“Okay.” Mary straightened. “What we think happened is that about six months ago, we filed suit on behalf of London Technologies and the Complaint was drafted by John. John was an antitrust expert and he regarded himself that way. He let it be known generally. The clients liked Anne, but she had to fight the notion in the beginning that he was the brains in the case.”
Anne reddened. “True. Not to speak ill of John, because I never would. But he was definitely regarded as the MVP on the team. He was right, what he said. I was the pretty one, he was the smart one. He took the lead, and in the beginning, I let him.”
Mary could hear the guilt in Anne’s voice. “In any event, John drafted the initial discovery and signed and sent it himself, without Anne or Bennie’s signature. The defendants would have seen John as the prime mover in the litigation.”
Judy cleared her throat. “He drafted a beautifully written Complaint and he would be seen as a serious legal threat by any defendant.”
“Like Machiavelli,” Mary supplied, finishing her best friend’s thought.
Roger nodded. “I’m catching on. So Machiavelli owns Home Hacks, which is under threat by John Foxman. Is that your point, Mary?”
“Yes, bluntly put.” Mary felt her chest tighten, at the depravity of the scheme. “Machiavelli sees his company Home Hacks as being threatened by our client London Technologies, which is represented by MVP John Foxman. So what Machiavelli does is contact three kids that he probably put through law school—Michael Battle, Graham Madden, and Steve McManus. You recognize those names, of course.”
“The plaintiffs in the reverse-discrimination lawsuit.”
“Yes, and we have learned that they have worked for other businesses that Machiavelli owns around the country, before they went to law school. We posit that he puts them through law school, calls in a favor, and they apply with us and are rejected. The only one who gets an interview is Steve McManus, and he’s personable enough to get John Foxman talking. In other words, Machiavelli targets John and sends in McManus, who gets John to say that he feels out of place here, discriminated against because he’s a man.”
Roger lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t interrupt her.
“As we all know, John’s statements form the crux of the Complaint against us before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Machiavelli knows that as soon as the Complaint becomes public, John will be compromised and will either be fired or will quit. Either way, he will be off the London Technologies case, leaving it in the lurch at the worst possible time and us struggling to staff it. Which is exactly what happened.” Mary inhaled slowly, letting the words sink in, and their import. Roger looked grave, as did everyone around the table, and Judy looked heartbroken. “Bottom line, the reverse-discrimination lawsuit was manufactured by Machiavelli in order to eliminate John on London Technologies. And thereby save Home Hacks.”
“But can’t London Technologies hire another lawyer?”
“It’s doubtful, and they might have to abandon the suit. They couldn’t get representation before because Express Management Services and Home Hacks are big enough to spread their legal work around and conflict out the best firms from suing them.”
Roger frowned. “I abhor the use of litigation that way. It’s gamesmanship, not justice.”
“I agree,” Mary said, meaning it, though it was the least of Machiavelli’s crimes. “When John didn’t quit initially, Machiavelli tried other things to compromise him and the firm, like writing to the Human Relations Commission and telling them they better step it up. Or calling us murderers on TV and sending protesters to John’s funeral.”
“But with John gone, why did he need to do that?”
“Because he wanted us out of the case completely, by that point. He wanted us fired, so he sent the protesters to the funeral, provoking us, knowing that Sanjay and Jim would be there. Any client would have fired us, after that.” Mary braced herself. “What really matters the most is what this all means, and I think I have convinced everybody by now, that it was Machiavelli who killed John himself, or who had John killed.” Mary paused, making sure she didn’t continue speaking until Judy had absorbed the words’ emotional impact. “We’ve seen that Machiavelli has no limits to what he will do to accomplish his ends, and now that we know that his was much greater than getting revenge on us. It was to bring the reverse-discrimination suit, which was a smear to make us look bad, in order to get us fired on the much bigger fish, the antitrust litigation against at least one of his multimillion-dollar companies, if not two multimillion-dollar companies.”
Bennie turned to Roger, her expression grave. “I’m completely on board with Mary, now. I think Machiavelli is behind John’s murder, not a burglar or Shanahan. To me, this answers the question that was always lurking in the back of my mind, which is, why now? Why would Machiavelli come at us now? The answer has become clear, now that we discovered he’s an owner of Home Hacks, if not EXMS. It’s much stronger motivation than either of those, and in fact, his plan worked like a charm. We’ve been fired by London Technologies, and they are left with no choice, in practical terms, but to abandon the lawsuit against Home Hacks and EXMS, i.e., Machiavelli.”
Anne shook her head, sadly. “The lawsuit goes away, and now he’ll drive them out of business. His companies will continue to dominate the data integration market, gouging the dealers with no upper limit, now that there is no competition. Machiavelli has a major cash cow and he’ll do anything to protect it. To him, John was a casualty, like collateral damage in a war.”
Judy cleared her throat, clearly struggling to maintain emotional control. “And we’re going after him. We’re going to bring him to justice, for John.”
Roger leaned back in the chair, his frown deep. “Well, this is just terrible,” he said, his tone hushed. “This is much more than I ever thought would happen, when I agreed to represent you.”
“I bet,” Mary said, understanding. “We never thought we were in this situation, but we are, and we have to stand up for John. We’ve come up with a plan, and we need your help.”
“Absolutely. How can I help?”
“Our plan begins when you and I go into that interview tomorrow at the Human Relations Commission.”
Roger frowned slightly. “You want to talk about John’s murder at the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission?”
“No, it’s just the first stage of the plan. You’ll never guess what we’re going to do.”
“Yes, I do,” Roger said, resuming his dry tone. “You’ve learned there’s a bad-faith underpinning to the Complaint, so you want to saddle up and go into your interview, guns and documents blazing.” He gestured at the corporate registrations on the table. “You want to prove Machiavelli’s behind these three plaintiffs, rant and rave, pound the desk, and demand that the Commission drops the Complaint and then—”
“No,” Mary interrupted him. “That’s what you’d think we’d do, but you’re wrong. We have a new plan, as a team. This time, we are the Zen Master.”
Bennie nodded. “We don’t want Machiavelli to know that we’re onto him. So we came up with an unorthodox strategy, for us.”
Anne chimed in, “And we think it will bring Machiavelli to justice in the end.”
Judy smiled, for the first time. “Roger, remember, you can be a warrior, but a humble warrior.”
Roger smiled back, shifting forward. “Okay, lay it on me, ladies.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Mary had just finished filling Roger in on their plan when Lou appeared in the threshold of the conference room, wearing a grin that she knew meant he had good news. “Lou, what?” she asked, feeling her heart lift. “Do you have anything?”
“Hi, everybody, Roger, Isaac.” Lou entered the conference room, taking off his jacket and putting it around the back of his chair, then loosening his tie. “Daddy has brought home the bacon, kiddos. What’s that expression? It’s always darkest before the dawn?”
“Come on, give,” Bennie said, impatient.
Anne shifted forward in her seat. “Lou, don’t make us wait, not today.”