Not My Solution
T. E. Killian
CCM
Black Canyon City, Arizona
Copyright © 2019 by Trennis E. Killian
Cover photo: Dreamstime 5304784 (Elisa Bistocchi)
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The characters in this book are fictional and do not resemble any person who has ever lived.
Novels by T. E. Killian
- Look for all the books in the Sycamore P.D. Series:
Sycamore P.D. Series, Novels 1-3
1. Lost Memories
2. Accepted Memories
3. Resolved Memories
- Look for all the books in the Crowley County Series:
Crowley County Series 4 in 1 Set
1. No Easy Solution
2. A Better Solution
3. The Only Solution
4. Another Solution
5. Not My Solution
- Look for all the books in the Clear Creek Series:
Clear Creek Series 3 in 1 Set
1. Ryan's Ruin
2. Chase's Return
3. Hunter's Revenge
- Look for all the books in the Walking Together Series:
Walking Together Series 3 in 1 Set
1. Walking Straight
2. Walking Away
3. Walking the Line
- Look for all the books in the Rookies Series
Rookies Series 3 in 1 Set
1. Looking Up
2. Looking Good
3. Looking Out
- Look for all the books in the Bear Creek Series
Bear Creek Series 3 in 1 Set
1. Greed’s Reward
2. Pride’s Deception
3. Fool’s Profit
- Look for all the books in the Logan’s Way Detective Series
Logan’s Way Detective Series, Novels 1-3
1. Out of My Way
2. On the Way
3. All the Way
- Look for all the books in the Stillwater Mystery Series
Stillwater Mystery Series, Novels 1-3
1. Suspicious Circumstances
2. Dangerous Consequences
3. Subtle Persuasion
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
Novels by T. E. Killian
Chapter One
Nicole Fuller was tired, angry and probably most of all frightened. She drove her van into the garage, turned off the motor and punched the garage door remote to close the door.
Normally, she would be eager to get inside her house and relax from her long day of teaching English at Crowleyville High School. But not today. She didn’t want to go inside at all. Because she simply didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts.
If she could think of somewhere else to be right then, she’d back her van out of the garage and go there immediately. But … she had nowhere else to be.
She just sat there with her forehead resting on the steering wheel for a full five minutes. Finally, she unhooked her wheelchair and punched the remote to slide the door open. Then she wheeled around to it, rode the lift down to the concrete floor and rolled down the ramp. With a two-car garage, she had ten feet from there to the door leading into her laundry room and kitchen. That door also had a remote open with a button on the wall next to it.
Once inside, she quickly looked at the Captioned Phone sitting on the counter near her table. The number two was flashing, so she dumped her book bag on the table and turned back to the phone.
She had to stop for a moment and pet her big fluffy cat, Snowball, who had just jumped into her lap. Then she waited for Snowball to get comfortable.
Once she pressed the playback button, the first message came up on the five by ten screen. It was merely a reminder from the VA clinic about her appointment the next day at four.
The second message surprised her. It was from her twin brother Nick, so she sat back to read it thinking it would probably be a long one.
But it didn’t even fill the screen. All he said was that he was coming down to Crowleyville this afternoon after work.
Great! That was all she needed. All her life, Nick had been her self-appointed protector and that had only worsened after she was crippled. She sometimes avoided him because of it. This time, there was no way to escape. She knew he hadn’t called her until he was already on his way from his home near Kansas City.
She checked the time of the call, three o’clock. Then she looked at the current time. Great! He’d been on the road for an hour already which meant he’d be there in about two hours. Rats!
As she turned away from the phone, she caught the red light blinking out of the corner of her eye just as the special receiver attached to her wrist vibrated. They both signaled an incoming phone call.
She punched the button to answer, spoke into the built-in microphone and waited for the caller to talk so the Captioned Phone could display their words on the screen.
“Hello, this is Roger McCracken, the lawyer. You called for an appointment. I can see you in about an hour if that works for you.”
After reading that, she talked into the mic again. “I can be there. Isn’t your office in that single level building next to the hardware store.”
“Yes, it is.”
She’d already scouted the building out making sure it had a wheelchair ramp to the front door.
She looked at the clock on the phone.
“Okay, I’ll be there at five then.”
She blew out a loud sigh and headed for her bedroom. She had a large walk-in closet with all the racks and shelves rotating to her level. After looking through her clothes, she decided that the slacks and sweater she was wearing were good enough to meet with a lawyer she didn’t want to meet with in the first place.
Nicole spent the next twenty minutes sitting in her roomy living room idly petting Snowball who was on her lap. The vibration of the cat purring helped calm her. She intentionally kept her mind blank the whole time.
Finally, she gently lifted Snowball off her lap and placed her on the sofa. Then she went out the door to her van and was soon on her way to the lawyer’s office. This was definitely not what she wanted to do on a Friday afternoon after a long tiring week.
Well, she knew if she didn’t do something, she might not be teaching at Crowleyville High School much longer. So, she gritted her teeth and drove to the lawyer’s office.
She was pleased when she made her way up the ramp to the front door of the building to find that it was an automatic door. She pressed the plate and wheeled herself in.
There was a central hallway running from the entryway to the rear of the building with four offices on each side. She wheeled over to a directory attached to the wall at normal standing person height. Luckily, the letters were large enough that she could read this one from her position far below it.
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br /> She followed the hallway down to the last door on the right where a very new looking plaque next to the door said, “Roger McCracken, Attorney at Law.”
She had to push this door open, but it opened in, so she managed to maneuver inside easily. There was a reception area with a desk that looked unoccupied.
There must have been a bell on the door for a tall redheaded man appeared in an open doorway behind the desk and to the left.
Nicole took one look at him and almost smiled to herself. She’d met the Crowley County Sheriff, Floyd McCracken, several times and had wondered if the lawyer was any relation to him. Well, that question was answered quickly. The man was a younger and taller version of the sheriff. She guessed he was about six foot five inches tall, but the proof was in his red hair and freckles. He had to be the sheriff’s brother.
* * *
Roger McCracken had mixed emotions. He was happy that he finally had an appointment even if it was for something as minor as a teacher seeking legal advice. She was a client after all.
No, that wasn’t the problem. The real problem was that after two years, he’d finally left the law firm he’d been with in Kansas City. He caught himself shaking his head. The biggest problem was being back in Crowleyville where his mother and sister were constantly after him to get married and start a family.
He snorted. If that wasn’t bad enough, he still had to face his dad’s wrath for not staying on the farm the way his younger brother, Myron, had.
Why had he ever come back to Crowleyville? Well, he’d had to go somewhere, hadn’t he? He’d been fed up with living in a big city. He’d felt lost in the huge law firm and basically, he was just plain homesick.
Why? He’d been away from home ever since he’d joined the Army when he graduated from high school twelve years ago. He hadn’t been able to get off the farm and away from Crowleyville quick enough. So, now, here he was home again, and broke on top of it.
All of his savings had gone into securing an office and equipping it for business. He couldn’t even afford to hire a secretary yet. Now, after an almost six-month transition, he was about to meet with his first client.
His thoughts were interrupted when the electronic buzzer went off indicating someone had opened his outer office door.
He stood and straightened the wrinkles out of his shirt and slacks. He wasn’t wearing a coat or tie. He’d shed all that when he left the city and only planned to wear a suit in court.
He was surprised when he opened his door and saw who he assumed was his client sitting in a wheelchair just inside the office door.
His second look shocked him even more. Except for a faint scar running from her left ear to just above her left eye, she had to be one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. Wow!
“Are you Roger McCracken?”
Roger almost shook his head to clear it but caught himself just in time. He finally found his voice. “Yes, and you must be Ms. Fuller.”
She nodded and pulled her long blond hair back over her shoulders. “I prefer to be addressed as Miss Fuller. I don’t like the other one for various reasons.”
Okay, that said a lot about his first client. Correction, potential client.
She wheeled her chair through his open office door. All he could do was follow her quickly. When she stopped in the middle of the room, he pulled a chair aside, so she could get closer to the desk.
He held out his hand. “I’m pleased to meet you Miss Fuller.”
She said nothing but took the hand he offered and gave him a surprisingly firm handshake. This was no frail woman in that wheelchair.
Once he was in his chair looking across the desk at her, she frowned at him. “Are you always this rude to your prospective clients Mr. McCracken?”
That threw him. He wasn’t being rude, was he?
When he gave her a puzzled look, her frown deepened. “You are staring at me sir.”
Roger knew he was blushing now. Had he really been staring at her? Yes, he guessed he was. But she was so beautiful. What could he say?
“I’m sorry Miss Fuller.”
He just remembered she had called herself Miss Fuller on the message she’d left on his voice mail. He needed to be more observant in the future.
She was still glaring at him and that was when he thought he knew why she was getting mad.
“Again, I’m sorry for staring at you but I grew up in this area and I’ve never seen a woman as beautiful as you around here anywhere.”
Well, judging from the slight softening of her glare, he must have regained a few of the points he’d lost before.
She stared directly into his eyes. “I am not an object to be stared at or even admired in that way and I’ll thank you to remember that in the future, sir.”
He thought she was finished, but she wasn’t.
“That is if I decide to retain you for my little problem.”
Well, he’d just been told, and quite properly too. Time to move on.
“Yes, of course, that will be your decision.”
He tried his best smile on her, but it seemed to have missed her completely.
“Okay. Your message only said you needed legal advice. Why don’t you start with any questions you may have, and we’ll go from there?”
She continued to stare directly at his eyes for another long moment before looking away and then back in his general direction.
“I teach English at the high school and I’m also the Student Council advisor.”
She paused, and Roger decided to wait her out.
“There is a nine-hundred-dollar discrepancy in the Student Council bank account. A deposit of that amount never made it to the bank.”
Roger wondered if she taught in spurts this way but then he looked down at her hands in her lap. They were clasping and unclasping and twisting about. She was extremely nervous. But how could he get her to calm down enough to trust him?
He was fairly certain she was about to leave if he didn’t do something quickly.
“Miss Fuller. How long have you lived in Crowleyville?”
She seemed surprised at that question.
“Three years.”
He smiled again. “Then I can assume you’ve had at least one encounter with my older brother, Floyd, the sheriff.”
She had looked away for a moment then back. She blushed slightly.
“I’m sorry, Mr. McCracken. Could you repeat what you just said please?”
He was surprised to hear that but even more surprised when she blushed deeper.
“I am totally deaf, but I read lips perfectly, and I was looking away just now, so I missed the first part of what you just said.”
He was shocked, first that she was deaf and second that she’d been candid with him. He had briefly wondered before how she’d wound up in that wheelchair but now, he was even more curious. Was her hearing loss due to the same thing that put her in that wheelchair?
He repeated what he just said but a little slower this time which seemed to make her visibly angry. Now what did he do wrong?
“Mister McCracken! I am not mentally challenged. I assure you that even though my body has been damaged, my mind is still crystal clear, and I have a rather high IQ to go along with it.”
Now he was blushing again.
“I’m sorry Miss Fuller. Again, I must apologize. I’ve never dealt with a deaf person who could communicate the way you do.”
* * *
Nicole had just about had enough. She was going to leave if this rude man continued the way he was. She did not like having to defend herself this way. She expected people to take her as she was and allow her to prove herself in all ways.
She kept her eyes on the lawyer though. She didn’t want to miss anything else he might say.
“Are you being accused of taking that money Miss Fuller?”
Finally, a question that was not only to the point but one she could easily answer.
“Yes, I am.”
“Have you been formally
charged with the theft?”
“No, I have not but I suspect that may happen next week.”
“Is there a detective assigned to this case?”
Okay, he seemed ready to get down to business now. She’d give him a little more time to impress her. She could still leave any time she wanted.
“The only person I’ve seen so far is a Lieutenant Salter. Do you know him?”
Mr. McCracken laughed aloud, and Nicole turned her wheelchair around and headed for the door.
As she was reaching for the doorknob, she felt him grab the handgrips of her chair. He turned her back around to face him.
“I’m sorry, Miss Fuller but Rob and I are the same age and we were best friends all through school. He’s the best one you could possibly have on your case. He’ll be thorough and totally fair.”
She allowed him to push her chair back up to his desk and waited while he sat back down.
“Has Rob made any direct statements toward you that lead you to believe he may plan to charge you with the theft?”
She had to think about that for a moment then shook her head. “No, no direct accusations but several of the other teachers are talking about it as if it will happen.”
He seemed to be in thought, looking over her head, for a moment then he frowned and looked at her again.
“Would you say those other teachers are friends of yours or do they have something against you that might cause them to push you onto the tracks, so to speak?”
She didn’t have to think about that one. She groaned before answering.
“I would not call them friends, that is for sure. In fact, one of them, the leader I might add, is quite hostile toward me.”
He waited, so she clarified that statement for him. “She wanted to be the Student Council advisor, but the administration picked me over her.”
She could see recognition on his face now.
“What is her name?”
“Darla Chadwick. She teaches music of all things. How could she ever know anything about advising the Student Council?”
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