Chapter 33: Work Before the Wedding

Monday August 11 to Thursday August 14, 2008

The week ended with the wedding but before that happened I had to get my brief done. So you might say that in one week I made the two biggest advances in terms of placing myself to become a partner in the firm.

I had finished the brief a couple of weeks ago, then set it aside to “rest” for a time before I gave it a final read. The previous week I smoothed some last minute issues before I began a final edit and proofread. Monday and Tuesday I worked long hours finishing my proofread (I was in my office for over 30 hours). Tuesday afternoon I sent an email to Barnes saying I expected to finish up Wednesday morning, the 13th, confirming what I had previously scheduled. An hour later he emailed back, my proofing committee of 5 lawyers (Joe Pope, Judge Stern, Kick Howard and 2 associates) would meet me at 4:00 Wednesday afternoon to get access and talk about the process, so we were all on the same page. One issue was their personal calendars, they knew this was coming and they reasonably expected to spend 40 hours each in their offices on just this project, reading and checking their overlapping section of the brief. We agreed that the next day, Thursday August 14 between 9 and 4, I would be available for any quick questions. I agreed to stay in my office for those hours. Then we agreed to a one week deadline for their final comments, meeting on Wednesday the 20th at 2 in the afternoon. We would meet in the conference room then to hash out any final comments.

(Yes, they would each do their normal work plus 40 hours on my stuff during the one week period. I was a slave driver - one good enough to be a partner in the firm. This was the proof!)

Barnes made a note to schedule some extra service girls during the weekend, these guys were going to put in long mind-numbing hours and would need their service with a smile.

At that time, assuming there were no major issues, we would also talk about Samantha’s hyperbook idea for the brief. We planned to deliver the work to the client later that week and were committed to monthly updates for 6 months after that. That was part of the price of the project and it could be a profit killer for both sides because it had to be there. However, with a hyperbook using the web and the cloud those updates could become long-term monthly revenue, and not just for our one paying customer. The partners liked that idea of cashing several regular checks even if no changes (= work) was involved.

Barnes noted that this schedule allowed Saturday for my wedding and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday the August 19th for my “well deserved” honeymoon. Clearly I was a guy who could do difficult work on a tight schedule.

I would actually be in Peru, dealing with the Five, hopefully taking them alive to persuade them to turn over their assets to the Patron, which was the exact opposite of what they planned. But if they made the other choice and did not surrender I would have an M-113, a couple of recoilless riffles and troops who could cope with that as well.

The firm needed to know I was not available to chat during my “honeymoon.” I told Barnes he was to assume I was doing my honeymoon on a private submarine off Santa Catalina Island, coming to the surface only for fabulous meals. This was actually rumored to be possible with a new startup company working out the bugs, and he said it was a great idea. But the point was I would be out-of-touch.

I would actually return from Peru on a private jet, arriving around 7 Wednesday morning the 20th (damn the noise abatements laws) at Van Nuys or Hollywood/Burbank, depending on winds and traffic.

Barnes kidded about making me a partner on the 20th, since I would meet all the requirements. Of course, he was not kidding that much, we both knew my progress to a partnership was was in the final stages. Somewhere he got the notion that I was considering offers from other law firms. In the past the firm had always admitted new partners on January 1. However, with so many partners leaving the firm in the past few month an emergency change in policy adding partners September 1 was being considered. We all knew that some business meetings would occur on Friday August 29 during the 3 day extended social that was planned for the extended Labor Day weekend at the resort the firm booked. I assumed a vote would take place then. In line with that I needed to file some papers with the firm showing the financial arrangements for my equity. That was easy, I had the cash in the bank.

I was all set for these details, I would buy-in to the partnership in full right away, my report would showing plenty of capital resources. This would reduce suspicion on me when the firm suddenly and surprisingly went broke early next year. Cops don’t expect white-collar criminals to steal from themselves, especially when they have a list of cyber-suspects in North Korea, Pune, Estonia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc.

At the proofing meeting my mentor, Joe Pope, was not as affable as usual. In fact, Barnes had to call him on his general demeanor to everybody. I knew it was because of what had happened at Chronis, and afterward. I saved Amy from most of her whipping as well as the blackmail pictures Joe planned to get. Then, the next day there was the search order that blindsided and embarrassed him in front of his women. He felt that somebody had cheated him so he was distrustful of everybody. He was also feuding with Judge Stern about their power in the partnership if something happened to Barnes. The bottom line was the Pope was visibly not happy and Barnes had to have some words with him about putting these “outside and emotional” issues aside when the partner’s profits were at stake. The firm was investing 200 partner-hours in the project during the next 7 days, and they expected him to be on his game.

I did learn enough from Joe’s body language and expressions to know he was pissed off about Amy but did not suspect me as the responsible party. Kick, Barnes and I were some of the dozen or so law firm members who dated Amy “with overnight benefits” at Joe’s invitation during the last year, so I guess that he had some suspicions about who could be involved. Joe also knew that Amy had friends in the entertainment industry, like that short “Tom” fellow from the unlikely “Mission” movies, who could easily afford to buy her ass out of the whipping.

Also, she was an actress, so a drug dealer might be a fan. They also had ready cash, or so I have heard.

Late Wednesday evening I was copied on an email from Joe to all partners where he officially served notice to the firm that Amy was out of his house and would no longer participate as his wife-exchange partner. In the future he would attend the law firm social functions with “1 to 3 Church girls,” who were current on all medical and other requirements due to their “father’s” fucking them regular. (Church was not really sure, their mothers were slits. He hung his hat on that uncertainty while screwing their asses.) The 2 older Church girls were popular with some partners for the exchanges because they did any filthy sex act requested. (For example, one girl stretched her buns open for anal sex while the other got underneath to lick sodomite balls). They were usually a 2-for-1 deal. The third Church girl had never been to a law firm social. She recently came of age and, according to Pope “was broken in” for solo work before Frank Church died.