moments ago while making love, his body was now numb.
“Right now,” she said, stroking his face, “you’ve put your fate in the hands of two people you trust, who know you very well. Jeffrey and Ryan will pull you out of this mess somehow. I have faith in them.”
CHAPTER 37
Chandler was up at six, planning his day. His first appointment was at eight o’clock, with Mark Stanton of Stanton Management Consultants, Inc. Brittany Harding had been an employee of Stanton’s two years ago, and he had told Chandler that he would be willing to discuss his former employee provided it was kept confidential. Chandler met him in their large, plush downtown office that overlooked the snaking Sacramento River.
Stanton was a tall man at six foot five, with chiseled facial features and jet black hair. The kind of good looks that exude confidence and success. He greeted Chandler with a smile and a firm handshake. Plaques of accomplishments and achievements lined one of the walls adjacent to his large maple desk.
Chandler slipped into one of the leather chairs and displayed all forms of his law enforcement identification, past and present, for Mark Stanton to review. He scanned each one of them and handed them back to Chandler. “What can I do for you?”
“As I told you the other day, I’m looking for information regarding Brittany Harding.”
“You said something about Miss Harding being involved in a crime your friend’s been accused of.”
“That’s right.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Stanton said, leaning back in his large chair. “That woman was nothing but trouble for me from the day I hired her.”
“How so?”
“Look, can we cut to the heart of the matter? I have an appointment in fifteen minutes,” he said, stealing a look at what appeared to be a Rolex, “and I believe I know what information you’re after.”
Chandler raised his eyebrows. He didn’t think it would be this easy. “Let’s hear it.”
“Two months after Harding was hired, I was having some difficulty collecting from a rather large account of mine. At the time, it was sixty percent of my income, so it was killing me-totally hamstringing my ability to do business. I started taking measures to protect my company’s solvency, which involved pay cuts, doing away with overtime for a couple of account managers, and eliminating one of my support staff positions-the one Harding happened to hold. The day before I was going to terminate her, she informed me that it would be a mistake if I let her go. I took it to mean that she thought she was a valuable employee, and that laying her off would be a loss to the company. I didn’t see it as a threat. I explained to her that it wasn’t really my choice, that I needed to make some difficult decisions.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The next morning, I had papers on my desk naming me in a lawsuit that had been filed, accusing me of sexual harassment. She claimed that I called her into my office and told her that if she wanted to keep her job, she’d have to perform certain…activities that went beyond her job description. I then supposedly began to fondle her breasts. She said that she refused my advances, and as a result, was fired.”
“Let me guess that it didn’t end there,” Chandler said, pulling his pad out to take notes.
“No, it didn’t.” Stanton leaned forward in his seat, rested his forearms on his desk. “Not by a long shot. I got a call from her attorney, who was considering a civil suit against me. Wanted fifty thousand dollars to make it all go away.”
“And you paid it?” Chandler asked.
“Wouldn’t you have? Here I was, fighting to keep my company afloat…the last thing I needed was a groundless civil suit that would’ve smeared my name across the papers. She’d once told me a friend of hers was a reporter with the Herald, who I’m sure would’ve jumped at a juicy story for the front page of the business section: Imposing, dominant male president and CEO fondled the breasts of his attractive staff person while she cowered in his shadow, fearful for her life.” He waved a hand through the air. “I had too much to lose and nothing to gain by fighting it. It would’ve been a massive smear campaign. Even if I was found not guilty, would you hire a management consultant who himself was charged with sexual harassment?” He shook his head, as if he were reliving the distasteful choice that had to be made at the time. “There were no viable options. I had to pay her the money.”
“Do you remember the name of her attorney?”
Chandler asked, hoping he could solidify the pattern of behavior that appeared to be forming.
“Movis Ehrhardt. Can’t forget a name like that.”
Chandler smiled.
Stanton sat back, presumably waiting for Chandler’s next question, which did not materialize. He looked down at his watch. “Have I been of assistance, Mr. Chandler?”
“Definitely. Mind if I give you a buzz if I think of anything else?” Chandler asked.
“As long as you keep our conversations confidential.”
“Would you be willing to testify as to what you told me today?”
He folded his hands and gazed down at the desk in front of him. “I need to discuss that with my attorney,” he said, “but my inclination is no. I’m sorry, but the very reason for spending the money was to put this incident behind me, and to keep this garbage out of the papers.”
“Please talk to your attorney. You’ve been there, you know what Brittany Harding’s capable of. Your testimony could make a huge difference for my client.” He stood and they shook hands.
“I’ll be in touch,” Stanton said.
CHAPTER 38
Following his conversation with Leeza, Madison felt that he should make the most of his time together with his family. With so few patients to be seen, on a forced vacation that could turn out to be permanent, he involved himself in every aspect of the children’s activities. Each time he would catch a phrase that Elliott would come up with, or observe the look of excitement in Jonah’s eyes with the discovery of something new, the horrifying thought that he might not get to see them grow up invaded his emotions and brought an instant choking sensation to his chest.
Fifteen to life, he kept hearing in his head. The stakes were high…higher than he had prepared himself for, worse than he had ever imagined. Two to six was bad enough. But life? A gulp of air would help relieve the pressure in his chest, but it would be only a temporary fix.
However, when Chandler informed him of the information he had obtained from Stanton this morning, all of their spirits appeared to be buoyed. As they sat around the table preparing to eat their Subway sandwiches, Chandler explained to them how this could fit into the trial and Hellman’s planned defense of “someone else did it.”
More importantly, they knew who that someone else was. The more they dug, Chandler was saying, the greater the likelihood that they would find something of use.
Having been given the day off from his factory job due to scheduled maintenance on the equipment, Ricky was invited over to the Madisons’ for lunch.
“Thanks for calling him,” Madison told Leeza.
“I just figured with all that’s been going on, you haven’t seen him in weeks.”
“I feel awful. I shouldn’t have let that happen. My parents said he was angry with me for neglecting him.”
“You had a lot of stuff on your plate, Phil. I explained that to him yesterday when I called. At least he’s here with us now. Look at him,” she said, motioning to Ricky running around the backyard with Scalpel and the boys. “He’s in heaven.”
Ricky’s thick-tongued speech was difficult to interpret at times. He often became frustrated when he could not adequately communicate, and due to the difficulty expressing his true feelings, he would yell, throw something
