Chapter 7: Custody Battle

January 28, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Jesse

“What a bunch of bullshit!” I exclaimed after I snapped my phone closed.

“What are you going to do if she moves back to Illinois?” Libby asked.

“I have no idea,” I replied.

“Did you ever meet her dad?”

“No. I met her stepdad, Stan, but never her biological dad. That’s who filed the petition. Dad doesn’t know too much more about it, because he’s still waiting to hear back from Ms. Meyer.”

“What was that about a restraining order?”

“Just Francesca’s mom being her usual bitch self. Dad said Ms. Meyer is going to tell the court not to grant the restraining order because I haven’t done anything.”

“So, if she came back...”

“As I said, I don’t know. I don’t really want the drama that would go along with that. I have plenty of time to think about it because the case will take months, I guess.”

“Does Francesca get to decide?”

“She can tell the court what she wants, but they don’t have to do that.”

“She’s going to be royally pissed if you don’t get back together.”

“She’s already royally pissed because I told her to go home.”

“I bet she gets over that if she’s allowed to live with her dad.”

“Probably. Let’s get our lunches and join the gang.”

🎤 Birgit

“May I speak to you, please,” I said to Sensei Jim from the door to his office when we arrived at the dojo on Monday evening. “Privately.”

“Come in.”

I stepped in, bowed, shut the door, and sat down across from him.

“What can I do for you?”

“On Friday evening, I used my karate skills in self-defense. My friends and I were at Water Tower Place, and a much older guy, older than my dad, said he wanted to have sex with me. I told him to leave me alone, but he didn’t, and when he put his hand on my shoulder, I kicked him in the groin. He was arrested, and the police interviewed me and my friends about it.”

Sensei Jim looked very angry, but as soon as he spoke, I knew he wasn’t angry at me.

“You’re OK, right?” he asked, using his gentle voice.

“Yes. He had barely touched me when I kicked him.”

“Birgit, I will NEVER tell a young woman how to defend herself against that kind of degenerate behavior. You know the rules, and he touched you, so at that point, you were within your rights both as a young woman and a karate student to put him down hard, if that’s what you thought was necessary.”

“Mom, the medical doctor, said he was probably hurt pretty badly, but the police didn’t tell us.”

“Between you and me, and only inside this office, I hope so. Any man who preys on young women deserves to be shown the error of his ways.”

“I told the police I’d testify because I don’t want him doing that to any other girls. Dad and Mom both said it was very likely he’d tried it before.”

“I suspect they’re right. Have you talked to anyone about it?”

“Mom and Dad. If you mean a counselor, no, but I don’t need one. I wasn’t hurt, and I’m not scared of going out or anything. I mean, he didn’t do anything but touch my shoulder.”

“I’ll speak to your birth mom, OK? just to make sure.”

“OK,” I agreed.

“Then go line up, please.”

“Yes, Sensei!”

January 29, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“Steve, I have Gwen Meyer on the phone for you,” Kimmy said on Tuesday morning.

“Put her through, please.”

A few seconds or later, Gwen was on the line.

“I filed an appearance this morning with the Family Court, as well as a motion opposing the restraining order. We have Judge Judith Morgenstern, who I’ve appeared before, and who I feel has a balanced view on paternal custody.”

“OK. I’m not concerned about the custody battle, really, just about Carol being a bitch.”

“Unfortunately, those often go hand-in-hand. I’m sure you know from the case with the young woman from your dojo that these kinds of adversarial proceedings are, well, adversarial and often nasty.”

“Will Jesse be involved at all?”

“I can’t imagine so, though Ms. Corday might try to get DCFS involved to prove he’s some kind of threat to Francesca. May I ask a pointed question?”

“You’re my attorney,” I replied. “And Jesse’s.”

“Were they intimate?”

“And you know my response to questions like THAT!”

“Yes, but Carol claims they were, so that may need to be addressed.”

I sighed, “I think you need to ask Jesse that question.”

“I’m going to take that as a ‘yes’. He’s fifteen, right?”

“Yes, though he turns sixteen on Saturday.”

“And how old is Francesca?”

“She’d be sixteen now,” I replied. “She’s several months older than Jesse.”

“OK. It’s very unlikely the Court would do anything other than take notice of the facts, though Carol might try to file a complaint with the police to bolster her case.”

“Shit!” I swore.

“Unless Francesca says Jesse assaulted her, it’ll go nowhere at all. No prosecutor is going to try a case like that. When was the last time they might have been together?”

“Assuming for the sake of argument that they were, it would have been before Francesca moved to Iowa in July 2000. When she ran away the first time, and came here, Jesse called Melanie Spencer, who called Pete Carston, who liaised with the FBI to take Francesca home.”

“So they would have been fourteen, then?”

“Yes.”

“That might cause DCFS to open an investigation. At fifteen, with kids within a year of each other, they very likely wouldn’t do anything. At fourteen, they’re going to at least talk to the kids.”

“I’m not going to stand for that, Gwen.”

“The only thing you could do would be to file a complaint that Francesca abused Jesse.”

“OK, I’m not doing that under any circumstances because it’s not true. That said, if DCFS shows up at the house, Jennifer and Josie are going to go ballistic, a fact of which I am sure you are aware. And let me ask you this — what is DCFS going to do if they were to believe Jesse was sexually active?”

“Usually, not much, IF the parents don’t know about it. If they were to discover that Jesse was having sex in the house, and that you or his moms are aware AND condone it, the three of you could be in serious trouble, and there’s a chance they’d try to take all your kids.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it!”

“What I know, or believe, and what you know or believe, has nothing to do with what the law says, and what DCFS is authorized to do if they determine a child is in danger.”

“How do we head this off?” I asked.

“I’m not sure you can, because there is nothing to prevent Carol from making the accusation.”

“So my kids’ futures depend on the behavior of an unhinged woman?”

“You could put it that way, yes.”

“OK. Then we need to get in touch with Stan Blair, Carol’s ex. I believe he’ll happily testify that she’s completely unhinged about Francesca and Jesse, and that she would lie to try to maintain custody. You’ll also want to get the reports from the FBI as well as Marshal Carston about her behavior when Francesca ran away. And I’ll give you a deposition myself.”

“I’m not sure what that does.”

“Ensures she loses custody,” I said. “If she tries to hurt me or Jesse, we’ll make damned sure Family Court will rule against her. You know the story — her behavior has been irrational. The only question is how we make her aware of this.”

Gwen was quiet for a moment.

“I don’t think we can. You think that if she’s going to lose custody, she’s going ‘scorched earth’, right?”

“Yes.”

“Which means she has nothing to lose if you appear to threaten her chances of winning.”

“Damn it, Gwen! There MUST be a way out of this!”

“Only if Ken Corday withdraws his custody petition. I don’t get the idea from Wayne Northrup that he’d do that. Francesca impressed on him just how crazy her mother has acted in the past eighteen months. He thought she moved there for a job, after she divorced her second husband. Would you back off in his case?”

“No,” I admitted. “I should have fucking slept with Carol when she came on to me fifteen years ago.”

“I’m not sure how that would have helped.”

“She might not have been nearly so insane by the time Francesca turned fourteen.”

“All you can do now is sit tight,” Gwen said. “Unless you want to file a complaint against Francesca.”

“I don’t, but Jennifer and Josie may have a different viewpoint. Let me discuss this with them. I told them about the custody battle, but now I have to tell them about what could happen to Jesse and it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Don’t do anything rash, Steve. You don’t want to provoke Ms. Corday, nor give the Judge or DCFS any reason to act. If Carol does, then we’ll deal with it.”

“No rash actions,” I said.

“Good. I’ll speak to Wayne and see what he thinks.”

“Thanks, Gwen.”

We hung up, and I dialed M & M and asked for Jennifer.

“I’m buying you lunch,” I said. “See you at noon.”

“What’s going on?”

“We need to talk about Carol Corday.”

“I’m going to k...”

I quickly cut her off before she could complete the sentence.

“Jen, wait until we speak at lunch, please. And don’t call Josie until we have our conversation.”

“Fine,” Jennifer replied flatly.

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, wondering if there was anything at all I could do. While I was thinking, a call came into my direct line and I picked it up.

“Steve Adams.”

“Steve, it’s Jamie. Mike relayed your message, and I called the attorney and let him know. He laughed and said he’d get back to me.”

“Who is the attorney?”

“Someone out of Delaware, not one of your clients. I checked with Cindi before calling you.”

“Is there any way to find out who he’s representing?”

“We could try finding who he’s represented in the past, but that would take some serious effort. Does it matter at this point?”

“Curiosity,” I replied.

“I’d say your theory that it’s related to Braun is right, and I’d bet you anything the search wouldn’t turn up any direct links. We’d have to look for common clients, that kind of thing, and that’s not easy to do. I’d say just sit tight and see if they counter.”

“That’s a firm number, Jamie.”

Jamie laughed, “Oh, I know, but as you say, everything is negotiable. I suspect they’ll think it’s simply a negotiating tactic and come back with a number that’s a reasonable multiple of their estimate of your earnings. Heck, they may even have the number because any ex-employee would know the financials from before they left, and you’d have a hell of a time finding out who spoke, let alone enforcing the penalty clauses of the NDA.”

“Oh, I know,” I replied. “And we’ve had more turnover than in the past, but that’s just a function of our size. Anyway, you know the other conditions for even considering an offer — I have to know the actual principals, and they can’t hide behind an LLC. And a clause which says that any attempt at a merger, sale, or any other transfer of ownership in the first five years triggers a penalty clause that allows me to buy NIKA back from them for what I personally made from the sale OR incurs a penalty of twice what they paid for NIKA.”

“Nobody is going to agree to that, and you know it!”

“No shit, Jamie. But I actually WOULD sell under those conditions, because everyone at NIKA profits from it, AND I know for a fact most people will quit. Oh, and I won’t sign a non-compete, either.”

Jamie laughed, “I don’t think even the Brauns, if they’re behind this, would consider THAT!”

“I actually want to know who’s behind it, so I hope they do counter. If they do, tell them the counter-offer has to come with the complete information about the principals, or I won’t consider it.”

“I’ll do that! Are you managing without Liz there to babysit?”

“Barely,” I replied with a wry smile he couldn’t see. “Francesca’s mom is likely to try to make trouble for Jesse and me because Francesca’s dad filed for custody at Francesca’s request. I have Gwen Meyer on it.”

“She’s good, though I hear rumors she’s planning to retire in a year or two.”

“That’ll suck. Anyway, let me know if you hear anything, otherwise, I’ll see you at Guys’ Night.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I let Kimmy know I’d be leaving for Naperville about 11:00am. Before getting back to work, I checked for any updates on the crash of TAME Flight 120, which had crashed into a volcano on approach to Tulcán, Ecuador, the previous day, killing everyone aboard. Reports stated that there had been fog, and the pilot had apparently flown a wrong approach in the poor visibility.

🎤 Jesse

“Jesse, do you have a sec?” Kenzie asked, coming up to me in the hall between classes.

“Barely,” I said. “I don’t want to be late for class.”

She pulled me into a small space between the groups of lockers.

“I got my test results,” she said. “See you Thursday?”

“Yes. You could come for dinner, if you wanted. We eat at 6:00pm.”

“You’re sure your moms are OK with that?”

I chuckled, “My moms are OK with what you REALLY want to do!”

“That’s hard to believe!”

“It’s true. I need to get to class before the tardy bell rings. Be at my house by 5:45pm on Thursday.”

“OK!” she gushed.

I quickly walked to class and sat down. None of my close friends were in my Spanish class, though I knew a few of the kids pretty well. One of them, though, was Riya Kassidy, the girl who Libby had suggested was interested in me. The plusses were that she was a cute redhead with green eyes and very nice boobs; the major minus was she was Mr. Kassidy’s daughter. She sat to my right, one seat back, due to us being seated alphabetically. That made it easier for Mrs. Perez, our Spanish teacher, to know attendance without calling the roll.

Riya came in just before the bell rang, and when she walked past my desk, she dropped a folded piece of paper on it. I really wanted to look at it, but the bell rang, and if Mrs. Perez saw me looking at a ‘passed note’ she’d reprimand me and I’d get a mark in her grade book, so I put it in my shirt pocket to read at lunch, which I had right after Spanish this quarter.

When the class ended, I quickly went to my locker, put my books and notebooks in, then closed it and spun the combination dial to lock it. I started walking towards the lunchroom and pulled the note from my pocket. I laughed when I read it, because it said what I’d expected it to say, though not the exact words.

I want the same thing Kenzie wants! Call me after school, but before 5:00pm. <3 Riya

She had written her phone number at the bottom of the note. I folded it, put it into my pocket, and continued to the lunchroom, where I got in line right behind CeCe.

“I got my results!” she exclaimed. “See you on Saturday at 11:00am?”

“Yes!”

“I’m really looking forward to it!”

“Me, too!” I agreed, imagining what those ruby lips would look like around my shaft.

[Naperville, Illinois] 🎤 Steve

“I AM going to put a hit out on her!” Jennifer exclaimed angrily when I had finished explaining.

“People who try that always get caught, because the ‘hitman’ is almost always a federal agent.”

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed, “But you, Mr. Adams, have the right contacts to actually make it happen.”

“Somehow I doubt Katya is going to condone, let alone arrange, ‘wet work’! Besides, the KGB often farmed that out to Bulgarians, and I don’t think Aimee’s dad has any Bulgarians in his company.”

“Seriously, Steve! I’ve had enough of that woman’s bullshit, just as you’ve had with Rachel’s mom!”

“We’re not out of the woods there just yet,” I said. “Carla might still do something to cause us trouble. I suspect not, but she could.”

“Yes, but in YOUR case, you and Rachel and everyone else just deny it, and it basically goes away. Sure, there might be some bad press, but you could handle that. Your reporter friends would make sure of that.”

“Maybe,” I replied. “They have to be very careful in that regard, and I’m not sure I could call in that kind of favor without putting them at risk. But, as I said, I think Carla is most likely out of our hair now that she’s disowned Rachel.”

“Jesse didn’t tell me exactly what happened, just that Carla had caught Rachel in a ‘compromising’ position.”

I almost laughed, because it wasn’t ‘compromising’ due to the fact that Rachel had intended Carla to see her having a threesome with two black guys.

“That’s the story I hear as well. If you want REAL details, ask Birgit or Tiffany. Those two and Rachel are inseparable.”

“We have to do something, Steve. If DCFS shows up, World War III will break out. You know how upset I am; Josie will make it her mission in life to destroy Carol and anyone else involved. And I know you want to protect Jesse as much as Josie and I do.”

“I know, but I can’t think of anything that won’t backfire and make things worse. Right now, DCFS isn’t involved, and we need to hope it stays that way.”

“Josie’s also going to be pissed that you didn’t tell us all of this yesterday.”

“Jesse promised to tell you both, and he did. I didn’t have any more information than what Jesse had until Gwen called me this morning and we talked it through.”

“Do you think Katya could dig up some dirt on Carol?”

“To what end? If you threaten her, she’s just going to lash out.”

“Won’t she do that anyway if she loses custody?”

“I suspect so,” I replied.

“Then WE have nothing to lose, either, because won’t the court side with what Francesca wants as they did with the girl from your dojo?”

“Very likely, but it’s not certain. Carol will try to convince the court how dangerous it is for Francesca to be in the same state as Jesse.”