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five hundred dollars each. Is that understood, Mr. Kudar?”
    â€œYes, Your Honor.”
    â€œThat’ll be all. Ms. Gold, I do hope this is the last I hear from you today.”
    â€œI hope so as well, Your Honor.”
    The line went dead.
    I turned to the court reporter. “Please read the witness my last question.”
    She did.
    Dr. Mason shrugged. “Describe the entity? I believe it’s a corporation.”
    â€œDo you own stock in it?”
    â€œNo. It sells a type of annuity. An annuity mutual fund, actually. That’s what I own.”
    â€œSo you own close to six-point-five million dollars in a fund of annuities issued by Structured Resolutions.”
    He leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and gave me a sneer. “I prefer to think of it as six-point-five million dollars of last laughs.”
    â€œExplain, please.”
    â€œAs a plaintiff’s lawyer, Miss Gold, you are no doubt familiar with the concept of a structured settlement.”
    I was. Most attorneys are. But this was too good to let pass, especially since this was a video deposition. I could only imagine the jury’s reaction to the doctor’s arrogant tone and condescending appearance, both of which would be fully captured by the camera. This was exactly the Dr. Jeffrey Mason I wanted the jurors to see. This was the Dr. Jeffrey Mason who slid his hand down the back of my client’s hospital scrub pants and into her panties as they left the operating room, who told my client that giving head was the best way to get ahead on his team, who, apparently flaunting his knowledge of Mexican slang, made several nasty suggestions about her concha . The same Dr. Jeffrey Mason who dismissed these and other examples of sexual harassment as harmless examples of his team-building camaraderie.
    â€œJust to be clear, Doctor,” I said, “what is your understanding of a structured settlement?”
    â€œThat’s where a plaintiff and his ambulance-chasing lawyer settle a case for a lump sum that gets paid out over time. Let’s say they agree to settle their case for two million, but the defendant will pay that out over twenty years at one-hundred thousand a year. That’s a structured settlement: a big number, but paid out over time. Usually, it gets paid out through an annuity.”
    â€œDoes Structured Resolutions issue those annuities?”
    Dr. Mason chuckled. “Oh, no. Much better.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œLots of those plaintiffs are like the dumb lottery winners—the ones who discover that their ‘million dollar jackpot’ is actually twenty annual payments of $50,000. They’d rather have a lump sum now than have it dribbled out over all those years. Same with these plaintiffs. They’re not that savvy, and their lawyers are plenty greedy, so they’re willing to sell those structured settlements at a deep discount to get the money now. Guess what? There’s a profitable after-market out there for the purchase of these settlements by investors looking to acquire a guaranteed future stream of income at a good price. That’s where Structured Resolutions comes in. They buy these personal injury and medical malpractice annuities and make them available to investors like me.”
    â€œYou described your investment as six-point-five million dollars of last laughs. Explain that, Doctor.”
    â€œSimple math. That six-point-five million is going to be worth almost double that over the next twenty years. I’m the one, and not those plaintiffs and their slimeball lawyers, who will get all the benefit of those settlements.”
    He grinned at the camera and chuckled. “That’s what I call the last laugh.”

Chapter Fourteen
    â€œRachel Gold?”
    I looked up from my lunch.
    â€œLen Olsen.”
    He gave me a warm smile as he reached out his hand. I set down my fork and we shook hands.
    â€œGlad to finally meet