Chapter 73: Full Disclosure

April 4, 1997, Dallas, Texas

“Ms. Waxman, we need to reschedule this deposition,” Deborah said immediately. “And we also need to delay the depositions of Manny Nuñez and Brad Giesma in light of what was just revealed.”

“For what reason?”

“Could we recess and have everyone else leave so we can talk?”

“I object,” Lee Silverberg said. “I think we need to know what’s going on.”

“Counselor,” I replied, “I promise full disclosure once we have time to discuss this situation in private with Ms. Waxman.”

“Lee, let them talk,” Mark Ball said. “Neil, can we use a conference room?”

“Sure. Sylvia, please show them and the court reporter to other rooms and make sure they have anything they need.”

“Yes, Mr. Payette.”

She left, followed by the others, leaving me, Deborah, Neil, Ms. Waxman, and Nathan Edwards alone in the room.

“Steve?” Deborah asked.

“Ms. Waxman, I have no intention of making ANY claims against your client, and I’ll put that in writing if you like.”

“Nathan, are you willing to talk to Mr. Adams under those conditions?”

“He can’t sue me?”

“Not if we agree to what he’s asking.”

“What about criminal charges?”

Ms Waxman shook her head, “I don’t see what those could possibly be. Obviously, I can’t guarantee anything, but you didn’t violate any laws with regard to your attempt to buy Lone Star from DCP.”

“Then I guess so.”

Ms Waxman nodded and wrote out, longhand, a very simple agreement which stated that NIKA agreed to not bring suit against Nathan Edwards for anything related to the Lone Star purchase or his work for Lone Star or Peach. He and I both signed it, then all three attorneys signed it as well.

“OK, Mr. Adams,” Ms. Waxman said. “Please stay as narrow as possible.”

I nodded, “Nathan, do you have anything to back up what you said?”

“Phone records and notes. There’s nothing in writing from them.”

“Do you have business cards or did you buy plane tickets or stay in a hotel?”

“Yes to all of those. The business cards are in my desk in my office. I have credit card statements to show I purchased tickets and stayed in the hotel, and I have the boarding passes, too. I keep them.”

“I keep mine, too,” I replied. “I think I only have one question for you right now, and that’s if you know why they backed out of the deal.”

“I don’t know for sure, but it didn’t strike me as because they felt it was a bad investment. We were at the point where they were going to sign the letter of intent, and a commitment to provide the capital, when suddenly I couldn’t get them on the phone. Eventually, the day before I defaulted, I talked to someone who told me that they said they didn’t know me.”

“Counselor,” I said to Ms. Waxman, “we need to talk internally at NIKA, and I need to talk to at least the Chairman of the Board of NIKA before we move forward. Will you agree to make your client available on another day? We’re happy to fly you both to Chicago, if necessary.”

“Let me speak to my client, please.”

I nodded and the three of us left and went to the conference room where Lee Silverberg and Mark Ball were waiting.

“We’re going to have to delay the depositions,” Deborah said. “The information which was revealed is critical and time sensitive.”

“What other information did you gather?” Mark Ball asked.

“Just that Mr. Edwards is able to prove what he said. We also agreed we’re not going to bring suit against him for anything that happened between NIKA, Lone Star, DCP, and Peach with regard to the purchase or his employment. His attorney agreed to postpone the deposition. I think we need to postpone the depositions of Mr. Nuñez and Mr. Giesma as well.”

“You have us both at a loss,” Lee Silverberg said. “Who are Franklin Volstead and Arthur Braun?”

Deborah looked to me and nodded.

“Who they are will be easy enough to find out, so there is no reason to try to hide it. They’re named partners in one of our first customers, and a firm that is a founding member of our user group. And I’m going to violate an NDA right now and tell you that Braun’s son stole and resold our software back in 1988. We caught him and they paid us to keep quiet. Unless I miss my guess, Braun’s son is involved in some way. There are a number of possibilities that we need to investigate.”

“What does that have to do with our suit against you?”

“I don’t know just yet,” I replied. “But we’re sure as heck going to find out. And,” I said with a sly smile, “neither Dante nor Peach signed an agreement not to sue Nathan Edwards.”

“You think something else is going on here?”

“Counselor, be honest with me, and not for repeat outside this room, but Dante is refusing to turn over his financials before the verdict, right?”

He nodded, “Yes.”

“Which means this will be dismissed. Ask Dante for a number. A real one.”

“For a settlement?” he asked.

“Hell no! For NIKA to buy Peach, lock, stock and barrel. Make sure he knows it has to be a real number. And with an ironclad non-compete with a significant performance bond.”

“Why would he agree to that?”

I smiled, “Because Dante is a greedy son of a bitch, and we’ve seriously interfered with how much he can pull from Peach. And it’s going to get worse. Dante has a fetish for new Ferraris and he’s not going to be able to feed it, nor be able to keep his Playmate girlfriend happy in about a year.”

“I’ll inform him of the offer.”

“There is one other condition,” I said. “He has to assign the rights to any patents or copyrights he holds personally, or in any form of partnership or corporation, to Patent Partners, LLC. We’ll pay him reasonable royalties if they’re used. And I mean all, Counselor. I don’t care if he invented a better mousetrap or a way to put advertising on the moon. Those patents, and any copyrights, come to Patent Partners.”

“Again, I’ll inform him.”

“Thanks. Neil, would you have Sylvia show these two gentlemen out so we can talk?”

He did, and then the three of us went to his office.

“I need this to go away,” I said as soon as the door was closed. “I have no idea what Volstead and Braun are up to, or were up to, but I aim to find out. And I don’t need distractions from Dante.”

“Do you think his ego will let him sell?” Deborah asked.

“Think Leia and Han Solo,” I grinned. “‘If money is all you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.’. But I don’t see him swooping down in the Millennium Falcon to save the day, proving her wrong.”

“But wasn’t Dante’s intent to beat you at your own game?”

“Yes, but I think he’s smart enough to muck his hand when he knows he’s beat.”

“You also told me there was no reason to buy him out.”

“Call it a strategic decision to take him completely off the board.”

“So you can say you have a bigger dick?” she asked, causing Neil to guffaw.

I shrugged, “The only opinion on THAT which matters is of those I go to bed with, and Dante is NOT in that category in any way, shape, or form. But you know what they say about sports cars, right?”

“Penis extenders.”

I nodded, “Yep.”

“I need to call Scott and Jake and let them know,” Neil said. “What should I say?”

“The truth. I don’t think either of them is guilty of malfeasance with regard to either the original deal or the current suit with Dante.”

“OK. I’ll make that call now and let you know if there are any issues.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I have my cell phone. We’ll be at the NIKA offices across the street from the Galleria.”

We shook hands and after Deborah gathered our things, Sylvia walked us to reception where we got on the elevators and rode down to the first floor.

“What about Lone Star and the US Attorney?”

“We still do that,” I replied.

“Which will put even more pressure on Dante. You’re going to take out both Peach and Lone Star.”

I nodded, “Yes. And we let Chickasaw or Hastings Mill fight over the carcass. We won’t even bid. We will, on the other hand, go hard after all of Lone Star’s clients.”

“What about Peach?” she asked.

I smiled, “We transfer all the licenses for our ‘sole proprietor’ version to Peach, move all the Peach clients who are using their ‘small office’ system to NIKA Legal, and run the whole thing separately. Peach becomes a division of NIKA.”

“Who’s going to run it?”

I grinned, “Eventually? Terry.”

“Neatly solving your issue with Dave and Terry. But that’s what, five years away?”

“Yes, but I have a plan for that, too.”

“Care to share?”

“Not yet. One crisis at a time. We may need to fly to Cincinnati this afternoon.”

“To confront them?”

“I’m not that impetuous, Counselor! Who else is there?”

“Your dad and Joyce.”

“Exactly. It’ll be easier if the four of us are in a room together.”

“I’ve been wracking my brain for the last ten minutes as to what your concern might be.”

“We never did put all the pieces together with the break-ins.”

“Them?”

I shrugged, “Who knows? If we hadn’t had the run-in with Braun back in ‘88, then I wouldn’t be as concerned. But now I wonder if there isn’t something else going on. Think about how much inside access that law firm has because of Ben van Hoek. And if another hunch I have is right, I owe Jamie an apology.”

“Jamie? Why?”

“The leaks about BLS may not have come from Allen & Baker. Ben van Hoek knew most of the details.”

“You don’t think HE leaked it? He’s a friend!”

“I don’t know what to think at the moment. I don’t want to believe it, but my gut tells me that there is more to this. I made an enemy of Arthur Braun when we found out his kid was stealing our software and reselling it. There is no telling what else he might have done.”

“This is like peeling back an onion,” she said. “What else will we find?”

“Don’t ask that question,” I said, shaking my head.

We walked into the NIKA offices and after greeting the staff, Deborah and I went to a conference room and called the US Attorney’s office and let them know we could meet earlier. After a bit of back and forth, we agreed on 11:15am in the NIKA offices. I then placed calls to my dad and Joyce and let them know I wanted to have dinner with them to discuss something urgent. Joyce suggested, given the unpredictability of flying, that we call from Greater Cincinnati Airport and that she and her grandmother would make dinner for us. We agreed and I called my dad back to let him know that we’d meet at Joyce’s house. I deflected questions about the topic, and said we’d see him later in the day.

I called Liesel at the travel agency and had her change our flight from Dallas to Chicago to Dallas to Cincinnati to Chicago, with the second leg open. She confirmed our flight times and seats, and I thanked her and hung up. Deborah and I both took the opportunity to check our email, and I called Kimmy to check for any messages. I had just hung up when Alberto Vasquez, a Field Service Engineer, came to the door of the conference room Deborah and I were using.

“Mr. Adams, there are some detectives and a Texas Ranger here to see you.”

“Detectives?” I asked.

“Yes. One from Dallas and one from San Antonio.”

I stifled a groan, “OK. Bring them in, please.”

He left and came back with the Texas Ranger and two plainclothes police officers, one black, one Hispanic.

“Mr. Adams?” the Hispanic detective asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“I’m Detective Alvarez from the Dallas Police Department and these are Sergeant Appleton of the Texas Rangers and Detective Sergeant Kramer from San Antonio.”

“Sergeants; Detective,” I replied with a nod of acknowledgement. “This is my corporate attorney, Ms. Deborah Rice. She’s not a criminal defense attorney, and I won’t speak to you without one present. I made that clear to you, Detective Sergeant Kramer, when we spoke a few years ago.”

“Mr. Adams, you are not a person of interest nor are you a suspect. We’ve been following leads on this case for over two years. We recently had an anonymous tip we’re trying to run down.”

“Deborah?”

“I’d advise getting Melanie Spencer on the phone.”

I nodded, “Detectives, let me see if I can get my attorney on the phone, please.”

I dialed Kassan, Spencer & Associates and was happy to find Melanie in her office. I explained the situation, and with her agreement, and agreement from the officers, I put the phone on speaker.

“Sergeant Appleton and Detectives, I am Melanie Spencer, Mr. Adams’ attorney. Would you please confirm that he is not a person of interest or suspect, and that you hold no warrants of any kind with regard to him, his company, or his property.”

“Detective Sergeant Kramer here, Ms. Spencer; we’ve spoken before. That is correct. We aren’t here for any purpose other than following up on an anonymous tip we received. Detective Alvarez is here because I don’t have jurisdiction in Dallas. Sergeant Appleton of the Texas Rangers is here because he was assigned to assist in the investigation of this case.”

“Go ahead and ask your questions,” Melanie said. “Steve, wait for my ‘OK’ before you answer.”

“Got it,” I replied.

“Mr. Adams, do you know a Kevin Lomax?”

Melanie gave the OK, and I replied, “Yes.”

“How do you know him?”

“Steve,” Melanie said. “You can answer unless I say stop, OK?”

“Sure. He’s a partner in a former customer of ours, Lomax & Milton.”

“And John Milton?”

I smiled, “I’m assuming you don’t mean the author of Paradise Lost.”

“Correct,” Detective Kramer said with a slight smile.

“He’s the other partner, and he’s also Brandon Littleton’s brother-in-law. Well, he was, I guess.”

“And Mr. Littleton represented them in a suit against you?”

“That’s correct. We settled with them and the case was dismissed.”

“Do you know anything more about him?”

“Just some basics,” I replied. “He went to the University of Illinois, started Milton & Lomax with his college friend Kevin Lomax, and has a reputation as a hard-nosed businessman.”

“Do you still do business with him?”

“No; as I said, he’s a former client.”

“What was the nature of the dispute between you?”

“A billing dispute, but it was really a thinly-veiled attempt to cause trouble for my business by enticing the US Attorney to open a mail fraud investigation over alleged over-billing.”

“Are you aware of any relationship between either John Milton, Kevin Lomax, or both of them, with any attorneys from a law firm in Chicago, Hart-Lincoln?”

“No,” I said warily, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

“Do you know a Lisa Glass?”

I nodded slowly, “I do.”

“Do you know of any relationship between her and Kevin Lomax?”

I shook my head, “None at all. You do know she was in prison when Littleton was killed, right?”

“We’re aware. We’re also aware you visited her not long after the murder. What was discussed?”

“I’m not at liberty to say,” I replied. “You’ll need to talk to the US Attorney’s office in Chicago.”

“Why?”

“No questions along this line, Detective,” Melanie said, interrupting. “As Mr. Adams just said, you’ll need to speak to the US Attorney in Chicago.”

Melanie was right in the thick of this, because she had read and reviewed the deal Lisa had made with the government.

“You knew an attorney named John Lentz?”

“Yes. He and Lisa Glass were engaged. I met him a few times at social functions, but I didn’t know him very well.”

“You were responsible for them breaking up?”

“Lisa was responsible. She tried, for a long time, to start a sexual relationship with me, and when I refused, she claimed I was involved in a sexual relationship with her, in order to hurt another girl. Lisa refused to retract the claim, which was false, so I called John and let him know what I knew about her.”

“You also know Noel Spurgeon?”

“Yes, but what I can say about him is limited because of the ongoing trial in Chicago. Again, you would need to speak to the US Attorney.”

“Let me ask one question, if I may.”

“Go ahead, but I might not be able to answer.”

“What was the relationship between Lisa Glass and Noel Spurgeon?”

“I’m not sure you should answer that, Steve,” Melanie said.

“I think I can, because what I’m going to say happened in 1984.”

“OK.”

“Lisa Glass had a month-long affair with Noel Spurgeon in Monaco when she was fifteen.”

“Thank you,” Detective Kramer said. “You may have just provided the missing link.”

“You think Lisa Glass had something to do with Brandon Littleton’s murder?”

“We can’t comment on specifics. And I think any other questions I want to ask you are going to be met with the answer you gave before about the US Attorney in Chicago.”

I nodded, “Yes. Can I ask how you knew I’d be here?”

“It just took a bit of detective work to find out you’d be in Dallas today and where you’d be. When we went to the law firm, they said you were here.”

I nodded, “Got it.”

The deposition schedule was public, and had been on the court calendar for quite some time.

“Is that it, Detective?” Melanie asked.

“Yes, Ms. Spencer. If we need to speak to him again, should we work through you?”

“That would be best, yes.”

She provided her office and cell phone numbers and we disconnected the call. I showed the Ranger and Detectives out, then went back to the conference room.

“Your life is never boring, that’s for sure!” Deborah said when I shut the door.

I sagged into one of the leather chairs, “Just once, I’d like it to be calm for an extended period of time!”

“You’d be bored!”

“You’re probably right.”

“Care to speculate?”

“I’ve had my suspicions about Lisa Glass for a long time, and when all the stuff went down with Noel Spurgeon, I suspected she was involved somehow. It really doesn’t surprise me they’re looking for a link between Hart-Lincoln and the murder, and I once made the comment that John Milton makes Dante Puccini look like a Boy Scout.”

“Wow. So what do you think happened?”

“I honestly don’t know. Everything seems to revolve around Littleton, Hart-Lincoln, Lisa Glass, and Noel Spurgeon. Now we’re tossing Lomax & Milton into the mix. And all of my involvement in this mess can be traced back to two incidents - hiring Jeri Lundgren and deflowering Connie Cicilioni, nee Abbadelli.”

“Joyce’s little sister?! No way!”

“Every which way. Literally.”

“Does her husband know?”

“No.”

“Does Joyce know?”

“Yes.”

“What did Connie do?”

“She brought Brandon Littleton into the mix in a serious way.”

“And Jeri? Why was there an issue hiring her?”

“Hiring her got me mixed up in the society circles that led to the messes with Lisa Glass and Noel Spurgeon. Not to mention a bunch of other messes.”