[Damien Harrington 01.0] The Alibi

by Rachel Sinclair

  “Now,” Harper said. “We’ve established that mold either killed your aunt or contributed to her death. We established that her apartment was filled with toxic mold. The only other thing that we have to know is whether the owner of the apartment complex knew about the mold and did nothing about it, and for how long that owner knew what was going on. That’s going to be the kicker. Did your aunt Arnetta call her landlord and complain about the mold? And, assuming that she knew about the mold, and she could remember that she was allergic, why didn’t she move out of the place?”

  “She was in a lease,” Darnell said. “And, yes, she did call the landlord about the mold. But Arnetta never put two and two together about the mold. I guess that she forgot that she was highly allergic, and I think that she just didn’t realize that there was a connection between the mold that she could see on her walls and her getting so sick. Arnetta didn’t really use the Internet all that much – she’s kinda old-school like that – and my mama never considered it, either. Neither did Aunt Violetta. I wish that my mama would have told me what was going on with Arnetta, but I was so busy with my criminal case, and then, when we beat down the criminal case, I was focused on getting ready for college. I wasn’t paying attention to her and what was going on. If I was, I would have went right over to her apartment, saw the mold, and then I would have told her to get out of there as soon as she could. I know about toxic mold and what it can do. I’ve known about that for years. We’ve studied it in Biology Class. But Arnetta and mama, they’re not as up on things as me. They haven’t had a lot of education or anything like that. So, Arnetta never even thought that the mold in her apartment was killing her.”

  I saw that Harper was rummaging through the file, and she found what she was looking for – a log that the landlord kept about Arnetta’s complaints. It showed that she complained to the superintendent about a leaky faucet, a toilet that constantly overflowed, a garbage disposal that was always on the fritz, and about mold on her walls. It showed that the superintendent fixed the toilet, the garbage disposal and the faucet, but there was not a work order that showed that the superintendent, or the landlord, did anything about the mold problem.

  Furthermore, Harper and I went through a history of Arnetta’s apartment, and it was discovered that the mold issue was one that was pre-existing. Apparently, three different tenants, dating back six years, had complained about the mold issue. In other words, that apartment had a mold problem for six years, and nobody did anything about it.

  And now a woman was dead because of it.

  Harper nodded at Darnell. “I forgot to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. I know that you don’t have a lot of family members, except for your siblings, your mother and your aunts. I also know that your mother is still struggling financially. I know that this is cold comfort, but it does look like negligence. The landlord had a duty to make sure that the premises that he rented out were safe, and that would include eradicating any mold issue, and apparently he didn’t do anything about it for six years. The other families who lived in that apartment, prior to Arnetta, complained about the same issue, mold, and still nothing was done. So, that’s a clear breach of their duty to provide safe premises to his tenants. Causation is pretty clear – thank goodness there was an autopsy done, so we’re able to establish with certainty what caused Arnetta’s death. Granted, her Diabetes was a pre-existing condition, and that’s what the other side is going to argue, but with this many mold strains found throughout Arnetta’s body, the other side is going to be hard-pressed to argue that the toxic mold didn’t cause Arnetta’s death. Especially since her Diabetes was controlled. So, the only other thing that we have to think about is damages. Essentially, what is the life of Arnetta worth? A part of damages is also pain and suffering, but the main part is going to be calculating what she was worth.”

  Harper put her hand on Darnell’s. The poor kid looked shaken and devastated, and we had to somehow put Arnetta’s life into dollars and cents. This was always the hardest part – trying to reduce somebody’s life to a dollar amount. But it had to be done.

  “How do you determine how much you can get for her life?” Darnell asked.

  “Well, we have actuaries that can do that for us. Basically, the actuaries figure out how much Arnetta was making at her position and extrapolate that forward. It also matters how much education she has, how many skills, that type of thing.”

  Darnell swallowed hard. “Arnetta was working in a nursing home,” he said. “Making $13 per hour. 40 hours a week. She didn’t have much education. She dropped out of high school. She had three babies, but they’re all gone – her youngest was hit by a car when she was six, her boys ended up getting killed on the streets by gang-bangers. Arnetta had a hard life.”

  “And she was 45 years old. Is that right?”

  “Right.”

  “And she didn’t have any health issues except the Diabetes, and that was controlled. Right?” Harper asked.

  “Right.”

  “Well, we can probably assume that she would have worked until the age of 65, which is retirement age. Actuaries can do a good job of calculating her lifetime earnings. You have to understand, she’s making $13 an hour now, but that amount was bound to increase year by year, even if she didn’t change positions. Even assuming that she only made $13 an hour, at 40 hours per week, that’s a half million in lost earnings. Not to mention money for pain and suffering,” Harper said.

  “But,” I cautioned. “You also have to realize that your mother and your aunt Violetta aren’t situated as a dependent might have been. In other words, the damages that Harper is talking about, the loss of income, might be reduced because Violetta and your mother, Anita, weren’t dependent upon Arnetta’s income. We’re going to have to show the jury that Anita and Violetta were entitled to Arnetta’s income in some way. That’s not to say that you guys won’t get any kind of damages, but they will be reduced. That said, you can still claim for pain and suffering and possibly punitive damages. It all depends on what a jury might do with these facts. They’re pretty egregious on their face – the fact that there was mold in that apartment for years and nothing was done might be egregious enough facts that a jury will award punitive damages.”

  “And,” Harper chimed in. “I have a feeling that Arnetta wasn’t the only one that was harmed by this particular landlord. I’ll have to do some digging, but if this landlord was somebody who owned decaying apartments and homes around the city, and there were other people who got sick because of mold in his or her properties, then we can start a class-action. That would bring the other side to the table pretty damned quick, and I have a feeling that we can force a settlement from them within a matter of months. I won’t promise anything, though. I don’t know if a class-action lawsuit is even a possibility right now, and I won’t know until I can figure out exactly who owned the apartment that Arnetta lived in and whether or not that person owns other properties. I’ll also have to inquire with the former tenants of Arnetta’s apartment and find out if they got sick, too. Most of them are outside the two year Statute of Limitations, but the people who lived in the apartment right before Arnetta might be qualified to sue as well.”

  Darnell nodded his head. “I hope that you can do something for mama and Violetta. They’re struggling. I mean, I hope to be making good money when I get out of school, but I plan on pursuing my Masters’s Degree, at the very least, so I won’t be able to support either of them for many years. My mama needs a break from all her money problems. I hate to be greedy, and I really hate to profit on Arnetta’s death, but if something good can come of her illness and her dying so young, that would be the best thing.”

  “Okay, then,” Harper said. “We’ll begin our investigation on who was at fault in this entire scenario. I won’t rule out suing her doctors for malpractice, because somebody should have investigated her background and saw that Arnetta had a severe allergy to mold. Plus, her symptoms were classic for toxic mold exposure. Somebody dropped the
ball when they didn’t even think to go there. But malpractice is always a tricky thing, so I won’t promise anything on that front.”

  Harper then explained medical malpractice, and how it was different than regular personal injury cases. She explained how she had to find a doctor who was willing to sign off on the lawsuit, basically, and she had to show that the doctors somehow breached the medical standard of care to their patients. The standard was one of reasonableness, and you had to show that the doctor did not perform reasonably before you could collect. That was an ambiguous term, but it was defined by how other medical professionals with similar backgrounds and in the same medical community, would have behaved under this circumstance. Mold exposure was one of those things that not every doctor would consider, even when somebody presents with persistent symptoms such as Arnetta, so it was going to be hard to prove that a reasonable doctor would have tested for mold exposure in Arnetta’s case.

  After about an hour of talking back and forth with Darnell, we all stood up and I shook Darnell’s hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you,” I said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Darnell smiled, nodded and headed out the door of the suite.

  “Poor kid,” Harper said. “That kid has gone through so much heartache. I really hope that we can come through for him on this.”

  “I think that we can. We just have to do some digging. Obviously, we can sue the landlord and the superintendent, but, let’s face it, they probably don’t have a pot to piss in, as my mother would say. We have to figure out who owned this apartment, and find out if that person or group owned other properties around the city. I’ll get Garrett on that as soon as possible.”

  “Thanks for that,” Harper said. “How did things go with your friend? Did you find out anything that was important from him?”

  “Yeah, I did. I found out that Vittorio was apparently a sex offender. A repeat sex offender. He drugged women and raped them.”

  “Really?” Harper looked confused. “Did Gina say anything about that to you? Did she tell you that she thought that Vittorio was doing things like that? That’s not generally something that can be hid by a spouse.”

  “No, she didn’t say anything about that to me. But that doesn’t concern me. From what she told me, she and Vittorio weren’t that close, to say the least. And, don’t forget, she was sleeping with Enzo. I’ll have to ask her about it, and ask if she ever suspected that Vittorio was a repeat and habitual sex offender. I have a feeling that she didn’t know about it, though. I mean, if she did know about it, why wouldn’t she bring that to my attention? That’s her get out of jail free card, if you think about it. Vittorio was threatening the women that he raped. That would certainly widen the list of suspects in his murder.”

  “Well, talk to her about it. Find out what she knows about it. You’re going to need her cooperation on this, anyhow, to find out who Vittorio might have been involved with. She might have some kind of knowledge about where he used to hang out. That’s probably where he met his victims, I would imagine – at bars. That’s usually the way it goes with the Date Rape Drug thing. What, was he using GhB or something like that? Doing a Bill Cosby thing?”

  “That’s what Nick told me. I’m going to get Garrett on it, see if he can round up any names of victims, but you’re right – Gina also might know people who Vittorio attacked and Gina probably would also know the places where Vittorio went. So might his poker buddies, the ones who figured out that he was missing. They might also be good people to talk to about this.”

  “Good. Let’s start with talking to Gina and get Garrett on the case. In the meantime, I have to get home. I told my girls that I would take them to the movies tonight with some friends of theirs. Don’t ask me why I’m agreeing to chaperone a bunch of middle-schoolers. They’re gonna give me a headache to beat the band, I’ll tell you that.” She gathered up her things from the center of the table. “What are your big plans this weekend?”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m seeing Sarah,” I said. “We’re having dinner tonight with our kids.”

  Harper furrowed her brows. “Sarah? Are you talking about-“

  “Yes. The mother of my children. My estranged wife. Yes. That’s who I’m talking about.”

  “Didn’t she-“

  “Abandon me and Amelia when we needed her the most? Have an affair with a guy who she later moved in with? Yeah. She’s guilty as charged for all of that.”

  Harper sat back down. “And you’re having dinner with her because?”

  “It’s a long story. We aren’t getting back together. Not yet, anyhow. But we’re cautiously moving forward.”

  “And Ally knows about this?”

  I sighed. “No. I haven’t told her. I don’t yet know what I want to do with Sarah. I love her. I never stopped. I mean, there was a long period where I didn’t like her, and an even longer period where I hated her. But, even while I hated her, I still loved her. I know, I know. It doesn’t make any goddamned sense to you. It doesn’t make sense to me, either. I wish that I could make sense of it. But I’m not going to stop seeing Ally just because I’m going to maybe see how things go with Sarah. Is that shitty of me?”

  Harper smiled. “Of course that’s shitty of you. You don’t have to even ask that question. It’s pretty prima facie shitty of you. But it’s your life. Just don’t be surprised if you have to try to recuse yourself from every case that Ally’s on the other side of, because she’s going to have it out for you if you string her along and then dump her.” She shook her head. “That’s why I never shit where I sleep. But, as I said, it’s your life.”

  I was stung by Harper’s words, even as I privately acknowledged that she was right. I was hedging my bets, which was why I didn’t break it off with Ally. I was figuring that Sarah was going to go off the rails again, sooner rather than later, and that I would have Ally to fall back on. That wasn’t fair to her, of course, but I did really like her. I didn’t want to hurt her.

  Yet I knew that I was going to if Sarah and I officially got back together.

  I was caught between a rock and a hard place, and I didn’t know what direction to turn.

  Chapter 5

  On Monday, I met Gina in my office. I was going to have to pick her brain about what I had found out about Vittorio. I was mainly trying to see how much she knew about Vittorio’s “predilections,” and why she didn’t come clean with me about them.

  I knew that, when she came into the office and sat across from me, and I asked her about Vittorio’s sex crimes, my initial hunch was right. She had no idea that Vittorio was involved in these things.

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t know that Vittorio was drugging women.” That was all that she said, though, and I decided that I was going to press her a bit more.

  “Okay. Let’s go through this step by step. I’m just going to treat this like a cross-examination, if you don’t mind.”

  Her back straightened and she looked me clearly in the eye. “Go ahead. I got nothin’ to hide.”

  I thought that her saying that she had nothing to hide was odd, but I pressed on. “Now, you and Vittorio were living together until a few months ago, right?”

  “Right.”

  “When, exactly, did you move out and start to live with Enzo?”

  She took a deep breath. “I don’t got no calendar,” she said. “I don’t know.”

  “Give me an estimate. Did you sign any contracts with Enzo? He owns the house that you’re living in, right? Did he give you anything to sign to make sure that you pay him rent or anything like that?”

  “No. I don’t pay him rent. I just live there and I service him. That’s my rent.” She stared at me briefly. “Listen, it’s no different than those ads on Craigslist where those guys are looking for sex instead of rent. With me and Enzo, it’s the same.”

  “Today is April 1,” I said. “And you came and talked to me the early part of March. The murder occurred February 18. You said that you weren’t living
with Vittorio on the day that he was murdered. So, it’s safe to say that you moved out sometime before February 18, right?”

  “Well, yeah, that’s a given.”

  “Let’s take some landmarks here. Was it before or after Valentine’s Day?”

  “Like I give a crap about Valentine’s Day.” She shook her head. “I got no idea. That day is just like any other day to me.”

  “How about New Year’s Day? Before or after New Year’s Day?”

  “I don’t know. Listen, what is all this about? Why you asking me all these questions?”

  “I need to know when you lived with Vittorio. I’m going to find these women who Vittorio is accused of raping, and I’m trying to get approximate dates on when it happened, and from there, I can tell if you’re lying to me about how you didn’t know what was going on. That’s why I’m asking you these questions.”

  “I’m not lying. I didn’t know that Vittorio was a pervert. And if I were you, I’d leave this whole thing alone.”

  “I’m not going to leave it alone. This angle is the best way to get you acquitted. There are an untold number of victims out there who have a damned good reason to want Vittorio dead. I’m going to track these people down. But I swear to God, if I find out that you either knew what Vittorio was doing or, God forbid, you somehow approved of it or helped out with it, I’ll be off your case faster than lightning.”

  “Just leave it alone,” Gina said.

  I sighed. “When did you move out of Vittorio’s house, Gina? When? Did you live there with him, and he disappeared for hours, and you didn’t question it? Did he come home and tell you what he was doing, and you looked the other way? Did he threaten you to keep you quiet about it? Or did you get off on it? Did you get some kind of perverse pleasure about it?”

  “What the hell do you think about me? Getting some kind of perverse pleasure on something like that? Who does that?”