The Chi Rho Conspiracy

by Rene Fomby

  “Yes, Janine. I’m going to need to make a call back to the States. Can you arrange that for me?”

  “Sure thing, Ms. Tulley. Just a sec.” Sam could hear a faint clicking on the line. “Okay, you’re set. Just dial the number as usual and hit the call button, and you’ll get through immediately.”

  “Thank you. And how much longer ‘til we reach Italy?”

  “We’ve picked up a good jet stream on our tail, so we’re making especially good time right now. I’d say about four hours, maybe a bit less.”

  “Perfect. Thank you.”

  “Any time, ma’am.”

  Sam paused to remember the number, then keyed it in and pressed call. There was a slight hesitation as the call went through, and then a phone started ringing on the other end. After the fourth ring it was answered.

  “Harry Crawford here. How can I help you?”

  She could hear the slight hitch in his voice, and remembered how he hated to answer the phone whenever the caller ID failed to show who it was on the other end. “Hare. It’s Sam. How are you, buddy?”

  “Sam! It’s great to hear your voice! I’ve been worried sick about you, the way you just suddenly disappeared yesterday in Vegas. When you were a no-show for our breakfast, I thought something horrible must have happened. Especially since you mentioned that Maddie was very ill.”

  Oops. Sam hit herself lightly on the forehead. “Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry about that. An emergency popped up at the last minute and I had to shoot off, and I guess I got so distracted I just plum forgot to leave you a message. I feel like an idiot.”

  “Not a problem. I called down to your room before I headed out myself, and the front desk picked up and told me you had just bolted out the front door headed for the airport. Is everything okay?”

  Sam thought about how to answer that. Certainly she wasn’t going to tell him the truth. “Yeah, as it turns out, it wasn’t such a big deal after all. But, of course, everything’s a crisis back in Italy these days. Did you enjoy your trip out to Sin City?”

  “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t all that sure I would. Just a little too much sin and too much city for this good old country boy. But boy was I wrong! After the reception, Annabelle and I went to that show on the strip, and I can tell you, that part of Vegas is well named, because every single girl in the show stripped down to basically nothing. I kept sneaking glances at Annabelle, worried that she would get upset at all of the nudity, but she seemed to take to it even more than I did. And proved it to me later on that evening.”

  “TMI, Harry! Way too much information.” Those little details were the last thing Sam wanted to hear right now. “So I take it you’re headed back home, now?”

  “Yep. I’m already neck deep in prepping for the bar exam, so I need to get back at it. I happen to know a certain little someone who kind of set that bar a little too high for the rest of us. As in a perfect score, for example.”

  “Yeah, well, after my clerkship with the Supremes I got that sweetheart deal at Truman Walker,” Sam said wistfully. “But that was all contingent on my passing the bar. And there was no way I was ever going to let myself fail and lose out on my dream job. Well, what I thought was my dream job at the time. The problem was, I would have done pretty well right out of Baylor without any effort at all, but after all that time clerking, my law knowledge was getting pretty rusty. Especially all that garbage about oil and gas law, which I will never ever use in my entire life. So I guess I kind of overdid all the catching up in the months before I took the test.”

  “Overdid it is the understatement of the year. Did you take any of the Barbri prep classes? ‘Cause I don’t have that kind of money. I’m just using Annabelle’s books and notes.”

  Annabelle. Everything’s all about Annabelle these days. “No, in theory Truman let you take time off to attend the classes, and they would even pay for it, but in reality they expected you to be turning in billable hours, 25/7, 366 days a year. Instead, I borrowed your sister’s notes and books and stayed up ‘til the wee hours of the night, studying all on my own.”

  “And still nailed it. Only you, Sam. Only you.” Sam could hear Harry laughing faintly on the other end. “And you evidently got a lot more out of those notes than Hailey did, ‘cause I understand she came within three or four points of failing.”

  “That’s why they call it a bar exam, Harry. It’s like pole vaulting—as long as you get over the bar without hitting it and knocking it off, you’re okay. But hey, this is all well and good, but it’s not why I called you. I wanted to revisit your proposal. About being law partners.”

  “Yeah? Does that mean it’s a yes? Don’t keep me in suspense, Sammie! Is it a go?”

  Sam switched the phone to her other ear and leaned back in her seat, the dove gray calf leather swallowing her in its tender embrace. Just one more advantage of not flying commercial. “Well, there are certain details we still need to work out, but I think we can give it a shot. I liked the workup you sent me, and the idea of using a virtual office and some shared conference space downtown. Keeping costs low for now, so you’re not putting extra pressure on yourself to have to bring in new clients all the time. And the virtual piece would allow me to stay on top of things, even though I’m stuck out here in Italy for the time being. But, by the way, how will we handle court appearances? Until your license is official, you’re still just a law clerk.”

  “Got that problem handled, boss lady. Like I said before, Hailey can help out in an emergency whenever I need it, and I have a couple of friends who graduated ahead of me at Baylor who wouldn’t mind getting in some extra courtroom experience, either. Really, for almost anything other than an actual trial, they would just need to stand there while I did all the heavy lifting, anyway.”

  “And you really wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  Harry snorted. “You know me all too well, Sam Tulley. But oh, by the way, I’ve got some really good news. I think I already have two major cases lined up. Well, one, maybe. It involves a woman who got burned pretty badly by coffee while she was in the hospital. I got it from another firm in Houston, who discovered at the last minute that they had a major conflict. They were on retainer for the other side, the hospital. And their estimate is it might fetch at best twenty thousand dollars. A fortune for me, but hardly worth the trouble from their point of view. As for the other case, I don’t know—it still has a lot of question marks attached.”

  Sam nodded to herself. Two cases already, and he was barely out of law school. All of the pieces were falling into place, and not only was the idea a great way for Harry to get his career kick-started, if it worked out, it would give her a good place to land on her feet running once she wrapped up her business with the trust and handed it over to the day-to-day managers. Or a great place to retreat if everything in Europe went feets up.

  But a hospital case brought with it some unique challenges. Challenges that could easily trip up a newbie lawyer. “Harry, are you sure you’re up to taking on a med mal case at this point? They can be pretty tricky, even for experienced lawyers.”

  Harry had to stop for a second to process what she was talking about. “Med mal? You mean the burn case?”

  “Yeah, that. I seem to recall from my law school days that any injuries in a hospital or clinic automatically fell under the medical malpractice rules. Meaning you’ll be tied up forever chasing a thousand little arcane details, any one of which could kill the case for good.”

  “Right, well, it feels funny saying this, but some things may have changed since you were back in school.”

  “You mean—”

  “Yeah. There was a recent case that went all the way to the Texas Supremes that’s dead on point. Now any injury that’s not medical in nature is a simple tort. If you can get sued for pouring coffee on a customer in a diner, then the same thing applies in a hospital. And the firm that handed me the case already got a ruling on that from the judge, so I think we’re good.” />
  “Okay, then that’s a relief,” Sam said. “That’ll save us a lot of time and money. And, by the way, speaking of money, have you given any thought as to where you might live? Houston isn’t the most expensive city in the world, but it’s a heckuva lot more expensive than Waco.”

  “Yeah, well …” Sam could hear the telltale hesitation in Harry’s voice. He had some more news he didn’t exactly know how to share. “The thing is, Hailey offered to let me stay in her spare bedroom for a while, which is awfully sweet of her, but with the baby coming, and her being newly married and all, I just don’t see how that would really work out.”

  “I think your instincts are spot on about that.”

  “Yeah, right, so … Annabelle doesn’t have a job lined up yet, but her folks got her this little place in the Heights, so she’s moving down there as soon as it closes next week.” Again, a moment’s hesitation. “And she kinda suggested, hey, why don’t I just stay with her?”

  Sam was stunned. Somehow she should have seen it coming. But she didn’t. “Uh … don’t you think that might be a little … premature?”

  “Not really. I mean, we’ve been sleeping over at each other’s place for almost six months now, so that much wouldn’t change. It would just be less back and forth. And Annabelle hit it out of the park with everyone at the wedding, so no issues there. Also, to be totally honest, maybe it’s about time I got settled down, had some kids of my own. None of us are getting any younger, you know.”

  Married. Kids. Can it get any worse? “What about her parents? What will they think about you two shacking up together? In a house they just bought for their sweet little daughter that had to have cost a small fortune?”

  “We’ve already discussed it with them, and they’re completely on board. The house has two bedrooms, so as far as they know, I’ll just be her roommate. Until I can get the law firm on its feet and bring in enough moolah to get a place of my own.”

  “So it’s just a matter of don’t ask, don’t tell? Everyone just looks the other way and pretends the other side is clueless?”

  “Well, Sam, unless you have a better idea, that’s all I’ve got to work with right now.”

  Sam could hear the frustration starting to build in Harry’s voice. The defensiveness that said she was treading very close to the danger zone and had better back the hell off. So she did. “No, you’re right, Harry. And I’m beginning to think that living together before you get married has its merits. There’s nothing like brushing your teeth in the morning only to have your special someone come in and take a dump right in the middle of your brushing backstroke to knock the bloom off the rose, so to speak. To shatter any unrealistic romantic assumptions you might have about what being married is really like. But still, I’d suggest you try and take things nice and slow until you’re sure this relationship is forever.”

  “Sam, I already have one big sister bossing me around. I don’t need another.”

  Big sister. Ouch! “You’re right, Harry. You’re a big boy, and as bright as they come, so I know you’ll make the right call. Hey, why else would I be willing to dive into a long-distance partnership with you, right?” Sam hesitated. “Listen, buddy, I gotta run, but let me know whatever it is you need to get things up and running. If my name’s gonna be up there on the wall, Tulley Crawford, then I want to make sure we do it all up right.”

  “That’s Crawford Tulley, but sure, I’ll work up a budget and send it over to you by the end of next week. Oh, and one last thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “Give Maddie a big hug from her Uncle Harry, okay? Tell her I love her and I can’t wait to see her sometime soon.”

  “I’ll do that, Harry. And she sure misses you, too. We all do. I—” Sam felt a catch in her throat, and she pulled the phone away for a second so she could swallow hard and clear it. “I’ll look forward to seeing your workup on the budget. I’m excited about this, I think it’ll be a lot of fun. And it’s Tulley Crawford, by the way. I have the law license, you know,” she teased.

  “Crawford Tulley, and that’s my final offer,” he teased back. “After all, I’m the guy who has to meet with the wave of high-dollar clients when they come rolling in.”

  Sam could hear Harry giggling faintly on the other line. “Okay, Harry, you win. I give up. Have it your way.” She paused for one long, pregnant moment. “So it’s Tulley Crawford. After all, I’m the one paying for the sign.” Now giggling as well, she quickly pulled down the phone and punched ‘End’ before he could respond. This partnership was promising to be the very tonic she needed to cure what had been eating away at her for so long. As long as she could figure out a way to keep the whole Annabelle thing from blowing everything up.

  29

  Siena

  Sam’s ruse about the unseen buyer in Frankfurt had exceeded her wildest dreams. Meeting with the French buyer in Paris, Sam led off with a ridiculously high sales price and was surprised when he largely agreed, as long as his bankers would sign off on the deal. And that sales price meant she could put her own bank on a solid footing almost overnight. Just as long as she could convince those other banks to play along.

  But it wasn’t really the challenge of saving the trust from bankruptcy that had her gut wrapped up in knots. That kind of problem was a game she had mastered in spades over the past year. No, the real challenge was much more personal. The old dream had come back, with a startling new twist. Once again she was hurtling down the hallways of the Baylor law school, trying to make it to class before the bell rang. Before she was too late to take the final exam for a class she had forgotten about all semester long. Once again, though, she made it just in time, plopping into her seat just as the bell rang out. And then looking down to discover that she didn’t have a stitch of clothing on her. This time, though, nobody in the classroom turned around to notice. Nobody, that is, except Annabelle.

  Sam tried to put the implications of that dream behind her as she boarded her jet at Charles De Gaulle Airport for the flight back to Siena. To distract herself, she looked through the stack of information she had received on the project’s primary backer, the Türkiye İş Bankası, commonly known as Isbank. Isbank was the largest public bank in Turkey, and ranked among the hundred largest banks in the world. It had offices throughout the Middle East, Europe and Russia. And—most notably—an office in Paris, which explained the connection to her buyer. In order to close the deal with Isbank—which would have the effect of also closing the deal with all of the other, lesser partners—she would need to schedule a trip to Ankara, Turkey, to meet with the bank’s president and members of their board.

  Turkey had recently become a hotspot for Islamist activity, particularly in Istanbul and around the Kurdish territories, but Sam’s advisors had assured her that central Turkey was still relatively safe for Americans. Particularly if she brought along a bodyguard. And given that the only way she could see a path to saving the trust was by locking down this deal, Sam didn’t see that she had much of a choice.

  Then she remembered an interesting little conversation with Margaret, her mother-in-law, several months earlier. A conversation about how Turkey was the birthplace of Christianity, at least for the centuries-long period when the faith finally emerged from its humble origins as a Jewish sect and became a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Sam didn’t have any particular religious connections to Christian history, but she always enjoyed the limited opportunities she could find to slip away from all the business nonsense and explore the marvelous remnants of the ancient Roman civilization scattered throughout Italy. And supposedly the Roman ruins in Turkey were even more amazing, some of the best-preserved examples of the ancient world still standing. Well worth taking a side trip to visit.

  And in the meantime, it also wouldn’t hurt to try and use the occasion as an opportunity to better cultivate her relationship with Margaret. Other than Maddie, Margaret was pretty much the only person in Italy who wasn’t spending one hundred
percent of their time blowing smoke up her behind. And Maddie didn’t exactly count—her daughter had her own agendas, too, most of which involved bowls of ice cream. But the real problem was, after so many years lounging around inside the Ricciardelli bubble, Margaret had devolved to the point where emotionally and intellectually she was more at Maddie’s level than Sam’s. Her whole life these days seemed to be focused on finding some new way to pull money out of the Ricciardelli piggybank, while Sam spent every waking moment trying to fill it back up. But deep down, Margaret was still a wonderful, loving woman, and very devoted to Maddie, so Sam kept hoping that she could find some way to better connect with her mother-in-law, to get her involved in a world that didn’t always involve celebrity parties and high fashion. And a trip out to Turkey to explore the oldest remnants of Christianity might be a good way to get that started.

  Sam picked up the phone in her cabin just as her jet was lifting off out of Paris and called ahead to Claudia, her personal assistant. For the first time since the wedding, she actually felt a little excitement sneaking back into her chest. Instead of the dread and self-loathing that had been camped out there, crushing her every breath. It could work! With any luck, she could convince Margaret to drop everything and join her at the last minute on a little adventure. And maybe Maddie had recovered enough to come along, as well. The three Tulley girls, all together.

  Well, two at least. Margaret had gone back to her Ricciardelli roots after her divorce, but despite the stain of William Tulley, Sam still couldn’t let go of that last tie to Luke. A lingering tie she still shared with Maddie. Luke had been everything his father and his sister had not. And as angry and disappointed as she’d been when she finally found out about his secret other life, the vast fortune he’d hidden from her throughout their life together, the events of the last year had made her understand that it was all most likely an act of love, of kindness. He’d borne the burden alone, so she and Maddie didn’t have to. And now, with Luke lost to her forever, the burden was hers. She would bear it, though, wherever it took her, so Maddie wouldn’t have to. Not for a very long time.