Chapter 7 - The Deposition & The Urologist's Secret
The lab results blew the divorce suit completely out of the water, but Dan Miller wasn't finished. When a shark like Arthur Vance smells blood, he retreats; when an old coastal hound like Dan Miller gets his jaws around a bone, he doesn't let go until the marrow is cracked wide open.
"We aren't settling," Dan told Lacy and me the following Tuesday in his office. "We have the upper hand. Arthur Vance filed an emergency motion to withdraw from the case yesterday afternoon. He knows Brent lied under oath, and Vance doesn't intend to risk his bar license for a client who committed perjury."
"What about Jody?" I asked. "Has the Alienation suit been dismissed?"
"Dismissed with prejudice this morning," Dan smiled thinly. "And Jody’s already retained a civil rights firm to file a countersuit for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and defamation *per se*. But right now, we have Brent in a deposition room for his mandatory financial disclosure. And I took the liberty of subpoenaing the records from that surgical clinic in Pineville."
At two o'clock, we sat across a long conference table in the local court reporter’s office. Brent was there with his new attorney—a nervous, sweating junior associate named Tyler who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else on God’s green earth.
Brent looked like a ghost of the man who had driven his Audi onto my gravel apron. His eyes were sunken, his expensive suit hung loose on his shoulders, and his hands were clasped together so tightly that his knuckles were white.
Dan Miller adjusted his tape recorder, cleared his throat, and looked across the table.
"Mr. Dawson," Dan began, his tone almost grandfatherly. "Let's revisit November 14, 2019. You underwent a bilateral vasectomy performed by Dr. Harold Sterling in Pineville. Correct?"
"Yes," Brent mumbled.
"Speak up for the reporter, please," Dan said gently.
"Yes," Brent said louder.
Dan pulled a blue-backed exhibit from his briefcase and slid it across the table to Brent’s lawyer.
"This is Exhibit D. It is a certified transcript of your electronic medical chart from Dr. Sterling’s office, obtained via federal subpoena. Mr. Dawson, could you please turn to page four and read the entry dated February 18, 2020?"
Brent didn't move. His new lawyer leaned over, scanned the page, and visibly winced.
"My client has no medical training, Mr. Miller—" Tyler began.
"He can read the English language, counselor," Dan snapped. "Read it, Mr. Dawson. Or I’ll read it into the record for you."
Brent reached out with a trembling hand and picked up the paper. His voice was a thin, dry wheeze.
"'Patient contacted via telephone regarding failure to submit required eight-week post-operative specimen. Patient informed of elevated risk of early recanalization due to anatomical variation noted during procedure—specifically, a duplicated right vas deferens.'"
Brent stopped. He couldn't go on.
"Keep reading," Dan commanded, his voice cold as deep ocean water.
Brent swallowed hard, his chest heaving. "'Patient stated he was aware of the risk, refused to schedule follow-up semen analysis, and requested that no further communications be sent to his home address due to spousal privacy concerns.'"
Dan Miller leaned back in his leather chair, looking at Brent with an expression of profound, quiet revulsion.
"You had a duplicated vas deferens, Brent," Dan said. "A rare anatomical anomaly where a man has a third duct. The doctor cut two of them, but warned you that the third was still partially intact and could regenerate. You knew there was a significant chance the procedure had failed completely."
"I didn't know," Brent choked out, tears of self-pity finally leaking from the corners of his eyes. "He said it was rare. He said it was less than a two percent chance! I didn't want to think about it! I thought if I didn't acknowledge it, it wouldn't happen!"
"You didn't want to think about it," Dan repeated slowly. "So when your wife went under general anesthesia to have her abdomen punctured with surgical steel to find out why she couldn't conceive, you sat in the waiting room knowing there was an open channel inside your body."
"I didn't mean for that to happen!" Brent sobbed, burying his face in his hands. "I just wanted my life the way it was! I didn't want a baby! I had a career, I had plans!"
"And when she surprised you at Harper's birthday party," I broke in, unable to hold my tongue any longer, "you realized your five-year lie had caught up with you. And instead of owning your failure, you decided to brand my sister an adulteress and ruin my best friend’s life to cover your tracks."
Brent’s lawyer reached out and laid a hand on Brent’s trembling arm. "We’re done here, Mr. Miller. We are prepared to discuss a full and final settlement."
"The settlement will be on our terms, counselor," Dan said, rising to his feet and snapping his briefcase shut. "Every single dollar she brought into the marriage, full statutory child support, fifty percent of Mr. Dawson’s unvested stock options, the house on Masonboro Sound, and a written, public retraction published in the *Wilmington Star-News*."
Dan paused at the door, turning back to look at the broken man weeping into his tailored sleeves.
May you like
"And if you ever come within five hundred yards of Lacy or that child without a court-appointed monitor," Dan added, "I will ensure that the district attorney prosecutes your perjury until you serve every single consecutive month allowed under North Carolina law."
***
