Duel With the Devil, Chapter 20 of The Greatest Liar

“Call my lawyer, Phil Lake. Make your pitch to him, and I’ll consider it after I’m done sorting these dead birds.”

I hand signaled the commander of the Thai soldiers guarding the bird mortuary where the terrified, and now impoverished Thai farmers, had earned their last baht from their slaughtered flocks. I sealed the freezer-full of the sickest chicken carcasses with Biohazard Tape and the villagers loaded it into the back of a Humvee, tagged for delivery to Lugano, Switzerland.

I texted Phil.

“Got a call from the New York DA. There’s stormy weather ahead.”

Grand Jury


Mom believed the vaccine sceptics, and needlessly died in the Omicron. She didn’t have a will, but I was her sole survivor, so I hired Phil to sort out the probate mess.

Phil was practicing law from the extra bedroom of his Brentwood condo, blocks from my childhood home. The last vestiges of the suburban neighborhood of my childhood had been overtaken by the forces of densification and development.

The clutch of homeless junkies I’d befriended long ago had multiplied a hundred-fold. Their tents jammed the sidewalks and spilled onto the street along San Vicente Boulevard next to the VA. Guarded by wary security guards, the stores and restaurants that hadn’t been shuttered by the pandemic closures were packed, and the traffic had intensified.

“One great thing about the pandemic, it got me out of the office. Never realized how much I hated commuting, paper files, and the jerks in Human Resources, always bitching about my demeanor.”

Phil handed me a cappuccino and pushed the button to make another.

“I accepted service of the New York DA’s subpoena. He wants some documents , bank records, emails, copies of the NDAs and he wants you, live and in person, in New York.”

“But the tabloid press will out as a trans, and after the public inquisition, the transphobes in His Majesty’s mob will burn me at the stake.”

“It’s not quite that bad. Grand jury testimony is secret. It’s you, the jurors, the lawyer and a court reporter: the Fallen King’s lawyer’s and even I don’t get to watch the show.”