Cascade (47 page)

Sandy watched her mother’s interest
peak.

“
The Federal government
has claimed that money. The money was collected in the process of
committing felony child abuse.”

“
What does that mean?” her
mother asked.

“
The money was from the
proceeds of your ex-husband’s child pornography business. Sexually
abusing a child and creating child pornography is a felony. It’s
illegal to profit from a felony.”

“
But that money belongs to
me,” her mother said. “I had to feed, clothe and provide shelter
for the child. Doesn’t that make the money mine?”

Sandy watched the interaction between her
mother and the attorney with a kind of sick fascination. Jill was
right. Her mother had lost her mind.

“
No, ma’am,” the lawyer
appeared horrified as well. “The money belongs to the Federal
Government.”

“
But I thought parents
controlled the rights to money earned by minor children,” her
mother pressed.

“
Not when the minor
children are being victimized in the course of a felony,” the
lawyer said. “Sandra? Do you have any questions?”

“
No sir,” Sandy said. “I
expected this.”

“
Good,” the lawyer said.
“The next matter is the house. As you know, the house was sold
quickly to pay your father’s estimated legal fees. The city
assessed the house at $278,000 and it sold for an even $250,000.
Your father’s legal fees amounted to five thousand dollars. He also
had a $10,000 government service life insurance policy which names
Sandra as the beneficiary. He had some savings…”

“
Five thousand in savings
and two thousand in checking,” her mother said.

“
Yes,” the lawyer said. “A
will was found among the money. He stipulated that Sandra was the
heir to his estate.”

“
What does that mean? You
mean she gets everything?”

“
Wait,” Sandy said. “Slow
down. Tell Mom why she’s here.”

“
Don’t you dare call me
‘Mom,’” her mother said. “You ungrateful, spoiled
child.”

“
Sandra asked if you would
be here…” the lawyer started.

“
You set this up to
humiliate me again!” Her mother jumped to her feet.

“
Please sit down,” the
lawyer said. “Sandra wanted everything to be clear. So there aren’t
any uncertainties or confusion.”

“
Mom…” Sandy
said.

Her mother gave her one last look and
stormed out of the lawyer’s office.

“
Why didn’t you tell her I
was going to split the estate with her?” Sandy asked.

“
Sandra, I reviewed your
parents divorce decree,” the lawyer said. “They were divorced for
more than twenty years. When they divorced, she received everything
– all the bank accounts, their house, the car, everything. She also
received generous child support and alimony, which you generated
for her, until your step-father married her. She is not entitled to
anything from this estate.”

“
I wanted her…”

“
I’m sorry, Sandra. You
can’t buy her love anymore,” the lawyer said.

Sandy’s eyes went wide with the shock of the
simple truth. She sat back in her seat for a moment.

“
I apologize for my
frankness,” the lawyer said.

“
No, it’s all right.
What’s next?”

“
We have a year to settle
the estate. We’ve found another bank account for your father but
haven’t received the records. We’ve paid off his debts and will
file taxes.”

“
You’ll let me know?”
Sandy asked.

“
I will,” the lawyer
said.

Sandy stood to leave the office. The lawyer
walked her to the lobby. She was almost out the door when the
lawyer said: “I am truly sorry.”

Sandy nodded and left the office. Walking
down the hall, she turned toward the elevator where her mother
stood.

“
Mom, please,” Sandy
said.

Her mother wouldn’t look at her.

“
I invited you there
because we planned to split the…”

“
You are dead to me,” her
mother said.

“
What about my brother and
sister? I miss them. And…”

“
You are dead to them as
well,” her mother said. “You ruined my life, humiliated me
and…”

The elevator opened and her mother stepped
on.

“
I don’t ever want to see
you again. Ever. In my entire life.”

Dumbfounded,
Sandy watched her mother step on the elevator. The elevator doors
closed leaving Sandy staring at the space where her mother once
stood. She felt nothing – no sadness or grief. She felt a kind of
blank emptiness. She was sure she should cry. She was confident
someone else, a
normal
person, would scream or yell. For a
moment, she pondered calling Jill or Heather or Tanesha. In her
mind, she heard what they would each say about her mother’s
behavior.

When the elevator opened again, Sandy
stepped in. She was done lingering in the hardship and drama of the
past. After all, her present was full enough.

Plus, Nash was waiting for her.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday — 4:45 P.M.

“
I realize this has been a
long trial,” Ann Campbell addressed the jury. “You’ve heard
witnesses confirm that the evidence is true and other witnesses who
say that it’s false. The defense will argue that you’ve spent the
last three weeks listening to witnesses who made up stories and
evidence, designed to convict their innocent client. My job is to
help you understand that given the concrete video footage,
biological data, as well and long history of behavior, this woman
is a danger to our community.”

“
After three weeks, I’m
confident you are aware of the danger the defendant poses to those
around her.”

“
Rather than run through
the evidence for the fourth or fifth time, I’d like to leave you
with this. This is a video of Honey Lipson dancing at the
party.”

The Assistant District Attorney played a
tape of Honey dancing. Waltzing, she swirled around the room on the
arm of a famous movie star. Her fluid blue evening gown blew around
her as she danced. The video stopped with an image of Honey’s
laughing face.

“
This footage was taken
merely ten minutes before she was attacked.”

The video replayed the attack on Honey. The
next images were of her in the hospital fighting for her life.

“
Her father took these
photos,” the Assistant District Attorney said. “She barely
survived. No one expected her to survive. Yet, here she
is.”

The next images were photographs of Honey’s
naked back. Surgical scars ran from the base of her scull to her
sacrum. The scars from where she was stabbed looked like steps on
some ancient ladder. The area where her spine was severed showed
the fusion marks. The scars were bright red against her pale white
skin. The entire courtroom sat in stunned silence.

“
To us, this case comes
down to this: Honey Lipson looked like this.”

The video showed Honey laughing and
waltzing.

“
Ten minutes later, Honey
fought for her life.”

The video showed Honey crumpled on the
stairwell while MJ fought to save her life.

“
Thank you for taking the
time to review the facts in this case.”

Walking back to her seat, Ann Campbell
looked at Honey. This amazing girl smiled at Ann and nodded. No
matter what happened in this trial, Ann was certain she had never
met a stronger, better person than Honey Lipson. Certainly she’d
never forget her.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday — 5:45 P.M.

Tanesha leaned back in her chair. Tres
smiled at her. Just a smile, no more, no less. He’d already ordered
drinks and appetizers. God knows he was the perfect gentleman.
But…

“
What’s wrong?” he
asked.

“
Nothing,” Tanesha said.
She leaned across the table to take his hand.
“Everything.”

“
Yeah,” Tres replied.
“Listen, before you…”

“
I’m not dumping you,”
Tanesha said. “Don’t make that face.”

Tres laughed. He kissed her hand.

“
I’ve had a great time,”
Tanesha said. “Really great.”

“
But?” Tres
asked.

“
I don’t know,” she said.
“It’s like there’s something missing.”

“
I know,” he said. “I’ve
had a really great time. You’re funny, smart, charming, so… so
sexy…”

Tanesha blushed. He stroked her cheek.

“
We’re very compatible,”
she said.

“
Compatible, yes, that’s
the word,” he laughed.

“
I really like you,” she
said. “But I don’t…”

“
Yes,” Tres said. “I’ve
thought the same thing.”

“
I’m starting med school
in less than six months.”

“
And?”

“
I see Jill with Jacob or
even Sandy with Aden, when Aden wasn’t in jail, and I want
that.”

“
Me too,” Tres said. He
leaned forward to kiss her lips. “Do you think it will
grow?”

Tanesha shook her head.

“
I didn’t think so
either,” Tres said. “It’s like we were meant to be really good
friends.”

“
With
benefits.”

“
I’ve never had that work
out well,” Tres said. “Someone’s heart gets hurt, usually
mine.”

“
Yeah, it’s never worked
for me either. Are you…?” Tanesha shook her head and stopped
talking.

“
What?” he
asked.

“
Are you in love with
Heather?”

“
Oh, Heather.” Tres
shrugged. Picking up his beer, he added, “Love? No. I’m excited to
be Mack’s Godfather.”

“
I’m excited to be Mack’s
Godmother,” Tanesha said.

“
Let’s do this,” Tres
said. “You start school in August. Let’s have some fun this summer,
enjoy each other’s company, when August rolls around, we can see
where we are.”

“
That works for me.”
Feeling a sense of relief, Tanesha nodded.

“
I’m glad,” Tres
smiled.

“
You won’t feel like I
used you? I mean you pay for everything. I don’t want to use you
like a summer fling.”

“
Use away,” he said.
“Let’s have a summer fling. When you start school, you’ll need to
focus and won’t really have time for me. That’s all right. I was
thinking about playing hockey this winter with Jake and
Mike.”

“
We’ll still be honest
with each other, right?”

“
Of course.”

“
If you change your mind
or realize you’re in love with someone else…”

“
You’ll be the first to
know,” Tres said.

“
Me too. I’ll tell you
first.”

“
You think I’m in love
with Heather.”

“
I do,” Tanesha
said.

“
What would that be like?
That feels too weird,” he said. “We’d be around each other all the
time and…”

“
We’d be honest and talk
about it as we go,” she said. “No drama.”

She held out her hand.

“
No drama,” he said. He
shook her hand in agreement. “You’re really a great
friend.”

“
With benefits.” Tanesha
laughed.

“
With benefits,” he
said.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday — 6:20 P.M.

Canon City, minimum security

Aden and Pete had waited at DRDC for almost
two weeks before a placement was available at Canon City minimum
security. Two lonely weeks. Except for the one phone call, Aden
hadn’t been able to speak to Sandy or the kids. They hadn’t passed
the security clearance yet either. Aden wrote them letters every
other day. But since he was in diagnostics, the letters wouldn’t be
sent until he was moved to Canon City.

God, he missed them.

Aden and Pete arrived at Canon City around
dinner time. They had dinner, some mushy mass of inedible pseudo
something, and were sent to their cell. Outside of workouts, Aden
had planned to spend the next three months in this cell.

But Aden did need to workout. Lifting
weights was a cornerstone of his sobriety. Aden worried that Pete
would relapse now that they were in the general population. They
had been here less than two hours and had already turned down two
offers for drugs.

“
Come on, let’s get a
workout in,” Aden said. “We have a couple of hours until lights
out.”

Pete nodded. So far, Pete had done
everything Aden had told him to do. His head was just clearing
enough for him to want to be sober.

They walked past the open cells, down the
stairwell and through the main area until they got to the workout
area. Overcome with the noise, smell and buzz of activity, they
stood in the doorway for a moment. Aden took a step forward when he
heard:

“
Well, if it isn’t the
little brother.”

Turning toward the voice, he stepped into a
fist coming in his direction. Before he could respond, another
rapid fire fist broke his nose. The third fist finished the job.
Aden crumpled to the floor.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
Boundaries