“What?”
“That’s not all they have. I saw Todd today. I talked with him at the country club, in his car.”
Mary felt her mouth drop open. “What? When? How?”
“At the end of the day. I know I shouldn’t’ve done it, I probably should’ve called you first.” Simon’s eyes turned pleading, his eyebrows sloped unhappily down. “But it just got to me. The lawsuit this morning, him making up those lies about me and the company suing me for two million. Maybe it was my breaking point.”
Mary’s throat went dry, but she didn’t interrupt him.
“I thought, things got too complicated, involving lawyers. He and I are old friends,wereold friends, and I thought that if we just talked to each other, we could hash it out man-to-man. I thought maybe we could settle it, since you or Bennie or whoever hadn’t been able to.”
Mary knew where he was coming from. Almost every client felt that a lawsuit could be settled if the lawyers just got out of the way, but it was rarely true. Once a lawsuit got filed, opposing sides invested in their side of the story. “So what happened?”
“Todd’s a creature of habit, and it’s Friday. Every Friday night in summer, Todd stops by the club. If it’s a nice day he leaves work early, plays nine holes, and has a drink. If it’s bad weather, like today, he has a drink with whoever’s at the bar.” Simon paused, running a tongue over parched lips. “So after we spoke this morning, I called him.”
“Tell me exactly what you said.” Mary pulled out her phone, scrolled to her notes app, and started a file.
“It wasn’t a long conversation. I said, ‘Todd, I got this lawsuit you filed against me for two million bucks and I think this is getting out of control. Let’s try and settle this face-to-face.’ He said, ‘I’ll give you ten minutes. Meet me at the club at five thirty. We’ll talk in the car.’”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Mary was always surprised at how terse men could be. She needed fifteen minutes to say hello. Plus hugging time.
“So I left the hospital, got to the club, and went around the back, where he parks.”
“You knew the club? You’re not a member, are you?”
“No, but I’ve been with him and I know the drill. You drive in and the clubhouse is on the right, then the tennis courts and the bag drop, but he always parks in the farthest spot in the lot. He doesn’t want anybody to mess up his Porsche.”
Mary typed away. “So you drove there and met with him?”
“Yes.”
“Was anybody else around?”
“No, not that I saw. It was raining like hell. Nobody was on the course or the driving range.”
Mary guessed the club had security cameras, and they would have recorded Simon’s car, including the license plate. “Okay, so then what happened? You got out of your car and got into his?”
“Yes.”
“Was he there waiting for you or did you have to wait for him?”
“He was waiting for me.”
“Was anybody else in his car?”
“No, he was completely alone and there were no witnesses, if that’s why you’re asking.” Simon frowned, turning nervous. “But I swear to you, he was alive when I left him. He was alive.”
“Okay, stay calm. Tell me the rest of the story.”
“So I got in his car, and I said, ‘Todd, what’s the deal? What is going on? You know I didn’t say those things about you, I would never run you down, and I get why you let me go, I know you’re trying to save the company money.’”
“What was your tone like? Were you angry with him?”
“I was, but I didn’t yell or anything. I was really trying tosettle this. I didn’t call him a liar. I was really trying to understand what happened.” Simon opened his palms in appeal. Maybe I talked forcefully, like now, but I didn’t raise my voice. I was trying to negotiate. I’m in sales, for God’s sake. I knew what I wanted out of the meeting. A settlement. Like any deal, I wanted to close it.”
“I understand,” Mary said, hearing the ring of truth in his words. She couldn’t understand how it had turned out so horribly wrong. “So how did he react?”
