Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“I think it is.” I shrugged. “I’m going to pause now and go back to my earlier question about how you came to use Marcus Pratt as your appraiser. Might it have been a recommendation from your builder?”
“I don’t remember.”
I walked back to counsel’s table one last time. “Your Honor, I’d like to move to admit an application that Mrs. Ellington made for a bank loan a few months ago. This would be for the purchase of the co-op she recently acquired in the West Village.”
Opposing counsel thumbed through his papers and stood. “I object, Your Honor. We have not been given this evidence during pretrial exchange.”
I nodded. “Counsel is correct, Your Honor. But we are not offering the application as evidence of the merits. We’re introducing it solely to impeach the witness’s testimony, as it directly contradicts the statements made moments ago on the stand.”
The judge waved his hand. “Let me see what we’re talking about here.”
I handed the paper to the judge, and he sighed. “I’ll allow it. For impeachment purposes only.”
“Thank you, Your Honor.”
Mrs. Ellington glowered at her attorney, who could do nothing but sit back down while I took the paper from the judge and walked it over to the witness box. “Can you please tell me what you wrote on line twelve of the mortgage application? This is the line that lists your assets. Please read me the number written right next to the words Bahamas House.”
She looked down and then back up with a mask on her face. “One million, five hundred thousand dollars.”
“And you signed that application, correct?”
“Yes.”
I strolled back and picked up the asset list, so I had one in each hand. “Which valuation is correct, Mrs. Ellington? Is it one-point-five million or four hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”
“I…I must’ve made a typo on the mortgage application.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “A typo.” I looked over at the judge. “Your Honor, I have one more item I’d like to admit today. It’s also for impeachment purposes. The evidence also goes to the credibility of the witness’s statements today.”
He again motioned for me to pass it to him. I watched as he slipped an eight-by-ten glossy from the envelope. His brows jumped. “I’ll allow it.”
“Thank you.” Taking the envelope back, I walked it over to Mrs. Ellington and removed the photo of her and a man having sex on the back deck of her massive house in the Bahamas. “Mrs. Ellington, can you please tell me the name of the man you’re with in this photo?”
She shut her eyes and took a big, deep breath before answering. “Marcus Pratt.”
***
“Oh my God. That was so much fun today!” I sat at the bar next to Cassie and raised a glass of wine. “I’m so glad you were able to come see Nina Ellington finally get hers. That woman was such a bitch to you when she came in for her deposition.”
Cassie nodded. “She was. Sorry I had to run back to the office before it ended. But I think I got to see the good parts.” She sipped her wine. “I bet Mr. Ellington was happy you came back to handle his case. He couldn’t stand Sierra.”
“He was. Before he left, he mentioned that his buddy, Garrett Lange, needed an attorney, and I would be hearing from him.”
“Garrett Lange, the actor?”
I nodded and sipped my wine.
“Oh my God, Allegra. That’s amazing. That kind of high-profile client could mean a lot of referrals.”
I frowned and sighed. “I know.”
“You are going to come back, right? I know you like the Italian stallion, but this is huge.”
“I think I more than like Matteo, Cass.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re in love with him?”
I nodded. “I didn’t even notice it was happening at first. There was just this strong pull toward him. And then, all of a sudden, he was my gravity.”
Cass put her hand over her heart. “I’m so happy for you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. He lives four thousand miles away.”
“Would he consider moving here?”
I shrugged. “He said he would. But he has an amazing life in Italy. He has a vineyard that took him years to cultivate, a family that often spends Sunday afternoons drinking wine and talking over each other in the most beautiful way—not to mention a hundred handmade wool hats.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Handmade hats?”
“It’s a long story.” I smiled sadly. “But it wouldn’t be fair of me to ask him to move. Tuscany is his home in a way that’s more than just where he lives. It’s a beautiful life.”
“I saw the look on your face when you walked out of that courtroom today, Allegra. You love your work. I looked into what it would take for you to get your license in Italy after we talked last time. It’s not simple like moving to another state. You could practice there by filling out some paperwork, but you’d only be able to advise people on U.S. law, and since most people who live in Italy are probably married there, I don’t think that would work for your area of practice. Otherwise, you’d have to take an exam in Italian that covers Italian law with things like civil, criminal, con law—it basically sounded like another bar exam, so you’d have to not only teach yourself all of that, but you’d need to be fluent enough in Italian to take the test.”