by Dave Derin
I pushed my cart full of bagged office supplies to my car and unloaded it, then pushed the red cart to the holding barricade before I returned to my car and cranked it up. I munched on a few sour gummy worms as I headed toward my new office and made it there within twenty minutes. I unlocked the back door and stepped across the dark hardwood floors to flip on the light switch before I made a couple of trips to unload my car. I glanced around at the bags of office supplies and the unopened printer box on the floor and decided I would ask Destinee to organize everything the next day. I was more concerned about building Susanna’s defense than the state of my office at that moment.
I pulled out my laptop and tentatively sat in one of the swivel barber shop chairs. The cracked vinyl seats were surprisingly comfortable, so I settled in, set my computer on my lap, and pulled up my email. I already had three emails from my new paralegal. She’d set up my new domain name and website hosting account, designed six logos for me to choose from that featured my preferred color schemes, and started to develop a client portal for the site. I was completely floored.
Hiring Destinee might have been the best decision I’d made in quite some time. I responded to her most recent email, thanked her for all of her efficient work, and let her know I’d check over the logos and make a decision later that afternoon. I hit send on the email, then opened a new browser and typed in the web address for PACER, the federal court system’s case search site.
I entered Susanna Jenkins into the defendant name search bar and submitted the case inquiry. Bill Markson was still listed as her public defender, but I knew electronic system would take a bit to update. I’d need to ask Destinee to contact Markson and request his files before we moved forward on the case.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Estelle’s number. It rang a few times, then went to her voicemail again. I sighed, then left a quick message, “Hey beautiful, it’s John Stone. Just calling to confirm our appointment today. I’ll see you at 4 p.m. at the new place, 5168 Mockingbird Lane on the north side. Thanks again, dear.” Before she got started, I’d have to explain that this time I was on a strict budget.
Destinee would need a computer, so I shopped around online until I found the best deal for an office desktop and ordered it. It was set to arrive in two days, which would give me some time to get a couple of desks and office furniture in place first. Estelle was notorious for overspending on furniture, so I’d already made the decision to buy a few items and ask her to design around them affordably.
I remembered I’d passed a local furniture store on my way to the office, so I headed out of my office’s back door and drove the four blocks over to the family-owned store. Franklin’s Family Furniture was a short brick building that had floor-to-ceiling glass all along the front wall to display their assortment of new and used furniture. Bedroom sets, couches, armoires, desks, dining room tables, and chairs were arranged in staged rooms. The brightly lit space had stark white walls with identical white tile floors. I opened the front door, and a small bell jingled at the top. The store was much larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside. It stretched so far I couldn’t see the back wall through the scattered pieces of furniture.
A thin, balding gentleman appeared from behind a long white checkout counter in the center of the store and shuffled out to greet me. His small frame was draped in dark khaki slacks and a mustard yellow button-down shirt under a chocolate-brown sweater vest, with brown tasseled loafers.
“Good afternoon, young man, how can I help you?” The frail man asked huskily as he slowly wobbled toward me.
“Good afternoon, sir. I’m looking for two office desks, nothing too fancy, just in good condition,” I explained as I scanned the open space. “I’m also searching for a few chairs to put in my waiting room, and at least two rolling office chairs to get us started.”
“Great glory, that’s an order,” the scrawny man’s dark brown eyes lit up as he turned and led me to the back right corner of the store. “Follow me right back here, young man. We have a few desks to choose from over yonder there in the corner.”
I followed him through the maze of furniture and found five desks of various styles sitting in two rows at the back of the store: two black desks, one wooden desk that appeared antique, and two matching light oak desks. I moved closer to inspect the matching oak desks and discovered they were in almost perfect condition. There were a few tiny knicks, but nothing too noticeable.
“How much for these two desks?” I asked and pointed to the matching, five drawer oak desks.
The man eyed me, then raised one eyebrow and said, “A hundred fifty each.”
“Sounds fair to me,” I nodded, then turned and continued to search the space for chairs.
“So, you want both of ‘em?” He asked as he followed me around the cluttered store.
“Yes, I sure do,” I responded, and ran my fingers across the smooth wooden top edge of the back of an old church pew. There were three of them pressed close together, so I slid one of them out to take a better look at it. Estelle could have these solid wood pews painted, so that they matched her color scheme for the office and add some custom cushions to make them more comfortable. I eyed the length, and estimated that one could easily fit on each side of the reception area to replace those old, ugly orange chairs.
“Whatcha think ‘bout them?” The salesman asked as he moved closer to stand beside me and studied the old church pews. “We got them outta that ol’ Baptist church that burned down a few years ago. White Chapel Baptist, I think it was called.”
“Oh, well that’s too bad about the fire,” I said and sat down on the hard bench. “I hope no one was injured.”
“No, thank the Lord,” he explained with a somber shake of his head. “Luckily it was at night so nobody was there, but it took out most of the exterior walls. They only managed to salvage a few pews, the podium, and some small tables from the altar, but that’s about it.”
“Well, I’ll take two of these pews off your hands then, how about that?” I offered, and the elderly gentleman grinned at me.
“You’re mighty gracious, sir. I’ll cut you a deal. How about one hundred for both of ‘em?” he replied and sat down next to me and rubbed his knee.
“You alright?” I asked as I watched him wince and hold his right knee.
“Arthritis,” he responded with a sigh. “It’s a real bummer, I tell you what.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I replied. “How about you give your knee a break and hang out here for a minute, and just point me in the direction of some office chairs? Leather, if you’ve got it?”
“Actually, young man, I can do ya’ one better,” the gentleman answered.
“Oh, okay,” I turned around to face him, puzzled.
“Lydia,” he put his hand to his mouth and shouted toward the back of the store. “Can you come out front and help this young man, please?”
“Sure, dad. I’m right here,” a lyrical female voice answered from very nearby.
“Oh, you work with your daughter?” I asked the store owner, then turned around and was surprised by a gorgeous, brunette woman who stepped out from behind a towering chest of drawers. Her khaki pants hugged her curvaceous hips then ended in small bell bottoms above her sensible brown boots. Her straight, dark brown hair fell smoothly to her shoulders, with layers that framed her smiling face and delicate golden highlights that shimmered under the fluorescent lights. Her white, button-down top was tucked into her khakis and held together with a wide brown leather belt that accentuated her voluptuous figure. She smiled at me with full lips she’d painted a deep red, and her neck and cheeks flushed a rosy pink before she sauntered toward us.
“Hi, I’m Lydia Franklin,” she said and extended her hand. “So, you need to look at some office furniture?”
“Sure do,” I replied with a smile and shook her hand gently.
“Alright, please follow me,” she turned and led me toward the left side of the store, but I was more c
aptivated by her shapely bottom squeezed into those tight khakis than I was the furniture she kept pointing out.
“Oh, wow. These are actually perfect,” I announced after I’d pulled my eyes away from her perfect ass and surveyed the numerous office chair options.
Two ergonomic office chairs equipped with wheels and dark green cushions on their seats and headrests sat in the middle of what must have been a cluster of thirty chairs. They looked brand new, so I waded through the crowd of chairs to see that they had brand new store tags still on them.
“What can you tell me about these two chairs? The green ones?” I asked and pulled one from the group to test it out.
“Actually, those two are on sale this week,” the beautiful brunette explained. “They were originally two hundred dollars each, but we can let them go for half that.”
“Not bad,” I said and nodded my head. I settled into the forest green foam cushion and leaned back against the headrest. It was so comfortable, it must have been made with memory foam.
“What do you think?” She asked eagerly and brushed her dark, shiny hair behind her ear with her slim fingers.
“They’re great, Lydia,” I said and grinned up at her. “I’ll take these two, the two oak desks, and two of those wooden church benches, and I think that’ll be it.”
“Perfect,” she said with a small smile, then bit her bottom lip and flipped her hair behind her shoulder.
“Well, unless you’d also like to give me your phone number along with that order, you know, just in case there’s trouble with delivery?” I smiled slyly at her, and her rose-red lips pursed into a smirk.
“We do like to provide quality customer service,” she leaned toward me and replied in a throaty voice.
I stood up from my new desk chair and noticed that Lydia’s father stared suspiciously at us from across the room. “I think we should ease your father’s mind and get the check-out process started.”
“Oh, I think the check-out process has already been started,” she said with a wink of one of her exotic brown eyes.
“I can’t believe I walked right into that one,” I replied with a chuckle.
She led me to the large white counter in the center of the store, and her father shuffled over to join us.
“Alright, so that’s three hundred for the desks, two hundred for the office chairs, and--” Lydia paused and turned to face her father. “Dad, what did you say for the pews?”
“One hundred for the both of ‘em,” he responded, then slowly eased down to sit in a tattered, brown armchair that sat behind the counter.
“Got it,” she wrote down the numbers on a yellow sticky pad next to the register and added up the total. “Okay, so that comes out to six hundred dollars, and with tax that brings your grand total to six hundred forty-nine dollars and fifty cents.”
“Alright. Here ya’ go,” I pulled out my wallet and handed Lydia my platinum VISA card.
“Thank you,” she said, then looked down at my card. “Mr. Stone, is it?”
“It is, but please call me John,” I replied with a smile. “I just moved my office in right down the street, a few blocks east on Mockingbird.”
“Oh, really?” She asked and raised her eyebrows as she handed me my card, two receipts, a delivery information slip, and a pen. “So, what kind of work do you do, John?”
“I’m an attorney. Criminal defense, mostly, but I dabble in almost every area,” I responded as I signed my name to the receipt and began to complete the delivery slip.
I handed her the signed receipt, then out of sheer habit I reached into my wallet to retrieve a business card to give her. I pulled one out, then glanced down and remembered I only had my old Swinger and Ames cards.
“It’s a new venture, so I’ll have to stop by and bring you my new business card once they’re printed,” I told her with a sly grin. “You know, just in case you ever find yourself in need of legal representation.”
The fair-skinned brunette let out a short laugh then responded, “I highly doubt that will ever happen with me, but I do have a brother who loves to get in trouble. Please do drop your new card off, and I’ll hang on to it, just in case I ever have to bail him out again.”
“Sounds like an excellent plan,” I said with a nod and gave her a quick wink. “Do you mind if I take a few photos of the furniture? My interior decorator is coming to look at the place this afternoon, and I’d like to be able to show her what she has to work with.”
“Absolutely, no problem,” she responded cheerfully. I glanced down and saw her father squint his eyes at me then raise his eyebrows knowingly. She walked me back around the store, and I snapped a few photos to show Estelle later.
“Alright, John, you’re all set. I have your delivery information, so we’ll try to get all of this over to you tomorrow,” she said when we were finished, then brushed her hair behind her ear which exposed her long, slender neckline, and let her fingers linger on her svelte collarbone.
“Wonderful,” I replied with a grin and met her dark brown eyes. “Oh, and I’ll definitely bring one of my new cards by for you as soon as they’re ready.”
Lydia leaned forward on the desk and gave me a peek at what was beneath her button-down shirt, then looked up at me with bedroom eyes and bit her bottom lip. I winked at her, then turned and exited the glass doors of the furniture store with a goofy smile plastered on my face before I slid back into the black leather driver’s seat of my BMW. I cruised the short distance back to my office, then parked and locked my car before I crossed over the brick patio and opened the back door.
I checked my phone for the time as I strode through the dark hallway. Time had passed quickly at the furniture store, and it was already 3:30 p.m. Estelle would probably be late to our four o’clock appointment, but with her, you really never knew. That crazy diva was liable to show up early just because I expected her to be late.
I switched on the lights in the main room and glanced around. Everything was exactly how I left it: the cardboard box of stuff from my old office, cleaning supplies, bags of office supplies, and the unopened printer box. I sighed as I looked around at all the work I still had to do and began to unbox the reference books from my old office. My phone buzzed and made the specific tone that alerted me of a new email, so I pulled out my phone and opened the email.
Substitution of Counsel - Jenkins, Susanna - Granted was in the subject line of the message, and I released an audible sigh of relief. I hadn’t been worried about it not going through, but now that I was officially listed as her attorney, I could really begin to dig into Susanna’s case. I skimmed through the standard email and noticed that Benjamin Price was listed as the lead prosecuting attorney. Benji was actually an old friend of mine, and I’d always known him to be a fair player in the courtroom. That was definitely a point in my favor.
I continued to skim through the court-issued email and read that the judge assigned was Augusta Williamson, a fair-minded adjudicator, and that Susanna’s bail hearing was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. I was not a superstitious man by any means, but that ominous date made my heart twinge. My eyes darted to the top right corner of my phone screen.
That meant that I had less than seventeen hours to prepare for the very first federal hearing of my solo career.
Chapter 8
I paced around my office as I counted down the hours I had to prepare for Susanna’s arraignment again in my head. I only had seventeen hours, and I had to get at least six hours of sleep.
I checked my phone frantically for the time. Estelle would be here in twenty minutes if she actually showed up on time. Now that I knew Susanna’s arraignment was scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning, I needed to get Destinee in the office this afternoon. I picked up my phone and dialed her number.
“Hello?” a tentative voice answered.
“Hi, Destinee? It’s John Stone,” I responded quickly.
“Oh, hi Mr. Stone,” she replied with a relieved giggle. “I didn’t recognize your
number.”
“No problem,” I continued. “Listen, I just found out that my big case has an arraignment in the morning. I hate to impose, but do you mind coming into the office for a few hours this afternoon and helping me get the file together?”
“Sure,” my new paralegal exclaimed excitedly. “It’s not a problem at all. I’m just at home working on your new company website, so I can be there in less than thirty minutes.”
“Excellent, thank you so much,” I replied and ran my fingers through my thick head of hair. “Do you mind bringing your own laptop to the office, just for today? I’ve ordered you a desktop for the office, but it won’t arrive for a couple of days.”
“I don’t mind at all,” she responded cheerfully. “I’ll get everything all packed up and head on over. See you soon.”
“Sounds great, thanks again, Destinee,” I replied gratefully and hung up the phone.
I impatiently paced around the barber shop office and periodically checked my phone until Destinee pushed through the plywood front door. Her halo of curly dark brown hair was held back from her face with a bright yellow-and-pink striped cloth headband, and she wore an equally bright pink button-down shirt untucked under a blue jean vest. Black skinny jeans covered her petite legs and hot pink sneakers were laced up with neon yellow strings on her small feet.
My new assistant struggled to lug a four-foot-tall, dark green carpeted piece of furniture that closely resembled one of those indoor cat trees behind her as she carefully kept the pink tote bag over her shoulder. She held a camel brown leather laptop case in the hand attached to the arm that supported Athena’s pink travel tote.
“Here, let me help you with that,” I said as I ran over to hold the door and removed the carpeted tree from her white-knuckled grip.
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much,” she replied in a rush and smoothly switched her laptop case to her other hand. “That thing is a lot heavier than I remember.”
