Chapter 28: Quick Court Action

Thursday August 7, 2008

At work I arrived very early (still dark out), made some phone calls, and managed to ask some leading questions during other discussions. I heard several rumors, all distortions with just a hint of truth, related to the Amy-Joe Pope breakup and how the Church girls were comforting him day and night.

Most importantly, I got Joe’s scheduled appointments for the day. I wasn’t supposed to have access to schedules, but that is where the leading questions paid off.

With the phone calls I worked through Stoney, he had a copy of the co-habitation papers so he used those. I managed to get an order from a friendly judge that cleared up the issue of Amy’s property. Court opened at 9 but Stoney was an early-riser who was on the ball so working together we had a writ signed and recorded by 8:03. Stoney was very impressed with the speed at which I got my share done. He called me when he had the paperwork while I supplied the judge.

“You work quick, the only time I have even seen paperwork that fast from a judge was a big deal Hollywood producer,” he commented. He was really saying that he was very impressed with the judge and clerks I knew. That was just the start.

“Yeah ... the feds work fast also,” I replied. Stoney did not know about that, he stayed strictly with his commercial clients, where he kept folks happy. Federal jail? That was somebody else’s job, because there were no smiles there.

My name did not appear on the paperwork which was served just before Noon.

I had Corum and Brisk go with some grubby, less-friendly looking 49 members and a friendly deputy to the Pope residence. When they arrived Joe was at a lunch meeting in a place that did not allow cell phones. Vi and the Church girls were not up yet so they had not yet managed to rummage through Amy’s things, although they planned an afternoon “treasure hunt.” What was the hurry?

Roused out of bed in scanty clothes, and unable to reach Joe, they were enraged at the imposition, which looked like an invasion by a street gang. But with a uniformed deputy and paperwork saying “Timely” signed by a judge there really was no choice. They had to stand outside, underdressed as men with cameras entered the house. Even the minimal clothes they were wearing was viewed on camera to see if it was Amy’s.

Vi was ex-military (a Captain in Indonesia) and could shoot, so it was especially humiliating to have her home turned upside down looking for things on Amy’s inventory. One of the 49 guys carried a live camera so Amy, resting in bed at my house, was able to direct the guys and identify items as her own. Vi heard somebody female giving orders.

We learned later that the girls and Vi expected to grab Amy’s one-off red carpet gowns (she had 3 at the house) her shoes (50 pair) and the very pricy dainties Amy got from her fan club.

By mid-afternoon a still-enraged Joe spent half an hour in my office screaming about the indignity of what had happened. Amy actually called me while Joe was ranting in my office so I let her hear some of it. He skipped over his change in bed companions, didn’t mention Chronis and went right to the invasion of his home’s privacy by “those thugs, they went through my wife’s underwear drawer.” (Amy’s $2,000 thong was found there.) The bigger problem he saw was that he had no way to trace the paperwork back, none of his courthouse friends would help and Stoney could not have done this himself, so some lawyer had to have a hand in getting the paperwork so fast. Not to mention the camera, the crew and the cop! His wife even called the local cops - their neighbor was a detective - but they were on notice, with a deputy there they could do nothing and were forced to watch from the lot line.

If he had thought about it, only two people in the firm knew the judges that well, Stern and me (knowing judges and their tendencies was a part of my water rights brief). But Joe was not in a thinking mood at the time.

Eventually I explained it to him, but by then he knew what a bullwhip really felt like when used in anger, so it was too late.

The paperwork had been specific in requiring service between Noon and 12:15 on the day in question. In theory it could be appealed (it was filed at 8:03) but as a practical matter that was only possible for somebody actually in the courthouse. Somebody in the firm had said the only case he had seen like this had been a Federal criminal case being expedited because of a flight risk. Somebody else mentioned an insider trading case, also federal.

As a matter of fact, only one judge signed this type of order this quickly and easily. He trusted his former clerk.

That was not the end of it. A few days later Joe learned about Amy’s early release from Chronis. But he could not get any help from Chronis about the “how” of Amy’s quick release, which was beyond strange. They stonewalled him at every turn. Finally, to put a stop to his calls, Mr. Kris called Joe. He said that he could give Joe a criminal’s “street” name, not that it would help because it was an alias and asking would get him an interview without an exit. But the day before he gave Pope the name Mr. Kris would call the criminal and give him Joe’s name. He explained that by doing this Joe would be assured of meeting the criminal, being tortured slowly to death over the next week, then buried in the dessert - possibly while still breathing like that guy in that movie “Casino.” By calling first Mr. Kris hoped he might avoid the same fate. “There are names you never want to mention. This is one of them. Now, do you have a death wish?”

That finally convinced Joe the episode was closed, he would never know who Amy’s dark angel was and who ordered the invasion of his house.

Well, he was wrong about that, I have mentioned the bullwhip. Until then Joe Pope still had his uses and frustrations.

When Joe finally called Stoney, under the guise of asking for a forwarding address, all he got was a reference to a 966 area code (Saudi peninsula), where attractive feet were always in high demand. Joe understood that Amy’s feet got special invitations before, from a Saudi Prince with expensive taste in foot jewelry no less. (Well, there are thousands.) They were her best feature, perfect with a timeless beauty.

Vi and the Church girls lost a lot respect for Joe that day. That was like the cherry on a sundae.

Resha punched in about four in the afternoon, she was working some overtime as a favor to another girl. I had her on my list for a service call so when she came in I filled her in on things, which had started with her mention about the pictures on Joe Pope’s desk. Amy was very grateful. She did not cause the encounter that rescued Amy, but the coincidence saved Amy years of therapy and probably her career if the night ended as Joe envisioned it.

Resha was just glad to hear the whole story, it renewed her faith in me and what I asked her to do, and the type of friend I could be for one of my people in trouble. I assured Resha that she was worth far more to me than Amy.

I learned later that Amy had never seen Li or Resha, but the names were distinctive, so I said that maybe Resha should have another name if she came to my house when Amy was there. She volunteered as “Cigne” which was the name used by her family in India.