Chapter 485 - 227: A Personal Request
Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill.
A black Lincoln sedan slowly passed through the gates of Saint Claude Manor.
Elias Wayne sat in the back seat, squirming restlessly.
He tugged at his hopelessly loose tie, lowered the window, and greedily inhaled the damp air from outside.
"This place smells so damn good," Wayne muttered. "It’s the smell of money. The kind of money that makes you jealous."
Leo sat beside him, staring out the window with a blank expression.
"When you see Saint Claude, try to talk as little as possible," Leo reminded him. "And especially, no swearing."
"Don’t worry, Mr. Mayor," Wayne said with a grin. "I’m always polite to rich people."
The car stopped in front of a glass conservatory next to the main building.
A butler was already waiting at the door.
Wearing white gloves, he opened the car door. His eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly upon seeing Wayne’s wrinkled, cheap suit and the stains on his leather shoes, but he said nothing, merely gesturing for them to enter.
The three of them walked into the conservatory.
The humid air of tropical plants, mingled with the faint fragrance of orchids, rushed to greet them.
Evelyn Saint Cloud stood in the center of the conservatory.
She was wearing an ivory silk blouse with the cuffs rolled up, holding a pair of delicate silver shears, and was in the middle of pruning a pot of moth orchids.
Evelyn didn’t turn around when she heard the footsteps.
SNIP.
She snipped off a slightly yellowed leaf.
"Leo, you’re five minutes late," Evelyn’s voice drifted over. "I thought you were more punctual."
"There was some traffic," Leo replied.
Evelyn set down the shears, took a hot towel from a nearby attendant, and carefully wiped her fingers before slowly turning around.
Her gaze passed over Leo and landed on Elias Wayne.
Wayne stood there, his hair a mess, reeking of the sour stench of a hangover.
Evelyn’s expression remained unchanged.
"This is your choice?"
Evelyn looked at Leo, her tone devoid of any emotion.
"I told you, you just had to ask. I could have gotten you anyone you wanted."
"You spent two whole days searching."
"And this is the gentleman you found?"
Evelyn’s gaze lingered on Wayne for a second.
"I hope this drunkard who just crawled out of a dumpster is worthy of your trust."
Wayne grinned. He wasn’t angered by Evelyn’s words; on the contrary, he had an air of devil-may-care roguishness.
"Ma’am."
Wayne took a step forward.
"Your orchids here are truly beautiful."
Wayne gestured to the flower stand behind Evelyn.
"They’re delicate, elegant, and every leaf is perfectly formed. But they have one fatal flaw."
"All you have to do is turn off the climate control, open up the roof, and let the cold wind blow in for one night."
"And they’ll die."
"Expensive lawyers are like these greenhouse orchids."
Wayne pulled a cigarette from his pocket and twirled it in his fingers.
"They know their manners, they know the rules. Inside the greenhouse, they’re invincible."
"But this time is different."
Wayne stared into Evelyn’s eyes.
"This isn’t some respectable commercial lawsuit you’re fighting. This is a bloody war."
"Your opponent is the entire health insurance consortium—behemoths that control trillions in assets."
"They’ll use every means at their disposal—legal and illegal, above board and under the table."
"Faced with that kind of storm, your orchid lawyers will have their backs broken before they even step into the ring."
Wayne slapped his own chest.
"But me."
"I’m a weed."
"I grew up in the cracks of the sidewalk. I survived next to sewer drains."
"I’m not afraid of the cold, of being stepped on, or of getting dirty."
"Just give me a crack, and I can push aside the stone that’s holding me down."
Evelyn turned to look at Leo.
"Is this your reason?" Evelyn asked.
Leo nodded.
He walked over to Wayne and brushed the dust from his shoulders.
"Evelyn, I’ve looked at the list of lawyers you recommended," Leo said.
"They are indeed excellent, with beautiful résumés. Harvard graduates, editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, former clerks for Supreme Court justices."
"If we were handling a corporate merger or a patent dispute, I would choose them without hesitation."
"But what we’re doing now is very different."
"We need to have Luigi, the man who shot and killed someone, stand in court and condemn the very system of this country."
"Those elite lawyers can’t do that."
"They’re too protective of their own reputations."
Leo’s voice grew heavy.
"They’d persuade Luigi to plead guilty, advise us to settle. They’d try to turn a big problem into a small one, and a small one into nothing at all."
"Because they still have to make a living in this circle. They don’t want to offend their corporate patrons at the insurance companies, and they don’t want to offend the big shots in Washington."
"The person we need is someone with their back against the wall."
Leo pointed at Wayne.
"People with their backs against the wall are either genuinely incompetent and cast aside by the world, or they’re so capable that the mediocre system fears them, and that’s why they’re trapped."
"Elias Wayne is the latter."
Leo looked at Evelyn, his stance firm.
"I know what we’re getting into, Evelyn. I know what kind of behemoth we’re facing, so I’m not joking around."
Leo gestured to Wayne.
"He’s just my style."
"This is exactly what we need."
Evelyn was silent for a moment, then said, "Leo, your tastes are getting stranger and stranger."
"But, it’s your choice."
She pressed a call bell on the table.
A few seconds later, the butler who had been waiting outside the door came in, carrying a silver tray with a document and a pen on it.
Evelyn picked up the pen, signed her name on the document, and then handed it to Wayne.
"The Saint Claude Charity Foundation will immediately establish a special aid fund for judicial justice."
"Upon receiving formal authorization from the client, Luigi Randall, we will retain Mr. Elias Wayne as the chief special legal counsel for the foundation, to act as the sole representative for Luigi Randall’s defense."
She turned and looked at the disheveled lawyer.
"Mr. Wayne."
"The budget is unlimited."
"Whatever you need for investigations, for hiring expert witnesses, for paying off informants, or even for those unsavory little tricks."
"You just have to ask, and a check will be in your hand."
Wayne let out a whistle.
He unceremoniously snatched the document from Evelyn’s hand and glanced at the authorization clauses.
"Generous," Wayne commented.
"I’ve never fought such a well-funded war in my life."
"Don’t celebrate too early."
Evelyn stared at him coldly.
"I’m not paying for your jokes. I’m paying for results."
Wayne folded the document and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
Then, he pulled a flask from his pocket, unscrewed the cap, and took a long swig.
"Don’t worry, ma’am."
Wayne wiped his mouth.
"This is what I do best."
Wayne turned and waved at Leo.
"Time to go, boss."
"Now that I’ve got the money, I need to go get some heavy artillery."
"See you in court."
Wayne strode out of the conservatory, his mud-caked leather shoes leaving a trail of dirty footprints on the marble floor.
Evelyn frowned as she looked at the footprints on the floor.
"Have someone clean the floor," she ordered the butler.
Then, she looked at Leo.
"This is all I can do."
"I’ve found you a lawyer and I’ve provided the money. The rest is your war to fight."
"I hope you win in the end."
Evelyn picked up her shears again and resumed pruning the orchid.
"Only if you win will my return be substantial enough. The future of all of Pennsylvania is the only thing that could justify such a high stake from me."
"But, Leo."
"You need to be clear about the difference between us."
Evelyn looked up.
"If you lose, to me, it’s just a failed investment."
"I’ll write it off as a bad debt on my financial statements. It’ll sting, but it won’t break my bones. The Saint Claude Family will still be the Saint Claude Family."
"But you."
"You will be beyond redemption, Mr. Mayor."
"Thank you for your concern."
Leo looked at her.
"I’m prepared for that."
"From the moment I decided to declare war on that massive healthcare system, I never planned on walking away with dry feet. Either I drown them, or I sink to the bottom. There is no third option."
Leo reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
He pulled out a folded document he had taken from Wayne. The paper was wrinkled and smelled faintly of cheap whiskey.
Lily Walker’s autopsy report.
He placed the report on the marble table, pushing it in front of Evelyn so that it rested on the pruned orchid stems and leaves.
"Since we’re in the same boat now, there’s something else I need to ask you."
"Use your connections and help me look into this."
Leo’s finger tapped on the name of the chief surgeon, his nail leaving a mark on the paper.
"I want to know everything about this hospital, this doctor, and the medical group behind them."
"Not the public financial statements, and not the books they cook to fool the IRS."
"I want the dirty secrets they keep locked in their safes. I want to know how many other children like Lily they’ve put on the operating table for experiments. I want to know where the samples taken from those unstitched wounds ended up."
Evelyn glanced at the report’s title, her eyebrows raised slightly.
She looked at Leo with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Is this also part of the deal?" Evelyn asked.
"Is this related to your grand mutual-aid health plan? Or is it to provide ammunition for that madman, Wayne?"
"No."
Leo shook his head.
"This isn’t about politics or profit."
"Consider it a personal request."