"Yo, Frank, it's me, Dave." Frank was on his way out the door. He was on his way to his house to confront Kat, make sure the kids were okay, find Tammy, he didn't know what else. He was blind with outrage because suddenly it became clear that Mulva and Tammy were communicating with each other behind his back, and it seemed that they were conspiring against him. Dave called just in time to stop him from getting arrested again. "Dave, I can't really talk right now. That, um, that lawyer I got, um, you know that one from the hot dog cart, . . . she's screwing me up man. She's in on it Dave. I think she's talking to Kat's lawyer and . . . I don't know but something's going on" Frank tried to explain, but he's having trouble remembering Tammy's name. "Wait, Frank, what are you saying?" "Dave, I gotta go, I gotta go over there, I have to check on the kids." "Frank, stop. now you know you can't go there. Listen, I appealed my suspension and I got my license back. We can get her now Frank." Dave was talking about the incident of the fake anthrax powder that he mailed to the hardware store he worked at. He received a one year suspension from practicing law, but it was reduced on appeal. Frank was so relieved to hear this. It felt good to have a trusted friend on his side. "Dave, my child support, it's like a thousand dollars. I don't have it" Frank moaned. "Look Frank, call Tammy and fire her, then we'll start over." Frank got off the phone and felt better already. He left a message for Tammy to call him.
Tammy called Frank back the next morning. "Frank, I know you want to see your children, but . . ."
"No", Frank interrupted. "I have a new lawyer, it's a friend of mine, so, uh, I'm just going to go with him." Tammy paused "Oh, but Frank, we were just getting somewhere. I was just writing up the settlement." Tammy whined in her nasal tone. " Well, my buddy Dave is going to do it, so, uh, I don't need you to do that." Frank was in a hurry to end the call. "Fine", Tammy snarled "I'll write up your bill."
Dave got to work quickly sending the court an Entry of Appearance informing the court and Mulva Fargo that he was Frank's new attorney. Dave had Tammy's file on Frank sent to his office. He discovered that she hadn't really done much of anything related to the divorce except write up the petition and try and get visitation which backfired miserably when Frank did not get visitation but became responsible for exorbitant child support payments. Dave knew he had his work cut out for him trying to renegotiate child support. The court usually looks at the highest earning years when determining the appropriate amount and that's what they did here, except in this case, the difference between the highest salary years and the curent salary are huge. It was kind of obvious that there was something wrong with Frank lately. Dave noticed that Frank just didn't quite seem himself. He just wasn't the old jovial story teller that he used to be. He seemed to always be searching for the words but they didn't come, so instead there were awkward pauses. That's something that he may need to bring up with the court and try for spousal support from Kat. It was clear to Dave that Frank was not capable of earning that old salary though.
Exactly five days after sending his Entry of Appearance, Dave received a Move to Disqualify petition from Mulva. Kat is claiming that she had a discussion about divorcing Frank with Dave and for him to represent Frank would be a conflict of interest. Unfortunately, there was probably just enough truth there to be arguable. Even though no specifics were discussed, Dave did remember Kat bringing up the subject of divorce with him one time when she was visiting Vanessa.
Dave called Frank to give him the bad news.
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