Private Lives

“I hope it was worth a couple of thousand a month in palimony, buddy. Because that’s what I’d expect from you if I were her lawyer, plus child support.”

Austin was shaking his head, dismissing the possibility.

“Not a problem. The attorney she’s hired is some bleeding-heart female who specializes in family matters. You can run rings around her without half trying. Name’s Maude Kennedy.”

“I know Maude Kennedy. I’ve seen her in court where the only bleeding is from wounds inflicted by Maude herself. No, Austin, you’ve got to have something more than hostility and wishful thinking to get out of this one with your assets intact.” Ryan rested farther back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “Frankly, it’s the kid that complicates everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you didn’t have the little girl…” He moved forward, paged back in his notes, found a name. “Jesse, is it? If you didn’t have Jesse, Gina’s case would be a lot weaker. Come on, Austin, she’s your flesh and blood. You want to do the decent thing for your daughter, don’t you? It’s Gina you’ve fallen out of love with, not Jesse, right?”

Scowling, Austin resumed pacing in the cramped office. Ryan had a tendency to stack material on any empty surface, including the floor. Case files littered the thick carpet along with reference books, computer printouts and—Ryan winced—the empty pizza box from last night’s take-out when he had been burning the midnight oil on a real case, and not some irritating domestic dispute between two former lovers who now hated each other. But if the clutter hampered Leggett, or if he even noticed, he gave no indication. He was too intent on coming up with a strategy to stiff Gina, even if it meant his own daughter’s quality of life suffered.

“What if I sued for custody of Jesse?”

Ryan felt a pang of sympathy for the little girl. “You’d have to prove Gina unfit, since she’ll probably put up a fight. Mothers are funny that way,” he added dryly, but Austin was busy thinking and missed the irony in his tone.

“She had a rough upbringing.”

“Gina?”

“Yeah, she was raised in foster care. Lived with a dozen families, the way she tells it. Then struck out on her own when she was about sixteen. She’s been around the block more than once.”

“No crime there.”

“It shouldn’t be difficult to prove she isn’t the best role model for a five-year-old girl.”

“Starting with…?”

“Hell, I don’t know.” He rubbed both hands over his face. “There’s gotta be something. Nobody’s perfect.”

“You’d be the best judge of that after observing her as a mother for five years. I’ll need specifics and so far, I haven’t heard any. I don’t know Gina personally. Except for an occasional encounter in the halls, I don’t think we’ve ever talked. But she seems pretty solid to me. She’s a damn good paralegal, according to my assistant, Jean Johnson.”

“Yeah, well, give me a day or two and I’ll compile a list that’ll guarantee she’s unfit to mother a stray cat, let alone my daughter.”

“It has to have the ring of truth, Austin. You go at it from the angle of proving her unfit with bogus charges and Maude Kennedy will hang us both out to dry.”

“Well, shit!” Austin flung himself into a chair.

“For starters, Maude will produce a couple of character witnesses. I don’t need to remind you that they say nice things.”

Austin looked up. “But we’ll diss the witnesses, right?”

Ryan shrugged. “Depends. You’ll need to cast doubt on their veracity. But…I’m warning you, you screw that up, it could do your case big-time harm.”

Austin grunted with irritation, rubbing the fingers of one hand along his jaw, thinking. “I bet I know who she’ll call.”

Ryan clicked his pen, ready to write.

“She’ll probably persuade that tight-assed bitch she’s moved in with to lie about her on the stand. Those two are disgusting when they get together. And they’re together permanently now, just the way Elizabeth has always wanted it. I’ve always known she had the hots for Gina. Talk about feminism gone rampant.”

“She’s living with a lesbian?” Ryan jotted a note on the pad and added a question mark. It paid to take Austin’s statements with some skepticism.

“Wait’ll you meet her…and that old goat they’ve practically adopted next door. He’ll be witness number two. I tell you, it’s like a sixties compound over there when they all get together. Elizabeth writes, if you consider books for kids real writing, and the old man doesn’t do much of anything, far as I can tell. Mostly acts the doting grandfather. Wait and see, between the two, they’ll pressure him into swearing they’re all saints.”

Ryan put his pen down. “Have you considered the fact that her friends might actually be decent people? And that Jesse might be better off with surrogates who really love her?”

“You think I don’t?”

“I think you’re so obsessed with putting an end to your relationship with Gina that you’re in danger of losing sight of what’s best for Jesse. You can bet the judge won’t. That’ll be uppermost in his mind. And in his ruling.”

“All I’m obsessed with is blocking Gina’s plan to take me to the cleaners. Jesse’ll be fine with me. I—”

Ryan lifted a hand to halt him as the phone rang. A glance at caller ID showed his daughter’s cell phone number. Jennifer had strict instructions not to disturb him short of an emergency, but lately she’d been stretching the definition of emergency. He reached for the phone. Almost everything was an emergency to a fifteen-year-old girl, he thought with a sigh.

“What’s up, Jen?”

“Dad, did you call Mom like I asked you to?” Without waiting for a reply, Jennifer rushed on in a whiney voice. “She’s so impossible, Dad. She’s treating me like I’m ten years old or something.” Her voice climbed several notes in distress. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this!”

Ryan spun his chair to face the skyline. “Take what, Jen? And make it quick as I’m with a client and you know—”

“Excuse me, but I hope I’m equal to a client,” she said frostily. “I’m your daughter. Do I have to make an appointment to talk to you on the phone?” She drew an impatient breath and regressed to teenager mode again. “And you didn’t answer me. Did you talk to Mom or didn’t you?”

“I haven’t made the call yet, Jen, and I’m not sure what you thought it would accomplish anyway. Your mother has rules that seem reasonable to me.”

“You promised, Dad!” she cried shrilly.

Ryan shifted the phone a bit from his ear. “And I will, Jen. I just haven’t managed to get a—”

“Oooh, this is so…so…not okay! If you had to live with her every day you’d see what I’m talking about.”

“What exactly is the problem, Jen? How is she treating you like a baby? Be specific.”

“That sounds so like a lawyer,” Jennifer said with disgust.

“I am a lawyer,” Ryan said dryly.

“Well, here’s the problem.” He heard the bounce as she flopped on her bed. He pictured her settling back, taking her time—and his client’s—to spin her side of the latest battle between her and his ex. “Jeff Landon invited me to this party and I saw these really neat boots, but Mom just acted so…so…as if we were on food stamps or something. She said no. Just a flat no, I couldn’t have them, they were too expensive. That I—”

“Maybe you didn’t need them, baby.”

“I did! They were too cool. Via Spigas. Perfect with my new outfit.” She took a breath, dropping her tone. “It’s not just the boots, Dad. It’s that she doesn’t have time for me anymore. She’s got this new guy friend. He’s gross. He’s bald, Dad.”

“Jennifer, is this about new boots or about your mom’s new friend? And remember, I’m working. If you were a client, I’d be billing you big bucks.”

“Oh, funny, Dad. In other words, you don’t have time for me either, right? Mom doesn’t have time, you don’t have time. I don’t have any friends anymore. Jeff will probably dump me if I have to wear something old! If it weren’t for Mocha, I’d be totally alone in the world. My whole life sucks!”

Mocha was Jennifer’s chocolate lab. The aging dog had been faithfully devoted to her since she was five years old. Ryan swung back around, removed his reading glasses and tossed them on the desk. “So far I haven’t heard anything from you that sounds so awful,” he said, rubbing a spot between his eyes. “And don’t swear. You know the rule. And it goes for me as well as Diane, damn it.”