The Advocate - 02 - The Advocate's Betrayal (24 page)

“The night before last, but he didn’t say much.”

“I’m sure he’ll call you today,” Bob reassured her, but Sabre thought she heard concern in Bob’s voice. She knew this was unusual behavior for JP.

“Why do you suppose he doesn’t answer?”

“Uh…because he’s busy….”

“You don’t suppose there’s something wrong, do you?”

“What could be wrong? There you go getting yourself worked up.”

Sabre shook it off. “You’re right. There’s nothing wrong. Later.”

She took a long shower, washed her hair, and put on some Red cologne. It was Luke’s favorite. She was relieved the pregnancy test was negative and had almost convinced herself it was accurate. She put on her favorite jeans and a top that showed a little cleavage and drove to the airport.

Sabre circled the airport three times before she spotted Luke. He waved and smiled when he saw her. After he put his suitcase inside the trunk, he opened the car door and leaned in for a long kiss. “Hmmm….You smell good. You taste good, too,” he said.

Sabre felt that wonderful feeling of love or lust or whatever it was. It was warm and wonderful and scary. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Me, too.” He reached for her hand, brought it up to his lips, and then kissed it gently.

“How was your trip?”

“Good. Uneventful, but productive.”

She caressed his leg. “What did you do? What’s a typical work trip like for you?”

“I’m sure it would bore you.”

“No, I want to know what it is you do.” She bent her head down, tilted it, and opened her eyes wide, looking up at him like a puppy dog. “I’m really interested.”

He smiled down at her. “Okay, but you need to try to stay awake when I tell you. This time I had to work on a software program for a large corporation. It’s a program that sorts and inventories their parts in the warehouse.”

“How do you know that stuff?”

“I’m familiar with this program because I’ve been working on it for several years now. But even if I didn’t know it, there are certain basic things that can go wrong. Eventually, if you’re going to work on programs like that you have to get to know them. Otherwise, you’re limited as to what you can do.”

Sabre turned to look at Luke and felt a pain in her ribcage. “Oh,” she squeaked.

“See, it’s painful.”

Sabre laughed and then grabbed her chest, deflecting the pain. “No, it’s not you. There was a little incident at court today.” Before Luke would go on about his trip, he made Sabre tell him what happened. She didn’t want to dwell on it and turned the conversation back to Luke. “So, how many of these different programs do you work on?”

He shook his head, but answered. “I have contracts with six major corporations. That keeps me busy.” He placed her hand on his knee. “What’s this sudden interest in my work?”

“It’s not sudden. I’ve always been interested. I just know so little about computers, other than the things I need to know to do my legal briefs; I don’t really know what questions to ask.” Sabre squeezed his knee. “Besides, if we’re going to be living together, I ought to at least know what you do for a living.”

Luke put his hand on Sabre’s shoulder, rubbing gently down her arm. He reached up and touched her hair and the nape of her neck. Chills ran down her body. She turned and smiled at him. They drove in silence for a few miles, but he never took his hands off her.

“Anything new with Betty?”

“No, we’re just waiting. JP’s investigating, but so far he hasn’t come up with anything new. Something needs to break for her soon, though. Her trial will be here before we know it.”

Luke leaned in toward Sabre and kissed her on the ear and whispered, “Do you have any plans this weekend?”

“I hope so.”

Luke sat up straight. “Let’s get away,” he said, not whispering any longer.

“Where to?”

“Let me take care of that. I have a great idea. You just pack a few things and we’ll get away from the phones and the outside world. It’ll be just you and me.”

“Sounds heavenly,” Sabre said, drawing out the words.

“Any chance you could leave tomorrow early?”

“Maybe.” Sabre thought for a second, hoping. “I have a light calendar and a quick visit to Betty scheduled. I should be able to leave after that.”

“Great. It’s a date.” Luke said, not taking his eyes off her.

Sabre looked from side to side. “What?”

Luke smiled and said, “I was thinking how much my mother would love you.”

JP woke up with the worst headache he could ever remember. He felt the hard concrete floor on his cheek. A spider, about four inches from his face, walked rapidly across the cement. JP struggled to stand up. Every muscle in his body hurt. He staggered forward and sat down on the hard bench in the ten-by-ten cell. The stench of urine emanated from the cell next to him. He remained seated for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened and how he was taken to jail. The last thing he remembered was the thugs from Paceco’s beating him up.       

The loud voices and the banging on the bars by other inmates hurt his head. JP walked to the front of the cell and peered out the best he could. He spotted a policeman down the hallway.

“Excuse me, Officer.”

No one responded.

He yelled louder. “Excuse me.” And louder. “Sir.” The policeman turned around and walked back to JP’s cell.

“What do you want?” The officer sounded irritated.

“I’d like to know why I’m in here for starters.”

“Like you don’t know?”

JP raised his right hand, palm up, gesturing confusion. “I don’t know. Someone beat me up and I’m in jail. I don’t get it.”

“That someone who beat you up was protecting the old woman you mugged.”

“What old woman? I didn’t mug anyone.”

The cop tapped his stick on the bar. “Well, the old woman and the guy who stopped you say differently.”

“That’s crazy. I’d like to make a phone call.”

“Yeah, when it’s your turn.” The officer’s voice filled with indifference as he walked away.

Several hours passed before anyone else came to his cell. JP asked for a phone call and the officer told him he’d check on it. He never returned.

JP lay down on the bench, tossing and turning as he wondered how he’d clear up this mess and anxious to talk with Sabre before Luke did. He finally fell asleep. When he woke up, his head wasn’t pounding quite as badly, but his body still ached. He commenced yelling for someone to release him or give him his phone call.

“It won’t do you any good,” the man in the cell across from him said. “They’ll do it on their time.”

Just then a short, overweight officer with a mustache and a badge that read “Skully” came to JP’s cell, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. “Please turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

JP did as he was told, but asked, “Why?”

“You’re being moved to another facility.”

“May I make my phone call first?”

“You can do it when you get there.” He slapped the handcuffs on JP’s wrists and pulled lightly on his arm to move him along. His big belly bumped up against JP’s back as he walked.

JP hesitated. The officer pulled harder. “Come on, John Doe. Let’s move it.”

“I have a name. It’s J….”

“I don’t give a damn. You’re John Doe to me. The next place can do the paperwork.”

It was almost dark when JP was placed in the police car. Skully sat in the driver’s seat and another uniformed policeman took the passenger side. “Hey, George, thanks for your help this morning.”

“No problem, Skull.”

George reached up and closed the glass between the front and back seats. JP couldn’t hear what they said after that.

They’d driven for about an hour when JP realized he had seen the same building at least twice. He tried to ask what was going on, but with the glass between them, they either couldn’t hear or just chose to not respond. JP grew more anxious.

It was dark by the time they stopped the car in front of a small restaurant. Both men stepped out of the car and went inside. JP could see them through the window. A young couple, who had been sitting in the booth by the window, stood up and the two officers sat down. They ordered a meal and coffee, and ate it while JP waited in the backseat of the police car, handcuffed, hungry, and in pain. The longer he sat there, the more his anxiety turned to anger.

Over an hour later, the officers came out and got back in the car. JP yelled to get their attention. They didn’t respond. After several attempts, he kicked at the back of the seat until George opened the glass window between them. The officer just raised his eyebrows without saying anything.

“What the hell is going on? Why don’t you take me to the station so I can make my phone call?”

“They keep changing our orders. Everything is full. Guess you’ll just have to wait.” Skully laughed. George started to close the window.

“Wait,” JP said. “Look, I didn’t do anything and I just want to make my phone call.”

“Right, and I’m Mel Gibson. Listen, you piece of crap, we don’t like assholes who mug old ladies, and we don’t care much for private dicks, either.” He slammed the window before JP could respond.

They continued to drive around until late into the night when they finally took JP to another jail. The clock on the wall read 12:25.

29

As Sabre was finishing her morning calendar, she shifted through her notes and saw Betty had been moved back to Las Colinas. They’d house her in a special area until she was fully recovered. Sabre drove to the jail, but rather than being taken to a regular interview room, she was escorted to a jail cell to meet with Betty behind bars.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been by to visit you in a few days. I haven’t been feeling that great,” Sabre said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just a touch of the flu. I’m fine now.” Sabre touched Betty’s fingers through the bars. “How are you holding up?”

“Okay, I guess. Sorry we have to meet like this. They wouldn’t put me into a regular interview room because of the recent problems they’ve had.”

“What problems?”

“They’ve discovered a new source of drugs in here and they’re trying to put the kibosh on it. It just means tighter security for us. Less day room time, stuff like that.” Betty cleared her throat. “Anything new on my case?”

“I’m sorry, Betty. I wish I had some good news for you, but I don’t. JP is still investigating, but so far nothing.” Sabre, frustrated with Betty’s reluctance to help, decided to take a more direct approach. “We really need your help with this. What is it you’re holding back?”

“Nothing,” Betty snapped.

“I know differently,” Sabre said sternly. “Betty, I’m trying to save your life here. I need to know what’s going on.”

“I have nothing to tell you that’ll help the situation.”

“Let me be the judge of that. Sometimes the smallest thing can turn a whole case,” she pleaded.

“I can’t.”

“Well, tell me this. When you lived in Charleston, did you know anyone with the last name of Kemp?”

Betty shook her head. “No. Why?”

“It’s not important.”

Betty became quiet for a second. “Sabre, I know you’re angry at me, but I need you to do me a favor. I have no one else I can ask.”

Sabre looked at Betty’s aging face, so filled with despair, and thought Betty had seen her last day of happiness. “Sure. What is it?”

Betty’s face showed the pain and her eyes pleaded for help, but she hesitated. Then finally she said, “I need you to check an email for me. I have a friend who has been ill, and I have no way to communicate with her.”

“Of course. That’s no problem. Just give me the information and I’ll check it as soon as I leave here.”

Betty paused. Sabre could see she was reluctant to give her the information. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m just worried.” She gave Sabre the email address and the password. As Sabre wrote it down she saw what she thought was fear in Betty’s eyes. They looked hollow. She didn’t blink and was staring into space, her shoulders raised almost up to her ears.

Sabre didn’t want to add to Betty’s despair, choosing not to tell her about the fun weekend she had planned with Luke—that she was free to go somewhere and Betty couldn’t. Instead she merely said, “I’ll be tied up for the weekend, but I’ll come see you on Monday. If you need anything, call Bob Clark. He’ll be available, and he’ll be able to reach me if he needs to.”

Sabre drove back to the office, prepared the files for court on Monday, answered her mail, and then went online to check Betty’s messages. When she opened her email, Sabre was surprised at how it differed from her own. Sabre’s email was filled with messages and had twenty or more folders with saved messages. Betty’s had only one message. The subject line read, “Urgent.” Sabre opened it immediately. It simply read, “Neil is dying. You should come.” Sabre gasped.
Was that the sick friend Betty had talked about? No, that had been a woman.
Betty said “her.” So, who’s Neil?

Sabre was eager to return home to Luke. He’d be there waiting for her to start their long weekend together, but she felt she had to give this information to Betty. She printed the email and headed back to Las Colinas. She still hadn’t heard from JP, so she called him again, but her call went straight to voice mail. This was the third day with no word from him, and her anger was turning to concern. She really needed a break from all this. Her trip with Luke was becoming more and more important to her, hoping the distraction would be enough for her to leave her concern for JP and Betty in Bob’s capable hands. She called Bob and left a message for him to follow up with JP.

Sabre walked into the jail and requested another visit with her client. Then she sat down and waited for the guard to bring her to a cell or interview room. It was nearing four o’clock and Sabre saw guards coming in and going out. She’d have to wait until the shift changed. Ten minutes later, she stood up and paced around the small waiting area. She sat down and watched the clock. She read reports. Twenty more minutes passed. She stood up again. She checked with the desk. The shift change was not complete. She tried to be patient but became more and more anxious as she waited. She was already uncomfortable having to bear the bad news. Forty-five minutes later, Sabre was finally permitted to see her client.