Homeless

The manager appeared and tried to bluff his way out. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Why are you putting off new clients for six months before seeing them when they're in distress?" One of the police officers asked.

"We're busy, the same as today."

"No, we're not," screamed the Social Worker. "I warned you your stupidity was going to get you into trouble. They've got me making two appointments a day when I used to do six to eight. All the Social Workers here have been cut back. The office is blowing off people who are in serious distress and not getting them the money they need. Yet our budgets haven't dropped a penny while our real caseload is only twenty percent of what it used to be. He and his criminal buddies are skimming the money.

"The office is paying millions of dollars now in consulting fees to companies I've never heard of and can't find any record of, while our needy clients are getting nothing. Come on down to my office. I've got a file I've been assembling showing what's been going on. They've also been threatening everyone here if anyone talks."

"Do you know who is behind it?" Another officer asked.

"Yes, I've seen them here meeting with him. I've also seen their pictures in the newspaper. Their name is Rocco."

I had to hand it to the lady. Her file was complete and incredibly detailed. It made the job of searching the place a whole lot easier once they chased the rest of the employees out. She stayed and pointed out where things were filed, cutting hours off the search.

It also made Julie's case against the Social Services Department rock solid. I had intended on serving our lawsuit at the local office, but with the manager headed for jail and the place locked down, it wasn't possible. Instead, I faxed it to the State's Attorney General. It would be their lawyers I'd be dealing with anyway.

I got a call a couple of hours later from a pleased police chief. They had the Rocco Brothers and the three creeps that worked for them in custody. But he was concerned because some slick lawyer had shown up and was making an emergency application for bail. Did I have anything to help?

Not unsurprisingly, it turned out seventy-plus affidavits from the medical people, affidavits outlining threats of violence, written confessions, and video evidence firmly convinced the judge that bail would be a mistake. He basically handed them a 'when hell freezes over' ruling. Plus, I made an up-and-coming prosecutor a friend for life. The boys were stuck in jail.

I gave Beth one hell of a grateful hug. Truthfully, today never would have worked without her administrative talents. We'd been so busy at the hospital, we hadn't even visited Dan. That was our first order of business. He was showing significant improvement. The doctor was talking about kicking him out in the next forty-eight hours.

Having spent a suitable amount of time baiting Dan over the hijinks Beth and I were going indulge in while he was sick, I left Beth there to have some private time.

Showering and changing when I got home, I spent a little time reading through the pleadings a junior associate had drawn up against Beth's former employers. He'd done an excellent job, and after making a couple of minor corrections, sent it to my printer. With that done, I was at loose ends, so I called Julie.

"What are you two doing?"

"After all the excitement today, I figured we'd have a quiet evening in."

"Oh!" Ummm, okay, that was fair. She did need her own time.

She giggled, catching the disappointment in my voice. "Of course, you're welcome to come and join us. I haven't eaten yet."

My heart sang! "I'd like that!"

"But we really do need to have a talk."

Splat! My heart felt the pain as it smashed into the ground at a hundred miles an hour. Like any male, I knew any version of the age-old 'honey we need to talk' line was baaaadddd! Husbands had been known to lock themselves into their workshops or head for the nearest bar and get drunk. This was sooo not good!

Morosely, I grabbed my keys and headed for my doom!

Julie seemed happy to see me. She'd ordered room service, and there was a nicely set table, including candles.

Emma was in her cradle beside the table. When she heard my voice, her eyes started wandering in my direction, and she fussed a little. When I spoke again, she settled down.

"The dinner looks very nice," I told Julie, fearing I was starring in the domestic version of The Last Supper!

She handed me a glass of my favourite scotch on two cubes of ice. Exactly how I like it.

"Beth, told me," she acknowledged my questioning look.

Ohhh, this was really bad. A need to talk, a nice meal, my favourite drink, there was an avalanche of disappointment coming my way. I just knew it.

She turned the lights down low till things were romantic. The meal was delicious, and we talked for quite some time. I couldn't stop myself from staring into those hypnotic emerald eyes.

"You seem a little tense tonight," Julie observed.

I took a deep breath. "You wanted to have a talk tonight. I'm so sorry for whatever I did. I can change, I know it."

"Change?" she laughed. "I wouldn't change you for the world. I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but my five-day-old daughter trusts you completely. I do believe she's bonded with you. When Beth smacked you earlier, and you yelled, ouch. Emma woke up, her eyes started searching for you, and her body got all tensed up. When you started talking normally, her eyes gradually zoned in that direction. She relaxed and went back to sleep. She's definitely becoming your little girl.

"No, my wanting to talk was about us. Beth tells me, and I agree that you seem attracted to me. You're my lawyer, and we both know that isn't acceptable to the licensing board. I don't want you to get into trouble.

"Then there's the season. It leads to a lot of family kind of emotions. You might feel something good now in the spirit of the season because we were in trouble, but later, regret what you're done after Christmas passes. We both know that's not a good basis for the future. Slow and easy is what I want, not a flash-in-the-pan. I have a daughter to protect. After the case, we can take another look at things, but right now, we need to be careful."

And there it was. The stop sign, or maybe go slow, curves ahead are untouchable. I sighed. Those curves were sooo delectable. Those lips so...!

But she'd given me an idea.

"Okay, I get it! Speaking of Christmas, this is kind of a sterile place to celebrate it in. Why don't you and Emma come and stay with me? You can have a separate bedroom with it's own bathroom. There's plenty of room for a crib too. We can have a Christmas tree and presents and...well, a nice Christmas!"

It would get her away from this place. It had never occurred to me till I walked through tonight and noticed all the men working here. There were waiters, doormen, cleaners, management and other guests who could ask her out. I needed her out of here.

"What are you talking about, you doofus? I'm not dating doormen or waiters or anybody else. How in the world do you get through the da...?" She started giggling too much to continue.

Crap, had I said that out loud?

Julie got up and walked over to my side of the table. Tugging on my hand, she walked us over to the couch and pushed me down. Plopping on my lap, she grabbed my ears and pulled me into a scorching kiss. Time disappeared until our lips separated sometime later. I stared into her emerald eyes and saw only love and want there.

"We'll come to your place for Christmas and see how things go," she promised.

I was overjoyed and immediately starting making plans. I was good friends with the members of the strata board. Those three male concierges needed to be fired and replaced; they'd been around for far too long. We could replace them with women. Old women. No need for young good looking girls that would attract guys like honey attracts bees. Then there was that Lothario up on the twenty-third floor. I'd have to study up on evictions. Just because he owned the place wasn't a good reason to let him live there! My girls needed protection!

No need to bother Julie with such matters. Why worry her over trivialities?

We cuddled on the couch watching the snow drift down, the lights from the incredible city view around us muted by the snowflakes. We traded little kisses every so often while I enjoyed her snuggled in my arms.

"Are you going to stay?" she asked. "I really liked falling asleep in your arms last night."

I nodded, "I'd love to."

"You really should bring some stuff over if you're going to stay overnight," she suggested, then caught my blushing face. "And...you did, didn't you?"

I'm pretty sure the 'you busted me' look on my face answered her question.

She laughed. "Go get your stuff."

By the time I got back, Emma had started fussing.

"Time to feed her."

I fetched Emma while Julie unfastened her new nursing bra. With Emma firmly latched on and happily feeding, I settled down between Julie's knees to watch.

Emma lost the nipple for a moment, and Julie reached down to help her latch back on. Instead, in a sneaky move, she aimed the nipple at me and squeezed. A stream of milk shot out, nailing me right in the eye. Shocked, I fell backwards, wiping my eye to Julie's laughter.

"That'll teach you, you pervert."

After burping and checking her diaper, we got Emma settled and moved her crib back into the bedroom.

Settling in ourselves, Julie snuggled into my arms, and we drifted off. For the first time in years, I felt a sense of contentment.

It was some god-forsaken-o'clock in the morning when Emma started fussing again. Julie quickly got her and settled back to feed her again. Finished, I burped her and changed her diaper while Julie went back to sleep.

Emma seemed wide awake, so I settled back against the headboard with some pillows and let her lie in the valley between my raised knees. Teasing her palms with my fingers, she grabbed onto with both hands. We played like that for a while.

I was in the middle of explaining to Emma the necessity of avoiding pimply, adolescent boys and warning her about their pathetic lies. Then I held forth on how it would be best if she didn't start dating until she was at least thirty when Julie rolled over yawning.

"Royce, you truly are a doofus. She's six days old and I'm not thirty yet. How does that fit in with your lecture? I guess we shouldn't date!"

"Ahhhh?" I shut up! Emma went back into her bed, and I went back to sleep before I got in deeper sh*t.

**********

A call came in early from the Attorney General himself. Although I knew him, I wasn't prepared for him reaching out directly.

"I hope you're happy, Royce; this Social Services fiasco has kept me up all night."

"Come on, Ray, you were always the night owl in college. I doubt that's changed."

"Yeah, well, age and wisdom. These days I try to get some sleep once in a while. So listen, the Governor wants this dead and buried. It's an election year, and stuff like this makes us look bad. He wants to pitch it as an anonymous whistleblower tipped us off via a prominent law firm. That would be you. And our investigation uncovered...yadda, yadda! Culprits are arrested and in jail awaiting trial. I'm sure you get the picture."

"Okay!" I didn't have a problem with that. They were just redefining the facts with buzzwords that made the Government look good, like the system was working. And truthfully, I thought they were doing a good job of running the state. It's not everybody else's fault when people decide to turn into criminals.

"And?"

He named a figure that was acceptable to me. They obviously wanted this gone! Not even a haggle over the money. I might get a little more from a jury, but it would be years in coming. No, a bird in the hand was the best route.

"Any problem with getting those funds into our trust account this afternoon. I'll have the paperwork signed by the client tonight and faxed back to your office tomorrow. Then we can disperse funds. She's suffered enough."

"We'd want that to be a confidential settlement?"

"I'm good with that."

"Consider it done! I'll fax the paperwork through."

I hung up the phone happily. If only all our cases could be settled that quickly.

After breakfast, I arranged a limo to help move Julie and Emma over to my condo. I had business elsewhere.

I walked into Julie's ex-employer a while later, handing a stack of paper and my business card over to the receptionist.

'Royce," she exclaimed. "So nice to finally meet you; we've talked so often."

"Nice to meet you too, Amy." We shook hands.

"It's unusual, but I wonder if I could arrange a brief meeting with the senior partners."

She looked at the papers and frowned. "These haven't been stamped by the court?"

"Yet!" I assured her.

She wasn't stupid, understanding instantly that it was an invitation to settle before a pile of shit about the firm hit the fan. It was a small courtesy we offered each other. Court filings were public. Reputations were everything.

"Okay, but I only need eight copies for the partners, you've got a lot more here."

"Yes," I said blandly, "but I know how the hard-working staff members like to have a heads up when something new is coming down the pipe."

She got that instantly too. Ignoring the boilerplate language, she went straight to the pleadings. In thirty seconds, her face was beet red! She looked up at me, lightning flashed from her eyes.

SHE. WAS. PISSED!

"That bastard did that to Julie? I wondered what happened to her? Please have a seat Royce, I'll see that these get delivered to the right people."

I watched her disappear into the warren of offices. The cat was out among the pigeons. These guys were going to have a lot to regret.

I picked up the morning paper and started laughing. There in black and white was a picture of the Attorney General and me, announcing precisely what we'd talked about this morning, couched in the terms he'd requested. I'd been had; they already had the ball rolling before they ever called me. Oh well, we got the money. That was the important thing. I idly wondered what he would have done if I told him I wanted to think about it for a couple of days.

Larry Pearson came striding across the lobby. I was surprised to see him. He was the original founder and long retired. I figured he had to be around eighty or so. Parchment thin skin covered a bald skull, yet his eyes were a lively blue and looked sharp.

"Royce, nice of you to stop by."

He really didn't mean that, but it doesn't pay to piss off the guy holding you by the balls.

"Larry, I'm surprised to find you here. I thought you were long gone chasing fish."

"I still come by two or three times a week, just to keep my finger in the pulse. So, why don't we grab the boardroom and talk about what you've laid out here? I notice you haven't filed yet."

"I thought it best to see if there was some common ground to agree over."

He nodded, appreciating that I'd come to him first before burning the place down.

Seated in the boardroom, the other partners started drifting in until finally, Kurt showed up. It was the first time I'd seen him in person; he didn't impress me much.

Larry started out. 'Everybody read the pleadings? I'm going to save the questions as to how this was allowed to happen till after this discussion. I appreciate Royce bringing it to my attention before it became something that would destroy this firm. Royce, what do you have in mind?"

Kurt piped up, "Let him file. We can fight it!"

Larry's response was succinct and brutal. "Shut UP, Kurt. In case you missed it, there are criminal acts outlined here backed up by affidavits. You left a trail a mile wide! There are regulatory and public interest breaches in here that will see that you never work in the field of law again. The licensing board will be all over us. We'll be under supervision for the next couple of years, and that doesn't even begin to cover the loss of business when the public finds out you fired Julie after you knocked her up, lied about her behaviour and left her homeless on the streets with a four day old newborn. WE'LL BE CRUCIFIED IN THE PRESS! You're open to personal lawsuits. The partnership limitation doesn't cover your blunders. Our insurance doesn't cover your malicious behaviour!"

I could see that the rest agreed with Larry. Kurt had really fucked the pooch for the firm.

"Royce?" Larry prompted me.

"The easy part. Kurt signs away all parental rights to the minor child Emma."

"Gladly," he groused from his corner.

Here was the pivotal moment. "I'm thinking, twenty-five!" There was a gasp around the table.

"That seems a little rich, Royce. I know the books, and we could afford maybe fifteen tops."

"If it goes to a jury, we could get up to three times punitive damages, that would push it up into the fifty to sixty million range. Twenty, and Kurt pays at least half of it."

"Oh, he'll pay it all, believe me." Larry thought for a moment. "This goes away?"

I nodded.

He stuck out his hand. "Agreed!"

"Do you have any problem transferring funds into our trust account this afternoon. I'll have the paperwork signed tonight and in your hands tomorrow morning before we disburse."

"No problem."

We shook hands to seal the deal. The timing was perfect .

I'd been noticing shadows walking by the frosted windows of the boardroom. They were only going one way and weren't coming back. Just then, my cat among the pigeons, AKA Amy, knocked and opened the door.

"Amy, we're in a meeting," Larry told her.

"Like I care," she retorted, dropping a pile of letters in front of him. "We've seen what that asshole did to Julie, and these are the resignations of all the staff. Nobody wants to work in a place that would leave a pregnant woman and four-day-old baby homeless on the streets in winter weather. At Christmas yet! That could have been any of us. We'll be in touch for references and severance cheques in the next two days." She turned and stalked out.

The partners were looking at Kurt like they could cheerfully strangle him. Larry slumped back in his seat and stared at the ceiling. "Thanks, Royce," he muttered. He looked old and worn out at that moment.

I didn't push it. Today had been a devastating blow to them. I knew they would be on the phone tonight, sweet-talking the staff into coming back. The staff would gain a lot out of this if they held out.

Larry roused himself. "I was going to save this for after, but I think Royce would be happy to deliver this news back to Julie. She deserves to hear it. I'm putting a motion on the table to demote Kurt from senior partner to junior counsel. Can I have a seconder?"

Oh, that was bad. Junior counsel handled all the scutwork. Trivial issues that the senior partners didn't want to waste their time on.

It was quickly seconded.

Kurt jumped to his feet. "I'll quit!"

"You even think about it, I'll take these complaints to the board myself. You'll be serving fries for the rest of your life. Got it! Sit down and shut up. This is your mess. You've cost this firm dearly, and you'll pay the money back or else!" Larry stared Kurt down.

"All in favour?"

The vote was unanimous. Well, other than Kurt!

Larry escorted me out. "This is embarrassing, but do you think you could take care of the paperwork? We seem to be a little short-handed here."

I nodded; I'd hit them hard enough.

It was impressive. Both settlements were in our trust account by four o'clock, and I was on my way home with the paperwork for Julie to sign. She was going to be one shocked young lady. I'd never had two cases that settled that fast in my entire career.

Julie stared at the figures on the settlement offers with disbelief. She started hyperventilating.