Page 106 of Say Yes to the Death

“Okay,” the mediator said, “it looks like I have some itemized medical bills here. Mr. Collins, you’ve got a copy as well?”

Kyle nodded and slid a sheet of paper between him and Claire.

“I don’t see anything on here about an arm injury, Miss Flutter.” He gestured to the sling on her arm. “Was that something you sustained during the altercation?”

Her lawyer cleared his throat, but Wendy plowed on. “Oh, yeah. The doctors missed it at the emergency room visit, but it’s really been acting up.”

“Noted,” the mediator said. “Miss Hartley, would you like to make your opening remarks?”

“Sure, thank you.” Claire flipped to the first page in her notebook and took a deep breath. “So, in order to fully understand the situation that led to the altercation, I think it would be beneficial to tell you about our shared past.” She looked at the mediator. He nodded.

Claire dove into her years-long professional rivalry with Wendy. She brought up the previous year’s Planner of the Year awards and Wendy’s seduction of her fiancé.

“And that brings me to our terms,” she said. Her insides twisted. “If Miss Flutter isn’t willing to drop this lawsuit, I’m prepared to counter-sue for intentional affliction of emotional distress. I have a few documents for you.” She slid a small stack of paper from a manila folder to the mediator.

Wendy leapt up from the table. “Me? You’re gonna sue me? After you beat the shit out of me?”

“Miss Flutter,” her lawyer warned.

“Yes,” Claire said calmly as she slid a DVD down the table. “I have copies for you as well.” She slid them to Wendy’s lawyer. “You’ll find a timeline of stalking behavior dating back three years, including security footage from outside my office.”

She glared at Wendy. That’s what she got for sitting outside the warehouse with a camera.

A sheen of sweat appeared on Wendy’s lawyer’s forehead.

“Also on the DVD, you’ll find the television interview where Wendy committed libel and accused me of sleeping with an employee,” Claire continued. “And in the same interview, she became so enraged over questions about her relationship with my ex-fiancé that she flipped a table on live TV.”

The mediator raised his eyebrows.

“And all of this evidence doesn’t even take into account the incident of professional sabotage that’s still under police investigation. A hooded figure loosened a wheel on the carriage we were riding in, causing the carriage to fall apart and injure my best friend in the middle of her marriage proposal. Wendy brought up this incident during the night of the altercation even though it was never publicized. How did she know about it if I never advertised the problem? Unless she was the one who did it.”

Take that, bitch.

Claire cleared her throat. “And that brings me to the night of the altercation. It was the evening of my best friend’s engagement party, an event I had painstakingly planned with very little time to prepare. Imagine my surprise when Wendy and Jason showed up uninvited and threatened me for turning him in to the cops. She then proceeded to insult my best friend’s life work. I’m not proud of my actions that night. But twenty minutes after the altercation, I was chloroformed and abducted by the West Haven Widowmaker. So, my memory of the events right before aren’t perfect.”

“Blah, blah blah, we get it.” Wendy slapped the table again. “Poor little Claire, kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend. Stop playing the victim card and take responsibility for your actions.”

Claire moved to stand up, but Kyle laid a hand on her shoulder.

The mediator frowned. “Miss Flutter, please don’t interrupt Miss Hartley when she’s speaking.”

“I almost died that night,” Claire said rigidly. “You think I owe you something after what happened. I almost paid for that mistake with my life. If I hadn’t been alone in the bathroom cleaning up after our disagreement, I wouldn’t have been abducted.”

“Cry me a freakin’ river, Claire. You’re alive. And you have to deal with the consequences of what you did to me.” Wendy leaned across the table. There was cold hatred in her eyes.

“And one more thing regarding your alleged arm injury.” Claire stared back at her as she fished a glossy 8x6 picture out of a folder. She slid two copies across the table slowly. “This picture was taken two days ago. As you can see, Miss Flutter was not utilizing a sling at the time of this entanglement with a married man who conveniently serves as a judge for the award Wendy recently won. But I’m sure those events are totally unrelated.”

Wendy’s mouth dropped open. She immediately ripped the picture in half and stuffed it in her mouth. She ran down to the other end of the table and snatched the other copy from the mediator.

“You have no proof,” she said over a mouthful of photo paper.

“We have more copies,” Claire said, leaning back in her chair. “We haven’t released any of this to the press out of respect for you as a colleague. But if the lawsuit remains, we may re-evaluate.”

“We need a recess,” Wendy’s lawyer declared, grabbing his client by the elbow and dragging her out of the room.

The mediator let out a long, slow breath and leaned back in his chair.

“You nailed it,” Kyle whispered to her.

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