Chapter 40: Any Favor He Can Name

April 2, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“Husband and wife, huh?” Stephanie asked with a smirk when I walked into her office on Tuesday morning.

“It was a reasonable assumption,” I chuckled. “What more do we know?”

“Nothing really. Sam will be up in a few minutes with her report. I checked the Post website and the last update was last night that they think Clay may have left the state.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I replied. “Did Diane regain consciousness?”

“There were no updates about her; it still says she was in the ICU in ‘critical but stable’ condition.

“Which is a bullshit newspaper statement. Critical by definition means you AREN’T stable and are at serious risk of immediate death.”

“You know, I never asked, but what does Jess use?”

“‘Good’, which means vitals are stable and normal, and the patient is conscious and has an excellent prognosis. ‘Fair’, which is the same, though the patient is suffering some discomfort or had very recently been serious or critical, and the prognosis is good. ‘Serious’, which means vitals are unstable or abnormal, the patient is acutely ill, and the prognosis is questionable. Finally, ‘critical’, which is unstable or abnormal vitals, and possible lack of consciousness, with unfavorable prognosis.

“That’s it. Anything else you hear, like ‘guarded’ or ‘grave’ or ‘stable’, are bullshit terms used by TV and newspapers. And those words aren’t used except as a shorthand notation; if Jess is handing over a patient or calling a consult, she’ll list the problems, such as tachycardia, or a-fib, or low oxygen saturation, or whatever.”

“Weird. ‘Stable’ isn’t a condition, then?”

“Not really, because it’s vague. If you are ‘good’ or ‘fair’, you have stable, normal vitals. By definition, ‘serious’ and ‘critical’ are unstable or abnormal vitals.”

“So much for TV!”

“Yeah.”

Sam came to the door and Stephanie waved her in. Sam shut the door behind her and sat down.

“I can prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Clay’s involvement,” she said. “Kelly’s is murkier.”

“What did he do?” I asked.

“Saved a large amount of confidential material on a USB drive. That’s a slam dunk, because he had no reason at all to copy those files. He was able to access them because once design documents are approved, we share them with the entire development team, QA team, and support team, as well as the sales team, to solicit input. That’s always worked well, and this is the first reported instance of that kind of information leaking out. I actually set up a full email archive search that ran overnight and found no instances of any design documents mailed externally by anyone, since the last archive purge, which was just under three years ago.”

“And Kelly?”

“That’s where it’s murky,” Sam said. “She printed a lot of financial documents, and she probably could justify most, if not all, of them; Elyse would have to review the logs to see if my conclusions are correct, but I think they are, because they match fairly closely to what the accounting clerks here in Chicago and in Pittsburgh print. But I can’t say she took them from the office.”

“They’re supposed to be crosscut shredded,” Stephanie said. “So, either she failed to follow the policy and procedures, or they were purloined, which is going to be tough to determine.”

“I agree,” I said. “Sam, what about the discrepancy with the entry/exit logs?”

“The most logical answer is the ‘tailgating’ problem. We do not enforce a policy where everyone has to swipe their badge to enter. So if she entered with someone else, it wouldn’t show. Correlating her sign-ons and other entry swipes indicates that’s what happened. You might be able to conclude that she and Clay entered at the same time, but I didn’t find sufficient correlation to support that. In other words, it might be true, but I can’t prove it.”

“And a relationship between them?”

“No emails or messages, though there are some corresponding calendar entries for things like ‘drinks’ or ‘dinner’. And their vacation days correlate pretty closely for the past eighteen months.”

“What does your Spidey Sense say?” I asked.

Sam laughed, “They were having an affair, but we know that. Given what Clay did to his girlfriend, I’d lean towards either stealing documents from Kelly or coercing her to provide them. My money is on him threatening her. I doubt she’ll say anything before he’s in custody. Did they get him?”

“Not as of an hour ago,” Stephanie replied. “They think he fled the state.”

“Piano wire around the gonads and hung from a lamppost,” Sam said fiercely.

“Remind me never to truly upset you!” I chuckled.

“The chances of you hitting a woman under any circumstances, except perhaps during karate training, are zero, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“What do you think, Steve?” Stephanie asked.

“I think we have to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt,” I replied. “Have Liz, Bob, and Barbara speak with her. I don’t think we can wait for Clay to be in custody, because if he’s out of state, he’s going to have to make a mistake to be caught.”

“OK. That’s what I’ll do,” Stephanie said. “Sam, please send your report to Liz and Bob, with a ‘cc’ to me.”

“Not Steve?”

“No,” Stephanie said. “He’s not technically part of the management team. Bob and Liz will decide exactly how much we can share.”

“Got it,” Sam said.

“Thanks, Sam,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Stephanie added.

Sam left, closing the door behind her.

“So, if she doesn’t cop to being an accomplice, we let her stay?” Stephanie asked.

“I don’t see how we can do otherwise. But that’s Bob’s area of expertise, advised by Liz. They have to make that call. You’re free to override them, but I wouldn’t advise doing that.”

“You’re always my best advisor, Big Brother! What about further investigation?”

“Unless Kelly has something to say to us, or the LEOs find something, we’re at a dead end. I doubt Clay will fess up, because it’s not in his interest to do so. Possession of documents he’s not allowed to see or print is possibly a firing offense, but not a crime.”

“Speaking of him, are we terminating him?” Stephanie asked.

“He didn’t call in or show up for work two days running. On the third day, he’s automatically suspended. On the fifth, it’s ‘job abandonment’ and automatic termination, barring exigent circumstances. So we don’t need to do anything except fill out the necessary forms on Friday afternoon. Bob and Barbara will handle that.”

“What would you do if he’d been arrested and made bail?”

“It would be up to Barbara to determine if he was a threat to the safety of other employees. If so, she’d work with Bob on what to do about it. The employee manual is purposefully vague and gives HR significant leeway because every situation is unique. In the end, we’d have to act to ensure the safety of the staff.”

“I’m going to call Katy at Global Security and ask for an investigator in Denver.”

“Check with James Schaefer before you do that,” I suggested. “He may have a contact on the police force.”

“OK. I’ll do that. But we need to prove it was Braun, if we can.”

“I’d like that,” I said, “but, in the end, Cindi is going to take them down, and then you’re going to take them all the way out. ‘Sonny at the Causeway’.”

“What about Volstead and Braun?”

“I need to speak with an attorney in Ohio, and not one from Ben van Hoek’s firm. I’ll ask Deborah privately for a recommendation. I don’t want Ben implicated in what I intend to do.”

“Isn’t that risky?”

“You heard what Mr. Schaefer said. I need to find an attorney with a similar attitude in Ohio.”

“What about the statute of limitations?”

“Effectively, there isn’t one. Any conduct, at any point in their lives, is appropriate to judge the fitness of an attorney to practice. And, worst case, their reputation is trashed.”

“And when they come after you, guns blazing?”

“And do what? I’m willing to bet an NDA to hide criminal activity by a lawyer will be considered invalid, especially in light of everything else Volstead and Braun have done to specifically target me.”

“Barratry?”

“I learned with Littleton that even a hint of substance is enough to overcome barratry charges. You’d need a string of frivolous suits to even think about bringing a claim like that, and even then, most likely you would lose. I’ve heard that from Jamie, Deborah, both Bens, and others over the years. It’s possible Volstead and Braun might escape the ethics charges due to the length of time, but the reputation damage will be forever. I’m sure Stan or Jasmine have contacts at the Enquirer.”

“You’ll use the Press?”

“I’ll use every advantage I have. I’m done with these guys. You focus on Braun the lesser, I’ll take care of his dad.”

I left Stephanie’s office and went back to mine, where I picked up the phone and dialed Deborah’s direct extension, hoping to find her at her desk, which, as luck would have it, I did.

“I need a favor,” I said.

“Nobody else knows how to use their teeth the way I did?” she asked, laughing.

“Don’t tease!” I chuckled. “But to answer your question, no! But that’s not the favor.”

“What’s up?”

I extracted a promise of complete confidentiality, then explained the situation.

“OK, I knew something had happened to cause a falling out between Ben and his old firm; now I understand completely. The person you want to speak to is Carl McLendon. He’s a law professor and an ethics expert. He can give you far better advice on lawyer discipline than I’m able to.”

“Is he going to take a call from a random businessman in Chicago?”

“I think he would. That doesn’t mean he’ll speak with you in detail, but I’m reasonably sure you’ll at least get him on the phone.”

“OK. Contact info?”

I jotted down the number, then she and I spoke for a few minutes about her kids and my kids, I sent my love to Krissy, and then we said ‘goodbye’. I pressed the button on the phone to disconnect the call, then dialed the number she’d given me. I reached a secretary at UC who took down my details and promised to have Professor McLendan call me, which he did just over an hour later.

“I’m going to assume you have some kind of tangible evidence, beyond the NDA,” he said, once I’d explained the situation.

“I do. I have sworn affidavits from several of the companies who paid the younger Braun for illegal licenses for our software, as well as proof that the original copy of the software came from Volstead and Braun, along with notes made during our conversations.”

“I’d need to read the NDA and settlement documents before I could comment in any substantive way. I’m going to assume there’s no admission of guilt?”

“Correct. They denied any involvement, but our investigation turned up enough information, and they said enough, to confirm they were involved.”

“But no hard proof of any attorney actively or even passively supporting the scheme?”

“I’m not an attorney, obviously, but I’d say it’s all circumstantial.”

“Then the complaint will likely go nowhere. Even if there’s an inquiry, they’ll deny it and blame the younger Braun, who isn’t an attorney. Unless the younger Braun turns his coat against his dad, the State Bar Ethics Committee will dismiss the claims. At that point, you could be open to legal action for violating the NDA, though, given the circumstances, that action would likely lead nowhere.

“As I think about it, it would be foolish for them to come after you, because at that point, in court, you could subpoena anyone and any records, which would put the attorneys in question at risk of something being revealed, AND provide bad PR for them. So, I think you could probably get away with violating the NDA, but you’d most likely gain nothing and make enemies. My advice is to let it drop, as, without tangible evidence of actual ethical violations, the Committee will have to dismiss the charges.”

“No ‘cover-up’ claims?”

“Think about their side of the story, as they’ll tell it. They represented the younger Braun and obtained a settlement to avoid a civil case or possible criminal charges against him for stealing your software. That’s a perfectly legitimate way to represent someone. It’s similar to embezzlement, in that if the company declines to press charges, the State, generally, won’t, and sometimes can’t, bring charges. So in this case, they would say they weren’t covering up a crime, so much as facilitating a settlement to avoid your firm making a complaint to a prosecutor for behavior which might, or might not, be illegal, depending on how one read the laws fifteen years ago.

“Remember — it would be the laws regarding copyright in force at the time which would govern. It’s not clear that the original Computer Fraud and Abuse Act would apply, as the computer networks of the day were local only, not interstate. That would mean copyright laws, which, at the time, were not settled with regard to computer software. So, a reasonable attorney at the time would consider that it might, or might not, be a crime, and do his level best to avoid finding out. That’s not a cover-up; that’s good lawyering. And that’s how they’ll spin it.

“As for any of the other actions against you, they were taken as investors, not as attorneys, and while it’s possible for investment activity to run afoul of the ethics provisions, discipline is almost always preceded by some sort of government investigation. The cases which are not a result of SEC or IRS actions tend to be a conflict of interest, and those are rare because attorneys know full well that their livelihood depends on putting their client first. They’ll generally recuse if there’s any hint of a conflict.”

“Thanks for your time, Professor.”

“Always happy to help someone understand the ethics rules for attorneys.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up. I contemplated my next course of action and decided to call Katy at Global Security.

“Good morning, Comrade Colonel!” I said when she came on the line.

“Will you just stop!” she said, laughing, with just the barest hint of a Russian accent.

“How are you, Katya Sergeyevna?”

“Very good, Steve,” she replied mirthfully.

“I love how you and Lyusya have basically switched personalities in that regard.”

“You’re still planning to see her in July?”

“Yes. I spoke with her last week, so I know the surprise.”

Katy laughed, “I had wondered if they would ever get around to that.”

“Ready to be a «бабушка»?” I asked.

“I am. So, what is it you need?”

“An update to the dossiers you prepared on the Brauns and Volstead, but also on EB Systems and Knowles and Jackson. I’ll send you the details about those two firms.”

“What am I looking for?”

“Anything I can use to my advantage,” I replied. “I am very interested in any legal proceedings, civil or criminal, and anything financial. For the companies, complete employee lists, ownership information, and so on.”

“I will get my team started!”

“Thanks, Katya.”

🎤 Stephie

“What are you all doing here?” I demanded when Ashley, Amber, Susie, and Allison came into the bedroom I shared with Ashley.

“This is an intervention!” Allison declared. “We’re sick and tired of you being a bitch and it has to stop! Now!”

“Oh, right!” I said sarcastically. “Nicholas is a jerk, and it’s MY fault!”

“Nicholas didn’t DO anything,” Amber protested. “He got sick and tired of you bossing him around like a servant! I mean, MAYBE that would be OK if you let him fuck you, but even then, that’s not how ANY of us behave!”

“There is no chance on this planet he’s getting anywhere near that part of me! Not until he apologizes!”

“For what?” Ashley asked. “Not wanting to be treated like a slave?”

“And PMS is no excuse now!” Amber declared. “You’ve had your period for a few months and you have Midol!”

“Whatever!” I declared. “All of you are taking Nicholas’ side! Get out!”

“Stephie, nobody wants to play with you,” Amber said. “Can’t you see that?”

“Because you all sided with Nicholas! He’s the jerk!”

“Let’s go girls,” Ashley said. “I told you it was no use.”

They all left. I was SO frustrated that everyone was taking Nicholas’ side and nobody would even listen to me. He was the one who had changed, not me! I had our entire life planned out and everything was perfect until he stopped doing what I wanted! But that was HIS loss, because I could find a new boyfriend. And then he’d be jealous and come begging and I could tell him to get lost!

🎤 Ashley

“I told you it was hopeless,” I said. “She won’t even talk to Nicholas. All she does is glare at him, and he doesn’t care.”

“Why should he?” Amber asked. “I mean, if she let him fuck her or was blowing him, MAYBE he’d be interested! But being bossed around and NOT getting to play with the kitty? No way!”

“Is that what you plan to do?” Allison asked.

Amber laughed, “You don’t have to be mean about it! Boys will do almost anything to get you to put your lips on their dicks! Ask the President!”

We all laughed, partly because we’d all known what a ‘blowjob’ was, even though we were all four, five, or six. It had been so much fun watching some of our friends’ parents flip out about having to explain it.

“You?” Susie asked.

“Not yet,” Amber replied. “I mean, I’m only twelve. I’ll be thirteen in July. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it!”

“We all do!” Susie said. “And the boys sure do!”

“Which is to our advantage!” Amber declared. “We’re always in control because it’s easier for us to get what they have than for them to get what we have! And we can use that to our advantage, but without being bitches about it like Stephie!”

“So what do we do?” Allison asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” I replied. “I mean, it’s not like Nicholas is going to agree to do whatever she wants whenever she wants, and I think she plans to be a total bitch to the entire world until he does.”

“Ugh,” Allison replied.

“You don’t have to live with her!” I replied, shaking my head.

🎤 Steve

After dinner, Kara, Jessica, Suzanne, and I went to the ‘Indian’ room to chat.