Marc Kadella Legal Mysteries Vol 1-6 (Marc Kadella Series)

by Dennis Carstens

  “He’s on the way. His name is Tony Carvelli and you’ll like him. At first he’ll probably seem a little rough around the edges but he’s really a sweetie. He’s a good friend and I adore him.”

  “That’s good enough for me,” Mackenzie smiled.

  Twenty minutes later the front doorbell chimed and the two women went to answer it. Maddy opened the door and a slightly Italian looking man was there. He was dressed in five-hundred dollar loafers, expensive gray wool slacks, a light, tan leather jacket and a white, silk shirt with two open buttons.

  “Hello, beautiful,” Carvelli said as he stepped inside and gave Maddy a hug and peck on the cheek.

  Maddy introduced him to Mackenzie and the three of them walked back to the kitchen. Mackenzie poured coffee for Carvelli while Maddy picked up her shoulder bag.

  “I’m taking off. I don’t know what she wants and at this point, I don’t want to know,” Maddy told Carvelli.

  Carvelli’s eyebrows went up and Maddy quickly assured him by saying, “It’s nothing illegal and you’ll understand why I don’t want to know what’s up yet.”

  Maddy turned to Mackenzie and said, “You can tell him everything about me, Marc, what you want, everything.”

  “I will,” Mackenzie said.

  Maddy gave Carvelli a quick kiss on the cheek and said to both of them, “See you later.”

  FIFTEEN

  Tony Carvelli left the Crocus Hill house without having committed to working for Mackenzie. What she wanted, although not illegal, was not something Carvelli would normally do.

  Tony Carvelli was in his early fifties and due to his years on the streets of Minneapolis he looked it but could still make most women check him out. He had a touch of the bad boy look they couldn’t resist plus a flat stomach and a full head of thick black hair touched with gray highlights; a genetic bequest from his Italian father.

  Carvelli was an ex-Minneapolis detective with the reputation of being a street predator, which was well deserved. He looked and acted the part as well. Dressed as he was today, he could easily pass for a Mafia wiseguy. Growing up in Chicago, he had known a few of them and could have become one himself and very likely, a successful one. Instead, after his family moved to Minnesota, he became a cop.

  He was retired from the Minneapolis P.D. with a twenty-year pension and became a private investigator. Over the years he was able to build a nice, successful business doing mostly corporate security and investigations.

  When he had driven his two-year-old Camaro a couple of blocks from Mackenzie’s house, he tapped a number on his phone. The first ring did not finish before it was answered.

  “So, are you going to help her?” Maddy Rivers asked without saying hello.

  “I left it up in the air,” Carvelli answered her. “It’s not something I normally take on.”

  “I figured that,” Maddy said. “I was hoping I could get you to do me a favor. I’d do it but I’m working for Marc on Mackenzie’s legal problems…”

  “…and she doesn’t want him to know about this yet. Tell me what you can about her legal difficulties.”

  “The shooting of Bob Sutherland was self-defense. No doubt about it. The scene, the forensics, the background, everything backs that up. The rest of it is about kids pissed off that dad’s second wife is getting the money, pure and simple.”

  “You’re comfortable with that?” Carvelli asked her. Tony had known Madeline since she moved to Minneapolis several years ago. They were good friends and he trusted her opinion.

  “Absolutely,” Maddy answered him.

  “Okay, I’ll do this for her. Plus, she told me she would tell Marc what I find out. I don’t like keeping things from her lawyer, especially one I know.”

  “She told me that too. She will tell him. I’m not sure but I think it may have something to do with the wrongful death lawsuit Bob Sutherland’s widow brought against her.”

  “Okay,” Carvelli said again. “For you, I’ll do this. Talk to you later, sweetheart.”

  “Thanks, Tony.”

  Mackenzie hurried to the front door after hearing the doorbell chime. While she walked toward the door she checked the time on a wall clock and saw that her guest was right on time, 4:30. She opened the door, pleasantly smiled and greeted the man.

  “Hello, Mrs. Sutherland,” Carvelli said. Tony called Mackenzie about a half an hour ago to let her know he had some information and wanted to stop by. Impressed with Carvelli’s prompt service she told him to come right over.

  “Please don’t call me that. It’s Mackenzie,” she said. “Come in,” she continued.

  Tony followed her into the living room and sat in the same chair Bob Sutherland had while Mackenzie sat on the sofa.

  “What do you have?” she asked.

  “The car is owned by a Simon Kane,” Tony began

  “Seriously?” Mackenzie said with an astonished look. “Simon Kane? I wouldn’t have thought he had it in him,” she laughed.

  “You know him,” Carvelli said.

  “Yes, indeed. He was the corporate lawyer for the Sutherland’s grocery store company. Simon Kane and Paige the Bitch,” she said with a large smile. “Talk about an odd couple. Of course, I can’t imagine anyone with Paige.”

  “Mackenzie, I have a lot of background information on him I can write up for you,” Tony said. “This is starting to sound a little too personal for me.”

  “I’m sorry. I know we talked about this before but it’s more than personal. If it was just a personal catfight, I wouldn’t do it. But Paige Sutherland is suing me for the death of her husband. It was self-defense; you can ask Maddy or Marc. I need all of the ammunition I can get.”

  “Who’s representing you?”

  “Woman in Marc’s office…”

  “Connie?”

  “Yes, do you know her?”

  “Sure,” Tony said. “She’s good.”

  “Simon Kane is Paige’s lawyer and he’s screwing his client, and not just for his bill,” Mackenzie laughed.

  “Tell you what,” Tony said. “Since this isn’t a personal thing but legal business and I know Connie would want all of the dirt she can get, I’ll keep digging. I’ll try to find out how long this has been going on. How long Kane has been servicing his client outside of the office.”

  The last part of the statement brought a hearty laugh from Mackenzie.

  “I know for a fact because Marc told me, Kane could get in a lot of trouble, ethically, for being involved with a client,” Mackenzie said.

  “And I know Connie,” Tony said. “She’d love to have that information. Let me dig around for a day or two and see what I can find out before you say anything to Connie or Marc or Maddy. I’ll need to hire this computer geek I know to do some digging about on our Mr. Kane also, you okay with the expense?”

  “No problem. While you’re at it, check out Paige Sutherland too please.”

  “Sure,” Tony said.

  Mackenzie looked at Tony with a look as if she ate something bad then said, “It’s a little sleazy, isn’t it? Distasteful.”

  “A little,” Tony agreed. “What the hell,” he shrugged. “I haven’t done any of this since I stopped doing divorce work. A little sleaze won’t hurt me.”

  “If she wasn’t suing me, I wouldn’t be doing this. I actually don’t give a damn who Paige is screwing.”

  “I get to be there when you tell Connie,” Tony said. “I’ll want to see her reaction. She’ll love this.”

  “I think I like her,” Mackenzie said.

  “I definitely do,” Tony added.

  At 9:00 the next morning, Carvelli drove up to the home of someone who did computer geek work for him. He was standing on the front steps and tried knocking on the door for the third time. His patience was getting a little thin and his knocking was more like hammering with his fist. Tony had called ahead so he knew the young man was home which made his irritation a little more inflamed. At least he’d better be home, Carvelli thought.

&nb
sp; Carvelli was standing on the front steps of a small, eighty-year-old, two story brick house in South Minneapolis. The owner was a computer whiz Carvelli had caught hacking one of Carvelli’s business clients. Instead of turning him over to the Feds or Minneapolis cops, Tony had scared ten years off of the young man’s life. He also had him in his pocket to do certain clandestine searches whenever Carvelli needed it.

  A second before he hammered the door for the fourth time, the home’s occupant opened it. The bearded, disheveled younger man opened the door wearing a confused look while Carvelli stepped inside and brushed past him.

  “Oh, that’s right, I forgot you called,” he said.

  “I called ten minutes ago, Paul,” Tony said. “Jesus Christ, Paul, open a window once in a while. It smells like a Grateful Dead concert in here.”

  “Hey, Carvelli, do I tell you how many olives to put in your martinis?”

  Carvelli gave him his best angry cop stare then said, “I have some business for you. I’ll pay you a grand, cash.”

  “You got it. What do you need, dude?”

  Carvelli gave him the information he had about Simon Kane and Paige Sutherland.

  “I’ll get on it right away,” Paul said. “I should have it this afternoon. What are you looking for?”

  “Everything you can get. Go back to the big night when mommy and daddy bounced around in the back seat of the car and made him.”

  “You got it, dude.”

  “Thanks, Pavel,” Carvelli smiled using his real name. “I’ll call you later.”

  Paul Baker, christened Pavel Bykowski by his devout Roman Catholic mother, was a world class hacker. Whatever there was to know about someone, Paul could dig it out of the internet.

  Baker’s office was the entire second floor of his mortgage-free home; mortgage free because Paul had hacked the lender and wiped the debt clean. There were two bedrooms upstairs and the wall separating them was gone creating sufficient space for his setup. Unknown, but certainly suspected by Tony Carvelli, Baker had at least a dozen more cash clients, including two FBI agents. It was enough to keep Paul Baker supplied with the latest equipment and all the best weed he desired.

  Around 3:00 P.M. Carvelli called him and Paul told him to come by. His magic keyboards had done their work and he was ready for Tony.

  Carvelli arrived and this time, Paul let him in right away. They went into the living room where Paul showed him a small stack of papers.

  “Looks like your two love birds have been doing the horizontal two-step for at least a couple of years,” Paul said. “I got hotel charges, sometimes three times a week, for No-Tell motels and hotels all over the Cities.”

  “What else?” Carvelli asked.

  “I’m surprised at you, Tony. I didn’t think you did this kind of stuff.”

  “I’m doing a favor for a friend,” Carvelli absently said as he looked over the copies Baker made for him. “Not that it’s any of your business. What’s this?”

  “That’s a summary I typed up for you. Not much about Paige Sutherland. Some minor bullshit in the society pages of the local papers. Crap like that. A lot of stuff on this Kane dude. He some kind of hotshot lawyer?”

  “I guess,” Tony shrugged. “Downtown corporate lawyer type.”

  “He did a lot of work for the Sutherlands,” Paul said. “Including servicing Paige quite a bit.”

  “How do you know it’s her he was seeing?” Tony asked becoming very serious.

  “Well, ah,” Baker started to answer a little nervously. “You wanted to know about her too so, I just assumed…”

  “Bullshit. You have video of them and don’t lie to me,” Tony said stepping up to the taller, younger man and poking a finger in his chest.

  “Yeah, okay. I found some…”

  “I want it, all of it. What do you think you’re going to do, blackmail somebody?”

  “No, well, maybe. I don’t know,” Paul stammered stepping away from Tony.

  “You idiot,” Tony calmly said. “You’d trip over your own dick trying something like that. You email all of the videos to me and then forget about it. Am I clear?”

  “Yeah, sure, you got it.”

  Tony took an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to the hacker.

  “Here’s your money. Thanks. Now send me the video and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Okay, Tony. Thanks.”

  Carvelli drove directly to the Crocus Hill house to meet with Mackenzie. On the way, he called ahead to be sure she was home and she assured him she would be there.

  The two of them spent an hour going through all of the information Paul Baker obtained for them. Most of it was mundane, trivial minutiae that makes up the details of everyone’s life. The information about the long-running affair, while a little tawdry both agreed, might be worth having to fend off the lawsuit.

  “You know something,” Mackenzie said when they were finished, “I know Simon Kane and he is not a very likeable person. In fact, I always thought he was an arrogant, little prick; the smartest guy in the room type. After going through all of this,” she continued waving her hand at the documents, “there’s nothing special about this guy at all. Probably a decent lawyer. I think Bill, my dearly departed husband, liked the way Simon sucked up to him and kissed his ass.”

  “That’s pretty much what corporate lawyers do,” Tony said. He took out his phone and speed dialed a number.

  “Hi, Carolyn, it’s Tony. I’m with Mackenzie Sutherland and she needs an appointment with…” he paused. “No love, Connie. But Marc can be there.” He put his hand over the phone, looked at Mackenzie who was shaking her head at the mention of Marc’s name and said, “You can’t keep this from him and you shouldn’t.”

  Mackenzie frowned then said, “Okay, you’re right. Have him there.”

  “What, dear?” Tony said into the phone to Carolyn. “Yeah, that should be okay.” He looked at Mackenzie again and said “Ten o’clock tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes, that’s fine,” she agreed.

  “Okay, hon. Ten tomorrow. See you then.”

  “Madeline asked me to meet with Mrs. Sutherland,” Carvelli said to begin the meeting the next day. Tony and Mackenzie were seated in the client chairs in Connie Mickelson’s office. Marc Kadella was standing along the wall to their right, leaning on a tall bookcase. Connie was sitting behind her desk.

  “Maddy told me she had a job for a P.I. and asked me to do it as a favor. I met with Mackenzie and she wanted me to find out who the owner of a particular car was. Maddy could’ve done this but Mackenzie asked me to keep it from Marc for now.”

  “Oh?” Marc said looking directly at his client.

  “I wanted to wait until we found out who it was before telling you to be sure it was something. It is,” Mackenzie said.

  “Okay, go on,” Connie told Tony.

  “It’s a Mercedes belonging to a lawyer of your acquaintance: Simon Kane.”

  “Please don’t tell me you’re trailing Simon Kane?” Marc said. “I can’t count the ethical violations for that.”

  “No, we’re not,” Tony told him.

  “Why did you want to know whose car this was?” Connie quietly asked Mackenzie.

  Mackenzie hesitated for a moment then said, “I saw it parked in Paige Sutherland’s driveway late one night. He was obviously not there to give her legal advice. It was a little late, all of the lights were out and she was apparently having a friend spend the night.”

  “I then had a guy do a search online,” Tony continued, “and found out Paige and Kane have been involved for at least two years. We have credit card receipts and video of the two of them at various hotels and motels around town. And Kane has been using his law firm’s credit card to pay for it.”

  “To keep it from his wife,” Connie said.

  “I’m surprised you did this,” Marc said to Tony.

  “It was a favor for Maddy,” he shrugged. “Nobody can say no to her, including you.”

 
“I know this is kind of sleazy…” Mackenzie started to say.

  “Which is why I like it,” Connie interjected and wiggled her eyebrows three or four times. “I want it all, Tony. All of the paper and the videos.”

  Tony handed her a large envelope and said, “Here it is. DVDs and credit card receipts. I spent last night going through it all and matching receipts with the videos. They’re all date and time stamped. There’s a list in there for you.”

  “What else did you find?” Marc asked.

  “The usual stuff, nothing damaging. Do you want it?” Carvelli asked Connie.

  “Yeah, get me all of it.”

  “I’d like to talk to Connie for a minute. Would you wait in the waiting area please?” Marc asked.

  When Tony and Mackenzie had left, Marc took Tony’s chair and said, “What are you going to do with this?”

  “Find an appropriate moment then shove it up Simon’s ass. Why?”

  “This is more than a little sleazy,” Marc said.

  “Hey, Boy Scout. They started this. She’s suing our client for millions of dollars. This is no bullshit litigation,” Connie said.

  “Yeah, okay,” Marc agreed. “I guess I’m okay with it if it can help Mac beat this suit. Don’t we have an obligation to report this?”

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Connie coyly answered him.

  “What Kane is up to is a clear violation of the ethical canons and…”

  “If we don’t know we’re supposed to report it then…”

  “We’re supposed to know,” Marc reminded her. “We’re officers of the court.”

  “Yeah, I heard that somewhere, way back in law school which was a long time ago. My memory isn’t what it should be. Besides, I hate these fucking asshole, downtown lawyers. All they care about is billable hours. They don’t give a shit about their clients.”

  “I think Simon Kane has more than a passing interest in Paige Sutherland,” Marc said.

  “And when I get the chance, I’ll make him regret it,” Connie added.

  SIXTEEN