I met Naomi, Keila, Asher, Lior, Olive and Gary during my first semester at Boaz Law School in St. Petersburg, Florida. We were all from different parts of the US, but found commonality in our late night and last-minute study habits. Naomi, Keila and I connected immediately, based on our midwestern upbringing, with Naomi and Keila growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and me growing up outside of Detroit, Michigan. Olive and Lior were both from New York City, and were actually cousins, only two months apart. Their parents only let them leave the city because they agreed to go together.
Naomi, Keila and I met up with Olive and Lior outside of the library at midnight, just a few hours before or very first law school exams. Naomi was a smoker and the rest of us didn't mind the occasional fresh air break. Olive and Lior didn't smoke, but they met us outside on Naomi's third smoke break, just to chat and trade notes about our studies. We immediately bonded over our shared fear of our evidence professor, Mr. Saxon, who also practiced law full time defending people charged with capital murder who he proclaimed were innocent until proven guilty, even if they were caught in the act.
Asher and Gary weren't exactly the most studious, but we found them outside of the library around the same time smoking a joint and discussing their study outlines, which were surprisingly productive. I know this because I borrowed everyone's outlines and found Asher and Gary's the most useful.
From that night, the seven of us formed a study group that stayed exclusive until we all graduated and passed the bar. We were all sworn in together, on Tuesday, October 5, 2005, almost twenty years ago.
After we were licensed, we all went in different directions. I hung my own shingle, Ayla Lior Law, and focused primary on family law, ultimately garnering a high-end clientele with high profile divorces and custody battles. Naomi and Keila went into big law for the first five years until they were completely burnt out. Naomi ended up quitting the law altogether and became a pharmaceutical sales representative. Keila stuck it out and became corporate counsel at a cosmetic company, where she is actually more financially successful than when she worked 80-hour weeks as a junior associate at a thousand-person law firm. Lior and Olive ended up taking the New York bar and went to work for Lior's mother's boutique law firm in New York City, where they dabble in a bit of everything, from business law to real estate, to the occasional personal injury and immigration case. Gary and Asher both went to work for the same large personal injury firm, where they still work today, and where the happy hours exceed their working hours.
We have all been planning to meet up for years, but things have gotten busy with children, marriages, divorces and well... Naomi going missing two weeks ago.
"Naomi and I were the closest in our group. We immediately bonded over the stress of law school, particularly first year exams. Don't get me wrong, everyone in the group was close and has done their best to remain in touch over the years, but Naomi and I had a different relationship. We talked about everything, things that we didn't tell the others" I said with an exasperated sigh, meant mostly for myself, but it came out harsher than I anticipated.
"Over the last twenty years, Naomi and I spoke at least every other day, and sometimes multiple times a day, particularly when she was deciding whether to quit the law and take on a less stressful job. Naomi's senior partner, Brian Stantonze, was really hard on her. Things got worse between the two of them when she rejected his advances at a firm happy hour. He actually tried to kiss her right in front of everyone, can you believe that?" I paused for a second, remembering how angry I was for her. I'm sure that anger was displayed all over my face. After a long pause, I continued. "Naomi made a formal complaint to human resources at her firm, but Brian beat her to the punch. He actually told the human resources manager that Naomi had been stalking him and then threatened his wife. Naomi never got the details, but it was clear Brian was more powerful than her and that no one was going to support her side of the story, the true side. She was immediately transferred from the business litigation department to the real estate group, a practice area she knew nothing about and for which no one was willing to train her. And, of course, the gossip mill took over and she became completely isolated and even a little depressed." I started to tear up and asked if I could take a break. I got up and went to the restroom before receiving a response.
When I got to the restroom, after confirming I was alone, I put my hands on the sink, stared at myself and said out loud, you can do this Ayla, you can do anything for Naomi, and she needs you now more than ever. Woman up and get back in that room.
When I walked back into the room, the detective looked at me quizzically, but he didn't say a word. I sat back down and picked up where I left off. "After about a month of torture, Naomi decided it was time to change course, so she called her former sister-in-law, also Asher's sister, and asked if her company was hiring pharmaceutical sales representatives." I could tell the detective's curiosity peaked there, but he continued to stay silent, which made me very uncomfortable. Anyone who knows me well also knows that I hate silence and have to fill the space, so that's exactly what I did, but very carefully. Being in a police station made me super nervous, and this particular detective, a tall, strikingly handsome and potentially single Detective Tommy Barnes, did nothing to assuage my discomfort. Instead, he sat there and stared at me during the entire interview while I babbled on.
"Naomi's former sister-in-law, Aliza, was very kind. So was Asher, but he and Naomi fell out of love with each other. They tried for a while, but the love was more platonic than romantic. Anyway, Aliza and Naomi were friendly enough and she kindly offered to give Naomi's resume to her supervisor. After a few interviews, Naomi got the job, which was unsurprising. No one could resist Naomi's intelligence and charm." That felt a little gratuitous, but it was true. Naomi was entirely loveable. At five feet tall, with short black hair and green eyes, it didn't matter that most humans towered over her. She had the air of a woman who commanded a room, and that's exactly what she did, but without making people feel small. She built everyone up around her, even those who didn't deserve it.
After what felt like an hour, Detective Barnes finally chimed in with his first question, "where is Asher right now?" I paused, only briefly, and hoping Detective Barnes didn't notice, although he seemed like the type of guy who didn't miss a thing. I recovered as quickly as I could, trying to remember what I was supposed to say, and then repeated "I spoke with him this morning. I assumed he was at his condo, but I didn't ask him. He was inconsolable, worried about Naomi." "What do you mean by inconsolable, Ms. Lior" said Detective Barnes. I responded, perhaps too quickly, "well, he hasn't been able to reach her for two weeks, like the rest of us. Although he and Naomi divorced, they remained good friends" I said hoping he believed me, largely because it was true, at least mostly true. I thought Detective Barnes would inquire further, but he went back to his silent state, leaving me to figure out where I left off and what to say next. Instead of following my natural instinct, I sat back in my chair, folded my hands in my lap and waited for Detective Barnes to speak next. When he did, he said "I'm going to ask you to wait her Ms. Lior, while I question your other friends. Asher, Gary, Olive and Lior are in separate rooms, but we haven't been able to locate Keila. Any idea where she is?" I shook my head in denial. He tilted his head, and simply walked out of the room.
Knowing I was likely being watched, I stayed seated and put my hands over my face to show my concern, but I was really going over my statements, hoping I hit all of the points that Asher, Keila, Olive, Lior, Gary, and I discussed before the interview.
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