Attorney-Client Privilege

by Pamela Samuels Young

  Special sneered as she pointed a finger in Girlie’s direction. “I think we should get back to this scandalous criminal over here. I don’t care what that lie detector test said, I still think you gave those documents to the Journal.”

  Special turned to face Evelyn and Rita.

  “I’m not exactly sure who y’all are, but did you know that her daddy was the founder of Big Buy? He never claimed her ass, though. She turned over Judi Irving’s documents to the Journal in order to foil the company’s sale to the Welson Corporation.”

  Rita pulled away from Nelson and took a step forward. She stared at Girlie’s face as if she was searching for something she’d lost.

  “You’re Harlan’s daughter?”

  “Yes, I am.” Girlie’s lips drew back in a lizard-like smile. “Hello, step-mommy dearest.”

  CHAPTER 92

  “What the hell?” Special and I shouted in unison.

  “It’s really getting wild up in here now!” Special exclaimed, turning to Rita. “So you’re the one who refused to let her father see her?”

  “Sure is,” Girlie said, eying Rita with a lifetime of hatred. “I’m glad to hear you’ll be spending some time in jail. Just consider it payback.”

  I stepped forward. “Payback? So you admit turning over those documents to the Journal?”

  “Nope,” Girlie said smugly. “I didn’t have to.”

  She maneuvered around me until she was face-to-face with the general counsel. “Don’t you have something you’d like to confess, Auntie Evelyn?”

  The general counsel hugged her purse to her chest. “Confess? I…I…don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “My Aunt Evelyn here was the one who handed over those documents to the Journal,” Girlie explained, turning back to Mankowski. “That’s why I was at the Four Seasons that day. To confirm a report about a meeting between Evelyn and Phillip Peterman. It was their regular hangout.”

  “You told me you were there to meet a client,” Mankowski said, his jawline now taut with anger.

  “I did meet with a client that day,” Girlie admitted. “But I was also there to confirm for myself that my investigator’s information was indeed true. Evelyn had been screwing Judi Irving’s boyfriend for weeks before Judi was killed. Phillip hit on Evelyn at a photo shoot for his Big Buy commercial. The Four Seasons was their regular hangout.”

  Now all eyes were on the general counsel.

  “You did this?” Rita positioned herself nose-to-nose with her sister-in-law. “Your brother built this company from nothing. He gave you a job you weren’t even smart enough to have.”

  Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “Get the hell away from me!” Using both hands, she shoved Rita so hard, she stumbled into her attorney.

  “Hey, hey, hey! Hold on a minute!” Mankowski rushed over and grabbed Rita, before she could strike back. “This is a police station for Christ’s sake!”

  Thomas extended his arm across Evelyn’s upper body, holding her back.

  “My brother was a weak, selfish tightwad who somehow managed to marry someone who was even more selfish than he was,” Evelyn shouted at Rita, as she tried in vain to push past Thomas.

  “Before you two tear each other apart, let me finish my story,” Girlie said calmly.

  “All along, the general counsel here was pretending that she wanted to get the sex discrimination case resolved. But she was really hoping it exploded into a class action, jeopardizing the sale to Welson.”

  Girlie smiled demurely at Evelyn.

  “You hated the fact that your brother’s wife was going to walk away with a hundred-and-twenty-five-million dollars while you’d be lucky to keep your lousy pension. It took me a while, but I figured out your little plan. Every time I proposed something reasonable to resolve the case, you objected. I suggested an early settlement. You dismissed the idea, claiming you didn’t want other employees to ask for money. You even balked at my proposal to pay off all the women employees, but Rita overruled you. So when the class action didn’t stop the buyout, you sent The Daily Business Journal those documents you got from your lover, Phillip Peterman.”

  “I don’t have to listen to this nonsense. I’m leaving,” Evelyn said.

  Thomas refused to let her pass.

  “See,” Girlie said with a satisfied smile, “I didn’t give those documents to the Journal. I didn’t have to. Once I found out that my Auntie Evelyn was screwing Phillip Peterman, I knew she’d get her hands on the documents. I had no idea what they were, but if they were harmful to Big Buy, I knew that she hated Rita enough to use them against the company. All I had to do was sit back and wait. And as it turns out I was absolutely right.”

  “This is nothing but ridiculous speculation. I haven’t…” Evelyn fumbled for words. “I…I—”

  All of a sudden Mankowski’s face brightened and he snapped his fingers.

  “Phillip Peterman was with you the night Judi was murdered,” he shouted, pointing at Evelyn. “That’s why he lied about being with his agent. He didn’t want anybody to know that he was sleeping with you.”

  Evelyn just stood there, her face awash in guilt.

  Her young attorney finally found his voice. “Don’t say another word,” Winbush ordered. “We’re getting out of here.”

  “Nice doing business with you, ladies.” Girlie slapped her palms back and forth. “As I said, I didn’t do anything illegal or unethical. In fact, I served my client well. I helped Big Buy quickly dispose of a class action that could have cost the company millions. They even gave me a big bonus for a job well done.”

  Girlie whirled around until she was facing Mankowski.

  “As for you, I’m quite disappointed that you betrayed me like this. And since you screwed me, I’m now going to screw you, so to speak.”

  Mankowski’s face contorted as if he’d just swallowed his tongue.

  Girlie made eye contact with the whole group as we all waited for her next bombshell.

  “While my Auntie Evelyn was bedding Phillip, I was having a ball with the handsome detective here.”

  Everybody in the hallway gasped at once. Nobody louder than me.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, detective, but isn’t it a violation of department policy to sleep with a potential witness? Don’t answer that,” she said with a playful wink. “It could be used against you in a court of law. I’ll be contacting both your lieutenant and your captain to let them know about your highly inappropriate conflict of interest.”

  Mankowski reached out as if he was going to snatch her, but Thomas grabbed him from behind and pulled him away.

  Girlie didn’t even flinch. She seemed to be enjoying the fact that she was the star of this show.

  “As we agreed in writing, fellas, those polygraph results should be destroyed. And for the record, I never responded to that last question about Tonisha, and I have no plans to do so. So I guess it’s just her word against mine. Have a nice day, everybody.”

  I stepped in front of her.

  “Take this with you.” I tried to hand her an envelope, but she wouldn’t take it.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s an affidavit recounting a conversation between my friend Special and Tonisha Cosby. Your client admitted that she made up the story about being raped by Lamarr. They had consensual sex that night. Tonisha also said she told you that the night before she was scheduled to testify. You put her on the stand anyway and told her to keep her mouth shut. Lamarr will be using Special’s affidavit in support of his appeal.”

  I tried to force the envelope into Girlie’s hand, but she let it fall to the floor.

  “And we’re giving a copy to the State Bar too,” Special threw in. “So you can forget about practicing law in this state again, Ms. Thang.”

  True to her nature, Girlie did not lose her cool.

  She smiled and cocked her head. “I’m assuming you put your little friend here up to prying information out of Tonisha. Since she’s still my client, that’s a vi
olation of the attorney-client privilege, which I’m sure you’re quite familiar with. Your affidavit will never be admitted into evidence.”

  “Special and Tonisha are friends,” I said, my bravado surpassing hers. “I wasn’t even aware that Special was meeting with her.”

  “I don’t buy that and neither will the court. And if you happen to have a recording of my client, that’ll be inadmissible too.”

  I wasn’t about to admit to Special’s illegal activity while standing in front of two cops.

  “Since you won’t take my transcript, go home and turn on the TV so you can hear all the nice things your client said about you. I sent a copy of Special’s affidavit to the media. It’s the lead story on CNN, TMZ and ESPN.”

  This time, Girlie’s entire face seemed to crack, but just for a second. She hoisted her purse higher on her shoulder, turned and strolled down the hallway.

  “See you in court,” I yelled after her.

  Girlie pivoted and spun around in her fancy red boots, hands on hips. “Don’t bet on it.”

  EPILOGUE

  Eight Weeks Later

  “These seats are tight,” Jefferson said, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. “I’ve never sat in the first row on the fifty-yard line at a pro game before. Not to mention a playoff game between the Legends and the 49ers.”

  This spur-of-the-moment trip to San Francisco had turned out to be a much-needed break from all the drama I’d been through with the Big Buy case.

  “Vernetta’s got it like that now,” Special said, nudging Benjamin, who was sitting next to her. “After we—emphasis on we—got Lamarr’s name cleared, that boy promised us season tickets for life.”

  “Y’all need more clients like Lamarr,” Jefferson said, reaching over me to bump fists with Benjamin.

  Special had suggested that we invite Benjamin along to round out our foursome. She was now on a self-imposed, six-month dating hiatus. I thought taking some solo time to heal from her breakup with Clayton was an excellent idea.

  A lot had transpired over the past few weeks. Special’s affidavit recapping her conversation with Tonisha made national news. We even posted it on the Internet and, at last count, it had gotten over a million hits. Every place Tonisha went, reporters hounded her for a reaction to Special’s affidavit. She finally broke down and admitted everything. Special and I never disclosed the existence of the recording.

  After that, Lamarr and I hit the talk show circuit with a vengeance. It took some doing, but I convinced Lamarr to refrain from attacking Tonisha. Instead, he painted her as a victim. In reality, she was a naïve, misguided young woman who used the wrong tactics to achieve the riches she so desperately desired. Lamarr even agreed to donate ten thousand dollars toward her attorneys’ fees for the perjury charges she was now facing. That, too, had been my idea.

  The media, impressed with the empathy Lamarr showed toward his accuser, piled on the praise. The Legends quickly rescinded its decision to cut him from the team. All of his prior endorsement deals were renewed and he picked up four more on top of those. He was now the national spokesperson for California Kids on the Mend, a group that worked to improve the lives of foster kids.

  Lamarr’s handsome face graced the cover of countless newspapers and magazines. Needless to say, the publicity has kept my phone ringing off the hook with new clients.

  During her conversation with Special, Tonisha admitted that she had intentionally set up Lamarr, figuring she’d get lots of public sympathy and some big cash. The night before she was scheduled to testify, the guilt got to her and she told Girlie about the scam. The attorney-client privilege prevented Girlie from divulging Tonisha’s misconduct to the court, but it mandated that she withdraw from the case rather than allow her client to give false testimony.

  But Girlie had too much invested in the case and wanted to win. The decision to allow Tonisha to perjure herself, however, ultimately cost Girlie her career. She quietly resigned from her law firm and was being brought before the State Bar. Because of all of her connections, the District Attorney’s Office declined to charge her with suborning perjury. She was still facing a lengthy suspension of her bar license. Just before she resigned from her law firm, Girlie filed papers with the court in support of my request for dismissal of the verdict against Lamarr.

  Mankowski had been restricted to administrative duty while internal affairs completed its investigation into his affair with Girlie. It looked like he might keep his job, but a demotion was likely.

  The Big Buy situation was still unfolding. The company’s CEO, CFO, general counsel and a host of other company executives were all facing criminal charges. Rita Richards-Kimble had become the newest poster child for corporate greed. One story I saw even compared her to the likes of Bernie Madoff.

  Special nudged me with her elbow. “What are you thinking about? You look like you’re in a totally different place.”

  I slowly exhaled. “I was just thinking about Girlie Cortez.”

  “Please don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for that heffa. She’s about to get everything she deserves.”

  “I know. But can you imagine having a father—a wealthy father, at that—who never claimed you? That had to be rough.”

  “No, I can’t imagine it,” Special said, taking a sip of her soda. “That’s why I don’t have a problem with some of the things she did. I completely understand why she hated her stepmother and wanted to bring down Big Buy. But what she did to Lamarr was inexcusable.”

  I wholeheartedly agreed. Still, I did feel a little sorry for her. “What she went through as a kid,” I said, “says a lot about who she is today.”

  “True.” Special spread her hands, palms up. “But like my grandmama always said, you reap what you sow.”

  A resounding roar filled the Legends’ side of the arena. Special and I shot to our feet. Benjamin and Jefferson were already up.

  I placed a hand on Jefferson’s shoulder and looked toward the Legends’ end zone. “What happened?”

  “Your boy just scored another touchdown.”

  Lamarr jumped to his feet, pumped a fist high in the air, then did an Incredible Hulk muscle move. The Legends were now up by 14 points with eight minutes left on the clock.

  We watched the replay on the Jumbo Tron as the words Lamarr “The Hero” Harris Scores Again! flashed across the screen. As we returned to our seats, I picked up the game booklet and stared at the cover. It showed Lamarr surrounded by a bunch of beaming kids from a local Boys & Girls Club. The headline brought a gigantic smile to my face.

  Lamarr Harris: A Real-Life Hero After All.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am truly a lucky woman! I doubt that there’s a writer alive who has friends and family more supportive than mine. It’s now time for me to say thanks to the many, many people who helped me craft another page-turner.

  First, to the multitude of friends and relatives who critiqued the early drafts of this novel, as always, your feedback was invaluable. A big thanks to Randy Bauer, Dawn Pittman, Malcolm Ali, Faye Gipson, Diane Mackin, Kathy Fairbrother, Carline Louis-Jacques, M.D., Donny Wilson, E. Jewelle Johnson, Debbie Diffendal, James White, Ellen Farrell, Geneva O’Keith, Paul Ullom, my prayer warrior Olivia Smith and my USC homegirl Cynthia Hebron. I couldn’t buy better supporters.

  To my two super fans turned friends and editors, Pamela Goree Dancy, thanks for critiquing my manuscript and pumping me up when I needed it most; and Valerie Lamar, thanks for your enthusiastic critique. One day we’ll have to stop chatting by email and actually meet.

  To the three Los Angeles area book clubs who read an early draft of Attorney-Client Privilege and joined me at my home for an evening of food, drinks and lively discussion, I am lucky to have you in my corner: Bookalicious Book Club members Arlene L. Walker, Judi Johnson, Saba McKinley, Kamillah Clayton, Helen Jingles, Raunda Frank, and Lesleigh Kelly; Sisters with Books Book Club members Cheryl Finley, Bunny Withers, Gloria Falls, Helen Merrick, Elaine Moore, Freida Smith,
Janice Criddle and Beverly Newton; and Something to Talk About Book Club members Tonya Cobb, Vera Walker-Alfred, Aleshia Johnson, Marina Young, Yasmine Johnson, Patricia Jenkins and Tanisha Johnson. Can’t wait to visit your book clubs again. To the 160-plus book clubs who’ve invited me into their homes via speakerphone, Skype and in-person since the release of my first book, thanks for making me a part of your sister circle. To other book clubs out there, call me!

  I’d also like to thank those experts who freely shared their knowledge and expertise with me: Los Angeles employment attorney Mika M. Hilaire, Oakland criminal defense attorney Colin Bowen and retired Washington, D.C. homicide detective George Blackwell. Thanks for answering my many questions and helping me fix my flaws.

  To Sister Daaimah Abdulmujeeb, Sister Charlene Muhammad and my homeboy and photographer extraordinaire Brother Malcolm Ali, thank you for discussing your faith, Islam, with me. To my co-worker Jae Requiro, I really enjoyed our discussions about your Filipino heritage.

  To my talented team: developmental editors Kristen Weber and Jerome Norris, copy editors Lynel Washington and Karey Keenan, publicists Dee Stewart of Dee Gospel PR and Ella Curry of EDC Creations Media Group, LLC, my lifeline to the blogging world, Tracee Gleichner of Pump Up Your Books, book cover designer Keith Saunders of Marion Designs, interior book designer Kimberly Martin of Jera Publishing, website designer Ikenna Igwe of Tranquil Black, and my wonderful virtual assistant Stacey Nikodym. I couldn’t do what I do without all of you.

  To my mother Pearl and my husband Rickey, thanks for picking up the slack when I’m writing or on the road promoting my books. The two of you make my job so much easier.

  To my devoted readers, I hope you enjoyed this one. I’m already hard at work on the next one!