Perri O’Shaughnessy - Breach Of Promise

Mikhail Markov’s apparent signature at the bottom was followed by Lindy’s.

Lindy, who had her eyes on the document, too, scratched her arm, the only reaction she showed. Her silence at this moment was a worrisome omen.

“What’s this, Mr. Markov?” Nina said sharply.

“That is a separate property agreement between Lindy and me,” Mike answered, keeping his face impassive. But Riesner couldn’t resist. Victory flashed across his long face, and his false smile turned real before Nina’s eyes.

You son of a bitch, she thought, shaking her head, her mind boggled by this blow.

She began asking narrow questions about the exhibit, and Mike answered everything in an unhesitating, well-rehearsed voice.

He and Lindy had agreed that if they ever split up, they would keep each other’s property separate. The business was in his name and she understood that only he would continue to run it on that basis. They had sat down and talked about it the day they moved to California, thirteen years before, on October 12, and Lindy had typed their agreement up on their old Underwood. They had both signed it. Mike spoke in a flat voice, just spitting out the facts, keeping his eyes off Lindy.

“Let’s take the lunch break,” Nina said. “We’ll start again at one.”

“Oh, let’s,” Riesner said. He and Mike got up, two wealthy, successful men without a care in the world, and walked out, leaving the exhibits to fester on the table. Nina left, too, and went back into her office. Sandy laid out box lunches for both of them on Nina’s desk while Lindy visited the bathroom.

Nina hadn’t moved by the time Lindy returned. Lindy sat down heavily beside her. “Well?” Nina said.

“Well what?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She let her anger show.

“There’s nothing to tell. I do remember, during the time he’s talking about, we were in the red. Mike was feeling very insecure. Things were rocky between us. We were arguing a lot. You argue a lot when money is low, it’s natural.”

“So you signed an agreement that you have never once mentioned to me.”

“I never saw that piece of paper before in my life,” Lindy said, shaking her head. “It’s a forgery. Or a joke.”

“Look at it again.”

Lindy picked it up and studied it. “Looks like our old Underwood,” she said. “That’s strange, because I gave that typewriter to Goodwill years ago. Maybe he took it out and hid it somewhere. Or I suppose it’s possible he typed the agreement way back before I donated the machine.” She said the right words but her tone was wrong, all wrong.

“Lindy?” Nina said. “You see this paper? If it sticks, it means we’ll probably lose. Both of us.” She got up and leaned her arms on the table, moving in close to extend the full force of her enraged gaze onto Lindy. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’ve never seen it before.”

Nina shook her head, incredulous.

“Anyone can forge a signature,” Lindy was saying. She held the paper at arm’s length, squinting at it. “I’d even swear it was mine if I didn’t know better.”

“You need reading glasses, Lindy,” Nina said, leaving the room.

Riesner and Mike came in a little late and took their places, the cool air and clean scents of the outdoors trailing behind them.

The load of wet concrete Riesner had dumped on Nina was drying now, tightening, weighing heavier and heavier, suffocating in its implications.

She didn’t believe Lindy. If real, that piece of paper might be worth a hundred million dollars to Mike. If a fraud… but it wasn’t. Riesner would never take a risk like that. He had to know Nina would discover a fraud, and that the jury would reward Lindy accordingly.

Could Mike be lying to Riesner? No. Riesner would already have had the thing looked at by professionals, because he never trusted his clients.

Why would Lindy keep the knowledge of this devastating evidence from her own lawyer?

Stupid question. Denial, fear that Nina would bow out, hope that Mike had lost it…

What now? Walk barefoot over a bed of burning coals all afternoon. The joy of law.

“Let the record show we are gathered here again and all parties are present,” Nina said to the grinning, smirking red devils behind the polite faces of the men across the table from her. Madeleine’s fingers began working her reporting machine.

Nina walked the hot coals all afternoon without even giving her opponents the pleasure of an ouch. Mike claimed he kept the agreement in his fishing tackle box, where he also kept his Social Security card. He insisted that Lindy signed the agreement of her own free will after a calm discussion. He said his divorce back in the sixties had cost him everything he had, and that at the time the agreement was signed he had feared that Lindy, too, would leave him and take the little that he had struggled to build. He readily admitted that he had initiated the discussion, but he said Lindy had typed it up. He kept looking at Lindy, who seemed to have zoned out.

At about three o’clock he said, “Can we please go off the record?” Nina nodded, and the reporter shut down her machine, stretching her hands.

“Lindy,” Mike said. He held up his big hands. “Quit while you’re ahead.”

“Leave me alone.”

“I’ll give you a million dollars to walk away from this.”

“Keep quiet, Mike,” Riesner said, raising his voice. He took hold of Mike’s arm. “Let’s go in the other room and talk.” Mike shook himself free, his eyes never wavering from Lindy.

“You can’t win. You’re wasting our time. You’re ruining the business.”

“Me?” Lindy was outraged. “I’m not even involved.”

“The longer you force me to screw around with this shit,” Mike said, “the quicker things fall apart at work. Hector, Rachel, they’re running the show, but nobody’s making the big decisions because of that receiver your lawyer put there. We’re not meeting the orders.”

“So get over there and make things right.”

He continued as Lindy spoke, as if deaf to her. “MarDel is suing us. Understand? We’ll go broke if I don’t get back to work, and as long as the receiver’s coming in and sitting in my office, I’m not setting foot in there.”

“I can’t do anything about that.”

“But you can. Use your head,” Mike said. “Let’s make a deal.”

“Don’t say anything,” Nina said to Lindy. “Mr. Riesner, please instruct your client that he is not to address my client directly, or the deposition is over, and I’ll ask for sanctions.”

“Come on, Mike. Other room.” Riesner jerked his head.

“Lindy, take the deal,” Mike said.

“Now you listen,” Lindy said. “You can’t buy me off with half a percent of what the company’s worth. You want me out? Offer me fifty percent or keep your big mouth shut.”

“A million. That’s my offer,” Mike said. “My only offer. I’ll see you in hell before I’ll ask again.” He let out a laugh. “You thought I’d forgotten it, or lost it, didn’t you?” He allowed himself to be stood up and marched into Nina’s office. The door slammed, and they could hear the voices next door, but not the words. Madeleine said, “I think I’ll go chat with Sandy for a minute.” She closed the conference room door behind her.

Nina turned to Lindy. “He didn’t forget it. He didn’t lose it. What do you say to that?”

“I say he’s sinking mighty low. He won’t get away with this.”

“Lindy, that paper changes everything.”

Lindy said nothing.

“I can try for two million, if you want, but at this point, it’s my opinion you won’t do any better. You can put it away, buy a house. You’ll have interest income.”

“No.”