James Ross - A Character-Based Collection (Prairie Winds Golf Course)

by James Ross

  “That usually is good news for the accused.”

  “It was. They acquitted her.”

  “Not guilty?”

  “Yeah, that’s the definition of the word.” Captain Jer snapped his fingers and put his drink in the air.

  “Would you slow down, Jer?” Julie griped. “If you don’t, you’ll never see the first tee.”

  “I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.”

  “Even with a snoot full?”

  “No! That bitch got away with it,” the retired pilot moaned. “I tossed and turned all night.”

  “It upset you that much?”

  “Look,” Captain Jer continued, “2Dix is dead. He told Sperm Whale that if…”

  “Whoa, who is Sperm Whale?” Pork Chop asked.

  “Sperm Whale?” Captain Jer asked. “That’s Jimmy G. You know him.”

  “No kidding. I didn’t know that was him. Anyway, what did 2 Dix tell Sperm Whale?”

  “He told him if he comes up dead the broad did it.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “She found a new boyfriend. 2Dix was pissed. The plan all along was for her to get a divorce. She was going to get half the money from her ex. They were going to wait a year.” Captain Jer raised a third Bloody Mary to his lips. “Then 2Dix was going to divorce his wife and the two of them were going to get married.”

  Julie was listening intently behind the bar. “Why didn’t you volunteer this information to the cops?”

  “I figured they would figure it out,” Captain Jer answered. He took his next drink and stirred it with a celery stalk. “Anyway, Sperm Whale said that 2Dix kept calling her and she insisted that he stop. She was ready to move on with her Latin heartthrob who she couldn’t keep her hands off of.”

  “Lot of good she did him. Didn’t he get like 15 to 20?”

  “Yeah, he pled guilty to second degree. His lawyer wasn’t so sure the jury would acquit him so he took a deal to stay away from a possible long stay in the big house.” Captain Jer was thirsty. Half of the Bloody Mary went down the hatch. “2Dix told her that if she didn’t get back together with him he would run to her husband and tell him about the affair and the child. He had done DNA testing to provide proof that the kid was his in case her husband balked.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “No.” Captain Jer shook the ice. “He figured he had her over a barrel. Her husband could use the leverage against her and work a better divorce settlement. She was furious.”

  “That makes sense. I would be too,” Julie said.

  “Anyway, 2Dix told Sperm Whale that she might whack him so he couldn’t run to her husband and spill the beans.”

  “It’s a moot point now,” Pork Chop said.

  “Why do you say that?” Julie asked.

  “The jury found her not guilty.”

  Captain Jer finished his drink and raised his glass in the air. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “What do you mean? She can’t be tried twice, can she?” Julie wondered.

  “It’s possible,” Captain Jer explained. “It depends on how bad the government wants to get her.”

  “How so?”

  “Murder-for-hire is a federal crime. If the FBI wants to investigate they can bring federal charges against her.”

  “Do you think they will?”

  “That’s a good question. I guess a lot of it depends on how much evidence they can get.”

  “She must have covered her tracks pretty well.”

  “It looks like it,” Captain Jer agreed. “I think that she paid for one helluva an attorney.”

  “Did you know him before this?”

  “His reputation was to make the prosecutors squirm and work for an attractive plea deal at the eleventh hour.”

  “Why didn’t he do that this time?”

  “That’s another good question. What I heard is that the judge told the jury it was either to be first-degree murder or a not guilty verdict. No deal from the prosecutor could really go on the table. She just had to sweat out the deliberation. I guess her attorney put it all on the line and tore the Mexicali boys up on cross examination and there was no way the jury could come back with a guilty verdict. They didn’t buy a word of their testimony.”

  “That had to piss off the prosecutor, but it worked.”

  “Big time,” Captain Jer said. “Now you know why I said what I said.”

  “What was that?”

  “The bitch got away with it.”

  Chapter One Hundred One

  There was one more piece of business that deserved attention. Shari and Tyler Cy had an appointment to sign the paperwork for the divorce. It was agreed that Tyler Cy and Truman Stewart would travel to Leslie Potter’s office in Clayton. She had wanted the divorce agreement to be finalized on her turf.

  An opulent office with an agreeable ambience was the perfect setting for a high-powered settlement. The couple could bury the hatchet. The attorneys would bank a sizeable fee. All could have the proper refreshments and life would go on. The paperwork was prepared. The parties only had to look over the terms, sign the agreement, and the dissolution of marriage would be filed with the county clerk.

  The lawyers and their clients sat around the conference table with papers strewn about. Tyler Cy had his reading glasses situated on his nose and was reading the fine print in one of the documents. He took his glasses off, placed them on the table, and asked, “Would it be okay if I had a moment with Shari alone?”

  Truman and Leslie looked at each other. It was an odd request at such a late hour of the process, but Truman gestured with his hand signaling that he had no problem with it. He nodded approval. Leslie agreed. The two lawyers got up, walked to the door, and exited. After closing it they had gotten ten steps down the hallway and…

  Bang!

  “Aw, shit! What were we thinking?” Truman said. The pair turned and hurried back to the door.

  “Especially with what has taken place in court lately.”

  “We should have checked them for weapons.”

  When they reached the door…

  Bang!

  Leslie threw the door open. Tyler Cy was lying on the floor. Eight feet away Shari was flat on her back. The lawyers were frozen in disbelief.

  Shari started laughing. Tyler Cy joined her.

  “What happened?” Leslie asked.

  “I went to change seats and my knee gave out,” Tyler Cy said. “I knocked over the chair and tripped over it.”

  “I hurried to help him and tripped over a different chair. It turned over and I hit the floor too.”

  Husband and wife laughed about their foibles.

  “Is everyone alright?”

  Both had pulled themselves up. “Yes, I am okay.”

  “Me too.”

  “Let us have a few minutes. We’re fine.”

  Truman and Leslie took a sigh of relief. They backed out the door and left Tyler Cy and Shari alone.

  “I really wanted to take the time to thank you,” Tyler Cy began. “Getting Congresswoman Boudreau to be instrumental in putting the special use permit on the property is something that I’ll never be able to make up to you.”

  “Leslie helped to make it happen,” Shari replied. She reached into her purse, grabbed her cigarettes and lit one up. “I compromised the few ethics I have, met some new people, discovered a side of me I didn’t know existed, and have had a good time doing it.” Shari smiled. “I knew how much the project meant to you.”

  “I wouldn’t have had a chance against TexArOkLa had you not done what you did.” He shuffled some papers. “You know, I’m still not ready for this.”

  “What? The divorce?”

  “Yeah. I’m Catholic. I still take the vows seriously. You know, the death-do-us-part thing.” He clasped his hands and placed them on the table. “I want to give you another chance at this thing.”

  “What? The marriage?”

  Tyler Cy nodded. “I want you to drop the divorce proceedings. If you
want this to get ugly I want you to know that I have a mountain of evidence against you. You have had affairs. You gave birth to another man’s child. I can take custody of Jayla away from you and present you with some other surprises too.”

  Shari puffed away, content that she was smoking in a building that had banned the action. She looked down, raised her head, and let out a slow, deliberate breath of smoke. It was followed by a nasty cough. In a raspy voice she said, “Things really haven’t gone the way I thought they would after I filed.”

  “It’s been a tough three years.”

  “Will you name the golf course after me?”

  “The plans say Sharibrook Country Club.”

  Shari had a wry grin. She was thinking. “Anything else?”

  “You’ll be a vice president in charge of the new memberships.”

  “I don’t know if I want to work that hard.”

  “Then you can consult.”

  “I like the sound of that especially if it allows me to play golf five times a week.” Shari flipped the butt of her cigarette into an empty glass that was on the table. “Will you stay in the lower level?”

  Tyler Cy nodded. “Sure. I like it down there.”

  “Can I still come and go like I have been?”

  “You always have. That never has bothered me.”

  Shari lit another cigarette. “You’re really not as bad as I make you out to be.”

  “We’ll pay the lawyers their fee. They’ve worked hard.” Tyler Cy paused. “What do you say? This is your last shot.”

  Shari got up, walked across the room, and opened the door. She walked down the hall and invited the lawyers back into the conference room.

  “Are we ready to proceed?” Leslie asked after she and Truman were seated at the table.

  Shari looked at Tyler Cy. “Something has come up,” she began.

  “What’s that?”

  “After everything that has happened over the last few years it’s probably in my best interest to stay married to Tyler Cy.” Shari reached into her purse, fetched another smoke, and lit it.

  “What?” Truman and Leslie were shocked.

  Shari turned to Leslie. “Look, it was cheaper for us to do it this way. Tyler Cy was getting nowhere with TexArOkLa. We needed a favor.”

  “I may have overstepped my bounds when I proposed the development on the Langdon estate. As connected as I am I didn’t have the clout to do anything with TexArOkLa,” Tyler Cy added.

  Shari turned to Leslie. “So I filed for divorce with you knowing that Lisa was an old partner in the firm. I was hoping that you would open a door and introduce me to her. Lord, I tried everything I could to get you interested in me.” Shari took a long drag.

  Tyler Cy faced Truman. “Rather than pay TexArOkLa what they wanted we figured the risk to try things this way would pay off in the long run.”

  “Just tell the nosy folks out there that I changed my mind about dumping Tyler Cy. Nothing is going to change in my relationship with Lisa.” Shari blew smoke to the ceiling. “Or ours either.” She smiled at Leslie.

  Leslie looked at the trail of smoke. “You’re not supposed to do that here.”

  “It’s a stress release. We both know all about that.”

  “But you…”

  “What I didn’t figure on was all of the other commotion that came with it. Jeez, if I would have known I’d be up for murder in the first degree then…”

  Tyler Cy mumbled to himself and looked toward the heavens. “Prepare the bill. I’ll pay you the fees.” He got up. It wasn’t the time to go into a conversation as to why. The attorneys understood. “I want to thank you for your patience. We’ve decided to end this fiasco.”

  “You owe Lisa for the special use permit,” Leslie said.

  “She’ll be compensated.” Tyler Cy pushed his chair in. “I’ll make sure Shari takes care of her.” The parties shared cordial handshakes. “Let’s go, Shari.”

  The pair walked through the door and down the hall. They continued past the receptionist and waited on the elevator. “I did the right thing, Tyler Cy. Ever since I filed, a lot of bad stuff has happened to me.” Nine rings glistened from the overhead lighting. “Now I want something better than that crappy little Jag.”

  “I think that you did the right thing too for both of us.” The elevator door opened and they entered. As the door closed, Tyler Cy continued. “Would you like to go to dinner tonight, Woobie?”

  “How many times have I told you to quit calling me that?” She coughed.

  “Can we can still go out?”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why? We have good reason to.”

  “I have a date.”

  “Huh?”

  “Yeah, with Humberto.”

  “Who is that?”

  “He’s my new personal trainer.” Shari smiled as the elevator door opened and the two walked into the lobby of the Phencomm Bank building. Shari dug into her purse for another cigarette and stopped at the front door. She coughed again. “Well.”

  “Well what?”

  “After everything I’ve just done for you, aren’t you going to open the door for me?”

  # # #

  About The Author

  Mr. Ross, a University of Missouri-Columbia graduate, is nothing more than a middle-aged man searching for a positive way to express his creative side. He went to a keyboard to let the words flow through his fingertips. He is an avid, low-handicap golfer that enjoys the sport and the lessons of the game. Golf may very well hold the key to a lot of life’s best secrets. The adventures at Prairie Winds Golf Course started with Lifetime Loser. Five have followed.

  Visit his Web site: http://www.authorjamesross.com/