O Fortuna
Chapter 13
The devil you don't know.
-/-/-/-
The screen on Adalind's phone was still blank. She had lost count how many times she peeked, just in case. Kelly was with Rosalee and Adalind's fingers were itching to call, just to check. Of course everything was fine, but it took everything she had.
She paced a forty-third lap around the Mayor's office waiting room. Her appointment had been an hour and forty minutes ago, but the mayor was still "busy." This was always part of the game, but not one she much liked... Anymore.
Things were different now. A thirty year old mother of two can't exactly play the sort of games a twenty five year old single can. She perused the stacks of Parenting and Family magazines. There was an interesting article about the benefits of stay at home parenting on childhood development. Statistics touted improved outcomes across the board when a parent stayed at home and took an active role raising the child. A second article cited research showing the benefits of breast feeding on immune system and brain development. She smiled, she really did want to give Kelly the best possible shot. And, well, his colic got out of hand when she didn't.
The stink of bourbon with beer chasers barged in the door, with the mayor following close on it's heels. His face was pink and his eyes glassy as he swayed from side to side. He stumbled past his secretary's desk, pausing to caress the woman's shoulders. "Any calls for me, Joyce?"
The woman's face was beet red as she craned away from him. "It's Ellen, sir, and Miss Adalind Schade is still here for your meeting."
His lazy smile rumpled into a frown. "What sort of bad news does Miz Schade have for me, this time?"
Adalind always admired the genteel self control of old money deep south lawyers. "Dick." Her mild smile was unflappable. "You know I never bring bad news. I just need a little help resolving an issue between the Permit Center and Environmental Services. Quite a few of your constituents are stuck in the middle of a battle that's been going on between the two departments for twenty years now."
He groaned and rolled his eyes. "This again. Look, I've got six hundred and fifty thousand constituents who don't want their children poisoned."
"My clients aren't making asbestos into peanut butter sandwiches. This is fireproofing inside walls which city still forces them to install. They just want the city to do the right thing."
He eyed her and a smile bubbled across his face. "Perhaps if you had the afternoon free, I could help you appreciate my position."
If she had her powers, Adalind would have witched him into next week. Instead, she ignored the pass and maintained her composure. "These building owners will be violating Portland Fire Code if they remove it."
"Sweetie, I'm sure you mean well, but your clients would be a lot better off if you left this to professionals. Now, if you will excuse me, I've got a full afternoon."
Adalind was steaming as she piloted Juliette's car back through town. The nerve of that drunk bastard.
"Hack lawyer?" Adalind was fuming as she stomped through the back door of the spice shop. "I'll show him a hack lawyer!"
Rosalee pulled her nose out of the cauldron stewing over the blue tinged flame of a bunsen burner. "How did the meeting with the mayor go?"
Adalind grumbled out a long groan.
"That well?"
"He called me a hack!"
Worry telegraphed across Rosalee's face, but mischief bloomed an Adalind's. "So I might have set up a confidential interview with Leslie Mann at Channel Five."
"You what?"
"Tomorrow. Leslie and I go way back. Apparently, the mayor has been trying to sweep his scandals under the rug for three years now. This one is big."
Rosalee rolled her eyes as she added yellow powder to the mixture. "He was a slimeball before he got elected. Big news to everybody."
Adalind looked at her phone. "Leslie told me she was prepping for a five o'clock segment next Tuesday."
Rosalee set a speckled granite pestal back into its mortar. "Please, don't send the environmental Nazis into my shop. We just sorted out the back room, but have you seen the ductwork downstairs? The old fireproof insulation? That stuff is everywhere."
Adalind was stacking small jars of purple powder onto a shelf when her phone rang. A voice she had not heard in years was cordial. "Adalind, Lucinda Logan. It's so good to talk to you again. It's been, what? Five years?"
She quirked an eyebrow. She honestly never expected to hear from Lucinda after the Primrose Paper Mill closure concluded, but she had, five years ago. As it turns out, Mellifer queens are quite territorial, and there had been one too many in Portland.
The woman continued. "It was such a shame, about your associates, and that reflects poorly on my kind. Luckily, you were able to put the matter put to rest without any further unpleasantness."
"They were close friends of mine."
"The Grimm and yourself are quite the capable duo. This isn't why I called, though. I have some legal matters, and would like to retain your services. But as with the last time, I want full discretion. My name must not come up anywhere."
Soon, she was parked outside of a small cafe, waiting for a Silver Cadillac Escalade. She had given up on wondering how the Mellifer Queen found her. The woman had incredible resources at her disposal.
At two thirty on the dot, the large SUV rolled into the parking spot beside hers.
The woman had round cheeks and rounder hips under her custom tailored Armani skirt suit. She was late fifties with bottle brown hair and the characteristic flattened expression that comes from too much Botox.
She gave Adalind a cordial hug, and her face perked as much as it could when she saw the baby carrier. "Your son, Kelly? I hope I have that correct. Quite a handsome fellow, isn't he."
Adalind couldn't help the smile on her face. The woman had a way.
A gentle smirk flickered across Lucinda's face. "He certainly does have his father's eyes. I trust things are going well with yourself and Detective Burkhardt."
Adalind had learned that with Lucinda, resistance was futile, so she just rolled with it. "You know, better than I ever could have expected."
"Well, between us girls, I think you made the right choice."
Adalind let her mind drift for a minute. "You know, it could never have worked back then. I was a different person."
The Mellifer queen nodded. "As was The Grimm." She was already halfway down yet another gossip rabbit hole when the waiter arrived. The woman touched her hand, "I've got the tab. Have you tried their hot bienenstich? You know, I am particular about my honey, but these are the best I've ever had. They make the kuchen fresh. Mmm. Waiter, bring two orders, and fresh coffee for both of us."
Adalind quirked her eyebrow at the Mellifer queen's choice. The traditional German bee sting cake wasn't on the menu anywhere.
The woman rummaged in a pink Gucci bag. "Honestly, I don't get the excuse to indulge since my daughter and her husband relocated for work and took the Grandkids."
She passed a heaping stack of manilla folders across the table. "We've been having considerable trouble out of the mayor's office over this new Asbestos regulation. It's clear that he is just trying to shake us down, but he's threatening jail time as well as condemning and confiscating our property. This is no small matter."
The woman slid a letter across the table and then tapped on a line of text. "Absolutely unconscionable. Contribution to his reelection campaign is more or less expected, but these so called 'charities?' I looked into them, and they aren't. None of them are even close to a 501 - they are simply fronts for his own personal bank accounts."
Adalind's ears perked. She perused the shake down letters while the woman continued, "You've already got the Eisbeibers. Between them and us, we have a solid class action with over a hundred clients."
She wasn't scheduled to meet with the lodge for another three weeks. How was the woman so sure?
The woman went on. "Then, say you pick up another fifty or sixty Wesen and Kehrsite. Sure, there will be some who try to settle with the city, and a few who use other lawyers, but that should be the majority. So, what have you got lined up? We need to put some pressure on that scoundrel."
"I'm meeting with Leslie Mann, with Channel five, tomorrow at two."
"Perfect." The woman slid several sheets of paper across. "Here are lists of every business owner who has contacted the mayor's office and received the same request for a bribe. Of course, we don't want any Eisbeibers or Mellifers on TV, but I marked a few names. You know, head strong, principled sorts which bask in that sort of attention. A confidential source might tip Ms. Mann with a copy of the letter and a short list of names..."
Adalind nodded as her own plan crystallized. Of course, Lucinda had some good ideas, but ideas don't win a war. She needed to front run every single player in this game. She would set the order of battle and guide her opponent's blind wandering exactly where she wanted. Rather than a frustrated rant, every aspect of her meeting with the channel five reporter had to be carefully managed. Leslie would go exactly where Adalind sent her.
The layer cake arrived. Custardy pastry cream separated two layers of warm, yeast raised donut bread. The whole thing was topped with roasted almond slices and drizzled in warm honey. The rich aroma filled the air around the table. Adalind wasn't exactly a honey eater, but she couldn't resist the fresh cake that evaporated on her tongue, leaving nothing but the fragrant sweetness and a hint of cinnamon lingering on her palate. Kelly clapped his hands and bounced as he licked the sweet syrup and cream filling off his fingers.
Lucinda insisted that she take the second cake home for her Grimms. Adalind wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, but somehow, today had turned into a very good day. Before they left, the woman presented her with a small glass beehive full of amber liquid and wrapped in a pink bow. The woman smirked. "I came across a little something I thought you might like."
Adalind quirked an eyebrow. She could count the number of times she had eaten honey on purpose, on one hand. Today nearly doubled it. The cork popped, releasing an intoxicating aroma. Even Kelly was craning and reaching for it.
She waved a hand towards her nose and a dozen light, sweet floral aromas coalesced like heaven.
The woman nodded. "It's ok. Go ahead."
Adalind dabbed her finger on the cork and collected a drop, then pressed it to her tongue, sending a delicate but exhilarating sweetness through her body. The flavor lingered for a minute, revealing ghost pepper, stinging nettle, crepe myrtle, and a dozen more nectars and pollens mingled into one amazing blend.
"What do you think?"
"It's fantastic. What is it?"
Lucinda's smile bloomed. "Just a little something from a friend. I knew you would like it."
Adalind's day just got very busy. Besides plowing every scrap of paper in a six inch thick stack, she needed to circle back around with the Eisbeibers and find out how many of them had contacted the city to resolve their asbestos troubles. It didn't make any sense. Perhaps the mayor's judgement was not what it once was, but this was blatant. It was just too obvious. Idiot or not, she expected him to be more savvy. Why would he expose himself to prosecution?
The business with the mayor floated in and out of her mind as she worked through dinner. Pork chops. corn, and rice-a-roni. She never thought she would like the half noodles and half rice product that advertised wall to wall on game shows when she was a kid. It wasn't really all that good made the box way, but her new cookbook encouraged searing things, bolstering flavors using stock, and correcting seasoning. It was the hit of the night, browned in butter, cooked in home made stock, and seasoned with the packet plus an extra bullion cube. It was good she made two boxes, as Trubel wolfed down almost two thirds of it with two pork chops.
It was easy to cook once she understood what was supposed to be going on, sort of like Rosalee's healing remedy. Now she wondered why her mother had never taught her... Well anything in particular besides the generic lessons in their two years of home schooling.
But then her mind drifted back to the situation with the mayor. Environmental compliance was a tar baby on good days. Normal lawyers wouldn't touch it with a fifty foot pole. Even Berman hired it out to specialists. But this wasn't compliance, it was extortion. But if it was so obvious, why weren't a herd of lawyers already chasing litigation?
Of course the answer was obvious from the reams of paper. Exactly zero large businesses were targeted. Big corporations had scads of lawyers on retainer. There were also no lawyers on the list. Instead, the letters had gone out to privately owned, one and two man shops. Those sort of places generally worked with the city and lacked the resources to lawyer up. But why would the mayor risk writing down his request?
She was still puzzling over the mystery when Nick slid into the couch and pulled her into his shoulder. She nestled her head into the crook of his shoulder. "Rosalee's asbestos mess. Several business owners are trying to settle things with the city. They received a letter requesting campaign donations as well as contributions to several charities."
Nick ran gentle fingertips through her hair. "I don't live in that world, but it sounds fairly typical. You know, donate to the cause and they will waive fines and such."
"Except these so called charities aren't. They are fronts which funnel the donations directly to his own personal accounts."
Nick shuffled and sat up straight. "What? Really? Extortion? Renard hates that clown. He would be all over it in a second."
"But why would he make it so obvious?"
His hands drifted over her back and neck. "Maybe it's not so obvious. I mean you're not exactly the sort of lawyer these people usually hire, and you've got a lot of hours in this already. What would a normal lawyer do?"
"So I'm not a normal lawyer?"
Nick chuckled as he gave her a squeeze. "You eat normal lawyers for lunch."
She winked. "That's like calling you a normal detective." So... What would they hire a normal lawyer for? Court was expensive, and small business owners would be run out of town by public backlash. Their goal would be to settle as quickly and quietly as possible. The lawyer was just there to ink the deal.
Nick continued. "It probably took some forensic accounting to track that down, which means one of your clients has some resources and is smarter than the average bear. But... I'm guessing that the client doesn't want to end up on the five o'clock news. Do you need me to run some account numbers past our guys in financial crimes?"
"I think it would be better if this didn't come from you or I... Yet."
Nick nodded. "That cake was really good. I didn't take you for much of a honey eater."
"I'm not, but I'll make an exception for that."
He chuckled. "Bee sting cake. You know, that's actually in the books."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah. Kehrsite history says it commemorates a siege where German soldiers threw bee hives at their enemies, but it's actually been around a lot longer. It's a traditional Mellifer friendship peace offering sort of deal."
Nick chuckled as she teased him about Monroe rubbing off, but she didn't miss the connection. Lucinda must be testing the waters for an introduction to the Grimms.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
The day flew by and she was sitting across a table from the brown haired bombshell reporter from Channel Five News. Leslie's mouth hung agape as she reviewed the letter from the city. "Really? These charities are just fronts for his own bank accounts?"
Adalind shrugged. "I suppose a good financial guy could find out."
"How many of these did you say went out?"
"Fifty-six as of last Tuesday."
The reporter sat in silence, staring, before she continued, "I'll have to corroborate everything, of course."
"I wouldn't expect any less." Adalind slid a short list of names across the table.
"What's this?"
"There's a good chance a few of these people would like talking to a reporter."
The woman perused the long list of violators and then checked the short list again. Adalind continued. "What else is missing from the list of targeted shops?"
The woman quirked her eyebrow.
"I'll give you a hint. When was Channel Five's building built?"
"Late seventies, why?"
Adalind waited.
"Wait? Are you saying our building has the same compliance issues, but the city is intentionally giving us a pass?"
Adalind shrugged. It only took a minute for the lightbulb to turn on in the reporter's head. "A florist, a baker, a seamstress... These are all one and two man shops. Mom and pop places. Channel three's building was built before ours and it isn't on here. Neither is The Tribune's."
Adalind smirked. "Neither is Berman and Rautbort, or any lawyer's office."
The woman's attention went back to the short list. "And you are sure these people all received a copy of this letter from the mayor's office."
Adalind nodded and the woman leaned forward. "This is big. Between you and me, all we had was that he was a handsy slime ball who likes to get drink a lot."
"Remember, this didn't come from me."
-/-/-/-/-/-
A week later, Adalind finished with another law library visit followed by an hour of boxing spice shop orders.
Nick was working late, so they packed up at half past five and headed back to Rosalee's house. Adalind was roasting potatoes and carrots while Rosalee prepared black bean lentil burgers. On a whim, they clicked the TV on. Breaking news blanketed every single channel. A big press conference announced the mayor's resignation.
Adalind's mouth dropped open. She gawked for a minute and then hauled Rosalee to the TV for the replay of the press conference. Rosalee sat there gobsmacked. Speechless.
Leslie Mann's expose came on next, but it was overshadowed by the wall to wall coverage of the mayor's resignation. There was boiler plate political backbiting and backstabbing, but the big news was that he was illegally using his office to shake down over three hundred Portland business owners over environmental laws. The reporter had secured financial proof that he was funneling so called charitable donations into his own bank accounts.
Monroe burst in. "Hey! Did you hear? Ding dong, our idiot mayor is dead!"
Rosalee nodded. "Adalind got him canned. He had to resign to save face."
"They're talking state prosecution, maybe even federal prison. Couldn't happen to a bigger slime ball, so far as I'm concerned."
Ten minutes later, Arnold was banging on their door with Bud following on his heels. Nick, Hank, and Wu popped in twenty minutes later to celebrate.
Monroe slid a bottle of White Zinfandel out of the fridge and popped the top. They poured red Solo cups of the sweet white wine and toasted Adalind. Her smile bloomed and her cheeks burned as they cheered, "The best damned lawyer in Portland!"
-/-/-/-/-/-
The house was extra quiet that night with Nick and Trubel out on a case, which gave her time to think.
Everyone else seemed so happy about her hand in the mayor's resignation. Even Lucinda called to congratulate her, but it worried her more than a little bit. Sure, the guy was a clown, but he was the devil she knew. The new mayor was an unknown, the devil she didn't know.
Would the new mayor be interested in resolving the gordian knot snaring business owners like Rosalee and Arnold? Would he be a crusader and shut them all down? Or... Would he simply be less inept at corruption.
Either way, the court situation was far from over. They had received a temporary reprieve, one she dearly needed. She simply didn't have the resources to represent a couple hundred businesses against the city. It had to be resolved once and for all or the door would be left open for the next fellow to play exactly the same games. Adalind knew she needed to reach out to Berman, but he represented a large part of the life she wanted to leave behind.
She was still pacing when the service elevator's clatter announced Nick's return. He was keyed up from the mayor's arrest that night. He pulled her into the crook of his shoulder while he nursed a beer. "Renard's got a bone to pick with you."
She groaned, but Nick's eyes twinkled as he continued. "He really wanted to put the cuffs on the mayor."
"You understand why I couldn't..."
Nick nodded. "Oh, I'm thankful you kept us out of it. This is going to cost thousands to sort out, isn't it."
"Try millions of dollars. My last run in the Oregon Supreme Court took a team of twenty one lawyers and paralegals. Salary alone ran a million six a year."
Nick rubbed his eyes. "Ok, back of the envelope. What's this going to cost?"
"Three hundred cases. The city will try to litigate each one separately, but we'll push to create a class action. Ballpark, counting hiring a team of environmental consultants? Four million dollars the first year counting court costs. It will probably taper off to around two million a year after that."
"I'm not exactly a math whiz, but you said five years. So we're talking, what, fourteen million dollars, just in legal fees and court costs?"
She nodded. "That's just for our side. The city will have at least that in it too. Now, these businesses are pretty small, but when the vultures swoop in, it will be over two-hundred grand each to completely gut and redo the inside of every single one. They will have to bring them completely up to current code. The travesty is that these folks would just pay their own ticket to do the remediation when it's needed with other work, like in Rosalee's shop. She has six grand in asbestos mitigation in that back room, but she's getting a pretty hefty discount. Typical street price is probably twelve."
Nick scratched his chin and then smirked. "You should have seen the mayor in handcuffs."
Her stomach knotted. "Are you sure we did the right thing."
"He's crooked as they get. He deserves a nice stay at Club Fed."
"Yeah, but it was just too easy. He resigned too fast. Even with solid evidence, this sort of thing takes years to resolve, and they always fight. Why wouldn't he hang in there till the end of his term? It's only six months, right? I can't shake the feeling that we're missing something. How did the arrest go?"
Nick's brow quirked. "You know how these guys are in public. He didn't seem bothered. Honestly, he seemed relieved."
She straightened up a bit. "There was a time that I would have gloated, but what if the new guy is ten times worse. I mean what if he's like Sean Renard."
"I'm not sure that's possible. Renard would kill him."
"Yeah, but imagine if Renard was mayor?"
Nick groaned. "Point taken."