Anonymous Tip: Meet the Lawyer

A Review Series of Anonymous Tip, by Michael Farris

If you remember from last week, we left off as Gwen and her father, Stan, planned to set up a meeting with a lawyer, Bill Walinski. Gwen had just received court papers asking her to present reason why her daughter, Casey, should not be removed by social services for a week for evaluation. Stan had met Bill while golfing, and so he was the first person he thought of.

In the beginning of chapter three, Stan calls Bill, reminding him of their golf game. Bill tells Stan that he’s “handled a number of juvenile court cases” but is a “general practitioner, not a specialist.” He assures Stan that “that won’t matter” and offers to set up an appointment the following week. Stan objects, saying that they need to meet with somebody “now.” Bill responds as follows:

“Well, listen. I wouldn’t do this for everybody, but since it’s so urgent, I’ll clear my schedule for today. Can you come in at three-thirty this afternoon?”

Later that day, Gwen and Stan arrive at Bill’s office. They’re underwhelmed.

When Stan saw the office, he frowned and hoped Gwen didn’t see his disapproval. It was an office duplex, in the moderate-to-low-rent business district which blanketed both sides of Northwest Boulevard for about twenty blocks. There was a small print shop in the other half of the complex.

Gwen and Stan stepped through the door and passed a blue vinyl couch and two black plastic chairs. On the two side tables sat disheveled stacks of old People magazines. Gwen frowned in the direction of the middle-aged secretary sitting behind an obsolete computer monitor. As she typed furiously, the long cigarette which hung precariously from her lips bobbed wildly up and down.

I feel like if this was a movie, the colors would be dark and the music ominous.

“Can I help you?” she asked flatly without looking up.

“Uh . . . Gwen Landis here to see Mr. Walinksi,” Stan Mansfield said. “I’m her father. I met Mr. Walinski on the golf course.”

“Big surprise,” she answered sarcastically. “I’ll let him know you’re here. He’s on the phone right now. Why don’t you have a seat over there,” she offered, pointing to the vinyl couch.

The secretary opened Walinksi’s door, mouthed the words “They’re here,” then sat back at her desk.

“Tee time at 5:30 this afternoon. Sounds great. I’ll see you there. Loser buys drinks.”

Walinski threw open his office door and walked briskly to his secretary’s desk.

“Oh hi, Stan. I’ll be with you in a minute.” Then, turning to his secretary, he continued, “Here’s the Dombrowski file. Tell them we’ve got the check from the insurance company. Every penny of it. They can come in at five and get their money.”

Every time, the Dombrowski file. Doesn’t he ever get tired of this little act? she thought. If he put as much time into his practice as he does into golfing and acting, he’d be the most successful lawyer in town.

At this point I’m starting to wonder if anyone in this story is actually honest—outside of Gwen and her father, Stan, of course. Donna is a crooked social worker, and her supervisor, Blackburn, is equally crooked—crooked and ambitious, of course. Gail the prosecutor isn’t so much crooked as beaten down from experiencing infidelity and divorce, you might say—or at least, that’s how Farris portrays her. And then there’s Bill the lawyer, who plays golf and scams people into thinking he’s a better lawyer than he actually is. “When Walinski did practice law it was usually the in the dregs of legal work,” Farris explains.

“Stan, come on in. This must be your daughter.” Walinski did a double-take as he focused on Gwen Landis. What a babe, he thought. I think I could work with her real well. He flashed a glance down at her left hand to see if there was a ring, and kept smiling.

“Well, well. Gwen, glad to meet you! I’m sure you’ve figured out I’m Bill Walinski. Please come in.”

Gwen felt a little unsettling pang. She was indeed an exceptionally beautiful woman and was no stranger to lingering stares and comments. She knew how to give such men an icy stare of disinterest, but this man was supposed to help her protect the most precious thing in her life, and the looks confused her. She focused on protecting Casey and assured herself that she was misinterpreting his glances and words.

Of course Gwen is gorgeous. But seriously, this is clearly headed in a very bad direction. Farris has so far portrayed Gwen primarily as a good mother who lives primarily for her daughter. Gwen is divorced and Farris has yet to mention whether or not she attends church, but he has positioned her as his heroine—and as such, she must be in some sense innocent. Within evangelical culture, that includes sexual innocence. Farris’s positioning of Gwen as the object of a man’s sexual predation enforces that innocence and purity.

Once they make it to Bill’s office, Gwen and Stan were reassured by the certificates on the wall, including one that certified Bill to practice law “before the Supreme Court of the United States.” Bill asked Gwen to tell him what is going on.

“Well, some child abuse investigator is trying to get me. She’s trying to take Casey away from me.”

Walinski was enough of a lawyer to know he would have to go about this with a bit more precision if he was going to get the whole story without listening to an hour or so of rambling from a frightened mother.

I’m not sure whether this last bit is supposed to only reflect Bill’s point of view, or also Farris’s. It reads as dismissive—and in a highly gendered way. It stems from the idea that women are highly emotional and, by extension, irrational.

Bill asks about the papers she was served, and then proceeds to read them. When he finishes, he says this:

“Wow, that’s white a story. I hope at least some of it’s not true,” Walinski said, placing the papers squarely in front of him.

“I have never bruised Casey in my life,” Gwen said defensively. “I had hoped you would believe me.”

“Oh, I believe you. You’re my client. I just want to know what parts you agree with and what charges you dispute. Okay? I’m on your side completely.”

Gwen was not completely reassured. I want to be believed, not merely represented, she thought, looking straight at Walinski.

But really, why should Bill believe Gwen rather than the social worker’s report? Yes, in this case the report is fabricated, but why, except for his position as her legal representation, should someone like Bill de facto believe that such a report is false, without even hearing why he should think so? Farris’s organization, the Home School Legal Defense Association, appears to operate on the assumption that parents charged with abuse or neglect are innocent of the charges. Farris seems to be hinting at this.

Bill goes on to explain what Gwen’s papers say. He says there’s a Notice of Hearing that simply announces the hearing, a petition written by Gail that gives the charges, and an affidavit written by Donna. Bill says that he’s seen Donna around but has “only dealt directly with her once or twice,” but Farris lets us know that these “dealings” consisted merely of “greeting her in the hallway.” Finally, there is a Show Cause Order which states that Gwen must come to court and answer the charges. Farris tells us that Bill’s explanation “made both Gwen and Stan feel better about him” because “he explained the papers in terms they could really understand.”

“The real problem is the bruises. If it wasn’t for the allegation that you bruised Casey, they wouldn’t have a case at all. Are you sure she wasn’t bruised from something else? Does she ride a bike? Roller skate? Anything like that?”

Gwen responds that Casey rides a bike with training wheels, but that she’s certain Casey had no bruises when Donna strip searched her. Bill asks Gwen if Casey has a regular doctor, and Gwen says yes. Bill asks if she’s taken Casey to the doctor since Donna visited, and Gwen says no, and asks if she should have.

“It would have been a good idea. It’s been seven days since the search was done. That’s more than enough time for bruises to fade. If you would have called me right then I would have advised you to get to the doctor that day for his inspection and report.”

Gwen felt sick. Stan felt guilty for discouraging his daughter from seeking a lawyer back then.

Bill advises Gwen to take Casey to the doctor now anyway, and asks her for a medical release so he can ask her doctor to sign an affidavit attesting that he has never noticed any bruises. Gwen asks if it helps that she’s a nurse, and Bill says it would if the case involved someone else’s child, but it won’t in this case because “the judge will discount your credibility because you have a compelling reason to lie.” Regardless, he says he’ll prepare an affidavit for her to sign as well, likely putting in writing Gwen’s statement that she has never bruised Casey.

Bill doesn’t ask any other questions, and their meeting is clearly at an end. Farris tells us that Gwen “wondered why he didn’t ask any questions about why the social worker was there in the first place,” but that both Stan and Gwen are satisfied with Bill’s advice. I’m fairly certain a good lawyer would ask whether there’s anyone with a grudge who might have called in a false report. As it is, Bill didn’t even ask whether Casey’s father is involved in her life. This seems like a bit of a faux pas. Bill also does not ask any questions about how Gwen disciplines Casey. Bill does advise Gwen to take Casey to the doctor, which is good advice, but I’m wondering—should she also take Casey to be examined by a child psychologist? She could submit the results of the examination during the hearing.

Naturally, talk now turns to money. Bill explains that he normally charges $150 an hour, but that he gives his “golfing buddies” a discount—he only charges them $125 an hour. “I’m going to need $500 up front and then we can reassess after the first hearing,” he says. Stan offers to write a check for $500, if Bill can hold off from cashing it until the next day, but adds that “Gwen had no money to speak of and $500 is the absolute limit we can pay.” Gwen asks if they can sue for the money, but Bill says that’s really difficult. “Let’s just win this first hearing and money won’t become an issue,” he says.

Gwen is a nurse and Stan spends his time playing golf, and yet $500 is all they can come up with between them. Does this strike anyone else as odd? Now perhaps they live outside of their means and don’t save, or perhaps golfing is a less expensive hobby than I’ve been given to believe and nursing a less financially sound career than I’d thought, or perhaps Gwen spent all of her money during the divorce settlement. But this is fiction, and Farris made these choices. I feel like this would feel more realistic if Gwen worked as a gas station attendant for minimum wage and Bill spent his retired life watching ESPN.

Gwen and Stan leave the office, telling Bill they’ll see him at the hearing on Tuesday.

Walinski hoped that his efforts would help Gwen, if only to put him in good stead with a gorgeous woman. But time is money and there was only $500 to be made in this case. He’d do what he could for $500.

Sometime after his fourth Canadian Club that evening, Bill Walinski sat at home imagining Gwen Landis’s beautiful Green Eyes and her other womanly attractions. The alcohol and the dancing flames in the fireplace combined to produce powerful intentions in his clouding mind.

Yes! he exclaimed to himself.

Bill Walinski had found a way to continue his relationship with Gwen Landis—even if the hearing didn’t end in her favor.

This sounds . . . bad. Methinks our heroine is about to find herself in a new kind of trouble! What will happen next? Will Bill throw the hearing so that he can offer to serve as Gwen’s lawyer free of charge in exchange for . . . . favors? Or does he have something else up his sleeve? Sadly, gentle readers, you’ll have to wait until next week to learn more of Bill’s evil plans!