Authors: Synthia St. Claire
“How?
S-she sent you all this? Cindy Reid?” I asked, completely puzzled.
Hale
gave me a proud grin. “Uh-huh. It was easy, Kat. I just acted like I wanted to
get back together with her and said I wanted to know what really happened,
cause I’d seen it on the news. Guess she thought I wouldn’t say nothing to you
about it.”
“This
is crazy. Shane wasn’t lying after all. I’m such an idiot.”
“Spilled
her guts all over the place. Even I was impressed,” Hale said, gloating just a
bit more than he had to.
“Thank
you,” I said, and hugged Hale so tight that he nearly had to peel me off.
“Damn,
girl. You’re welcome. This mean you and me…we’re cool now?”
“We’re
cool.”
“Good,”
he said and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Cause I took your father up on
that offer to work as full-time mechanic. Last thing I wanted was for you to
hate seein’ me around the farm forever.”
“You’re
forgiven, Hale. I’m ready to leave all that other stuff in the past if you can,
too.”
He
nodded agreeably and gave a little bow. “It’s a deal.”
I
tried handed him his phone, but Hale just shook his head and said, “Naw, you go
on and take it. That attorney fella of yours probably knows how to use it
better’n me. Besides, I reckon he’s gonna want to see what you got right there
with his own two eyes or he won’t believe it.”
Nineteen
My
calls to Shane weren’t going through. No matter how many times I tried, the
line would go dead after several rings. The only thing I could do was to drive
to his hotel and deliver the news, and Hale’s phone with the evidence, in
person.
I
explained to Daddy what was happening and why I couldn’t make it to dinner at
Miss Pauline’s house. He completely understood, and even smiled for the first
time in days. He told me that he always knew Shane was a good man, even if he
was a
lawyer
.
I
pounded on Shane’s door at the hotel but there was no answer. When a passing
cleaning woman came by I asked her to open it for me so I could check on him to
make sure everything was ok. She swiped her card, turned the handle, and I
found an empty, vacant room.
“He’s
gone,” I said aloud, staring at the closet where his clothes had hung. For a
moment, I almost let despair settle in. Then I realized…it might not be too
late. I raced downstairs and found the desk clerk.
“Shane
Logan,” I said, nearly out of breath, “Suite Forty Six. He’s checked out?”
“Yes
ma’am. You just missed him. He checked out about an hour ago.”
“Did
he leave a note or anything? It might be addressed to Katherine Atwater.”
The
man looked at the mailing cubbies behind and responded in the negative.
“There’s nothing here ma’am, I’m sorry.”
“Do
you know where he went?” I asked, my voice growing desperate.
The
clerk thumbed his chin and thought for a moment. “As a matter of fact, he
did
ask for us to call around a taxi to take him to the airport,” the man said, and
in a flash, I was out the door.
The
Buick acted like it wasn’t going to start, but a few verbal threats and well-placed
punches against the dashboard seemed to get it rolling again. I wove through
traffic in the big automobile, sailing from lane to lane and hoping against all
odds that I could get to the airport and somehow find Shane there before he
managed to depart. The fear brought on by the bus accident that seemed to sit
right under the surface when I usually drove was gone.
“Answer
your phone, Shane. Where are you?” I begged, trying again to call while also
trying not to run off the road or kill someone.
Please
don’t be on the plane already. Please. I have to get this to you. I have to
apologize for being such a bitch, Shane. I was wrong. I was wrong…please. Don’t
leave me yet.
Not
far from the airport entrance I was situated behind several other cars that
were creeping along at a snail’s pace. “Come on, move!” I yelled at the car in
front of me and gave the driver a blast from the horn. I don’t know if it
helped or not, but the car switched lanes and I tore into the airport parkway
screaming the tires on the old Buick like I was piloting a race car.
I
pulled right in front of the main gate, tossed the car in park, and burst
through the doors past the men asking if I wanted valet service.
“Sure, go
ahead and park it while I run around the airport like a lunatic looking for the
man I love,”
I thought. Everyone standing in the vicinity of the doors when
they slammed open looked directly at me and stared before going back to their
own business. Perhaps I looked like a woman on the verge of a psychotic break.
I kind of felt like it.
“Sorry,”
I muttered and headed for the escalator.
At
the top, I ran into a line of people who were going through a security checkpoint.
At the very front I saw a man wearing a suit who looked very familiar. “Shane!”
I called out, but he must not have heard me and kept on going.
I have to get
through! Hurry up!
The
agent at the security checkpoint stopped me before I waltzed through.
“Boarding
pass, ma’am?” he said and held out his hand.
“I
don’t have one. I’m looking for someone. I have to stop him before his flight
takes off.”
“I’m
sorry. No entry beyond this point without a boarding pass,” he answered
sternly.
“But
he’s right there.” I pointed to the man I’d seen in the line, who was still walking
away. “Sir, please let me go. It won’t take five minutes and I promise to come
right back.”
The
guard sighed at gestured towards a large sign that boldly stated that boarding
passes were required for entry. “No pass…
no pass
,” he said and shook his
head.
I
briefly imagined myself pushing past the guard and running down the terminal,
but then I took another look at the guy. He would have caught me before I made
it more than a few yards and then I would be stuck in some kind of airport
prison.
“Are
you sure you can’t make an exception, just this once?” I plead.
Instead
of answering, the guard simply pointed back the way I’d come and greeted the
next person in line.
“
I’ve
lost him
,” I thought, and turned away. I didn’t have enough money for a
boarding pass to go anywhere, not even if it were just for a trip from one end
of the runway to the other. At the bottom of the escalator I sauntered over to
a bench and sat in it with my head buried in my hands. The glimmer of hope in
my heart fluttered and then went out.
I
sat there for what seemed like forever, wallowing in my own misery. I’d screwed
up. Shane was right, I was hard-headed and I’d made up my mind about him and
Cindy before I even went to talk to him. It was just…seeing her planting her
greasy hooks in the first man I could say I truly loved…it tore me apart.
I
was so overcome that I barely registered it when someone sat down on the bench
next to me. Couldn’t the world just leave me alone for one damn minute?
“Planes
make you nervous?”
“Go
away,” I muttered, and retreated back into my own thoughts.
The
person sitting next to me continued anyway, “Don’t blame you. I got stuck in
the bathroom on one of these things before. It was terrifying.”
Stuck
in the – what?!
I
raised my head and turned to look through the long strands of hair that had
fallen over my face and there they were; those soulful, amber eyes that had
captured me from the very beginning.
“Shane!”
I exclaimed and lunged into him. He smiled and tried not to let me knock him
over while I sought out his lips and gave him a longing, relieved kiss.
When
we finally parted, he stumbled back and said, “Ah – hi, there!
Wow.
I’m
glad to see you, too.”
“I
was wrong, Shane, about…everything! You tried to tell me but I wouldn’t listen!
Hale gave me all the evidence! And then – then I thought I’d lost you for good!
There was a man, a-and the security guard wouldn’t let me go past the gate, and
the man, h-he looked just like you-”
Shane
put his hands on mine. “Whoa, slow down Kat. I’m here.”
“What
took you so long?” I leaned into him and hugged him tight, never wanting to let
go.
“Second
thoughts. I tried to get to your mother’s funeral, but by the time I arrived,
you’d already left. Then I tried calling, but my battery was dead. Luckily, the
woman I met at the festival was still there and told me where you’d gone.”
“Miss
Pauline?”
“Yes,
that’s the one,” Shane confirmed and then went on, “So I went back to the hotel
looking for you. The clerk told me that a young woman had come in asking for me
and that she might be here. I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
“You’re
not staying to finish the case?” I asked.
“Can’t.
The head of the OGC heard all about the incident with Cindy. He pulled me off
the case so fast it would make your head spin. I’m supposed to be in D.C. by
tomorrow to formally get chewed out…and probably fired. The case against
Patterson will most likely wind up being a mistrial. The defense is probably
making a motion for one today.”
I
reached into my purse and pulled out Hale’s phone. “You don’t have to leave,
and there doesn’t have to be a mistrial. Check this out, Shane.”
As
he browsed through the messages in the phone, Shane’s eyes lit up. A pleased
smile spread on his face until he was positively beaming with delight. When he
finished reading it all, he turned to me and said, “This is
gold
. I knew
it was a con, but there was no way to prove it. This even has proof that her
father paid off Miller – she says it right here! I don’t even need Cindy to
testify, this is even better than getting her on the stand! How in the heck did
Hale get all this dirt?”
“He’s
very agile when it comes to convincing women he’s trying to win them back.”
“So
I hear,” Shane replied and promptly stood up.
“Where
are you going?”
He
tightened his grip on his suitcase and turned towards the exit. “I’ve got to
get to the courthouse before proceedings are over today. Hale’s going to need
to come to testify as a witness to the messages and their validity, so I need
you to call him and tell him to meet us at the courthouse. I’m sending this
information over to the rest of my team. If we can get this before the judge
before a mistrial is declared, we might still have a chance.”
Only
a short while later, Shane and I were walking up the steps of the courthouse
past a flock of reporters. As Shane deflected their questions, Hale’s
primer-gray pickup truck screeched to a halt on the street and he came bounding
out.
“Is
that him?” Shane asked, squinting in the late afternoon sun at the person
running towards us.
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t
he your…farm mechanic? The guy I saw before our first date?”
“Uh-huh,”
I answered reluctantly.
Shane
raised his brow and looked back at me with a smirk. “I guess I wasn’t the only
one with a secret after all.”
Before
I had a chance to respond, Hale arrived.
“Hey
Kat…and, uh, Shane, right?” Hale stuck out his hand and Shane shook it firmly.
Seeing the two of them meet like that felt almost surreal. Thankfully, Shane
didn’t seem upset at all that I’d kept Hale’s job at the farm something of a
secret from him.
“Did
Kat already tell you what we need you to do?” Shane asked him.
Hale
brushed off the leg of his jeans in an attempt to make himself look a little
more presentable. It didn’t really work. “Yeah, she tol’ me. I just need to
tell the truth about everything I already told her. That’s my phone, and yeah,
the messages came from Cindy. That ‘bout right?”
“Good
enough. This is gonna be fun,” Shane said and stepped through the courthouse
entrance.
The
main hallway of the federal courthouse was mostly empty of people or
conversation. Aside from the paintings of past judges who had long since
retired or low-backed benches with little ferns placed beside them, there
wasn’t much to look at, either. The three of us made our way up the carpeted
staircase to the second floor with Shane leading the way.
“I’m
going to have to try and get this phone logged as an exhibit with the hearing
officer. He’s an ornery old cuss, but I don’t think I’ll have any problems. Kat,
Hale, just go in and sit down wherever there’s an empty seat near the front.
Make sure that Patterson sees you. That ought to throw one hell of a wrench in
his gears.”
“I
can’t wait to see the look on his face,” I said.
At
the towering wooden doors that served as the entrance to the primary courtroom,
Shane paused with his hand on the brass handle.
“Everyone
ready?” he asked. Hale and I both nodded. “Then let’s do this.”
Shane
pulled the doors open and strode confidently into the courtroom ahead of me. Every
face turned to look at our small group that was suddenly intruding on an
otherwise peaceful trial. One of the men on Shane’s legal team was standing and
addressing the judge, but once he saw Shane, the man stopped talking and sat
down. Patterson and his squad of lawyers quickly huddled together on the
opposite side of the courtroom and began to engage in a furious bout of harsh
whispers.
Right
behind them in the visitor’s box was the blonde bitch herself, Cindy Reid. When
she saw us, her jaw dropped so hard I’d swear I heard it hit the floor.
“He
–
he
can’t be in here!” Cindy said loudly and stuck her finger out at
Hale.
“Quiet
down!” the judge snarled at her, followed by a bang from his gavel. Poor Cindy
crossed her arms and descended back into her chair with a scowl of utter
contempt.
Shane
stepped past the prosecution’s table and handed Hale’s phone to a snow-haired
gentleman who was wearing a brown deputy sheriff’s uniform. The man stuck the
phone in a clear bag, had a few words with Shane, and then walked behind the
bench and whispered something to the judge. With a quick thumbs-up and a flash
of a smile, Shane let me know that he’d succeeded.
“Mr.
Logan, this is highly irregular,” the judge stated and handed the bagged phone
back to the hearing officer.