Ian

by Denise Irwin

  After the kids went to bed, Leona and Sam met in the kitchen for a nightcap. As he handed her a glass of wine, he asked, “Do you really like the decorations or were you just saying that to make us all feel good.”

  “Sam, the decorations are perfect and I bet that you and the kids will hear that on Thanksgiving Day.”

  “Is there anything on our dance card tomorrow?”

  “Not that I know of and it wouldn’t upset me if Molly and Jack slept in.”

  <>

  During breakfast on Monday morning, Jack said, “We should have taken pictures of the decorations so that we could show the other kids.”

  Sam said, “We’ll take some today and you can take them with you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks Dad.”

  They scurried out the door to catch the bus. As she cleaned up the table, Leona said, “It’s really great that our children like school.”

  “It is. They both do well and for them, it’s their social world. What’s on you dance card today?”

  “I think that I’m gonna take a look around and see if there’s anything critical that needs my attention and if there’s not, I’m gonna take the day off.”

  Sam chuckled, “I’ve never known you to take a day off. Surely there’s laundry.”

  “Okay, yes I have laundry and I’ll do that, but I won’t start cleaning and decorating this early.”

  <>

  Delven and Gregory were sitting in chairs that faced Judge Kavanagh. He said, “Did you receive the results of the psychiatric exam for Thompson?”

  They nodded their heads, “Good. Becca when was the last time you saw him?”

  “Last Thursday.”

  “What was his behavior like?”

  “He was angry and delusional. He threatened to kill me if he didn’t get an acquittal.”

  “Is that right. Do you want me to have this case reassigned?”

  “No Your Honor, I do not. I’ll defend him to the best of my ability whether he likes it or not.”

  “I knew that you would say that. Brian, you’ve been awfully quiet this morning, do you have anything to add?”

  “I don’t think so Aaden, but I think that keeping an eye on Becca’s not a bad idea.”

  Delven said, “Aaden, Brian knows that I’m quite capable of managing my affairs. I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me.”

  “I hear what you’re saying, but I’m going to go with Brian’s recommendation. There will not be officers camped out at your house, but I’ll make sure that they patrol the neighborhood regularly until this case is over.”

  She wasn’t please, but she said, “Thank you Aaden.”

  “Your welcome. I prepared an order to have Thompson transferred to the Baltimore City Jail today. Are there any questions?”

  They both shook their heads, “Good. I want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving before you go.”

  They left his office and walked together to the parking lot. Gregory asked, “Becca do you want to grab a coffee with me?”

  “Believe it or not, I think that I would.”

  “Why don’t you let me drive you to a diner outside of the city? We don’t need anyone reporting us to the Bar Association.”

  He drove to a diner in the county, where it was likely that no one knew them. He helped her out of the car. He asked the hostess for a booth. When the waitress came to take their orders, Gregory said, “We’ll take coffee for now.”

  “Becca, I know that you’re pissed about the fact that Kavanagh wants to keep an eye on you, but I think that you have to admit that this bastard threatened your life.”

  “Oh Brian, I know that he wanted to plea either insanity or a crime of passion. This guy’s been around the block a few times and knows how to work the system. I think he’s a bastard, but according to our justice system, he deserves proper legal representation. If not me, someone else will hear him spew the same bullshit. I have no intention of letting that happen.”

  “Becca, you’re right, if you like, call Sam if he threatens you.”

  “What is Sam going to do about it?”

  He couldn’t answer that question. “That’s right. If you couldn’t answer the question, there’s not a damn thing that Sam can do. Thanks for the coffee, it’s now time to take me back to my car.”

  He dropped her off at the courthouse and left to drive to his office.

  <>

  Thompson was more than pissed when two Baltimore City Jail Guards handed him an orange jail jump suit with the initials BCJ on the back and cuffed his hands and legs. He spat obscenities at them for treating him like a criminal rather than the mentally ill patient that he was.

  <>

  Sam was in the yard taking pictures of the yard and with each shot, he knew that the yard looked great. Leona called him in for lunch.

  She asked, “Did you get a lot of photos?”

  “I think so, here take the camera and tell me what you think.”

  As she clicked through the photos, she said, “Sam, you have a hidden talent as a photographer. I’ll print two copies of each, so that Molly and Jack can have their own copy.”

  Leona set the photos on the table where each one sat for the after school snacks. Sam and Leona heard Molly and Jack come in the front door and run up the steps, to change their clothes. They then ran down the steps and into the kitchen. Each child was about to sit when they saw the photos. They sat and began going through them. Molly asked, “Mom, did you made two copies?”

  “Yes I did. I made a set for each of you.”

  Jack said, “Thank you Mom.”

  “Jack, your father took those photos. I only printed them out.”

  “Dad, is that right?”

  “Yes Jack, I took them.”

  “They are really great and you could probably enter them into a photo competition.”

  “Thanks for the complement, but I took them for you and Molly.”

  <>

  Thompson was once again in solitary, so his gruel was placed on the shelf in the door. He wasn’t sure which was worse, the food in the looney bin or the food in the jail.

  <>

  After the kids had gone to bed. Leona and Sam met in the kitchen for a nightcap. As Sam handed his wife a glass of wine, she said, “Sam, they really are great photos. I might take them to that photo joint and have them framed.”

  He was trying to think of a retort when his phone rang. “Sam, its Brian. The psych report was faxed out yesterday.” He then updated Sam with the contents of the report along with the meeting they had with Kavanagh this morning.

  “Brian, do you think that Delven might be in danger?”

  “I don’t know, but her statement about the fact that he needed legal representation pretty much summed it up for me.”

  “Yeah, I hear what you’re saying and Delven is more stubborn than a mule when she’s set her mind on something.”

  “Sam, that visual is perfect when it comes to Becca. Phil wants to know what he can bring for Thanksgiving and don’t give me that bullshit about he can bring me.”

  “Brian, you gotta talk to the boss; not me.”

  As he handed the phone to Leona," he told her that Brian was on the phone. “Brian, its Leona. Do you need something from me?”

  “Your wuss husband gave the phone to you.”

  “I don’t think that my husband’s a wuss, but yes, he gave the phone to me. What’s up?”

  “What can Phil bring on Thanksgiving?”

  “Brian, I’m gonna shock you, but ask him if he can make the dinner rolls. We’re expecting about twenty-two folks and his rolls are just the best.”

  “He’ll be excited about that. I, of course, will bring the wine.”

  Sam asked, “What were we talking about when Gregory called?”

  Leona laughed, “I have no freaking idea. I take it that Thompson is capable of standing trial?’

  “That’s what the man said.” He had no good reason to tell his wife about the threat on Delven’s life.


  “That’s great, so I’m going to bed.”

  “I’ll walk the dog and be right up.”

  <>

  On Tuesday morning, Sam came into the kitchen with the dog, “I walked up the driveway and thought how great the decorations look.”

  “Make sure that you tell that to Molly and Jack.”

  The kids came into the kitchen for breakfast talking about the decorations. “Jack, the coolest part is that we designed the whole thing.”

  “I agree with that and we did a good job.”

  Sam said, “This morning the dog and I walked up the driveway and I looked at the decorations again and thought how great they look.”

  Molly asked, “Did you really like them?”

  “Yes I did, Miss Molly by Golly.

  They finished breakfast, so Leona handed their photos to them in an envelope. “Put these into your backpack.”

  They watched as Molly and Jack ran out the door to catch the bus. Sam asked, “Are you up for another cup of coffee?”

  “I would love to have another cup with my husband.”

  They sat quietly, until Leona asked, “Are you thinking about what Brian told you last night on the phone?”

  “I think so. I think Delven’s gonna have her hands full with defending him because he’s a con artist full of nothing, but lies.”

  “Then you don’t know the Becca that I know. She’s a bulldog. I don’t know why she doesn’t go into private practice.”

  “That my love is the sixty-four thousand dollar question. What’s on your to-do list for today?”

  “Not much, I’ll probably do some laundry. Can you help me rake some leaves?”

  He chuckled as he said, “They’re still falling from the trees. I’ll wait until next Wednesday and use the leaf blower.”

  She laughed, “Hell, that’s no fun.”

  “No it isn’t, but it’s efficient and by the day before Thanksgiving, we’ll have a bounty of leaves on the ground.”

  “Then let me go grab my first load of laundry.”

  <>

  Becca Delven called the Baltimore City Jail and asked, “I’d like my client, Mark Thompson, brought to an interview room at 11:00 this morning.”

  The guard on duty know her well, so he said, “Ms. Delven, he’ll be ready when you get here.”

  “Thank you.”

  She was at home, so she made breakfast and read the paper with a second cup of coffee. She then showered and dressed, and then drove to the jail. She signed the log book and the on duty guard said, “Give me a moment to call radio for an escort.”

  While she waited she wondered what he would say to her. Her escort showed up and walked with her to the interview room. “Ms. Delven, this boy’s bad, so I’ll watch through the two-way mirror.”

  She stepped into the room and sat in the chair across from him. She said, “Good Morning Mr. Thompson.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see how you’re doing with the doctor’s report.”

  She could see that he was angry. “You come in here and ask me about the report? Well, let me say this place ain’t no Holiday Inn. At least at the hospital they gave me anxiety drugs. Let me tell just tell you that I will kill you with my bare hands, if you don’t get an acquittal.”

  Delven didn’t shrink away from him. Instead she said, “Mr. Thompson, I am your defense attorney and I always work toward the best interest for my client. You do not have a stellar background and I know that you served prison time in the past. As a matter of fact, you are wanted for a parole violation and you sit here and tell me that you will kill me with your bare hands, if I can’t get you an acquittal. That’s pretty ballsy on your part. If you want a new attorney, just let your counselor know. I’m leaving now, so you just think about how you need to behave in the courtroom.”

  She knocked on the door. The jail guard unlocked the door for her to get out. She told him, “You can return this prisoner to his cell.”

  She was angry and pissed as she walked to her car. This piss-ant client threatened to kill her and she was supposed to defend him. Well she would do just that. She wouldn’t tell anyone about today’s incident because she wanted this case. She wanted to show him that she is a good attorney and not someone who just fell off the potato truck.

  <>

  Leona did laundry until lunch time. She and Sam sat at the table for lunch. He asked, “Lee, how many guests did you invite?”

  “Hold on a minute. I think that I invited twenty-two guests. Why did you ask?”

  “No particular reason, I just wondered.”

  She laughed. “Sam Marksman, you have something on your mind, so what is it?”

  “I just wanted to know since you list seems to grow larger each year.”

  “It does and I consider that as a good thing because it means that our circle of friends and family grows each year.”

  “Do you need anything else before I go back to my laundry?”

  “I don’t think so.

  Leona wasn’t paying attention to the time, so when her children ran into the house, she didn’t have their snacks ready. She didn’t want to give them the pizza rolls from the freezer, but there wasn’t time, so when desperation calls, it’s time for desperate measures. The microwave timer dinged just as Molly and Jack sat at the table.

  Molly said, “Mom, everyone loved our pictures. No one has decorations like we do.”

  “I’m happy to hear that because you worked so hard on your decorations. As a treat, for your hard work I have pizza rolls for your snack.”

  Molly squealed, “That’s just way cool.”

  “I’m glad that you’re happy, do either of you have homework?”

  They both nodded their heads. When they were finished with their snack, they went upstairs to do homework.

  After the kids went to bed, Leona and Sam met in the kitchen for a nightcap. As Sam handed her a glass of wine, she said, “I think that I need to add something about this morning’s conversation on the fact that our party is growing.”

  “I don’t think that you do, but go on and say what you need to add.”

  “I haven’t started to invite guests who are away from home so that they have a place to have Thanksgiving dinner.”

  He howled with laughter, but he managed to choke out, “That’s right. You’ve not gone that far, yet.”

  “Sam, I have to say, that if someone doesn’t have a place to go, I’d be more than happy if they joined us. Sue always said, and it’s true, the more the merrier.”

  “I can’t challenge that statement. Before I met you, she knew that I lived on a boat and she invited me to dinner. Hell, I was working with an attorney who had no place to go and I grabbed him to go.”

  “That was my boss, John Bouchard, who was a work alcoholic.”

  Chapter Nine

  After the kids left for school on Monday morning, Leona had a meltdown. “Sam, there are only three days left before our house will be full of guests and I’m not ready.”

  “What’s left to do?”

  “I need to clean and decorate.”

  “Okay, what are you planning to clean?”

  “I was going to dust and vacuum. Then clean the bathrooms and kitchen.”

  “I’ll help with the decorating. Let’s get a cleaning plan together. What’s your priority for cleaning?”

  “The bathrooms.”

  “Do those today and we’ll tackle the dusting and vacuuming tomorrow. That will leave us Wednesday to rake leaves if we need to.”

  “Sam, you always make it sound so simple and it’s not always that easy.”

  He put his hands up with palms facing his wife, “Lee, here’s what I think. While you love throwing parties, you get so excited and anxious for everyone to have a good time and no one has ever said that you don’t throw a great party. You are a great hostess and they love your invites. Has anyone every turned your invite down?”

  “No, no one has every turned d
own a party here.”

  “Then go get on those bathrooms, I’ll call you for lunch.”

  Leona started with the upstairs bathrooms and they were done when Sam called her for lunch. She came down the steps and saw something that caught her eye. It was a floral design for the dining room table. She pulled the card of and read, ‘The Macgill’s will be thinking of you as you celebrate your Thanksgiving holiday’.

  Sam found his wife crying in the dining room. “Did you see these?”

  “Yes and I read the card. They were delivered while you were upstairs, so I put them on the table.”

  “I just don’t know what to say.”

  “Lee, call them to thank them now.”

  They walked into the kitchen and Sam handed her his cell phone. She tapped the button for the Macgill’s number. Ivan answered the phone and Leona told him through her tears, “We received your flowers this morning and I wanted to call and tell you how grateful I am.”

  “Leona, it was such a small thing to do to send our appreciation to you. Please enjoy them.”

  “Ivan before you go, how did your son’s funeral go?”

  “It was amazing. Everyone in the town stood and spoke such kind words about him. Go and enjoy you party, please send Bonnie and me pictures.”

  “I will.”

  She handed Sam his phone and asked, “Did you say something about lunch?”

  <>

  Delven called the Baltimore City Jail and said that she wanted to meet with her client. Mark Thompson in an interview room at 11:00 that morning.

  Delven signed the log book and was then escorted to an interview room. She waited while the guard brought Thompson in. He sat across the table and said, “Why are you here? I thought that I made it perfectly clear in our last conversation, that if you don’t get an acquittal I will kill you.”

  “Mr. Thompson, are you aware that everything that is said in this room is being recorded.”

  He sarcastically says, “Doesn’t that violate client-attorney privilege and that’s illegal so, you’ll be the one going to jail.”