up
trouble. You need to find another line of work, before it’s too late.’ In all
caps.”

Once again Sally was
stoic. She was even more convinced that the notes were coming from some fanatic
in the false memory movement, and Kate was inclined to agree with her.

Kate decided she wasn’t
going to let this latest note get to her. Rose was investigating. She had
tracked down the contact person for the local group, and had even attended a
meeting, posing as the sister of someone who had accused their father of sexual
abuse. But so far Rose hadn’t been able to find anything linking this group or
the people involved in it with the anonymous notes.

But until she does,
Edie’s safe, with Skip at the house while I’m at work
, Kate reassured
herself. It never occurred to her that someone besides Edie might be in
jeopardy.