Chapter 39
Stan Turner
The following week Stan was feeling good about the firm’s two big victories, but now was facing the question of how he would keep Paula and Jodie busy for the immediate future. He knew there would be new cases coming in eventually, but he still had to pay each of them until that happened. They each had a little family law work that they needed to catch up on but that wouldn’t last long. It wouldn’t have been so bad had Emilio not disappeared. There was over $20,000 still owed on Ricardo’s bill that Stan had counted on, but now wouldn’t be paid. And his only other major client, Ram Bakira, owed him nearly $30,000 but he obviously couldn’t pay it.
Stan took a deep breath and tried to relax. He’d had financial problems all his life no matter how much money he’d made. Still he had faith, he knew in his heart that if he’d just be patient everything would work out. As he was trying to put his finances out of his mind Maria came on the intercom and told him there was someone there who wanted to talk to him. He looked at his calendar but didn’t see any appointments. He wondered who it could be, so he got up and walked to the reception area. A tall man in an expensive suit stood in front of Maria’s desk. Stan went up to him.
“Hi. I’m Stan Turner. What can I do for you?”
“Mr. Turner. I’m sorry to barge in on you but I got your letter and wanted to come personally to respond to it.”
“My letter?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m David Johnson from Meridian Global Insurance.”
“Oh. Yeah. Come on back.”
Stan led Johnson back to his office and told him to have a seat. He sat down and shook his head.
“I am so sorry about how your client has been treated. I did an investigation after I got your letter and was appalled that the underwriter assigned to the case hadn’t paid it. I understand your client was the victim here of vandals or upset business partners, but certainly not terrorists.”
“Yes. I tried to reason with the adjuster, but he just wouldn’t listen, so I had to file the lawsuit.”
“Yes. I’m sorry about that and as an act of good faith I want to write your client a check for the full value of the policy right now so your client doesn’t suffer any more damage.”
“Well, thank you, but I’ll have to talk to my client and see if he’ll settle for that.”
“No. No. I’m going to tender you the check without condition. You can still prosecute your lawsuit, if you want to. I just want to mitigate your client’s damages by tendering the policy limits right now without prejudice to your lawsuit. I just want your client’s damages to stop.”
“Wow. That’s very considerate of you.”
Johnson took a check out of his pocket and handed it to Stan. He looked at it and saw it was for $250,000.00. “Thank you. My client will be greatly relieved.”
“Well, I’m sorry he had to go through all of this.”
When Johnson left Stan felt like a giant load had been lifted off his shoulders. Getting his cut from the $250,000 and being paid what was owed on the bankruptcy would keep the firm afloat for at least ninety days. That would give them time to get some new business in to bump up cash flow. He sighed deeply. God had come through for him again. He knew He would but now he didn’t have to worry about it. He decided to call Ram and give him the good news.
“He just wrote you a check for $250,000?” Ram asked in shock.
“Yes. I wrote a letter to the adjuster’s supervisor and explained how weak their case was. I guess he realized they had a lot of exposure.”
“So, when do I get the money?”
“Come in tomorrow and endorse the check and after it clears we’ll settle up.”
“Why don’t you just give me the check?”
“It’s made out to both of us. You can just sign it and I’ll subtract my share and what you owe me and write you a check for the difference.”
“How much are you going to take?”
“Well, under the contract I get 25% of the insurance check plus you owe me about $15,000 on the Chapter 11. So, I’ll take out $62,500 on the lawsuit and $15,000 for the bankruptcy. So that will be $77,500 for the firm and $172,500 for you.”
“No. That’s too much.”
“What do you mean it’s too much?”
“They just came in and handed you a check. $77,500 is too much for you to take.”
“No. We took the case on a contingency basis. You agreed whatever we recovered before trial would be 25% to the firm and 75% to you.”
“That’s not right.”
“That’s what you agreed to. I wanted to take the case on a fee basis but you didn’t have any money to pay me. I could have just refused to help you.”
“But the money came so easy.”
“Easy? I worked hard to get them to be reasonable.”
“I’ll have to think about it,” Ram finally said.
“Think about it? What’s there to think about?” Stan said angrily. “I have the money. We just need to split it up. There may be more later when we settle the lawsuit.”
“I need to talk to my wife and my family.”
Stan didn’t know what to say. Instead of Ram being grateful for what he had accomplished he was being greedy. He was beside himself.
“Okay. But if you think I’m going to cut my fee, forget about it. It isn’t happening.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ram said and hung up.
Stan was so angry he could spit. He rushed into Paula’s office and told her what had happened.
“The insurance agent just walked in and wrote you a check for $250,000?”
“Yeah. My letter must have really scared them. You’d think Ram would have a little appreciation for what I have accomplished.”
“I told you that you shouldn’t take cases on a contingency,” Paula reminded him.
“I know, but I hate to abandon a client when he’s down. It’s just not right.”
“I know. But they never appreciate what you do for them. This is a business and if clients can’t afford to pay you, or won’t pay you, then you just tell them you are sorry, but you can’t take their case.”
“I know, but I can’t do that,” Stan said.
“Well, you’ll surely go to heaven, but you’ll never get rich.”
“I don’t want to get rich. I just want to be paid what was agreed. We need the money.”
“I know. I don’t know what we’re going to do for our next payroll,” Paula worried.
“I guess I can take out a loan if need be,” Stan replied.
“You don’t have any collateral, remember?”
Stan sighed. “Right. . . . I’ve borrowed all I can on my 401K too.”
“Well, we’ll have to pay Jodie, but you and I will have to skip a paycheck, I guess.”
“No. I’ll take out a loan on my Corvette. It should be enough to pay you and Jodie.”
“You’re not doing that. I can skip one paycheck. We have Bart’s check.”
“No,” Stan said. “Ram’s just going to have to honor our contract. He needs the money too, so hopefully when he sees I’m not going to discount the bill, he’ll do what is right.”
“I hope so.”
That night Stan couldn’t sleep. All he could think about was the check in his drawer for $250,000. It was so frustrating to have the money he needed right at his fingertips but be unable to cash it. The next day he waited impatiently for Ram to call him. As the day progressed he regretted the day Ram had come into his office. He couldn’t believe how he had turned on him the moment they had money to split up. He knew Ram’s true colors now and had lost all respect for him. Finally at 2:30 p.m. he got the call.
“I’ve talked to my wife and family in Pakistan and they all agree ten percent should be sufficient.”
Stan was beside himself. He was so angry he was afraid to open his mouth for fear of what might come out. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “No. A deal is a deal. I told you there would be no negotiation.”
?
??$77,500 is too much. I’ll file a complaint with the bar association.”
The words felt like a knife being stabbed in his stomach. Threatening to go to the bar association was a low blow. Stan wasn’t worried about winning the case if it were submitted to the bar association, but it would take months to resolve and be humiliating. He silently counted to ten.
“Listen. The bar association will back me up, I promise you. We have fee contracts that you voluntarily entered into. If you take it to the bar you will accomplish nothing but delay either one of us from getting what is due to us. Plus, since you are breaching the fee agreement I will have no choice but to withdraw from the lawsuit. That means you’ll have to hire a new lawyer to handle the lawsuit from now on and I’m sure they won’t do it on a contingency, not when they see you don’t honor contracts. So, you’ll have to pay the attorney a retainer, probably at least $10,000, just to get him to substitute in as counsel and when you finally settle, you’ll still have to pay me my cut.”
“Why would I have to do that if you withdraw?”
“Because that’s the price you pay for breaching the contract.”
“This is extortion,” Ram complained.
“Extortion my ass! This is what you agreed to,” Stan reminded him. “I wouldn’t have touched your case had you not agreed to it.”
“Alright. When can I get the money?”
“If you come in right now and endorse the check then I’ll deposit it and just as quick as it clears I’ll cut you a check for your share. It’s a local check so it should clear within 48 hours.”
“Okay. I’ll be over in a little while.”
Stan hung up but didn’t feel much relief. He couldn’t relax until Ram had come in and endorsed the check. Then he’d feel better. But he’d only be completely relieved when the check had cleared and the money disbursed.
A few hours later Ram showed up and endorsed the check without further comment. Stan could tell he was not happy and not once did he thank Stan for all he had done for him. Stan just shook his head in disbelief when he left. When he got to the bank he told his bank officer to let him know when the funds were good, and she agreed she’d call him.
It was late the following day that he got the call from the bank that the check had cleared. Relief finally washed over him like a cool ocean wave. He had Maria cut the checks and then called Ram to advise him he could pick up his. Thirty minutes later his wife Melakea showed up.
“I wanted to apologize for my husband. It was his family in Pakistan who demanded you cut your fee. We don’t use attorneys in Pakistan and they couldn’t understand why you should get so much of the money. I tried to explain to them, but they wouldn’t listen. They hate all attorneys.”
“Thank you for telling me that. I really couldn’t understand Ram’s attitude.”
“He was too embarrassed to come over for the check so he sent me.”
Stan gave her the check which was made out to their company and both of them. “You’ll have to both endorse it and then deposit it in your company account. It technically belongs to the company and you’ll have to pay yourself draws if you need some of the money personally. Talk to your accountant about it since he’ll have to reconcile your accounts.”
“Okay. Thanks for your help.”
After Melakea left Stan went in to tell Paula the good news.
“So, Ram’s wife just picked up her check and signed off on the disbursement.”
“Good. So we can make payroll now?”
“Yeah. We’re good for a couple of months.”
Paula shook her head. “You’d think with the kind of month we had money wouldn’t be so tight.”
Stan shrugged. “No matter how much money you make, it’s never enough. I was born without any money in the bank and I’ll die the same way. I used to think someday I’d be rich but I know better now.”
Maria’s voice came over the intercom. “There’s a woman on the phone for you Stan. She wouldn’t give a name.”
“Okay,” Stan said and went back to his office. A minute later he was packed up and out the door.
Paula got up and went into Jodie’s office. “Stan just left to go meet his prostitute.”
“How do you know?” Jodie asked.
“He was talking to me when a phone call came in from a woman who wouldn’t identify herself. It’s got to be that blond prostitute. He just up and left without a word.”
Maria walked into the room and raised her eyebrows. “Well, I’d sure like to be a fly on the wall when Stan meets his lover.”
“It’s none of our business,” Jodie said. “Leave him alone.”
“I can’t do that. He’s got to stop this nonsense.”
“What are you going to do? Go to the motel, knock on the door and tell him to stop?”
“He’s not at the motel this time,” Maria said. “He’s at the Sheraton just up the street.”
“How do you know?”
“I may have listened in on the conversation,” Maria confessed. “Room #977.”
Paula’s eyes widened. “I think it’s time for an intervention?”
“Are you serious?” Jodie protested. “We can’t do that?”
“Why not? When I was having an affair with my security guard Stan came knocking at my door. It’s about time I got even.”
“Let’s go,” Maria said. “This isn’t fair to Rebekah.”
“Are you in, Jodie?” Paula asked.
Jodie sighed. “I guess for the sake of solidarity, but I think it’s a bad idea.”
“Okay. Come on. Let’s go.”
They rushed down to the parking garage and got into Paula’s car. The Sheraton was just down the street so five minutes later they were parking in front of the hotel. They went inside and took the elevator to the ninth floor.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jodie said as they neared room 977.
“Yes,” Paula insisted. “We’ve got to put a stop to this before it’s too late.”
There was a sign on the door. Do Not Disturb! Jodie let out a deep sigh. Maria pushed past her and knocked hard on the door.
“Stan! Are you in there?” she yelled but there was no answer.
Paula tried knocking even harder but there was still no answer. “Come on, Stan,” Paula said. “We know you are in there.”
The door lock clicked. Paula took a step back as the door slowly opened. Stan frowned at them. “Did you follow me here?”
“Yes,” Paula said. “We can’t let you destroy your marriage. It’s not right. Rebekah deserves better.”
The blond woman stifled a laugh. Stan stepped away so they could all see her clearly. She was wearing a black angel lace and satin slip with nothing underneath. She smiled at them as she took off her wig.
“Rebekah?” Paula gasped.
Epilogue
On the morning of January 2, 1998 Stan had a headache from too much partying on New Year’s Eve. He and Rebekah had decided to make a big night of it as a part of their attempt to rekindle the spark in their marriage. In the past they would have celebrated New Years in front of the TV, but they both agreed that was boring and they could do better. So this year they booked a room at the Intercontinental Hotel and brought in the New Year with five hundred screaming revelers, most of whom were half their age. But it had been fun and Stan didn’t regret a minute of it.
He thought back to all the ridiculous liaisons they’d conjured up over the past six months. They’d made love in sleazy motels, hotel suites, in Stan’s office, on the roofs of buildings, in swimming pools, restrooms, saunas, in the back seat of Rebekah’s car, and, of course, on a Southwest Jet flying to Houston. Stan laughed at the thought of it, but had to admit it had been the best thing that had happened to him in years. Not only had Rebekah broke out of her depression, but he had started thinking about her in the middle of the day and wishing he were home.
As he was thinking his Motorola cell phone rang. A light started blinking next to the phone indicating
a tape recorder, that Detective Besh had attached to the phone, was running. Stan picked it up and flipped it open.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Stan.”
“Emilio?”
A moment later Paula, Jodie, and Maria scrambled into the room anxious to hear what Emilio had to say. Because it was being recorded it was on speaker phone.
“Hi, Stan. How are you?”
“Where the hell are you?” Stan asked.
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
Stan sighed. “Okay, let me guess. . . . Argentina?”
“I have no comment. I just wanted to congratulate you on your victory in court.”
Stan looked over at Paula and Jodie. “It wasn’t my victory. Paula and Jodie tried the case. I was back at the office trying to find out where in the hell you had run off to.”
“Yes. I’m sorry about that, but I had no choice but to leave.”
“Is Sandy with you?”
“Actually, she is. She says to say hi.”
“Tell her hi back.”
“I will. . . . Listen, if I owe you anything more on Ricardo’s defense, I want to pay it. Just tell me how much it is.”
“I’ll send you a bill,” Stan said. “Give me an address where to send it.”
“Funny man. . . . I’ve got your account number at Gateway Bank. I’ll wire you the money.”
“Yeah, you’re a rich man now with the proceeds from John Richmond’s insurance?”
There was a moment of silence. Stan smiled at Paula and Jodie. “Well he got what he deserved. He’s been Eva’s lover during our entire marriage.”
“Oh, well that makes it okay, then,” Stan said sarcastically.
Emilio sighed. “Listen, I knew Wilkinson wouldn’t leave me alone until they had my property. I’m Italian. I know how the mob works, so I decided to give them a piece of their own medicine.”
“What about Ricardo?”
“I knew you’d get Ricardo off. That’s why I hired you and paid your ridiculous fee. I could have let Ricardo make do with the public defender. I would have been better off and Wilkinson and his goons probably would have been convicted. I doubt they’d have figured out the truth.”
“So, you set up Wilkinson, Hunt, and Jamison and tried to make it look like they were trying to pin it on Ricardo?”
“That was the plan.”
“So, how did you get Wilkinson’s fingerprints on the shoe box?”
“That was easy. I got a shoe box out of Wilkinson’s trash and planted it under Ricardo’s bed.”
“When did you plant it?”
“I disconnected some wires in Ricardo’s engine while he was at work, so it wouldn’t start when it was time for him to go home. Then when it didn’t start, I offered to take him home. While he was arranging for a tow truck to pick up his car, I got some rat poison out of his garage and put the shoe box under his bed. He never had a clue what I had done.”
“Okay. How did you get Hunt to show up with his date to Emilio’s?”
“I called him and told him I was thinking about accepting Wilkinson Properties’ offer and that he should come to dinner and then we’d talk. I told him to bring his wife or a date and that dinner was on me.”
“Hmm. So, while he was dining you went to his car and planted the plastic bag with rat poison remains in it,” Stan said.
“That’s right,” Emilio admitted.
“Okay. But why did you have to kill Evelyn Sanders?”
“Well, my plan was working perfectly until—”
“Until Evelyn Sanders screwed everything up?”
Emilio took a deep breath. “Yes. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her with Jodie and her bodyguard. I figured she must have seen me lace the cheese or plant the plastic sandwich bag in Hunt’s car.”
“I’m not sure she really saw anything like that,” Stan said.
“Well, I couldn’t take any chances. I didn’t know what she’d seen or if she had connected the dots, but I couldn’t take a chance.”
“How did you get the tire iron out of Hunt’s car?”
“That was easy. I had told the parking lot attendant to take a break and while he was gone I got Hunt’s key off the board. He must have had a spare with him or his girlfriend had one, because in the melee after the murders they didn’t bother to find Jesse and get their key back. When I discovered later that we still had it, I threw it in a drawer and forgot about it. Then when I realized I had to kill Evelyn, I used that key to get his tire iron out of his trunk.”
“Wow. That was incredibly good luck.”
“Everything that happens is fate, Stan. You can’t fight it. You just have to roll with it.”
“Right. So, you got your revenge but three innocent people died in the process.”
“Bill and Donna shouldn’t have been there. I couldn’t have anticipated that.”
“And you think that matters?” Stan asked. “Why didn’t you put the brakes on your plot when they entered the picture?”
“I couldn’t. It was too late by then. Plus I’d made a commitment to Sandy.”
“So, whose idea was it anyway? Yours or Sandy’s?”
“I don’t remember who thought of it first. When Sandy told me that her husband was sleeping with my wife, things just kind of evolved after that. We both wanted to get even and come out okay financially.”
“Well, you accomplished that. Are you proud of yourself?”
“No. I’m not proud about it, but it’s water under the bridge now.”
“Right. . . .So, are you going to stay together?”
“I don’t know. Sandy’s a great gal but we haven’t made any commitments yet. We may eventually go our separate ways. Who knows?”
“Any regrets?” Stan asked hopefully.
“Sure. We’d rather be living in America, but it’s not so bad here, particularly when you’re rich.”
Stan shook his head in disgust. “I bet. . . . Have you learned Spanish yet?”
“Come on, Stan. I’m not going to give you any clues as to where we finally ended up.”
“The police lost track of you in Mexico City. I must admit you did a good job covering your tracks.”
“We had to. The stakes were pretty high.”
“Well, as your attorney, I’ll give you one last piece of advice.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t ever come back. Nobody around here wants to see your sorry ass again and a lot of people would like to see you get the needle.”
Emilio didn’t respond.
“You know, I always liked and respected you, Emilio. I never imagined that you would be capable of cold-blooded murder. But I guess that just shows that I’m a poor judge of character.”
“Don’t feel bad. My wife has been cheating on me during our entire marriage and I didn’t even know it.”
“Yeah. That one blew my mind too.”
“Goodbye, Stan.”
“See you soon,” Stan replied.
Emilio laughed. “I doubt that.”
Stan hung up and then looked at Paula and Jodie who were shaking their heads. He picked up his cell phone and called Detective Besch. “Were you able to trace that, Detective?”
“Yes,” Besch replied. “It was made from a public telephone at the airport in Mexico City. Security is searching for him now.”
“Good. I hope you catch the bastard!” Stan exclaimed.
Besch laughed. “Aren’t you worried he’ll sue you when we extradite him back to Texas?”
“Nah. I had forgotten that in my legal services contract I’d put in a waiver clause. It says that he waives any conflict of interest that might arise between he and Ricardo. And the State Bar won’t come after me because I have a duty to report my client’s ongoing or planned criminal activity.”
“Hang on,” Besch said. “I’ve got a call from the Mexican authorities.”
“Okay,” Stan said and waited with baited breath.
A moment later Detective Bes
ch came back on the line. “They got both of them. They were about to board a flight to Bolivia.”
Stan gave Paula and Jodie a thumbs up. They both clapped.
“Excellent. Nice work.”
“It’s going to take a while to extradite them, but they’ll be back here soon enough. Thanks for your help, Stan.”
“So, when the Mexican authorities are ready to ship them back, are you going to get them?”
“You’re damn right I am. That’s a pleasure I think I have definitely earned.”
“That’s right. You have. Do me a favor, though.”
“What’s that?”
“When you read to him the confession he just gave me and he screams bloody murder, remind him that everything that happens in life is just fate and he should roll with it.”
Besch laughed. “I’ll be sure and do that. Thanks again, Stan.”
“It was my pleasure,” Stan said as Paula and Jodie closed in for a congratulatory hug.
THE STAN TURNER MYSTERIES
by William Manchee
Undaunted (1997)
Disillusioned (2010)
Brash Endeavor (1998)
Second Chair (2000)
Cash Call (2002)
Deadly Distractions (2004)
Black Monday (2005)
Cactus Island (2006)
Act Normal (2007)
Deadly Defiance (2011)
Deadly Dining (2014)
"...appealing characters and lively dialogue, especially in the courtroom . . . " (Publisher's Weekly)
"...plenty of action and adventure . . . " (Library Journal)
"...each plot line, in and of itself, can be riveting . . . " (Foreword Magazine)
"...a courtroom climax that would make the venerable Perry Mason stand and applaud . . . "
(Crescent Blue)
"...richly textured with wonderful atmosphere, the novel shows Manchee as a smooth, polished master of the mystery form . . . " (The Book Reader)
"...Manchee’s stories are suspenseful and most involve lawyers. And he’s as proficient as Grisham . . .” (Dallas Observer)
"...fabulous-a real page turner-I didn't want it to end!" (Allison Robson, CBS Affiliate, KLBK TV, Ch 13)
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