Lovers and Takers (15 page)

    
“Hello, dollies,” he said as he sat beside Pam.
 
They kissed passionately, as, Kara realized, was ALWAYS the case.

    
“You look chipper,” Kara said.

    
“And so handsome,” Pam said proudly, wiping her lipstick from his thin lips.

After the waiter took their drink orders, and they were all still perusing their menus, Druce looked up and asked: “So, where’s Aubrey?”

Kara shook her head.
 
“He couldn’t make it,” she said.
 
“He’s never available around this time.”

“You haven’t seen him?”

“I saw him earlier.
 
He took me to lunch.
 
But he had to church tonight.”

Druce grinned.
 
“Church?
 
You have got to be kidding.
 
On a Wednesday night?”

“Why would I be kidding?” Kara wanted to know.
 
“He goes every Wednesday for Bible Study, he said.
 
And he goes on Sundays, too.”

Druce shook his head.
 
“That’s a trip.”

Pam looked at Druce.
 
“Why is it a trip?
 
What’s wrong with going to church?”

“I’m not knocking your brother, Pam.
 
It’s just that it’s weird, that’s all.
 
He wants to run Varnadore Global someday, and
he’s.
. .you know.”

Pam stared at Druce.
 
“And he’s what?
 
A Christian?
 
I’m a Christian too.
 
Sort of.
 
I mean, I believe in God.
 
I just don’t do right, that’s all.”

“And neither does Aubrey,” Druce said.
 
“That’s the point.
 
It seems hypocritical to me.”

“There’s nothing hypocritical about it!
 
What are you talking about?
 
Aubrey doesn’t do any of the bad stuff other guys do.
 
He’s always been a good guy, just like my Dad.”

“
Your
Dad?” Druce said with a roaring laugh.
 
“Oh, Pam, give me a break!
 
Mr. V. screws around with every good looking woman he can get his hands on, and then dump them whenever they fall in love with his butt.
 
How is that being a good guy?”
 

Pam understood what Druce was saying.
 
She, too, was amazed at how her father never stayed for more than a few months in any relationship.
 
But it was what it was.
 
“I don’t know what I mean.
 
But I know he’s good, and so is Aubrey.”

“Ah, you’re just biased.
 
What about you, Kara?
 
You think Aubrey’s one of the good guys, too?”

“I don’t know what Aubrey is,” Kara said honestly, causing Druce to laugh again.
 
“All I know is our relationship is going no-where fast and he won’t do a thing to fix it.”

Pam looked at her friend.
 
“I didn’t know you and Aubrey were having problems.
 
What’s the matter?”

Kara exhaled.
 
“I’m just tired of waiting, that’s all.”

Pam frowned.
 
“Waiting for what?”

“Your brother, that’s what.
 
I mean for real.
 
We’ve been together since we were in college and he’s still got me waiting?”

Druce glanced at Pam and then looked at Kara, a sense of thrill shooting down his spine.
 
“You mean to tell me that Aubrey, that your boyfriend Aubrey Varnadore, has never touched you?
 
Is that what you’re saying, Kay-Kay?”

Kara nodded and both Pam and Druce could not believe their ears.
 

“Girl, you’re lying,” Pam said.

“Do I look like I’m lying, Pam?
 
He says it’s not right, all of this sex before marriage and junk.
 
He’s a prude, I’m telling y’all.”

Druce smiled and then laughed.
 
I thought so
!
he
said to himself.
 
That brother ain’t on the down low.
 
He’s all the way down to the ground low!
 
As gay as gay gets!
 
I knew he wasn’t right.
 
Sanctimonious asshole!
 
I’ve got him now.
 
I’ve got that bastard now.
 
Wait till his father gets a load of this!
”
 

Druce almost pumped his fist in the air.
 
He could not believe his good luck.

Nearly twenty miles away, Jake and Roni arrived at the luxurious Moncreed Restaurant and were escorted to a window booth with a scenic view of northern Biscayne Bay.
 
Jake ordered Sauvignon Blanc for both, and leaned back as Roni answered a text message.
 
When she finished reading it and looked up, she was surprised at how intensely he was staring at her.

“Work and more work?” he asked her.

“Always.
 
Griff, that’s my partner, has concluded that we just can’t help this nineteen year old kid who was convicted of a double homicide.
 
The kid insists he’s completely innocent, and a few of my interns, who went to the prison to interview him after he wrote us a very heartfelt letter, believes strongly in his innocence.”

“But the evidence isn’t backing up their belief?”

Roni nodded.
 
“That’s the problem.
 
I put three investigators on it, Jake.
 
Three.
 
But everything they’ve found so far has been against the client, not
for
him.”
 
She exhaled.
 
“But that’s how it goes sometimes.”

“Or most times?”
Jake asked.

Roni had to smile.
 
“Most times,” she admitted.

“How long have you been at it?”

“Six years now.”

Jake shook his head.
 
“That’s a long time to be in such a frustrating line of work, young lady.”

Roni looked at him.
 
“And your line of work isn’t frustrating?
 
I would think running a massive chain of hotels all over the world can be mighty frustrating, too.”

Jake chuckled.
 
“You have a point there,” he said.
 
“Especially since I’ve got to go to Europe again.”

“I thought you just got back.”

“I did.
 
That’s the frustrating part.”

“The negotiations fell through?”

“Royally,” he said.
 
“And I’ve got to try to repair the damage again.”

“Another couple days away?”

Jake wished.
 
“More like a month this time.
 
Or two.
 
I can’t leave until we get it done, or I’m afraid it won’t get done.
  
I also have some other business overseas that I’ve got to take care of, too.
 
So it’ll be a long trip.”

For some reason Roni was a little
disappointed.
 
“When do you leave?” she asked him.

“Not for another couple weeks.
 
I’ve got some things to take care of here first.”

“I hear that,” Roni said, although she was still disappointed.

If she only knew how disappointed Jake was.
 
He leaned forward.
 
“So what are you going to do about your guilty client?
 
Cut the kid loose?”

“That’s what Griff wants to do, but I don’t know.
 
Sometimes everything can point against you, except that one thing that explains it all.
 
I’m just wondering if they’re missing something.”
 
Then she shook her head.
 
“I don’t know,” she said again, and looked out at the bay.

Jake couldn’t stop staring at her.
 
A woman with all of her obvious talents decided to devote her life to a cause that was more likely than not a dead end street.
 
Chasing leads to nowhere for murderers and rapists who would probably slit her throat if they caught her alone in an alleyway.
 
But she kept plugging at it, day in and day out, and she worked out of a shabby building and drove a shabby old car and lived in a tiny home.
 
Why
did she do
it, he wondered.
 
What was in it for her???

When she turned back toward him, and he saw that anguish in her gorgeous eyes, his curiosity got the better of him.
 
Why he constantly had this need to untangle her webs when it had always been his style to let them dangle, he’d never know.

“Why?” he asked her.

Roni should have been confused by his one-word question, but she wasn’t.
 
She knew what he meant.
 
Why
was she
foolish enough to waste her time on the dredge of society, was what he wanted to know.
 
“Why didn’t I get a nice, cushy corporate job, you mean?”

“That’s exactly what I mean, Veronica.
 
You’re an undoubtedly well-trained attorney.
 
You’re obviously smart as a whip.
 
Any major company would love to have a talent like you on their payroll.
 
Mine certainly would.”

Was this fluff, or was he for real, she wondered.
 
“Oh, yeah?” she said, attempting to smile it off.

“In a heartbeat,” Jake responded, not smiling at all.

He and Roni shared a look that lingered.
 
It had been a long time since anybody had bothered to offer her a job.
 
She was Wingate Law Center.
 
They assumed her to be off the table.
 
Jake, to her pleasure surprise, didn’t seem to hold such assumptions.
 

The waiter’s arrival with their drinks broke their stare.
 
Jake thanked him after he sat the glasses down, took their dinner orders, and left.

Roni leaned forward too, her small hands on the table folded over each other.
 
“I would love to have a nice, cushy job in corporate America, don’t get me wrong,” Roni said.
 

Then why don’t you
, Jake wanted to ask.
 
“What’s your success rate?” he asked instead.

Roni smiled.
 
She knew that infamous question was coming.
 
The very question that kept their donor base low.
 

“Do you know what I mean?”

Roni nodded.
 
“I know what you mean.”

“How many convicts the Wingate Law Center has actually managed to free in the six years you’ve been trying?”

Roni lifted her small shoulders and then settled them back down.
 
It was a touchy subject with her.
 
“A grand total of ten,” she said.

Jake was astounded.
 
“Ten?” he asked.
 
“Just ten?”

“Just ten,” Roni admitted.

For some reason this angered Jake.
 
“You mean to tell me you’ve been hitting your head against a brick wall all this time, for all of these years, and ten releases are all you have to show for it?”

Roni didn’t respond.
 
Jake could tell he had gotten to the heart of the matter.

But it still made little sense to him.
 
“Then why are you still doing it, Veronica?
 
I don’t understand.”

Roni exhaled.
 
It was never an easy answer.
 
“I do it because somebody has to do it.”

“Now come on---”

“I do it,” Roni continued, getting closer to the real point, “because ten releases represents ten lives that we were able to save.
 
These are people who have life and death sentences.
 
We don’t work with anybody else.”

“And how many convicts have you tried to free?
 
Hundreds?”

Roni hated to admit it.
 
“More like a thousand.”

“Good word.
 
What kind of success rate is that?”

Roni wished.
 
“We have about a one percent success rate,” she said.

Jake shook his head.
 
“I don’t get it.
 
If I had a manager on my team with that kind of stat I’d fire his ass yesterday.”

“And so would I,” Roni agreed, “if it was as simple as that.
 
But it’s not as simple as that.
 
I don’t run that kind of law firm.
 
We lost our government grant assistance because they viewed it your way, too.
 
We lost many of our sponsors because they increasingly can’t justify the concentration of their dollars on such a feckless undertaking with such little reward too.”