Chapter 30: The Third Time, It’s Enemy Action.

January 31, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“Jamie, how hard is it to get someone disbarred for barratry?”

“Littleton, I presume? On what grounds?”

“He’s Milton’s brother-in-law,” I said. “It’s completely groundless and meant for harassment.”

“Are you SURE about that?”

“Positive. I went over everything in detail. I talked to Sam, K, Eve, and Charlie. It’s a frivolous suit if there ever was one.”

“Our first step is to try to get the dismissal based on failure to state a claim. I’m reasonably certain we’ll get an order for them to revise their claims with more specificity. If they don’t, it simply goes away. If they do, then we can attack their claims with facts. In order to win a ruling that the case was frivolous, we actually have to proceed far enough to actually have a way to show that. Remember, on a pleading for a motion to dismiss, the judge assumes everything that the plaintiff claims is true, and then decides if the case should be dismissed or continue.”

I sighed, “Yeah, I remember how this works.”

“Also, to even have a chance of winning a complaint to the Bar Association for barratry, we’ll have to show not only that this case is frivolous, but that there has been a pattern of harassing behavior. I’m telling you right now that’s going to be nearly impossible. Ms. Rizzi had a legitimate claim. BLS had a claim which survived several motions to dismiss, and Callie Shepherd’s case actually went to trial, albeit not against you personally. You won’t win.”

“So how do I stop an attorney from harassing me?” I asked.

“That’s just it; legally, it’s not harassment. There’s nothing illegal or unethical about him hunting for clients with claims against you.”

“And in this case?”

“Maybe he overreached. Maybe Milton has something to stand on. We won’t know until I file my motion.”

“Wonderful,” I sighed.

“Did you talk to Lomax?”

“That’s how I found out Milton was Littleton’s brother-in-law. That’s pretty much all that was said. He was worried about Milton’s reaction to him talking to me.”

“Just sit tight and let me do my thing.”

“Thanks, Jamie.”

I hung up the phone, shaking my head. One way or another, I was going to be quit of Brandon Littleton. I almost regretted not being involved with the Outfit in that way. Almost. I had one more call to make, and that was to Patrick Shaughnessy. He wasn’t in, so they put me through to Katya instead.

“«Привет», Katya Sergeyevna!” I said.

“«Привет», Stepa Rayevich! How are you?”

“Much better! Thank you for the card and letter.”

“You’re welcome. We were all worried about you and your wife! What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to talk to Patrick about that photographer we were investigating. Ms. Rizzi is willing to cooperate now.”

“She has admitted science is accurate?”

“Yes, finally.”

“I have never understood why she would deny science! This makes no sense!”

“I agree. In any event, we’re looking for advice on how to proceed. The last time I spoke with Patrick we talked about ways to get access to the photographs. We think if Carla asks, we might have some luck.”

“Yes, is possible. Patrick is in DC. He returns tomorrow. Tomorrow is OK for a return call?”

“Yes. Absolutely! Come visit, Katya!”

“We shall try this summer. As you know, we are both very, very busy!”

“I understand. Please greet Aleksey Nikolay’ich for me.”

“I will!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and hung up. As with the situation with the lawsuit, all I could do now was wait.

February 1, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“I think that’s the best course of action,” Patrick said. “Simply have Ms. Rizzi request access to the photos for her own purposes, as someone who helped take them. The answer she gets should be very interesting.”

“You think they know something? Or there’s something incriminating?”

“Very possibly.”

“So why not destroy the incriminating photos?”

Patrick laughed, “Some people simply can’t part with the effects of their loved ones, even if they’re incriminating.”

“And if we find something?”

“Then you take it to your friend Gwen Meyer and see what she can do. I’d avoid the lawyer that Ms. Rizzi used.”

“Yeah, as if,” I sighed. “He’s the proverbial thorn in my side.”

“What now?”

“What appears to be a completely frivolous lawsuit. I have Jamie Ferguson working on it.”

“You just seem to attract attention!” Patrick laughed. “FBI, police, lawyers, women!”

“Before I let you go, have you heard from Aimee? The last letter I received was right after Thanksgiving.”

“She’s still on the Blue Ridge, but I’d say there’s a very, very good chance she’ll be assigned to the Enterprise before the year is out. But you didn’t hear that from me!”

I knew he had quite a few contacts in the Defense Department, as well as with a few Senators and bunch of Congressmen, so I suspected he was speaking from inside information. And I certainly wouldn’t put it past him to lobby on Aimee’s behalf. I certainly would in his position!

“Nothing would make me happier than Aimee fulfilling her greatest wish, though I can’t say I’m thrilled by any of my friends going in harm’s way.”

“Wait until one of your kids decides to join the military,” Patrick said. “Then you’ll know real fear.”

“I can wait,” I said. “I have at least ten years before I have to worry about that! I need to get them through High School first!”

“If she does get that assignment, she’ll most likely be promoted to JG.”

“Very cool. I’ll drop her a note, but I won’t mention this conversation.”

“Thanks. Let me know if you need anything further.”

“I will.”

After I hung up, I dialed the number Carla had left with me, but reached an answering machine. I left my message after the beep, and then went back to work to wait to hear from her, which I did about an hour later.

“Sorry, but I was meeting with a couple about their wedding photography.”

“No need to apologize. Gwen Meyer told me that the restraining order has been dissolved. I asked her to send you a copy of the order.”

“Thanks. Did you hear from your private investigator friend?”

“Yes. He agrees that you should call Dustin’s mom and ask for access to the photos. I was thinking you could say you were preparing a portfolio of your work and need some items from that timeframe. You know, Dustin had promised you and it’s affecting your business not being able to show your work for four or five years.”

“Do you think that will work?” she asked.

“We’re not sure, but Patrick, that’s my friend, thinks the answer, either way, will be instructive.”

“OK. I think I should ask for negatives so I can make my own prints.”

“Now that you mention it, that might actually be a good idea. I doubt they looked at all the negatives. Did he print everything he shot?”

“No way!” she laughed. “We’d have gone broke! We made contact sheets of most negatives, but we’d only actually print things we were going to sell or use for marketing purposes. And we didn’t save most contact sheets once the job was finished, just the negatives and a list of what they were.”

“So his mom would mostly have no idea what she had.”

“Not unless she used a loupe and a light board to look at the negatives. Not something most non-professionals would even think of.”

I chuckled, “Some day I’m going to have a digital camera that dispenses with film and stores an image on diskette or something like that.”

Carla shook her head, “No way. So much of photography is exposure, paper, color saturation, and so on. I can’t see it.”

I chuckled, “You know what I do for a living and I’ve read about them. They’re still too expensive for us common folk. Maybe it won’t be as good as the best black-and-white photos, but color? Shall we place a bet on that?”

“No. You seem to know computers pretty well, so no bet. Should I just call Dustin’s mom?”

“Yes. And just ask for access to the negatives to fill out your portfolio. If she says ‘yes’, then we’ll figure out the next steps.”

“Thanks for helping me.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’m just glad we’re at a point where you’ll accept my help. For Rachel’s sake.”

“Your daughter is wonderful. Rachel says she’s been nothing but sweet and nice.”

“That’s Birgit, though usually boys get her attention!”

Carla laughed, “If she’s your daughter, I have no doubt about that.”

“Call me when you get an answer,” I requested.

“I will.”

February 2, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“Did you see Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pled guilty to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony against her?” I asked at breakfast on Wednesday morning.

“What a crazy chick,” Elyse said. “Arranging for your ex to take out your rival and expecting to get away with it? Those two don’t seem like the sharpest knives in the drawer!”

“And you could do better?” Kara teased.

“If I wanted to get rid of someone, they’d never find the body!” Elyse said smugly.

“Of that, I have NO doubt,” I chuckled. “Why do you think I do my best to keep you happy?”

“You’re more afraid of her than you are of me, Tiger?” Jessica asked, arching an eyebrow.

“He SHOULD be!” Elyse said firmly, before I could respond.

“I think this is the time to plead the Fifth!” I chuckled. “Anything I say is going to get me into trouble!”

“Including saying nothing, Tiger!” Jessica threatened.

“You know, I think I need to get the kids ready to go to daycare,” I chuckled.

“Coward!” Kara giggled.

“Discretion is the better part of valor,” I challenged. “And I actually do need to get the kids ready. Amanda doesn’t start for almost two weeks!”

“He’s right,” Elyse said. “I’ll help because I have to play chauffeur for another two weeks as well!”

Elyse and I bundled Michael, Albert, Ashley, and Stephie into their winter gear, said goodbye to Kara and Jessica, and headed out to our cars to drive to the office. I had joked with Elyse that we could take one car if we simply stashed a couple of kids in the trunk, but she felt the authorities might object, so I resigned myself to taking two cars.

At the office, once we had the kids settled with Kate and Louisa, Elyse and I joined Julia, Dave, and Charlie in the conference room to discuss staffing.

“No Cindi?” Julia asked.

“She’s in Texas,” I said. “She really needs an on-site person, but she doesn’t need someone full-time in any of the offices. She and Charlie are coordinating using consultants to fill in, but I’ll let Charlie explain.”

“I have enough work in Pittsburgh, Denver, and Chicago to keep someone busy about three-fourths of the time. Cindi would use that other twenty-five percent. Generally speaking, I can find work for someone, even if they have to travel, so it’s better to have consultants than additional dedicated support staff.”

Julia nodded, “That makes sense. I assume you agreed on the skill set?”

“Yes.”

“And I need one programmer, and we need to discuss the internship,” Dave said. “You said Jodie isn’t a candidate, right?”

“Correct. She’ll be a Sophomore in August. We’ll consider her for the following year. For now, I’ll just continue mentoring her.”

“Like you did Penny?” Elyse teased.

“NO!” I said forcefully. “Jodie wants to work here and knows the rules.”

“Relax,” Elyse laughed. “I was teasing.”

“He has a point, Elyse,” Julia said. “We need to stay squeaky clean in that regard, especially with Brandon Littleton snooping around and causing trouble.”

“Speaking of never finding the body...” Elyse growled menacingly.

“We can discuss that after we talk about staffing,” I said. “Everything is budgeted, though we’re going to have to do a budget amendment to charge some of the consultants’ time to Cindi’s budget. Obviously, the intern would start in August or September; Dave, when did you want the programmer?”

“Right away. I have a list of customizations that a law firm in New York wants to support their global offices.”

“Dibs on the installs in Europe,” I chuckled.

“Don’t laugh,” Dave grinned. “London, Amsterdam, and Munich.”

“When?”

“The modifications will take us a couple of months. We promised installation in September in Europe. Are you serious about wanting to do it?”

“Are you kidding?” I laughed. “Put me down for it. I can actually bill some time for once!”

“Charlie, what do you think?” Julia asked with a smile. “Do we trust the boss to do this?”

“We might have to put him through a refresher on installations, but I think so,” she smirked. “And that does make it easier to manage my team.”

“Are we doing German and Dutch language versions?” I asked, suppressing a chuckle at her pointed remark about me being ‘out of the loop’ on parts of the technical side.

“Yes,” Julia said. “I already talked to a company that does translations. Fortunately Greg set everything up properly when we did the Spanish language version so it’s simply a matter of dropping in the additional language files. The code pages are the same - 437 - so I don’t foresee any issues. The umlaut characters and eszett are in that code page. We could support French as well, though we haven’t had any requests for it so far.”

“Cindi hasn’t cracked Canada,” I said. “The only Canadian install is in Vancouver, and that’s a California company with an office there. OK. Sounds like we need to get moving on that hire right away. Go ahead, Dave. What’s your plan for the intern?”

“I think the same program as before. We only want one, though. I’m thinking if we’re going to offer it to Jodie eventually, we take someone from IIT this year.”

I nodded, “Sure. OK. Go ahead.”

“Steve, did Sam talk to you?” Charlie asked.

“About?”

“SPSS is looking to install ISDN videoconferencing equipment in their foreign offices, and they also need UUCP email set up. I gave Sam the contact information for the VP at SPSS who’s running the project.”

“What are they looking for?”

“Design and specifications at a minimum. They might hire us to actually do the installs as well.”

I grinned, “Where?”

“London, Gorinchem in the Netherlands, Munich, Sydney, and Tokyo.”

“Oh man!” I chuckled. “I’m the UUCP expert!”

“I think you might have to fight Sam for a trip to Australia!” Julia laughed. “And you’re going to Japan this summer for karate, right?”

“Yes. Where did all this international stuff come from?”

“It just kind of fell into our laps,” Julia said. “But the SPSS thing is only design and specification to start with. They may use one of their own people to do the actual work. Sam will come talk to you I’m sure.”

I nodded, “Very cool.”

“So, about the lawsuit?” Julia asked. “Any updates?”

I shook my head, “No. Jamie was going to file the motion to dismiss today. We most likely won’t get it, but that will force Lomax & Milton to give more specifics about what we allegedly did wrong.”

“Nothing!” Charlie said forcefully.

“I know that, you know that, and Jamie knows that. Unfortunately, Mr. Brandon Littleton does NOT know that and we’re going to have to prove it.”

“How do you prove innocence?” Charlie asked.

I smiled, “It’s not like that. In civil cases, like this one, it’s preponderance of evidence. That is, you both make your case and the judge or jury decide based on who makes the best case. In Illinois a jury has to be unanimous in civil cases. That’s different from most states, which only require a majority. That means our friend has to convince twelve jurors that he has a better case than we do. And we have ALL the documentation!”

“You seem pretty confident,” Dave said.

I smiled, “I’ve tangled with Brandon Littleton for ten years. He loses every time. You’d think by now he’d learn!”

“Your James Bond quote from Goldfinger certainly fits!” Charlie said. “I remember you saying that the LAST time we had to deal with this guy.”

“The third time, it’s enemy action. He has it in for me and unfortunately, unless he repeatedly brings frivolous suits against me or NIKA, he can keep bothering us forever.”

“Which was my point...” Elyse spat.

“You could share a cell with Lisa Glass,” I said flatly.

“Perhaps I’ll reconsider,” Elyse said with a smile.

“I thought as much. I think we’re done here. As Julia likes to say, ‘Make it so!’”