Breach Of Promise

Someone in the audience clapped and said “Attaboy.” Riesner leaned down, whispering urgently to Mike.

Milne looked at Mike, looked at the audience. Then he slowly stood up from the bench, leaning forward. Nina had never seen him lose his temper.

“So you’ll do whatever you want with it?” he said to Mike very deliberately, as if intentionally goading him further.

“You’re damn right I will,” Mike said, rising out of his chair.

Riesner pushed him down and this time, though still in the grip of a combative frenzy, Mike finally seemed to comprehend that he had made a grave error.

“I want to apologize for Mr. Markov,” Riesner began, but Milne cut him off.

“You’re going to get that receiver, Mr. Markov,” Milne said. “The receiver will assure that no business assets are sold or transferred until further order of the Court. The receiver will perform an accounting of every dime you take in and pay out. Do you hear that, sir?”

“Your Honor, please-this isn’t fair-we request-” Riesner pleaded desperately.

“Is that clear, Mr. Markov,” Milne asked, without bothering with a question mark.

“Very clear,” Riesner replied.

“So ruled. Court is adjourned until two-forty-five.” Again, the courtroom rose. His robe billowing behind him like a kite tail, Milne disappeared behind his partition.

A dozen conversations burst out. Riesner sat down. He and Mike Markov looked at each other. Nina grabbed Lindy and said, “Not a word until we’re outside.” Lindy nodded. The reporters rushed forward and Deputy Kimura motioned his head toward the door by the jury box that led to a private hall and a way out past the clerk’s office. Nina and Lindy ran for the door, pursued by at least a dozen people, and once they made it through, the deputy closed the door behind them.

They waited in the hallway visiting with the clerks, then jogged out to the parking lot without interference and got into Nina’s Bronco. As they began to drive away, they noticed a commotion on the south side of the lot right near the exit lane.

“What’s all that shouting?” Lindy said. “Oh, no! Look!”

Nina craned her neck and saw cars had stopped exiting. All of the television cameras were pointed at one spot, where two men in suits stood facing each other. “It’s Mike and Harry, Rachel’s ex-boyfriend,” Lindy said.

Mike Markov stood absolutely still in a clearing between trees, while Harry yelled into his face.

“Harry looked mad in court today,” Lindy said, lowering her window. “What a waste. He must still have feelings for Rachel.”

Nina could see Rachel in the crowd that had formed around the two men, looking inconspicuous but engrossed.

“You dumb thug,” Harry said to Mike in a voice loaded with contempt. They could hear each word clearly.

“Harry,” Mike said, “why don’t you shut the fuck up? This is no place to argue.”

“Poor Mike,” Lindy said. “He’ll never understand guys like Harry. To Harry, any camera is an invitation.”

“You and your goddamned money,” Harry said. “You think you’ve got it made. You think you can buy her!”

Mike was silent, although Nina and Lindy could observe the heat of his emotions in the redness of the muscles in his neck.

“How much are you giving her, Mike? A million? More? How much are you promising her to play house with you for one whole year? Does she get a bonus for sticking it out for two? Isn’t that the way rich old farts do it these days with pretty young things? Buy them?”

“You’re making a mistake, Harry.”

“No, you’re making the mistake. Because, Mike, she loves me. Your money’s not going to affect that in the long run. She’ll come back to me after she’s grown up a little and realizes what she’s gotten herself into. But you’ll never get it until she leaves, will you? Because you’re old, and you’re vain, and you’ve had way too many slugs to the brain to see how it really is.”

So fast his arm almost blurred, Mike threw a punch, but before it reached Harry, two uniformed policemen grabbed him. They pulled him back and escorted him away. On the patio in front of the courthouse, they stopped and sat him down on a bench. One took a position in front of him, arms folded, mouth moving. Nina could imagine the lecture he was giving.

“Doesn’t look like they’re going to arrest anyone,” Lindy said with relief.

Another policeman escorted Harry to his bright-yellow car. A few seconds later he flew by Nina and Lindy looking as pretty as the quick, colorful, visual splash of a billboard advertisement.

“What was that all about?” Nina asked.

“Rachel. They were fighting over Rachel. She’s the focus now.”

“Harry’s just lucky Mike didn’t land a punch on that faultless jaw of his,” Nina said.

“That wouldn’t help his modeling career,” Lindy said, rallying.

“Doesn’t he work at Markov Enterprises?”

“Not anymore. He was my assistant in marketing, but Mike fired him recently. I guess he found out about Harry and Rachel, how close they used to be.”

“Didn’t you say he modeled for your new ad campaign?”

“Yes. He didn’t start as a model with us but it’s hard not to notice Harry’s looks. One night a few years back, Mike and I brainstormed a way to cut some corners. We started using posed photos of Harry in all our print media. Well, business really picked up. Other businesses saw him and liked him, too. Now, he’s really in demand. We finished some ads with him for television right before Mike fired him.” Lindy looked in the side mirror. “Let’s go. Oh, boy. Here come the television trucks,” she said.

“Hold on.” Nina pulled into the street and took off down Al Tahoe, watching the rear window. They zigzagged through the shopping center and out another entrance.

“A stimulating day,” Lindy said.

“Yes. More than usually dramatic, even in court,” said Nina, noting with satisfaction that no one seemed to be following them. Her mind slipped back to the earlier events of the day. Markov and Milne had both lost it. And if she hadn’t been thinking about sloppy emotions, she might not have focused in on the anger that had circled like a storm in there, and now that she came to think about it, always did orbit the courtroom. But nobody considered anger sloppy, because anger was so very masculine.

“They do get emotional,” said Lindy, “don’t they?”

Nina laughed. For the next few blocks, they listened to the radio, while Nina ruminated and Lindy leaned tiredly back against her seat.

“Nobody won in there today,” she said, breaking the silence. “I lost my home, and he’s losing control of the business.”

“That’s true.”

“Seeing Mike blow up in court shocked me. No wonder he almost broke Harry’s face afterward. He’s like a stranger, with just glimpses of the old Mike peeking through once in a while. A receiver’s going to drive him nuts. He’s very hands-on.”

“Your interests will be protected,” Nina said. “It was the right thing to do.”

“Maybe legally. But suddenly, this is not about Mike and Lindy anymore,” she said sadly. “It all comes down to money.”

Nina didn’t have a response, so she concentrated on her driving.

“Nina?” said Lindy.

“Yes?”

“Do I really only have two days to move out?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Then, will you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Stop by tomorrow. There’s something I’d like to show you.”