Page 66 of Maddy's Justice

“Chicago,” Paloma said.

“Me too!”

This touched off a twenty-minute gabfest about Chicago and things they had in common.

“Yes, you can call me if you need to,” Paloma finally said.

“Any others that you know about?” Maddy asked.

“Water cooler talk, you know what I mean?”

“Sure,” Maddy said.

“Rumors but no names. I’m not sure I’d tell you if I knew. This is not something people tend to want to talk about.”

Maddy handed Paloma her notebook turned to a page with four names written on it, including Paloma’s then asked, “Do you know these women?”

“I know Wendy Olson. We did a couple things together. I know who the other two are, Amber Klassen and Naomi Beyers, but I don’t know them well. Why?”

“They’ve left Stafford, Hughes and won’t talk to us,” Maddy answered.

“Wendy left? I hadn’t heard that. I knew Amber and Naomi left. They went before me. I’m surprised about Wendy. She loved it there. Even the long hours.”

“So, you wouldn’t know why they left?” Maddy asked.

“No, I didn’t hear anything about Amber and Naomi. Wendy, I didn’t know left. She’s a pretty girl, someone Troy would certainly take a shot at. Amber and Naomi, he would probably harass them, too. The man’s a pig and thinks he can get away with anything because he brings in so much money.”

“Wait! Did you preserve the rape kit? Did you find Troy’s DNA?” Maddy suddenly asked.

“No and no. That was part of the deal. I regretted that. I have regretted it ever since. Troy got off and I’m sure there have been others,” Paloma told Maddy.

“I’m sure there are, and we need to know,” Maddy replied. “Hey, let me ask you something. If I talk to these other women and they’re reluctant to talk to me, can I tell them about you and call you and have you talk to them?”

Paloma thought about the question then finally said, “Yes, I will. I knew all of them and I’ll bet whatever happened, they’re keeping it to themselves. So, yes, I’ll talk to them and tell them it’s okay to talk to you. I won’t break my nondisclosure to them, but I will tell them you’re okay to talk to.”

“Great, thanks,” Maddy said.

“Nice ring,” Paloma said. “Your first?”

“And last, I hope.”

“Nice guy? Boy, that was a dumb question,” Paloma laughed.

“No, he’s an asshole, but I was finally asked by someone, so I figured I better grab it,” Maddy replied. “Actually,” she continued when they stopped laughing, “he’s Marc Kadella and yes, he’s a nice guy and I need to call him.”

TWENTY-TWO

While Maddy was interviewing Paloma Vitale, Gavin Blake, Senior Managing Partner at Stafford, Hughes, was doing something he hated. He was at his desk working late. Quarterly partner bonuses would be due in July and Melanie Stewart wanted his input tomorrow. It was boring, tedious work an accountant should be doing, not a senior partner.

Gavin’s personal phone rang. He looked at the ID and answered it.

“Hello, Katherine,” he said, “nice of you to call. How’ve you been?”

Katherine Stearns was Gavin’s former assistant. She left, amicably, two years ago for a corporate management position.

“I’m fine, Gavin. I’m calling to tell you something. I’m not sure if you know about this. Maybe you do. I was contacted a couple of days ago by a man, a Tony Carvelli. He told me he is a private investigator working for a lawyer, a Marc Kadella, who is representing Stafford, Hughes in a lawsuit. He asked me a few very personal questions. Of course, I refused to answer them. Questions about sexual harassment at the firm. Do you know about this?”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Blake lied. This was the first he had heard about women being investigated. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a minor problem and we decided to let outside counsel handle it. Nothing for you to worry about.”

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