It's Nothing Personal (28 page)

Jenna’s attorneys watched her car disappear
around a corner.
 
Nancy looked at
Jim with a regretful frown.
 
“When
should we break the news?”

Jim absentmindedly looked down at the
concrete.
 
Finally, he said, “She’s
been through a lot.
 
Let’s allow her
to savor today’s victory.
 
She and
her family leave for Hawaii next week.
 
Let’s give her a little peace.
 
We’ll tell her about the additional charges against her when she gets
back.
 
Nothing is going to change
between now and then.”

**********

On the way home, Jenna called Tom.
 
He had been emotionally prepared for
tears and devastation.
 
Instead, Tom
was pleasantly stunned to hear elation, confidence, and spunk in his wife’s
voice.
 
While Jenna yammered about
what details she could remember, a glimmer of hope began to surface in
Tom.
 

Maybe, things would be okay.
 
Maybe, this would not destroy Jenna
after all.
 
Just maybe, his wife
finally had the backbone to stand up for herself.

CHAPTER 39

Allison peered out of the conference room
windows, down to the steps in front of the building.
 
Dr. Jenna Reiner sat alone, with her
legs stretched out in front of her.
 
From Allison’s perch six floors above the ground, she scrutinized the
doctor.
 
Allison found her
exasperating and completely unpredictable.
 
Jenna, with her big, blue eyes full of innocence, her unpretentious
demeanor, her calm, unhurried responses.
 
Allison had neither expected nor prepared for this encounter.
 
Replaying the day’s events in her mind, Allison
concluded that Jenna was either incredibly cunning or unbelievably stupid.
 
Either way, Allison painfully admitted
that she had lost this encounter.

Catching her own reflection in the window,
Allison appeared worn down.
 
Her
lipstick had worn away hours ago, exposing her pale lips.
 
Allison’s silk blouse, once perfectly
pressed, was wrinkled.
 
Smudged
mascara had pooled at the bottom of her eyes.

Through the window, Allison spied Jim and
Nancy as they approached their client.
 
The three of them were walking away from the building when she heard the
sound of Lyle Silverstein behind her, clearing his throat.
 
Inconspicuously, Allison wiped the
mascara from below her eyes and spun around, flashing a confident smile at her
partner.

Lyle had been secluded in his office for the
duration of the deposition.
 
He
watched the events unfold from a live video stream supplied by multiple hidden
cameras embedded at strategic locations within the conference room.
 
His entire day was spent dissecting the
facial expressions, body language, and mannerisms of everyone in the room,
particularly those of Dr. Reiner.
 
On more than one occasion, Lyle fought the impulse to barge in and
attack her.
 
The doctor’s
soft-spoken nature and composure incensed him.

Adding to Lyle’s frustration was his
profound disappointment in Allison’s performance.
 
Her mission was to brutalize Jenna
Reiner.
 
Lyle did not care if that
meant bringing the doctor to tears or provoking her into anger.
 
By whatever means necessary, by the end
of the day Jenna Reiner should have been destroyed.

Allison did not say a word as she focused on
Lyle, watching him shut both doors to the conference room.
  
Lyle pressed a control button on a
panel in the back of the room, causing the windows that faced the lobby to
become opaque.
 
Allison braced
herself.

Grimacing, Lyle strode across the conference
room, towering over Allison, as they stood face-to-face.
 
She reminded herself to breathe.

“What the fuck was that?” Lyle hissed.

Acutely cognizant of her failings, Allison
did not answer.
 
Instead, she stood
tall and did her best to hold Lyle’s sharp stare.

“You let that little bitch of a doctor run
the show.
 
She set the pace, not
you.
 
Jenna Reiner played you like a
fiddle.
 
You were supposed to rattle
her – not the other way around.”
 

His words boomed throughout the confines of
the conference room.
 
Allison was
certain that the receptionist and anyone in the lobby could overhear his
lashing.
 
However unpleasant, she
knew she deserved his reproach.

“Lyle,” Allison said, “I was as surprised as
anyone by Dr. Reiner.
 
Unfortunately, I underestimated her.
 
Let me assure you, that won’t happen
twice.”

“See that it doesn’t.
 
You didn’t get one helpful admission
from her.
 
Dr. Reiner handed your
ass to you.
 
It was embarrassing to
watch.”

Lyle’s words stung.
 
He was Allison’s mentor and senior
partner, and his validation and approval meant everything to her.
 
He was one of the few people that she
actually admired.

Attempting to redeem herself, Allison
spoke.
 
“Today wasn’t a complete
loss, Lyle.”

Silverstein took a seat.
 
Allison sat across from him, opening her
laptop.

Lyle gripped the edges of the dark cherry
table tightly, leaving oily impressions from his fingers on the surface.
 
Chuckling, he said, “Help me understand,
Allison, how today was not a complete loss.”

Allison leaned back and grinned, appearing infinitely
more confident than minutes before.
 
“First of all, now we know Jenna Reiner.
 
She was very well prepared for today,
but I also think that it was all she could do to keep it together.
 
Toward the end, I sensed her starting to
falter.
 
She may have had the
strength to go up against us once, but I don’t think she could do it
again.
 
I think we should file a
motion to have her redeposed.”

Lyle’s face relaxed.
 
Intrigued, he asked, “On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that her answers were
exceedingly evasive.
 
I will have
the motion prepared by Monday and file it with the court immediately.”

Lyle nodded, “All right.
 
Let me review it before you send it
out.
 
We can’t afford to screw this
up, Allison.
 
She needs to
disappear.
 
This case cannot go to
trial.”

“You have my assurance.
 
Jenna Reiner will not be a problem.”

CHAPTER 40

July
16, 2011

Jenna, Tom, and Mia were at the end of a
trip of a lifetime.
 
The beach house
they rented in Poipu was more amazing and beautiful than any place they had ever
stayed before.
 
For two blissful
weeks, the three of them never stopped moving.
 
The Reiner family hiked, swam, surfed,
played games, read books, and made sandcastles.
 
More importantly, they laughed, teased,
cuddled, and talked.
 
The one thing
the Reiners did not do was bring up the lawsuit.
 
Jenna, Tom, and Mia had made a pact
before they left.
 
If only for two
weeks, the lawsuit did not exist.
 
They had each kept their word.

Their last night arrived sooner than any of
them would have liked.
 
Although she
would not admit it to Tom or Mia, Jenna was nervous about going home and found
herself on edge.
 
While Tom and Mia
reminisced about the high points of their trip over dinner, Jenna said very
little.
 
Before they left for the
flight home, Jenna snuck out into the backyard alone.
 
She descended the lava rock steps that
led from their perch above the ocean down to the water.
 
In her bare feet, she precariously
hopped from one jagged patch of black rock to another, making her way out to a
solitary mound of stone that jutted up from the sea.
 
Twenty feet from shore, Jenna sat on the
rock and listened to the rhythmic crashing of the waves.
 
The tears trickling down her cheeks
dripped into the ocean, blending in with the saltiness of the sea.

Tom saw his wife, sitting alone, her legs curled
up into her body.
 
She was
surrounded by the froth and mist of the ocean’s tides.
 
He called her name from the yard, but
she couldn’t hear him over the roar of the waves.
 
Following Jenna’s earlier maneuver, Tom
made his way out to the solitary rock.
 
Instantly, he noticed Jenna was crying.

He sat down next to her, and put his arm
around her.
 
Splashes of water hit
their feet and bottoms, threatening to soak their shorts.
 
Neither of them cared.
 
Jenna rested her head on Tom’s shoulder
and whispered, “I’m scared.
 
I don’t
want to go back.”

She looked so innocent and frightened, like
a young child.
 
It pained Tom to see
his wife in so much turmoil.

Tom held Jenna tight, hoping to make her
feel some level of comfort and protection.
 
She melted into him.
 
At
last, Tom knew it was time to leave.
 
He whispered into Jenna’s hair, “I don’t want to go back either, but we
have to.
 
Whatever happens, I’ll be
there for you.”

He held his hand out to Jenna, but she remained
planted on the rock.
 
Her eyes were
bloodshot and wet, her face puffy and blotchy.
 
“Can you give me just a minute
alone?
 
I promise, I’ll be right
up.”
 

Tom nodded and made his way back to the
beach house.

Jenna stood alone, looking out at the
horizon and the sinking sun.
 
The
ocean had always captivated her.
 
She tried to take everything in – the blues and greens of the
water, the reflection of the sun glistening off the rippling waves, the smell
of the mist.
 
Tom whistled at
her.
 
The piercing screech got her
attention.
 
Before she headed back to
the demons at home, she held two fingers to her lips, kissed them, and extended
her arm toward the Pacific Ocean.

She whispered to the waves, “Good bye, for
now.
 
Please take care of us.”

Jenna turned and made her way back to the
house.
 
With each step forward, she
was distancing herself from what she loved and moving closer into the jaws of
evil.

At the airport, Tom dropped Jenna and Mia
off with the luggage, while he returned their rental car.
 
Preoccupied by what faced her when she
arrived home, Jenna did her best to check their six bulky bags.

Tom returned to the main terminal to find
his wife in a raging argument with a local airport employee about the weight of
their luggage.
 
Jenna had three
suitcases splayed open.
 
She was
sitting on the floor in front of an airport scale shifting their belongings
from one suitcase to the next.
 
Clothes, bathing suits, towels, underwear, and shoes were strewn across
the floor, in direct view of other mainlanders returning home.
 
The humidity, combined with Jenna’s frustration,
caused her to perspire, and her damp shirt stuck to her skin.

Jenna was in the middle of frantically
moving shoes from one suitcase to another when Tom discretely bent down and
asked, “What in the hell is going on?”

“What’s going on?” shrieked Jenna, a little
too loud.
 
Her hair was a frizzy
mess, and her face was flushed.
 
“What’s going on is that the luggage Nazi over there is making me move
our underwear around in front of the entire island, so that we aren’t a single
ounce over the limit.”
 
Jenna
pointed to the offending airport employee.
 
The local woman shook her head in disgust.

It was unlike Jenna to become so agitated.
 
Tom recognized Jenna’s angst about
returning home, but it didn’t justify her behavior, especially in front of
their daughter.
 
To Mia’s credit,
she sat dutifully by her mother’s side and helped her sort out their
luggage.
 
Tom was not sure for whom
he felt more sympathy.
 
His wife,
who was causing quite a scene and making a complete fool of herself, or their
daughter, who was getting her fair share of pity stares from the strangers in
the airport.

Tom pulled Jenna up from the floor and told
her firmly, “Go take Mia and stand in the check-in line.
 
I’ll take it from here.”

Jenna scowled at the airport worker as she
left.

While Tom successfully evened out their
luggage, Jenna and Mia stood in the ticket line.
 
After surviving a grueling check-in
process, the Reiners reached airport security to find it completely backed
up.
 
Sweltering tourists were
crammed into the maze.
 
The line was
not moving, and Jenna was uncomfortably hot.
 
She wiped the sweat from her forehead as
she asked snidely, “Can they move any slower?”