"Well, don't you look happy," Grant said when he saw Penny enter the office Monday morning.
"Another perfect weekend in paradise," Penny sighed. "I can't believe how much I love that house and being there. I'm finally figuring out how to just relax when I'm there, something that you should consider doing more often."
"You're probably right," Grant conceded. "Fortunately, I was here working, getting a new client."
"Oh! Who? What's the case about?" Penny asked eagerly as Cindy showed up with two coffees.
"This should be an interesting case," Grant said.
"They've all been interesting," Penny laughed.
"This one involves Dwayne and Gladys Hill, 66 and 65 respectively," Grant explained. "They live in the Audubon suburb of New Orleans near Tulane University, where our client, Dwayne, retired a year and a half ago after teaching in the School of Public Health for 40 years. Gladys is a retired elementary school teacher. Gladys comes from old Louisiana oil money. She's conservatively worth some $6 billion which she inherited upon the deaths of her parents. The gist of the story, according to our client, is that Gladys wanted more excitement in their lives once they retired and encouraged an exploration of the swinging lifestyle."
"Oh, wow, at their age?" Penny laughed.
"Dwayne worships the ground that Gladys walks on and is incapable of refusing her anything, so he agreed," Grant continued. "Dwayne says that they had always had a dynamic sexual relationship, but that it had waned. Gladys apparently took to the swinging lifestyle like a duck to water, especially with other women. Dwayne was slower to fully get into it, but didn't want to disappoint Gladys' new-found enjoyment of life. At her encouragement, he experimented, including with other men, and found that he enjoyed it. When Gladys realized how much he was enjoying that aspect of their swinging, she became upset and asked for a divorce."
"But it was her idea?" Penny asked.
"So our client maintains," Grant replied. "He's not interested in a divorce and now thoroughly enjoys their new lifestyle and has no wish to return to the way things were prior to their entering the world of swinging. While Gladys maintains that their relationship is irretrievably broken, Dwayne says that it's never been better and insists upon receiving $500 million to agree to a divorce, his point being that he only agreed to the change in their lives at her insistence and that she's unfairly trying to punish him for enjoying himself."
"How do you see things going?" Penny asked.
"As ever, it's all about face and public humiliation," Grant replied. "They're very prominent in New Orleans' elite social society due to Gladys' family connections. Dwayne has fully embraced his new-found lifestyle and feels that he has nothing to lose if he is exposed at his age, while Gladys fears the humiliation and scandal that would accompany a public trial. I'd say that we're sitting in the cat bird's seat on this one."
"It sounds like fun," Penny said, smiling.
"It sounds lucrative," Grant laughed. "We've got our $10 million retainer and stand to get 10% of any settlement."
"It's funny, but I don't think about the money," Penny said. "I've already made more money than I ever imagined having, more than I could possibly spend in a dozen lifetimes. I'm enjoying the process, watching you work, and I get off on the salacious details of our clients' lives."
"That's a good thing, because we're going back to Philadelphia Wednesday to interview Mr. Gold," Grant said.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ron Winters," the slender Black man introduced himself as he rose to his feet when Grant and Penny were shown into an office when they arrived from the airport after their flight.
"Grant Studder, and my co-counsel, Penny Lane," he introduced as they shook hands.
"My client, Jeremy Gold," Ron introducing the tall, slightly overweight man with brown hair and hazel eyes wearing the uniform of a Philadelphia policeman.
"Mr. Gold," Grant said, shaking his hand. "Sorry that we're having to meet under such circumstances."
"You're not the only one," Jeremy replied, eyeing Penny, whose thick cherry nipples and breasts were clearly visible through her pale-blue blouse.
"My client is willing to answer your questions, though I reserve the right to tell him not to answer if I feel it necessary," Ron said as they all took seats.
"Fair enough," Grant said. "Mr. Gold, even though I represent your wife, my interest is in resolving the issues at hand in the best way possible for everyone concerned. I hope that you can believe that."
"That's easy enough," Jeremy said. "Have her withdraw the request for a divorce. It's not necessary. I've already apologized to her many times. It was an inadvertent lapse and I didn't really mean it."
"I believe you," Grant said. "Unfortunately, your wife has been deeply hurt by your words and she's a very determined woman."
"Stubborn, you mean," Jeremy said. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
"I'd like to hear your version of what led up to the unfortunate incident that has precipitated this legal action," Grant replied. "Obviously, I've heard how your wife sees things."
"Where should I start?" Jeremy asked.
"The beginning would be a good place," Grant replied. "If certain things are too painful for you to talk about, I'll understand."
"It's not as painful as it used to be," Jeremy said. "I don't have the nightmares very often anymore."
"That would be pertaining to the murder of the child?" Grant asked.
"Yes," Jeremy said. "It's still the most awful thing I've seen in my life and I've seen some pretty terrible stuff," Jeremy said with a sigh. "Philadelphia has an extremely evil aspect to it that most people don't realize who don't live here. I was pretty raw when it happened, a cop for less than a year. The barbarity of it all was too much for me to handle. I saw doctors and took all sorts of pills, but nothing really helped all that much. And then there was the problem with sex."
"The main thing that made me and Rose so great together was sex," Jeremy explained. "The rest of our lives were just a sideline around sex. When I couldn't, afterwards, it put a lot of strain on our relationship, at least from my perspective. I knew how important the sex was to her. It was to me, too, but not like it was for Rose. I'm no expert, but I always thought that she was a nymphomaniac, which she loved to hear. She was proud of it. I tried to make up for my inadequacies in other ways, orally, with toys and things, but nothing could replace a real cock."
"I was pretty desperate," Jeremy continued. "I was worried about losing Rose. So when Dr. Denholm suggested that we try having another man help, I was willing to try it, anything to avoid losing her. I asked my best friend, Frank Harris, if he'd be willing to help. I knew that he thought that Rose was sexy. He agreed and came home with me one night after our shift. I could tell that Rose was nervous and so was I. Frank was great, though. He treated her with respect, kissed her, played with her breasts, even ate her before he started fucking her."
"How did you feel about seeing that?" Grant asked.
"I had mixed feelings," Jeremy replied. "On the one hand, I hated seeing Rose with another man, but it was also exciting, seeing her reacting to him, watching him fucking her. When I realized that I had an erection, I couldn't believe it. It had been months since I'd had one. Rose insisted that I fuck her right away and I did, even with Frank watching. We were both pretty emotional about it, but it felt so good to be able to do it again."
"We tried again the next day and nothing," Jeremy continued. "I couldn't get an erection. We tried for a few days before we decided that we should try it with another man again. Rose admitted that she had enjoyed it and wouldn't mind, especially if it had the same effect on me again. So we did and it worked. I was able to have sex with her. So I started bringing different guys home with me once or twice a week. We decided that it would be better that way than having the same guy, making it into some kind of an affair."
"How did you feel about that?" Grant asked.
