“It’s a decent forgery, I guess.”
“You insist that it’s a forgery. So who forged it?”
“I have no idea.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“I can only speculate.”
“But do you have any personal knowledge? Can you enlighten us in some verifiable fashion as to who, why, when, where, anything at all?”
“Not of my own personal knowledge. However, I feel this is part of a pattern. In all three of the files there was some sort of interference prejudicial to the client. In the Vang case, these sentences were forged. In the Brandy Taylor matter, Cody Stinson received an anonymous call. In the Cruz matter, Ali Peck was called anonymously. Mr. Cruz has also now filed a blatantly false charge against me.”
“You may feel all sorts of things. But do you have any proof that there is someone out there trying to harm your clients?”
“The whole train of events. The theft of my files in the first place.”
“But that could just as easily have been a car thief who inadvertently rode off with your files, am I correct? For all you know?”
“But then the file contents were read and used. That’s more than a car theft.”
“Do you have any personal knowledge that the person who, as you put it, interfered in each case is the same person each time?”
“Makes sense to me,” Nina said. “Person or persons.”
“Okay, let’s look more closely at your theory that this is all part of a pattern. Now in the Brandy Taylor matter, Ms. Taylor told you, and you noted in the file, that she had evidence that Mr. Stinson had committed a murder. And I will remind you that Mr. Stinson testified that there was then a call to him stating exactly this damaging information.”
“Correct.”
“And in the Cruz matter, Mr. Cruz told you, and you noted in the file, that a witness named Ali Peck had information harmful to his custody case. And then let me represent to you and to the court that attorney Jeffrey Riesner will testify that he received a phone call informing him precisely about this harmful witness.”
“Yes.” Nina knew where Nolan was going, and that Jack couldn’t stop her. Helpless, she clenched her fists tight, holding on to her anger.
“So the file contents were read and reported to others, as you say.”
“Yes.”
“And isn’t it true that exactly the same thing happened in the third case? That your client Mr. Vang told you a secret, just as Ms. Taylor and Mr. Cruz did. You wrote it down. And just as in those two cases, Heritage was contacted, and the company was told the damaging information. Isn’t that the pattern?”
“No,” Nina said, continuing the struggle to keep her feelings off her face and out of her voice.
“This third party, whom none of us has identified, if this third party did all this, it would seem that his M.O. was to reveal secrets, not to make them up, wouldn’t it?”
“The Vang case was different. There was no secret in that case.”
“Mr. Vang didn’t break down and tell you that he had burned down his own store?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Mrs. Vang never said that?”
“No!”
“You didn’t learn that from someone and add it to your own notes?”
“No!”
“Who did burn down that store, then?”
“The police haven’t arrested anyone.”
“So Mr. Vang hasn’t been cleared?”
“He was never arrested. There’s no evidence that he burned his store down!”
“Oh, yes there is. There’s his confession in your file. And the little matter of his flight to Laos.”
Nina drew a long breath. “Even if he confessed to me, which he didn’t, it would be privileged information, inadmissible in any real court.”
“Strange to hear you say that, when it was your carelessness that allowed it to fall into the public eye, isn’t it?”
“Objection,” Jack said. “Argumentative.”
“Sustained. Let’s move on, Counsel.”
“Isn’t it true that there is no other suspect in connection with that fire and that Mr. Vang admitted to you he caused the fire?”
“Compound,” Jack said.
“Rephrase the question.” It was dizzying. Nolan was cross-examining Nina on direct examination. Nina struggled to get her bearings. She couldn’t anticipate what Nolan would ask next. The suspense in this box made strategic thinking impossible. Every moment, she felt the guillotine blade trembling above.
“Did Mr. Vang admit he caused the fire at the time of the interview?”
“No. No.”
“Did he deny it?”
“In so many words, yes.”
“Isn’t it true that you conspired with the Vangs to put in a fraudulent claim for them, knowing the arson was caused by Mr. Vang?”
“No, that is not true. Why would I put my career in jeopardy by doing something so unethical and criminal?”
“You’re a sole practitioner?”
“Yes.”
“Your income varies sometimes substantially from month to month?”
“Yes.”
“How much did you charge Mr. Vang for this work you did for him?” Nolan held up the exhibit that contained her billing to the Vangs.
“Two thousand four hundred dollars.”
“For writing a letter to the insurance company?”
“The case involved an extensive set of exhibits. I put in numerous hours helping the Vangs collate their receipts.”
“Couldn’t your secretary have done that? Collate receipts?”
“I preferred to do it.”
“Let me see, you were charging forty dollars an hour to collate receipts, so that would be-oh, here it is. Sixty hours. Sixty hours you put in to write this letter?”
“To meet with the clients, to help them assemble their claim, to negotiate, to write the claim letter, to follow up-yes. Sixty hours. In the end, the negotiated claim was for more than two hundred thousand dollars.”
“Isn’t it true that the price for your honor and integrity was two thousand four hundred dollars? That you were willing to commit a fraud for that amount, assuming you could hide behind the attorney-client privilege and no one would ever know your client had told you he did the arson?”
“Objection! Argumentative, compound, misstates the testimony, calls for a conclusion,” Jack said.
“It’s totally untrue,” Nina answered before the judge could rule, but her voice was choked. She could not disregard the cavalcade of feelings coursing through her, no matter how determined she felt. Such a pathetic amount of money it was they figured for the price of her soul. “I’m proud of my profession! I would never…!”
Judge Brock cut her off. “I will sustain the objection. Rephrase, Counsel.”
“That’s all right, Your Honor. I am finished with this witness.”
“Mr. McIntyre?”
“Ms. Reilly,” Jack said. “I just want this to be very clear for the record. Are you positive you never wrote those last nineteen words?”
“Positive.”
“You had no intent to defraud the insurance company, and so far as you know, Mr. Vang did not commit any arson?”
“That’s right.”
“You spent sixty hours working on this claim and obtained a settlement of two hundred and ten thousand dollars for your clients?”
“Yes.”
“Let the record reflect that Ms. Reilly’s fee amounted to one point one percent of the recovery,” Jack said. “I have nothing further of this witness.”
“We will adjourn. Court will resume at three.”
Freed, Nina got out of the box and walked tall back to Jack’s table. Gathering up documents from the other table, Nolan gave her a cynical smile. Jack took Nina by the arm. “Out we go,” he said.
The elevator arrived, jammed with people. Jack pushed forward and stuffed her into an invisible gap.
“How did I do?” she asked Jack as they ate sandwiches across the street.
“You sounded tremulous, but Brock will make allowances for that,” Jack said.
“I didn’t feel scared, Jack, if that’s what you’re thinking. My anger shook me. I had no idea how difficult it would be testifying. I wanted to leap off the stand and land a good one-two on Nolan’s nose. I kept seeing those dumb glasses under my high heels, broken on the floor. I bet her eyes look weak without them.”