The Beach House

Montrose sat down, and I wondered if we would ever get him to speak again.

Macklin tapped his gavel on the plywood platform below his chair.

"This court," he said, "will recess for ninety minutes to allow the prosecution and defense to ready their cases. I suggest you both get busy."

Chapter 88

FOURTEEN MINUTES INTO THE RECESS, ABC interrupted its coverage of the L.A. Open from Riviera Country Club and cut to Peter Je

"ABC News has just learned," said Je

As Je

Within minutes, the anchors, or substitute anchors, for both CBS (the siege of long island) and NBC (hostages in the hamptons) had tightened their ties and joined the fray. Like Je

ABC's first remote was an interview with Sergeant Tommy Harrison in the parking lot behind the East Hampton police station. "Jack and Macklin Mullen," said Harrison, "are well-known, longtime residents of Montauk who seemed to have acted out of frustration about the outcome of an inquest into Peter Mullen's death last summer."

"Does either have a criminal record?" asked the reporter.

"You don't get it," said Harrison. "Except for one minor incident that Jack Mullen was involved in after his brother died, neither has ever been arrested. Not even a speeding ticket."

ABC then cut to the Justice Department in Washington for a live briefing that had just begun with a spokesman. "…of the hostages seized in Long Island last night. The five who have thus far been identified are Barry and Campion Neubauer, Tom and Stella Fitzharding, who own a home in Southampton, and William Montrose, a prominent New York attorney."

When the spokesman looked up from his notes, he was peppered with discordant queries: "Why were the hostages taken?" "Why can't you track the source of the broadcast?" "What do you know about the kidnappers?" He made just one more short statement, then brought the briefing to a close: "The abductors are employing a scrambling device that so far has prevented us from pinpointing the source of the broadcast. To say any more at this point would be counter to our efforts to resolve this situation as quickly as possible."

Then ABC cut away again to the offices of Cha

"The injunction is blatantly unconstitutional," said Epstein. "Monday I'm going to have it thrown out of court. Unless something happened last night that no one's told me about, we still live in a democracy."

"To summarize what we know so far," said Je

Chapter 89

"THE PEOPLE'S COURT OF MONTAUK," said Macklin in a calm and assured voice, "obliged to nothing but the truth, and having zero tolerance for bullshit, is called to order."

Then he brought down his gavel with a resounding smack.

My grandfather and I acknowledged the sweet significance of the moment by exchanging a quick glance before I called Tricia Powell to the stand. I think she understood the significance of appearing on TV, but maybe not what was about to happen to her. Once she had been sworn in, I began.

"Ms. Powell, I understand you arrived at this season's party in style."

"I guess you mean my new Mercedes."

"It's been quite a turn of events, hasn't it? One summer you're an executive assistant at Mayflower. The next you're stepping out of a forty-five-thousand-dollar sedan."

"I've had a good year," said Tricia Powell with some indignation. "In February I was promoted to director of special events."

"Forgive me for prying, but what were you making last year?".

"Thirty-nine thousand."

"And now?"

"Ninety," she said proudly.

"So, months after you lied at the inquest about seeing my brother dive out into deadly cold waves at Neubauer's party, you're promoted and your salary more than doubles. Perjury served you better than a Harvard MBA."

"Your Honor," barked Montrose.

"Sustained," said Macklin. "Knock it off, Jack."

"Excuse me. Months after you testified that you saw my brother dive into fifty-degree water in the middle of his shift parking cars, your salary increased by fifty-one thousand dollars. Is there anything other than your testimony that made you so much more valuable to your employer?"

"There is, but you wouldn't want to hear about it," said Powell. "After all, it doesn't fit in with your conspiracy theory."

"Please, Ms. Powell. Give me a chance. The court wants to hear your version of things."

"I worked fifty- and sixty-hour weeks. There was no way I was going to stay an assistant for long."

"I believe that's correct," I said, opening the manila folder I held in my hand.

"Ms. Powell, I'm showing you what has been marked People's Exhibit A." I handed her the document.

"Do you recognize it?"

"Yes."

"What do you recognize it to be?"

"That's my six-month evaluation at Mayflower Enterprises. How did you get it?" she demanded.

"That's not relevant just now," I said. "Do you recognize the signature on the bottom of the last page?" I asked, pointing to her signature.

"It's mine."

"Your Honor," I said, looking up at Mack, "at this time, the People offer People's Exhibit A in evidence."

Mack turned to Montrose. "Any objection?"

"I object to these entire proceedings," said Montrose.

"Overruled," snapped Mack. "People's Exhibit A is admitted. Go ahead, Jack."

"I'm going to skip right past the opening section that documents the days you managed to be late or sick, and read from the section titled 'Conclusion – Next Steps.' I think it should give us all a fair idea of the impression you were making on your employer before my brother died.

"Asked to rate your performance from zero to ten in attitude, effort, and overall competence, your three supervisors gave you no score higher than a six," I said. "Here is the final paragraph: 'Ms. Powell has been given a written warning. If her work doesn't improve dramatically in the next few months, she will be terminated.' "

"Well, I guess I made a dramatic improvement," said Tricia Powell.