introductions it took her a full ten minutes, which he timed from the sonorously ticking clock on the mantle above an unlit fire, to go through the contents of the American letter, frequently referring back and forth between the different statements of claim. It seemed much longer.
‘I expect you to be completely honest, answering all my questions,’ she began, when she finally looked up.
‘Of course I will be,’ lied Jordan.
‘And understand that I am not legally qualified to offer advice on American divorce law.’
‘That was made clear when I made the appointment. What I’m really seeking is a reference to a firm or a lawyer who can help me. In Waterlows this firm is described as being international. When I called, I was told you were their foremost divorce specialist.’
‘It is and I am. But not in divorce matters in the United States with the added complications of linked damages claims; in America divorce legislation varies from state to state, with state by state Bar examinations. I know what alienation of affections is but I’ve no idea what criminal conversation means.’ There was just the slightest of lisps.
‘All I’m seeking is guidance – a reference – to someone who can help me.’
The woman looked down at the papers strewn around her desk. ‘Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Are you in a relationship that could be construed as a common law marriage?’
‘No.’
‘Did you seduce Alyce Appleton?’
‘No.’
‘Did you sleep with Alyce Appleton?’
‘Yes. We had a brief affair, a holiday romance.’
‘So you seduced her?’
‘No,’ again refused Jordan. ‘That makes it sound as if I pursued her: persuaded her against her will. I didn’t force myself upon her. She was quite willing. Eager, in fact.’
‘As you were?’
‘As I was,’ agreed Jordan. He hadn’t so far had to lie.
‘Did you know she was married?’
Jordan hesitated. ‘Yes. She wore a wedding ring as well as an engagement ring. But she told me she was getting a divorce from her husband.’
‘Did she tell you before or after you slept together?’
Jordan had to think. ‘After. She made it sound as if she initiated proceedings against him, for his adultery-’
‘And was getting her own back,’ interrupted the lawyer.
‘Exactly that.’ He gestured to the papers lying between them on the desk. ‘That claim makes it look as if she’s the guilty party and I’m the cause.’
‘That’s precisely what it looks like: as it’s supposed to appear. The husband’s lawyers are making him out the innocent party.’
‘It’s not true. Before we even got together she spent one morning reading stuff she later told me were divorce papers. Everything had already been started.’
‘Did she show the divorce papers to you? Did you read them?’
‘Of course not.’
‘So she could have been lying?’
The question brought Jordan up short. ‘No…! She wouldn’t…’
‘We’re not talking love here, are we? We’re talking a holiday romance of what… one, two weeks?’
‘Three,’ said Jordan, with difficulty. ‘Just over three.’
‘You plan to keep in touch? Exchange addresses?’
‘No:
‘So she could have been lying?’ the woman repeated. ‘Setting you up?’
He didn’t get set up! thought Jordan. He had been once but never again. He was the person who set other people up. ‘I don’t think she’d do that.’
‘You got to know her – trust her – that well in just over three weeks, at the end of which you didn’t exchange addresses?’
‘I thought so.’ He was sounding like a complete and utter idiot; had been a complete and utter idiot.
‘Whose idea was it not to exchange addresses, hers or yours?’
‘Hers. But it couldn’t have been a set-up, could it?’ demanded Jordan, gesturing again to the papers. ‘We were being watched, every minute of every day. People had to be there already in place, ready and waiting.’
‘Which is exactly what they would have been doing if she and her husband planned the whole thing in advance. All they needed was the willing victim. And you were it.’
No! mentally refused Jordan. He was always the cheater, not the cheated! It couldn’t have happened the other way round. ‘Why! What’s the gain?’
Lesley shrugged. ‘Make your own list. Alyce getting her divorce, if she set it up on her own. Both of them bleeding you dry, as well as Alyce getting her divorce, if they were working together.’
‘She didn’t know if I had any money or not.’
‘When you met you were staying in a suite at one of the best and most expensive hotels in the South of France. And went on staying in them and eating in the best restaurants as Mr and Mrs Jordan, with you paying for everything. It’s a reasonable supposition that you’ve got money.’
‘I can’t believe that’s how it is.’
‘I’m not saying that it is. I’m just putting it forward as one of several possibilities.’
‘You’re a divorce lawyer, an expert?’ challenged Jordan.
‘Yes?’ questioned the woman.
‘How many times have you come across the sort of situation you’ve just suggested?’
‘Three,’ the woman answered, at once. ‘And I’m not saying it’s what’s happened to you. Maybe Alfred Appleton is vindictive to the point of paranoia. I’ve known that, too.’
‘OK!’ said Jordan, forcing himself on. ‘I accept you can’t give me specific advice about American divorce law, from state to state. But what about jurisdiction? What if I ignore that letter and those claims? What could a North Carolina court do to me – against me?’
‘If you ignore it all, you mean?’ queried the woman.
‘That’s exactly what I mean.’ Why did lawyers need the same things said three different ways!
‘You got any assets in America – property, bank accounts, anything upon which a lien could be imposed?’
‘None,’ declared Jordan.
Lesley Corbin began shuffling the documentation back into order. ‘You certainly couldn’t, in my opinion, be forced to respond, as if it was something extradictable. You’ll need an American lawyer – one who’s passed the North Carolina Bar exams qualifying him to practise in a court there – to tell you what happens to the actual divorce application, if you don’t turn up. What worries me is what in this country would be considered contempt of court, which gets judges very angry. By not turning up, the inference is guilt. With the detail contained in all these papers we’ve got to assume that they’ve not only got a lot of photographs of you two together but copies of hotel bills, affidavits from hotel staff and statements from the yacht charterers. Further proof of guilt if you don’t contest the allegation. Sufficient, maybe, for the financial compensation claims to be pursued in your absence, whatever happens or doesn’t happen to the actual divorce. I don’t think any judgement against you could be pursued in an English court. I need to check. But it would certainly be registered in every enforcement authority throughout the entire United States. Which would mean your never again being able to visit America: be on a plane that just touches down on American soil, in transit. There could be countries, Canada is the most obvious, where there might be civil action reciprocity that would mean you couldn’t go to any of those countries, either, whoever and wherever they are…’
‘What about publicity… public identification,’ broke in Jordan, impatient again and anxious to resolve his most pressing concern.
