After Midnight

by Lacy Hart

  “Why… why are you doing this?” I said as I sobbed.

  “Because I’m leading a great life and I’m tired of you messing things up, Sarah. I have a nice house, a great job, a husband who thinks I’m great and a rich lover to boot. It was perfect for a long time, but then you started messing things up with your Sarah the perfect sister, aunt, homemaker, worker and person routine. Lizzie doesn’t even look twice to me when she needs or wants something. It’s always “Sarah can help with that,” or “I’ll talk to Sarah.” Well, I’m tired of it. So, from now on, Sarah does what I want. You don’t say a thing to anyone about anything you saw, and I won’t show these pictures to the world. You just go about your sad little life working at the diner and going to school and taking care of the house. You should probably stop seeing that man you see too. I believe that is going to be a problem.”

  I was stunned into silence. I didn’t know what to say or do or how to react. I could feel my fist clenching and unclenching the blanket covering my bed as I cried.

  “Are we in agreement, Sarah, or should I get to work with these?” Denise said to me.

  I just nodded without saying anything.

  We both heard my phone beep with a message coming in. I looked up and saw Denise take the phone out of her pocket.

  “Oh, it’s from Caleb,” she said smugly.

  “Everything okay?” she read aloud. “See you later. I love you,” she said in a mocking tone.

  “Everything’s fine,” Denise said out loud as she typed a message back to him and sent it. She then turned the phone off and shoved it into her pocket.

  “I think we’re all done for now,” Denise said to me as she walked towards the door. “You can come down and start dinner any time you’re ready. Don’t forget to get your clothes ready for work today either.”

  Denise shut the door, and I heard her walk down the hall. I got up off the bed and locked the door and then slumped back onto my bed.

  All the good feelings I had built up over the last few days were dashed inside of the last ten minutes or so. I was a prisoner now, with no way out, nowhere to turn for help, and Denise hanging over my head ready to stomp down on me whenever she wanted to.

  I walked over to the closet and got my clothing out for work tonight, knowing I had nothing to look forward to anymore.

  25

  Caleb

  For the entire ride over to Sarah’s house, I could see how nervous she was. It was a difficult situation she found herself in, and I wanted to help her more, but she insisted that this was something that she needed to handle on her own. I respected her for wanting to face her sister-in-law on her own and defend her brother, but it was not going to be easy for her. Even after I dropped her off, I was still worried about her, though her message to me assured me that everything was okay. I would have to wait to find out more details later tonight when I saw her.

  I got over to Linda’s office and parked the car in the small lot next to her building. She shared the building with some other businesses, but through smart investing on her part, she had managed to buy the building along the way and earned income from renting out the other spaces. My sister was one smart cookie.

  I walked into the building and down the hall to the area where her office was and entered the space. I realized that it had been a very long time since I had been in the office, and I hardly recognized the space at all. She had certainly put money back into her practice and made the office look good, with new plush carpeting and a large reception desk where her assistant Kendra sat. Kendra had been with her for several years now and handled all day-to-day stuff for the office that Linda might not have time for herself. Like Linda, she was a strong, self-assured woman who was someone you didn’t want to cross, but who would bend over backward to help you if you needed it. She and Ella had become friends over the years and Linda, Kendra, and Ella would often get together for dinners or just a girls’ night out.

  “Well hello there, stranger,” Kendra said to me as I walked through the door. She came out from around her desk and gave me a big hug.

  “I was wondering when you were going to come in so I could see you,” Kendra said to me. “It’s been way too long.”

  “About two years,” I said to her soberly. I realized I hadn’t seen her since Ella’s funeral.

  “My god, it’s been two years already,” Kendra said quietly. “I think about her every day, Caleb. I still keep expecting her to come walking through that door so we could go out for dinner.”

  “I know how you feel, Kendra,” I said as we hugged again.

  Kendra wiped her eyes and then walked behind her desk. “I’ll let Linda know you’re here. She’s got someone in the office with her right now.”

  “No problem,” I said as I took a seat in one of the comfy, high back leather chairs that were in the waiting room.

  I glanced down at my phone to see if I had any other messages from Sarah, but there was nothing.

  I hope that means things are going smoothly, I thought to myself.

  I sat back, mindlessly flipping through one of the magazines Linda had in the waiting room. All the magazines seemed the same, with the same posed figure or celebrity on the front with a headline telling me how much better my life could be if I followed whatever plan it was that they were endorsing. Finally, I heard Linda’s office door open and looked up and saw her walking out with a familiar face right beside her.

  “So, we’ll get together tomorrow night then?” Linda asked Doug, the owner of the Moonlight Diner.

  “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it,” Doug said as he took Linda’s hand and shook it, though it seemed like they both lingered with their hands a bit longer than was necessary. Doug turned from Linda and spotted me sitting there.

  “Hey there,” he said to me with a big smile. I got up and walked over to shake his hand. I could see over his shoulder that Linda was turning three shades of red because she realized I must have seen them together.

  “Nice to see you, Doug,” I said as we broke our handshake.

  “Nice to see you, too,” he said to me. “I’ve got to run back to the diner. Thanks again for your help, Linda,” he said as he looked back at Linda. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Goodbye, Doug,” she said, trying to sound more professional for my benefit. Doug walked out of the office and no sooner had the door closed behind him, and I broke out into a big grin.

  “What are you smiling at?” Linda said as she put her hand on her hip.

  “Nothing at all,” I said to her. “I’m sure you’re just as friendly with all your clients. Isn’t she like that with everyone, Kendra?”

  Kendra was smiling as well when my question broke her concentration.

  “Oh, yes, definitely,” Kendra said, trying to be serious as she stifled a laugh.

  Just then the phone started ringing.

  “Don’t you need to get that, Kendra?” Linda said, trying to change the subject.

  Kendra smiled and picked up the phone and Linda waved me to follow her into her office.

  I sat in one of the equally plush leather chairs in Linda’s office as she got behind her desk to grab some files.

  “So, you’re getting together with Doug tomorrow night, huh?” I said to her.

  “Yes, I am,” she said as she shuffled her papers. “Doug wanted some advice about his business and future planning, so I told him I would be happy to help him out.”

  “Oh, so you’re meeting him here at the office then,” I remarked.

  “Well, no not quite,” she said, seeming flustered now. “I’m meeting Doug at his place. He’s going to cook dinner for us, and we’ll talk over dinner.”

  “Seems kind of cozy for a meeting with your potential attorney,” I said, loving that I could give her a hard time right now.

  “Don’t you worry about it, little brother,” she shot back to me. “I can take care of myself.”

  “I never doubted that for a minute,” I said with a laugh. “I think it�
�s great for you. You haven't had a date in what, fifteen years or so?”

  “Shut up, Caleb,” she said. “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “How long has it been?” I challenged.

  I saw Linda’s eyes shift as she tried to think about it.

  “About seven years,” she said quietly as she grabbed a stack of papers and brought them over to the table on the other side of the room.

  I got up from the chair and followed her over to the table, sitting next to her.

  “Okay, let’s get down to business,” she said, trying to get everything back on track. She slid a paper in front of me to read.

  “This is the basic settlement,” Linda said. “Read it over and let me know if you have any questions.”

  “You know I don’t really care about this,” I told her in a serious tone.

  “I know you don’t, Caleb, but I do, and it’s important that some sense of justice is done on Ella’s behalf. They can’t just get away with it. I know it’s just money, but it’s something.”

  I looked over the agreement, which basically said that they were willing to settle the case without any admission of guilt on the part of Brandon Sterling or the Sterling family. The settlement would be sealed, and that would be the end of it. I fumbled my way through the rest of the legal jargon of the document and got to the end, where the finances of the settlement were explained. I looked at the paper, looked up at Linda, and then looked at the paper again.

  “Is this right?” I said to her in disbelief.

  “Yep,” she said proudly. “They knew I had them over a barrel. Even though there was no criminal charge or conviction against Brandon, there was evidence that they had somehow got suppressed. Of course, when you’re friends with nearly everyone in this town, including people in the police department and the town attorney’s office, information has a way of coming your way. I had enough where I could press the state’s DA to step in and open a case up and make things very uncomfortable for the Sterling family.”

  I looked down at the paperwork again, and Linda could see I was stunned.

  “Here’s how it breaks down. They agree to pay up to $500,000 to cover Adam’s school tuition, wherever he decides to go, including if he goes to law school, grad, school, med school or anything else. They also agree to pay an additional $500,000 to a charity of your choice in Ella’s name. Then the rest is for you.”

  I looked at the papers one more time.

  “Linda, that’s 3 million dollars.”

  “Damn right it is. I actually started at seven and only agreed to accept the three if the Sterling family went for the agreement for the additional payments for tuition and donation.”

  Linda put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me.

  “Caleb, nothing can ever replace Ella in your life, Adam’s life, my life, or anyone else’s. It’s a horrible thing that happened, and I would love to have that worm rot in jail for twenty-five years for what he did. Since that isn’t going to happen, this is the best I could do for you and Adam. I wish I could do more, or that things could be different.”

  “I wanted to see him in jail too, Linda. I know how these things go sometimes. This just seems like… like it’s too much,” I said to her.

  “Screw that!” she said, raising her voice. “It’s not too much at all, Caleb. If anything, it will never be enough. At least that man can live every day for the rest of his life knowing he did have to pay in some way for what he did. Old man Sterling banished Brandon from the state. They shipped him off to run one of their offices out in Kansas somewhere. Sterling’s lawyer made it sound like he was invited to never come back. Good riddance to that trash.”

  “What do we do now?” I asked her.

  “You sign the agreement, I send it over to Sterling’s lawyer, and it gets filed with the court. They cut three checks – one for you, one for Adam, and one for the charity you want. Adam’s goes into a trust for him. You can do whatever you want with yours. As your lawyer, I can take care of it for you if you want. We can invest it, put some in the bank, or do what you wish. You just let me know, and I’ll do it for you.”

  Linda flipped the pages of the document over to the signature page and handed me a pen. I sat and thought about it for a second, but I realized that this was the only outcome that was viable. I signed my name on the document and handed it back to Linda.

  “You okay?” Linda said to me.

  “I think so,” I said to her. “I don’t know… this whole process, everything about it coming to an end, and everything else going on right now… it just seems like… like it’s me putting Ella behind me for good. I don’t want that to be true, but it feels like it.”

  “She’s never behind us, Caleb. Even if the case is over, or if you are with Sarah, or when Adam goes away to school or gets married… she’s always a part of us.”

  Linda gave me a hug and then sat back in her chair.

  “Thank you,” I said to her. “I know this was a lot of long hours and hard work for you. Even though I never wanted you to start it in the first place, I’m glad you saw it through.”

  “It was my pleasure, little brother,” Linda said to me. “Now you need to think about what charity you want to donate to. You can give it some consideration and see what you can come up with. We can hold that money in trust too until you come up with something.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I said to her. “I’ll talk to Adam about it and see if he has any ideas. He may know of something that is perfect for this, that Ella would have loved.”

  “Good idea,” she said to me as she stood up. Linda’s phone buzzed, and she walked over to pick it up. I heard her say “okay” and then she hung up.

  “My next appointment is here,” she said to me. I stood up and walked towards her office door. “I’ll see you at home tonight. What are you cooking for dinner tonight?” she said to me with a smile.

  “Sorry,” I told her, “Sarah is working tonight. If you want me to cook, we might be limited to pancakes. My cooking lessons haven’t progressed very far just yet. I can pick up sandwiches if you want. Or maybe you want a cozy dinner with Doug tonight, too.”

  “Get out, Caleb,” Linda said to me, opening her office door.

  I walked out into the office and saw Kendra talking to a young couple that was the next appointment. I gave her a wave as I left and she waved back to me and blew me a kiss.

  I got out to my car and just sat behind the wheel for a few minutes without starting up the car at all. I still had a hard time processing that the Sterling family would just turn over all that money to make this all go away. Part of me started to feel a little angry about it, and part of me was still sad about it as well, especially since it was so close to the anniversary of the accident. It was all a lot to process.

  I turned on the car and headed back home, determined to talk to Adam about all of this and explain it all to him to see if he had any ideas. After that, I would look forward to going to see Sarah late tonight at the diner. She would certainly be the bright spot of a day of mixed emotions for me.

  26

  Sarah

  The rest of the day was one of the most uncomfortable and unhappy of my existence. After my confrontation with Denise, where she basically decided to blackmail me into not revealing her affair to James, I was backed into a corner. I found myself with no choice but to go along with her or have her ruin the rest of my life with the phony pictures she and Jared Sterling had doctored together. Worst of all, she was trying to put a halt to my relationship with Caleb, and I had to try to find a way around him and dealing with him until I could figure everything out.

  After I put my things away and got my work clothing out, I resigned myself to going downstairs and starting dinner. I went into the kitchen and took out some chicken pieces that were in there and put together a simple roasted chicken dinner with rice and vegetables. My heart was hardly in doing any of this, but with Denise keeping a watchful eye over me from her perch just outside the kitche
n on the deck, I had to at least try to put on a good front. At least when Lizzie came in it did brighten my day to see her.

  “Sarah!” she yelled when she saw me and came in and gave me a big hug.

  “Hi, Lizzie,” I said, hugging her back.

  “I’m so glad you’re home,” she said to me. “I was getting worried you weren’t coming back.”

  “I wouldn’t just leave you like that,” I said to her quietly.

  “Good!” she said happily. “How was your time with your boyfriend? I want to hear all about it.”

  Just then, Denise came walking in the back door.