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“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?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Gina said, her tone almost inaudible. Both hands were knotted together in her lap. Elizabeth, watching from the front row in the courtroom, felt Gina’s distress. She looked pale and frightened. If only there was a way she could go to her, put a hand on her shoulder, encourage her with a warm hug. Gina had been right. Ryan Paxton was a barracuda.
A very attractive, confident, skillful barracuda. Gina’s words, but they were an inadequate description. Elizabeth simply hadn’t been prepared for the force of Ryan Paxton in person. He was younger than the mental image she’d conjured up. Not yet forty, she decided, closer to mid-thirties. Very impressive for the level of his success. He was Texas born and bred, of course, she knew it just from the look of him and the lazy drawl in his voice, although there was nothing lazy about his rapier sharp mind. His legs were long, his body well toned. His suit probably cost a couple of thousand dollars. When he moved around the courtroom—which he did a lot—it was with the rangy ease of a man who might have been born in a saddle. Likely a total misinterpretation, she thought with a quiet little snort. He was probably a lot more at home in Houston’s trendy Sierra Grille than either hunting, fishing or riding in Texas’s hill country.
“Speak up, please,” the judge ordered sternly.
The judge was worrisome, too. It was Gina’s bad luck that Lawrence Hetherington was presiding. He was known in legal circles as Lock ’em up Larry, notorious for his hard-nosed rulings. Gina had fared well during Maude Kennedy’s questioning, but she was literally trembling with fear now and Paxton was taking skillful advantage of it.
“Ms. D’Angelo?” the judge prodded.
Gina cleared her throat before replying. “Yes. Austin was abusive. Frequently.”
“But not so frequently that you quit shacking up with him, right?” Ryan quizzed.
“Objection, Your Honor!” Maude Kennedy was on her feet.
“Sustained,” the judge intoned. “Mr. Paxton, watch yourself.”
Ryan strode to a table, flipped open a folder and took out a sheet of paper. “This is a list of every hospital and emergency room within a fifty-mile radius of the dwelling you shared with my client, Ms. D’Angelo. Nowhere is there a record of you ever being treated…for anything. How do you explain that?”
“I never went to a hospital,” Gina said, her tone faltering again.
“But you were badly injured?” Paxton was clearly skeptical. “More than once?”
“Yes.”
“Describe these injuries that you claimed in your testimony were crippling.”
“Well, there were bruises on my arms and legs and b-backside, you know, when he’d shove me and I’d fall against the furniture. Sometimes I’d be limping for days. Or…or he’d twist my hair in his fist, pulling it out by the roots. He’s struck me in my face, too. One time—”
“And your co-workers never noticed these bruises? Never inquired about a black eye? Never commented when you appeared on crutches at the firm?”
“I never needed crutches.”
“Oh…” Ryan nodded slowly, unconvinced. “And the bruises?”
“Well…” Gina licked her lips and glanced at Judge Hetherington. “He was always careful, Your Honor. Usually we’d be away from Houston, like at a weekend getaway or on vacation somewhere. So by the time we returned, the bruises had faded or I could cover them with makeup.”
“Direct your answers to Mr. Paxton, Ms. D’Angelo,” the judge instructed.
Nodding, Gina obediently turned to face Ryan.
“You took vacations together during the eight years of your relationship,” he said, looking at a sheet he’d pulled from the folder.
“Yes.”
“Often, according to my client. And this list.” Ryan waved the paper in the direction of the judge. “From it, I see you were in Saint Croix, then Hawaii—two times—Europe, Canada, Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York…hmmm, four, five, six. Six times you visited New York with my client. Like New York, do you?”
“Austin liked New York.”
“Were these trips business related?”
“We attended legal conferences, yes.”
“How often?”
Gina shrugged. “Three, four times. I’m not sure.”
“I’m counting over twenty very posh vacation spots. And, by the way, how often was Jesse allowed on these trips?”
“As often as I could persuade him to let her go,” Gina said, darting a quick glance at Austin, who was sprawled behind the defendant table looking bored. She had avoided meeting his eyes during her testimony.
“How many times, Ms. D’Angelo?” Ryan pressed.
Gina was shaking her head. “Three times,” she replied hesitantly.
“But being such a caring mother, you cheerfully waved goodbye to your little girl…let’s see, about seventeen times, it appears. Leaving her with…who?”
“Her godmother.” Gina met Elizabeth’s gaze across the courtroom. “Elizabeth Walker.”
“Your close friend.”
“My best friend,” Gina said.
Ryan turned abruptly to the judge. “I don’t see a pattern of abuse here by my client, Your Honor. On the contrary, my client took Ms. D’Angelo with him when he vacationed, he opened his home to her, she lived well beyond the means she would have been able to provide for herself while keeping company with my client. Furthermore, I believe Austin Leggett is well qualified to have full custody of the child, Jesse. He acknowledges paternity, he loves his daughter, he wants only the best for her.”
“Is this your summation, counselor?” the judge asked.
Ryan gave a short, charmingly sheepish grin. “Not yet, Your Honor. Sorry about that.” He turned again to Gina. “How do you propose to support Jesse, Ms. D’Angelo?”
“I’m a qualified paralegal. I should be able to get a job at one of the major law firms in the city.”
“But do you have a job now?”
“No.”
“Why is that?”
“I was only…I left Leggett, Jones and Brunson only a month ago. They paid me three-month’s severance and—”
“If you’re so good at your job, why were you terminated?”
Gina glanced warily at Austin. “I wasn’t terminated. I resigned.”
“Why, Ms. D’Angelo?”
“Austin…suggested it.” She turned again to the judge. “I know it makes me sound sort of irresponsible, Your Honor, but Austin made it intolerable for me. He—”
“Direct your answers to counsel, Ms. D’Angelo,” the judge repeated with some exasperation. “Don’t make me repeat myself again.”
Gina’s shoulders fell as she turned back, gazing not at Ryan, but at her hands. “He was going to accuse me of irregularities in the handling of some of his clients’ matters. He specializes in estate law. He handles millions of dollars in other peoples’ assets. It would be easy to manipulate funds here and there.”
“What exactly are you accusing my client of?”
“Nothing, no. Only the threat of doing it. If I didn’t leave peacefully.” Gina pressed trembling fingers to her mouth. “In his position, it’s easy to move money around from one client’s portfolio to another without actually—”
“Come on, Ms. D’Angelo. What you’re accusing my client of is a serious charge. In fact, some might call it slander.”
“It isn’t slander if it’s true.” Gina’s tone rose with her agitation. “Do you think I’d walk out of a job where I’d worked for almost nine years if I didn’t have a compelling reason? Knowing Austin wanted to dump me and I’d be without a place to live? Knowing there’d be no way I could support Jesse? I don’t think so, Mr. Paxton,” she added bitterly.
“But you do have a place to live,” Paxton argued. “Your best friend and Jesse’s godmother, Elizabeth Walker, has been only too eager to take you in. No, I think you orchestrated this whole scam, the abrupt resignation at LJ and B, the allegations of abuse and irregularities with the firm’s most valued clients, the threat of legal action against my client…all toward one end. You want a hefty financial settlement. You want a lot of money in return for walking out of his life.”
“No, I—”
“No more questions, Your Honor.” Ryan turned on his heel and strode to the table. Dropping into a chair, he didn’t look at Gina again, nor did he glance at his client. Instead, he flipped the folder shut, leaned back with his hand spread flat on the folder as if to guard the contents and gazed moodily out a window. If his goal had been to destroy Gina, Elizabeth thought, studying the set look of his features, he’d succeeded. But he didn’t look like a man who was pleased with his success.
“You may step down, Ms. D’Angelo,” the judge said. And as Gina rose unsteadily, Maude Kennedy stood up.
“I have one more question, if Your Honor would allow it?” She raised pencil-thin eyebrows in question. The judge nodded and motioned Gina back into the chair.
“How much money are you requesting from Austin Leggett, Gina?”
“Two thousand dollars a month,” Gina replied. “And for child support only, nothing more. Jesse will stay in the school where she’s presently enrolled in kindergarten. One thousand will pay her tuition and the other will be placed in trust for her to go to college.”
Maude Kennedy looked at the judge. “That’s all, Your Honor. Thank you.”
“Step down, Ms. D’Angelo,” the judge ordered. As Gina rose and left the witness box, he studied a paper in an open folder in front of him. “You want to call your first character witness, Ms. Kennedy?”
Still standing, Maude said, “There is only one witness, Your Honor. We have a deposition in lieu of testimony from the second witness, Louis Christian. He is presently at Elizabeth Walker’s residence taking care of Jesse. As you’ll see once you’ve read the deposition, Mr. Christian is not a blood relation to Jesse, but he could very well be her grandfather. He sees her daily. They’re very close.”
“Then call the witness who has shown up, counselor,” the judge replied. He removed his glasses and rubbed both eyes with thumb and forefinger as if his patience was at an end. Her face carefully blank, Maude nodded to the bailiff.
“Elizabeth Walker,” the bailiff intoned.
Elizabeth was already on her feet. She approached the gate in the bar separating spectators in the courtroom from the players and slipped through it, made her way past the two lawyers’ tables to the witness box and turned to take an oath to tell the truth. She was nervous. None of her experience in courtrooms had been pleasant, but this wasn’t about her, she told herself, taking her seat gingerly. It was about Jesse. Gina. Their future.
Maude seemed to sense her apprehension and gave her a reassuring smile as she asked her address and occupation. Then, “How long have you known Gina D’Angelo?”
“Since we were both five years old.”
“You’re not related?” Maude asked, knowing the answer.
Elizabeth smiled faintly. “Not by blood, no. But we sometimes feel as if we’re related. Sisters almost.” She took a small breath. “We were both wards of the state when we were orphaned at age five. As luck would have it, we were in the same foster homes off and on during our teenage years.”
“That explains your willingness to share your home with Gina now.”
“In a way, I guess. Actually, we’re no different from biological sisters who see a lot of each other,” Elizabeth said, feeling more at ease. Maybe this would be more positive than she had thought. “We live in the same city, we share holidays, lunch, we shop together, we share gossip and clothes. I was at Gina’s bedside when Jesse was born. In fact, I was her birthing coach. So now that she’s in difficulty, it’s very natural to have her move in with me until she’s on her feet again.”
