Tattered Justice

by John Foxjohn

  “I’ll call you right back. You have a direct number?”

  He hung up when she gave him her cell number. Fifteen minutes later, he called her back. “We’ll meet you at my office at nine, but it’s a waste of time.”

  Kayla chuckled. “When you say waste of time, I assume you’re speaking about my time because I can assure you, it isn’t a waste of yours.”

  When Kayla hung up, she massaged her temples. She had too much to do to get involved in this, but she couldn’t let that boy down—to say nothing about his father.

  * * * *

  On the flight to Chicago, Kayla made a rare concession, she rode first class. The last flight she took she ended up sitting beside a married couple who did nothing but argue. This time, a large man had the aisle seat and talked nonstop for the entire flight.

  Maybe a higher being didn’t like her flying. When the plane landed, she escaped from his chatter. Without any luggage and little time remaining until the meeting, she grabbed a taxi and held on for dear life.

  On the way to the attorney’s office, she realized for the first time the dangers of Chicago. People could easily die riding in taxis.

  She trudged to the elevator as her sandpaper eyes scraped every time she opened or closed them. When the doors opened, a woman rushed to get on with her and jabbed the eighth floor button when the door didn’t close fast enough.

  In her mid-thirties, petite with raven hair, the woman resembled Loren in appearance, but had thin lips that looked like stone. She turned to Kayla, who forced a smile. “I am going to eight, too.”

  “Good for you,” hard lips said.

  Kayla rolled her eyes and leaned back against the cool wall as the elevator hummed. When the door opened, the woman marched to the right. Kayla hesitated, read the office signs, and turned right, too, following behind the woman’s clicking heels.

  She puckered her lips. Wouldn’t it be funny if that woman turned out to be Darren’s ex-wife? But she couldn’t be. This woman and Darren weren’t a match.

  It didn’t take her long to find out how true her thought had been. They weren’t a match—probably the reason for the divorce. When Kayla entered the office, hard lips abused the poor, harried secretary because the attorney hadn’t returned from another meeting.

  Kayla didn’t even bother to introduce herself, but lounged in a chair and twirled her thumbs. The secretary glanced Kayla’s way with an “I’m sorry,” expression.

  Five long minutes passed and hard lips hadn’t shut up once. By then, Kayla realized that she was the ex, and she didn’t know if she should feel sorrier for Kevin or Darren.

  No wonder the kid took off. She wished she could lock this woman up with the man from the flight in a small room and see which one would beg for mercy first.

  When the door opened and a man in a nice suit entered, Kayla knew at once that he had to be the attorney from the deep sigh from the secretary.

  “Good morning Mrs. Lavely,” he said. From his expression, he didn’t believe his own statement.

  “You have kept me waiting.”

  “Ms. Lavely, I had to finish something else. That other attorney hasn’t arrived yet.”

  The secretary, the only one to pay any attention to Kayla, cut her eyes in her direction, but no one seemed to notice that either. Kayla cleared her throat. “That other attorney has arrived.”

  Hard lips spun to face Kayla. “You are an attorney?” The woman’s gaze traveled up and down, and all around Kayla’s clothes. “You sure don’t dress like an attorney.”

  “Would you two ladies like to step into my office?” Abraham Kellerman indicated his door, and let them precede him.

  When they had a seat, the attorney introduced himself and Paulette Lavely, but before he could say anything else, the woman interrupted him.

  “I’d like to know how Darren could afford to hire the likes of you. We know all about you.”

  Kayla doubted that she or they knew anything about her other than what the news had put out. “Ms. Lavely, if you want that information, I’m afraid you will need to contact your ex-husband. I have no knowledge of his finances, nor do I care.”

  “Ms. Nugent, you indicated in your phone conversation that what you had to say would be worth our time. I prefer to get down to business,” Kellerman said.

  Kayla needed to get this over with, too. She reached into her bag, took out a video tape, and slid it across the table to him. “It might save us all some time if we watched this short video before we started our discussion.”

  “I am not sitting here watching any video.”

  Without taking his gaze off Kayla, Kellerman said, “Mrs. Lavely, I think we should watch it. Ms. Nugent didn’t fly to Chicago with this unless she thought it important.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he rose, turned on the TV in the corner of his office, and inserted the tape. After he pushed play, he sat.

  The tape of Kayla’s interview began and no one spoke as it played.

  When it finished, he took the tape out and handed it back.

  “This is a waste of our time,” Paulette Lavely said. “There’s nothing on that tape that is important or has any effect on what we are going to do.”

  Kellerman shifted in his chair and took a deep, exasperated breath. “Ms. Lavely, what’s on that tape has a lot to do with us. You need to understand something, if we go ahead with our plans from yesterday, the first thing that will happen is a family court judge will take Kevin into his office alone and have a discussion with him. The judge will ask him questions exactly like what Ms. Nugent asked. If that boy gives the same answers, we have nothing.”

  “You have nothing,” Kayla said. “That doesn’t mean that I have nothing.”

  Kayla glanced at the attorney and smiled before directing her words at the woman. “It’s simple, Ms. Lavely. When your divorce became final, the judge issued a decree stipulating conditions like visitation rights for the father, child support payments, and others. To date, my client hasn’t violated one part of that ordered decree. On the other hand, you have violated it on several occasions. We’ll welcome our date in court.”

  “That is utterly ridiculous. You’re going to get that date in court. I promise you that.”

  Kellerman held up a hand to stop his client. “Ms. Lavely, have you at any time stopped Kevin from his scheduled visitations for reasons other than emergencies as the boy claims?”

  Almost as an afterthought, he held up his hand up to stop her from answering. “Ms. Nugent, would you mind stepping out for a few minutes while I speak to my client?”

  Kayla rose. The attorney had almost made a mistake but caught it in time. She wouldn’t have that conversation with a client either in front of opposing council.

  When she stepped out, the secretary asked her if she wanted coffee. She smiled. “I not only want some, I need it desperately, but if you tell me where it is, I’ll get it.”

  The secretary told her she’d do it and asked how she took it. Minutes later, she returned with a steaming, large cup of black coffee. Kayla inhaled the aroma, sighing as she sipped.

  That conference would take more than a few minutes. He had too much to discuss with his client. When he called Kayla in, he’d try to avoid a custody hearing. She hadn’t mentioned that, but he had to know that would be a logical step. Good attorneys headed off problems before they reached the court stage. The last thing attorneys wanted was a court case if they could avoid it—especially when the other side held the upper hand.

  She’d almost finished the large coffee when Kellerman called her back in. The angry expression on the woman’s face told Kayla she’d get what she wanted.

  “Ms. Nugent,” Kellerman said, “Exactly what is it that you’re requesting?”

  “First and foremost, we want the dictates of the court in the decree about my client’s visitation rights carried out. My client has the right to see his son, and his son has the right to spend time with his father. The two of them haven’t spent a minute of tim
e together in a year. This is what prompted Kevin to do what he did.”

  She held up two fingers. “Second, we would like Kevin to spend the next two weeks in Houston with his father. It is summer and there should not be a school conflict.”

  The ex hadn’t spoken until now. “Absolutely not. My son isn’t about to spend two weeks in Houston.”

  Kayla rose, took out some papers and set them on the desk. “Okay, I’ll need some signatures on these custody hearing affidavits before I submit them. I can do it without the signatures, but it would save some time to get them now.”

  Paulette Lavely jumped up. “You’re bluffing.”

  Kellerman closed his eyes and massaged his temples. The more she talked, the deeper the hole got. At this point, Kayla would have asked the opposing counsel to leave again so she could have a heart to heart with one of her clients.

  Kayla crossed her arms. “I hold all the cards. Why would I need to bluff?” She snatched the papers up, put them away and headed for the door.

  Before she reached it, Kellerman stopped her. “Can we talk about the two weeks?”

  Kayla turned. “I think my client has been reasonable in these requests. However, if your side is willing to extend that same courtesy, then I’ll listen.”

  “Please have a seat, Ms. Nugent. We’ll also be reasonable.” He shot a hard look at his client.

  This talk of her client tickled her. At that moment, Darren Duval didn’t know he had an attorney, or that she had flown to Chicago and Kayla didn’t know if he even had a reasonable bone in his body—fantastic muscles, but didn’t know about the bones.

  She sat. “What would you consider reasonable?”

  Kellerman leaned forward. “With the child’s age and the fact that the father is out of state and working, we think that a week would be fair.”

  Kayla acted as if she considered this for several long moments. “We can agree on a week under a couple of conditions. First, when my client returns to Chicago, with the exception of emergencies as specified in the decree, the father retains his regular visitation rights. Second, legal action planned against my client for the uncoerced act of the child stops and does not come up in the future.”

  Kellerman glanced at his client who nodded, and turned back to Kayla. “We can agree to those conditions.” He smiled. “I assume you took the liberty of having these papers drawn up.”

  When Kayla passed them to him, he read them, signed them, and passed the papers to his client who signed them with a flourish and stomped out.

  Kellerman glanced at his watch. “Wish I could talk to you more, but I’m already late for a meeting.”

  “And I have a plane to catch,” Kayla said.

  “One thing before you leave, I’ve seen all the news on your upcoming trial. I think someone is badly underestimating you.”

  SEVENTEEN

  After Darren took Kevin to lunch, he tried to call Kayla, hoping she’d heard something from Chicago. It surprised him when her assistant told him that Kayla had left the office for the day and she’d have her call him when she returned. Returning to the motel room, he made some calls while Kevin watched TV.

  As hours passed, he paced the floor. He didn’t expect Kayla to accomplish anything, because he knew Paulette. She’d eat Kayla’s lunch in a minute. Why hadn’t he seen that vicious streak before they married?

  At four-thirty, he still hadn’t heard anything. He and Kevin wrestled on the bed, swam, and had a water gun fight, but his problems didn’t stray far from his mind.

  He kept waiting for the police to show up, take him into custody, and send Kevin back to Chicago. The old adage of no news was good news didn’t seem to apply to his situation. He wanted to call her again, and even thought about her cell phone, but in the end, decided not to bug her. If and when she had any news, she’d contact him.

  At five forty-five, Kayla called and invited him and Kevin to eat with her. She gave him the restaurant’s address and he hung up.

  He halfway expected Kevin to balk at the idea, but when he told him, the boy’s face brightened. “I want to see Kayla. I like her.”

  “Mmm—uh-huh, why do you like her?”

  Like the simplest thing in the world, Kevin said, “Because she likes me.”

  His son’s simple statement made him realize why so many people liked Kayla—she liked people and showed it.

  He dragged Kevin shopping for better clothes than he had worn when he ran away from Chicago.

  Aroma of cooking meat and cheeses wafted into the foyer, smelling so good, it made him want to lick the walls.

  Kevin leaped to his feet when Kayla entered. The boy ran to her, showing off his new clothes. Kayla, wearing a sleeveless sundress, squatted, talking to Kevin.

  Although she held the dress, it rode high when she bent. Darren took in a deep breath. He’d thought of her as thin, but she had muscular, athletic legs—not bulging body builder type, but firm, sexy. When she hunkered down, the grace and ease of the movement triggered sensations in him he didn’t need right then. He snapped his gaze from her legs to her face.

  From her expressions, it wasn’t hard to see why his son liked her.

  No one, including Darren, existed at that moment but the boy. Her face and eyes shined as she talked to him. She made Kevin feel important.

  Kevin saw, and Darren realized at that moment, that she didn’t fake her attention, her attitude, or feelings for the people around her.

  After several minutes of Kayla squatting and talking to Kevin, she rose, caught his hand, and with arms swinging, the two joined Darren. They followed the greeter to their table in the back. A waitress materialized and took their drink orders.

  Over dinner, the boy chatted as Darren had never heard him do. Paulette was a dutiful mother, but she had a cold personality that didn’t let people get close to her.

  Kevin, starved for attention, found an adult female that gave him the attention he needed and didn’t make him feel obligated for it.

  With their meal over, they order dessert. Occasionally, people stopped by the table to speak, and she introduced them to Darren and Kevin.

  When Kevin hurried off to the bathroom, Kayla put her napkin down. “I hope you don’t mind, but I spoke today with your ex-wife and her attorney.”

  His eyes widened. She didn’t seem any worse for the experience. Good thing they invented phones. “No, I don’t mind at all. When are they going to have me arrested?” He said it as if joking, but he meant it. He knew Paulette.

  She took a drink of her water. “They aren’t. They have no plans to file any criminal or civil charges. Also, when you return to Chicago, they will no longer keep you from your scheduled visitations with Kevin.”

  It took him several moments to respond. His mouth didn’t seem to work. “Mmm, you got them to agree to all that?”

  She took a bite of her dessert before answering. “Yes, and one other thing.”

  He half-puckered his lips, forming a dimple on one side, nodding. There had to be a catch. “Uh-huh, what do I have to do?”

  Kevin had strolled up and heard his dad’s last question. With apprehension, he sat, arms crossed, staring at the table.

  “I hope you don’t think I’m butting into your business,” Kayla said, “but when I talked to them I got them to agree to let Kevin stay here a week with you.”

  “My God—Kayla, how in the world did you get them to agree to that?”

  Kevin let out a delighted squeal, bouncing up and down in his chair. “A whole week.”

  She turned to the boy, put her finger under his chin and lifted his face to hers, nose to nose. “A whole week.”

  Darren had to fight back tears as his son threw his arms around her neck and hugged her tight.

  When the celebration ended, Darren frowned. “Something occurred to me. I’m in Houston working. I have no one to keep Kevin when I have things I need to do. I can’t take him to most of the places I have to go.”

  The boy’s happy face turned cloudy
until Kayla said, “I have a solution, if you don’t mind my nose in your business?”

  Darren didn’t get a chance to answer—Kevin did it for him. “Dad doesn’t mind at all.”

  Kayla glanced at him, and he chuckled. “Actually, Kevin’s right.”

  Kayla winked at Kevin, before facing Darren. “It just so happens that Marvin has two kids, and the oldest is a year younger than Kevin. His wife stays home. Also, Sarah Jane has a sister with three children and she stays home. When I’m not at work, I’d love to watch after Kevin.”

  “Uh-uh, they won’t want to watch someone else’s child,” he said.

  “On the contrary, I have already asked them and not only do they not mind, they insist on it.”

  When Darren and Kevin left the restaurant, he knew two things. Kayla Nugent had reaffirmed his opinion of her, and he was in a lot of trouble. He had lost all hope of not falling for her.

  * * * *

  Time evaporated like a finger snap. One instant Kevin had a week and the next, they had to put him on a plane back to Chicago. It tore Darren apart to do it, but Kayla hadn’t realized the effect it would have on her. When Darren pried Kevin out of her arms, it was like someone ripping away a part of her soul.

  She wanted to be the best, one day have her own firm, represent clients she believed in, whether they could pay or not. Maybe find a man she could trust, believe in, confide in, but more than anything, love with every fiber of her body and soul.

  Until that moment at the airport, that was all she wanted. Her eyes burned thinking about Kevin. He was a great kid, and she wanted and needed one just like him.

  She, Darren, and Kevin spent quite a bit of time together, and when he left for Chicago, against her better judgment, she and Darren continued to see each other. She enjoyed his company and found many things they had in common. Although they hadn’t known each other long, a net seemed to encompass her, drawing her closer to Darren. She wanted to fight it and didn’t understand why she didn’t.

  Now, sitting cross-legged on her bed, she set the brief down and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. Her time to prepare for the trial had also flown out the window. Voir dire would begin at nine Monday morning—thirty-six hours away, and she was nowhere near ready.