CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jessica twisted a strand of her hair, a nervous habit that she couldn't seem to break. Nicky, sporting a bruise on his chin courtesy of Hutch's fist, glared at her as he flagged down a cab. There was a tension between them that had been building every since the confrontation with Starsky the day before.

As they settled into the back of the cab for the short drive to see Jessica's attorney, Nicky growled,

"You should have kept your mouth shut about the kid not being Davey's, but no…you got pissed when he kicked us out, so you just had to get back at him!"

"What did you expect me to do?" Jessica defended herself. "Just sit back and take it?" She snorted "I do that enough with you."

"I'm not my brother."

"No, you aren't," Jessica said with a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to mean." Jessica crossed her arms and leaned back in the seat, a sullen expression on her face. The rest of the drive was spent in a strained silence.

Twenty minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of a dingy storefront in one of the seedier neighborhoods in Bay City. With her limited resources, Jessica had to find the cheapest attorney she could afford. Bradley Owen was known as an 'ambulance chaser" among his more esteemed colleagues.

His office consisted of one room with a battered desk, a worn out filing cabinet, and a ratty chair for his clients. He didn't even have a secretary. The man himself didn't look much better than his office. He was heavyset, his suit was worn and faded, and his shirt was dingy. He needed a haircut, and his teeth were stained yellow from the cigars he smoked constantly. He crushed out the one he had been smoking when Jessica and Nicky came into the office. The ashtray was already overflowing, so the spent cigar fell to the floor beside the desk.

"Mrs. Starsky, I'm so glad you could make it on such short notice." He greeted Jessica with a cheeky smile.

"Well, I'm here now. What do you want?" Jessica was in no mood to be pleasant.

"Your soon to be ex-husband's attorney sent over his deposition and paperwork. It's pretty straight forward. His cross complaint is being filed on the grounds that you tricked him into marriage by telling him that you were pregnant with his child while in reality, he is not the father."

"Yeah, so?' Jessica said in a bored tone.

"I'm afraid that affects your case in a rather negative way."

"Cut to the chase…and use English…what does all that mean?"

"It means that under California law, since you married Mr. Starsky under fraudulent circumstances, you are prohibited from claiming any of the marital assets or any sort of spousal support. Furthermore, if you contest this action in any way, you can be charged with fraud."

"You're kidding. Right?" Nicky said with a snort.

"I'm afraid not."

"So you're basically telling me that I don't have a case at all!" Jessica snapped angrily. "I can't get anything!"

"I'm afraid not. That's the law. You can contest it, but in the end, Mr. Starsky would still win."

"Fuck you," Jessica snarled as she stood up "And fuck that bastard too!"

She stormed out of the office, leaving a stunned Nicky to follow her. He caught up with her at the curb.

"Looks like there's nothing we can do except head back to New York," he told her with a grunt. "It still could have worked if you had kept your mouth shut about that baby."

"Will you shut up about the damn baby? I wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you. In case you've forgotten, this was all your idea. You were so sure your brother would be such an easy patsy."

"And he would have been if you hadn't decided to be such a bitch instead of the nice sweet little wifey, until the kid was born at least."

"That didn't give you the right to haul your ass out here to check up on me! All you did was make things worse."

"You did that all by yourself, honey," Nicky said with a thin smile. "You sure as hell didn't need any help from me."

"Yeah, well the sooner I have this kid the better. Then I can sign the papers to get rid of it and forget any of this ever happened."