Steinopoly

Court

Court

News broadcasters across the globe were covering the same story that had gone viral:

International retail giant, Hillstrong Holdings, admitted it is unable to release financial statements due to accounting irregularities, confirming recent market rumours about the furniture retailer.

The statement has sent shock-waves through international stock markets, causing the share price of Hillstrong Holdings to drop more than 5% in a matter of hours. The price continues to drop as investors fear for the loss of their life savings. Banks have instituted urgent legal proceedings to prevent any drastic disposals by the conglomerate, while loans worth billions of Rands may be defaulted upon because of the drop in the share price. Many lenders have accepted Hillstrong shares as security for loans.

This is undoubtedly heading towards being South Africa’s largest corporate crash in history. Economic and market commentators have compared this event to the US Enron scandal.

This news, along with the resignation of the Chief Executive Officer, Wikus Louw, led to a joint overnight search and seizure operation, headed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Commercial Crimes Division. The offices of Hillstrong Holdings as well as the home of Wikus Louw were raided by a special operations team in the early hours of this morning. Will the executives be held accountable? Investigations are underway. Be sure to stay tuned for the unfolding of this breaking news on CNN News.

Millions of South Africans watched the broadcast while similar broadcasts were viewed all over the world in different languages. The same symbols, graphs and share codes were being shown by all broadcasters – but viewers did not need to understand the language to know what the story was about.

***

Josh Carter raced his Ducati Panigale V4 motorcycle through the streets of Johannesburg. It was early on Sunday morning. The roads were quiet and the air fresh, allowing him to experience the freedom he so often craved and forget about all the stresses of life. It made him forget all about the long week – a long couple of weeks – preparing for trial and performing for the judge.

He wasn’t particularly optimistic about his latest case. His client’s witnesses had crumbled under cross examination. They were inconsistent and what they’d orally testified to had come across as contradictory to the written witness statements that were disclosed with the pleadings. He did not necessarily think of the witnesses as dishonest at all. Quite the opposite. It was just the pressure of being in the witness box and the way the opposing counsel would twist statements in an attempt to paint the witness in a bad light. Nerves made people run their mouths off; it was the nerves speaking most of the time.

A witness was often asked a yes or no question and they would end up telling the court what they had for breakfast, something completely irrelevant to the question. Often that portrayed what was called a “good witness”. It was the witnesses who were too calm and delivered their testimony too well who were “bad witnesses”. These witnesses had rehearsed too well, or were possibly coached by the questioning lawyer. However, once Josh had given his closing argument he felt the odds were slightly improved but still not more in his favour than that of his opponent, although he couldn’t really tell until the judge took a decision. The decision was to be handed down the next morning at 10am before Justice Naidoo.

The Ducati’s engine roared as Josh held the accelerator open and climbed through the gears – the bike was powerful and agile. The unmistakable Ducati-red bike flew past the other bike enthusiasts who were also on the road, not because Josh’s bike was that much faster than the rest – it wasn’t – but because Josh had nerves of steel and a competitive streak that would not see him let up on the throttle before any opponent. Opponent, as if every other bike rider on the road was competing against him.

The road was quiet. The acceleration of the Ducati increased from 0-100km/h in just a few seconds, pumping adrenaline through Josh’s veins with every twist of his wrist opening the throttle… 100km/h… holding the throttle open, 160km/h feeling the wind against his body getting stronger and the scream of the engine getting louder. At 210km/h it was just him and his bike. He was still holding the throttle open, redlining each gear, lifting his left foot to shift into the next gear; 260km/h… the road was getting shorter and so he was forced to slow down as he reached a T-junction. After looking left and right, he drove away from the city, out to the roads that took him past the farmlands.

It was amazing how quickly a person left the Johannesburg skyscrapers behind and was surrounded by beautiful open lands. Working and living in the city, it felt like the buildings and man-made structures carried on forever. Every day was so planned-out and structured. So, he allowed himself this joy every once in a while. To not plan the route of his bike ride, to explore new areas and roads and find his way back home.

Returning home, as he approached his street corner he accelerated as much as possible with his Ducati at peak revs so that his bike could be heard by his neighbours. He was doing this specifically for one neighbour, maybe two. His house, which was situated towards the end of the street in a cul de sac, approached quickly.

Just as he had expected, ahead of him a boy, aged seven, ran out of the front door of his home to watch Josh arrive. His mother was not far behind, reprimanding her son, telling him that he can’t just run out into the street without her. Daniel paid almost no notice to his mother, who now held him against her as he jumped up and down waving at Josh. Gabriela also waved at Josh. Josh lifted his visor, revealing his light blue eyes, and returned a wave to the two as he pulled into his driveway. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Gabby looked, as usual.

Josh often wondered how she kept it all together, being a single mother, divorced from a pathetic excuse of a man who didn’t appreciate what he’d had. Gabby had said her ex was more interested in booze and other women than being a father and husband. She wasn’t the type of person to wait around for that. She was a real estate agent and interior designer and did well for herself and Daniel.

Josh and Gabby had been friends for about three years now, ever since she and Daniel moved in across the road and she’d come over to introduce herself. Josh ended up assisting her with her divorce proceedings and they spent more and more time together after that and for the last couple of months were now seeing each other on a more intimate level. They kept things extremely casual and there was definitely no label to define them, whatever “them” meant. Neither of them wanted to upset the status quo, though Josh knew that often-times this was exactly what caused so much confusion between couples.

When exactly do you become a couple? When you tell at least one person that you’re a couple, he guessed. In any event, the way things were allowed him to concentrate on his work and also have someone in his life. He often looked after Daniel when she had to show a house early morning on the weekend. Gabby would walk Daniel across the road to visit with Josh and Daniel would usually spend his time looking at Josh’s Ducati in the garage or playing the PlayStation that Josh had no more time for. Owning his own law firm gave Josh the freedom to work his own hours, which usually meant working longer hours than usual, including some weekend work.

Josh parked the Ducati in the double extra-wide garage next to his recently purchased white BMW M4 hardtop convertible. He hung his leather jacket and helmet in his garage cupboard. His short blonde hair had been squashed into “helmet hair” by the helmet. Josh generally kept his hair neat and trimmed because of the bike riding. He wore a t-shirt that fit his well-built athletic frame.

As a bachelor, he lived in a very modern home, but it did have a few feminine touches thanks to Gabby who, over time, had kindly offered her interior design expertise to “liven up” his home; make it “less boring”, she had said. She’d made the comments one day after fetching Daniel. It hadn’t taken her long until she was comfortable enough to speak her mind with Josh. Josh liked that she was a straight shooter. She’d felt it might be nice to add a woman’s touch to his home, even if it were without a woman for the time being.

Josh pressed the chrome button, selecting a cappuccino on his sleek black Jura coffee machine, popped two slices of bread in the toaster and sat at his kitchen table with his laptop open on the news. The Hillstrong Holdings scandal dominated all headlines. He hadn’t read much of the news lately – he never did when preparing for a trial, when he submerged himself in all the paperwork. He had to know the facts and details better than the opposing lawyer. Besides, the news these days just depressed him. He did a quick scan of the main story that was still breaking and did not contain many facts yet. Journalists had, however, already managed to take photographs of the ex-CEO’s home and cars in the driveway, really portraying him as a grossly rich man caught enjoying his wealth while the country experienced the worst financial loss of pensions and retirement funds in history.

Josh moved on to the sports news. He was a motor racing fan, naturally. There would be the Formula One race broadcast from Qatar later that evening. He found out which teams the front grid would be comprised of and smiled at the result that his favourite two teams were in the top two rows – Ferrari and Red Bull. There was pop sound; his toast was ready. Nothing further interested him on the news.

He buttered and jammed his toast and made his way outside to the pool to enjoy his breakfast. It was a beautiful morning. He lounged on his deck chairs next to his miniature Japanese garden – his pride and joy that had taken many months to complete. Stones, sand, a little stream that flowed into a small koi pond with an over-arching bridge. A small school of koi swam in the pond. Just enough to avoid overcrowding the pond. Each fish was carefully chosen for its different colours and stories behind the patterns and marks on their scales. His garden could easily be featured in a magazine. Josh spent his down-time here; it was therapeutic.

He had taken an interest in the Japanese and Chinese culture after being advised by a doctor to practice meditation to alleviate the stress he experienced in his career. He had a habit of becoming too obsessive and competitive and was warned that if he was not able to find a healthy and more balanced lifestyle he would be prone to heart attacks in his forties already.

It was a perfect day to catch up on all the things he would usually do routinely now that his trial work was completed. He usually spent his weekends on bike riding, exercising, car washing and shopping for groceries, but this trial had asked a lot more of him than usual and so he had been skipping this routine for the last few weeks. The stakes of his trial were higher, the paperwork thicker, and the facts more complicated. It also didn’t help his stress levels that the trial attracted media coverage – something he wasn’t quite used to.

It hadn’t helped matters that the media did not always portray their persons of interest in the best light: that wouldn’t make for interesting news. Josh was also known as a lawyer with a temper. Often in the court room he would be asked by the judge to stop shouting or not to be too aggressive towards his opponents. He became really popular when one of the opposing lawyers had got up in his face to provoke him and he’d attempted to push the lawyer away from him but, with the scuffle and everyone around them, it accidentally turned into a slap in the face. Josh had tried to explain himself but ended up paying a fine in court.

He got dressed to go to the gym and go grocery shopping thereafter, to break the bad habit of eating the fast foods he had been living on all week. He climbed into his BMW, inhaled the new car smell and the scent of the leather seats, and exhaled slowly. The smell was addictive, just like the smell of racing fuel. He pushed the engine start button and the 3.2 litre MTwinPower Turbo in-line 6-cylinder petrol engine growled to life. The garage door hummed open and he reversed out onto his driveway. Gabby and Daniel were on their way out too. He gave Gabby a smile and waved to Daniel for the second time that morning.

Gabby rolled down her car window. “Hello. You’ve been out and about today,” she said.

“My trial is finally over after five weeks of hell, so I finally get to have a life for a bit,” Josh answered. Gabby knew about the trial, how could she not? Even if Josh didn’t discuss the cases he worked on, the trial was all over the news. During the first few weeks when it hit the media there had been TV crews parked outside Josh’s house, trying to interview him and get any comments that he was willing to share. They’d even tried to interview her once or twice but she was very insistent that she would not speak to them about her “neighbour”, as she referred to him. If the media got any wind that they might be more than friends it would just offer opportunities for the gossip columns.

“I heard on the news yesterday that it had finished and that all that is left is for the Judge to make a ruling. When will you find out how it went?” she asked.

“Tomorrow, so hold thumbs.” He gestured holding thumbs to her and winked at Daniel. Daniel could not take his eyes off of Josh’s new BMW.

Josh asked, “Do you like my new wheels?”

“It’s just like the model in the PlayStation game!” he exclaimed.

“That’s right, bud! How about I take you for a spin later today?” Josh offered. Daniel nodded in excitement.

“You know that he is going to sit and wait for you the entire day now,” Gabby said with a smile.

“I know. I was the same at his age, and when I get into this new car I feel like I am still his age,” Josh grinned. “I’m going to get some exercise and re-stock my fridge with better food than take-outs. I’ll be watching the F1 Grand Prix later today, if Daniel wants to join me. I’ll give him a ride around the block just before and we can make home-made tortillas, if you’re interested?” Josh wondered if that sounded a bit desperate.

“I’m sure he would love that. I wouldn’t mind seeing you either. See you later.”

Josh waved goodbye and with his seven-year-old self in his white BMW roared the engine to life and sped off, leaving black tyre tracks up the road.

The gym was near empty, just the way Josh liked it. He jogged a few kilometres on the treadmill and then made his way to the weights section. He prided himself on his fitness and strength. He trained like a navy seal with extreme cardio and heavy lifting.

“Josh, how are you doing, bud?” It was a former colleague of Josh’s, Dave. They’d remained in contact ever since Josh had left the world of Big Law and opened up his own firm.

“Dave, good to see you. I’m well. How are things at the firm?”

“It’s cut-throat, to be honest. Everyone is fighting for clients; new business just isn’t coming in. Fortunately, I have a few long-standing clients so my job is safe for now. I often think about following in your footsteps and going out on my own but just don’t feel brave enough for that yet. The firm offers clients comfort that a small firm can’t always provide in the beginning. We all follow your latest trials. There was talk that the head of department was retiring and your name was mentioned to come back in. Do you think you would be interested in Big Law again?” Dave asked in a way that sounded as if he was concerned that Josh would swoop in take his own job from him.

“I’ll never go back. I enjoy working my own cases, hours and not answering to anybody else, except for the client of course,” said Josh.

“I thought so,” Dave said, sounding relieved. “What do you make of the latest corporate scandal with Hillstrong Holdings? What a s**t show. The firm is desperately trying to bring in more clients as a result of the losses. Problem is, it would have to be on a contingency basis because any client would have lost a lot of money and would not be able to pay the fees unless their claims are successful.”

“There’s not only that. When an international corporation goes belly up after such a severe scandal, it’s highly unlikely that the share price will recover enough to recoup the losses. If you look at the size of Hillstrong’s market share and the decrease in share price, we’re talking about losses in the billions and at least double digits. It’s catastrophic,” said Josh.

Dave didn’t seem to have thought too much about the complexities of the matter. “s**t, you’re right, Josh. Anyway, I’d better be going now. I have to go into the office to finish a brief. See you around!”

“Cheers, Dave. Good luck! Send my regards to the guys at the firm!” said Josh.

“Will do!” shouted Dave as he left the weight room.

Bench-press and bicep curls were Josh’s favourite exercises. He loved how the adrenalin pump and strength increase made him feel. Physical exercise was something where you could see results, especially strength gain.

His father was a massive powerlifter back in the day. He would always say that an average man in the street wouldn’t even be able to bench press his own body weight. After hearing that as a youngster, Josh made sure that he could always bench press an impressive amount.

Every young boy likes to think that their dad is the biggest and strongest, but while growing up Josh knew this to be the truth about his. Alan Carter was six foot three and weighed 135 kilograms in his prime. His wife, Josh’s mother Elizabeth, had to cut the sleeves off his t-shirts so that they would fit him. In his home town, Springs, in the far East Rand, Alan often made the newspapers with his powerlifting competitions and weight training. He would start gym at 4am and go to work at 6:30am and complete a second session from 7pm to 9pm at least five times a week. He would regularly eat whole chickens and dozens of eggs. He had a handshake that could bring a grown man to tears.

Josh had also developed his passion for speed and engines from his father. It was something they shared and bonded over. He made a mental note to phone his parents later to check in.

After an hour of exercise Josh was feeling on top of the world. His kitchen cupboards were full; he had bought some snacks and drinks for the F1 Grand Prix later. It was about lunch time and he could relax and do some light leisure reading, maybe even take a nap.

His phone buzzed with an email from a client requesting an amendment to a business agreement. Could Josh get him a first draft in the next day or two? Yes he could, and he would. No nap for him. Josh preferred it this way. He had to stay productive, always moving forward. He found it difficult to relax if he thought there was something he could be doing to either progress his professional life or improve his learning. Owning his own law firm also meant he had to make sure he brought the business in every month. He would only start the drafting the next day, but would at least read the current agreement again to refresh his memory.

Just before sunset Josh looked out into the street where Daniel was riding his bicycle while Gabby watched him and shouted to him to be careful. Living in a cul de sac meant the street was relatively quiet and Daniel could ride his bicycle up and down without having to watch out for traffic. Josh went outside through the garage. He barely made it halfway across the street on his way to Gabby before Daniel noticed him and threw his bicycle down onto the grass and ran to him, asking if he was going to take him for a ride in the new car.

“You have created a monster,” Gabby laughed.

“Yes, bud. That’s if you’re still up for it?” Of course Daniel would be up for it. Gabby seemed very impressed with the car too. While driving he sneaked a few glances at her smiling in the passenger seat. She did the same to him. Daniel, in the back, was grinning ear to ear. He vowed that when he grew older he would be a lawyer just like Josh and also own bikes and cars.

They returned home. Josh put on the racing and poured himself and Gabby a drink. Daniel went and sat in his favourite spot on the corner of the couch and remained glued to the TV for the duration of the race, asking a question every now and then about the racing procedures. Josh and Gabby stood in the kitchen watching Daniel while discussing work and life. They spoke about dinner plans that had fallen through due to both their busy schedules. Having no babysitter for Daniel did not make matters any easier when it came to making adult plans.

Daniel watched almost the entire race before falling asleep sometime during the last ten laps. He would be happy to hear that his favourite drivers, who were also Josh’s favourite drivers, had placed first and third. Josh picked Daniel up and carried him across the road while talking softly to Gabby. “Thank you for making his day with the car and then having us over. It means a lot to him, and to me. He really looks up to you, Josh,” Gabby said.

Josh could hear the sincerity in the mother’s voice. “No problem. It’s great to have him around, and you.” He smiled sheepishly. After putting Daniel to bed, Josh kissed Gabby on the cheek and said goodnight. He’d turned to leave when she reached out and touched his arm. He faced her and she stepped up on her toes to kiss him on the mouth. It was quick, but passionate.

“That’s how you say goodnight! Why do I have to make the first move?” she said playfully.

“I’ll have to work on that!” said Josh, “good night.”

“Goodnight, Josh.”

What a beautiful night to go for a stroll before retiring to bed before his big day in court tomorrow. A night walk was a great way to clear the head, make sense of all his thoughts about work, his life and, of course, Gabby.

Had Josh not been lost in a day dream he may have noticed the man standing in the shadows, watching him, as he had been for the last few hours.

CHAPTER THREE