Tampa, Florida
Friday 5:15 p.m.
January 8, 1999
Upstairs, both Harry and Bess were guarding the door waiting for anyone who happened to come in so that they could immediately lick intruders to death. Both bounded toward me whining to jump on my suit for ear scratching. I waved them down and changed into running clothes. Then gave in, got down on the floor and rolled around with both of them for a while. Together, they out-weigh me by thirty pounds.
Bess is black and Harry is yellow. Like their namesakes, they’re fiercely independent, no-nonsense dogs, thoroughly devoted to one another. We got them originally for protection as guard dogs because so many strangers come into what is, after all, our home. Pricilla Worthington told me once, after Harry slobbered all over her Dior dress, “If you had a gun, and knew how to use it like everyone else in Tampa, you wouldn’t need these noxious creatures.” But I’m from Detroit. Nothing as sissy as handguns for protection for us.
Of course, anyone who spends five seconds with Harry and Bess realizes what useless guard dogs they are. They do have big barks and that counts for something, at least to strangers. We still pay the alarm company every month, just in case.
After I put on my running shoes, we went down the back stairs, avoiding everyone else who might be in the restaurant, to the beach. I threw sticks and toys into the water for them to chase for a while before we began our run. After fifteen minutes of having wet sticks returned by two ninety-pound dogs, I was as wet as they were. I threw the last two sticks and took off in the opposite direction, counter clockwise around the island. If I don’t play with them some beforehand, there’s no way I can keep up.
By the time they got the sticks out of the water and came after me it took them, maybe, fifteen seconds to pass me up. It’s a little contest I have with myself. I’ve made it as far as twenty seconds ahead of them, but I have to throw the sticks pretty far out first.
When I’m in good form, I do an entire lap around Plant Key, or maybe two. Other days, I just do half a lap and take a golf cart back. Because I was feeling guilty about leaving the office early and I had plenty of time before sundown; today would be a complete lap day.
A lot of people run just for exercise, hating every minute of it. For me, though, it’s a spiritual experience. I love the sand, the water, the sunshine and the companionship I get from Harry and Bess. After years of running, I’m able to get to the runner’s high in about three minutes and it carries me the remainder of the run. Sometimes, I have to consciously make myself stop. Otherwise, I might be like the tiger chasing Sambo and run around so long and so fast that I melt into butter. During the summer I feel like I’m melting.
Today I considered what I’d learned on my visit to MedPro and at lunch from Carly. Something about her explanation just didn’t fit with the facts. It was nagging me and the more I tried to focus on it, the more elusive it became. I attacked it another way. Why would Dr. Morgan call Carly with his discovery when he could have called Zimmer or Young directly? He knew them better and they had a history together. Why would he pick a young, gullible and inexperienced employee to disclose such allegedly valuable information? It just didn’t make sense, unless he planned to use that inexperience for his own ends. Or, and this was more likely, Carly wasn’t telling me everything. I worked out a plan for finding out the rest.
As I came up the back stairs after my run, our private phone rang and George answered it.
“Its Marilee Aymes, for you,” he said as he handed me the cordless. I wondered how she got the number. Like my office number, it’s unlisted and only given out to the family.
“Dr. Aymes. So nice to hear from you.” Another lie. To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, as we lawyers say, Marilee Aymes had never called me before.
“Wilhelmina,” she said, imperious as usual. “We have a foursome for next Sunday and we’ve lost one of our group. The handicapper said you’re a ten, which would place you at the high end of the group, but he suggested we ask you to fill in. Are you free?”
Kate would say when you want a thing, it happens. I was trying to figure out a way to talk to Marilee Aymes, and she just called. There are no coincidences in life. I accepted.
George and I had a wedding to go to that night.
We went, we ate, we came home.
I always make Friday night an early one. It’s a pleasant end to a long week, and besides, I play golf every Saturday at 6:00 a.m. with my former partner, Mitchell Crosby, out at Great Oaks.
We’ve tried playing other courses, just to keep our skills up, but there’s something about the familiarity of the holes, the fairways and the greens that challenges us to beat our best games. We play best here, on our home turf, but that’s not the reason we keep coming out to the same 18 holes every weekend.
I’m not an early riser and I can’t make it to the office before 9:00, at the earliest. But on Saturday, I jump up before sunrise, slip on a golf shirt and Bermudas in some wild combination of colors, and sneak out of the house so as not to wake Harry and Bess. For a while there they were on to me, and they’d sleep right next to the bed so I couldn’t get away from them. If they wake up, they have to be fed and run before anything else. They know they’re the center of our universe and the world revolves around them, not George, although he likes to think he’s the Master Cylinder.
So, if I don’t get out without waking them up, we can’t tee off until 7:00, which doesn’t sound like much of a problem unless you’re a golfer in Florida in July. If you are, you know what I mean. If you’re not, you don’t want to hear about it anyway.
On this particular Saturday in January, it was dark at 5:30 when I woke up, and a little too cool. George had opened the windows sometime during the night and the warmth of our Egyptian cotton sheets and down comforter almost sucked me back in for another couple of hours. But I knew Mitch would be on the first tee in thirty minutes. He lost five dollars last week, and whenever he was down in our weekly wagers, he couldn’t rest until he won it back. If I skip a day like that, he declares himself the winner and will not back down. Mitch is more than a little obsessive, overbearing and stubborn. Some would say we’re perfectly matched.
Once I was washed and dressed, I ran out to the car. Dew on the St. Augustine grass and Impatiens gave everything a crystalline shimmer. As I drove out the circle, the sun was lightening the sky over the Port of Tampa and Harbour Island. By the time I crossed the Plant Key Bridge, the sun glinted on Hillsborough Bay and two dolphins swimming side by side raced Greta and me the length of the bridge. They won. It was glorious. I’ve always loved morning. It’s just that I usually sleep through it.
It’s a short drive to Great Oaks. As I approached the large, plantation-style club house, I realized, as I always do, how amazing it is that such a beautiful 36-hole golf course is nestled right in the center of South Tampa. I parked the car and walked to the pro shop. Since I play every Saturday, the caddies had my cart set up with my clubs. I went into the women’s locker room and put on my golf shoes before meeting Mitch at the cart. Of course, he was ready to go, already behind the wheel. On the golf course, as on the road, men do the driving if the women don’t get there first.
At the first tee, Mitch hit a drive 200 yards with his Big Bertha driver and was feeling pretty smug, thinking, I’m sure, that he’d be getting his $5 back today. By the end of the first nine, though, I was two strokes under and he was becoming surly. I remembered my mother telling me that I needed to let the boys win; otherwise they wouldn’t play with me anymore. She obviously hadn’t known Mitch. It’s when he’s winning that he wants to stop.
We always eat lunch in the clubhouse. Today, Mitch wasn’t quite as interested in gloating over his winnings as usual.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Actually, I was feeling sorry for Mrs. Junior. I’ve always liked her, even if she is rather homely.” He said, referring to the CJ’s daughter-in-law, his only son’s wife, using the nickname we’ve privately, and derisively, given her husband.
“Why?” I asked, “She has everything in the world. Aside from having to live with Junior, I’d say there are only about fifty million women in the country who would gladly trade places with her.”
“Not today. Junior made a complete fool of himself a few years ago and his wife, too. He resigned from our firm yesterday because the scandal broke.”
“No kidding! Junior, heir apparent, the anointed one, one day to become the second great and powerful Oz himself? What on earth possessed him to do that?” This was truly juicy news, if only because it would cause the CJ so much consternation. Junior was detested by every partner in my old firm lower on the ladder than he was, and by some who were a little higher up. It’s not that Junior was really such a bad guy, it was just that he got his privileges the old-fashioned way--Daddy bought them for him.
To be fair, he probably would have done well enough on his own if he’d been a little more pleasant. But he was one of those guys who always had sand kicked in his face as a kid. He was scrawny, wore glasses, and had a sour personality. In truth, he was one of the reasons I sought a judicial appointment after he came over to the firm a few years ago. Practicing another twenty years with Junior running the show was more than I could bear. Maybe I had to work with his father as the Chief Judge now, but the CJ had no real power over me. Working with Junior as my managing partner was unacceptable. Now, then and always.
“You have to give me all the details. And don’t you dare leave anything out.” We ordered burgers and beer, our standard Saturday lunch. The beer came in tall, frosty mugs while we waited for the well-done burgers cooked the Jimmy Buffet way: cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomato and onion. Fries, too, of course.
“Well, you know Junior was the rising star in our downtown office.” Mitch is like James Michner; he always begins at the very beginning of time.
“Sure, as the saying goes, he came from money, married money, and made a lot of money. All the makings of a successful lawyer, even if he is a twit.”
“Willa, that’s not very becoming of you,” Mitch scolded as he grinned. He doesn’t like Junior any more than I do.
“It seems an attractive, sexy, female lawyer was hired in the prosecutor’s office when he was over there. And for reasons that can only be attributed to a mental handicap or extreme nearsightedness, she apparently found Junior attractive. Maybe it’s the power that turned her on or the promise of future power. I could never understand Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts, either.”
“I’m with you.” When the waitress came around with our burgers, we ordered another beer. In addition to the $5 bet, I had to buy lunch and he was making the most of it.
“Anyway, she appears to be attracted to him and he, who never had a date in his life that didn’t have to wear a bag over her head, is besotted. Everyone notices. Rumors fly. She’s bright and capable and could make it on her own merits, but the favoritism he shows her makes her the target of vicious gossip.”
“Imagine that.” The drinks arrived, and I settled in for the rest of the story.
“Such sarcasm. Anyway, you know Junior’s granddaddy was the President of the First Federal Bank of Tampa, and when Junior’s daddy took the Federal Bench, Uncle Bishop got the bank job. The largest bank in town, and not coincidentally, one of the firm’s major clients, is controlled by Uncle Bish. The CJ and Uncle Bish were afraid Junior had gotten totally out of hand. The scandal would shake his place in society. Uncle Bish, a powerful man himself, can’t have that, even if it would otherwise have been okay with Oz, senior.”
“This is delicious. What did Bishop do?” I licked the juice off my fingers and dipped a French fry in mustard. Mitch frowned at my poor table manners. He handed me a napkin.
“Uncle Bish called our State’s Attorney in to lunch, and, friend to friend, asked him to squash the whole situation by firing the young associate and putting Junior on a big project that would take him out of town for a couple of months.”
“A few months away from hearth and home and the floozy and he should start thinking with his big head again, instead of his little head. I can see the logic of it.” I smiled, a mouthful of beef, cheese and mustard dribbling down my chin. I picked up the extra napkin so as not to interrupt the story again.
“Right. But the truth is, Uncle Bish is more than a little proud of Oz’s sprout. Junior has never before exhibited any traits of real manliness, you see. He’s always been sort of a bookworm weeny. Now, at least we know he’s capable of manliness. But that doesn’t mean Oz wants Junior destroying his dynasty. Junior has four children, after all, and a very respectable wife.” Mitch was chewing his burger with gusto. He was really getting into this now.
“How sweet.” I said. “A little meaningless dalliance. Well, that’s a time-honored privilege of the privileged, but throw away the future the family has planned for Junior on a pair of long legs, even very attractive and smart long legs? No.”
“Is this my story or yours?”
“Sorry. It’s just so predictable.”
“No problem, but watch it.” He gave me a mock slap on the wrist. “So, the State’s Attorney agrees to the plan because what choice does he have? Besides, he’s been totally oblivious to the gossip and didn’t even realize what was going on in his own office.”
“It’s really true that the farther up the ladder you get, the less people talk to you.” I waved for some extra napkins again and the waitress brought them over. Mitch took a couple this time, too.
“Right. Besides that, you know the State’s Attorney is one of those true blue types. He’s been married since he was twenty-five and he’s never even looked at another woman.”
“He’s never really looked at his wife, either.” I couldn’t resist. I figured if I was going to be a gossip, I might as well go all the way.
“True, but sex has not been his aphrodisiac. He can’t understand how otherwise intelligent men let their dicks do the thinking.”
“Amen.” I signaled for another round, trying to decide if I should switch to something lighter. I did have to drive home, and I wasn’t interested in explaining a drunk driving ticket to the CJ. I could just see it. “Oh, Oz. Junior’s story was just sooooo interesting. I couldn’t help myself.” I’d stick with the beer for now. What the hell.
“So, the State’s Attorney himself calls Junior into his office and gives him the ultimatum,” Mitch continued.
“Let me guess. ‘This is unseemly. It’s embarrassing. It’s affecting your future’” I said, covering my sarcasm well, I think.
“In the tradition of the way these things have been handled from time immemorial, he tells Junior to put a stop to ‘this relationship’ at once, or the young assistant will be fired.”
“That’s outrageous!” I nearly spit out my beer. “Why didn’t they fire him? What he’s doing was immoral and illegal. The State Attorney could find himself on the wrong end of a sexual harassment suit over this.”
“Don’t I know it. Labor law is my forte, remember? But does anyone ask me? No.” Mitch sounds more than a little put out by this. Everyone’s got his own ox to gore, every time. Count on it.
“Junior must have been incensed. He is next in line to the throne, after all. Not only the family throne, but Uncle Bishop’s throne as well.”
“Make that ‘was.’ The way I heard the story, that was exactly his thinking. So Junior calls Dad and lays it on thick about the lame-brained behavior by the dotty old State’s Attorney. But, shock of shocks, Dad agrees with Uncle Bish.”
“Junior must have been having a cow! I wish I could have seen it!”
“And you’d have had to stand in line. Anyway, Junior told his cronies later that Dad said ‘a piece of ass is nice, Junior, but it’s not worth your credibility, your family, and your job.’ He wouldn’t support him on this one.”
“What did Junior do?”
“Junior thinks about it for two hours. He decides to put an end to the affair. He calls her into his office and tries to explain it to her. She cries. She pleads. She sits on his lap.”
“So, Junior’s little head snaps to attention and he throws caution to the wind.” The sarcasm was so thick you’d have to cut it with a chain saw.
“Right. He called the guy I heard this from, really hot. They’re not going to railroad him. He’ll show them who’s boss. And so forth. His pal tries to get him to calm down. No dice. He calls a guy who’s been courting him to come over and join our firm for months. He agrees to come if he can bring her with him.” The finish was kind of a letdown, although the story had been a good one.
“You have got to be putting me on. It’s interesting to finally learn how he got to the firm, but why would all this ancient history cause him to resign now?” This was real news. If I ever leave the bench, it actually gives me a place to go back to.
“Because everybody found out about it this week. Uncle Bish had managed to keep the whole thing quiet, but lately there’s been some rumblings in our associate ranks that Junior’s up to his old tricks. Someone reported him to our managing partner, who called Junior in for a little talk. Junior told him to take this job and shove it.”
I don’t know if it was the story or the beer, but the whole situation seemed so funny. We were laughing so hard that other patrons in the clubhouse were staring at us.
“I would have paid, paid you understand, to see the look on your managing partner’s face when Junior quit. This is precious.”
When he could talk again, Mitch said, “Yeah, but the managing partner is really sweating. Now he’s really pissed off Oz, Senior, and Uncle Bish, and he knows it. He doesn’t know what to do. What will he say? Everyone was planning on Junior to be managing partner when his time came.”
“Well, I can’t believe many of your comrades are too upset about it. I’m thrilled, although if you repeat that I’ll deny it.” We signed the check and went out to our cars. Certainly one of the more entertaining golf dates we’ve had lately, even if it did cost me fifty dollars. I had a nice little buzz going. We said our goodbyes and were about to leave the course for the day, when one more question occurred to me.
“Mitch, just out of curiosity, where did Junior’s floozy go, anyway? Did she come with him to your firm?”
“No. She left Junior at the same time she left the State Attorney’s office and took an in house counsel job for some medical device company in St. Pete.” Buzz kill. Fifty bucks wasted, but that solved one mystery, at least. How had Carly thought she’d ever keep such a secret? And no wonder she thought she had no credibility with our local authorities.