SHE STILL FELT run down and tired when she returned to work and Ruth told her that the appointment list was running almost two years ahead.
‘God, Ruth! There must be some way to fix it.’
‘What do you want me to do? Write and tell all those good people to fuck off, is it! If you want me to start booking for four and five years’ time I will, but you’d better book yourself in for the long stay, cos you’ll be here till kingdom come, and you still won’t have seen a quarter of them.’
‘I don’t believe it!’
‘Believe!’ insisted Evie, standing at the door. ‘I brought up some more of your mail that was left in my shop by accident.’ She dumped about thirty letters on the table. Martha looked up: Evie seemed peeved, annoyed.
‘What is it, Evie?’
‘Martha, I don’t mean to complain but I just never imagined so many people hanging around the shop all day. Some buy, but most don’t and they’re crowding out my own customers.’
Martha apologized, knowing how good her friend was to put up with the constant stream of traffic through her shop and up and down the stairs.
‘Maybe upstairs here is too small. I don’t know, maybe you need to get a bigger place, closer to the city,’ said Evie.
‘That’s what I’ve been saying to her,’ agreed Ruth.
Martha noticed the hurt on her friends’ faces. Reluctantly she told them about Glenn Harris and what he intended. Evie backed her up, saying that they would just ride it out till good sense prevailed.
Dan had been to Boston twice in the past month and a half, taking the legal threat very seriously. He arranged to meet with herself and her brother Jack in his office.
‘What can Glenn Harris do?’ asked Jack. ‘His son committed suicide! It’s a tragedy, but Martha wasn’t there. Wasn’t near him at all. He hasn’t a leg to stand on, as far as I can see.’
‘Martha may not be guilty, but it could create a huge amount of bad publicity for your sister. The Armstrongs’ joining suit is very damaging.’
‘This is serious, Jack, I’m being charged with something I didn’t do,’ Martha protested.
‘Listen, Martha,’ advised Dan, ‘I think you need to employ one of the best in the business. I’ve never met this Harris man but Bob Forrester told me last night that he’s a tough cookie, used to getting his way. I hope you don’t mind but I contacted one of the top law firms here in the city and the head partner James Coady has agreed to advise us.’
Martha felt shaky even thinking about getting involved in a legal challenge. ‘What do you think I should do, Jack?’ Her eyes flew to her brother.
‘I think Dan’s right and that you need to protect and defend yourself and your reputation. Those parents both sought you out, wanting you to help their kids. It’s not your fault that either of them died.’
‘Then we’re agreed,’ nodded Dan. ‘I’m busy early tomorrow morning but I’ve already booked a provisional appointment with James for midday.’
Martha felt sick as she rode the glass elevator to the fortieth floor to the Coady Hill Bennet law firm. The secretary showed them straight in to James Coady’s sunshine-filled office. Tall and rangy, Coady immediately shook hands with them all and Martha sat down. Dan passed him a copy of the original letter and outlined the situation. Putting on his reading glasses he studied it briefly as he listened.
‘I’ve already spoken to the law firm concerned,’ Coady said. ‘And the partner there feels that Mr Harris, while wounded and distraught over the death of his son, is determined to seek out answers and apportion blame, if that’s what you’d like to call it. I believe he is also suing the Rehabilitation Institute in New Haven, where Josh stayed up to his untimely death, and its director.’
‘So he’s like a sleeping bear who’s just got stung by a wasp and wants to attack something or someone.’
‘Yes, Dan, that’s a good comparison, but a crazed bear can be a dangerous enemy,’ warned Coady.
Martha spent over an hour telling her lawyer of how Glenn Harris had first approached her: how he had called and sent invitations and eventually pushed his way into her office.
‘He loved his son very much,’ she whispered. ‘That’s why he wanted me to work with him and try healing. He knew his son was in a very bad state.’
The so-called casual lunch meeting, the number of times she saw Josh, his failure to turn up for his appointments and his mother Wendy’s plea for her to come visit Josh at home were all noted as James Coady meticulously recorded and checked everything she said.
‘I want to be sure to have my facts straight.’ He smiled, before asking her to tell him about the Armstrongs and Cass. Martha recalled the first meeting, when Beth had approached her in the hospital canteen.
She was exhausted when she finished, hoping that she hadn’t forgotten anything. James Coady thanked her, promising to be in touch once he checked a few details. Politely he escorted the three of them to the elevator. Dan had business meetings for the rest of the day but Jack insisted on driving her home. Martha refused his offer of lunch as she couldn’t face eating with the thought of the accusations that were being made against her.
Nobody knew the how or the why of it but somehow the press had got hold of the story of the threatened legal action. Martha was shocked to find a journalist sitting on her doorstep when she got home. Jack dealt with him and phoned Evie and Dan to warn them.
The next few days were horrendous as Glenn Harris, the grieving father, gave copious interviews about the death of his son, claiming that Joshua had been let down by those who were supposed to help him and had been driven to take his own life. Beth Armstrong recounted the last few months of her daughter’s life, blaming Martha for the fact that Cass was at home instead of in the hospital where she belonged.
Crucified by the media, Martha wanted to just curl up and die, the support of her family and her friends the only thing that kept her sane. Now the papers were implying there had been financial irregularities in the running of her ‘Miracle Tour’ and that she and her associates had amassed a small fortune along the way.