“Wait! I have that much in the company pension plan. With Dr. Patterson giving us some expense money, maybe we can still swing this.”
“It doesn’t matter, David. We don’t want to spoil the baby with a penthouse, anyway.”
“Well, I have some good news. Jesse is going to let me—”
“I know. I talked to Emily. We’re moving into Jesse’s offices.”
David said, “We?”
“You forget, you married a paralegal. Seriously, darling, I can be very helpful. I’ll work with you until”—she touched her stomach—”Jeffrey comes along, and then we’ll see.”
“Mrs. Singer, do you have any idea how much I love you?”
“No. But take your time. Dinner’s not for another hour.”
“An hour isn’t enough time,” David told her.
She put her arms around him and murmured, “Why don’t you get undressed, Tiger?”
“What?” He pulled back and looked at her, worried. “What about the—What does Dr. Bailey say?”
“The doctor says if you don’t get undressed in a hurry, I should attack you.”
David grinned. “His word’s good enough for me.”
The following morning, David moved into the back office of Jesse Quiller’s suite. It was a serviceable office, part of a five-office suite.
“We’ve expanded a little since you were here,” Jesse explained to David. “I’m sure you’ll find everything. The law library is next door; you’ve got faxes, computers, everything you need. If there’s anything you don’t see, just ask.”
“Thanks,” David said. “I—I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Jesse.”
Jesse smiled. “You’re going to pay me back. Remember?”
Sandra arrived a few minutes later. “I’m ready,” she said. “Where do we begin?”
“We begin by looking up every case we can find on multiple personality trials. There’s probably a ton of stuff on the Internet. We’ll try the California Criminal Law Observer, the Court TV site and some other criminal law links, and we’ll gather whatever useful information we can get from Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis. Next, we get hold of doctors who specialize in multiple personality problems, and we contact them as possible expert witnesses. We’ll need to interview them and see if we can use their testimony to strengthen our case. I’ll have to brush up on criminal court procedures and get ready for voir dire. We’ve also got to get a list of the district attorney’s witnesses and the witnesses’ statements. I want his whole discovery package.”
“And we have to send him ours. Are you going to call Ashley to the stand?”
David shook his head. “She’s much too fragile. The prosecution would tear her apart.” He looked up at Sandra. “This is going to be a hard one to win.”
Sandra smiled. “But you’re going to win it. I know you are.”
David put in a call to Harvey Udell, the accountant at Kincaid, Turner, Rose & Ripley.
“Harvey. David Singer.”
“Hello, David. I hear you’re leaving us for a little while.”
“Yes.”
“That’s an interesting case you’re taking on. The papers are full of it. What can I do for you?”
David said, “I have sixty thousand dollars in my pension plan there, Harvey. I wasn’t going to take it out this early, but Sandra and I just bought a penthouse, and I’m going to need the money for a down payment.”
“A penthouse. Well, congratulations.”
“Thanks. How soon can I get the money?”
There was a brief hesitation. “Can I get back to you?”
“Of course.” David gave him his telephone number.
“I’ll call you right back.”
“Thanks.”
Harvey Udell replaced the receiver and then picked up the telephone again. “Tell Mr. Kincaid I’d like to see him.”
Thirty minutes later he was in Joseph Kincaid’s office. “What is it, Harvey?”
“I got a call from David Singer, Mr. Kincaid. He’s bought a penthouse, and he needs the sixty thousand he has in his pension fund for a down payment. In my opinion, we’re not obligated to give him the money now. He’s on leave, and he’s not—”
“I wonder if he knows how expensive it is to maintain a penthouse?”
“Probably not. I’ll just tell him we can’t—”
“Give him the money.”
Harvey looked at him in surprise. “But we don’t have to—”
Kincaid leaned forward in his chair. “We’re going to help him dig a hole for himself, Harvey. Once he puts a down payment on that penthouse…we own him.”