I was going to have to answer these questions on my own, though.
“Thank you for coming in,” I said to Kayla.
“We’re done with our deposition?”
“Yes. We’re done.” I stood up and gathered my things. I walked out the door without shaking her hand or the hand of her attorney.
She was playing games and I was going to have to figure out exactly why.
“Anna,” I said, calling Anna on the phone. “I need something from you.”
“What do you need, Harper?”
“I need a copy of the prenuptial agreement that was filed between Kayla and Gerald Stone.” I didn’t know if it was filed or if it was somehow on-line, but I hoped that it was. Attorneys often put their documents on their database, on their cloud, which was secure. But Anna could get past any security mechanisms, so if that pre-nuptial agreement was somewhere on the cloud, she would find it. I had faith in her.
“Okay,” she said. “Is there anything else?”
I bit my lower lip. “No,” I said, the wheels suddenly turning in my head. “That’s all I need from you.”
“I’ll have that for you in an hour,” she said. “I’ll put in a PDF and email it to you.”
“Great.”
I tapped my fingers on my desk as Tammy came into my office. There was a kernel in my brain, a kernel that was forming. It was nascent, though, unformed.
I booted up my computer and read about Stone Enterprises.
Stone Enterprises was a chemical company that was founded by Gerald Stone in 1991. I looked at the firm’s financials and found that the annual revenue of the company was $100 billion. Gerald Stone was not only the CEO of this company, but was also the largest shareholder and the founder – in 2016, he was paid $30 million and he also was the largest shareholder, so his stocks were worth another $150 million a year. Stone Enterprises was a international conglomerate, with sites located around the world. It also was a parent company to some 118 subsidiaries.
I nodded my head. This was something. I was on the right track.
As I read through the information on Stone Enterprises, I looked at my email and saw that Anna had sent me the PDF that I was looking for. I downloaded the PDF and printed it out.
This document made one thing clear – Kayla Stone was in danger of being completely cut out of a fortune. She had one thing in common with Michael, and that was that both of them went into their marriage with very little. At the time that Kayla married Gerald, she listed her property as a car. Just a car. Nothing else.
On the other hand, Gerald had already been established with Stone Enterprises, so he came into the marriage with millions. He had also made millions more since the marriage occurred 12 years ago. I looked at his list of pre-marital property and saw that, in addition to $50 million in cash, he also possessed four homes, paintings that were worth millions, stock worth hundreds of millions and he even had his own private plane and island. An island!
Since the two got married, the couple had apparently acquired several more homes, and several priceless paintings which were painted by Monet and Warhol.
I read through the prenuptial agreement, trying to find out what Kayla was entitled to in the event of a divorce. The agreement stated that, in the event of a divorce, she would be entitled to half of what the couple had accumulated during their marriage, and 25% of what Gerald brought into the marriage. That would mean that, at this point, if Kayla and Gerald were divorced, Kayla would be entitled to property that was worth more than $200 million dollars. The Monet alone would be worth almost that much. The couple acquired many millions during their marriage, and Kayla would get half of that.
I nodded my head and then saw the clause that Michael had told me about. Apparently, in the event that Kayla was unfaithful to Gerald, she forfeited everything. Everything. The couple had no children together, so this prenuptial agreement would be valid. If they had kids together, then Gerald would never be able to just cut Kayla off with nothing – he would have to pay support for his children. But that wasn’t the case. There were no kids that had been born, so Kayla would basically be out on the street if she and Gerald divorced, providing that Gerald would be able to prove that she was unfaithful.
I wondered if Gerald had definitive proof that Kayla was having an affair with Michael. I suddenly knew that this was also why she refused to answer questions about her marriage in that deposition. She did admit to the fact that Michael was her boyfriend, so she was already incriminating herself. Her husband would be able to use that deposition against her, and would be able to take her testimony and use it to cut her off completely if he divorced her.
So why was she so willing to tell the truth about Michael? Why didn’t she lie about him and her relationship with him? She readily told me that Michael was her boyfriend. She was under oath testifying to the nature of her affair with Michael. She was admitting that she was with him in a hotel on the night that Judge Sanders was killed.
Why? If that were me, I would lie. I wouldn’t even care if I was under oath. I would lie and I would never let my boyfriend throw me under the bus like that. And, if I didn’t lie, I would quash the subpoena. I would fight it every step of the way.
Yet she didn’t do any of that. She just came right out with the fact that Michael was her boyfriend. She didn’t try to get out of the deposition.
Michael had tried to intimidate me out of asking her these questions, and that was another odd thing.
It was then that I went back to my email and saw that there was another PDF document that was attached. I didn’t even notice it before. I opened the second document and saw that it was an amended prenuptial agreement. The first thing I noticed was that it very clearly stated that this was a new document and that it superseded any previous documents, therefore all previous documents were considered to be null and void.
It was dated October 20, the day after Judge Sanders had been murdered.
I raised my eyebrows, looking for how it was different from the previous prenuptial agreement. The document itself was the same as the previous one – as in the previous one, Kayla Stone was entitled to 50% of the property that was acquired during the marriage and 25% of the property that had been brought into the marriage by Gerald. That part was identical.
After I carefully read the document, I realized just what was different – in this document, there was not an addendum that indicated that Kayla would forfeit any and all property if she was unfaithful to Gerald.
I blinked my eyes, not quite understanding what I was seeing and why. The day after the judge was killed and Gerald changed the terms of the prenuptial agreement. I shook my head. Why? Why did he change the terms? What did Kayla do for Gerald to get him to make such a drastic change? That would certainly explain why Kayla didn’t really care that she incriminated herself in her deposition by telling me that Michael was her boyfriend.
It explained that much. But what else did it explain? Dammit, this was significant, but I was missing the puzzle piece. The piece that brought everything together.
I sat back in my chair, feeling completely frustrated. I pinched my nose with my thumb and forefinger, feeling nauseated.
I was just going to have to walk away from this case for now. Walk away from it and, hopefully, when I was more relaxed, the missing puzzle piece would come to me. It could be a coincidence that Gerald changed the terms of the prenuptial agreement the day after Judge Sanders was murdered. It could be.
It could be, but it wasn’t. There was some level of involvement that I simply wasn’t seeing.
I wasn’t seeing it, but I was going to. I was determined that I was going to figure it out.
Twenty-Three
That night, I was home with the girls. Abby had her flute and she was practicing in the living room. Rina, for her part, was sitting on the floor next to Abby, and she kept howling like a dog.
“Rina,” I said. “For the last time, let your sister practice her flute.”
She cri
nkled up her face. “She sounds terrible, Aunt Harper. She sounds like one of those geese we see in the park.”
In spite of myself, I laughed. “No, she doesn’t sound like that. Now if she was playing the oboe, I would say that you would be absolutely correct. But a flute sounds nothing like that.”
“Whatever. She sounds terrible, though.”
Abby put down her flute and looked embarrassed. “Aunt Harper, I would like to just practice in my room, if that’s okay.”
“No,” I said. “I’m going to make sure that your sister is quiet from now on. I really would like to hear you play.”
Rina was right, in a way, because Abby wasn’t able to play the flute very well. Of course – she had just started to learn how to play the instrument. Rina couldn’t expect much. Neither could I. Neither could Abby. I remembered when I first started to learn how to play the flute, and I couldn’t get the fingerings down for months. My flute wasn’t as nice and expensive as Abby’s was, though. She and I went shopping and we found her the top of the line instrument.
“But Aunt Harper-“
“Play, Abby. Rina, be quiet. If you’re not quiet, then you’re going to be on restriction for the rest of the evening.”
Rina gave me the stink-eye, got up off the floor, and dramatically went to her room and slammed the door. I tried to suppress a smile. Anymore, Rina’s histrionics were amusing me. I knew that they shouldn’t amuse me, but they were. She was always slamming doors and pouting and giving me dirty looks. I knew that she wasn’t over finding out that I defended her mother’s murderer. I hoped that, in time, she would get over it, but if she didn’t, then I was going to have go to family therapy with her.
Abby sat down on the chair, her flute in her lap. Tears were in her eyes. “I’m not good, am I, Aunt Harper?”
I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulders. “Abby, Buttercup, you just got that flute last weekend. You just started to learn how to play. You have to walk before you can run, and, right now, you’re still mastering your fingerings and your scales.”
She nodded and then looked up at me. “James doesn’t think that I’m very good. He teases me every day when my teacher makes me stand up and do my scales in front of everyone. My teacher singles me out, it seems like, because I’m new. And I’m last chair.”
“Buttercup, you’re being too hard on yourself.” I took her chin in my hand and looked into her pretty blue eyes. “And if James is teasing you, it’s a good sign. It means that he’s noticing you and he probably likes you too, but he just doesn’t have a good way of showing it.”
She seemed to brighten when I said that. “Really?” Her voice was hopeful. “You think that he likes me too?”
“I do. Why else would he tease you? What does he say to you when you stand up and do your scales in front of everyone?”
“I don’t know, he kinda dances around and screeches. Like this.” Abby got up on her feet and danced a little jig and screeched, her voice going up several octaves. “He says that’s what I sound like. He’s kinda goofy I guess.”
“He sounds like it. Tell you what, why don’t we have a little party over here Friday night and you can invite a bunch of your classmates, including James, and I can check him out? Do you think that he would come?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but a party sounds nice. What will the occasion be? What will I tell them? Me and Rina don’t turn 12 until December.”
“Rina and I, Buttercup. Not me and Rina. And I know that you two turn 12 in December, but you don’t need an excuse to have a party, do you? What kind of things do kids of today do at parties, anyhow?”
“I don’t know, Aunt Harper. I would really love to have a laser tag party for my 12th birthday. I don’t think that Rina is up for that, though. She wants a DJ and a dance party. Maybe we can transform the backyard so that both of us can have what we want.”
I smiled. “Yes, those are really good ideas, but Abby, your birthdays are in December. I think that you two should probably schedule a sledding party instead. I’m talking about now. If I throw a party so that you can have James at the house, what would you two like to do?”
She looked embarrassed. “Maybe have the birthday ideas? Since we’re not going to be able to do it for our birthdays, maybe do the laser tag and dance party now? Then when our birthday comes, we can just hang out and watch movies or something.”
“You got it.” I tousled her hair. “I’ll call Axel to have him come and help out. Will the kids come to this on such short notice?”
“I think so. Kids like to come to parties in general and they really love laser tag. I’ll let everyone know. How many kids can come?”
“What about ten for you and ten for Rina?”
She nodded and smiled. “I’ll go up and tell Rina. I’m sure she’s going to be excited.”
At that, she ran up to Rina’s room and I soon heard shrieking. Two seconds later, Rina came running down the stairs.
“You’re gonna get a DJ, Aunt Harper? Or maybe a Karaoke machine?” She wrapped her arms around my waist and I squeezed her tightly.
“Let’s have the Karaoke machine, Lady Bug. I don’t think that I can line up a DJ on this short of notice.”
“That’s okay, my friends love Karaoke. I can have 10 kids and Abby can too? Why are we having this party, Aunt Harper?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s an early birthday party, since you guys turn 12 in December, and there won’t be much karaoking in the backyard, nor laser tag. But Rina, you have to be good. No more insulting your sister. She’s trying to learn the flute and she doesn’t need your put-downs.”
“I’ll be good.” She hugged me tighter. “I love you, Aunt Harper.”
I laughed. Those words, from Rina, were music to my ears. I didn’t know if that meant that she forgave me for not telling her about John Robinson, but that’s how I interpreted her telling me that she loved me.
“I love you too, Ladybug.”
That night, I was suffering from yet another sleepless night. I tossed and turned and looked at the clock, and was frustrated that it was 4 AM and I still wasn’t close to sleep. In fact, I had no idea the last time I was able to sleep. It had been several days.
I decided, once again, to get on the computer and do some more digging. After all, since I was awake anyhow, I might as well get something done in the meantime.
I was still trying to figure out the connections between Kayla Stone, Gerald Stone, Michael and the murder of the judge. If there was any connection, that is.
The first thing that I did was check and see if Stone Enterprises had any lawsuits pending in front of Judge Sanders. I booted up the computer and got on the website for the Western District of Missouri. I typed in the name “Stone Enterprises,” and found nothing. I tapped my fingers on the desk and got up to get a glass of water.
As I was standing at the sink, filling my water glass, I heard Rina. “Aunt Harper,” she said. “What are you doing up?”
I spun around, startled. “I could ask the same about you. What’s wrong, Lady Bug? Can’t you sleep?”
She shook her head. “I had a bad dream. Aunt Harper, I don’t like what you do. I don’t like you having those bad dudes as your clients.” She started to cry. “I don’t want to lose you, Aunt Harper.”
I put my arms around her. “Now, why would you lose me?”
“Because. You have all these murderers around you all the time. I’m afraid that one of them is going to come after you and you’re going to end up like our mom.” She cried harder and I stroked her hair.
“Shhhh,” I said. “Tell me about your dream.”
She shook her head. “I just dreamed that you were killed like my mom.”
“Oh, Ladybug,” I said. “I’ve done this job for years and years. I’ve never had a problem with any of my clients.” That was a lie. It was a big, fat lie. Elmer threatened me and put me in the hospital. That gangbanger, years ago, Randall Thompson, almost strangled me.
&nb
sp; But somehow, Michael threatened me even more than Elmer and the gangbanger did. He was sociopathic. I knew that. I could feel it. I was getting closer to proving it.
If anybody was going to try to kill me, it would be him. That thought popped into my brain and it startled me.
If anybody was going to try to kill me, it would be him.
I shuddered, in spite of myself.
“I don’t believe that, Aunt Harper. You’ve had clients like John Robinson. Look at what he did. He could have done that to you too. He couldn’t control himself. He got angry and he just couldn’t control himself. You’re around men like that all the time, Aunt Harper. All the time. I just wish you would get out of it. Get out of having these bad men as your clients.”
Her words were stabbing me like daggers, but I couldn’t let on. In a way, she was right – I was representing bad dudes. Bad dudes who threatened me. She was also right to worry. “Ladybug, please stop worrying. Now, go on back to bed. Try to get some sleep. 7 AM comes early.”
She hung her head, hugged me again, and ran back up the stairs.
I sighed and returned to my office. To my computer.
Stone Enterprises didn’t have any lawsuits pending in front of the judge. I decided to go ahead and Google it to find out if it had any major environmental violations, violations like Dowling Chemicals did, and I didn’t find anything about that, either.
Was there something else? Some other violations that would cause it to be sued? I shook my head. None of that made sense. Number one, if there was a lawsuit pending on some other issue, like a labor issue or a safety issue, then it would be doubtful that it would be specially assigned to Judge Sanders. They might, but most cases were assigned randomly. Number two, my gut was telling me, loudly, that the entire case was going to turn on environmental issues. Issues like Dowling Chemicals.
Justice Denied - A Harper Ross Legal Thriller Page 18