Foreclosure: A Novel (8 page)

David hid his surprise. “I’m glad to hear Justin’s still an honest man.”

Kirk belted out a hearty laugh while David greeted Alice, whose grip was twice as strong as Kirk’s. Ahead, Mackenzie was pecking Justin’s cheek and whispering something in his ear—perhaps telling him she hoped he’d enjoyed the severance package they paid to better everyone’s interests during these most difficult of times.

David finally got a good look at Justin when his old buddy shed Mackenzie and locked right hands with Alton. Surprisingly, Justin was a caricature of the man David expected to see today. He didn’t look relaxed, underworked, or oversexed. Instead, he slouched with the composure of an indentured servant who had just finished a tour of duty for a mercenary army. And not only had he sprouted a nascent double chin, but his lips were bloated and gray crescents hung below his eyes.

Alton rubbed Justin’s right trap while he spun him in David’s direction, as though he were getting ready to introduce him to his future bride. Instead, it was only the man whose bride Justin had stolen.

Justin and David flirted with eye contact. “How are you, old sport?” Justin asked.

“I’m great. And you look great too. You really do.”

“Well,” Kirk said, “you two kids can catch up later. What do you say we get some lunch?”

“That’s a fine idea,” Alton said. He stood back and let the others exit the conference room. As David approached, Alton patted him on the back and rubbed his shoulder with longer strokes than he’d given Justin. Alton clearly lived for these moments. David felt as though his flesh were eating itself.

Lunch began with talk of the mundane. Alton spun tales about his latest outings on the golf course, while Mackenzie provided perfectly timed color commentary. The two operated like a well-calibrated duo broadcasting on ESPN, and Kirk and Alice were eating up every minute of the variety hour. For all David could tell, Justin was too. David wondered whether Alton and Mackenzie worked so well together because they were sleeping together, or whether they were sleeping together because they worked so well together.

David had nothing to contribute to the entertainment. He knew he was really the one under the spotlight. But any time he found an opportunity to speak—like the mention of how the Marlins fared on opening day, what a Democrat in the White House would mean for big-bank litigation, or whether Bush should face charges for war crimes—the conversation had already changed topic before David could articulate something to say. And now, so much time had passed with him saying nothing that the only thing more awkward than his silence would be for him to finally start talking.

It soon became clear that Mackenzie was going to force David to participate. She looked him dead in the eyes and then changed the topic of conversation to Justin and how much they missed him at the firm.

Kirk ate that up, too. “We are very happy to have Justin onboard,” he proclaimed. David would have to know Kirk much better to opine whether his statement was sincere.

“We’re so pleased to hear that,” Mackenzie said.

“I guess we trained him well,” Alton added.

“Indeed you did. He’s a big asset to the bank.” Kirk smiled proudly.

David looked to his old buddy. “And I bet you don’t miss the billable hours either, do you?” A few seconds passed before David realized his question had deflated the room.

Justin feigned a smile. “Though I’m working just as hard as I did at the firm, I can’t say that I do.”

“The good news,” Kirk said, “is that Justin will be overseeing our portfolios in southwest Florida. We have dozens of loans in workout right now, and we anticipate at least half of them will be in litigation by the end of the year.”

“Well, that’s why we brought David.” Alton glanced at Mr. Of Counsel.

Kirk locked eyes with David. “I know I said it once, David, but Justin has the highest praise for your work. We are close to concluding that you are the right guy,
the
guy, to handle this litigation.”

David felt warmth on his brow, like the hot flashes he suffered when he’d drink red wine and stout on an empty stomach. The man whom two months ago David considered his best friend, and who subsequently stole the woman David thought he wanted to marry, now wanted to throw David enough work to make him the youngest equity partner at Hollis & Alderman.

“We have a lot to talk about,” Justin said to David.

“Look at you. Your own portfolio. How is she?” David asked.

Mackenzie grimaced. “I’m sure Justin’s portfolio is very diverse.” She offered Alice a
kids-will-be-kids
smile.

“She’s fine,” Justin said.

“When’d you see her last?” David asked.

“This morning.”

Mackenzie cleared her throat. She glanced around the table and leaned over to whisper. “If you’re going to talk about anything confidential, maybe you should go to Justin’s office.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Justin said. “I’m not hungry. Are you, David?”

As the door to Justin’s office closed, David realized that Justin’s new gig really was quite the demotion. Half the size of a junior associate’s at Hollis & Alderman, Justin’s office was a notch above a cubicle: one window that a malnourished prisoner couldn’t escape out of, and office furniture that could have been bought used at a dorm sale. And the look of dejection on Justin’s face screamed that he was working longer hours and feeling more stressed than he ever had in private practice. And he was probably making a fraction of the salary, on top of the higher cost of living in Miami.

“Nice office,” David said. He scanned the walls for photos of Lana.

“Let’s cut to the chase, David. There’s an elephant in the room bigger than either of our egos. And we both know her name.”

“You saw her this morning?”

“That’s right. At breakfast.”

“You met for breakfast?”

“In our dining room.”

“Like your collective dining room?”

Justin nodded. “We live together.” He gave David a moment to digest the news.

But David had known this was coming. He’d already searched the Miami-Dade County property records and learned what a great deal Justin had gotten on a condo short-sale a few months ago. The deed and mortgage were solely in his name, and Lana shared the address. “You picked a good time to buy.”

“Next year would have been perfect. But I had to play the cards I was dealt.”

“Don’t we all? She knows you’re seeing me today?”

Justin nodded.

“And she’s fine with that?”

“I don’t know about ‘fine,’ but she wants us to handle this like adults.”

“It okay then if I ask a few things?”

“Shoot.”

Two months ago, David would have barraged Justin with a frenzy of questions.
When was the first time you slept together? When was the first time you kissed? Does she call you tiger?
While his interest in the answers to these questions had significantly waned in recent months, his resentment toward Justin had not. “Are you treating her right?”

“You’d have to ask her.” Justin bit his upper lip, the way he always did when he needed to get something off his chest. “Is that all you want to know?”

“Unless you need to tell me more.”

“You remember when you and Terry were in that trial in West Palm?”

“A year ago?”

“That sounds about right. She called me one night crying. She asked if I could come over. I tried assuring her that you really cared for her.”

David glanced at Justin’s sturdy desktop and imagined how easy it would be to bash his head against it right now. “You know I did, though, don’t you?”

“I know you thought you did.”

“So that’s when it started?”

“That was when the invitation was made. It took me a while to, I guess you could say, consummate it.”

“Anything else you want to get off your chest?”

Justin lowered his head and took a deep breath. “I want to make it up to you. This portfolio I’m overseeing could be a big deal, man. A lot of work for you.”

“So what kind of work are we talking about?”

“High-end commercial developments. Shopping centers, condos, and town houses. We’ve got developers going belly-up along every coast in Florida. I’m responsible for all our lending from Hillsborough down to Gaspar County.” Justin pointed to the rows of papers on his desk.

David scanned the stacks of documents. As if illuminated from a light above, the words
Pinnacle Homes & Investments
summoned his attention to the nearest pile. “How close to litigation are you?”

“Pretty close. With the biggest, we’re negotiating forbearance agreements that we’re never going to sign.”

“Make them think you want to settle. Then surprise them with a lawsuit?”

Justin grinned. “Something like that.”

David took another look at what appeared to be one of Frank’s mortgage loans. What he wouldn’t give to pick it up and run and never look back. “Can you give me any names?”

“Is this conversation privileged?”

“You haven’t hired me yet, have you?”

“Let’s just say some high-dollar players, names you’ve seen in the business journal.” Justin crossed his arms like a man wielding power. “Look, I want to make this right. We’re talking enough work to make you partner. Lana’s onboard too.”

“You’ve talked to Lana about this?”

“Like I said, she wants us to be adults about this.”

Justin’s phone rang. “Justin Baxter,” he answered. “Can this wait?”

It obviously couldn’t, because Justin hung up and told David he’d only be gone a few minutes.

“Sure thing, buddy.”

The instant Justin’s door closed behind him, David picked up Frank’s contract and found a pile of email correspondence below it. Knowing that what he was reading was too good to be true, and too much information to commit to memory, he pulled out his BlackBerry and readied the camera.

In the office lobby, everyone bid their farewells. While Alton thanked Kirk for the opportunity to tell the bank more about the firm’s services, Mackenzie gave Justin one more delicious peck on the cheek. Alice, in turn, kissed Mackenzie on the cheek, which initially surprised Mackenzie, until her face started to glow with the warmth of being trusted and loved. She kissed Alice back. Then she turned and watched David, as though he were about to perform a high dive at the Olympics.

Now it was David and Justin’s turn to say good-bye. Justin took the lead. “It was good to see you, old sport.”

“Likewise,” David said.

“I hope we can talk more about the portfolio we discussed today.”

“I’m sure we will.” David extended his hand to his old friend, but Justin passed on it for a bear hug. David let him hug away. He glanced over Justin’s shoulder at Mackenzie, who was still studying his every move.

A few minutes later, David rode the elevator down with Alton and Mackenzie.

“Overall, a promising day,” Alton said.

Mackenzie nodded to David. “So, what did you learn about Justin’s portfolio?”

David thought for a moment, hiding a smirk. “It could turn on him any minute.”

“You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” Katherine reclined behind her desk and threw David a seductive glare.

David shrugged and wiped his brow.

“And you seem like such a nice boy.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” He moseyed over to her desk and picked up her snow globe. He shook it and stared as the fake snowflakes settled. “It’s empty.”

She took it away from him. “Looks can be deceiving.”

He shrugged. “I’m supposed to meet Frank.”

“I know.” She stood and straightened out her khaki skirt. “And you’re fifteen minutes early.”

“So what? I just wanted to say hi.”

“How sweet,” she said. Whatever playful feelings she’d had for him at the Hilton had apparently worn off along with whatever pill she was popping. “You’re meeting upstairs in the main office.”

She led him up a few flights of stairs, explaining along the way that she didn’t like to take the elevator unless she had to walk more than three flights. Grunting his way up the stairs, David noticed that she had the toned calves to prove it. David felt a hearty sweat breaking as the morning grew humid, just a foretaste of mean old summer around the corner. David had lived here long enough to realize he would never adjust to the year-round humidity of southwest Florida. Three flights of stairs in a wool suit didn’t help.

A moment later, she showed him into Frank’s office. An oversized space facing the Gulf, it was furnished only with a black marble desk, three ergonomic chairs, an empty steel bookcase, and a twelve-foot stuffed marlin hanging on the wall. The floor was smooth polished concrete.

“Is he still moving in?” David said.

“This is how he likes it.”

David stared at the marlin. “He likes to fish?”

“
Like
isn’t the right word. Oh, and just so you know, I put my money on you today.”

“What’s the bet?”

“Robbie was taking bets you’d screw the pooch, as he put it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

She grinned. “I like to gamble.” She closed the door, and the office somehow grew in size.

David took a seat facing Frank’s desk and started skimming over the escrow agreement, related emails, receipts, and Robbie’s “research.” It felt like a waste, though, because he knew everything he needed to know. Plus he couldn’t keep his eyes off the trophy on the wall. He stood again and rubbed his fingers along the marlin’s spine, imagining it fighting for its life.

“She’s a beauty.” Frank had entered without making a sound.

David didn’t look away from the trophy. “A blue marlin?”

“Caught it off Bimini in 2000. You fish?”

David paused. He had to be careful here. He had been on a few commercial fishing outings but never actually caught a fish. “I like to when I can find the time.”

“Sometimes you have to make the time.”

David turned to Frank. “Hemingway wrote about this fish.”

Frank shrugged. “I’d never waste time reading about catching a fish. I’d rather catch a real one.”

“Hemingway didn’t just write about fishing. He fished too.”

“Yes, but have you?” Frank checked his watch. “Are you ready?”