Authors: u
* * * *
The wall clock droned nosily in the silence of the living room. Chelsea sat on a barstool with her laptop on the counter. Everything she wanted to say about the case was not admissible in court. Finding it difficult to concentrate, she went up to her bedroom and stared at Isaac’s photograph. Her heart dilated as she thought of every sweet, romantic moment they had spent together. Her mother’s old adage crowded her thoughts. If it can be fixed, it’s just a problem. If not, it’s a situation.
Unsure of where their relationship lay, she commanded her phone to dial his number and felt rejected at the direct connection his voicemail. “Hey, I don’t know where you are, but I’m starting to worry. Call me.”
Thinking she heard the front doorknob jiggle, she went back downstairs, hoping Dee was with Skip, so she could properly vent her anxiety. A loud bump slightly shook the door.
Knowing Skip usually carried a briefcase and armloads of food, she went to unlock the door.
Thinking, instead, of the newly installed peephole, she slid back the brass plate, but could not see anyone. “Skip? Is that you?”
She heard another bump and then thud on the stairway. Her head ping-ponged from the door to the stairs where a big ball of fur sauntered down the steps. “Armageddon!”
She ran to the steps, scooped the cat into her arms and hurried upstairs for her pistol. The front door was opening when she started back downstairs. She held the gun with both hands and pointed.
“What the hell is going on?” Skip stopped in his tracks.
“How long have you been out there?”
“I just walked up.” He came in carrying his usual load. “Are you okay? Did somebody try and break in? Did you call the police? Do you wan—”
“Hold it, hold it, hold it.” She lowered the revolver and took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I thought I heard someone at the door earlier. Then I heard noises upstairs, which turned out to be this insane cat. All of this mess is making me crazy.”
Armageddon stood next to her leg, hissed and growled at Skip.
“And you, you big hairball! No one I know has a cat who bounces off walls and hates men.” She looked over at her brother. “The hating men I can understand. I don’t know what happened to Isaac and he won’t return my calls.” She told him about her latest encounter with Quincy.
“I know he saw Isaac standing there with flowers in his hand. From where he stood, all he saw was Quincy leaning over me. David said he bolted and wouldn’t stop when he questioned him.”
“Let me try his cell. From now on, I’ll let you know when I’m heading in. I’m glad you have the pistol. We’ll just have to practice more caution overall.” He closed the phone. “Voice mail full. I guess he’s not taking anyone’s calls.”
After a restless night of making phone calls and leaving messages, Chelsea had coffee and toast with Skip and hurried to her office before going back to court. She checked her messages, made notes of the ones she needed to return, and was about to leave when a shadow appeared in the doorway.
“Frankie.” The haggard face before her seemed much older than she remembered. One
glance could tell that a lot of pain now resided there. “What’s wrong? Isaac. Has something happened to Isaac?”
“Yes, and no. He’s not hurt, or anything. Do you mind if I come in?”
“Please. Come in.” She stood and motioned to a chair. “I’m due in court shortly, but I’m sure you wouldn’t have come unless it was important.”
“It’s important because Isaac is important. I don’t know how much he’s told you about our history, but I’ve known him since he was born. Outside of my boys and my mother, I love him more than anyone. He doesn’t know I’m here, but he’s really hurting. I had to try and help.”
“Hurting how? What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“First, I need to ask you a question. I know the two of you discussed avoiding a serious relationship, but I need to know how you really feel.”
She frowned “Why do you ask?”
“Because what I have to say will only matter if you truly care for him. If you love him.
Otherwise, I can save my speech and let you get on to work.”
The feelings that had plagued Chelsea earlier now returned with force. Taking no time to think, she tried to give Frankie an honest answer. “We did both agree to keep our relationship light. That was a long time ago. Every time I started thinking of us as more than just lovers, I remembered what he said about not wanting more than a casual relationship. I held back because I didn’t want to scare him off.” She faced Frankie. “There’s only so much holding back I can do.
What I feel for him is much more than we agreed. I’ve been afraid to let him know…I’m in love him.”
“Good. I know time is tight, so I’ll try and be brief. A long time ago, when he was much younger, Isaac fell for someone. He fell hard. That first attraction kind of thing. She never knew how he felt, and inadvertently hurt him deeply. Since then, he’s made a career of brief relationships. The ones that last past one night are asked to keep the relationship casual. You’re the only one who has lasted for an extended period of time. He called your relationship casual monogamy. It may have started out that way but he’s long past that stage as well. I suspected he cared for you, but he denied it and I didn’t press. He’s in love with you. Completely, crazy in love. When he felt threatened by this man, this attorney, Quincy something or other, he became afraid of losing you, something he’s never allowed himself to feel since that first time.”
“So where is he? Why won’t he return my calls?”
“He left for Atlanta last night. I think he called the coach, but no one else. He tried to tell you how he felt this past weekend. I don’t know what he said, but you obviously replied the way you thought he wanted you to. He kept trying, but never said what was in his heart. I guess you kept covertly turning him down. We spoke early yesterday and I advised him to let you know how he felt, so he showed up at the courthouse with an armload of roses to ask you to marry him.”
“Marry?” The word struck her hard. “You mean he was there to propose? Why didn’t
he?”
“Because you were engaged in what he thought was an intimate conversation with this other guy. Isaac made reservations to leave early for Atlanta, but stopped by my house to tell me what happened. He was devastated.”
“God. This shouldn’t have happened, Frankie. Isaac should have trusted me enough to know that I would never allow anyone to come between us.” As soon as the words were spoken, she felt a stab of pain. “I can’t speak for Quincy. I think he was just trying to push my buttons.”
She turned away. “I’ll admit, I felt some attraction in the very beginning. I guess that’s when I realized how much Isaac means to me.” She turned back to face Frankie. “What should I do?”
“Let him know how you feel. Go to Atlanta if you have to, but don’t leave him stewing in anger. He deserves better.” She stood. “Do you still have a relationship with this other guy?
Would you have accepted Isaac’s proposal?”
“I will accept his proposal. Nothing happened between Quincy Beckham and me. He
came on to me, heavily I might add. Isaac is perceptive enough to read it for what it was, but not on my part. The slight attraction I felt when we first met, was just that—slight and short-lived. It happened because I was thinking of forever, and felt that wasn’t what Isaac wanted. I knew that sooner or later, Isaac would learn how I felt, and probably run like hell. I briefly thought of dating Quincy if that happened. Now, I have nothing but contempt for Quincy, and that’s rapidly turning to hatred.” She glanced at her watch. “Thank you. I owe you one.”
Frankie smiled and walked to the door.
“Was it you?” Chelsea called after her.
“What?”
“The woman Isaac fell in love with. It was you, wasn’t it?”
Frankie smiled, pivoted on her heel and walked from the room.
* * * *
The courtroom was buzzing when Chelsea arrived, but Quincy was nowhere in sight. In her rush to get there, she had forgotten her bottled water and was parched from the scuttle and from her early morning visitor. After scanning the crowd, she whispered to the bailiff and walked down the corridor to the water fountain.
She took a long drink, inhaled and was about to take another when she saw the alligator shoes. Trying to gather her wits, she turned and found the irritating smile beaming down on her.
“Good morning. You might not believe this, but I was worried when I didn’t see you in court. Someone said you ran out for water. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“Is that so?” Thinking it was too simple to tell him what was on her mind, and not wanting to spoil her mood for the trial, she smiled sweetly. “Well, remind me to tell you how that makes me feel. We’ll talk after recess today.”
“If you would just listen to reason, this trial would be over today and I could start showing you just how good we are together.”
Keeping her composure and her smile, she left him standing there and went back to the courtroom. When she looked around to see if he had followed her back inside, she found him making eye contact with a man she had noticed in the back of the courtroom on each day of the trial. It took only a second to put a name with the face. The pieces fell in place. When they did, her hands shook with rage.
Quincy is not into me. He’s a decoy. I was set up. Son of a…
Court convened and Chelsea called the witness who had rescued Barbara Colbert. After testifying that he ran into the bushes when he heard a woman scream, he also definitively described Curtis Hamilton as the young man leaving the area with blood-splattered clothing.
Quincy stood, buttoned his jacket, paced across the floor twice and stopped in front of the witness stand. “Let the record show that my client has admitted being in the park that evening.”
He turned sharply on his heel and spoke to the witness. “You were in the park that evening and you didn’t go there with Barbara Colbert, so why assume my client did?”
Tension washed over Chelsea. Images of Colbert’s battered face danced in her mind.
Hatred had never been a part of her world. In as a child, she had learned to forgive and forget.
Knowing a man had tried to use her and was intentionally misleading the court was almost too much to digest.
“You had blood on your clothing when the police arrived.” Quincy’s face was a mask of smugness. “Did you beat Ms. Colbert?”
Chelsea objected with enough indignation to draw a warning from the judge. When they recessed for lunch, she decided not to try and hold her anger any longer. The opportunity to clear her mind was waiting when she walked into the corridor.
“So you think you made some headway with your star witness?” His smile was slightly tart. “That was your star witness, was it not? Oh, I forgot. You had something to tell me, and judging from the irritation I detected in court, it must be salacious. What is it, baby? Are you ready to see what I have to offer?”
She swallowed hard. “You know, I should have seen it sooner. I knew something was
fishy, but I guess I wasn’t far enough in the gutter to see just how low you’re willing to stoop.
Did you really think you could pull it off?” She shrugged. “I forgot. Puppets don’t think.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can wipe the smugness from your face, Mr. Beckham. I’m onto your game. How
can you stand here and brag about your greatness? You’re nothing but a mouthpiece in the courtroom, so I’m convinced you’re much worse in the bedroom. I don’t know what the connection is, but I will find it, and when I do, I’m going to bury your ass. You spoke ill of the man I love, so let me inform you now that you’re not fit to shine Isaac’s shoes. There’s not a damn thing you can offer me, but professionalism, which you obviously don’t possess.”
His smugness tripled. “You still didn’t say there was no attraction.”
“If your case hinges on your ability to rile me with your totally offensive inferences, you can count on losing—big time. I know your game, and I must say, it’s beneath everything I could have imagined. Stay away from me, you slimy bastard, or I’ll make you wish you had stayed in Baton Rouge.”
This time she turned away before he could reply. She felt foolish for allowing him to get under her skin, and was enjoying her lunch until a call came from Mama Rose.
“They’re at it again! I got some kind of delinquent tax notice all the way back to 1992.
Can you believe this shit? I don’t owe this city a damn dime. I’m tired of it. The next person who walks through that door and tells me something I don’t want to hear about my place of business is likely to be shot.”
“It is possible for you to produce those receipts, Mama Rose?”
“I have every receipt filed by year.”
“See if you can locate them tonight and I’ll—”
“I have them right here. This invoice I just received is a duplicate of the one I paid. I have the cancelled check.”
Chelsea sighed, knowing she had to do something to take the heat off her grandmother.
“Make copies of everything.”
“I’m holding the copies in my hand. The originals are in a safety deposit box with all of my papers.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about. I’ll stop by when I leave court today. Don’t worry about it, and please don’t shoot anyone.”
Her day was now ruined, but looking across the deli, she felt Quincy’s day wasn’t going too well either. He knew she was onto him. She hoped he knew his defense was shot.
* * * *
Chelsea called the last of her witnesses and rested her case before three. Quincy tried to discredit their accounts of what happened the night of the attack by saying it was too dark for them to positively identify the accused. Each witness remained steadfast. Chelsea was surprised when Judge Sienna recessed until the following Monday, but it was a needed break.
“What’s wrong, baby girl?” David asked on the way to her car. “From what I saw, you’ll win this one.”
“It’s not that. I’ve got so many worries. I don’t know which one to tackle first.” She told him about Mama Rose’s problem, Isaac’s refusal to answer or return her calls, as well as her suspicions about Quincy. “Do you know Robert Strickland?”