Brian Freemantle - The Namedropper

‘You’re damned right I should know!’ erupted the lawyer, his face colouring. ‘We told you, Bob and I, that you shouldn’t be together without one of us being there as well. Why the fuck…?’

‘It did seem childish that we couldn’t meet, like two normal people,’ said Jordan, defensively. ‘We had dinner, talked…’

‘Stop right there, right now!’ ordered Beckwith, his face redder with anger, holding up a hand. ‘Did you sleep with her?’

‘No, I didn’t sleep with her!’

‘You sure?’

‘What the fuck do you mean, am I sure! Of course I’m sure! How could I not be sure?’

‘I want it all… what you ate, what you drank, who you saw or who might have seen you, every single thing you said and talked about to each other… every fucking thing you did!’

‘Let’s work your questioning backwards,’ insisted Jordan, refusing the returning intimidation. ‘We didn’t fuck. The conversation came down to reminiscences, of France, apart from Alyce telling me that during their marriage Appleton psychologically controlled her. We would have been seen, by the hotel CCTV, always in public places. We had one drink, in the bar – she drank water, I had one martini – we ate soft shelled crabs and steak, with a vintage Chateau Margaux. I got the concierge to call her a cab and personally put her into it, all of which should be shown on the CCTV and confirmed by the hotel staff. We weren’t alone or out of sight for a minute and we can prove it. OK?’

‘No, not OK,’ rejected Beckwith, stridently. ‘You were told, both of you, not to get together in any way or circumstance that could be construed that your relationship was ongoing. Whether you considered that advice childish or stupid doesn’t come into any calculation or thinking. It doesn’t matter a damn what you think or whether or not you agree with that advice. That’s what you’re paying a whole bunch of money for me to provide and why you’re stupid, if you choose to ignore it. We know now – and the court is going to know – that Alyce has lied. And the court is also going to know – because I’ve got to tell them to avoid being made to look a jerk if I don’t tell them and there’s even more photos of you and Alyce in a hugger-mugger hotel setting – that you’re still seeing each other. Which totally fucks my plan of insisting next week that there is no continuing relationship, that you’re not trying to alienate Alyce’s affections and that you’re not engaging in every definition of criminal conversation, according to the relevant North Carolina statute…’ The man paused, breathless.

Recovering, he said, ‘I don’t think I’ve missed any of the important points of how well you’ve done blowing your defence to a multi-million-dollar damages claim right out of the water, do you, Harv? You think I’ve overlooked something, why don’t you tell me?’

‘It’s Harvey. My name is Harvey, not Harv.’

‘At this precise moment you name is cunt-of-the-month. Alyce Appleton has a string through your nose ring and you could end up a very poor man.’

‘Leanne Jefferies’ attorney is from the same firm representing Appleton,’ argued Jordan, weakly. ‘Doesn’t that indicate they’re still together?’

Beckwith sat staring across the table at Jordan, unspeaking, until finally Jordan said, exasperated, ‘What?’

‘Let me ask you what. What the fuck has that got to do with anything? It’s nothing whatsoever to do with you, with us, with our case. If Appleton is still fucking Leanne’s brains out that’s for Bob to prove and get Leanne to pay for, for her criminal conversations. I’m trying to get you off the hook and you’ve stuffed it right up your own ass. You know what I’d like to do right now? I’d like to withdraw from this case and from representing you. I think you’ve put me into a no-win situation and I’m a win person, not the other way round.’

‘So why don’t you withdraw?’

‘Because if I did I’d render you unrepresentable by any other attorney, which would leave you swinging in the wind, and I’ve got more integrity than that. I’ll go on doing my absolute and very best and you’ll pay through the nose for every second that I’m doing it. Until today trying to help you was damage minimization. Now it’s damage limitation, with whatever minimization I can work in as a bonus.’

‘I suppose I should thank you.’

‘I’ve had more than a gutful of what you suppose and I couldn’t give a bag of rotting shit for your gratitude. I’ll have to tell Bob about your tryst, obviously. Now we’ll have to go down to Raleigh tomorrow, give ourselves as much time as possible to see what he’s going to do and re-assemble my submission…’ The lawyer hesitated, halted by an afterthought. ‘You got any more hand-holding assignations planned with Alyce, the forgetful virgin?’

‘No. And we didn’t hold hands. Or anything else.’

‘Good,’ said Beckwith. ‘And don’t, not ever again.’

There was a palpable tension between the three of them in Reid’s office annex on that deserted Saturday. Dividing them, on Reid’s desk, were the finally supplied medical reports on Alfred Appleton and Leanne Jefferies, as well as covering letters and copies of the woman’s rebuttals to Alyce’s criminal conversation damages claim. There were, also for the first time, photographs of Appleton’s supposedly brief mistress. Jordan was not surprised that, although older by six years, Leanne closely resembled Alyce in appearance and physique, confirming the adage that men always chose lovers that reminded them of their wives.

Reid gestured towards the documentation and said, ‘So there it all is, as far as my cases are concerned. A heap of shit.’

‘Not helped by continuing cosy hotel meetings between you and Alyce,’ came in Beckwith, whose criticism of Jordan’s Carlyle dinner with Alyce had concluded the review meeting in advance of the forthcoming court hearings. They’d flown down on the first available flight and this time there hadn’t been any tourist detours, just a fifteen-minute delay booking into the Hilton hotel. Reid had alerted them that Appleton intended to stay at the Sheraton during the hearing.

‘Let’s right now get some of that unnecessary shit out of the way to concentrate on what’s really important,’ demanded Jordan. ‘I don’t see and won’t concede that Alyce and I having had an innocent dinner, before or after which nothing occurred to resume our affair, could be any great big deal. Neither do I see the necessity to volunteer it to the court. I volunteered it to you so you wouldn’t be caught out. Neither of you will be under oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth if this goes the whole way. I will be. Alyce will be. If it gets brought out, it gets brought out. Let’s deal with it then. I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t meet her as I did and I still don’t. And I don’t – and won’t – believe either of you haven’t sat on your hands in the past about something you knew but didn’t want to come out in court and therefore didn’t say anything about. You both still with me?’

‘And wish I wasn’t,’ said Reid.

‘I’m not your immediate problem,’ insisted Jordan, waving his hand towards the separating desk and what was on it. ‘Those medical reports are your immediate problem. What does Alyce say about them?’

Both lawyers had fixed expressions on their faces, but only Beckwith was visibly flushed.

‘What she’s said from the beginning,’ replied the heavily breathing Reid. ‘That she’s only had sexual relationships with her husband and with you. Which has-’

‘OK,’ stopped Jordan. ‘So what do your enquiry people say? I know you’re employing them, because you’ve told me. What you haven’t told me is anything that they’ve so far discovered to help, in any way whatsoever. Appleton’s people failed to find any proof of Alyce’s cheating, until France. At the moment your opposition snoops are doing more for you than your own people are doing for you, don’t you agree?’