Giving a wife strong advice had never been a problem for the attorney, until she met Claire Peernock.
“When Claire came in to see me, there wasn’t anything exceptional about it. I have a standard procedure that I run through at the office for everybody who comes in for a divorce. I tell them about the process, how long it’s going to take, what needs to be done. I answer their questions and, you know, I try to give them a backbone if that’s necessary. I try to make them behave themselves if that’s necessary. I hand out Kleenex.
“She was concerned about her share of community property. It seems that her husband was one of those men who like to control the purse strings and keep the little wife in the dark about the finances. She wanted to keep the house they were living in, reasonable child support and spousal support, and whatever else she might be entitled to under the California law. She didn’t sound money hungry.
“Robert was served in early December of 1986 with a petition for dissolution and order to show cause, to set temporary child support and temporary use of the property, with a hearing date set for that coming January eight.”
At this point in Victoria’s story, there is a shift in her voice. The confident tones leave her as she steps away from her recital of the facts and evaluates herself. Victoria had indeed given Claire some strong advice. But the attorney leaves the woman to finish the thought in a slightly softened voice, a much more hesitant delivery.
“And unfortunately … you know … when it came to Claire, I missed the mark. Totally.
“That was the first and last time I ever saw her.”
In fact, when Victoria had last heard from Claire Peernock, she thought the matter had been dropped. Claire had left a phone message at her office advising that Robert had shown surprising resistance to the idea of getting divorced. He wanted a few months to try to work things out. If the relationship wasn’t going to survive, he wanted at least to make a venture into some kind of business using their jointly held properties. Robert even voluntarily signed an “Agreement” assuring Claire of continued support payments through August of 1987. And if, by that time, he and Claire had not arrived at an arrangement that suited them both and gave her reason to reconsider her demands, Claire could reactivate her divorce proceedings. By the time Claire left the message telling Victoria this, it was Christmas Eve of 1986. She had already signed the “Agreement.”
On the same day that she received Claire’s message, Victoria wrote back and acknowledged that the divorce would be stalled as requested. She advised Claire very strongly not to sign any more documents without at least letting Victoria read them over for her. Then she closed the letter with the expressed hope that once August arrived, if divorce was still necessary, Robert and Claire would be able to proceed with an uncontested dissolution.
She knew it is rare that a husband and wife can divorce and divide a small fortune without hotly contesting each other’s position. But having met Claire only once and having been told that she had already decided to take this course, Victoria decided to accept her portrayal of the home situation as being one that would be resolved in a civilized fashion.
She put Claire’s legal file back in the cabinet and made a note on the calendar to check with her on the first of August. As an attorney this was all she could do for Claire at that time. She made no further attempt to contact her.
Seven months later, less than a week before Victoria was scheduled to call Claire and see whether she intended to go forward with the divorce action on the August 1 deadline, the first step on Victoria’s journey of self-doubt began. It was three days after the first newspaper article appeared regarding the crimes.
On July 28, a man walked into her office and identified himself as Claire Peernock’s brother, Maurice. He had just arrived from Claire’s homeland of Quebec. Speaking in a thick French-Canadian accent, he told how he had found Victoria’s letter to Claire inside the Peernock house, along with some other papers. The letter guided him to her; he didn’t know who else to call upon for legal advice. Maurice assumed that Victoria already realized Claire had been beaten to death, that Natasha had been brutalized, and that police were searching for Robert. He asked Victoria to meet with him to discuss what should be done about Claire’s estate and the protection of the children.
Victoria stood in stunned silence and tried to absorb the news. In the nearly five years since she had become a sole practitioner, she had never been confronted with such blunt evidence of the deep rages inside the divorces she was hired to handle.
Maurice also informed her that he had just come from a brief visit with Natasha in the hospital. The young woman was going to survive and was expected to recover, physically at least. Although her sister would be taken into foster care in order to be able to stay in America, Natasha was going to need somebody to look after her interests, to help her deal with the family belongings, sort the property, protect the estate.
Maurice told her regretfully that he did not have the means to remain in California long enough to look after so many complex legal details, and an eighteen-year-old was not qualified to walk that minefield by herself. He added that since Victoria had been Claire’s attorney, Claire must have trusted her. On that basis, he appealed to Victoria for help.
Even as she stood weaving, trying to absorb the shock of Claire’s death, her mind raced. She asked herself how she could possibly accept this man’s request for help. This was a situation that called for an experienced probate attorney, but she had virtually no experience in probate law; her background was primarily family law and criminal law.
She protested to Maurice that if she took this case for Natasha, Victoria would be throwing herself into a crash course of home study to bone up on procedure. Was anything like that going to be good enough for Natasha’s interests?
Maurice countered that for him to go to some stranger and ask for help would be nothing more than a roll of the dice with regard to any assurance that Natasha would be treated fairly. No, he repeated, if Claire had trusted Victoria, then so would he. And the ability to trust the attorney meant far more to him than matters of procedure.
Victoria felt the room closing in as she made a few silent calculations. This case was a load of grief that she definitely did not need. She had a good reputation and never needed to advertise for business; most of her clients were referred by other clients. The prior year had marked the first time that she had earned $100,000 in her own practice since passing the California bar exam. But if the complexities of this case required her to do so much background study that she had to neglect her other cases, she might wind up having to farm everything else out to other lawyers. Stepping outside of her expertise could easily turn out to be a walk into quicksand. She knew that the courts weren’t going to cut her any breaks just because she was venturing into a field of law that was new to her. And whatever law firm she wound up opposing in court would be even less likely to do so.
Besides, as Claire’s former divorce attorney, she had no ethical obligation to become a probate lawyer for some young woman she had never even met. There were risks in every direction and no reason to get involved, except for the simple dignity of this man’s request for honest help from a woman he did not know but whom he had decided to trust because his sister had.
Victoria had her own marriage to think about. A case like this was surely going to follow her home at night. So far, her husband, Richard, had been understanding with her every time she brought home yet another abandoned animal to add to the growing zoo at their little ranch, but now, if she actually did this thing, she would have to rely on him more than ever. He would have to assume even more responsibility than he already had for the care and feeding of those animals, just so she could spend her free time studying the Probate Code and applicable case law.
No, it was clear. There was just not enough reason to take the risk. This simple request from this frightened man far away from his homeland threatened to impact on every area of her life. It offered no other app
eal than the fact that someone respected her and had made an emphatic request for her help.
She took the case.
Later that day, long after Maurice had left to go back to the hospital, promising to bring Natasha in as soon as she had recovered enough to make the trip, a stunning realization hit her—she had the physical proof of a motive for Claire’s murder.
She was keeping it right there, in her office files.
Claire had sent it to her months ago for safekeeping, almost as if she was telling Victoria that she wanted her to have such proof just in case something like this should ever happen. It was the original “Agreement” that Claire and Robert Peernock had signed, and it outlined all the reasons why Robert’s last chance to keep a major portion of their estate for himself was going to expire on August 1, four days away.
Victoria rushed to the file and flipped through the papers until she found it. Typed neatly with Claire’s secretarial skill, it was carefully worded and showed that Claire had clearly put a great deal of thought into the terms she outlined here. The document was dated and signed by both Claire and Robert. As Victoria began to read it, she had to sit down. She felt the blood drain from her face as she went down the list.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN
ROBERT & CLAIRE PEERNOCK
I understand that Claire Peernock has filed for divorce and that our first court appearance is scheduled for January 8, 1987.
Because I am in the process of developing a new company, I have asked Claire Peernock to postpone such proceedings until August, 1987. She has accepted under the following stipulations:
1. I will not, during this period of time, transfer, encumber, hypothecate, conceal, or in any way dispose of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasicommunity, or separate, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life and,
I will notified [sic] Claire Peernock of any proposed extraordinary expenditures and an accounting of such will be presented on August 1, 1987, or on demand.
2. Since the only purpose of delaying this divorce is to establish my business, Claire Peernock will, of course, benefit from the fifty-fifty split of my business assets in August 1987 when proceedings resume.
3. Since Claire Peernock has accepted this seven-month delay, I will in turn, when divorce proceedings resume, cooperate fully in order to expedite and minimize expenses of dividing all assets equally. Such assets include but are not limited to said business, three (3) houses, one (1) parcel of land in Pennsylvania, all cash accounts, gold coins, silver coins, stocks, bonds, etc. Full cooperation will also be given for division of furniture, cars, incidentals, child custody and support, and all other matters related to this divorce.
4. I have agreed to pay $2,000 to Claire Peernock, which consists mostly of back food payments (9 weeks @ $125) + different bills and penalties incurred for late charges and payments of expenses during the past two and a half months.
5. I agree to resume payment of $125 per week for food. This check will be given religiously every Sunday.
6. I agree to make payments of house mortgages on time, taxes, insurances, all utilities (including cable TV).
7. Since Claire Peernock was counting on proceeds of divorce settlement to help defray college expenses for Natasha, I agree to make available at least $2,000 for college next year. If more is needed, agreement could be reached.
8. Although we both agree to try to dispose of property (houses, land, etc) without interference of lawyers or court, Claire Peernock reserves her option to have every transaction reviewed by her attorney, Mrs. Doom. Since I have agreed to be fair and to divide everything fifty-fifty, these legal consultations will be for her peace of mind only, therefore she has agreed to defray these minimal legal expenses.
9. I agree to not attack, strike, threaten, assault, and batter Claire Peernock and her daughters ….
I will continue to have some kind of father-daughter relationship with [the youngest daughter] when acceptable to all.
I will refrain from yelling at, ridiculing, or even talking to Natasha [the rest of the sentence was crossed out and initialed by Robert, as follows:] … since all my comments are invariably negative.—R.J.P.
I will not threaten to throw her out of the house when she turns eighteen ever again. [Robert wrote in the following and initialed it by hand:] The above is not an admission of any wrongdoing but is an agreement in spirit for future understanding. R.J.P.
Any breach or violation of any part of this agreement will nullify such and Claire Peernock will then have the option of proceeding with the divorce immediately.
By the time Victoria got to the end of the “Agreement” she felt as if her temperature had dropped ten degrees. Items 4 through 9 offered an especially revealing glimpse inside this household; for months before Claire finally decided to break away from the marriage, Robert had been withholding monies for his family’s funds for food and shelter. He hadn’t even bothered to cross that part out.
But she wondered what Claire had accomplished with this document. It did nothing more than force him to behave in ways he was already required to do under the law. Most of all, why had Robert really wanted the time extension? Maurice had told her that he had found no evidence of any “new company” at the house, even though Robert kept most of his files and all of his electronic supplies there.
So why would Robert beg Claire for a seven-month delay and then do nothing with it? Victoria thought back to the time when it was signed. What else had been going on then? The couple’s relationship had completely soured; alienation was complete. However, Victoria’s experience with the way people behave in divorce situations told her that it would be no more than human nature for Claire to have shouted in anger at Robert that she was finished, she had made up her mind to divorce him.
What, then, if he had started planning to kill Claire at the moment she revealed her divorce plans, but she had surprised him by the swiftness of her actions in seeking out a divorce attorney and in having him served with papers? In that case he could hardly have dared to go ahead with any such plan within days of being served; that would be as good as an admission of guilt. However, if he got her to give him time supposedly for things to cool off, he would have the leisure to refine a murder plan and set up an accident that would have worked perfectly if only the car hadn’t veered off the road and avoided the evidence-cleansing explosion and fire.
And even now, with the survival of Natasha, in court it would only be his daughter’s word against his.
Except for the matter of this “Agreement” that Victoria held in her hands. In the event of Claire’s death after the August 1 date, any suspicions of murder would fall squarely on the husband who was being divorced. Thus the “Agreement” established a clear motive for a staged accident to take place in the week before August 1, when the “Agreement” would expire and put the divorce back on track.
Did Robert know she had this thing? If so, he would surely want to get his hands on it.
She wondered where he was at this very moment. A cold burst of fear shot through her. She had no way of knowing that it was only the first of many yet to come.
At 5:00 P.M. that evening, Steve Fisk received a phone call from some private attorney he had never heard of before named Victoria Doom. She wanted him to know that she had a document in her files that might shed a lot of light on Robert Peernock’s status as a suspect.
Fisk asked her to wait for him at her office and left immediately to go pick up the file. It was bad enough wondering whether there would be another attempt on Natasha’s life before Robert could be brought in. But until the whole thing had time to shake itself out Fisk didn’t need to have documents floating around out there that Robert Peernock, if indeed he was guilty, might be strongly motivated to put on some private hunting list.
Fisk greeted Victoria hurriedly. The moment he ran his eyes down the page she handed to him, he agreed; a motive had been found. It was not proof, but in the right hands it was clearly a
reason for murder.
Tasha struggled to focus her way out of the dark gray fog that persisted in settling over her heart whenever she got quiet for a while and didn’t have enough distraction to keep her from thinking too much. She glanced around and saw that the room was empty except for a blur that turned out to be an orderly who had propped the door open while he mopped the floor. When the orderly left he picked up her untouched dinner tray.
As Tasha lay quietly she began to notice voices of people outside in the hallway. It was an odd sensation; they were again discussing her as if she weren’t aware of them. The voices drifted back inside, just enough to give her the gist of the conversation. She closed her eyes and sorted them out, identifying each speaker by sound. Patty and Uncle Maurice were being lectured on Tasha’s condition by one of the nurses.
“You all don’t seem to understand,” the nurse was saying. “Natasha’s injuries only start with the physical wounds. She’s not going to just go home and pick up where she left off. This is a young woman who will have to have years of therapy along with her physical recovery.” The nurse dropped her voice to a whisper that Tasha could barely hear.
“This can destroy her mental health, don’t you see that? If what she says about her father is true, then she’s probably going to hate men, maybe for the rest of her life. You talk about getting her out of here like you’re springing her from jail. She could well need to spend her life in a mental institution.”
Tasha felt as if a hole had opened up in the floor and swallowed her, bed and all. She could tell that Patty and Maurice were both protesting the nurse’s take on the situation, but the words blurred in her ears. Up to this point she hadn’t even considered her own mental state. She had just automatically assumed that if she could get her physical health back and if she could ever again look like something that wouldn’t make children cry in the supermarket, then her only real challenge would be to find some way to make a living.
A Checklist for Murder Page 12