Seems Like Old Times (31 page)

As Lee pulled into the parking space she saw Vic and Tony
walking toward the entrance to the Hall of Justice building. Vic wore a suit
that was a little too snug. He looked like a raging bull itching for a fight.
Tony, in a dark gray pinstripe suit, looked handsome despite his deep, worried
frown. His skin was sallow, dark circles cut deep under his eyes, and she
wondered if he had been able to sleep at all last night.

She sat a moment watching him, her hands clasped tight.
"Don't let him lose his son, God," she thought. "Please, don't
let him lose his son." For a woman who never had time to pray, she was
doing a lot of it these days.

After a while, she picked up her purse, tucked it under
her arm and went inside.

She found the two men in the waiting area outside the
courtroom. Vic nodded at her and went back to his pacing. She caught Tony's
eye. He stood as she approached,
then
clasped her
hand. He continued to hold it tightly as they sat down on the bench to wait.

Tony's attorney walked up to him. "It's time,"
he said.

She squeezed Tony's hand a moment before letting it go. His
gaze held hers, no words spoken,
then
he went forward
with the attorney. She followed Vic to a seat in the back of the courtroom.

The courtroom door opened again, and one of the most
beautiful women Lee had ever seen entered the room.

Vic nudged her arm. "Catherine," he murmured,
nodding toward the newcomer.

Lee blanched. Catherine
Durelle
was about thirty, but looked younger. Tall and statuesque, she had silky blond
hair, combed back from her face to fall sleek and shiny to her waist. Her skin
was the golden tan of the southern California
beaches,
and her eyes a blazing, brilliant blue. She wore little make up. Her white
dress hung in a simple, straight line from her shoulders to her knees, caught
at her waist by a woven belt.
Everything about her cried out
purity and the American dream.
Lee died a little inside.

But at the same time, she could see how much Catherine
might have resembled her back in the days when she was younger, when she was
Lisa Marie--the same coloring, the same body type, the healthy California looks
she had before she learned how to enhance and accentuate the classic and more
delicate look she used for television.

A few steps behind Catherine walked a short, heavy set
man, with brown hair that had been permed and knitted to cover a thinning top.
He wore thick, black rimmed glasses and a black suit. Lee assumed he was
Catherine's attorney until she saw the man take a seat behind her in the
visitors' area, and pat her shoulder. The infamously impotent Dr.
Durelle
, she thought.

A stylish, middle aged woman approached the
Durelles
Catherine's attorney. After a few whispered words
with the doctor, she joined her client.

Lee's stomach knotted. She'd fantasized that Catherine
would come storming in looking like a low class Hollywood tart, wearing a
striped tee shirt, a red miniskirt and black lace nylons. The judge would take
one look at her and throw her and her case out the door.

Inside, she'd known Tony wouldn't have married someone
like that. She also knew Catherine couldn't be half as sweet as the role she
played. Sweet, pure people don't hire private eyes to dig up dirt on
ex-spouses. But then, custody battles were often the nastiest and cruelest of
court cases, and even normally gentle people turned cunning and crafty over
them.

A female lawyer was inspired. Who could argue with more
feeling for a mother's rights than another woman? Lee could see why Tony had
been so fearful of this confrontation.

The plaintiff, Catherine, was the first one called to the
stand.

After the routine questions to establish who she was, her
attorney went straight to the heart of the matter. "Please explain to the
court why you're here, today, requesting joint custody of your son."

She took a deep breath. When she spoke, her voice was
throaty and quivering with emotion. "I'm here because I miss my child.
When he was born I was young, too young, to understand or appreciate the gift
of life that he was. Now, I'm older, more mature. I love him. Without him,
there's a terrible void in my life...in my heart." She glanced at the
judge then dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief.

Lee knew the woman was playing up her act for the judge,
yet she couldn’t help but suspect that some of Catherine’s words were true. She
had
been too young. Tony wasn’t an innocent in this, but Catherine had
walked out on her son, and Tony had given the boy a home.

"Why do you believe you can care for your child at
this time?"

Catherine cleared her throat.
"Because
I have a wonderful husband and a large home in Beverly Hills.
It has
five bedrooms and I've already prepared one for Benjamin. My husband makes a
good living as a surgeon and I don't work, so I could be home with my son
whenever he needs me."

"Thank you, Mrs.
Durelle
.
Please describe to the court your attempts to have your son visit you."

"I asked Tony, that is, my ex, Mr. Santos, to let Ben
come and visit me for a while but he said no. I knew I had to get Ben because
Tony's an unfit father."

"Objection!"
Tony's
attorney stood. "That's a conclusion of the witness."

"Sustained."

"You've used the word 'unfit.' Do you wish to prove
to the court that Mr. Santos is an unfit father?"

"I didn't want to hurt Tony's reputation. I'm not
after vengeance against him for keeping me away from my son. All I want is my
little boy back." She began to cry silently. "I'm only asking for
what's fair.
For joint custody so that my little Benjamin can
come and live with me sometimes, too.
So I’ll have some say in the
upbringing of my son. I’m his mother, and I love him and miss him so
much." She turned to the judge. "I’m his mother," she pleaded.

Lee felt her stomach churn sickly at Catherine’s
words--they sounded sincere, even fair.

"Are you concerned about Ben's upbringing now?"
The attorney continued.

"Well, I hired an investigator to check up on Tony. I
found out he has lots of women going through his house. He doesn't work. He
made a lot of money as a ball player and blew it buying a fancy house and some
fancy horses, but he didn't save anything for our son. I've heard of Ben going
to school with holes in his jeans and holes in his Nikes. Tony drinks too much,
too--and so does his father! There are a bunch of other men living there too,
and they throw wild parties--I hate to imagine what that boy has seen at those
parties!"

"Your honor," Tony's lawyer protested.
"Your honor, I am shocked and dismayed by my colleague, leading this
witness to make unfounded allegations and wild conjecture against my client.
She wasn't there, she hasn't been in my client's house, and she certainly
hasn't attended a party with him. And I ask the court, what healthy nine
year
old
doesn't
wear holes in his jeans and his
tennis shoes?"

Catherine's attorney stepped toward the bench. "Would
your Honor please ask my learned colleague to wait until it's his turn to
question the witness before he launches into his argument?"

The judge
harumphed
and turned
to Catherine. She smiled up at him. He smiled back. "Was any of what you
just said learned from your own observation?"

"No, your honor, from the
investigator's report.
But I remember when we were married, that Tony
used to drink, and swear, and women were always hanging around him."

Her attorney spoke. "Are you saying he was unfaithful
while you were married?"

Catherine raised her eyebrows and looked at her lawyer as
if she had to be joking, "To
me
? No, I couldn't say that."

The attorney turned to the judge. "I believe, Your
Honor, we have some proof here, today, of the kind of high living Mr. Santos
has been doing. Would you care to elaborate, Mrs.
Durelle
?"

"Yes. We all know about movie stars and TV stars, and
how they always use drugs and alcohol and bad language. Well, my investigator
learned that Lee Reynolds, the news anchor on CABN-TV was having an affair with
Tony a few months ago, and now I see that she’s back. I recognize her from TV--she’s
in the back of the courtroom."

"I object most vehemently, Your Honor!" Tony's
attorney shouted over the buzz of voices that filled the courtroom as all eyes
but those of Tony and his attorney turned toward Lee. "These are
inadmissible generalizations and this witness's comments border on
slander."

Lee’s body went rigid. Her fingers gripping the edge of
the bench on which she sat. Her head felt light, swimming from Catherine’s
vitriol.

"Objection sustained," the judge bellowed.

"No further questions, Your Honor."

Lee let out the breath she'd been holding.

Tony's attorney rose to cross examine Catherine.

"Is it true, Mrs.
Durelle
,
that you abandoned your son when he was only one year old?"

"I didn't abandon him. I left Tony, but I wanted my
son. Instead of letting me have him, Tony gave Ben to his father to
raise
."

"You left a year old baby with a man who was playing
baseball and traveling for six months out of every year and you're surprised
that he asked his father to help care for the child?"

"I told him I wanted Ben!"

"Why didn't you take your son with you to begin
with?"

"I didn't know where I was going or how I'd get
along."

"Does the name Dwayne Davis mean anything to
you?"

"No!"

"How about Lefty Davis, then?
Does that refresh your memory?"

"Oh. He might be someone I've heard of on some
baseball team."

"You should have. He was a big star in the miners, on
your
ex husband's
team in fact."

"Objection!"
Catherine's attorney snapped. "This has no relevance to this case."

"I’ll show that it does, Your Honor," Tony's
attorney replied.

"Overruled."

Tony's attorney tugged at the cuffs of his shirtsleeves as
he turned his attention back to Catherine. "Is it not true that you
couldn't take your child with you because you left Phoenix to follow Lefty
Davis when he was sent to the major leagues?"

"No, it isn't."

"Do you know what perjury is, Mrs.
Durelle
?"

"Well, I didn't follow him! I left Tony and I heard
Lefty was in the town I was going to, so I asked if I could stay with him until
I got settled, that's all. It was no more than that. We were just
friends."

"And once you got settled, why didn't you send for
your son?"

"I tried. But Tony wouldn't let me have him."

"Are you saying Lefty Davis had such a large place he
was willing to let you and your baby stay with him?"

"No. It was later."

"What was later?"

"Later.
When I was on my own again.
That's when I asked to take Ben."

"How much later?"

"I don't remember."

"A month?
A
year?
Nine years?"

"Objection!
She already stated
she doesn't remember."

"Sustained."

Tony's attorney stroked his chin. "Well, given this
unspecified amount of time, how did you expect Mr. Santos to care for his child
at the same time as he was trying to build a baseball career--a career that
requires travel and mobility?"

"I hadn't really thought about it."

"You hadn't thought!" Sarcasm dripped from his
voice. Catherine bristled.

"What do I care? Tony wasn't my problem."

"What was your problem, then?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?
You leave your
infant child and you have no problem? Now, that's a loving mother!"

"Objection!
Conclusion of council and improper line of questioning."

"Sustained."

"As I understand it, Mrs.
Durelle
,
since you and Mr.
Durelle
cannot have children of
your own, you've decided to take back the child you abandoned. In other words,
he means nothing to you except as a substitute for other children you cannot
have. Is that correct?"

"Not at all!
He's my son and
I have every right to have him live with me."

"Didn't you give up that right when you walked out on
him?"

"No!"

"Objection!
Conclusion of council!"

"Sustained.
Strike the
witness’s answer."

"You abandoned your son," Tony’s attorney said.

"I left Tony. It's his fault." The judge pounded
his gavel, but Catherine wouldn't stop. "He was no good.
A lousy husband.
Lousy in
everything!"

"
Your
Honor!"
Catherine’s attorney was on her feet.

"Mrs.
Durelle
," the
judge roared, "please
limit
your response to the
questions posed. And I direct counsel to keep refrain from inflammatory remarks
and keep to the semblance, at least, of questions in this courtroom."

"Yes, your honor." Tony's attorney faced
Catherine again and took a deep breath. "So, Mrs.
Durelle
,
let me get this straight. Will you explain to the court why you left your baby with
this supposedly terrible man?"

"I didn't want to do it!"

"But you did abandon your child and went to live with
another man. Is that not correct, Mrs.
Durelle
?"