Chapter 7: The Line He Should Not Have Crossed
Her name was Patrice.
Diane told me that on Friday morning, sitting across from me at my own kitchen table for the first time — not on the phone, but in person, with a folder open between us.
"She's been with the assessor's office for eleven years," Diane said.
"Clean record.
No complaints.
She filed the ethics report on her own initiative because she believed it was the right thing to do."
"And Gary's attorney called her directly."
"Called her personal cell phone," Diane said.
"Which she had never given to Gary or his company.
Which means someone looked it up."
I looked at the folder.
"What did he say to her?"
"He told her that the complaint was based on a misreading of the records.
He told her that pursuing it further could reflect poorly on her professional judgment.
He used the phrase 'career-limiting mistake.'"
The kitchen was very quiet.
"She recorded it," Diane said.
I looked up.
"She recorded the call," Diane said again.
"She had a feeling.
She's been doing this long enough to recognize what that kind of call is.
She started recording thirty seconds in."
She slid a single page across the table.
It was a transcript.
I read it slowly.
The attorney's words were careful.
Technically, nothing he said was an explicit threat.
But the shape of it was unmistakable.
The implication was clear.
Back down, or this gets harder for you.
"This is witness intimidation," I said.
"That's what Patrice's own attorney is calling it," Diane said.
"She retained one yesterday afternoon.
She's filing a separate complaint today — not with the ethics board.
With the county district attorney's office."
I set the transcript down.
"Gary authorized that call," I said.
It wasn't a question.
"His attorney doesn't make moves like that without client direction," Diane said.
"That's not how it works."
I thought about Gary standing on my porch, telling me that what his attorney said about Tom's estate was out of line.
Telling me it came from the attorney, not from him.
I thought about how easily that had sounded like sincerity.
"What happens now?" I said.
"Now it's significantly larger than a county ethics complaint," Diane said.
"The DA's office will open an inquiry.
They'll want the call recording.
They'll want the contribution records.
They'll want the permit history." She paused.
"And they'll want to know who else may have been contacted."
"Are there others?"
"Patrice thinks so.
She's been talking to colleagues.
There's at least one other person who received a similar call after a different complaint, two years ago.
That one was never formally reported."
I stood up and walked to the window.
The pool restoration crew had dropped off equipment the day before.
It sat covered in the backyard, waiting for Monday.
"Diane," I said.
"I want to be clear about something.
I didn't set out to do this.
I wanted my pool restored.
That was all."
"I know," she said.
"But I'm not going to pretend I don't know what I know."
"I know that too," she said.
"That's why I came in person."
She closed the folder.
"There's one more thing," she said.
"Gary called me directly this morning.
Not his attorney.
Gary himself."
I turned from the window.
"He wants to meet with you," Diane said.
"Without attorneys.
Without Katherine.
Just the two of you."
"Why?"
She looked at me steadily.
"He said he wants to tell you something before it comes out another way."
May you like
The equipment in the backyard sat still under its covering.
"Set it up," I said.
