Certainly the money concerned Michelle. It wasn't that someone shouldn't be paid, it was where the money was going that distressed her. As far as she knew the defense fund had not received a penny from the selling of Mary Kay.
The article's description of the to-the-moon sex, anytime and everywhere, disturbed her greatly and gave her doubt about what had really happened between Vili and Mary Kay.
“Kate and I thought at one point the affair she had with Vili was nothing more than sexual obsession. Maybe that's all it was. Really. [She said it was] this incredibly spiritual, passionate thing, when it was nothing more than this heightened sexual state that she goes into.”
Shorewood teachers and students got a quick lesson in the reality of the supermarket tabloids around that time. A pair of Shorewood teachers was shopping at an area Wal-Mart when one told the other she needed to get a Globe. The teacher cluelessly searched the shelf while the other grabbed the tabloid and put it in her basket.
“And I'm looking for a model of the Earth,” she said.
It was a mistake she'd never make again. Nearly from the beginning, Globe was not a planet, but a source of Mary Kay Letourneau news.
One student looked at the spiffed-up pictures of Vili Fualaau staged for his daughter's baptism.
The girl shook her head and pointed at the demure photographs.
“This is not him. He dresses gangster style in the large shirt and baggy pants. They made him look all so neat.”
Puhleez, the mother of the Shorewood student thought.
As the world beat a path to Soona's front door to learn more about her son who had been raped by his teacher, the other Fualaau children were shoved aside, leaving the attention focused on the youngest. The star of the story. He was not courted for his artistic talents, but for the fact that he had been sexually involved with a teacher.
It could not have been a proud moment for any mother.
Kate was certain David Gehrke was either directly or through Susan Gehrke's mysterious entertainment contract—television, film, literary?—reaping some kind of windfall from his representation of his now-famous client. The “haven't made a penny” proclamation didn't wash with her. Kate was adamant that whatever deals Bob Huff was engineering with the tabloid media and book publishers, David Gehrke was getting a piece of the pie, too.
“Huff was the front man on the media deals. David was in the shadows, but he was a part of everything. He doesn't want anyone to know,” she insisted later. “How many attorneys do you know who profit from this kind of stuff? Not many.”
David Gehrke shrugged off Kate's charges. He admitted his wife's story of being Mary Kay's friend could lead to big payday—if the TV movie was produced—but it was Susan's deal, not his. Besides, he said, “Mary wanted Susan to be a paid consultant on the project because she trusts her to do it right.”
Instead of getting rich, David told Kate and others that when it came to his legal fees he gave Mary Kay a deal.
“I gave her my neighbor's-charged-with-rape-friend-in-need-easy-plea-discount,” he explained later. “I've joked to colleagues how little I got paid for all the work I did. I basically got a few trips out of it, and that's about it.”
In April 1998, a no-nonsense lawyer from Boston named Susan Howards joined Camp Mary Kay as the appellate attorney. She'd made much of her career and reputation by winning appeals for women who had been abused by boyfriends and husbands. Though she didn't publicly make a statement about Mary Kay's appellate efforts, it was considered a good bet that the alleged abuse by Steve Letourneau was going to factor into the case, too. It was the appearance by Michelle Jarvis on the Sally Jessy Raphael show in New York that led to the new lawyer.
“It was the one good thing that has come out of doing any media,” Michelle said later.
David Gehrke and Bob Huff were out and the women and men devoted to Mary Kay Letourneau could not have been happier. But the break wasn't as clean and complete as some would have liked. Bob Huff was still involved with the media deals. Somehow they'd retained that responsibility. And though he had no connection to Mary Kay other than as the broker for her story, Bob Huff sometimes called Kate after weeks of being out of reach and would say he was tired of being kept out of the loop.
“Like it's our fault,” an exasperated Kate Stewart told a friend. “Like it was Susan's fault. Like it's someone's fault.”
Kate couldn't figure out what Bob Huff was doing half the time, he was so elusive. He seldom got back to anyone.
“I don't know what kind of law he practices,” she said. “I don't even know if he has any other clients.”
“She's washed her hands of David,” Kate said.