Chapter 2 – Murdock v. Fisk

Vanessa

"Denied?" Vanessa exclaimed. "How did that happen? You said you had the judge sewed up."

"We did," Donovan replied. "I managed to have the case assigned to Judge Mitchell, as planned. But when we arrived for the hearing this morning, his courtroom was locked, with a sign on the door stating his morning calendar was being heard by Judge Ramirez, who denied our motion to dismiss."

"I take it Judge Ramirez isn't one of ours."

Donovan grimaced. "Unfortunately, no." He took a seat on the couch along the wall to Vanessa's right.

"So now what?" Vanessa asked.

"I gave that some thought on the way here," Donovan said smoothly. "We need to wear them down."

"How?"

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "I'll arrange for the case to be re-assigned to Judge Mitchell. Then we bury them in paper – discovery demands, other motions, anything we can come up with. And we tie them up in depositions. There are only two of them, after all."

Vanessa picked up her cloisonné-handled letter opener and turned it over in her hands. "Have you forgotten who we're dealing with?" she asked, giving her lawyer a skeptical look.

"No, of course not."

"From what I've seen of them, they're gluttons for punishment, especially Murdock."

Donovan nodded. "True. But this is still our best option, in my judgment."

Vanessa sighed. There were other options, but Donovan didn't need to know about them."All right," she said, "do it."

The lawyer seemed to sense her intent. He got to his feet and rose to his full height. Leaning across the desk toward her, he said, "I strongly advise against – "

She had heard enough of his so-called "advice." "Get out," she snapped.

Donovan turned and walked out of the office.

As soon as she was sure Donovan had left and wasn't coming back, Vanessa tapped a button on her desk phone and said, "Francis."

Her lieutenant's voice came out of the speaker. "Yes, ma'am."

"Step into my office, please."

"Right away."

When Francis appeared in the doorway, she told him, "We have a problem: the Moran case. We need to make it go away. You'll take care of it?" Francis nodded. "And, Francis, this can't come back to me."

"Got it." He spun on his heel and left.

Karen

Frowning, Karen hung up the phone. She glared at the instrument until she heard the office door open: Foggy and Matt, returning from that afternoon's deposition. She emerged from her office to greet them. "How'd it go?" she asked.

Foggy responded with a big grin. "Great!" he exclaimed. "I was there, and I still don't believe it."

Karen gave him a questioning look.

"The defendant was lying through her teeth about how the accident happened. Matt knew, of course." He nodded at Matt, who had a smug smile on his face. "He just kept going at her, going over it again and again, until – " Foggy paused dramatically.

"Until?" Karen prompted him.

"Until she admitted she didn't know if the light was red or green, because she had turned around to yell at her kids in the back seat."

"No! Really?" Karen exclaimed.

"Really," Matt confirmed.

"So now we need an office pool on how long it takes for the settlement offer to come in," Foggy said. "I say tomorrow."

"Nah," Matt said, "three days, minimum. Karen?"

She shrugged. "I'll split the difference. Two days." Foggy headed toward his office but stopped when she spoke again. "Guys, I hate to be a downer, but you need to know this. I just got off the phone with Drew Moran. He's been getting threatening phone calls."

"What?" Foggy exclaimed.

"What did they say?" Matt asked through clenched teeth.

"There were two calls. The first caller just said he'd be sorry if he didn't dismiss the case. The second was more specific. They said something to the effect that it would be a shame if his other ankle got broken. Drew told them to go to hell, both times."

"Damn," Matt swore. He went into his office and dropped his briefcase, then headed toward the door.

"Wait a minute," Karen told him. He stopped and turned to face her. "There's something else." He raised his eyebrows quizzically. "You know I've been looking into JW Properties." Both lawyers nodded. "I don't have proof yet, only what I can get from the public records, but some of the transactions look fishy. I think Vanessa is using the company for money laundering."

"Makes sense," Foggy observed grimly.

Matt headed for the door. Before he reached it, Foggy asked, "Wait. Where're you going?"

"Time for a talk with Vanessa."

Matt

On the way to Vanessa's gallery, Matt stopped at his apartment and changed into the charcoal gray suit Melvin Potter had made for "Mike Murphy" when he infiltrated Lee Owlsley's organization. Vanessa needed a reminder of what he'd done for her. Mike's aviator-style dark glasses were still in the drawer where he had left them when the undercover operation was over. Mike's buzz cut had grown out, but there was no time for a haircut. It wasn't necessary, anyway. Vanessa would get the message, with or without the buzz cut. He put on the glasses, picked up his cane, and left.

When he arrived at the rear entrance to the gallery, he tried the door code Vanessa had given him months before but wasn't surprised when it didn't work. He rang the bell, and heavy footsteps approached. The door opened, and a man's voice said, "Yeah?"

"Mike Murphy, to see Mrs. Fisk."

"Get lost." The door started to close, but Matt caught it and pushed back.

"Tell her Mike Murphy is here. She'll see me."

The door closed, and the footsteps receded. Several minutes passed before the door opened again. "Follow me," a different man's voice ordered him.

Matt followed him up several flights of stairs to Vanessa's office above the gallery. "Leave us," Vanessa ordered as they stepped into the room.

"But, Mrs. Fisk," the man protested.

She cut him off. "Leave us," she repeated more loudly.

When the door closed and they were alone, she turned to Matt. "'Mike Murphy'," she said. "To what do I owe this unexpected . . . pleasure?"

"This isn't a social call."

"I didn't think it was. What's this about, Matthew?"

"You need to call off your people."

"I'm sorry, I don't know – "

He didn't let her finish. "Our client, Drew Moran. The threatening phone calls."

"I never ordered anyone to threaten your client."

Her heartbeat didn't fluctuate. Interesting. Matt wasn't buying it. Vanessa may not have given a direct order, but she knew how to make her wishes known to her subordinates.

"You really expect me to believe that?"

She shrugged in response. "Believe whatever you want. I may have expressed my . . . displeasure that you and Mr. Nelson were suing me, but that's all. If some overly zealous underling chose to act on it . . . ." She sniffed. "Well, you can hardly hold me responsible for that."

Matt frowned. "I can, and I do. But it stops. Now."

"As you wish," Vanessa replied smoothly. "Going forward, no one will threaten your client."

She wasn't lying, but Matt didn't trust her. She was up to something. He just didn't know what her game was. "If you want to get rid of the case so badly, why not settle?" he asked. "It's a clear case of liability. Ben Donovan must have told you that."

She didn't answer him. Instead she said, "Tsk, tsk, Matthew, you know you shouldn't be discussing the case with me."

Matt smirked. "Who's 'Matthew'?" he asked. "As far as anyone else knows, I'm 'Mike Murphy.' Matt Murdock was never here."

"And now it's time for 'Mike Murphy' to leave."

Matt didn't need to be told twice. He spun on his heel and left.

That night, Matt was keeping watch on the roof of Drew Moran's apartment building. He still wasn't sure what to expect from Vanessa. He only knew she wasn't going to stop. He had been there for less than an hour when he heard shouts and calls for help, several blocks away. His blood ran cold. He knew that voice: Foggy's voice.

He sprinted across the rooftops, heading toward the sound of Foggy's voice. It seemed to take forever to reach him. When he finally got there, Foggy had gone silent. He was in the alley below, curled up on the ground with his hands covering his head. Three men were standing over him, throwing punches and kicking him. Matt smelled blood. Foggy's blood.

"Noooo," Matt growled, descending the fire escape and leaping to the ground. With the advantage of surprise, he took out one of the men with a single punch. The other two abandoned their attack on Foggy and turned their attention to him. Matt gave in to his rage – they had to pay for attacking Foggy– and let the devil out. Within seconds, another thug was on the ground, but Matt didn't care. He kept throwing punches until the third man grabbed him from behind and pulled him away. Matt twisted out of his grasp and landed several punches, but he couldn't bring the man down. Unlike the other two, he knew how to deliver a punch and how to defend himself. As they traded blows, Matt sensed someone rising to his feet behind his opponent: Foggy. He picked up his briefcase from the ground beside him and swung it at the thug, hitting him squarely on the back of the head. The thug crumpled to the ground and lay still.

Matt leaned over with his hands on his knees, panting to catch his breath. Presently, he raised his head and said, "Thanks, man. You OK?"

"Yeah," Foggy replied. "Guessing I'm gonna be sore in the morning. But I'm the one who should be thanking you."

Matt waved off his friend's thanks. "Who are they?" he asked, gesturing toward the three men on the ground.

"Vanessa's, I think. They said something about Drew's case, and this would teach me to mess with the Kingpin."

"Damn," Matt swore. "You know what this means?"

"Yeah," Foggy said grimly. "She just blew up the deal."

Karen

Matt and Foggy arrived at the office together the next morning. Karen stepped out of her office, ready to make a joke about their simultaneous arrival, but she thought better of it when she saw Foggy lower himself gingerly onto the reception room couch.

"Oh, my God," she said. "What happened?"

"Vanessa's goons," Matt said. "They attacked him last night."

"It was a warning," Foggy added. "To drop Drew's case."

"So I guess your little talk with Vanessa didn't work?" Karen asked.

"Apparently not," Matt said.

Then a thought occurred to her. "Marci must be freaking out," she said.

Foggy shook his head. "Nope. She's out of town on depos." After a beat, he added, "Thank God. And she's not gonna know about this, not if I can help it. You got that, Page?"

"Got it." She drew a finger across her lips. "You're sure you're OK to be here?"

"Yeah. Matt patched me up last night. More or less. And he refused to leave, spent the night on my couch."

"So now what?" Karen asked. "What about the deal?"

"There is no deal," Matt replied. "Not anymore. We're going on the offense."

"How?"

"When we got to my place, we called Brett Mahoney," Foggy told her. "His guys picked up the three goons that attacked me. I'm going down to the precinct in a little while to give a statement and ID them. After that, well, that's where you come in."

Karen looked a question at him, but Matt was the one who answered.

"We're going public. You need to call Ellison and give him the story – the case, the threatening phone calls to the client, the attack on Foggy, the money laundering. All of it."

She swallowed. "OK. I can do that. But is that really the way to go?"

"She attacked Foggy, Karen. She doesn't get to walk away from that. And I'm giving Brett everything I have on her. The investigation will take time, but there's enough there to put her away. She knew what would happen if she blew up the deal, and she did it anyway."

"But why?"

Matt shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense to me, either. Maybe this lawsuit is more of a threat to her than we know."

"But if that's the case, why not just settle it?"

"That would have been the smart move." Matt frowned. "Maybe she's not as smart as we think she is."

"Apparently not," Foggy observed. "And when she tells the world you're Daredevil, what then?

"I'll handle it."

"You'll handle it? How?"

"You'll see," Matt replied with an enigmatic smile.

Foggy gave a frustrated huff. "Really? That's it?"

"That's it." Matt jerked his head toward the office door. "You coming? We're gonna be late for our meeting with Brett."

Foggy gave Karen an exasperated look, then followed Matt out the door.

Karen met with Ellison that afternoon. The story ran two days later, headlined "Fisk Company's Scare Tactics in Hell's Kitchen Lawsuit." It only covered Drew Moran's injury, the lawsuit, the threatening phone calls, and the attack on Foggy. Ellison told Karen they were still trying to nail down the money laundering before going to print with that part of the story. But they all knew Vanessa would have to respond.

Foggy

Two days after the story ran, Foggy was at his desk, preparing for a deposition, when an alert sounded on his phone. He checked it out: Vanessa was holding a press conference. "Oh, shit," he muttered. He clicked on the alert, picked up his phone, and walked out into the reception area. "Guys," he called out, "it's happening."

He didn't have to tell Matt and Karen what was happening. They both hurried to join him. Foggy turned up the volume on his phone. Vanessa was just starting to speak.

"As many of you know," she was saying, "Matthew Murdock and his associates, Franklin Nelson and Karen Page, have carried on a years-long vendetta against my husband and me. Now they have persuaded the New York Bulletin to join in their campaign of lies. The allegations recently published in the Bulletin are as baseless as all of the other allegations made against us by Mr. Murdock and his associates. I am a businesswoman, dedicated to revitalizing Hell's Kitchen, just as my husband was before his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. If you are looking for a criminal in Hell's Kitchen, look no further than Matthew Murdock. Because Matthew Murdock is Daredevil."

She turned and walked away from the bank of microphones, ignoring the reporters' shouted questions.