J.D. Trafford - Michael Collins 02 - No Time to Die (25 page)

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The suit and tie came off within a few minutes of stepping on board the yacht. Michael changed into his swimsuit, rubbed a little
sun block on his nose, and then settled into the plush leather chair on the back deck.

By the time Michael sat down, Kermit was already a half-mile from shore and far out into Miami’s Biscayne Bay. Michael checked his cell phone. He had three bars on the top of his display. He called information. When a robot recording prompted him to say what he was looking for, Michael hung up. The phone was working and he was available. All he had to do was try to relax while waiting for the phone call from the judge’s law clerk.

Michael located the old sunglasses and put them back on.

“Drop anchor here.” He called back to Kermit. “I don’t want to get out of cell phone range.”

Kermit said that he would, and, a few seconds later, Kermit cut the engine and dropped the anchor.

Michael sat in the back of the yacht. His feet were up. His eyes were closed, and he listened to the waves pulse against the side of the boat.

Bobbing in the water, Michael rocked to sleep.

###

The phone woke him. Michael opened his eyes, orienting himself. He picked up the cell phone on the fifth ring, pressed a button, and answered.

It was Judge Delaney’s law clerk. She told Michael that the jurors were going home for the day. They would continue deliberating in the morning.

Michael thanked her, hung up the phone, and sat up in his chair.

There was a slight chill in the air as the sun set. An orange light bathed the distant Miami skyline, and the water leading to the shore alternated between ripples of deep blue and black.

“
Kermit, are you up?” Michael heard some pots clang below him. He got up out of the chair and walked down the steps to the yacht’s galley.

Kermit was in the kitchen. He looked up when Michael entered the dining area.

“Hey, boss.” Kermit held up a stock pot. “I found some pasta, a jar of sauce, and two bottles of
vino
. What do you think?”

“
Sounds perfect.” Michael sat down at the narrow counter that separated the kitchen and dining areas. He watched Kermit fill the pot with water and put it on the stove. “Got a call from the judge’s clerk. Looks like we’re free for the night. The jurors went home.”

Kermit smiled.

“Then we got no excuse. We gotta open up these bottles of wine.” Kermit put a lid on the pot, and then opened a cabinet by the refrigerator. He found two wine glasses, and then he put them on the counter in front of Michael.

He used a corkscrew to open a bottle of Pinot and poured some in each of the glasses.

“You done good,
mi amigo
, no matter what happens.” Kermit raised his glass.

Michael picked up his glass, and the two clinked.

“I don’t know. I think I may have overplayed my hand. I think I sounded shrill. My voice was too high. I had too much emotion.”

Kermit took a sip of wine, shook his head, and then set the glass down on the counter.

“Bull crappy,” he said. “You were you. I was there, man. The jurors paid attention. They understood where you’re coming from. You had heart.”

“
Maybe.” Michael swirled the wine in his glass, replaying his closing argument in his head.

“
Well, you ain’t gonna be zeroed out, man,” Kermit said. “I can guarantee that, and anything is going to be more money than Elana and Pace have ever seen in their life. Don’t forget that. If it wasn’t for you and Jane –” Kermit caught himself when he said her name. He ticked his head to the side.

“Well you know what I mean. There weren’t exactly hundreds of esquires beating down
Elana’s door to take the case.”

Kermit turned to the stove and started looking for a sauce pan.

“You can say her name, you know.”

Kermit nodded.

“I know, I just figured I’d avoid it.”

He crouched down on the floor, and rummaged through the cooking utensils and pots.

Michael took a big sip of wine, and reached for the bottle to refill his glass.

“You think I should go see her? Go see Jane?”

Kermit stood up. He was holding a small saucepan that he had found. He set the empty pan on the stove, and he put his hands on his hips. His gray dreadlocks dangled as he thought.

“Depends,” he said. “Is she your friend or enemy?”

Michael shrugged.

“Don’t know.”

CHAPTER SIXTY

Michael slept hard. The only place that he had slept better in the past five years was Hut No. 7, and hopefully, he’d be back at the Sunset within a week.

Michael swung his legs over the edge of the bed and put his feet on the yacht’s polished oak floor. He found a pair of pants, stepped into them, and then walked out of the cabin.

Michael heard Kermit walking around above him, and so he went up the steps to the top deck. Earlier in the morning, Kermit had lifted anchor and brought the boat back to the marina.

The yacht was tied to a large wooden dock that jutted out into the bay.

“
Morning,” Michael said.

Kermit looked over at Michael. He was sitting on a built-in bench at the front of the yacht.

“Figured spaghetti wouldn’t be good for breakfast, so I brought us ashore.” Kermit smiled. “Hope you don’t mind.”

Michael shook his head.

“Not at all.”

“
Any word from the court?”

Michael looked down at his cell phone.

“No calls and no messages.”

“
How long do you think the jury will take?”

Michael shrugged.

“No idea. Supposedly, if they take longer it’s better for the defendant, but I don’t know if that’s just a tall tale told by old lawyers or if that’s true.”

“
Do you want to go grab a bite, get some groceries and go back out for the day?”

Michael thought for a moment.

“Sounds good,” he said. “But I need to change into my suit, just in case the court calls and wants us to come in.”

“
Oh-ka-lee-doke-a-lee.” Kermit got up. He started picking up some of the extra ropes and moving them to better secure the yacht while they were gone.

“
Kermit,” Michael said. “One more thing.”

Kermit looked up after finishing a complex knot.

“What is it?”

“I want to stop by the hospital while we’re out,” Michael said.

###

Jane was at the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Michael got her room number from a young girl at the front reception desk. He took the elevator to the fifth floor, and then started down the hall toward room 520.

He didn’t know what to expect, and he didn’t ever come up with an answer to Kermit’s question. He didn’t know whether Jane was a friend or an enemy. Michael just knew that she was hurt. He wanted to see her. He wanted to tell her about the trial, and he also wanted to say goodbye.

When he found it, the door to Jane’s room was open.

He knocked a few times on the door frame, and then he walked in

Jane laid in bed. She was conscious, but her head had a thick gauze bandage wrapped around it. Her eyes were bruised black and blue, but they were open. She was watching CNN on the television mounted in the corner of the room.

“
Hey.” Michael put his hands in his pockets and walked toward her.

Jane thought he was a nurse at first, and then, when she turned away from the television screen, she realized who it was. Jane looked at Michael, and then averted her eyes, ashamed and guilty.

“Thought you might want an update,” Michael said.

Jane finally looked at him, and she nodded her head. She reached down. She found the cord with the remote attached to it. Jane pressed a button, and the television turned off.

“I’d like that,” she said. “Justin has been stopping by, telling me what’s happening, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

Michael took off his suit jacket. He laid it on a table, and then pulled a chair next to Jane’s bed. He reached out his hand. Jane hesitated at first, but, eventually, she took it.

“I want to hear every detail,” Jane said.

Michael nodded, and then told Jane about recalling their witnesses, Harrison Grant’s decision not to call anybody from Jolly Boy, and then their closing arguments.

“Is she happy?” Jane asked.

“
Elana?” Michael thought about it. “I think so,” he said. “I don’t know how much she understands, but I think she’s glad it’s over.”

Jane took a breath. She closed her eyes, resting, and then opened them, again. She was tired and sad.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what I was –“

Michael cut her off.

“Forget about it.” He was about to continue when his cell phone rang.

He took the cell phone out of his pocket, and then Michael pressed the button to answer. He listened, and then turned off the phone after a quick conversation.

“The jury has a verdict.” Michael stood. “I’ve got to go.”

Jane nodded her head and watched him as Michael picked up his suit jacket. He slipped the jacket on, and then started walking out the door.

After a little struggle, Jane managed to sit up in her bed.

“Will I see you again?”

Michael stopped, and he turned back. He looked at Jane, and then shook his head.

“Probably not.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

What happened at the courthouse was surreal. The beginning was clear. It began like any other hearing, but then it dissolved into something different.

The people in the courtroom rose as the jury entered. The jury walked in a single file line behind the bailiff, and then they took their seats. They were the same seats where they had sat the entire trial.

Judge Delaney instructed the people in the courtroom to sit, and everyone sat.

He turned to look at the jury.

“Members of the jury, have you selected a foreperson?”

A mousy woman at the end of the row raised her hand, and Judge Delaney nodded at her.

“And have you reached a verdict?”

The mousy woman nodded her head again.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“
Then please hand it to the bailiff.” Judge Delaney directed the bailiff toward the mousy woman, and she handed the verdict form to the bailiff.

The bailiff walked the verdict form to the judge. Judge Delaney looked down at the form. He read it silently, and then he handed it back to the bailiff.

The final dance continued as the bailiff walked the form to the court clerk, and the court clerk read the verdict aloud.

“
In the matter of Thomas Estrada versus Jolly Boy Foods, Inc., we the members of the jury find in favor of the plaintiff, Thomas Estrada. We find the defendant, Jolly Boy Foods, liable in Count One of the Complaint: Wrongful Death …”

For Michael, it was at this moment that the lines and figures in the courtroom dissolved into splotches of color. The voices melded into waves of sound.

Michael felt a hand on his shoulder, a pat on the back. He looked at Elana, and she bowed her head and started whispering a prayer.

More noise and blurred movement of color occurred.

Michael looked over at the jurors, and they began to stand. The entire courtroom was standing, and so Michael stood without knowing why. He watched the jurors file out of the room. The sound around him grew and then faded, and then came back again, but none of the words made sense.

Moments later, Harrison Grant stood in front of him. His hand was out, and Michael shook it.

Harrison Grant spoke, but Michael didn’t understand anything except the word congratulations.

As Harrison Grant walked away, Michael took a step. He was unsteady at first, and then he regained his footing. Michael picked up his battered briefcase and walked down the aisle toward the back. His head and his thoughts became clearer with every step.

Had he heard correctly? The jury had disagreed with his proposal. Michael had asked them to take away one week of Jolly Boy’s profits. Instead, the jury had awarded Elana Estrada and her family
two
weeks of Jolly Boy’s profits: $28 million.

Michael saw Agent
Vatch sitting by the door. He kept walking toward Vatch. His confidence came back.

Michael walked up to
Vatch, and then crouched down so that they were eye to eye.

“Francis,” he said. “I’m going home.”

Michael waited for a response, but Vatch didn’t say anything. The look in Vatch’s eyes told Michael everything he needed to know.

“There’s no warrant, is there? There’s nothing you can legally do to stop me.”

When Vatch stayed silent, Michael nodded his head.

“I didn’t think so.”