Private Lives

“He wouldn’t have to look very hard to find stuff,” Gina said, sitting gingerly. “I’m unemployed, I can’t afford an apartment for us on my own, I’ve got a mountain of debt on three maxed-out credit cards, I—”

“Those debts were incurred by both of you,” Elizabeth said, thinking there were worse things than debt and homelessness that would be unflattering to Gina as a mother if Austin’s lawyer chose to use them. “Besides, you wouldn’t be in such desperate circumstances if Austin hadn’t forced you out of the firm. This is probably just harassment on his part and he doesn’t want Jesse at all, Gee. Deep down, it’s your claim to a financial settlement that’s driving him.”

“Maybe so, but I know he’ll try to take Jesse.”

“And Maude will argue that he’s been a sorry excuse for a father.”

“Nothing will stick,” Gina said bitterly. “Trust me. Somehow his lawyer will make me out to be a…a slut or something. And probably unstable, too.”

Although Elizabeth believed that was a very real possibility, she wouldn’t say it. As it was, Gina was dangerously close to meltdown from the stress of the breakup. In spite of the fact that Austin was cruel, insensitive and violent, there was clearly something about him that drew Gina.

Eight years ago, Gina had been hired as a paralegal at the law firm where Austin’s father was a senior partner. Why he had fallen for her was understandable. Gina was beautiful, a dark-haired, vivacious person with a sharp wit and ready smile. She was good at her job, too. In fact, Elizabeth had tried to persuade her to go to law school, but that would have meant time away from Austin. Still, it wasn’t long before Austin’s controlling ways and ungovernable temper took some of the bloom off the romance and dashed Gina’s rosy expectations. He wouldn’t marry her, but he wanted her. Their life together was stormy and unpredictable, up one day, down the next. Crazy. Why she’d stayed in such a relationship still mystified Elizabeth. But now, because he was Jesse’s father, it made sense to tread carefully.

“Who is his lawyer?” Elizabeth asked.

“Wait’ll you hear,” Gina said gloomily. “It’s Ryan Paxton.”

“So? Who is he?”

“Just the best that Leggett, Jones and Brunson has when it comes to winning in court.” Gina got up to pace, rubbing her forehead and frowning. “I told myself it couldn’t be Ryan, at least I didn’t think he’d take on something like this. He’s not exactly a friend of Austin’s. In fact, I always got the feeling that he disliked Austin, or at least that he found him kind of…well, he didn’t have much respect for him. He knows Austin got into the firm through his father while everybody knows that Ryan is where he is because he’s smart, he works like a dog and he brings in a ton of clients.” She stopped and grabbed Elizabeth’s phone. “I’m calling Maude back. I need to warn her just how formidable Ryan can be in the courtroom.”

Elizabeth watched her dial, then listened as she spoke to Maude Kennedy. The conversation was brief and when she hung up, she knew by the look on Gina’s face that Maude had failed to reassure her.

“I’m in big trouble, Lizzie. Maude says she knows Ryan’s reputation and I’m right to be concerned. She wants me to think about what to say on the stand, but it’s hopeless. Ryan will wipe the floor with me.” Gina gave a choked cry. “The man’s a barracuda! He never loses.”

“Every lawyer loses once in a while.”

“Then for Ryan, it’s once in a very rare while. Frankly, I don’t recall him losing even once since he’s been with the firm.”

Elizabeth stood up. “Actually I see an advantage here, Gee.” She gave her a little push toward the door. It was time for lunch. Jesse had half a day at kindergarten and was now playing in the yard under Louie’s watchful eye, but she would be coming inside soon. She didn’t intend for the child to get wind of any stress, especially regarding her contemptible father. “If Paxton has been in the firm that long, then you’re hardly a stranger to him. No matter what gossip he hears, it’s facts he must present in court.”

Gina was still wringing her hands. “I can’t count on that. I was a paralegal, not a lawyer, and I worked exclusively for Austin. When it comes to taking the side of some lowly ex-employee at LJ and B over someone whose father is Curtiss Leggett himself, guess who’ll come out on top?”

“Austin forced your resignation from the firm, Gee. When he realized you planned to demand child support for Jesse, you had to go. Just as he forced you to move out of the house where the two of you have lived together for eight years. Maude will reveal all that in court. When this is over, you should file a civil suit against the firm. You have every right to bring your own case.”

“Hah! That’s all Austin is waiting for,” Gina said bitterly. “I can’t bear to think what he’ll do if I don’t just shut up and let him have his way.”

“Does that include handing Jesse over?” When Gina’s eyes filled with fresh tears, Elizabeth felt a pang of remorse. Gina knew what was at stake without being reminded. “I don’t think you need to worry too much about Paxton digging up dirt on you, Gee. He’ll be aware that you’ve been a conscientious employee. Knowing this, he’ll hardly go for your jugular.”

“You don’t know him.” Gina looked defeated. “Wait and see, he’ll destroy me.”

“I don’t care how you do it, just destroy her.”

Ryan Paxton placed his pen on the legal pad and leaned back in his chair, watching his fellow colleague stalk about the office, tight-lipped and furious. “That’s a pretty harsh statement, Austin.” Ryan glanced at the notes he’d taken. “Nothing you’ve said so far is going to give a judge sufficient cause to deny Gina compensation after a live-in arrangement that lasted eight years.”

“That’s why we have to destroy her.”

Ryan sighed with frustration. Austin Leggett was his client only because Curtiss Leggett, senior partner at Leggett, Jones and Brunson and Austin’s father, had approached Ryan and asked him to represent his son in “a delicate matter.” Curtiss wanted a quick, quiet and final resolution to a sticky situation without a hint of any unpleasantness to the firm. Ryan studied his notes. Making that happen was going to be tricky. Gina D’Angelo had been a paralegal at LJ and B and Austin had been shacking up with her for eight years. They had a child, a little girl, five years old. Now Austin wanted out of the relationship and he didn’t want any expensive consequences. Tuning out Austin’s ranting, he briefly considered telling Curtiss he wanted no part of Austin’s sleazy life. But as a partner in the firm, the reputation of LJ and B was as important to Ryan as it was to Curtiss. Too bad Austin didn’t have the same concern.

“I guess you didn’t consider the firm’s policy of non-fraternization when the two of you became lovers,” Ryan said to him now.

Austin shrugged. With his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, he looked like a petulant teenager being forced to discuss a misdemeanor. “We had some good times. In the beginning.”

“I hope it was worth a couple of thousand a month in palimony, buddy. Because that’s what I’d expect from you if I were her lawyer, plus child support.”

Austin was shaking his head, dismissing the possibility.

“Not a problem. The attorney she’s hired is some bleeding-heart female who specializes in family matters. You can run rings around her without half trying. Name’s Maude Kennedy.”

“I know Maude Kennedy. I’ve seen her in court where the only bleeding is from wounds inflicted by Maude herself. No, Austin, you’ve got to have something more than hostility and wishful thinking to get out of this one with your assets intact.” Ryan rested farther back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “Frankly, it’s the kid that complicates everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you didn’t have the little girl…” He moved forward, paged back in his notes, found a name. “Jesse, is it? If you didn’t have Jesse, Gina’s case would be a lot weaker. Come on, Austin, she’s your flesh and blood. You want to do the decent thing for your daughter, don’t you? It’s Gina you’ve fallen out of love with, not Jesse, right?”

Scowling, Austin resumed pacing in the cramped office. Ryan had a tendency to stack material on any empty surface, including the floor. Case files littered the thick carpet along with reference books, computer printouts and—Ryan winced—the empty pizza box from last night’s take-out when he had been burning the midnight oil on a real case, and not some irritating domestic dispute between two former lovers who now hated each other. But if the clutter hampered Leggett, or if he even noticed, he gave no indication. He was too intent on coming up with a strategy to stiff Gina, even if it meant his own daughter’s quality of life suffered.

“What if I sued for custody of Jesse?”

Ryan felt a pang of sympathy for the little girl. “You’d have to prove Gina unfit, since she’ll probably put up a fight. Mothers are funny that way,” he added dryly, but Austin was busy thinking and missed the irony in his tone.

“She had a rough upbringing.”

“Gina?”

“Yeah, she was raised in foster care. Lived with a dozen families, the way she tells it. Then struck out on her own when she was about sixteen. She’s been around the block more than once.”

“No crime there.”

“It shouldn’t be difficult to prove she isn’t the best role model for a five-year-old girl.”

“Starting with…?”

“Hell, I don’t know.” He rubbed both hands over his face. “There’s gotta be something. Nobody’s perfect.”

“You’d be the best judge of that after observing her as a mother for five years. I’ll need specifics and so far, I haven’t heard any. I don’t know Gina personally. Except for an occasional encounter in the halls, I don’t think we’ve ever talked. But she seems pretty solid to me. She’s a damn good paralegal, according to my assistant, Jean Johnson.”

“Yeah, well, give me a day or two and I’ll compile a list that’ll guarantee she’s unfit to mother a stray cat, let alone my daughter.”

“It has to have the ring of truth, Austin. You go at it from the angle of proving her unfit with bogus charges and Maude Kennedy will hang us both out to dry.”

“Well, shit!” Austin flung himself into a chair.

“For starters, Maude will produce a couple of character witnesses. I don’t need to remind you that they say nice things.”

Austin looked up. “But we’ll diss the witnesses, right?”

Ryan shrugged. “Depends. You’ll need to cast doubt on their veracity. But…I’m warning you, you screw that up, it could do your case big-time harm.”

Austin grunted with irritation, rubbing the fingers of one hand along his jaw, thinking. “I bet I know who she’ll call.”

Ryan clicked his pen, ready to write.

“She’ll probably persuade that tight-assed bitch she’s moved in with to lie about her on the stand. Those two are disgusting when they get together. And they’re together permanently now, just the way Elizabeth has always wanted it. I’ve always known she had the hots for Gina. Talk about feminism gone rampant.”

“She’s living with a lesbian?” Ryan jotted a note on the pad and added a question mark. It paid to take Austin’s statements with some skepticism.

“Wait’ll you meet her…and that old goat they’ve practically adopted next door. He’ll be witness number two. I tell you, it’s like a sixties compound over there when they all get together. Elizabeth writes, if you consider books for kids real writing, and the old man doesn’t do much of anything, far as I can tell. Mostly acts the doting grandfather. Wait and see, between the two, they’ll pressure him into swearing they’re all saints.”

Ryan put his pen down. “Have you considered the fact that her friends might actually be decent people? And that Jesse might be better off with surrogates who really love her?”

“You think I don’t?”

“I think you’re so obsessed with putting an end to your relationship with Gina that you’re in danger of losing sight of what’s best for Jesse. You can bet the judge won’t. That’ll be uppermost in his mind. And in his ruling.”

“All I’m obsessed with is blocking Gina’s plan to take me to the cleaners. Jesse’ll be fine with me. I—”

Ryan lifted a hand to halt him as the phone rang. A glance at caller ID showed his daughter’s cell phone number. Jennifer had strict instructions not to disturb him short of an emergency, but lately she’d been stretching the definition of emergency. He reached for the phone. Almost everything was an emergency to a fifteen-year-old girl, he thought with a sigh.

“What’s up, Jen?”

“Dad, did you call Mom like I asked you to?” Without waiting for a reply, Jennifer rushed on in a whiney voice. “She’s so impossible, Dad. She’s treating me like I’m ten years old or something.” Her voice climbed several notes in distress. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this!”

Ryan spun his chair to face the skyline. “Take what, Jen? And make it quick as I’m with a client and you know—”

“Excuse me, but I hope I’m equal to a client,” she said frostily. “I’m your daughter. Do I have to make an appointment to talk to you on the phone?” She drew an impatient breath and regressed to teenager mode again. “And you didn’t answer me. Did you talk to Mom or didn’t you?”

“I haven’t made the call yet, Jen, and I’m not sure what you thought it would accomplish anyway. Your mother has rules that seem reasonable to me.”

“You promised, Dad!” she cried shrilly.

Ryan shifted the phone a bit from his ear. “And I will, Jen. I just haven’t managed to get a—”

“Oooh, this is so…so…not okay! If you had to live with her every day you’d see what I’m talking about.”

“What exactly is the problem, Jen? How is she treating you like a baby? Be specific.”

“That sounds so like a lawyer,” Jennifer said with disgust.

“I am a lawyer,” Ryan said dryly.

“Well, here’s the problem.” He heard the bounce as she flopped on her bed. He pictured her settling back, taking her time—and his client’s—to spin her side of the latest battle between her and his ex. “Jeff Landon invited me to this party and I saw these really neat boots, but Mom just acted so…so…as if we were on food stamps or something. She said no. Just a flat no, I couldn’t have them, they were too expensive. That I—”

“Maybe you didn’t need them, baby.”

“I did! They were too cool. Via Spigas. Perfect with my new outfit.” She took a breath, dropping her tone. “It’s not just the boots, Dad. It’s that she doesn’t have time for me anymore. She’s got this new guy friend. He’s gross. He’s bald, Dad.”

“Jennifer, is this about new boots or about your mom’s new friend? And remember, I’m working. If you were a client, I’d be billing you big bucks.”

“Oh, funny, Dad. In other words, you don’t have time for me either, right? Mom doesn’t have time, you don’t have time. I don’t have any friends anymore. Jeff will probably dump me if I have to wear something old! If it weren’t for Mocha, I’d be totally alone in the world. My whole life sucks!”

Mocha was Jennifer’s chocolate lab. The aging dog had been faithfully devoted to her since she was five years old. Ryan swung back around, removed his reading glasses and tossed them on the desk. “So far I haven’t heard anything from you that sounds so awful,” he said, rubbing a spot between his eyes. “And don’t swear. You know the rule. And it goes for me as well as Diane, damn it.”

“Do as I say, not as I do, right?” Jennifer said sarcastically. “That just figures.”

“Tell Diane that I’ll be calling,” he ordered, his patience exhausted. “Tonight, provided she’s staying in.”

“I won’t hold my breath for either one of you,” Jennifer muttered.

He clamped his teeth, struggling to hold his temper. “I said I’ll call her, Jennifer. And be there yourself. You hear me?”

He winced as the phone crashed in his ear. She’d hung up on him.

“Problems?” Austin asked with a cynical twist of his lips.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Ryan said. “Jesse will be a teenager one day.”

“I can handle it.” Austin moved to the window. “I was thinking as you talked. What about this?” He turned to look at Ryan. “My mother’s been making noises about Jesse visiting with her now that Gina and I are finished. This guy she’s married to now is okay with it, she says. As far as TLC is concerned, there’s plenty of it waiting for her with them.”

Ryan frowned, trying to shove the dilemma of his own daughter in the back of his mind. If Jennifer kept this up, she was going to wind up in trouble. What the hell was the problem with her and Diane? His ex had demanded primary custody after the divorce, then after about six months, she’d remarried and moved to Dallas. Incredibly, less than two years later, she was divorced again. He didn’t claim to be a perfect father, but at least he was more stable than Diane. Still, it was hard trying to do the right thing by Jen long-distance. If he wasn’t fielding complaints from her about her mother, he was trying to soothe Diane as she whined about Jen. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and put his glasses back on and brought his thoughts back to Austin’s domestic problems. “Where does your mother live? Nearby, I hope.”

“Actually, it’s Arizona. But so what?”

“That’s a long way from Houston. Judges try to keep kids within reasonable traveling distance of both parents. You heard what just transpired between me and my daughter. It’s difficult when parents can’t share the ups and downs of raising a kid. If you remove Jesse from Gina’s immediate orbit, you’ll have to shoulder most of the responsibility. It can get sticky, take it from me.”

“I can handle that, too.”

Ryan took in a long breath and tucked the yellow pad with his notes into the file. “I don’t know, Austin. Unless you can come up with specifics to taint Gina’s character or cast aspersions on her as a mother, this won’t be a cakewalk.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Ryan. You could build a case against Mother Teresa in a courtroom. As for Gina’s faults, she’s got a million. It’s your job to sniff them out.”

He had two options, Ryan decided, squinting beyond Leggett to the stunning view of Houston’s skyline visible in the floor-to-ceiling windows. He could tell this insensitive prick to get someone else to do his dirty work, or he could show up in court, take a fresh, personal look at Gina and decide in his own mind whether Jesse was better off with her and her unconventional live-in, or with Austin’s mom. In spite of the fact that he’d seen Gina in the office for several years, he knew very little about her. The judge might be someone who frowned on unmarried couples cohabiting, much less having children. But whether the judge would consider that a strike against her remained to be seen. Poor little kid. It was a foregone conclusion that Jesse wasn’t going to have a future with her daddy regardless of the ruling by the court. The sheets were barely cool in the bedroom he’d shared with Gina and Ryan suspected he was already on the scent of a new lover.

“I’ll put something together about Gina and the witnesses,” Austin said, rising to go. “You can take it from there.”

Ryan stood up. “Make it good.”

Ryan handled three more appointments that day before finding time to open the folder containing the material Austin had furnished about Gina. He spent an hour reading Austin’s descriptions of the woman’s behavior over the years. Finishing, he groaned and rubbed both hands over his face. He preferred to avoid cases like this because of the courtroom carnage that resulted when couples decided to part. And once their lawyers got into the act, people who once viewed themselves as fairly well-matched were suddenly accusing each other of being evil incarnate. It had happened to him and Diane when they divorced, and Jennifer had been the victim. In spite of his efforts to provide some stability for his daughter, it had been traumatic for her. She’d been nine at the time. As for Diane, he’d been beyond caring about her then. Discovering her infidelity had killed his love for her outright.

He fingered the notes he’d taken earlier. Skewed, of course, to Austin’s point of view. He was primed to play hardball and if the allegations he’d made to Ryan were true, there should be little difficulty painting Gina as unstable and unfit. On the other hand, was Austin telling the truth?

Ryan paged over to the character witnesses. Louis Christian. The folder contained only a single sheet. Retired business consultant, the facts of his career going back fifteen or so years. Property records showed Christian’s house had been purchased three years ago, but Austin hadn’t been successful in ferreting out more details, not even a former address. Also missing was anything potentially damaging that might taint his testimony. A note from Maude Kennedy was clipped to the page. Christian respectfully asked to be deposed rather than to appear in court. Health reasons. With a shrug, Ryan scribbled a note to his secretary to call Maude and agree. If, after reading the deposition he noted anything that sent up a red flag, he’d force the witness to appear in person.

Ryan set that folder aside and opened the next one with Elizabeth Walker’s name printed on it. He paused for a moment, trying to capture a fleeting memory, but whatever it was danced just out of reach. The top page was a photocopied author bio, courtesy of her publisher, Ryan noted. So she wasn’t just some hack writer playing at writing kids’ books as Austin said. She was multipublished and award-winning. He quickly scanned the basics: born in Houston, graduate of city public schools, a master’s degree from the University of Texas. Brainy and successful, he realized, noting the string of honors mentioned in the bio. Attached to the bio was a photo. Her face was a perfect oval with high, model-quality cheekbones and a mouth that was wide and softly appealing. Kissable. But it was her eyes that caught and held the viewer’s gaze. In the black-and-white photo, they appeared crystallike in clarity, wide apart, the brows naturally arched. The color would have to remain a mystery, but he found himself wondering…blue, gray, hazel? No mention of a husband, siblings, hobbies or other interests in her life. In fact, there was so little personal information that he was suddenly curious.

Settling back he studied the face of Elizabeth Walker. A woman with a face like that could use it to her advantage. He wondered if she was that kind of woman.

Turning the photo facedown, he picked up the next item, a newspaper clipping, again photocopied. And recent, too, he noticed, with a glance at the date. A feature article in the Sunday edition of the Chronicle. He didn’t recall reading it himself, but he often played golf on Sunday and sometimes only glanced at the features section of the paper. As he began reading, the vague familiarity he’d been unable to grasp earlier suddenly came into hard focus. He swore softly, reading more intently, his eyes now flying over the words. The publisher’s bio had skipped the juicy stuff, but the Chronicle reporter hadn’t. Ryan shuffled through the pages and came across another photo, one that had been used in the feature. She was pictured in her office sitting at her computer. Live plants with cascading greenery enhanced her work area. She was surrounded by bookcases, all volumes neatly shelved. Small art objects and mementos were tastefully placed around the room. He peered closely at her. This time, she smiled. Too fixed to be natural, he thought. Clearly it had been produced on demand by a photographer.

He closed the folder and sat back, his frown as dark as the twilight swiftly falling over the skyline. Old pain stirred in his chest. Old rage. According to the article, Elizabeth Walker was the daughter of Judge Matthew Walker, a high-profile figure in Houston politics who’d died in a house fire in the late seventies. But it wasn’t that that interested Ryan. What he recalled about Judge Walker was more personal—Matthew Walker was the man responsible for his father’s death more than twenty-five years ago.

Three

“Let’s see if I understand you, Ms. D’Angelo.” Ryan Paxton gave the judge a small smile, two men sharing a male moment. “You claim you were physically abused by my client, not once, but several times during your…relationship?”