The Greatest Lie Part 12

But when I opened my eyes, the flowers were still in glorious bloom, reminding me of poor Alec’s unrequited passion. Poor baby, I thought, as I drifted back to sleep, warmed by Tran’s exquisite and toasty-warm flesh pressed against mine.

After experiencing the luxury of Alec’s bathroom, I hated the shower in my Hennepin apartment. It rattled and spit in sporadic, rusty spasms, and alternated between icy and scalding with the flushes of my neighbors' toilets. The curtain was stiff with age, the tub was gray with wear, and the tile was lined with spider-web cracks and brown grout. I recalled enviously the hot, luxurious waterfall in Alec’s condo. God, I thought, I’ve got to get out of this shithole.

It was still early, but I called. I got his machine. I purred a message. "I got the flowers. That was really sweet. But if you really want to apologize, you’ll have to do it in person. Bye."

Tran is not a morning person. She began to grumble dreamily, and I jumped on top of her and roused her from her reverie.

"No, just another minute, please Alexandra."

"Up! Now!" I straddled her and shook her shoulders roughly.

She grimaced and whimpered, "Leave me alone."

"You can’t sleep. We have to meet with Mark Whitman about your priest lawsuit. It’s our Plan B for getting enough money for our operations."

My friend Mark Whitman was, as usual, in his tiny law review editor’s office at the law school. Under his strict supervision, a couple of second year students in Epstein’s clinical law class had researched the Minnesota District Court system for cases of sexual abuse by clergy. Their search had tracked down Tran’s old priest, Father Tom.

Mark said "His name is Thomas Roarke. He’s a defendant in a case that’s already pending in the Ramsey County District Court. We sent a demand letter to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, but so far all they’ve done is hire the biggest law firm in the Twin Cities, and demand that Tran appear in Court at a hearing. I checked the Court calendar for more on the hearing. The hearing is to be on a motion to sever, or split up all the claims that have been filed against the Archdiocese for Roarke’s misdeeds."