Page 16 of Maddy's Justice

“Good question,” Marc said. He looked at Carvelli, pointed at the note he had given him and asked for it back. He wrote the information he had about Troy on it and gave it back to Tony.

“Have your buddy, Paul, run a check on just him, for now. We’ll very quietly surveille Stephanie and see if we need to on Troy also.”

Paul Baker, Tony’s buddy Marc referred to, was a world-class computer hacker. Carvelli found him through an FBI agent who had tracked Paul down on a case several years ago. That agent was now back in Washington, but still used Paul. Tony knew of at least a couple more FBI guys who did as well. Whatever there was to know about someone, Paul could dig it out of the Internet. He wasn’t cheap but he was discreet.

“Will do,” Carvelli said. “This firm, Stafford whatever, they have deep pockets?”

‘Oh, yeah,” Marc said. “For once we get to overbill a large firm instead of them doing the overbilling.”

Marc’s phone rang. Sandy was calling on a call for Marc. She apologized then told him who it was.

“Melanie, we were just talking about your firm,” Marc said.

“Have you heard the recording?” Melanie Stewart asked.

“Yeah. It’s not good.”

“How bad?” she asked.

“On a scale of one to ten, probably a twelve. He said exactly what is in the Complaint.”

“Can you keep it out?”

“Doubtful. I think our best shot is to go after its credibility. Make it sound like he was joking, and she enticed him into it.”

“Can you do it?”

“That’s a long way off, Melanie. We’ll see. I’m glad you called. I need a favor. Can you get me a list of everyone, women, and men, that are or were on Troy’s team? Including secretaries, lawyers, paralegals, research associates, any and all of them?”

“That’s going to be quite a list. He uses research associates all the time who only do so for a while. And legal assistants usually burn out after a couple years then move to a different position,” Melanie said.

“Okay, make those currently on his team, for now,” Marc said.

“Give me your email address. I’ll have it to you ASAP. Half an hour, okay?”

“Fine, good and thanks.”

When the call was finished Connie said, “We may need a list of every woman in the place down there.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Marc said.

“What’s a case like this worth if we lose?” Carvelli asked.

“A number with a lot of zeroes added to it,” Connie said.

“Depends,” Marc said. “It’s up to them to show damages. Not getting on the mass tort team because they wouldn’t put out for Troy McGovern could easily cost these women millions over the course of their careers. We’ll see.”

SIX

A wealthy enclave such as Palm Springs has so many private jets flying in and out that no one pays much attention to them. Once the auction was completed, the objects of it needed transportation.

The winners of the auction were given forty-eight hours to pick up their winnings. For each day they were late, a ten percent surcharge was added. So far, this had never happened. Apparently, the ultra-wealthy patrons of this business were always quite eager to claim their prizes.

More than half of each batch of girls––there were “specialty” auctions occasionally for young boys––would go long distances. Wealthy Arab oil sheikhs and Asian businessmen with government ties made up most of the bidders. Russian mafia and business oligarchs were another source.

The Arabs and the Asians typically used up the girls for their own peculiar pleasure. There was no depravity the human mind could not imagine that these men and women would not inflict on these––let’s call the girls what they will become––sex slaves.

Eventually the girls would be so badly abused, physically, and emotionally, their masters would become bored with them. Some of the masters, mostly the Europeans and Russians, when finished with them, would put the girls into brothels. Russian mob bosses would like to obtain at least some return on their investment. These girls would have to service as many as fifteen to twenty men each day. A majority of the girls would find a way to commit suicide. They were easily replaced by new ones in the never-ending pipeline.

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