“I’m ready to fight for what’s best for my kids, Mr. Carlson. No matter what.”
“All right. Fasten your seatbelt. This is going to be a bumpy ride.”
Carlson went behind his desk, pulled the phone over and called the judge’s chambers.
“Johnelle, Lou Carlson, how are you?”
“Fine, fine. God it’s nice to hear your voice. Been a long time. How do you like being retired? Piece of cake, uh?”
“Yeah, Johnelle, piece of cake. Could you do me a favor? What judge is hearing a motion to enter a consent order by Al Garfield and Gilbert Stuart?”
“What’s the name of the case?”
“Tully v. Tully.”
“Hold on a second, I’ll look.”
A couple of minutes later, Johnelle Murchison, chief clerk to the circuit court judges, returned. “That’s Judge Hallowell, they’re in with him now.”
“Johnelle, would you put me through to the judge, it’s an emergency.”
“Lou, you know how the judges are. I can’t do that.”
“I know, Johnelle. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t an emergency. I’m not using the word for effect. This is an emergency. A major miscarriage of justice is about to take place if I can’t speak to Judge Hallowell. I will take full responsibility for the intrusion, Johnelle. You know me. Would I say it if it wasn’t so?”
“Hold on, Lou. I’ll put you through.”
“Judge Hallowell speaking.”
“Good afternoon, Your Honor. This is Lou Carlson. I apologize for this intrusion; however I have information of the utmost importance about the consent order before you now.”
“This is highly unusual, counselor. What is your standing in this matter?”
“I am counsel for the mother, Serena Tully.”
Carlson stopped for a second. It had been two years since he’d spoken those words. If he’d been an alcoholic he’d have been staring at his first glass wondering how many more would follow.
“Mr. Stuart is counsel of record, Mr. Carlson. There is no notice of his being replaced or joined on this matter.”
“That can be remedied, Your Honor. Would you please put Mr. Stuart on the phone?” This was the turning point. Carlson was in the vast trackless wild of judicial discretion. The judge would do what he damn well pleased and as long as he kept why to himself, answer to no one.
“Hold on, Mr. Carlson. I’ll put Mr. Stuart on.”
Carlson motioned for Serena to take the phone. He handed her the paper with the words he’d written for her.
“Gilbert Stuart, here.”
“Mr. Stuart, this is Serena Tully. I rescind my consent to that settlement. I want you to convey that to the judge. That is your last act on my behalf, Mr. Stuart. After you have done that, you are released as my attorney. Mr. Carlson is now my attorney. Please put the judge back on.” She handed back the phone.
“Mr. Carlson, what are the grounds for requesting that I vacate this order? An entered order of this court is no trifling matter. You’d better have a damned good reason to request that I vacate this order.”
“Your Honor, my client, Ms. Tully, was assaulted yesterday by a man who told her that unless she signed those papers she would be killed. I would respectfully submit that that renders the consent aspect of that order null and void.”
“Let me have a moment to speak with opposing counsel.” While the judge spoke to Garfield, Gilbert Stuart snapped his briefcase shut and left the room, mortified by his dismissal.
Carlson looked at Serena and shrugged his shoulders.
“Mr. Carlson, I’m not willing to set aside this court order without a hearing with your client under oath and cross-examined. How soon can you and she be at the courthouse?”
“Thirty minutes, Your Honor.”
“Do so. I have other cases to hear. I will be waiting for you in Courtroom E.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
All the way down to the courthouse, Lou Carlson wondered what he’d tell his wife. While he was easily combustible, she was a smolderer with eloquent eyebrows and pursed lips that whitened from the force of the words withheld. Carlson followed her around, palms up, saying, “What? What is it? Tell me already.” When her silence was broken, there was a brief but complete conflagration followed by laborious cleanup and repair.
He looked over at Serena Tully, who was staring out the window, thinking about what she was about to do. The lot around the courthouse was packed, so Carlson drove down the block to a row of townhouses, home to scores of lawyers. He pulled into the patrolled lot and found a spot belonging to a firm he had good relations with, got out and bounded up the front stairs of their office. When he returned, he slipped a visitor’s pass under the windshield. He and Serena walked briskly to the courthouse.
Judge Hallowell was in Courtroom E, at the end of the fifth floor. All heads turned when they walked in: bailiff, clerk, reporter, judge and Albert Olen Garfield.
“Mr. Carlson, do you have a motion to place before this court?”
Carlson pulled a chair back for his client to sit, and tried to remember the list he’d made on the trip from his office. Albert Garfield admired Serena Tully. When she caught him staring at her, she tried to meet his eyes but stopped when she saw the smirk on his face. Instinctively she tugged at her skirt.
“Actually, Your Honor, I have a number of motions to place before the court. First, that you vacate the order you signed, because it was entered into by my client under duress. She feared for her life after a brutal assault on her by a person we believe to have been hired by her husband.”
“I object, Your Honor.”
“Sustained, Mr. Garfield.”
“Should Your Honor grant this motion after hearing the testimony of my client, I request that a hearing be set immediately on the spousal violence part of the original ex parte order signed by Judge Kenniston. The statute says that such an order is granted for a period of fifteen days.”
“Objection, Your Honor.”
“Yes, Mr. Garfield?”
“The statute says that a hearing must be granted within fifteen days but that it may be extended. Dr. Reece was ordered to do an evaluation into the spousal abuse question. I think it would not be in the children’s best interest to rush such an important piece of work to fit Mr. Carlson’s agenda. The proper time for a hearing is when Dr. Reece has concluded his investigation.”
“Your Honor, the order was for an evaluation into the best interests of the children, not simply spousal violence, as Mr. Garfield would have you believe. I’m sure the court has a copy of Judge Kenniston’s order. You are familiar with Dr. Reece’s work. He’s very thorough. He may well have an opinion on the spousal violence aspect at this time even if his entire evaluation is not complete. That issue is the one that has forced my client from her home and kept her from seeing her children. Those constraints should be removed as quickly as possible. If Dr. Reece has reached an opinion on that limited question, then we should hear that now in the timeframe of the statute.”
“Do you have any other motions, Mr. Carlson?”
“Because of the assault on my client and other forms of harassment, she can no longer stay with the family that took her in. I would request the court grant her temporary spousal support so that she can find a place for herself and her children.”
“Objection, Your Honor. There’s a pendente lite order granting my client custody of the children. I fail to see why he should pay for lodgings for her and the children. That presupposes her receiving custody of the children.”
Serena Tully watched Albert Garfield pop up and down like a jack-in-the-box. He wasn’t smiling anymore.
“Your Honor, if the ex parte order is dismissed then my client will be entitled to visitation at least. If she’s to make use of that visitation, she has to obtain housing sufficient to take all three of them. We are all aware of the delays in the court docket; most likely she’ll have to take a lease on an apartment or townhouse rather than an efficiency for herself.”
/> Garfield was up again, “Your Honor, this is unnecessary. If Mrs. Tully poses no danger to her husband or children, I’m sure she could return to the marital residence, thereby saving my client the expense of supporting two households.”
Now it was Carlson’s turn. “That’s a gracious offer, Mr. Garfield. As soon as your client vacates the home, she’ll be glad to return. She won’t return to share the space with him. I contend that it is your client who is dangerous.”
“Your Honor …”
“Sustained. You are not in a classroom anymore, Mr. Carlson. You remember the rules, I’m sure. Please limit yourself to the substance of your motion.”
“Yes, Your Honor. My last motion is to freeze the marital estate. We will show at the next hearing a pattern of asset shifting designed to impoverish my client and force her to settle on adverse terms.”
Garfield shook his head as if he had never heard such a pack of lies in his life. “The money has not been shifted to impoverish his client. It was moved to preserve the estate from the hands of an irrational and seriously disturbed woman. Mr. Tully has taken on additional expenses, such as a full-time nanny to take care of his children. He has to know that money exists to continue to care for them and shield them from the tragedy enveloping their parents. We will show no pattern of frivolous spending. The money has always been a phone call away for Mrs. Tully. All she had to do was ask.”
“You honor, my motion to freeze the marital estate is bilateral. That protects the children and both of the parents. Those are my motions, Your Honor.”
“Thank you. Call your witness, Mr. Carlson.”
Serena Tully took the stand, then the oath, and tried to remember Carlson’s tips on testifying. He guided her smoothly through the assault, its aftermath, signing the order in Stuart’s office and changing her mind.
Carlson sat down and waited to see what tack Garfield would take. He kept his eyes on Serena and the judge. That’s where the damage would register. That’s where his work would be needed.
“Mrs. Tully, you say you never saw this man before, yet his face was masked. How did you know this?”
“He was very big …”
“You saw him standing up?”
“No. Like I said, I turned around and he was on top of me.”
“So you don’t know how tall he was. You never saw him stand up?”
“No, but …”
“Thank you. What race was he?”
“I don’t know. It was dark. He wore a mask and gloves.”
“Did you recognize his voice?”
“No.”
“A complete stranger, then?”
“I believe so.”
“What made you think your husband sent him?”
“Because he said if I didn’t sign the papers …”
“The papers. Not the settlement with your husband, just the papers; is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Did he call you by name?”
“No.”
“So he might have thought you were the other woman in the house?”
“No.”
Garfield smiled at that answer, nodded his head in understanding and went on. “Have there been harassing phone calls to the house?”
“Yes.”
“What sort of calls?”
“Obscene calls.”
“To you or to you and Mrs. Fargo?”
“I don’t know. No names were mentioned.”
“Was the phone call about performing a sex act with some men?”
“Yes.” Serena was reddening.
“Are you having an affair, Mrs. Tully? Have you had sex with someone other than your husband?”
“Objection, Your Honor. This isn’t relevant to the matter at hand. We aren’t conducting the divorce trial, nor is my client a suspect in a criminal investigation. Mr. Garfield is well aware that adultery is still a misdemeanor in Virginia and my client would be entitled to Fifth Amendment protection. She doesn’t have to answer that question, so why ask it?”
Carlson sat, hoping Serena would pick up the shield he had laid at her feet.
“Sustained.”
“Well if it isn’t you having sex with strangers, perhaps it’s Mrs. Fargo. Do you know how they got the number?”
“I’m sure my husband …”
“Not what you believe, Mrs. Tully, what you know.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“These men on the phone were strangers too, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Like the man in the house?”
“Yes.”
“This man didn’t identify you or the papers. He was a stranger to you. Strange men have called the house asking for sex with the women there. Any woman.”
“No. He came for me.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know that, Mrs. Tully. Did he say, Mrs. Serena Tully, sign the settlement papers?”
“No, he …”
“Thank you.”
“Did you report this to the police?”
“No, I was too …”
“That’s sufficient. You told no one about this, correct?”
“Yes, until Mr. Carlson.”
“Ah, yes, Mr. Carlson. You went in and signed the documents the next day. Isn’t it true you already had an appointment to see Mr. Stuart about the papers?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t remember reading these papers?”
“No.”
“You were so afraid, you were going to sign these papers without reading them, but not so afraid that you’d call the police. Is that right?”
“No, I was too afraid to call the police.”
“Too afraid to call the police, the people who are supposed to protect you, I see. Mrs. Tully, have you ever been in therapy?”
“Objection, Your Honor.”
Garfield turned to Carlson. “Her mental state is relevant, Your Honor.”
“Overruled.”
“I believe that … no strike that. Are you in therapy now, Mrs. Tully?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“About a year.”
“How often do you go to therapy?”
“Once a week.”
“Do you know what your diagnosis is?”
“No.”
“Are these problems similar to ones you had before?”
“Yes.”
“Were you in therapy for them then?”
“Yes. I was.”
“But they’re still with you?”
“I guess so.”
“These therapies, were you ever given drugs?”
“Yes.”
“Were you ever hospitalized?”
“Yes.”
“When you were a model, did you miss jobs?”
Serena was starting to panic. Why wasn’t Carlson saying anything? Why didn’t he object? She looked like a crazy person. It wasn’t true. She wasn’t crazy.
“Yes, at the end I was.”
“The end. Right before your suicide attempt.”
“Yes.”
“The first one or the second one?”
“The second one.”
Carlson looked at his note pad. He’d drawn a noose. He just needed to put his head into it and finish the job. Just a few facts he’d forgotten to get before leaping onto his white stallion. This would make it easier to deal with Lori. He could come home with a heartfelt mea culpa, put his head right on the block, steal all her best lines, beg her to do it. Put him out of his misery. Be over in no time.
“The second time. What did you tell your boss when you missed these jobs?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Why were you missing jobs?”
“Because I was depressed. I’d sleep through them. I couldn’t face going down there, getting made up and trying to look pretty.”
“Did you tell them that?”
“No.”
“What did you say?”
“I don’t know. I
don’t remember. I made something up.”
Carlson grimaced. He looked at Judge Hallowell. If this case was over, he didn’t show it.
“So when things got too hard to face, you made things up. Did you accuse your husband of trying to trick you into missing an appointment with Dr. Reece?”
“Yes.”
“How did he do that?”
“He had someone call saying that the time had been changed so I’d be late.”
“Were you?”
“No, I didn’t believe him.”
“Did you call Dr. Reece to confirm this?”
“No, there wasn’t time.”
“Was there a dinner scheduled recently for your family and you sisters?”
“No.”
“No? I remind you that you are under oath, Mrs. Tully.”
“No.” She said defiantly. “My husband says I scheduled one and forgot to cook for it. I never did. He set it up behind my back to make me look crazy, but I didn’t do it.”
Garfield turned and smiled at Judge Hallowell. “Your Honor, we have a story about a mystery man who threatens her with death if she doesn’t sign papers. This from a woman with a lengthy history of mental illness and treatment. When things got too tough for her in the past, she made things up to cover for herself. Those are her own words, under oath. She has a history of claiming that things happened or didn’t happen but no one else agrees with her version. This isn’t just now but throughout her past. It’s always someone else’s fault. They told her to do something or not to do it. That’s why my client can’t live with her any longer. It’s never Serena Tully’s fault. She can’t face that. So she makes things up. This time it’s a man who threatened to kill her. Your Honor, the sad truth is that Serena Tully gave up custody of her children and she can’t live with that decision. That’s what’s going on here.”
Carlson had waited patiently for the right time to jump in. It was now. “Your Honor, I think Mr. Garfield has jumped the gun. That sounded a lot like a closing argument to me. I don’t mind. He’s made his position clear, but I am entitled to redirect, Your Honor. If I may.”
When the judge nodded, he added, “Just one point, Your Honor. Mrs. Tully, would you please roll down your collar?”
She pulled the collar down and spread it away from her neck. A purple-black bruise the size of a half dollar was the gemstone of a blue and yellow necklace that ran around her throat.
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