For the People Chapter 49
"How are you doing?" Kate asks Gates during the short midmorning recess Maynard allows for the comfort of the jury.
"I'm fine," Gates declares. "Lowell can question anything he likes. He won't change the facts."
"Or the documentation," Kate adds. "He can't cross-examine that, just your extremely convincing claim that it's accurate."
Gates fiddles with her reading glasses. "I hope I've convinced the jury."
"Two of the jurors were taking notes during cross, but I haven't seen much evidence of doubt. Just keep going the way you're going, and you'll be fine."
"That's exactly what I intend to do. But I could really use some coffee. Do you have any more of that great stuff your husband sends with you?"
A smile tugs at Kate's lips. "As a matter of fact, I do. And I have some triple chocolate brownies you wouldn't believe. We can share them in the witness room."
Gates returns Kate's smile. "Lead on."
"Did you want to talk about the story in the Ledger?" Rick asks, wheeling Lily to Valerie MacDonald's workstation at NHWH.
Valerie looks up from her computer. "The story was great news. But while you were on your way over here, I got an email that's even better." She hands Rick a sheet of paper. "I printed it out for you."
Rick's eyes speed over the text. "This is from Neighspec, a subsidiary of the Trivonia Corporation headquartered in Luxembourg. Jim Beckett, our attorney, was looking into Trivonia, but he never found Neighspec. They claim to own the lot and want to come in and pay to clean it up."
Valerie bounces in her chair. "Yes! Isn't that wonderful?"
"Ooh," Lily comments.
Rick nods slowly. "It looks great. I know Luxembourg is six hours ahead of us, but this is still happening very fast. My wife felt uneasy about the Jeri-haul tip. This whole thing could be moving along too quickly."
"Not too quickly for me," Valerie replies. "Look, Neighspec says they think they can have a licensed remediation company in by next week. They'll haul out the drums and all the contaminated dirt. I don't know about you, but when the work starts, I'm going to be there to watch. I think anyone from NHWH who can, will be. We can even make some thank you banners."
"I'll be there too, as long as I can get someone to watch Lily. I don't want her near any of those chemicals."
"Same way we all feel about our kids," Valerie agrees. "And I can't thank you enough for getting into this, Rick. Maybe it was your fence that got the ball rolling."
Rick shakes his head. "That was nothing. I hope everything works out. Can you copy me on the email? I want my wife and Jim Beckett to see it."
"Sure, no problem."
Jim Beckett leans back in his desk chair studying the email Valerie forwarded. "Neighspec. I never found a mention of them. Let me recheck my corporate database. Hmm. Here we are. Neighspec was spun off from Trivonia at the beginning of 2008, right after the housing bubble broke. It swept into New York and a lot of U.S. cities, buying up property at what was a fraction of its former value, even before the bubble. Brown Rock was involved with some of those deals. That lot is a very small sliver of Neighspec's holdings, a large portion of them in poor neighborhoods. But other than collecting rents and selling off bits and pieces here and there, they haven't done much with the properties. And what they have done was shielded by Trivonia. They've been flying below the radar. "
"Poor neighborhoods sitting there on spec. The name Neighspec just about sums it up," Rick conjectures.
"Uh," Lily echoes.
Rick strokes the infant's silky hair. "Uh indeed, or more like ugh. I think Mama's spidey sense was right on. No one holds things on spec forever. Neighspec will charge in there on a white horse and use the cleanup to gain the local residents' trust. Then it will drop the mask and pursue whatever the real plans it has for that neighborhood and perhaps many others, are. Jim, if you were a real estate investor with absolutely no ethics, what would you do with a neighborhood like that?"
"What's been done to so many other neighborhoods in New York." The furrows in Jim's face deepen. "I'd raze or gut the residential buildings and replace the low-rent apartments with expensive condos. Then I'd oust the local merchants and supplant their shops and bodegas with upscale markets, restaurants, and boutiques."
Rick's eyes flash. "Gentrification and the huge revenues that go with it. And of course, none of the original residents could afford to live in the neighborhood once it's transformed. They'd be totally displaced with few or no affordable options. The dumping was Neighspec's way to get its foot in the door as a neighborhood savior. It knows those people didn't have the resources to successfully fight even that. Now it thinks it can do what it wants with no one to stop it."
"Oh, there will be someone fighting to stop it," Jim declares.
"Da, um, darn straight there will!" Rick agrees.
As she leans against the kitchen counter, Kate's fingertips press hard against her lower lip. "Rick, you and my father assumed this scenario with absolutely no evidence to support it. So far, all Neighspec wants to do is come in and clean up a mess on its property. And they'll be saving you a large amount of money you were planning to spend yourself."
"You were the first one to say the whole thing's suspicious," Rick points out.
"And it is," Kate admits, "but there's a huge gap between suspicion and proof. And even if you're right, what Neighspec has planned may not be illegal. Parts of Harlem, the East Village, Morningside Park, have all been gentrified. It didn't break any laws."
"No, it just put people out on the street," Rick argues. "At least when I bought this place I didn't do that. It was just an abandoned factory doing no one any good. That neighborhood is different. It has families working hard to make it better and safer. They should be helped to succeed in that, not pushed aside. And there was something illegal Kate. Contaminating that lot with poison was illegal no matter who owns it. If it was part of a Neighspec scam to gain a foothold in the community, Neighspec should be called out and punished. And someone should check if any of Trivonia's other demon spawn tried that kind of environmental sabotage elsewhere."
"Let me guess. That someone will be you."
"And your dad. If what's going on turns out to be what we think it is, you bet we will. And if nothing else, that version of screwing the little guy will make a great section for my book."
Kate leans over the counter for a kiss. "But that's not why you're doing it."
"No, it isn't. The idea of what Neighspec might be trying to pull really pisses me off."
"It pisses me off too. Look. Lowell wasn't making many points with his cross-examination of Gates, so the Brooks trial is going even faster than I thought it would. So let me know if you and Dad come up with anything that has a prayer of succeeding in court. If I can help, I'll do whatever I can."
Thrusting his fingers into her hair, Rick brings Kate's lips to his for another kiss. "I know you will. Now, how would you feel about really thick burgers? I want to get my mouth around something juicy."
Kate winks. "You usually do."
