“No problemo. I’ll just drop a grand on the desk and have them do all paperwork.”
“Whatever works for you, pal. By the way, have you thought about a pre-nup?”
“Oh, you mean one of those things you make a woman sign before you marry her?”
“Yep, that’s what it is. And considering the substantial assets you’ve accumulated, and your ongoing successful businesses, you should definitely consider having one drawn up.”
“Sure Pete, what do you think it should say? Something about her not getting anything of mine if we ever split up?”
“C’mon Stu, you can’t do that. It has to be fair. In fact, there’s a mnemonic device they use to describe it. It’s called F.A.I.R. The ‘F’ is for Fairness, ‘A’ is for Assets and Liabilities that must be fully disclosed, ‘I’ is for Independent counsel, because the same lawyer can’t approve the agreement for both of you, and the ‘R’ is for Reasonable time. You can’t shove the agreement under her nose the day of the wedding. She’s got to have a reasonable amount of time to have her own lawyer look it over before she signs.”
“Really, Pete, they insist that she has time to think it over?”
“Yes Stu, there have been some big cases where the agreement was thrown out because the wife didn’t have time to get counsel.”
“Oh yeah, name one.”
“Okay, ever hear of a billionaire named Carl Icahn? He had his lawyer draw up a pre-nup that said his wife would get absolutely nothing in property distribution or alimony if they ever divorced. And to make it even worse, he had her sign it on their wedding day, when she was already pregnant with their first child.”
“What happened, did they split up? Did the agreement work?”
“They were married for around twenty years before they split up. I don’t know if the matter’s been completely settled, but the last time I read about it, she was receiving about thirty thousand a month in support, and she allegedly turned down a fifteen million dollar settlement offer. What I’m trying to say here is that you can’t be unreasonable.”
“I get it. And thanks a lot, Peter, I really appreciate your taking the time to look into it for me.”
The rest of the conversation is all about his fiancée, and our talking all the way really shortens the trip, because before we know it we’re pulling up in front of the La Verne Police Station, where my Hummer is parked taking up two spaces. I’ll probably be getting another ticket in the mail next week.
I thank Stuart for the ride and use of his car and almost make a clean getaway before he starts to tell me out his new business. It’s the first assignment for his private investigation company, and it’s Indovine’s defense firm. We agree to meet again later during the week to talk about it.
Chief Olshansky is in his usual good mood and the release forms for my Hummer are all ready for me to sign. We exchange small talk for a while and then check our calendars to see what would be a good date for me to come back for my traffic ticket trial. Once a date is agreed on, I’m on my way over to the courthouse for my arraignment and trial setting.
“Oh, by the way Chief, how’s that murder case coming along. Any leads?”
“Yes, counselor, as a matter of fact we did get lucky on that one. Some of the prints recovered from your car matched up with a couple of very bad boys involved in the drug trade up in Oregon. We can’t tell for sure if their prints got into your car before the day of the shooting or not, but because there were several sets that overlapped yours, we ruled you out as a coconspirator.”
“Gee, I’m glad to hear that Chief, because I try to avoid getting arrested more than once a week. What about the victim’s wife? How’s she doing?”
“About as well as can be expected. After taking some of the deceased’s blood for a DNA sample and getting those slugs out of him, we released the body to a local funeral parlor. I think she’s going to have the body cremated. I don’t really blame her. Funerals are miserable rituals that prolong the healing process.”
“If there was no question about Luskin’s identity, why did you take that DNA sample?”
“The widow doesn’t even know we took it. The insurance company wanted it. I guess they’ve been having some problems with husbands that they pay death benefits for who magically are found alive on some tropical island sometime in the future.”
“What good will DNA from the deceased do unless they have something to compare it to.”
“They do. He was one of those ultra conservative types who had some of his own blood stored at the local hospital, just in case he needed a transfusion some time in the future. I guess he wanted to avoid any possibility of getting a disease from some donated blood. It’s been known to happen, you know.” His answer satisfies my curiosity. I go to the Pomona courthouse, make my impassioned plea of not guilty, and set a trial date.
Before heading back to the Marina I think it would be nice to say hello to the widow Luskin. I’ve heard that she mentioned my name to the insurance company and it may have helped to get her claim processed a little faster. I call her number and she says it’s okay to stop by, so I’m now pulling up to her home and see that she’s standing in the open doorway waiting for me. Gee, she looks nice. I know that her husband was recently gunned down, and every-one says they had a loving relationship, but all men are dogs… especially me, and she does look very nice standing there in that open doorway.
“Hi, I hope you don’t mind my stopping by. I had to come back here to pick up my car, so I thought I’d see how you were doing.”
“Oh, that was so nice of you. Why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea before you drive back to Los Angeles?”
This is dangerous. She’s beautiful and I’m horny. That makes for a bad combination, but I’m just going to have to control myself, play it by ear, and see how things develop.
She brings out a nice spread that includes cheese, crackers, and some other little things I never saw before. We have our tea, and she tells me that once she mentioned my name to the insurance company, they never called to bother her again with stupid questions. She was really impressed by that.
Chief Olshansky mentioned to me that she volunteered her time on a Suicide Prevention Hotline, so I figure that might start a new conversation and maybe give me another half hour to look at her.
She says that there was quite a bit of training involved, and also mentions the fact that a recent survey shows that every eighteen minutes another life is lost to suicide, for a total of about thirty thousand a year. She also tells me that suicide is now the eleventh cause of death in the United States, and in the last forty years, the rate of adolescent suicides has tripled.
We spend the next hour discussing other interesting statistics and I find out that her local Prevention Center gets calls from all the Western states. Many times a person is reluctant to call their local prevention center for fear of being recognized, as a result of incidents described that may have been publicized.
I tell her how much her work is helping people out, but that it’s time to try to beat the traffic back to Los Angeles. She also knows I’ll be returning to La Verne for a court appearance in a couple of weeks and insists that after my legal business is done, I call and stop by.
I really don’t know what to make of my progress to date. She walks me to the door and gently shakes my hand as I leave. Driving back to the Marina, I’m trying to analyze what the body language meant, if anything. The only thing I can put my finger on is that she didn’t completely open the door as she shook my hand. If she did, that might mean that the visit is over with no chance of a hug or kiss goodbye. The door was about half open, which meant that a peck on the cheek might have been in order, but I didn’t have the guts. Next time I stop by, I’m going to be very aware of the exact position of the door when I leave. In fact, I think I’ll invite her out to lunch, like sort of showing my appreciation for the cheese and crackers tray. Maybe that’ll soften her up a little and she’ll shake my hand before opening the door when I
leave. At least I got to know what her first name is. It’s Beverly, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.
My thoughts, along with listening to Tony Bennett sing, make the trip back a lot shorter. Too bad she’s geographically undesirable. My daydreaming of her is interrupted by another CD track that comes on featuring Count Basie’s big band. Now I’m sitting on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl, at the piano. Basie is standing up in front leading the band and we’re playing an introduction for the singer, who’s some skinny guy with blue eyes and wearing a bow tie. He comes walking out with a cordless microphone in his hand. On his way, while still in the wings, he starts singing “ The Lady Is A Tramp,” and by the time he gets to the center of the stage, the place is going crazy. People are standing up, applauding.
My daydream concert continues with Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and then Tony Bennett, and before I know it, reality sets back in and I’m approaching the Marina. I don’t think it’s necessary to lock my car to protect my CD collection because petty thieves usually aren’t over twenty, and just not interested in the music of my generation. Not too long ago I remember reading a news item about some convenience store owner that solved his problem of teenagers loitering outside the front door by playing recordings of Lawrence Welk. It worked. That must have been like holding up a cross in front of a vampire. The kids scattered every time Larry’s band started playing that potted palm, society two-beat dance music.
Whenever I hear these classic old songs I’m reminded of the times we used to dance to them at our high school dances and social gatherings. Unfortunately, high school reminds me of my days on the Von Steuben ROTC rifle team and NRA membership, which then brings me back to Charles Indovine and his crusade to get a new client.
I think there’s a way to handle this. His arraignment isn’t for a while and the judge should have no worries about him being a flight risk, so I’ll appear at his arraignment and ask for another month or two before we make a plea. I’m sure we’ll get the extension, and then there’ll be more time to figure out how to retain both my integrity and his fifty grand.
If the problem becomes insurmountable, I can always offer to make the fee a law firm matter and let the kid figure out some way to solve the problem. The combination of her IQ and a little innocent childish greed will no doubt result in an answer. It usually does.
Back at the boat, a new dog-mail message informs me that Mister Uniman called. He’s probably Charles Indovine’s largest insurance client, so I’m curious about why he’d call me directly instead of going through Charles’ office.
I call his company and amazingly, get put right through to him.
“Thanks for getting back to me Peter. How’re things going with you?”
“Fine, Mister Uniman. Listen, I appreciate your courtesy, but being the busy guy I know you are, there must be an important business reason why you called me directly, so why don’t we save your valuable time by cutting right to the chase.”
“Very good Peter. I like your direct approach. The reason for my call is because I understand you were in La Verne that day the shooting took place. I also saw on the news that it was your car they used. Now I know you had nothing to do with the shooting, but since you’re peripherally connected to the players out there, I’d like you to look into the matter for us. With the combination of Mrs. Luskin’s claims for life and mortgage insurance policies, we’re looking at an exposure of over three million dollars. When our investigator called the widow she referred us to you. Said that you gave her your card and offered to help.”
“That’s right, I did. I was with the Chief of Police when he went to pay his condolences and I felt a little guilty because it was my car the shots were fired from, so I promised to do what I could for her.”
“Well, that’s fine. As long as you’re already into the matter, maybe you could find out if anything’s fishy there.”
“Mister Uniman, I appreciate your position, but I can’t serve two masters at the same time. If I find out that there’s some out-and-out fraud, I’ll be sure to let you know about it and I’m sure you’ll be as generous as you’ve been in the past, but absent some obvious hanky panky, I think I’d rather not work for you on this one. Nothing personal, you understand, it’s just that I really want to see this poor woman get the benefits she’s entitled to.”
“Okay, Peter. I respect your integrity in this matter, but please, if you sense anything wrong, please don’t hesitate to call us. I’m sure you know that your usual ten percent bonus is still on the table.”
Very strange. Does he know something I don’t know about in this matter, or is he just being the normal insurance company who doesn’t enjoy paying claims?
The phone rings. It’s a call from Van Nuys but I don’t recognize the number. I answer and hear an hysterical Olive.
“Mister Sharp, you’ve got to help me. Vinnie doesn’t trust me. He thinks I’m after his money.”
“Okay, okay, calm down Olive. First of all, I don’t believe that Vinnie doesn’t trust you. I’m sure that you’ve misinterpreted something he said. Secondly, I know for a fact that neither he nor I think that you’re after his money, because he doesn’t have any. Now what’s caused all this distress you’re suffering?”
“He wants me to sign a pari-mutuel agreement of some sort that says I won’t take anything from him if we ever get divorced.”
They say that the most dangerous types of people in our society are first year law students. They take courses in Contracts, Torts and Criminal Law, and then think that they know everything. Olive’s pari-mutuel agreement is no doubt a prenuptial that Vinnie wants her to sign, and since Vinnie hadn’t the slightest idea of what that was a few days ago, it’s too coincidental that he should know all about the subject so soon in time after my discussion about the same topic with first year law student Stuart.
I try to calm her down by letting her know that this type of agreement is quite common nowadays, and that it can be a two-way street. Both parties want to trust and protect themselves and each other from the greedy lawyers who get involved when relationships go sour.
This gives her some temporary relief. We both agree that since they haven’t even set a date for the wedding yet, there’ll be plenty of time for us all to work things out smoothly. Unlike the last time they tried it, when Olive got spooked and ran off, this time the wedding will go on without a hitch and they’ll live happily ever after. I’d better warn Stuart that by playing lawyer with Vinnie or anyone else now, he may be endangering his chance to practice law in the future. All it takesis one complaint to the State Bar about his being an overly ambitious law student, and he’ll find himself tossed out of law school and prevented from ever taking a Bar exam.
Unfortunately, the pre-nup cat is already out of the bag and there’s no ignoring it, so I’ll have to meet with them both and send each one to Los Angeles County Bar Association’s referral service to get some independent counsel before signing anything. I’ll do the initial paperwork for both of them, so their legal fees should be kept to a minimum. Other than a few bucks that Vinnie received from a personal injury case I settled for him last year, he really doesn’t have any assets to speak of and I’m sure that Olive doesn’t either.
The phone rings again. It’s Indovine calling.
“Hello Charles, what can I do for you today?”
“I was wondering if you’ve made any decision on whether or not to jump on board with us on this one?”
“I think we can get some more time here. I’ll be appearing at your arraignment and asking for another couple of months to make a plea. I’m sure I’ll get that continuance, and that’ll give you a reason to tell your prospective client that this extra time will be spent in preparing the constitutional arguments. That way, there’s a possibility that you can land him on that annual retainer without us being forced to go to Federal Court.”
“I don’t know, Peter. If we do that, he may feel cheated.”
“He’s not getting ch
eated, Charles. If he retains your law firm he’ll be getting the finest legal representation that money can buy. You guys are top-notch and he couldn’t find a better law firm if he tried, so let me do my job and stretch this thing out as long as possible, and you do your job by showing him the fine work your law firm can do for him.”
It worked. Indovine accepted both my flattery and the argument. He couldn’t break my logic into pieces, so accepted both parts.
Another dog-mail has just arrived. It’s a note telling me that Stuart will be here soon. I tip the delivery animal and take this brief opportunity to lie down and relax.
The quick nap helped. Stuart’s now aboard and filling me in on his investigative assignment. Vinnie and Olive must have agreed to a truce, because they came along with Stuart and are now interested only in how the investigation plan will unfold.
The subject of this investigation is an automobile whiplash claimant, Loren Sherwood, who is supposed to have been injured in a questionable rear end collision that took place just days after the defendant driver became insured by Uniman’s company. There were no witnesses to the accident and the damage to both cars didn’t look too recent, so this accident was suspicious from the beginning.
The insurance company’s computer database shows that neither party involved has made any auto accident injury claims before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re both legit. The defendant had stopped making premium payments and his policy was cancelled, but he definitely was covered at the time of the accident.
How convenient for the defendant. He’s been driving in Southern California without insurance for more than five years since moving here from Arizona, but coincidentally took out an auto insurance policy just three days before the accident.
The plaintiff claimant was riding in the rear seat of his cousin’s car, which was uninsured at the time. In addition to the claimant, the car was packed with three other adults and a small child. Other than the claimant, all the injuries were minor. They were all treated by the same chiropractor and all four of the adults now wear the most important and fashionable part of their wardrobes, a whiplash neck brace.
Conspiracy of Innocence Page 4