Noah's Law (31 page)

‘Bernie dumped me this morning. We'd had plans to buy a house together, get married. I'd even had my leave approved for a holiday we were planning in June. But he dumped me! He said he was a new man now and he wanted to start fresh. I stuck with him as his bloody mistress when Maureen was alive and he used to sponge money off me
and
her.'

‘I'm sorry to hear that,' Casey said, not sounding sorry at all. ‘But what has this got to do with us?'

Annie opened her bag and took out a plastic wallet of documents.

‘Bernie staged this whole case with Maureen's boss, for the money.'

‘See!' I cried at Casey. ‘
Now
do you believe me?'

‘This is insane,' she said angrily.

‘So you never had any doubts about him?' I pressed. ‘Even after I told you I saw him with Rodney?'

‘Well, I doubted he was a genuinely grieving widower but to pull off something like that . . .'

‘Rodney was in on it,' Jacinta explained. ‘Don't you see? It must have been Rodney who made up all that evidence. He needed to lose so that Bernie would get paid and they'd share the payout.'

‘What proof do you have?' Casey asked Annie.

‘Emails between Bernie and Rodney. Look, here's one from Bernie to Rodney: “
I spoke to Legal Aid. The Compensation to Victims Act is the way to go. I'll find a lawyer who'll suck up the story. If you play your part right, admit the negligence from
the start, we can settle quickly and split the dough
.” '

Casey was speechless. Annie continued.

‘Here's another one: “
Her name's Casey Williams. She's apparently one of the top lawyers at this firm. And they're not too expensive. Word is she's tough. She'll bring you down (ha ha, that's what we want!). Anyway, the bitch had it coming. She's gone and no-one ever needs to find out about the workers' comp payments.”
'

‘Oh my God . . .' Casey's voice trailed off.

‘How did you get these emails?' I asked. ‘Are Rodney and Bernie stupid enough to just leave them saved in their inbox?'

‘I'm a legal secretary. I retrieve deleted emails all the time. They didn't
permanently
delete the emails. So I managed to find them. Anyway,' she said, turning to Casey, ‘I knew they were in on something together. And I know that puts me in a bad position. But now he's dumped me and I want my revenge.'

‘Why'd you call me though?' I asked.

‘Bernie had a fit this morning, right before he dumped me. He said that Rodney had told him someone had tipped off his lawyer about Claudia and that was why she'd been called to the stand. He was furious. Claudia's evidence could have damaged his case. Maureen had been threatening to leave Bernie before she died. Personally I was ecstatic that Maureen would finally be out of the picture.'

I noticed Jacinta flinch. As happy as I was that Annie was talking to us, I had zero respect for her. Not only had she been having an affair with a married man, that married man had been Bernie: a dog-ugly, sleazy, dirty scumbag. Annie looked pretty decent, if you ignored the massive mole sprouting hairs on her wrist. I wondered what the hell could have possessed her to fall for a grub like that?

Annie continued, forcing my attention from the mole (it was fascinating in a gruesome kind of way) to her face instead. ‘But Bernie was worried that Maureen would rat him out to the workers' comp insurer.'

‘Why would she do that?' Casey said, looking confused.

It was all I could do to stop from rolling my eyes. Casey noticed the look on my face. ‘I didn't represent him on his workers' comp claim,' she said defensively. ‘I suppose that was a big lie too? Oh don't be so smug about it,' she snapped at me.

‘All right,' I said, with a half-smile.

‘Bernie was exaggerating his injuries to claim ongoing workers' comp,' Jacinta explained.

‘And how do you know that?' Casey asked. Then she quickly raised a hand. ‘Actually, don't answer. I can only guess this was another instance of information being obtained through illicit and questionable means?'

‘You bet,' I said proudly. ‘You refused to listen to me. What choice did we have?'

Annie interrupted before Casey could reply. ‘Perhaps we could focus here? I haven't finished.'

Casey gestured at her to continue.

‘Bernie paid Claudia a visit. I went along. Bernie was acting more aggressive than I'd ever seen him. Her guy was there too. Barry or—'

‘Harry,' I corrected.

Casey's head turned. ‘And how—'

‘Don't bother,' Jacinta sang out.

‘Claudia and Harry were pretty shaken up. Webb, who worked with Maureen, had threatened Claudia to keep her mouth shut on the stand.'

‘No wonder she clammed up,' Casey said.

‘She had to,' Annie continued. ‘Anyway, Bernie accused Claudia and Harry of trying to sabotage his case. Harry said he felt he had no choice but to talk when the insurance investigator visited.'

‘Insurance investigator?' Casey repeated.

I bit my lip.

‘Bernie quizzed Harry about the insurance guy – what was his name, what did he look like, that stuff – and then something must have clicked. He suddenly started swearing. He went off his nut, yelling about a guy called—' She pointed to me and I grinned.

Casey let out a harsh laugh. ‘Why am I not surprised?'

‘Anyway, we left. He knew Claudia and Harry were too scared to say anything to anyone. They clearly wanted to put the whole thing behind them.' She locked eyes with me. ‘So that's how I found out about you. When Bernie broke up with me, I thought of you. You obviously had it in for him. Why else would you have gone to those lengths?'

‘You've got that right,' Jacinta said knowingly.

‘But I need to take a step back. You see, even before this morning, Bernie had been acting funny. Now I've read the emails I know that Webb was blackmailing him, calling him and sending him emails saying that he wanted a cut or he'd talk. I found emails from back before the trial started. Here, have a look.'

From: [email protected]

Cut me in 1/3 or your compo payment is going down the drain. I can ruin you.

From: [email protected]

Youre one stubborn guy. I'm being called to give evidence. I can forget all about my conversation with Maureen. It will be like it never happened. I can forget about the fact that your WorkSafe meeting minutes were bull. But I want in on it. 1/3 and no less. Ive got emails from Maureen to her sister that she left on the work computer. She was going to leave you. She was going to tell Workers Comp how you were rorting the system. And like I told you on the phone I KNOW A WHOLE LOT MORE!

‘This is nauseating,' Casey said.

‘Did Bernie ever respond?' I asked.

‘It doesn't look like it. Not by email anyway. But before the case started Bernie told me he was going to have to split the money three ways. He said he'd negotiated with a guy who could bring the case down and they agreed that if the guy forgot his evidence, and convinced Claudia to shut up too, Rodney and Bernie would cut him in.'

‘So Bernie bought Webb's silence?' Casey asked.

‘That's what Webb thought,' Annie said. ‘But now that Bernie has a huge compo award, he and Rodney have got greedy. They don't want to give Webb a cut.'

‘But can't Webb turn them in?' Jacinta asked.

‘I don't know what Bernie and Rodney have in mind. I don't know how they think they can avoid Webb. And that's it. All I know. Use it however you want. I hate that pig and I hope he rots in hell.'

‘Thank you,' Casey said. She turned to Jacinta and me and, with a sigh, asked us to tell her everything we knew.

‘Do we have blanket immunity for all we did?' I said with a grin.

‘Yes. I won't tell . . . if you won't tell, you know, about the fake meeting minutes we used in court.'

‘Deal,' I said.

And then she smiled and I realised she wasn't all gum and fangs, like I had thought.

Jacinta and I filled Casey in on all that had happened and she took notes. We had to break people's confidences: Claudia, Harry, the neighbour in Chatsbury who wanted nothing to do with what she'd heard in the car park. But Casey assured us that she would deal with them delicately and promised no harm would come to them.

‘Will I be in trouble?' Annie asked, when Casey finally put down her pen.

‘I'm sure we can work something out,' Casey said.

‘Will they all go to jail for this?'

Casey reached over for the wallet of papers. ‘I'll do everything I can to make sure they don't get away with it,' she said grimly. ‘If it's tough Bernie wants, that's what he'll get.'

Amit needed to be updated on all that had happened. Jacinta suggested we all have dinner that night and before I knew what I was doing I had invited them to my place.

Jacinta was sitting next to Nadine, Amit next to me. Dad had taken the day off as he was in between cases. On hearing that a girl was coming over he decided to cook up some traditional Egyptian food. Given that the law was his life, attempting to cook was just pointless. As I expected, he spent most of the time on the phone to Aunt Nirvine (I know because I was fixing up the files in her office that afternoon when he was calling, harassing her about recipes and ingredients).

The result was some okay-looking but terrible-tasting dishes which reminded me of Nonna's cooking (my grandmother was also a terrible cook; I think she prided herself on defying the stereotype of the ethnic matriarch).

I couldn't believe Jacinta was in my house. I'd taken Nadine and Mary aside and warned them that if they embarrassed me I'd ruin their lives forever. At first they thought I was joking. So I casually explained to Nadine that I'd personally see to it that the diary she kept wrapped in a floral pillowcase in her pyjamas drawer would be photocopied and distributed to her entire year level. As for Mary, I told her that the love poems she had written for Edward in the
Twilight
series would be emailed to everybody in Dad's email address book.

Their complete and utter cooperation was bought.

That left Dad.

I was killing myself with worry, wondering how he would behave at dinner. Would he break out into a history of the common law, starting with a recitation of the Magna Carta, knowing that Jacinta was an eager law student? I felt like chucking up just thinking of how badly it might go.

‘So, Jacinta, Noah tells me you're studying law. You've made the best choice.'

‘I think so, too, Mr Nabulsi.' Was she gushing? ‘Would you mind telling me about the day you were awarded the title of Queen's Counsel? How did it feel?'

There was no mistaking the rush of nervous energy at the table. Amit, Nadine, Mary and I looked at each other, terrified. We'd all heard the story countless time. If we had to go through it one more time, hearing about how Dad had experienced—

‘—the fourth most memorable day of my life,' he said, slowly putting down his fork and folding his hands together. ‘Nothing can surpass the birth of one's children, of course, but becoming a QC was the next best thing.'

Nadine, Mary and I were mouthing his speech. We'd heard it so many times any one of us could have recited it. Amit, who was the only one who appeared to be enjoying the overcooked
bamia
and stringy
mulukhiyah,
was able to distract us with the sound of his loud and enthusiastic chewing.

After dinner, Nadine and Mary generously offered to wash the dishes (I had them scared big time), and I took Amit and Jacinta to the rumpus room.

‘So what happened?' Amit asked.

It took us ages to explain it all. Of course, Amit's tendency to interrupt with random comments (‘Was Annie's mole a birthmark or a cancerous growth?') didn't exactly speed up the process.

‘I wonder what dirt Webb has on Bernie?' Amit said, when we'd finally finished.

‘Annie told us,' Jacinta said. ‘The compo rort and stuff.'

‘But didn't he say in one of those emails that he knows a whole lot more?'

‘Maybe he knows Bernie killed Maureen,' I said.

‘So you think he actually killed her?' Jacinta said, sitting up in her chair. ‘Because you said that pretty casually.'

‘Yep,' I said. ‘I've got zero doubt. He wanted her out of the picture.'

‘You know what? I reckon he did too,' Jacinta said. ‘It makes sense. Webb must have known about it.'

‘
That
doesn't make sense,' Amit said. ‘If Webb knew, and Bernie knew Webb knew, then I doubt Bernie would be stupid enough to piss Webb off. And going back on a deal to give him a third of the payout would piss Webb off
bad
, especially after he backed down in the witness box to save the case.'

‘Mmm . . .' I murmured. ‘You've got a point.'