by Jayne Blue
“I’m sure.” My heart lurched. Could I go back? Could I reopen these wounds and still hold onto what was left of my soul?
“She needs to know what happened. She needs to hear it from me. Do you still know where she is?” I asked. Ten years ago, I’d made the two men in this room swear never to answer that question for me.
Bear lowered his gaze then reached into the breast pocket of his leather cut. He knew. Of course he knew I would ask this. He pulled out a slip of paper. Just a tiny folded square. And yet, I knew what he’d written on it could change the trajectory of my life again. Just like it had ten years ago.
He slipped the paper into my palm, giving me a firm, solid handshake. I withdrew and put the paper into my own breast pocket without looking at it. E.Z.’s eyes were burning through me too. I knew I should thank them both. All these years, they’d done what I asked. Even now, they were doing it when they knew how wrong my decision might be.
“Take a few days, son,” Bear said. “But don’t disappear.”
Nodding, I turned to leave. That tiny slip of paper with an address written on it I’d sworn him never to give me burned right beside my broken heart.
Chapter 2
Beth
“All rise!”
My heart dropped into my three-inch heels as Judge Dupree’s bailiff’s voice boomed through the courtroom. Judge Tobias Dupree VII flipped his robe around his waist as he took the three short steps up to his bench. He peered at me over horn-rimmed half glasses, his deep scowl cutting through me. I gave him a weak smile and looked behind me.
“Where the hell are you, Eddie?” I muttered through gritted teeth. Judge Dupree ran his docket with military precision. All summary judgment hearings took place at one o’clock sharp on Thursdays. The second hand on the large round clock above the double doors snapped to the twelve at the exact time the judge took his last step.
My throat ran dry as I shuffled the papers on the table in front of me. All eyes turned to the conspicuously empty chair beside me. I looked down, afraid to make eye contact with the judge or the plaintiff’s counsel to my right.
Chairs shuffled as Judge Dupree took his seat. He made a great show out of shuffling his own paperwork. Bless him for trying to stall for even that little bit of time. The courtroom doors behind me stayed ominously closed.
“Miss Kennedy?” Judge Dupree said. I bit my bottom lip, took a breath, and met his withering stare.
“Yes, your Honor.” I slowly rose to my feet again as the judge addressed me.
“Is Mr. Albright going to grace us with his presence this afternoon?”
“Uh ... yes, your Honor. He just stepped out for a moment.” I was skirting the truth, but not outright lying. Dupree wasn’t stupid, he saw right through me.
“Your Honor.” Clayton Benedict, counsel for the plaintiff, rose from his chair. “If Mr. Albright can’t see fit to show up to argue his own motion, with all due respect, what are the rest of us even doing here?”
Dupree chewed his bottom lip. He was the oldest county judge in the state of Texas. He’d won re-election two days before his seventy-fifth birthday. They’d force him out at the end of his term, but if I knew anything about the Honorable Tobias Dupree VII, he wouldn’t go quietly.
I couldn’t help but turn back to the doors. I stared hard at them, as if I could will Eddie to appear. Each second that he didn’t, I could feel our client’s chances slipping away. This motion should be a slam dunk. I researched and wrote it myself, just like I did for all Eddie’s cases these days. The plaintiff dropped a bombshell during her deposition. Eddie was defending a local therapist against a negligence claim, only the plaintiff openly admitted the bad deed happened over six years ago. Way beyond the statute of limitations. All Eddie had to do was stand up in court and show that testimony to the judge. It was simple math. I could argue this in my sleep. Except legally, I wasn’t allowed. Eddie was the lawyer. I was his paralegal.
“I move to dismiss this motion.”
“Your Honor!” My tone came out as more of a shout; the echo of it made even my ears ring. “If we could just have a few more minutes. Mr. Albright wasn’t feeling well this morning. Is there any chance we could move this hearing to the end of your docket today?”
Sympathy filled Judge Dupree’s face. Even arguing for more time may be overstepping my bounds. But the judge knew Eddie. Everyone in this county did. They also knew full well where I’d likely find him. Ten to one, he was probably pulling up a chair to a different bench right this very minute, the Lonestar Bar just off U.S. 10.
“Miss Kennedy,” Judge Dupree said. “Mr. Benedict has a point. This is Mr. Albright’s motion. Plaintiff’s counsel has taken the trouble to prepare a written response. And they’ve shown up today. He is ready to proceed with oral argument. Now, unless you’ve passed the bar in the last five minutes, as competent as you are, I can’t allow you to do it for Mr. Albright. In the alternative, is your client here today? He can always argue on his own behalf.”
I swallowed hard. The answer was no.
“Fine.” Judge Dupree sighed.
“Your Honor, I move to dismiss the defendant’s motion and for entry of an order of judgment in the amount specified in the complaint.”
It was as if my heart turned to sawdust. I couldn’t breathe. Never mind losing the case, this would open Eddie up to malpractice in a best-case scenario. In the worst, he’d lose his license. And so would go my own career and health insurance.
I opened my mouth to object. The hell with not having a law license. I couldn’t just stand here and let this happen. But Judge Dupree could pretty much read my mind. He held a hand up to silence me.
“Here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll hear from the plaintiff’s counsel because he at least bothered to show up. You, Miss Kennedy, will sit there quietly and refrain from doing anything else that looks like the unauthorized practice of law. I have written briefs from both parties. I’ll rule on them in writing after hearing from Mr. Benedict today.”
“Your Honor.” Clayton popped up again. As angry as Judge Dupree was at Eddie, he sure didn’t like being interrupted. Apparently nobody ever taught Clayton Benedict the lesson of quitting while he was ahead. My heart sank.
“I said I’d hear from you, Mr. Benedict,” Dupree said. “I didn’t say you could interrupt me.”
“I just wanted to put in on record that we’re asking for sanctions!”
Dupree dropped his shoulders and slammed back in his seat. “You can put that on the record when I tell you it’s your turn to talk!”
I sank slowly into my chair, clasped my hands in front of me, and silently prayed that Clayton Benedict would continue to put his foot in his mouth. It was about the only thing that might save Eddie and our client’s case at the moment.
My nerves withering, I sat quietly for the next ten minutes listening to Benedict argue his motion defense. It had about a million holes in it and I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from pointing them out. It was torture. When he finished, he sat back down and glared at me with his chest puffed out.
“That’s it?” Dupree asked.
“Yes, your Honor,” Benedict answered.
“Then we’re adjourned. Miss Kennedy? Go find your boss and tell him I’d like to see him in my chambers at five o’clock. And do me a favor.”
“Anything, your Honor,” I said, rising as he spoke to me.
Dupree pushed his glasses back up his nose. “I take that back. Do us all a favor, Miss Kennedy: get a law license already.”
He banged his gavel and left the bench in a swirl of black fabric. My feet barely touched the ground as I gathered Eddie’s file and ran out the back of the courtroom. Benedict shouted after me, but I didn’t stop. If Eddie was where I knew we all believed he was, I only had a couple of hours to find him, help him dry out, and get him back to the courthouse to meet with Dupree.
Mercifully, I’d gotten a good parking spot right in front of Crystal Falls District Court. I zoomed out
of town and went straight to the Lonestar. Sure enough, Eddie’s silver Pontiac was parked at an angle next to the building. As usual, he left the keys tucked under the driver’s side wheel well. I grabbed them and ran into the bar.
Eddie was sitting in his usual end stool, regaling the bartender with courtroom war stories from his last thirty years of practice. Half of them were even true. Sadie, the bar’s owner, saw me come in and shook her head as she flipped two beer mugs upright, ready to fill them.
“Ed!” As I reached the end of the bar, the patron sitting in the stool beside Eddie vacated it for me. Everyone here knew this drill by heart.
Eddie’s eyes went in and out of focus as I took the seat beside him and tugged on his sleeve. Eddie was dressed for court, at least wearing his tan suit with the suede elbow patches. His white hair stuck out in peaks. His bulbous nose was nearly purple and his wiry eyebrows twitched as he looked at me.
“Ed,” I said, trying not to raise my voice. “Time to get you out of here. You’ve got a meeting with Judge Dupree. You forgot about the Grayson summary judgment hearing. They held it without you.”
I made a sweeping gesture across my neck to Morris, the bartender. He was Ed’s age, mid-fifties. They’d gone to high school together. Morris nodded but he also knew the drill. He’d probably cut Eddie off a few rounds ago. Which meant I was sure to find a silver flask of Bourbon in his suit jacket.
“There she is!” Ed Albright, Esquire shouted. “Beth Kennedy. My girl Friday. The girl with no past!”
My heart sank. This little speech meant on a scale of one to ten, Eddie was an eight and a half. He’d still be piss drunk in two hours. No way I could present him to Judge Dupree like this. I’d need to stall for time.
“Give it a rest, Ed, will ya?” Sadie called from the other end of the bar. Bless her. “Leave the kid alone. Still can’t figure out why she even puts up with your bullshit. I hope you’re paying her well.”
He was. That was the truth of it. Eddie hadn’t drawn a salary for himself in over five years. He didn’t need it. I found him nine years ago at a low point in my own life. I’d read about a case he was trying in the Crystal Falls Gazette. A products liability case against a baby formula company. Two infant twins had died. I took a chance, suspecting he’d need research help and grunt work. I was right. He eventually won the case. His share was over five million dollars. Enough to afford me and my health insurance.
I took a chance on him, but he took a bigger chance on me. The girl with no past. Just like he said. No resume or references either. I couldn’t even give him my last address. I’d done my level best to save him from himself ever since. But he’d saved me just as much.
“Come on,” I said. “We’ll tell Judge Dupree you’ve come down with the stomach flu. He might even buy it this time.”
“A supermodel on the lam,” he said, drawing even more open-mouthed stares from the bar patrons and Morris and Sadie.
“Not even close, Ed,” I said. It did me no good to let Eddie draw attention to me this way. I just hoped they’d write it off as the rantings of a drunk.
“Former C.I.A.,” he said.
“Nope.” I tucked a hand under Eddie’s elbow and gently pulled him off the stool. I lifted my chin toward Morris and slapped a twenty-dollar bill on the bar, hoping it was enough to put a dent in Eddie’s tab.
“K.G.B?”
“Getting warmer.” I smiled. This was an old game between us. For now, it would keep him focused on something other than the fact that I was leading him out of the bar and into my Ford pick-up. If he saw his own car, he might resist and argue that he was fine to drive.
“Former Russian ice skater. You defected to the U.S. after winning a silver medal in a heartbreaking tie to an East German skater in the last Olympics.”
“Good guess,” I said. “But East Germany hasn’t existed since I was in, I don’t know, preschool?”
“Damn. I thought that was it for sure. I know ... circus performer. You’re on the lam after a torrid affair with a Romanian trapeze artist. Broke up his marriage.”
I sighed. “Come on, Eddie. Time to quit while you’re behind.” I put a hand on his head to protect it, cop-style, as Eddie climbed into the passenger seat of my truck. He could come back for his Pontiac tomorrow or I’d call in a favor to Mickey Weller, owner of the only body shop in Crystal Falls. He could tow it back in exchange for Eddie’s waiving his legal bill on some collections work we did for him last year. It wouldn’t be the first time and likely not the last.
By the time I hit the highway again, Eddie had slumped over in his seat. He drooled against my window and snored loud as a freight train. My heart sank. I’d never be able to get him out of the truck in that condition without some help.
I turned up the radio and listened to some classic country. Eddie kept on snoring. Judge Dupree’s words rang in my head. Do us all a favor and get your law license. God, if only I could. But like Eddie said, I was the girl with no past. I could probably get into law school as Beth Kennedy. I knew I could pass the bar in my sleep. I just couldn’t risk the scrutiny of the mandatory background check I’d have to endure before they’d issue me a bar card.
So I would stay Beth Kennedy, crackerjack paralegal. Girl Friday to Eddie Albright, one of the most brilliant lawyers in the state when he was sober. Hell, even when he was half in the bag. He took me for who I was. Just like I did for him. And on we would go.
I pulled into the office parking lot. The law offices of Edward Albright were housed in a pale green Victorian farmhouse on the outskirts of Crystal Falls. The place was a historic landmark. President Van Buren had once stayed here.
I climbed out and went to the passenger door. Eddie was still slumped against it, drooling. I checked my phone. It was quarter after three. I pressed my own forehead against the glass, meeting Eddie’s.
“You’re killing me,” I said. What in God’s name was I going to tell Judge Dupree?
“You’re enabling him!” Darlene Albright slammed the front door behind her as she waddled down the ramp. She was Eddie’s older sister and secretary.
“I’m trying to keep him from a malpractice lawsuit. With any luck, Judge Dupree will be satisfied with the merits of the brief we submitted on the Grayson case.”
Darlene flapped her hands. Her cheeks were flushed as she reached the end of the ramp. Her brother’s physical ailments were mostly of his own making. Too much booze. Too much sugar and fried foods. Darlene was born with hers. Standing only four foot eight due to a painfully twisted spine, she walked with a swinging limp. Her wiry gray hair flew in all directions as she shook an accusatory finger at her brother.
“Oh, I know everything, honey. Misty called me before you even left the courthouse.” Of course she did. With a population just north of six thousand people, everyone knew everyone’s business in Crystal Falls. Misty was the head court clerk. Before I came along, she did more to keep Eddie upright than anyone. They’d been engaged years ago. She’d never admit it, but Misty Loomis still carried an Olympic-sized torch for Eddie Albright. God help her.
“Might as well get him inside,” Darlene said. She brushed past me and swung the car door open. I gasped as Eddie slumped over and spilled to the ground. The fall barely fazed him. Darlene delivered a light kick to his ribs. Not enough to hurt him, just enough to let him know she was there.
Eddie smiled up at his big sister and miraculously hauled himself to his feet. His eyes sparkled and for a moment, I had hoped I could get him to his meeting with the judge after all.
“You have a visitor,” Darlene said, shouting over her shoulder to me. “I told him to leave, but the bugger’s persistent. Not from around here.”
An engine revved in the side parking lot. My heart plummeted as the familiar sound cut through me. It couldn’t be. I was hearing things. I half turned, catching a glimpse of the gleaming chrome of the Harley’s handlebars.
No.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t move.
�
�I told you to wait inside!” Darlene shouted. Eddie was up under his own power now. He dusted off his trousers and swung an arm around Darlene.
The Harley pulled up alongside us. My eyes went up and up. My mouth gaped open and I took a step back. I saw my stunned reflection in the rider’s mirrored aviator glasses until he slowly slipped them down his nose.
Those eyes. Pale blue, dark-rimmed irises. His hair was different. Long on top but shaved at the sides. He looked rougher, meaner, hardened. He swung one denim-clad leg over the bike and tucked his sunglasses into the collar of his white t-shirt.
“Beth?” he asked. His voice rippled through me.
“Danny,” I whispered, trembling.
I was the girl with no past. But with the revving of Danny Wade’s motorcycle engine, my past had just caught up with me.
Chapter 3
Deacon
I saw her through a kind of tunnel vision. She was there, right in front of me. And yet, she felt so far away. It all happened within the span of a few seconds, but in my mind, an eternity played out. No. Not an eternity. Ten years.
I still couldn’t believe it. All this time, E.Z. and Bear had only sent Beth a hundred and fifty miles away. Crystal Falls, Texas, just outside of San Antonio. It was a quick ride up U.S.10 and one I’d made hundreds of times in the last decade. Hell, I’d even stopped here once or twice. There was a greasy spoon just off the highway. We used it as a meeting place every once in a while.
I wanted to rail and rage that she was too close. The enemies I’d tried to protect her from could have easily tracked her this close to Port Azrael. But they hadn’t. She was here. Alive. Safe, from what I could tell.
“Everything all right, Beth?” My neck snapped around. A crumpled, middle-aged guy stumbled out of the truck Beth had been driving. He wore a tan suit with patches on the elbows. His pot belly hung over his belt and his dark brown tie flapped in the wind. A sign swung on a wooden post in the front of the building. It read “Law Offices of Edward Albright.”
