by Carsen Taite
Gerald glanced at Morgan with a puzzled look, nodded, and then made his way to the bar. As he left, Jim leaned close to Morgan, whispering, “In case you couldn’t tell, he’s an idiot.”
“Isn’t he the class president?”
“Okay, he’s a popular idiot. I’m sure he wants to endear himself to you. His father is a bigwig white-collar crime lawyer in town. Gerald has the same charm as dear old dad, but his smarts aren’t all there. You can bet all he knows about the opinion is what he heard on talk radio, but he figures if he can impress his father by relaying he discussed a case with you, he’ll look like a smartie himself even though none of his daddy’s famous white-collar clients are in fear of the needle. If you like brownnosers, he’ll be one of your best.”
“Hate them.”
“Again, I knew I was going to like you. Now, there’s a group of students over here who would love to meet the new celebrity on campus. I’ve already vetted them and found them to be worthy. Come with me.” Offering his arm, Jim led Morgan over to a cluster of excited first-years.
*
Parker hardly worked at all the rest of the night. Everyone at the bar wanted to either buy her a drink or take a turn on the dance floor. Irene laughed off Parker’s protestations and told her to have fun. She made it clear she had only gotten Parker to work this shift as a ruse to throw her the party.
Finally, all danced out and a bit buzzed, Parker decided she need to head home. Tomorrow was Sunday, and Monday marked the start of classes. Knowing she didn’t have the resiliency of her undergraduate years, she would need all day tomorrow to recover from tonight’s festivities. Although steady enough to politely refuse the many offers of an escort, she knew she shouldn’t be driving. Irene promised to get her car safely home and told Dannie to drive Parker home.
Once safely inside her house, Parker was suddenly ravenous. She made a beeline for the kitchen. There, standing in front of the open refrigerator, was her other roommate, Kelsey James. Kelsey, like her sister, was a fiery redhead, but the similarities stopped there. Where Erin was petite and thin, Kelsey was tall and curvy.
“Well, if isn’t the elusive Dr. James. Fix me dinner?”
Kelsey smiled. “Why, Parker Casey, attorney at law. Shouldn’t you rich lawyers have chefs and maids to do your bidding?”
“How about you high-powered surgeons? Where in the world is your staff?”
Both often joked about being rich someday and how all the money they would make would barely be enough to pay off all the bills they accumulated while striving to achieve their respective successes. Fact was they barely saw each other, their schedules were so different. Parker was glad to have a few minutes alone with Kelsey. The two had been fast friends for many years. Kelsey and Erin had inherited the house they shared and, while it had immeasurable sentimental value, the sisters weren’t at a place in their lives where they could afford to keep it on their own. The sisters thought it was fate when Parker found herself in need of a new place to live just as Kelsey contemplated running an ad for renters. Kelsey was making a tuna sandwich and offered to make an extra for Parker. Preparing the sandwich, Kelsey asked, “So, who was the cute little girl who drove you home tonight?”
“Who? Oh, Dannie. She works at the bar. Irene decided to make tonight into a huge party in my honor and I had a little too much to drink. So Dannie drove me home.”
Kelsey smiled a knowing smile. “Drove you home, huh? Did you happen to stop at her place along the way? I only got a glimpse, but I could tell she is totally into you.”
Parker punched her in the arm. “Give me a break! She’s, like, twelve. Besides, I don’t mix dating and business.”
“Please. You bring home ‘dates’ from the bar all the time.”
“Never people I work with.”
“Well, it’s probably time you settled down with some cute lawyer type anyway. When are you going to bag one of your fellow students?”
“Same principle, James. School is business. I don’t mix business and pleasure. It makes things too complicated.”
“You’re full of crap, Casey. Med students go after each other like rabbits. It’s not like we have time or opportunity to meet anyone outside of our clan. Are law students too good to do each other?”
“Judging by how many at school are screwing around, the answer to your question is no. Everyone does it, but I’m not everyone. I’ve seen sex and what folks thought was love ruin good friendships, break up entire study groups, and tank exams for even the smartest folks. We spend too much time together as it is, we don’t need to inbreed too.”
“Wow, Casey. Tell me how you really feel.”
“It’s not a judgment thing, I swear. It’s just not for me. I need to be able to focus on my goals, and having a relationship with someone who’s right there in the center of all my hard work distracts me. Besides, I haven’t had any trouble meeting women outside of school.”
“By ‘meeting’ you mean picking them up, bringing them home, and rarely seeing them again, right?”
Parker shrugged. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
*
Morgan crawled into bed, exhausted. She snuggled into the luxurious linens and reflected on the evening. She’d actually had fun. The thing about first-year law students was they were still developing their egos and there wasn’t as much know-it-all-ness to get in the way of their appreciation for a good story. Yolanda pushed her to recount a couple of tales of recent successes to the newbies and they seemed enthralled at the telling. Great for my ego, Morgan thought.
She glanced around the room. She knew she needed to call the real estate agent Yolanda had suggested. She didn’t want to live in a hotel the rest of her life. Morgan figured the market was good enough that a house would be a good investment even if she chose not to stay in Dallas after her teaching contract was up.
The phone on the bedside table rang loudly. Morgan debated letting it ring, but the constant ringing would be as annoying as answering the call. She knew it was the hotel operator, but what message the operator was passing along was a mystery. For the past week and a half, Tina had called the hotel repeatedly, all her calls focused on mending their severed relationship. Morgan had no desire to communicate with Tina except through their respective lawyers. She realized moving to Dallas with the intent of fixing what was beyond repair had been a mistake. While she was willing to accept her own culpability in their relationship downfall, she wasn’t willing to prolong the agony. Tired of listening to Tina’s endless promises to change, she’d resorted to having the hotel operator screen her calls.
“Hello?”
“Good evening, Ms. Bradley. I have Ms. Yolanda Ramirez on the line. Would you like to take the call?”
“Sure, please put her through.”
A moment passed while the call connected, then Yolanda’s vibrant voice came through. “You weren’t asleep, were you?”
“About to be. Why are you still up?”
“I had to stay up to finish talking to all the students who don’t know how to tell when it’s polite to leave a party. I have so many stories about how wonderful you are, but I was so busy listening to how wonderful you are I forgot to plan our brunch. Do you want to come here?”
“No way. You did your share of hosting tonight. Pick a place, my treat.”
“I was hoping you would say that. Let’s go to La Duni. It’s not far from your hotel. I’ll pick you up at eleven.”
“Deal.”
*
The Latin brunch was excellent and they lingered over the best mochas in town after devouring plates of migas and a basket of Cuban pastries. Having spent the entire meal dissecting the previous evening, Yolanda finally questioned Morgan about her breakup with Tina.
“Has she been unfaithful before?”
“Yes, this wasn’t the first time. But this time I finally realized what I should’ve known all along. I don’t care enough to be mad. Hurt, yes, but angry? I think you have to truly care about someone
to muster up enough feeling to get angry. The hurt stems from thinking we must have loved each other once, and it’s apparent neither one of us cares enough about each other to show some respect by breaking off the relationship. Going on like we are, pretending our problems will go away on their own, is plain crazy and I’m relieved we’re putting an end to it.”
“So, you’re done?”
“Completely. I had my lawyer get in touch with her lawyer last week. We never mingled our finances, so all I want is to facilitate the return of some of my personal things. She owns the monstrosity of a house and I don’t want any part of it.” Morgan noted worry creep across her face. “What’s on your mind, Yo?”
“Frankly, I’m concerned about how I’m going to keep you here. The only reason you came in the first place was because of Tina.”
“True, I agreed to the move because I thought it would give us a fresh start, but despite what happened, I’m here now and I don’t plan on going anywhere. I sold the house back East. Maybe I need a fresh start on my own, and I may as well get it here.”
“Not worried about running into Tina?”
“Like I said, Yo, I don’t care. I can’t seem to conjure up much feeling about her right now. Seeing her is like seeing a stranger. Sad, huh?”
Yolanda paused before her next question, as if cautious about broaching the subject. “Didn’t you mention something about a good-looking woman soothing your breaking heart the night you caught Tina at the bar?”
“Leave it to you not to forget the details.” Morgan smiled at the thought of waking up beside Parker after a night of wanton sex. By way of conversation, they’d shared little more than first names, but the intimacy they’d shared had been worth a thousand words. Morgan had never been with a more attentive lover. Despite the fact they were strangers, their every action had been familiar, welcome, natural. Staring across the table, she wasn’t sure she had the words to convey to Yolanda the enormity of the interaction. She realized it didn’t matter since she doubted she would ever see the woman from the bar again. Morgan didn’t spend a lot of time in bars. She only went on that particular night to surprise Tina. Mission accomplished, she thought, wryly. Having been a trial attorney for most of her adult life, Morgan was discreet about her activities. She never knew if a potential juror might be lurking around the next corner.
“Morgan?”
Morgan realized she had yet to answer the initial question. She told Yolanda about how she had foolishly gotten locked out of the bar and gave up details about the bartender who rescued her. “She was gorgeous and expressed an immediate interest. I was pissed at Tina and had no desire to go home and deal with her shit, so I went home with the woman. One thing led to another and we had fantastic sex.”
“Wow, you make my Saturday nights seem indubitably lame. Are you going to see her again?”
“I don’t even know her last name.”
“You know where she lives. How did you leave things?”
“She was fast asleep when I left, as beautiful in the sober light of morning as she was the night before.”
“Sounds like someone is kicking themselves over missed future opportunities.”
“How do I say this? What was perfect that evening isn’t likely to be replicated. I needed the experience, needed confirmation I’m desirable. I got what I needed, end of story. No need to double-dip to try to make the experience more than it was.”
Yolanda gave her a knowing smile, but didn’t pursue the matter. “Fine, now you’ve sown your wild oats. Ready for the first day of classes tomorrow?”
“Actually, I’m looking forward to it. I have a genuinely positive outlook. After these last few months, I don’t think anything could throw me off my game.”
Chapter Four
“When am I going to learn I’m not as invulnerable as I was in my youth?” Parker spoke to the mirror, whose unkind reflection revealed a bleary, puffy-eyed version of her former self. She splashed cold water on her face in a futile attempt to wash away the signs of her exhaustion. She had purposefully done absolutely nothing the day before, choosing to spend the Sunday before classes began nursing her hangover in hopes its effects would fade before Monday. Unfortunately, what once took a half day to recover from, now delivered a knockout punch that set her back much longer. She stalked from the bathroom into the hallway, muttering, “Damn you, Irene.”
“Hey, Casey, are you still hungover?” Erin had made the mistake yesterday of beating on Parker’s door early in the morning in an attempt to rouse her for a morning run. This morning Erin was up early again, coffee in one hand, newspaper in the other.
“Why do you want to know? Have plans to run a marathon and need a companion?”
“A few miles are all I had planned. You act like I tried to get you to do an Ironman. Jeez, you’re still pretty grouchy. Maybe you should head back to bed and skip the first day.”
“Where’s Kelsey?”
“Long gone. She’s started a forty-eight-hour shift last night. Whatcha need?”
“I want medical advice or maybe a quickie surgery. Look at these bags under my eyes. I feel okay, but I look like shit.”
“Vanity, vanity. What if I told you I had something to fix you right up?”
Parker grabbed Erin’s arm and jokingly twisted it behind her back. “I’d say give it to me now.”
Erin slapped at Parker with her free hand, playing along. “Let me go, fool, and I’ll help you out. You’ve got to cheer up, though. This is the first day of your last year. You should be happy as a clam.”
Parker pointed at her face. “Eyes, Erin. I need you to focus on fixing me up, and then I’ll be cheerful.”
Parker followed Erin to her room and lay on the bed as Erin directed. As Erin fumbled through the drawers in her bathroom, she called out, “If having your way with me is a cure, I want you to know you don’t need any accessories. Get in here and cure away.” Parker was joking. Erin was engaged to a fellow grad student and they were madly in love.
Erin emerged from the bathroom with a frosted glass jar. “You wish, Casey. Though I’m sure Bob would love it if I brought home tales of how I ravaged you while you lay helpless on my bed, I have better things to do. Now, close your eyes and lay back.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“Who’s the one with the puffy eyes and no cure?”
Parker lay still while Erin applied moist cotton discs to her eyelids. “What are those? They smell nice.”
“Cucumber eye pads. They’re great, even better if they’ve been in the fridge, but you’ll have to make do. Keep your eyes closed for fifteen minutes, and then you can get up and throw the pads away. You should look much better.”
“Thanks, Erin.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Erin sat on the edge of the bed and shook the newspaper in Parker’s direction. “Did you hear about Camille Burke?”
The name sounded familiar to Parker, but she couldn’t quite place it. “Not sure I know who you’re talking about.”
“You know—the Highland Park Burkes. Camille is Lester Burke’s daughter.” Erin waited till Parker nodded in recognition. “Camille was murdered Friday night at the Burke mansion.”
“How did she die? Was it a burglary? Right there in the house?” Parker fired off questions faster than Erin could answer.
“Slow down. I can’t read that fast.” Erin skimmed the paper. “The story’s shy on detail.”
Parker nodded. “Cops are probably holding back a lot of the facts.”
“I knew her,” Erin said quietly.
Parker sat up and pulled the pads off her eyes. “I’m sorry, Erin. Were you close?”
Erin shook her head. “No, not really. At least we haven’t been for a while. We were in a lot of the same classes as undergrads, but lost touch when we started different graduate programs.”
“What was she like?”
“Sweet girl. Quiet. Not what you’d expect coming from a filthy rich family.”
Parker curl
ed Erin into a strong hug. “Funny, no matter how much we think we know, we still have the capacity to be surprised.”
*
Morgan’s first class of the day wasn’t until ten thirty, but she still arrived early to review her lecture notes for Criminal Procedure. In addition to Criminal Procedure, she was teaching an Advanced Evidence practicum this semester. Two classes wasn’t much, but it was what Yolanda was able to conjure up on short notice. The Advanced Evidence course was one not usually offered except when a willing professor stepped up to take it on, and she certainly qualified for the task. The practicum was a hands-on class for third-years, focusing on practical application of the legal skills they had acquired in their Evidence lecture classes. Morgan’s years in the courtroom gave her plenty of footnotes to make the class colorful and interesting.
Satisfied her notes were in order, Morgan wandered from her office in search of the snack bar. The small eating venue hadn’t changed much since she’d been enrolled as a student, with the exception of the addition of a few new vending machines. Steaming cup of coffee in hand, she wandered out into the common area, finding a place to take in the sights. The first-year students all invariably had a look of awe on their faces, as if they couldn’t quite believe they had been welcomed into this elite society yet. Morgan knew it wouldn’t take long before lines of stress would replace the surprised looks, and she didn’t envy them. It was her first day too, but she’d commanded both courtrooms and classrooms before, and her fear was limited to the fact this was her alma mater and she wanted to do it justice.
*
At the far end of the common area, Parker glanced at her watch. She spent the last thirty minutes patiently answering last-minute questions from her mentees, Henry and Nicole, but now it was time for her to head to class. She asked the two if they had anything else they needed.
Henry spoke first. “Nope. By the way, you missed quite a party at the dean’s house Saturday night. The new criminal law professor, Morgan Bradley, was there. Damn, she has some great stories to tell.”
