Deathbed Dimes

by Naomi Elana Zener

  “Yes, honey, we are going now,” Sylvia said. “Joely, thank you for everything. You are a very good lawyer.”

  My eyes could no longer contain the well of tears and I exploded into sobs, clutching my mother in an embrace. For the first time in my life, I finally enjoyed a genuine mother-daughter moment. My mother was actually beaming with pride for me and had both accepted and was celebrating my choice of profession.

  “You know what would make you even better?” Sylvia asked.

  “What, Mom?” I asked.

  “Some breast enhancements. You’ll definitely attract more clients with that kind of honey,” she said, kissing me goodbye before I could respond. With that pearl of wisdom, I quickly returned to reality.

  A few days later, still high from winning Armand’s case, I arrived at the office to find a third opened letter from our mysterious informant. Nervous that the letter was discovered by someone other than Blake, Coco, Javier, Ethan or me, I set about to figure out who had opened my mail. With Ethan and Coco both working from home that morning, Javier already knowing about the letters, and Blake having returned to Stanford for a two-week colloquium on Estates and Trusts law, the only possible suspects left were Janice, Trevor and Tanya. Since Janice was out of the office taking a personal day and Trevor was going to come into work late, I had only Tanya left to interrogate. Upon intensive questioning, Tanya advised that Janice had given her a stack of opened correspondence to put on my desk.

  “What’s the big deal anyway?” Tanya asked.

  “The big deal is that it’s my private mail,” I said. “Janice shouldn’t have opened it and she certainly shouldn’t have given it to you to give to me.”

  “Sorry. Who was the letter from anyway?” she asked.

  “Which one?” I asked suspiciously.

  “The one that you are so freaked about anyone reading,” she replied.

  “I’m not freaked out,” I lied. “I’m just very sensitive about protecting attorney-client privilege, so I don’t let anyone, including my employees, open my mail for me.”

  “Got it. Don’t open Joely’s mail,” she said formally, saluting me before leaving my office.

  I read the note in which my mystery witness said that they would testify only if necessary and would leave another note with a means to contact them should the need arise. I spent the rest of the afternoon immersed in Esty’s file. Blake left me with his notes on what he had deduced regarding the various testamentary documents. His review of the two wills and codicil concluded that the second will was obtained by coercive means, which was supported by our handwriting expert’s analysis of Ivana’s handwriting on the second will. Our expert surmised that Ivana’s handwriting in the second will appeared strained and manipulated as compared to handwriting on the letters that she wrote only a few weeks earlier to Esty. In those letters, she proclaimed that the codicil was her only valid will. It was as though the hand of another was compelling Ivana to write what was inscribed. I was not prepared to disclose our expert’s findings, so I buried the reports in the file and gave them to Javier for safekeeping before leaving to meet Coco for lunch with a prospective client.

  I gave Javier instructions to teach Tanya what needs to be done when one notifies financial institutions that an account holder has been placed under guardianship because they cannot manage their affairs. When I returned to the office after lunch, Javier told me that, as usual, Tanya was resistant to learning anything new and was more interested in how Ethan hurt his hand.

  “Tanya did seem oddly intrigued to know your father was the one under guardianship,” Javier advised.

  “She’s a gossip. I’m not surprised,” I retorted. “Did she at least do the work?”

  “Nope. When I told her about yesterday’s gong show in court, she rushed out to see if Ethan was ok,” Javier recounted.

  “I think her days at this firm are numbered,” I muttered.

  “Probably a good idea, since she was unhappy when she heard why Ethan knocked out Chip.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “Well, I told her, like usual, Chip made some snide remarks about you and threatened to ruin your career so Ethan punched him out,” Javier explained. “When she told me she would go take care of Ethan, I told her not to chase after him. That he doesn’t have feelings for her. She also didn’t understand why he was so defensive of you.”

  “Great. Now I’ll probably have to keep her on because if I fire her, she’ll claim discrimination or sexual harassment by Ethan.”

  “Wake up, honey. Ethan has been in love with you since college,” Javier said, nudging me lightly. “Can I please get back to work? Man, it’s like a freaking telenovela in here.”

  “Fine,” I replied.

  I left Javier to finalize with Coco the outstanding administrative matters surrounding Lucky’s death and Coco’s inheritance. Ethan arrived shortly after and planted himself on my couch.

  “How’s the hand?” I asked, noting that his hand had been bandaged since our court appearance.

  “It’s ok,” he said casually, tracing patterns on the couch’s armrest with his good hand.

  “Thanks again for defending me in court. Chip is a total prick,” I said.

  “It was my pleasure,” he said with a quick smile. I tried not to think about how handsome he looked. All of the talk of Ethan’s unrequited love for me — from my mother, Coco and now Javier — had seeped into my grey matter. Great, I thought, another complication to contend with.

  “Your family is my family, Joely,” Coco said. “No thanks required.”

  “Speak for yourself, I’m the one with the busted hand,” Ethan laughed.

  “Why don’t I get you some ice?” I suggested. Ethan accepted my offer and I went to the kitchen to fetch an ice pack. Upon my return, Coco had left and Ethan was outstretched on the sofa.

  “May I sit down?” I asked without fully closing the door behind me. Ethan slid over making room for me to join him.

  “Where’s Coco?” I asked, gently placing the ice pack on his hand. Surveying his bandaged hand, I added, “I hope it’s not broken.”

  “It’s not. She left to take a phone call,” he replied, holding my hand tenderly on top of his. “Joely, you know I will always protect you.”

  “I know,” I said, bowing my head and sensing the physical chemistry swelling between us. I wasn’t a complete moron when it came to men. Of course, it felt good when I spent the night with Ethan — he was comfortable, reliable, tender and damn sexy. He was the most stable relationship I’d ever had with a man, someone who would always be there for me and I could not risk losing that by adding the boyfriend label to the mix. He was also the best kisser my lips had ever met.

  “We need to talk about what we’ve been doing,” he pleaded, looking up at me with sad eyes. “There is a strong attraction here that is not just going to disappear. I know that you feel it too.”

  “I’m just not ready to dive back into the can of worms we opened that night in the pool house,” I said, sliding my hand away. Suddenly, I heard the door creak and saw Tanya standing there listening in. As soon as we made eye contact, Tanya retreated and disappeared.

  “We shouldn’t discuss this here,” I said standing up.

  “This is about Blake, isn’t it?” he asked coldly.

  “No, it has nothing to do with him. We have our partnership and friendship to think about. Look at how horrible we’ve been to each other in the last number of weeks,” I said.

  “That is because you ran away and have been avoiding me ever since the night we kissed,” Ethan said. “To make matters worse, ever since Blake showed up, you’ve been acting like a lovestruck teenager.”

  “I’ve already told you that I am not hung up on him. My feelings for him are over,” I said defiantly.

  “How can you be so sure?” he asked.

  “Because when he kissed me, I was forced to confront my feelings for him. I realized that there is nothing between us anymore,” I shouted.


  “You kissed him? When did you kiss him?” Ethan demanded, standing up to match me.

  “I never kissed him. He kissed me. And it was the night we had dinner at Mastro’s,” I said.

  “When Chip saw you there with him,” he said. “I can’t believe that you would keep this from me.”

  “This has to do with my personal life and doesn’t involve you,” I replied.

  “How can I trust anything you say? You probably did sleep with Chip,” Ethan seethed angrily.

  “How dare you say that to me!” I exclaimed, slapping Ethan hard across the cheek. “I hate that slimy jerk. I never slept with him despite all of his efforts to get into my pants.”

  “So you admit that he wanted you?” Ethan asked.

  “Why are you behaving like a child?” I asked. “I can’t control who likes me, just like I can’t control what you do or feel. Who are you to judge me when you ran out and slept with Tanya the second that I didn’t agree to date you?”

  “I don’t know how I am supposed to trust you,” he said, getting up to leave.

  “You trust me because I trust you. You trust me because I just placed the future of my family in your hands to protect it from harm,” I said.

  “Yeah, you really trusted me. You trusted me so much that you had Coco take over the file,” he retorted.

  “That’s only because she’s a litigator, and you aren’t,” I said forcefully. “You wonder why I haven’t talked to you yet about what we may or may not feel for each other? Look in a mirror, pal. You are so emotionally wound up that I can’t breathe without you jumping down my throat.”

  We both stopped screaming and stared at each other, neither willing to break first. Our game of silent brinksmanship lasted for nearly ten minutes.

  “Joely, we can’t keep doing this. I love you. I said it. I’ve loved you since the day I met you at Brown. I don’t want to hurt you or myself any longer. I’m going to take a few days away from the office and work from home,” he said, pausing for a sigh. “Try to figure out what you feel for me, if anything at all. If you don’t love me, fine. I promise that I won’t try to change your mind. But I won’t stick around either. If you don’t want to be with me, I’ll leave you and Coco to your booming estates practice and go back to Silicon Valley.” He walked out of my office and shut the door forcefully. I stood deflated and breathless.

  CHAPTER 18

  Tsunami Warning, Please

  I was awoken the following morning by a blood-curdling cry coming from the direction of the main house. Before I could swing my legs to the side of the bed to investigate, Sylvia burst through the pool house doors, waving the most recent edition of Variety in my face.

  “I am ruined! RUINED!” she seethed. “That contemptuous bitch went to the news outlets and revealed your father’s condition.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, my eyes adjusting to the light.

  “It’s in every paper: Armand Zeller, not fit to tie his own shoes!” she screamed. “We have to sue! Sue them all!”

  “We can’t sue anyone, Mom,” I started. “Because Dad’s hearing took place without any gag order on the media, the entire record is in the public domain.”

  “What are you saying to me? Speak English,” she commanded.

  “You can’t sue the media because what happened in court is part of the public record, meaning anyone can access the transcripts and find out what happened,” I tried to explain slowly, still waking up.

  “So what? How would they have known that your father was even participating in such a hearing?” She began pacing manically. “I’ll tell you how, that little bitch Antonia. That’s how! We’ll sue her.”

  “On what grounds, Mom?” I asked, licking a finger and flipping through Variety’s story. “The article is accurate. Dad was found mentally incompetent and can’t manage his financial affairs. I’m as angry as you but we can’t sue Antonia. She was not bound to secrecy. We don’t even know for sure that it was her.”

  “Oh, it was. Did you read what they wrote about me?” She pointed to a paragraph that called her a desperate woman who would stop at nothing to prevent my father from having any happiness. “That description can only be attributed to Antonia. It makes me look like a heartless shrew. What will my public think of me now? And right when my career was making a comeback.”

  “Try to calm down, Mother. Your career is not over,” I said reassuringly.

  “Calm? How can I remain calm? Did you even read what she said about you?” she asked. “She called you a greedy, ungrateful daughter who had no interest in her father until she thought that her inheritance would run out. She also called you a subpar attorney who was unable to keep her job.”

  “I’ll look into it, but the reporters are not going to disclose their sources to me,” I said.

  “And did you see the photograph of Armand? It makes him look crazier than Howard Hughes!” she exclaimed. I looked at the photograph and recognized it as having been taken in front of my office building. Suddenly a light bulb went off and I realized that while Antonia may have played a part in this exposé, Chip was the only logical culprit behind this nefarious plot to embarrass both my father and me at the same time. If Chip was behind this, he would not be able to hide behind anyone to save his legal license. The bar would not tolerate such chicanery or use of the press to undermine a fellow attorney. However, knowing that no journalist would divulge or confirm that Chip was their source, and that Antonia despised me and would not roll over on him, I had no means by which I could prove that he was the offender.

  “Listen, Mom. I am going to get ready and head into work. I will look into this a bit more, but there isn’t much we can do. If you are that concerned about what your adoring public will think of you, then contact your publicist and have them diffuse the situation,” I said, rifling through my closet for something to wear.

  “Fine,” she said, turning quickly. “I’m late for my colonic! I will see you later, dahling.”

  After Sylvia left, I hastily threw on a suit and had Big J drive me into work, as I was too distracted to drive myself. I relayed the most recent developments in the soap opera that was my life to Big J, carefully omitting any references or details about my problems with Ethan. While I knew that Tanya had overheard some of my conversation with Ethan, I was unsure what either Coco or Javier knew since they never broached the topic with me. When I arrived at the office, Javier was waiting patiently for me inside my office. I gathered from Javier’s facial expression that he wasn’t there with good news.

  “What brings you to my office on this fine morning?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

  “You know that I am not someone to rat on anyone, but you, Ethan and Coco gave me my career, so my loyalty runs with you,” he said quickly, his hands fidgeting nervously.

  “We can dispense with the Band of Brothers speak. What’s up?” I asked, taking a seat behind my desk and glancing at today’s to-do list.

  “I asked Tanya to work on a file and she refused. Also, her work is in the toilet,” he told me. “She refuses to work on assignments I give her and she has been disappearing.”

  “How long has this been going on?” I asked. This was the last thing I needed today.

  “Well, since Ethan dumped her. It got better for a while, but she was still doing her own thing. After what happened yesterday, I’ll be shocked if she even comes into work today,” he said, leaning back into the couch. “Coco has been doing some of my work because I told her that teaching Tanya is taking up more of my time than I thought it would.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. What happened yesterday though?” I asked, taking a sip of coffee to avoid eye contact.

  “She knows he loves you,” he said, looking at me with one eyebrow arched.

  “Shit. She knows? How?” I asked, a drop of coffee running from the corner of my mouth. I wiped it away with the back of my hand.

  “We all heard your grudge match with Ethan. We all know he loves
you,” he laughed. “I think you are the only one who still doesn’t want to believe it.”

  “Thanks for telling me about this. I’ll take care of it,” I said as Trevor knocked on my door.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but you’ve been served by Spudnik,” he said, handing me an envelope from Chip’s firm.

  It had become a firm-wide joke to see who could come up with the most original alias for Mr. Hancock. I opened up the letter to discover a subpoena from Chip requiring disclosure of my mystery letters.

  “Fuck!” I shouted.

  “What’s wrong?” Javier asked.

  “Chip knows that we have letters from someone asserting that they know that the second will is a fake,” I replied.

  “How could he have found out? Yoely, I never told anyone,” Javier said defensively.

  “I know you wouldn’t. I also know that neither would Blake or Coco,” I said.

  “I’m pretty sure that Janice and Trevor don’t know about them and they are really loyal to you,” he offered.

  “That really only leaves one person,” I said, biting my lip in thought.

  “Tanya?” he asked.

  “How would she know about them? She has been kept far from this case and we’ve had the file under lock and key. There is no way it could be her,” I replied.

  “I wouldn’t rule her out,” Javier said.

  “I just don’t think that she is smart enough to do something like this. You said yourself that her work is terrible and you questioned her intellectual abilities,” I said. “I think it’s Ethan. He’s getting back at me.”

  “What? No way! Ethan would never undermine you like that,” Javier said, shaking his head at me.

  “You said you all heard him yesterday. He’s ready to quit. He’s been so angry with me about Blake and lying about the Chalmers case that he slept with Tanya to get back at me,” I replied, nervously running a hand through my hair. “Not to mention the fact that he is so jealous of Blake working on this case that anything is possible.”

  “I’m telling you, Yoely, don’t bark up that tree. Let me speak to him, but don’t you say a word. I will get to the bottom of our leak,” Javier said, getting up. He gave me a final warning look before walking out.