Chapter
Nineteen
Howard and Ed walked into Owen’s office before he’d even finished his first cup of morning coffee. “What can I do for you two?” he asked.
Ed shut the door behind him, and the two men sat in the large chairs opposite Owen’s desk.
“Something is wrong with Lew,” Howard said.
Owen’s stomach clenched, but he showed no outward emotional reaction. “What do you mean?”
“He’s not himself,” Ed said. “I’ve known him for years, and he’s always so level, even under pressure. But lately he’ll bite your head off.”
Howard nodded. “He’s yelling at staff, stomping around the halls. The senior managers are starting to talk. Ed and I are doing the best we can to keep things in check, but we can only contain this for so long.”
“How have you not noticed?” Ed asked.
“I’ve been tied up so much on this case and other matters that I’ve been a hermit. Sorry I haven’t been more in tune with what’s going on.” Owen paused. “But that raises the ultimate question. Has anyone talked to him? Do we have any idea what’s up?”
Howard cleared his throat. “That’s why we’re here. We want to know if you know anything.”
Ed shifted in his seat. “Has Lew said anything to you? Anything at all?”
“No. We actually haven’t talked much lately.” Owen hoped he was being convincing, but he wasn’t sure. He hated lying to them, but right now there was no other way.
“Owen, if you know something, you owe it to us to tell us. You represent the company, not Lew individually,” Howard said.
“Believe me, I take my role as LCI’s general counsel very seriously. I always have the best interest of the company at the top of my mind. I’m not holding out on you guys.”
“Are you sure? Is Lew in some type of trouble?” Ed asked. “Is the company in trouble? Are there government investigations?”
“Why would your mind jump to government investigations?” Owen thought that was an odd leap.
Ed and Howard exchanged a look. “Because we’ve both worked at companies where the government started a criminal investigation, and one of the first things that happened was odd behavior among the senior leaders.”
Howard nodded. “This is your time to come clean. We can handle it. But we need to know the truth.”
Owen was in an impossible position. How could he tell them the truth when he wasn’t sure if one of them was a traitor? He would just have to try to push them off . . . for now. Buy some time. “I don’t know anything, but I’m more concerned with what you guys know that I don’t. What could we possibly be under investigation for?”
Ed and Howard exchanged another tense glance.
Owen began to worry that there was something else going on. “You guys need to start talking. Whatever it is, I need to know about it.”
“We don’t know of anything specific,” Howard said. “But Ed and I have been talking, and the paranoia took over.”
Owen took in a breath. “So you don’t have knowledge of any criminal wrongdoing at the company?”
“No,” both men said in unison.
Owen let out a breath in relief. “That’s good. Let me put your mind at ease. If there was an active government investigation, I would know about it. The government would’ve involved me as the lawyer for the company. Don’t let all of this get to you.”
“That still doesn’t explain Lew’s odd behavior,” Ed said.
“I’ll talk to him and see if I can get any insight into what is bothering him. Has it ever occurred to you that he’s just stressed out about this case and the workload? I know he’s a great guy, but he’s not perfect. Maybe you just need to cut him some slack.”
Howard scoffed. “No way. I’ve known Lew for almost twenty years and worked with him for half of that. Something is off. I’m telling you.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll go talk to him.” Owen stopped to gather his thoughts. “But I need the two of you to look me in the eyes and tell me again that you don’t know of anything else going on that I need to know about.”
“No,” Ed said. “That’s why we’re talking to you. We’re letting our imaginations run wild, and it’s making us go crazy.”
“Thanks for coming to me. Let me see what I can find out.”
“One more thing.” Howard stood. “If Lew is having a mental breakdown or something that impacts his ability to run LCI, we need to report it to the board and institute our succession plan.”
Now wasn’t that interesting. Because Owen knew that Howard would be the one to take over under the current LCI succession plan. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll talk to Lew today, and we’ll figure things out. I’ll keep you guys posted.”
Ed and Howard thanked him and then left him alone in his office.
This was worse than Owen could’ve expected. And now his suspicions of the two men were only greater. He needed to track Lew down right away.
It took some effort, but Ty had gotten Anna to agree to meet him for coffee in Midtown. He thought it best that he look her in the eyes as he tried to convince her to put on the brakes. The last thing he wanted was for the trial against David to commence.
He sat in the coffee shop, patiently waiting for her to arrive. He had already downed an espresso and was now on to a regular cup. It wasn’t much longer before the prosecutor arrived.
Today she wore a bright red top and black slacks. If she wasn’t the enemy right now, he might even consider her attractive. But he had bigger fish to fry. Much bigger.
“Hello, Ty.” She took a seat across from him.
“Don’t you want to grab some coffee?”
“You tell me. Is this going to be a short and pointless meeting?”
Her question made him smile. “I certainly hope not.”
She smiled too. “Then I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.” She stood and went to the counter to place her order.
He’d gone over strategy in his mind, including whether he was going to tell her about the demand he’d gotten in the mail. He wasn’t sure how she would take that, so he would have to feel her out.
A couple of minutes later, she rejoined him at the table with a steaming cup in hand. “All right. You have my attention.”
“I don’t know what all you’ve heard, but I think we have a situation on our hands.”
She blew on her coffee to try to cool it. “You’re being cryptic.”
“I’m hoping you know more than I do.” He wasn’t sure what Anna knew, but he was going to push as hard as he could to have this discussion. “I want to have a frank conversation with you.”
“You haven’t said anything yet.”
“I think there’s some information out there that will prove my client’s innocence. The problem is that I don’t have access to it at this point. But if things proceed as I think they will, this whole case is going to blow wide open, and we’re going to find out that David McDonald is completely blameless.”
“I need to know what you know first,” Anna said quietly.
“Did you hear about Mia Shaw’s brakes being intentionally tampered with? Or her being attacked in the park?”
Her neutral expression, showing no sign of surprise, told him that she had heard. “Yes. My contacts at APD characterize both incidents as active investigations, but from what I understand, they don’t have any solid leads on the culprit or culprits.”
“Did you talk to Mia about it?”
Anna tucked a dark curl behind her ear. “I did, and frankly she had a far-out conspiracy theory she tried to pitch me. I have the feeling that’s why you’re here too.”
This was going to be even more challenging than he had expected. “Anna, why are you so unwilling to consider that my client is innocent? I’m sure over your career you’ve had situations where you’ve changed your mind about whether your suspect was actually guilty of the charged crime, right?”
She didn’t immediately respond, just looked down at her coffee cup. “Yes, that has happened, but this situation isn’t like that. I really think Mia is struggling with Chase’s death, and that this is an emotional reaction. My job isn’t about emotion. Someone has to be level-headed here, and I take my job seriously. I understand why it would be to your and your client’s benefit to buy in to whatever Mia is peddling right now, but you have to understand that she may not be in the best frame of mind. She went from being a fierce advocate of this prosecution to trying to get me to put on the brakes. That kind of one-eighty greatly disturbs me, especially knowing everything she has gone through.”
“Okay, let’s play this out. If you’re right, then all well and good. But if you’re wrong, Anna, the stakes are incredibly high. If there’s some larger conspiracy at the root of why Chase was killed, don’t you want to know it? Explore that option and see where it takes you?”
“But what evidence of this larger conspiracy do you have? Because I sure don’t have any. Just the rampant speculation of the victim’s best friend.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. This next move could seriously backfire, but he felt he had no choice. “There is something else you need to know.”
Her dark eyes narrowed. “Go on.”
“I got a letter in the mail offering me half a million dollars if I withdrew from the case within forty-eight hours.”
“Are you joking?”
“Unfortunately not.”
She leaned forward in her seat. “You think this is all connected, then?”
“I do.”
“And I also take it that you’re not going to withdraw?”
“Of course not.”
“How do you know that the letter is even legitimate?”
“I’ve never gotten anything like this before. Given what else I believe could be going on, I think there’s a much deeper plot here that we haven’t even begun to grasp. And I’m saying all of this to you because I’m hoping that you will reconsider and allow for a continuance of the trial. Just until we get all of this stuff worked out. If you’re still right, it won’t matter. The outcome will be the same. Just a little delay. And David’s already locked up, so you shouldn’t have any concern about him being a threat to anyone.”
Anna bit her bottom lip. “I’ll think about it. But I’m not making you any promises. I still think this sounds farfetched.”
“I’m not asking for promises or commitments. Just that you’ll take a hard look at the big picture and consider my request.”
“That’s all I ask.” He just hoped she would come to the right conclusion.
Later that night, Owen arrived at Lew’s penthouse. He’d told the CEO they needed to talk in private, and Lew suggested he come over to his place.
Owen had thought long and hard that afternoon about how to handle the situation. He didn’t know whether Ed and Howard were overreacting, or worse, playing some type of game. He hadn’t even considered the possibility until this afternoon that Ed and Howard could both be involved. The thing was that they both could also be innocent.
When Lew opened the door for him, Owen knew immediately that something was off. Lew’s face was red, and Owen could smell the alcohol on his breath.
“Come in,” Lew said.
Owen followed him down the hallway and into a large living room. “Lew, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
“Everything is falling apart.” Lew sat in one of the large ivory chairs.
“What do you mean?” Owen asked.
Lew’s gaze darted around the room. “The traitor, the lawsuit, everything. All of it. I’ll lose my job and be a washed-up has-been.”
So maybe Ed and Howard hadn’t been exaggerating. Lew was clearly losing it, and right now Owen felt like Lew needed some tough love. “Lew, you need to get ahold of yourself. The only way all those awful things will happen is if you give up and roll over. You need to sober up, get with the program, and stop having a pity party.”
Lew stood and started pacing back and forth. “Have you talked to Mia today?”
“Not since first thing this morning. She called, but I haven’t had a chance to call her back yet.”
Lew stopped and looked at him. “Do you know why she was calling?”
“No.” Owen didn’t know where Lew was going with this.
“Well, let me tell you.” Lew sat back down and dropped his head into his hands.
This was much worse than Owen could have imagined. “I’m listening, Lew. Whatever it is, we’ll tackle it together.”
“I have to be deposed next week.”
Owen released the breath he was holding. “Lew, you’ve been deposed multiple times, and you’ve done just fine.”
“But not under these circumstances. What will I do when they ask about the missing documents? Say, ‘oh yeah, we figured out we have a mole who’s probably selling the company out to Baxter Global’?”
“It does present a unique challenge, but it’s something we can deal with.” Owen wasn’t quite sure yet how they would deal with it, but it didn’t warrant Lew’s behavior. “The guys told me that you’ve been acting out in the office, but that was before today. I think there’s more at play here than this deposition. People are starting to talk, and it’s not looking good for you right now.”
“My entire life is tied up with LCI. If it goes down, I go down. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this level. I can’t lose it.”
“If you keep acting this way, you’ll ensure that you do lose it. You have to pull it together. Face one problem at a time. You have a reputation for being one of the most level-headed CEOs in the business. Be that guy. Not the one sitting here right now. Not the one throwing little tantrums in front of the staff.”
“And if I fail?” Lew’s words came out as a whisper.
“Then at least you know that you gave it your all, and that you didn’t collapse. But if you keep going down the path you’re on right now, I guarantee that you’ll fail. You’ve spooked Howard and Ed, and I don’t think you want them running to the board and arguing that you’re unfit. That will kick off the succession plan, and I don’t have to tell you how that will end for you.”
“Is this your way of encouraging me? If so, it’s not working.”
“I’m being straight with you.” Lew needed to understand that Owen wasn’t blowing smoke. This was serious.
“I have to meet Mia for deposition prep tomorrow. Will you come?” Lew asked.
“Yes, I’ll clear my schedule.” He had to warn Mia. She probably didn’t realize that Lew had gone off the deep end.
“Good.” Lew stared off to the side, not making eye contact.
Owen was at a loss for what to say next. Was there anything left to do? He rose from his seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lew. Please take some time tonight to try to get your head right.”
Lew nodded.
As Owen left the penthouse, he felt like things were starting to slip away. This wasn’t going to end well.
The next day Mia waited for Owen and Lew to arrive at the firm. She’d gotten a strange call from Owen late last night warning her that Lew was on the brink of losing it. She’d had the sense when she spoke to Lew that he was feeling the pressure, but nothing as extreme as what Owen said he had experienced. An unstable Lew was the last thing she needed right now. It was just one more obstacle thrown in her way.
Her stomach clenched as she thought about how this could play out. Having the CEO deposed was already a huge deal and something they tried to avoid in litigation at all costs. But given the document debacle, she wasn’t surprised that the judge was willing to give Bonnie pretty much anything she asked for. Mia had no idea how they were going to have Lew answer truthfully and still not let slip the fact that they were worried about a mole. Hopefully Bonnie would ask questions in such a way that allowed Lew not to reveal that fact. Bonnie would have no reason to think of that line of questioning, since she had no idea the other ordeal they were facing even existed.
Instead, Bonnie would be more focused on a how the documents got destroyed in the first place, because she was convinced LCI intentionally wanted to get rid of damaging documents. The only good news was that Lew had absolutely nothing to do with any data corruption, and he could truthfully answer questions on that subject all day long.
Mia had her files in front of her and her laptop open to her prep outline. This was going to be unlike any prep session she’d done before. She had never defended a CEO deposition before, and the circumstances here meant she was up for a challenge. Her nerves were also amplified because Owen was going to be there, and no doubt he’d be judging her skills.
After a few more minutes, a receptionist brought Owen and Lew into the conference room. They exchanged pleasantries, and she offered them coffee before they took their seats.
She carefully examined Lew. He didn’t appear disheveled or distraught—just the opposite. Impeccably dressed in a tailored navy suit. Owen, on the other hand, was showing distinct signs of stress. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was a bit unruly today.
She hoped this meant that Lew was going to be able to pull it together. But today was the first test. Here goes nothing. . . .
“Lew, first I want to apologize for you having to be deposed. As you know, normally we would fight tooth and nail to stop a CEO-level deposition. But the judge isn’t sympathetic to us right now. In fact, he’s downright hostile to our position, given the fact that it looks like we might have purposely destroyed documents.”
“But we didn’t,” Lew interjected.
“Yes. Here’s the problem, though. Our best defense to the document issue is the mole, and I don’t think anyone wants to bring that up in a deposition setting. So we’ll just have to go with the fact that you didn’t have anything to do with it and knew absolutely nothing about it.”
Owen cleared his throat. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this. What if we pushed for an in-camera hearing with the judge? We explain what happened there.”
“That’s a good idea, but that would mean Bonnie would also know. Even if we got the judge to restrict what she could tell her client on that issue, it would still impact her litigation strategy, including her settlement number.”
“Do we really have that luxury right now, to make those types of choices?” Owen asked.
She doodled a note on her legal pad. “It all depends on what LCI’s appetite is for settlement.”
Lew took a sip of coffee. “It hasn’t changed unless the number goes down.”
“All right. Let’s take this one step at a time. Do the deposition. If it starts to go off the rails, I’ll tell Bonnie that we have to get the judge on the phone and have an in-camera discussion.”
“And you think she’ll go for that?” Owen asked.
“I won’t give her a choice. I won’t put Lew in a position where he has to perjure himself. That’s the absolute last thing we can allow to happen. Hopefully this is just a worst-case scenario and the deposition will be largely uneventful, but at least we have an escape plan if we need one.”
“Agreed,” Owen said. “Lew, you good?”
Lew nodded. “Have we gotten any closer to tracking down the mole through the forensic examination we’re doing?”
Mia knew that question was coming. “Unfortunately not. This guy was good—or whoever he hired to do it was good. Noah is hitting up against a lot of brick walls, but thankfully he is also as good as it gets on this stuff. If there’s any way to find the mole, he will. And he thinks he’ll be done vetting Ed and Howard within a couple of days. He’ll give us the full report on what he finds.”
“I talked to him last night,” Owen said. “No one else has popped up on his radar so far, and he’s been able to clear some of Ed and Howard’s direct reports. So that’s one silver lining.”
Lew ran a hand through his hair. “And if everyone turns up clean, then what?”
“Then we’re nowhere,” Mia said.
“Lew, there is one more thing,” Owen said. “I’d like full access going forward to everyone’s system. If there is a traitor, he might be doing things right now. We need visibility on that.”
“That’s highly intrusive,” Lew responded.
Owen nodded. “Yeah, but everyone knows that what they do on the company server is fair game for monitoring.”
“All right. Do it. But find me something. We’ve been spinning in circles for days with no progress.”
Lew’s frustration was building, and Mia feared things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. They were running out of time.