Our Little Secret Ch. 04

"I'm not following," Joel said.

"Who made this happen?" she asked with the same edge in her voice. This deal was too good to be true, and she wasn't buying it. There had to be an angle Joel wasn't revealing. "Who put this deal together? I don't mean the benefactor. Who went to the benefactor and persuaded him to spend a three hundred and fifty thousand dollars on someone he doesn't know to defend a crime he can't be associated with? Who convinced such a high powered law firm to on take a case like this one? Who engaged the best PR firm in the city? Who is the power broker behind all this? Who will we owe when this is all over?" She was wrong about the high powered law firm. As Terrance explained, the power was in the money, not the law. They'll defend anyone who can afford them.

"I guess that's me," Joel shrugged. "And you owe me nothing."

"You!" Len Carroll, Christina's Father, accused. "You spoke with the benefactor!" he challenged incredulously.

"I met with the benefactor on Wednesday," Joel nodded. "I met with the law firm on Thursday."

"Let's assume I believe you for argument's sake," Gail challenged sharply, "just who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Because I care," Joel answered softly.

"And you will swear before a judge," she cautioned him, "that we owe you nothing."

"I'll swear before a judge or anyone you want," Joel offered without hesitation. "But I will not reveal the name of the benefactor. If you need that, the deal is off."

Gail was leading the charge. Everyone deferred to her authority, and waited silently for her to make the next move. She looked into Joel's eyes with a steely stare for several seconds. Finally she spoke with a gentler voice. "You really did save all those people on that plane, didn't you?"

"I think my contribution was overstated," Joel offered honestly.

"You don't seem to know your own worth, Mr. Winkman," Gail accused him with her sharp tone again.

"That's a character flaw I'm willing to live with," Joel said quietly. "Listen," Joel pivoted the subject, "this isn't about me. This is about these three young ladies," he gestured to Christina, Mary, and Kelsey. "Now, as I said before, you can advise them, but the decision is theirs and theirs alone"

"I'm in," young Christina chimed in for the first time, putting up her hand to vote.

"Me too," Kelsey agreed, and put up her hand also.

"Make that three," Mary raised her had.

"Okay," Joel nodded. "I'll let the law firm know today. Plan to be ..."

"Hang on a sec," Len Carroll interrupted. "We've already hired a lawyer, and so have Bob and Cheryl," he said, gesturing to Kelsey's parents. "And Mary has a public defender. Is that right, Mary?" he asked, looking at her. Mary nodded. "What happens to our lawyers?"

"It's called attorney substitution," Joel had gone through that in his meeting with Terrance. "The three girls will direct their existing lawyers to give way to the incoming law firm. It happens all the time. The law firm will go over that with the girls on Monday, I expect," Joel added.

"And who pays our old lawyers' bills?" asked Cheryl Danton.

"I can't help you there," Joel opened the palms of his hands. "All I can suggest is, by substituting now, the fees won't get any higher." The parents felt cheated somehow, paying for a lawyer they didn't need, but they didn't pursue it.

"Okay," Joel pressed on, looking at the girls. "You will be picked up at eight o'clock on Monday morning. Each of you at your own individual houses. Wear casual clothing."

"They're getting picked up?" Gail Carroll asked.

"Every morning," Joel nodded, "and every evening they'll be dropped off. These are very attractive, young women in a high profile case with sexual overtones. Absolutely no one is taking any chances."

"Will they be armed?" Len Carroll asked. "I mean, the drivers?"

"The driver, no," Joel explained, having reviewed all of this with the David Tang. "There will be a private escort."

"An armed private escort?" he clarified. Joel nodded.

"And what if they start mobbing our houses?" Gail asked. "What if an armed escort is not enough?"

"I've already considered that," Joel explained. "The law firm has an entire security department taking care of that. They have a safe house, just in case. They do this all the time."

"I'll bet they do," Bob chuckled, knowing how many high profile murder and rape trials they had defended.

"And all of this is part of the deal you brokered, that the benefactor is paying for," Gail challenged "The money, the lawyers, the drivers, the armed security, the safe house, the PR firm. This is all you?" Joel nodded. She remained silent, reserving her judgement.

"Did the law firm tell you how much the case would actually cost?" Len Carroll asked.

"The law firm doesn't want to go to trial," Joel explained. "It is better for everyone if they settle out of court. In that case, they won't come close to spending the quarter million." Joel paused. "Oh," Joel remembered, "I forgot. We will spend the hundred thousand for the PR firm to help the girls get their lives back, no matter what happens on the legal side. That money is fully committed. And if the PR firm says they need more, they'll get it. Guaranteed."

Joel paused. "Where was I? Right ... if this DA is spoiling for a fight, McTavish, Taylor, and Strong will bring a world class defense to his door like the DA has never seen before. He told me he will put all five hundred of his associates on the case if he needs to, and he will bury the DA in so many tons of briefs it will make the pyramids of Egypt look like ant hills by comparison. Those were his words."

"Who did you speak with at the law firm?" Gail asked.

"Terrance Strong," Joel answered plainly.

"That would be Terrance Strong, the named partner in McTavish, Taylor, and Strong?" she asked. Joel nodded.

"Did Mr. Strong tell you what the actual costs might be – in the worst case?" Len Carroll asked again.

Joel realized, he got sidetracked off the answer last time. "His plan is to hit the DA so hard, so fast that the DA will want anything but a trial. But he told me if it goes to trial, and if it gets complicated and drawn out, even relatively minor charges like these, the legal costs ..."

"These are not minor charges!" Gail shouted angrily. Her face went red. "My daughter has been accused of prostitution. There is nothing remotely minor about that!"

"I'm sorry," Joel put his palms up in surrender. "I didn't mean to offend you. I only meant that, in the state of Massachusetts, prostitution is considered a misdemeanor, and is therefore prosecuted as a minor offense. I was not suggesting any incorrect about your daughter's good character."

"I should hope not!" she barked angrily.

Joel was thrown off his stride by Gail Carroll's outburst. "I forgot what I was saying," he offered.

"The legal costs," Len Carroll reminded him again.

"Right!," Joel remembered. "Terrance Strong warned me in the worst case the legal costs could reach two million five. That's on top of the PR firm. I've already alerted the benefactor, and I have received a solid guarantee that is not a problem."

The room fell deathly quiet. "Holy fucking Christ!" Bob Danton broke the silence, breathing hoarsely. Kelsey shot a look of astonishment at her father – she had never before heard him swear.

"Amen," Len Carroll nodded somberly.

"Isn't it in the law firm's interests to go to trial and make more money?" Cheryl Danton asked.

"No," Joel shook his head. He had asked exactly the same question in his meeting with Terrance. "In the long run, winning makes law firms more money than losing, regardless of the fees they earn in any particular case. If they can win without going to trial, they prefer that over risking a guilty verdict."

"Amen again," Len proclaimed.

No one had any more questions. Joel took that as his cue. "Okay, then," he stood up. "Christina," he looked at her, "you still have my cell number?" She nodded. "Please share it with everyone in the room." She nodded again.

"Mister Winkman," Gail Carroll started, still with an edge to her tone "I'm sorry if I was cross with you. Understand how wretchedly emotional this is for all of us. If anything, I should be thanking you."

Joel drew in a long breath. "This isn't going to be easy. I don't need to tell you the internet is buzzing with pictures and videos. Aside from the social nightmare that is already causing for your girls, there is a mountain of compelling evidence against them." He drew on his meeting from Terrance, who didn't mince words. "There is a risk this will go to a highly publicized trial. And with that much evidence to deal with, it could be a protracted and ugly trial. This kind of coverage brings out the worst in people. They will say and do incredibly mean and stupid things on TV, on the Internet, and in person."

Joel looked across the faces of all the parents. "All of you need to stand behind, beside, and in front of your girls, no matter what other people say and do. You need to be there for them on horrible days when they are cross examined to tears. You need to stand tall, proud, and strong for them on days when people testify about how they climbed atop a bar and stripped naked for everyone to see. You need to convince them there actually is a tomorrow when they can't see their way through to the end of today. If this goes to trial, you will want to kill me."

No one in the room had dry eyes, including Gail. Cheryl Danton walked to where Mary was sitting, reached down, and hugged Mary and Mary hugged her back. They stayed in a silent embrace for a long time. Cheryl pulled back and looked into Mary's wet eyes. "You're living here with us," she proclaimed. It was not a suggestion. Mary nodded with tears flowing.

They all thanked Joel as he left the meeting. He felt good for doing at least that much. But he felt worse because he knew it wasn't enough. A not-guilty verdict wasn't impossible, but Terrance Strong warned him it was not assured. Not to mention the emotional mutilation a trial would wreak on the three young women and their families. Chances are it wasn't going to trial anyway, bit even if all charges were dropped immediately, the girls could not go shopping, let alone get a job, for fear of being stalked by horny men and hounded by outraged women. Their lives, as they knew it, were over, and none of it was their fault. And whoever did this was going to get away with it.

He was going to get away with it. That bothered Joel more than anything else. Three ruined lives, and the real culprit walked away unscathed. Unnoticed. Invisible.

He was going to get away with it.

That had to change.

That is most certainly going to change.

- - - End of Chapter 4 - - -