Glass House (39 page)

“I found Lora one afternoon with a
photographic assay we’d had done. You ever heard of an assay?”

She had, of course. Finn had told her about
them while holding the pages Claire had passed to them at that last
moment in front of the house. “It’s an analysis,” she said. The
same words Finn had used. “A geographic assessment of some kind. A
measure of production in your case, I imagine.”

“You’d be right. A sampling of stones from
one of the mines, laid out in an array that was….” He searched for
it. “Startling.”

“And Lora?”

“The kid in the candy store. She found it,
and she spread it across my bed. She’d separated the technical
pages from all the pretty color pictures, and she was flipping
through those pictures like they were a Tiffany catalog.”

“What did you do?”

“I stopped keeping paper.”

“I meant with Lora.”

“I know what you meant.” Waldoch leaned back
in his chair. He spun it slowly until it faced Megan, standing at
the head of the table. “I didn’t think much about it then.”

“You apparently had a change of heart since
that time. When Lora had her trial against you, she knew those same
things. She knew about the diamonds. But she didn’t bring that out,
any of it, even during her trial. All those things she knew didn’t
catch up with you until Landry dragged you in here. Why the
delay?”

“Simple enough. She didn’t say anything
about the diamonds back then because I asked her not to.” He was
watching Megan for reactions. “You don’t see that yet,” he said, a
pitying and over-wise smile growing on his face. “She pulled the
punch because she was in love with me. And I knew she loved me. So
when I went to her during the litigation of her case –”

“You went to her during the case and
asked
her not to talk about the diamonds?” Megan
interrupted. “And she said she wouldn’t?” she added after that, the
recognition of what Waldoch was saying dawning on her. “What did
you tell her? What did you ask her to leave out, and what sweet
things did you say that convinced her to play along to a loss in
the trial?” Megan waited for an answer but didn’t get one.

“That you’d come back?” she asked. “That you
still loved her, too, and wanted to start again? Maybe that you
never stopped loving her?”

“Some of those things. All of them,
possibly. I can’t recall exactly.”

“You let her keep the necklace to push those
ideas.”

“I did.”

“But all of it did catch up. Kathy Landry’s
own case made that unavoidable.”

“There couldn’t be evidence of my
relationship with Lora.”

“Of course not.”

“And I couldn’t just let Lora talk about
it.”

“Naturally. Not the relationship, and not
anything else. She knew more than you’d like her to know, and she’d
be happy to talk about it, after you pulled another disappearing
act from her life.”

“Something like that.”

“Taking the necklace?”

“Guilty as charged,” Waldoch said
mechanically.

“That’s not what you said on the stand.”

“I know what I said on the stand.”

“Samuel Chilcott.”

“Guilty again.”

There was nothing in it. No feeling or
emotion. No fear or hesitation. No reluctance. Not even for a
second.

“Lora’s death.”

Waldoch’s hands were behind his head.
“Guilty on that one, as well, I’m afraid. Not personally, though,
mind you.”

“You weren’t the one who actually did the
dirty work.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Chilcott again?”

Waldoch grinned, sending a chill into Megan.
“Samuel’s issue forever now, I’m afraid. If anyone catches up with
him on it, that is.”

“What about Kathy Landry?”

“What about her?”

“It’s true, isn’t it. Everything she’s
said.”

Waldoch stood. His hands found the table,
and he leaned over it, tipping toward Megan in a conspiratorial
whisper.

“Every last bit. Not that you can say
anything about it.”

Megan responded immediately, in her own soft
reply. “Can’t I?”

A flash of surprise passed over Waldoch’s
face before fading away. “You almost had me there,” he said,
shaking his head with a smile. “This is privileged. The wonders of
the legal profession, helping me out again.”

“Privileged,” Megan agreed, nodding herself.
“But this is also perjury. By answering all the questions we went
over – all the questions you
wanted
me to ask –
you perjured yourself in that courtroom. Apart from murder and
theft and fraud and whatever else you’ve done, I can reveal
that
to the court. I may have to jump through hoops to get
it done, but I can get it done just the same. I can let everyone
who matters know – the court, McCallum, whoever else needs
to – that Jeremy Waldoch took the stand in his own defense,
and he lied when he did it.”

“You won’t practice again,” Waldoch
replied.

It was Megan who was leaning in now. Her
voice was still hushed.

“That only matters if I care. And I don’t,
Jeremy. If it means getting rid of you, I don’t care about
practicing again, so all bets are off. All privileges? Gone. All
crimes? Fair game.”

They stood there, neither of them speaking
for a full minute, before Megan finally spoke. “This break’s almost
over. What’s it going to be?”

Waldoch stepped back from the table. “How
much? What do you want?”

“Not a thing from you,” Megan told him.
“There’s nothing you could give me.”

“Then what are you after?”

“An end. I agreed to get you through to the
end, and that’s where we are.”

Waldoch looked around. “In this conference
room, on a break in the plaintiff’s case, without calling a witness
of our own?”

Megan was nodding before he finished. “We’re
at the end, and you have decisions to make. Two choices to pick
from.”

“Choices. You’re giving me
choices?
And they are?”

“First choice? Trials and prison. For
perjury at the start. Get the small stuff out of the way, then move
up after that. Murder. Extortion. Wire fraud. Witness tampering.
Probably tax evasion, not that we’d need it at that point, given
the rest of it. But I’ll help on that, too, if I can swing it.”

“You’ll be disbarred.”

“Possibly. And well worth the price.”

“And the second choice?”

“A walk-away. You keep whatever money you’ve
squirreled away, and I’m sure that’s plenty.” Waldoch didn’t
respond, which was answer enough. “You’ll keep the government off
your back, because I won’t be there to keep them on it. They don’t
have anything now, and they won’t have anything to add without my
help. At least not if you do it right.”

“Which takes what?”

“Giving up DMW,” Megan said. “All of it,
diamond mines included.”

“Impossible,” Waldoch replied instantly.
Megan thought he looked as though he would either laugh or hit her,
depending on how the next few seconds went.

“Is it?” Megan asked just as quickly. “I
think it’s you who doesn’t understand this time. It’s just a
settlement. A contract we can write out with all the provisions we
need.”

“What would those say?” Waldoch seemed
amused, despite the topic.

“DMW goes to Kathy Landry and Lora
Alexander’s mother.”

“How quaint. To her mother. Why’s that, pray
tell?”

“Because she deserves it after what you did
to her daughter. And because I’m going to make you pay it, after
all the lies you told me.”

“You’re insane.”

“Fine,” Megan responded. “We’ll go back in,
and I’ll move the court to allow me to withdraw, informing them I
can’t continue to represent you within the ethical rules. That’ll
tell them what they need to know.

“After that, I think I’ll go out for a
drink, maybe a nice dinner. I’m sure Agent Hanley would be happy to
tag along.”

Waldoch had her arm before she could move
away. She pulled against his grip, and he made it tighter.

“You can’t do this.” He squeezed.

“Let go of me, you stupid fuck.” Megan shook
her arm free and stepped away from him. “I can do it. I
will
do it. You have your choices, and I wouldn’t think it was
hard – keep your money but give up DMW and the mines, or go to
prison. It’s that simple.”

She checked her watch. “Time’s up,” she told
him. “Judge and jury will be waiting soon, so what’ll it be?”

She thought he would decide the other way in
the five silent seconds that followed. Looking at Waldoch, Megan
was certain he would pick risk over safety, prison over giving his
company away.

Waldoch straightened. He tugged his suit
coat to neaten it, and he tightened his tie, his gaze never leaving
Megan’s face.

There was fury in his eyes, trapped there as
surely as he was trapped by his words in the courtroom and Megan’s
choices in here. But the look faded before he spoke. It
softened
somehow, like another thought had raised itself in
Waldoch’s head to cut the anger back to a manageable level.

“Agreed,” he said then, suddenly and simply.
His teeth were clenched. His jaw barely moved at the words. But he
said them. “Write it up.” He turned to the door.

Megan stopped him with her words. “How did
you put it?” she asked when he was almost out of the room. “
No
piece of ass has gotten me yet…?
” She couldn’t help but smile.
“Your record’s broken.”

The
Offer

Megan tracked McCallum down before he
returned to the courtroom. Her hand on his arm, she held him back,
keeping him in the hallway. Her client had disappeared without a
word to either of them.

As she explained the settlement proposal,
McCallum first stared in disbelief, then in apparent amusement.

“You’re offering the entire company?” he
said doubtfully.

“It’s enough, I assume.”

“Enough? It’s so much I doubt it’s
true.”

“It’s true, and you need to take it,” Megan
said. “When the papers are done, you’ll see there’s a split with
Lora Alexander’s mother, and it needs to be that way. But you won’t
do better than this for your client.”

“There’s no way I could,” he said in return.
“I just don’t understand.”

“And I can’t explain. Or I won’t, at any
rate. You just have to take this while I can offer it, and I can’t
say more than that. Convince your client, and we’ll go to the
judge. We’ll end this now.”

The earnestness in Megan’s voice, the
near-plea, made him move. Megan watched as he went into the
courtroom, and she waited, nervous, until he returned.

“It’s as peculiar a thing as I’ve ever
done,” he told her. “But you have a deal.”

_______________

Waldoch hadn’t shown up again by the time
the judge excused the jury, cleared the courtroom for
confidentiality, and made the settlement terms part of the record.
McCallum asked for thirty days to review papers that would be
provided to him and to evaluate DMW’s worth. He wanted to make sure
they had assets and weren’t slipping out through some
sleight-of-hand. The judge agreed, then he asked the parties each
to represent on the record that they understood the terms of the
agreement.

Kathy Landry rose and said she understood,
and attention turned to Megan. She checked the courtroom for
Waldoch once more. Not finding him, she represented that she’d
discussed the terms and that he understood them.

“So ordered,” the judge said. “Thirty days,
Ms. Davis and Mr. McCallum,” he said. “I’ll expect a report back at
that time.” He banged the gavel and dismissed them all.

The few people left in the room started to
drift away. Megan went to find Hanley after that but couldn’t until
she was back in the hallway. He flagged her down with a raised hand
and drew her into a side hall.

“What was that?” he asked.

“It’s done. That part of it anyway.”

“Done how? Win? Lose? Draw?”

“Settled. Terms to be confidential.”

“What good is
that?
”

“Good enough,” Megan replied. “For you and
me both.” She checked the hall, then edged closer to Hanley.
“Waldoch gave up DMW.”

“Gave –” he started before cutting himself
off. “What bullshit is that? That doesn’t solve any problem at
all.”

“It solves every problem I have right now.
Most of yours, too.”

“It’s half-assed. Only half a solution,
too.”

“Your boy’s out of his position of control
at DMW. It’s at least that. And that means he doesn’t control
Laurentian or the mines.”

“Then who does?”

“Kathy Landry,” Megan said. “Along with
Claire Alexander.”

Hanley looked like he couldn’t speak. “Your
plaintiff,” he said finally.

“And an old plaintiff, too. An earlier case
against Waldoch.”

Hanley studied her. He
considered
her. “You sold him out.” He sounded calmer. “You cornered and sold
him to your opponent. Somehow, you did that.”

Megan didn’t even consider admitting or
denying that. “I need something from you,” she said.

“Protection for those two women, I’m
guessing.”

“As soon as possible. I have addresses, and
I’d like to have agents posted by the end of the day.”

“I can get that done. But what about
you?”

“I thought that’s what you were for.”

Hanley shook his head, impressed now. “You
might be too big a job for me.”

“Well you know where I live. So I guess
we’ll find out.”

In
the Vallonia

Megan turned from the back alley and
half-circled the car toward the waiting garage. She pressed the
button for the garage door opener, pulled inside, and parked. She
collected her briefcase, stepped back out through the lifted door
and reached in to touch the close button. The door rumbled down as
she headed to the house.

It seemed impossibly small. A familiar
feeling of vertigo hit Megan as she craned her neck and examined
the old house’s back porch and clapboards and attic windows and
roof. Uncomfortably small, in fact. The Vallonia was insignificant
and utterly overwhelmed by what had happened in the past few
days.