Foreclosure: A Novel (10 page)

“It was a good result for the client,” David said.

“What kind of case?” Steve asked while he struggled to pull his bag off the cart.

“A foreclosure,” David said. “A two-million-dollar home on the Gulf.”

Alton set his ball on the tee and squared up to drive. “We’re starting to see more signs of foreclosure in the commercial market. Many developments across Florida aren’t even getting off the ground. That’s where you find real opportunities for investors. Cheap dirt.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Steve said, still trying to decide on a club.

Alton took a few more practice swings. Steve sighed and mumbled something about the heat and humidity, while Dan watched Alton, no doubt admiring his Zen-like swing-and-stretch routine.

“Let’s get it on,” Alton said. He teed up, pulled back the driver with a perfect twist, and turned into a textbook drive. The instant the ball left the tee, it was clear it was a beaut. It sailed along the fairway, slightly hooking to the right and landing just short of the green.

“Nice shot,” Dan said. “Really nice shot.”

Alton grinned. “Indeed.”

It was Dan’s turn to tee up. “We saw your bio on the web, David,” Dan said as he balanced his ball on the white peg. “And that you went to Rutgers. Curious what brought you to Florida from Jersey.”

David gestured toward the clear blue sky overhead. “Where else can you get weather like this in February?”

“Fair enough,” Dan said. He swung and his ball sailed at a much lower trajectory than Alton’s had, but somehow rolled to a stop a few feet short of Alton’s.

“Bullshit,” Steve said.

“What’s that?” David asked.

“Sunshine my ass. What really brought you down here? A girl?”

David teed up his ball. “Not quite,” he said. Without taking a practice swing, he rushed into a drive that sent the ball ten feet past Alton’s, right on the green.

“Good grief!” Dan shouted. “How’d you do that?”

“That’s our David,” Alton remarked. “It’s not pretty, but he sure knows how to knock the cover off a golf ball.”

David smiled, knowing that was as much of a compliment as he was going to get out of Alton Holloway.

Steve squinted at David. “So if you didn’t come down here for a girl, was it for a guy?”

Just as David was about to tell Steve where to put his driver, Dan scolded his partner like an angry mother. “Steve, why don’t you take your turn now?”

Steve grunted as he bent over to lay his ball on the tee. No sooner had he stood up than the ball fell off the tee. Alton nodded for David to help, but Steve quickly reached over to grab the ball. A quick fart escaped on his way up. David covered his mouth when he got a quick mental flash of what this guy must look like naked. It was all he could do not to laugh.

Steve finally teed it back up and squared his shoulders for the drive. He twisted his hips a few times, his skin glistening like raw bacon warming under the sun. Then he stepped away from the tee, as if he were waiting for something—another fart perhaps, David presumed. Then he returned, and just as he was about to try again, he closed his eyes for a moment.

Without further warning, a heavy gush of vomit, clear as water, spouted from his mouth like a garden fountain over the green. It was followed by a second wave of milky gravy that knocked Steve’s ball off the tee. Steve coughed, spewing a few more ounces from his mouth. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“Good grief, Steve,” Dan cried.

David let out a roar of laughter. Alton looked in every direction with terror, making sure no one else was watching.

“Are you all right?” Alton asked. He could barely be heard over David’s guffawing.

“Not really,” Steve said.

Alton glared at David. David finally got the point and closed his mouth, thinking of anything else he could imagine that might quell his laughter. But his mind did him no favors, instead producing an image of Alton’s bald ass in Mackenzie’s office. He giggled.

“I’ll play off his ball,” Steve said and nodded at David.

“That’s fine,” Alton said, still glaring at David. “Let’s get moving.”

David returned to his cart and slid his driver back into the bag. He turned to find Alton standing over his shoulder.

“Thank heavens no one was waiting to tee up,” Alton said.

David agreed, unsure why Alton hadn’t moved on yet.

“Clean that up, please,” Alton whispered.

“Clean what up?” David asked.

Alton nodded toward the tee.

“You can’t be serious. His puke?”

“We have a reputation to protect, David. The sooner you learn that, the better.”

“It’s your reputation, Alton.”

“My reputation is yours. At least until you grow a pair. And don’t forget that.” And with that, Alton trotted back to his cart to entertain Dan Chase.

David pulled a hand towel from his bag and paced along the tee. He surveyed the ground, but couldn’t find any evidence of Steve’s chuck. He noticed Alton was parked in the fairway watching him, waiting for him to do the deed. David stared down at a patch of the glistening green, the only trace of upchuck.

“Don’t do it,” Steve whispered. “Don’t you do it, pansy.”

David threw the towel on the ground and moved it along the grass with his foot.

“Ah shit,” Steve moaned. “You did it. You really cleaned up my barf.”

David picked the towel up with his putter, steadied it over to the trashcan, and threw it away. He returned to the cart, weighed down by embarrassment and disgust.

“What the hell is your problem?” David asked, putting the cart in drive.

“Don’t talk to me,” Steve said. “I don’t care what your job is, you can’t let people walk all over you.”

“I’m working my way up.”

Steve shook his head, gripping the cart handle. “Don’t tell me about working your way up. I started investing in grade school. I was investigated by the SEC before I graduated from high school. They passed regulations on account of trades I made before I’d been laid. Your boss just told you to clean up my puke, and you did it.”

David bit his lip, gripped the wheel.

“So let me guess,” Steve continued. “Your old man didn’t give you enough attention growing up? Kids make fun of you because you grew up in some slum in Jersey? I know your type. You became a lawyer because you saw it as an easy way to make something of yourself. You’re a dime a dozen, buddy. And it shows.”

David looked ahead, saw a nice patch of hills.

“But truth be told,” Steve said, “guys like you can be a good hire.” He made sure David was listening. “Because you’re so damned desperate, which we just saw back there. Come to think of it, we might be able to work something out after all.”

David looked straight ahead, but noticed Steve was staring at him now.

“So here’s the deal. It’s no secret that I’ve been lonely lately since my wife left me. I figure we can help each other out. You come back to my hotel tonight and take care of me, do a good job, and I’ll give you all the work you can handle.”

David slammed the brakes. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“What are you, some kind of homophobe?”

“No, I’m not. But I don’t do that sort of thing.”

“For crying out loud, you’ve been bending over for that Holloway asshole all morning. What I just proposed is no less degrading.”

David floored the gas toward the next tee. He took an unnecessary quick right turn and slammed the brakes. As the cart veered in a circle, skidding along the dewy grass, David jabbed his right elbow into Steve’s face and felt his nose pop.

Steve screamed and fell off the cart. He hit the grass with a soft thud.

David parked the cart, jumped out, and feigned concern.

Alton and Dan quickly followed.

“What the hell happened?” Alton asked.

“He fell,” David said. “Right on his face.”

“That son of a bitch hit me!” Steve cupped his hand over a bloodied nose.

Dan looked to Alton, confused if not dubious.

Alton looked to David, angry if not ready to kill.

“I’ll call for a medic,” David finally said.

Alton’s brooding glare suggested David might have underestimated the ramifications of what had happened on the links yesterday. He’d been in Alton’s office ten minutes now, during which time Alton hadn’t made a sound other than an occasional bout of heavy breathing. Instead, Alton just stared in David’s general direction, as though he were waiting for something to happen—something that only Alton knew about.

David stood to call his bluff. Alton cocked his head and waved for him to sit.

“He solicited me for sex, Alton.”

“So get him a hooker. That’s part of business.”

There was no use in explaining. David sighed and sat.

“Have you heard of my three-strikes rule?” Alton asked, as if an afterthought.

David thought for a moment. It did ring a bell. “I have not.”

“That’s probably because you’re not a partner. It’s a rule I have for my partners. It’s a pretty simple rule. You can screw up, and I mean really screw up, three times.”

“So what happened yesterday—”

“That’s a screw-up, David. Really big.”

“That’s strike one, right?”

“The thing is, you see, if an associate did what you did yesterday, it’s not a strike. It’s a pop-up. You’re out. Pack your bags.”

David sensed way too much pleasure in Alton’s tone and delivery. “I don’t think I hit the ball, Alton. Maybe it was just a foul?”

“It would be a pretty bad foul.” Alton sighed. “Just when Mackenzie and I were so proud of your performance with Meridian Bank, you had to go and do this.”

David stared back at the managing partner, the man he used to fear more than God himself. “Are you done, Alton? Because I need to get a few things off my chest.”

Alton’s eyelids shuddered impatiently. “About what?”

“Actually, about Meridian Bank.”

“Speak already. I have clients to bill.”

David relaxed in the chair and crossed his arms. “Let me back up, then. Last week I pitched some work to Pinnacle Homes & Investments. I learned they would need counsel, so I pursued the opportunity.”

“That’s Frank O’Reilly’s company? He probably wasn’t paying his bills. From what I hear, he’s a royal asshole. I believe he’s expelled at the club.”

As if David needed another reason to like Frank. “Actually, it wasn’t a payment issue. It was an asshole issue. But I can deal with that.”

“Well, if it wasn’t a payment issue then, it would be by the end of the year. You should devote your efforts to more worthwhile causes, David. Developers will be the death of us all.”

“Well, he’s a loan servicer too. His company sold a bunch of loans that they still service for the investor.”

Alton tilted his head back, causing his eyes to roll up toward the heavens. “We’ll have to run this through conflicts and seriously vet this decision. But I must say, I don’t see that as something the firm will approve. And I’m still not finished talking about Steve—”

“I thought you might say that. In which case, if we’re going to be vetting decisions, it’s time we get everything out in the open.”

Alton sighed and checked the clock, probably late for a tryst with Mackenzie.

“Conflicts could be an issue on this one,” David said.

“Don’t tell me he’s adverse to a firm client. Talk about taking one step forward and two steps back.”

“It’s not an existing firm client. More like a potential client.”

Alton shook his head indignantly
.
“Who the hell is it already?”

“Meridian Bank of Miami.”

“What about them?”

“They hold a mortgage against Gaspar Towers. The loan’s in default.”

Alton smiled for a moment, as though he were waiting for the punch line. Then his mouth slowly opened, releasing a puzzled, nervous laugh. “You can’t be serious. You thought you’d just stroll into my office and tell me that you’d like to work for some slimy real estate mogul? And not only that, but at the expense of our opportunity with Meridian Bank?”

David nodded. “Essentially, yes.”

“And you drop this on me when I was about to fire you five minutes ago! Were you dropped on your head as a child? Were you malnourished in an orphanage? Meridian can feed us—cripes, David, it can feed you—hundreds of hours of work for years to come. It could be your ticket.”

“This is my decision, Alton, and I need you to respect it.”

“Your decision? And why on earth should I do that?”

“Because I grew a pair.”

“You grew a pair? Of what?”

David stood and closed the door.

Alton pointed a shaking finger at David. “Show me your balls, young man, and I’ll pack your office myself.”

David took his seat again. “I’m not showing you
my
balls, Alton.” He raised his BlackBerry screen to Alton. “But take a look at these.”

Alton gasped at the photo.

“Recognize those balls?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m much serious.” David scrolled through the BlackBerry. “How do you like this picture? It’s a lot less blurry. And you can definitely see more of your face.”

“I thought I’d seen it all. But to be blackmailed by one of my own associates.”

“Of counsel, Alton. You made me of counsel.”

“Give me that.” Alton reached for the BlackBerry. “Give it to me right now.” He rushed David and wrestled him for the BlackBerry. David clasped it with both hands and curled his body up around it.

“You’ll never get it, Alton.”

“Watch me, you little piece of pumpkin rind.”

Alton tried twisting and turning David’s arms and fingers to get to the BlackBerry, but David blocked his every move. He knew Alton was buff, but he was still surprised by his brute strength.

“You’re wasting your time, old man. I made copies. Lots of copies. This is the digital age!”

Alton wailed with frustration. He fell into David and knocked him off the chair. The instant they hit the ground together, the door to Alton’s office swung open.

David looked up to see Mackenzie’s legs.

She winced. “What’s going on here?”

Alton pushed off the floor and wobbled to gain his balance. “You don’t want to know, Mackenzie. Just go back to your office. I’ll come see you when we’re finished.”