by Ivy Jordan
The regular judge was on vacation, a trip that was not scheduled on his calendar. My source, one of the county prosecutors, told me he thought it might have been due to the accident, but he wasn’t sure. Whatever the reason, he was unreachable, out of the country, and unable to help.
Axel’s number lit up on my screen as I held my phone ready to call him to share my news.
“What did you find out?” I asked eagerly.
“It may not have been the regular judge that the kids had in their pocket,” Axel boasted.
“I assumed that once they tried to put him out of the game,” I sighed, realizing that we were dealing with a much larger situation that we first thought.
“The new judge is from New York, and from what I can see publicly, he just obtained his judgeship in here in Texas,” Axel sneered.
“So, that’s why they wanted to keep pushing the dates back; they were waiting on his paperwork to finalize, but why him?” I gasped.
“There’s a picture of him at a country club, the same one where John and Jill are members,” Axel growled.
“Can you connect them yet?” I asked.
“Not yet, but I’m certain I can,” he boasted.
I told him about the regular judge and the sudden vacation that no one really knows anything about. We hung up, agreeing to continue our search for the connection, and I tried reaching James again with no luck.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
James
The sun rose from the water like a blazing ball. The fire I’d made the night before was gone, but the coals were still fiery orange as I poked them from inside my open tent.
I stared up at the sky, remembering all the nights I’d counted the stars while making my plans to build here by the lake. Those dreams were crushed with one swift slam of the gavel.
“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I spoke to the heavens while fighting back tears.
The ranch had been my life, and my future for so long, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. As much as it hurt to know I’d have to walk away in thirty-days, it hurt worse knowing I let old man Jasper down. He’d taken me in, gave me a job, a place to live, a place to call home. I knew he gave this ranch to me because I’d keep it going, that I’d care for it just as he did. His kids would sell it, either all to the highest bidder, or piece by piece if they thought it would earn them more.
My fingers slid through the grass blades, realizing there was a chance the very spot I touched could one day be a parking lot. The town would be enraged if anything other than a ranch stood on this land, but the chance of finding a rancher willing to spend what the kids would ask for the land would be damn near impossible. Things were tough, and people were barely making ends meet, and a ranch was much more work than most thought them to be worth. Fuck, how could I let this happen?
Evelyn’s face flashed through my mind, the look of total surprise when the case was ruled. I knew she’d worked her ass off trying to stay a step ahead of the kids, but somehow still ended up two steps behind. All that work, and for free. I was going to pay her back, even if she did already have a hefty bank account.
Jill’s screech of delight rang through my head as I pushed it into my hands. Where am I going to go? I had no idea.
I stood, stomped on the fire until the hot coals fell apart beneath my feet. I ground them into the earth, and then shoveled fresh earth atop them to ensure they were completely out.
The sun was out of the water, high in the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and the air was already warm. It was going to be a beautiful day, but it would soon be destroyed for Pedro once I told him the news. It was already destroyed for me.
I packed up my tent and stared at the spot where I’d spent so many hours planning my dream home. The master bedroom facing the lake so I could watch the sun rise each morning, the large windows that would allow natural light inside. Shiny hardwood floors throughout the house, except the kitchen and baths where Italian tiles would be placed to match the countertops. The dream was hard to let go of as I walked my mind through the imaginary home I’d built. I saw myself and Evelyn snuggling under a shared blanket on the balcony of the master bedroom, sipping a beer and watching the moon dance on the water. I pictured myself grilling steaks on the side deck while Evelyn worked in the garden on the side of the house, planting strawberries, carrots for the horses, and sweet potatoes to keep us healthy. It was gone. Everything was gone.
Queen sneered and blew through her nostrils until they flared as I loaded the tent onto her back. I pulled myself up onto her, leaning in to stroke her long gray neck.
“It’ll be okay, girl,” I whispered in her ear as I loosened the reigns and let her take the lead back to the barn.
I knew the judge said personal possessions, and that meant clothes, computer, and other small items, but Queen was mine, and I wasn’t going to let her go with the ranch. It would mean I’d have to ask someone to board her, possibly Gulliver too if I could sneak him out.
Queen wasn’t in a hurry to get to the barn, her slow gallop giving time for the sun to heat my back.
As Queen approached the barn, my heart grew heavy. Pedro and Kyle waved in my direction, neither of which appeared to have heard the outcome of the case. I stopped Queen by the barn door where they stood and climbed down to greet them. The look on my face must’ve given the news away as Pedro quickly lost his smile, and Kyle kicked at the ground beneath him as he headed towards the truck.
“How this could happen?” Pedro asked, his broken English usually funny to me, but today, nothing could make me chuckle.
I shrugged.
“I have thirty-days from yesterday to vacate the place,” I sighed.
“Where you goin’?” Pedro asked.
“I have no fuckin’ idea,” I admitted.
The old man shook his head, mumbled something under his breath, and then cleared his throat. I knew he was fighting back tears as I had, his emotions written all over his face.
“We work?” Pedro asked, his voice cracking as he spoke.
“Yup. We’ll get this place in tip-top shape. Hopefully someone will see its potential,” I smiled.
Pedro perked up a little as he yelled at Kyle to come back over. At least he would have work for thirty more days, and after that, possibly someone would want the ranch as is, and they would keep him on.
“We need to take inventory of the place. We have to have a complete list of everything, animals, equipment, feed, everything,” I instructed.
I went into the house to grab fresh notepads and noticed my phone sitting next to my laptop. I turned it on, watched the voicemail notifications flooding in and dropped it back onto the desk. I didn’t want to listen to the voicemails right now. There was no need to rehash the day in court, go over all the details, scratch our heads together, or to hear the ‘I’m sorry’ that I was certain was on there. It was over. They won. I lost. There was a lot of work to do to get this place in order before potential buyers started browsing.
I met Pedro and Kyle back outside the barn and handed them each a notepad and pen. We spit up the barns for each of us to inventory and make to-do lists of any repairs that were needed, and then agreed to meet in the garage to finish up together. I may be losing my home, but the ranch is more than just that. It was Kyle and Pedro’s livelihood, home to an assortment of different animals, and distributor of fresh, top-quality meat. I wasn’t going to just walk away. I was going to make the place shine before I was forced out.
Chapter Thirty
Evelyn
My mind was anywhere but on the zoning case I had in front of me. Court was about to start as I sat on the bench outside those fateful doors that left James homeless just days earlier.
People started flowing into the courtroom as the clock struck nine o’clock. I lagged behind, waiting on my client. The case was complicated, but I had everything in order to win, but of course, I knew not to take that for granted now.
When my client arrived, I quickly caught him up on my p
lan of action, and then we entered the courtroom, taking seats on the left a few rows from the first, just where James and I sat before the ruling was made. The same judge stared out into the crowd, not really locking eyes with anyone. He scanned the room, stopping on me for a moment, and then continued as if he’d never met me before in his life.
Several cases were before mine, and each appeared to have a typical ruling. There wasn’t anything odd in the way the judge handled the cases I witnessed, so why did he go so left field with mine?
I ushered my client to the podium when our case was called, standing front and center before the judge. My skin crawled as he glared down at me, a smug expression on his face, and tiny beads of sweat on his brow.
The case was battled hard against by the prosecutor, but in the end, I won. The ruling in my favor was bittersweet, knowing that the one I wanted to win, needed to win, was the one that was lost.
After watching the judge handle the other cases before mine, and then mine as well, I knew there had to be a connection between him and the Jasper kids. That was the only explanation for the off-the-wall ruling in James’s case.
I tried James after leaving the courthouse, and again when I arrived back to my office. By the time I’d arrived home, I started to feel heartbroken, deciding that James must’ve decided he no longer wanted to see me. Is it because he is upset at the ruling, at me, or was he using me?
My body jolted at the sound of my phone ringing, something I’d begun to get used to after so many times. It was never James, even though each time I’d hoped it to be.
“Hey,” Axel’s voice was excited when I answered.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“I’m coming over,” he said, and then hung up once I agreed.
I paced my living room floor, wearing the carpet down in the path of my stress. Axel’s truck finally pulled into the parking lot. I watched out the window as he climbed out of the large truck and headed towards my door. I buzzed him in before he had a chance to buzz me to request being let inside. I opened my door, listened as his feet clomped up each stair, and then rushed him inside when he reached the top.
“I didn’t want to talk on the phone. I don’t know how deep this thing goes,” Axel avowed.
I opened two beers, handing one to Axel as he took a seat on my white sofa. It was the first piece of furniture I’d bought on my own, and even though it wasn’t, it looked brand new still. I thought about how no one had ever been in my apartment, just James once, and now Axel. Being alone never bothered me before, but now, it was something I dreaded as I continued to miss James.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
I sat in the chair across from Axel, one I’d kept from my grandmother’s estate. It was hard, awkward, but the small couch didn’t leave room to sit by Axel. Having seating for company had never been an issue in my life, until now.
“The man has strong roots in Amarillo,” Axel announced.
I sipped my beer, listening as he told me about the committees the judge belonged to, and how many of them were exclusive to certain higher-ups in the state. All of this was interesting, somewhat enlightening, but didn’t really give me anything I could use. If anything, it gave me reasons why I couldn’t go after the judge.
“So, any connection to the Jasper kids?” I asked.
“There is, but just to John,” Axel replied.
“How so?” I pushed, sitting on the edge of my seat with anticipation.
“They are golfing buddies, and apparently John helped fund his last campaign for office,” Axel disclosed.
“That’s something,” I perked up.
“And, John is on a couple of the same committees here in Texas,” Axel added with a grin.
“Okay,” I smiled briefly.
“We have to find something that could prove they have a strong connection,” I noted.
“Being golfing buddies isn’t enough to cause concern?” Axel’s eyebrows rose.
“It should, but since we are dealing with someone so well rooted, it’s going to take a lot more to file a complaint or request a new court date,” I sighed.
“This is bullshit,” Axel scowled.
I leaned back in my chair, sipping on my beer as I let all the information absorb into my thoughts. The judge, the regular judge, was conveniently t-boned right before a scheduled court date, one that wasn’t anywhere on the books. A new judge, one that just happened to be a golfing buddy of John Jasper’s, a member of the same country club as both John and Jill Jasper, and on several of the same committees as John, was appointed a seat in the small town courtroom. This was a judge that had financial backing from John Jasper. There were no coincidences here; this was all too well linked, but somehow perfectly separated so no trail could be followed.
“We have to find the financial backing,” I blurted.
“I can place John in the campaign office with the judge, and all his funding is public record,” Axel replied.
“That’s a start, but still not be enough to prove corruption,” I grumbled at the reality of the situation.
“Why not?” Axel questioned.
“I have to be careful with everything I do. Remember, John had pictures of James and me, and there’s no guarantee they are all actually gone. Plus the fact that you hacked into his account, threatened him, and you’re related to me. All of these things can be used against me. Add in the fact that he has so many connections, that this town is so small, and one wrong move from me, and I’m disbarred,” I explained.
Chapter Thirty-One
James
What would’ve been a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the ranch was turning into a real pisser. My back ached, my head pounded, and my stomach grumbled with neglect. All I could do to keep my mind off leaving was to work my ass off, digging in with everything I had in me, but it was beginning to take a toll on my body.
“What else can we do, boss?” Kyle asked.
Boss: that wasn’t going to be my title much longer. I thought about what I would do once I left the ranch, maybe join the fire department like Axel, play the markets like Elijah, start a private eye business like Isaac, start my own business like Liam? Hell, some of the guys were in personal security, working with other soldiers suffering from PTSD, some were police officers, and one was even a political figure.
I chuckled under my breath at the thought of playing the markets. I didn’t have the head for finance. Joining the fire department or police department wasn’t for me either, and neither were private security, politics, detective work, or counseling. Starting my own business would have to be closely related to ranching since that was all I knew how to do. Fuck.
“Boss,” Kyle repeated, his tone weak with concern.
I snapped away from my thoughts, happily. I didn’t want to think about any of that right now. That was why my body ached so badly. Work helped shut down my mind, my thoughts, and my pain.
“What’s that?” I asked, not sure I even heard his question the first time.
“I was just wondering if there was anything else that you needed,” Kyle smiled.
He and Pedro had already made repairs to the fence where one of the heifers broke loose, determined to get to the bull in another other field. The grain silo was cleaned out, the fields tended, and I helped birth another calf while the guys finished reseeding the back fields that had been grazed pretty bare.
Kyle looked exhausted, and Pedro was hunched over slightly as he walked towards the barn where we stood. I knew they’d been breaking their backs to get the work completed, and it wasn’t fair. I was the one who was trying to drown my thoughts, and reality. I knew the ranch meant as much to them as it did me, and they’d bust ass to ensure it was in tip-top shape in hopes a buyer would keep it going. But, that wasn’t a guarantee. All this work and the place could still turn into a Wal-Mart.
“No. I appreciate you guys for all the work you’ve done. Take the weekend off, Monday too, with pay,” I offered as Pedro approached.
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br /> “We couldn’t,” he stammered, his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he slouched.
It was obvious he was in pain.
“There’s not much left to do here, and I need to keep busy with stuff myself to stay sane,” I smiled.
“Okay, boss,” Pedro nodded in my direction and headed to his truck with Kyle not far behind.
I watched the old pickup truck head down the lane until it was on the main road, and then headed back into the barn to check on the new calf and momma. Back to work.
Queen squealed and kicked her hind legs into the fresh hay that I pitched into her stall. Gulliver was quiet, unanimated, and if I believed it possible, sad. I reached down into the basket Kyle left by the stalls with fresh apples, picked from the trees behind the house, and fed offered one to Gulliver as Queen snorted in disapproval.
“C’mon, buddy,” I coaxed, pushing the apple up to his nose.
His head turned away from the sweet fruit. Poutiness in his eyes made me a believer; horses could become sad.
“I know you miss her. I miss her too. We’ll see her again, I promise,” I spoke gently as I tried the apple again.
He appeared to perk up at my words as if he understood. He ate, slowly and without much eagerness, but he ate.
“If you’d pick up your fuckin’ phone you wouldn’t have to talk to horses,” I turned to find Axel standing in the barn.
“I’m not ready to talk to anyone just yet,” I grumbled.
“Is that so?” Axel fumed.
“If you came here to yell at me, just turn around and leave. I have enough screaming going on inside my own damn head,” I growled.
“It’s been a few days, dammit! Don’t you think you need to answer your phone?” Axel sighed.
“I’ve been staying busy, busting my ass to make this place ready for sale, all the while, keeping my mind shut off to the reality of what fuckin’ happened,” I explained.
