His Golden Heart

by Marcia King-Gamble

  “Do you truly believe Beau will walk again?” Mary Jane asked, downing her wine, her Kewpie-doll face scrunched into a questioning look.

  Shayna chose her words carefully. “I think he might, if he wants to badly enough. Like almost anything else in life, desire is a powerful factor. Beau’s spinal injury is minor. His initial state of mind is what’s held up his progress.”

  Mary Jane selected a chip from the basket in front of them. “You sound like you’ve gotten to know him well. “How well?”

  Shayna felt her cheeks heat up. The mere mention of Beau’s name had that effect on her. She wasn’t about to share that with Mary Jane. “When you work with a person, you get to know them fairly well,” she said off-handedly.

  Mary Jane’s eyes twinkled knowingly. “I think it’s more than that. You like Beau Hill more than you’re willing to admit.”

  “And your point being?”

  Mary Jane crunched loudly on her chip. “There’s a lot to like about Beau. Admittedly he was a bear when he was first admitted to Denver Rehab, but there was always a certain charisma under that gruff exterior. Several of the nurses saw it. Maybe even felt it.”

  “Hmmmmm. That’s why several of them quit or asked to be transferred.”

  “Not me.” Mary Jane giggled even as the cell phone in Shayna’s purse jingled. The noise startled them.

  Shayna depressed a button. “Hello.”

  “Shayna?” a male voice inquired.

  Shayna’s heart stopped. Reggie so seldom called her mobile. Was he in trouble?

  “I’m here,” she answered, clamping the phone more firmly to her ear. She rose, walking a little way down the sidewalk. “What’s going on?”

  “I have good news, Shayna. The best.” Reggie sounded as if he were hyperventilating.

  “OK?” She waited for the next shoe to drop.

  “I found someone, Shayna. Someone who saw me that night when I was with the guys. I have an eyewitness. I thought you might want to call Colin.”

  “And tell him what?” Shayna asked, excited but careful not to let on.

  “Tell him that we found ourselves another witness. Someone who saw me and the guys at the McDonald’s. I’ll put Beau on and he can tell you all about it.”

  Shayna’s heart pounded. Beau had been angry with her. They hadn’t spoken since the evening of his barbecue when Alia had so loudly announced her past identity. Sure they’d managed to be civil to each other and even made it through the meal, but she’d sensed his disappointment in her and knew that he didn’t trust her.

  “How are you, Shayna?” Beau’s rich, deep voice came at her, making the goose bumps pop out. Shayna’s stomach flip-flopped. She should never have had that second glass of wine.

  “Is what Reggie’s telling me true?” she asked without preamble.

  “Yes. It’s a really small world. One of the guys saw Reggie on TV tonight. He recognized him from the McDonald’s.”

  Beau went on to explain about Ebenezer providing the details about how it had come about.

  Shayna’s excitement built. “Is this guy reputable?” she asked.

  “All I know is that he’s been coming to the center for a while. Mohammed says he’s usually fairly neat and doesn’t appear to be on drugs.”

  “If I call Colin he’s going to want to know how he can reach Ebenezer,” Shayna said.

  “Who’s Colin?” Beau asked, his tone possessive.

  “Reggie’s attorney.”

  “That might pose a problem. These men usually aren’t forthcoming about addresses and phone numbers. Some have been in trouble with the law previously. Makes them skittish. Why doesn’t Colin try to contact Ebenezer here? Meanwhile I’ll try to pin him down, establish a time and day when he’ll be back. If Colin can come to Hill Of Dreams and meet Ebenezer, so much the better.”

  “I like that idea. You have therapy scheduled for Wednesday, see you then.”

  A car pulled up at the curb next to her. High-pitched voices shrieked excitedly as four women dressed to the nines alighted. Too-tight clothing and strongly scented perfume signaled an interesting evening ahead.

  “Where are you?” Beau asked sharply.

  “In LoDo.”

  “What are you doing there?”

  “Am I’m being interrogated?” Shayna asked lightly.

  “Sorry.”

  She chuckled as the four women sashayed down the street, arm in arm, butts twitching.

  “Sounds like you’re having a good time.”

  “I am. Actually I’m having a drink with Mary Jane Coppola.”

  “I didn’t know you two were friends,” Beau said. “Be sure to say hi to Immaculata for me. Tell her I miss her.”

  “I will. See you on Wednesday then. Make sure Reggie goes straight home. He’s got a nine o’clock curfew.”

  “All right, hon.”

  Shayna disconnected, thinking she wasn’t his “hon.”

  Not by a long shot.

  * * *

  Colin Johnson tapped the capped Mont Blanc pen against his polished wooden desk, and spoke out loud. “What if this guy Ebenezer, well-meaning as he might be, isn’t credible?”

  The tapping noise was grating on Shayna’s already wired nerves. “We’ll deal with it then. You’re saying that this may be a waste of time. We found ourselves another witness and because he’s a vagrant doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth.” Shayna’s voice wobbled in her frustration. She tried desperately to hold back tears. Ebenezer had represented hope.

  “Tell that to a jury. The prosecution will most definitely run a background check on him. We should too. We need to remain one step ahead of them. We want no surprises.”

  “But I spoke to Ebenezer myself,” Shayna cried, her voice heavy with conviction. “He was lucid, seemed honest. He was positive that it was Reggie and his friends he saw. He remembers the Focus pulling into the lot. Remembers the clothes the boys wore. The loud rap music coming from the car. How could he make all that up?”

  “This case got a lot of media coverage,” Colin reminded her, gulping his already cold coffee. “I’ll get our PI to check him out.”

  Shayna’s own coffee remained untouched. Just their luck to have found a witness that might be discredited. They still had another, she remembered. She couldn’t lose hope.

  Colin scribbled notes and spoke out loud. “If Ebenezer’s description of the boys’ arrival is accurate, there had to be others that saw them.”

  “But will they come forward?” She knew most people didn’t like getting involved especially when their anonymity might be at risk. She voiced another thought out loud. “Is it possible that Ebenezer knows the name of the man he was seated next to? They were both looking at the evening news. They must have had conversation and maybe even exchanged names.”

  “That’s an interesting thought. I’ll have to pursue that. Hopefully he’s not another vagrant. “

  Colin’s Mont Blanc beat another rapid tattoo against his desk. Shayna wanted to strangle him. The noise made her jumpier than ever. The trial was less than two weeks away. Her parents would be coming in from Seattle for it and the outcome was uncertain.

  Colin smiled at her like she was the best thing since barbecue, and he was dying to get his hands on a rib. “I’m speaking with Ebenezer tomorrow. I’ll see what more I can find out,” he said. “Hang with me and have some faith.”

  Shayna knew she would have to deal with Colin at some point and set him straight. Their heart-to-heart would have to wait until after the trial. “I’m coping as best as I can,” she said. “I can’t wait for this thing to be over with. I want Reggie’s name cleared. I want him sent off to college. I want to move on with my life.”

  Emotions overcame her. She hid her head in her hands, shoulders silently shaking. It was too much. The pressure of having a brother to care for, and one in danger of being incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. Her unexplainable feelings for Beau, and now this man seated across from her with such hope in
his eyes. Everyone wanted a piece of her. She was only one person and right now she didn’t feel very strong or hopeful.

  “Shayna,” Colin said, his hand squeezing her shoulder, “it’ll work out. I’ll do everything in my power to get Reggie off. We could consider plea bargaining if you’d like.”

  “Sounds like you’ve given up on Reggie. He’s innocent, you know. He’s stuck to his story from the very beginning, he’d never agree to that.”

  “Okay. Just thought I’d mention it. Thought it might be easier on you. We’ll check out Ebenezer’s background. We’ll get the name of his friend. Maybe he can provide us with names of others patronizing the fast food joint. These regulars usually know one another.”

  Shayna had stopped crying. She brushed a hand across her eyes and accepted the tissue Colin handed her.

  “Want to go out and get a drink?” he asked.

  “Thanks, but I have to get home. I’ve got an early day tomorrow.”

  “If you’re at loose ends later this week, give me a call.”

  “I’ll do that” Shayna said, rising. “Thank you for your support. I appreciate all the time you’ve put into this.”

  “It’s been nice getting to know you. I hope to get to know you even better.”

  Shayna avoided his eyes. She’d meant exactly what she said. He’d been wonderful so far, committing time to helping them out and not billing for every hour. She was certain Reggie wasn’t the only person he represented.

  Colin took her hands between his large ones and forced her to look at him. He regarded her with such fondness it made her uncomfortable. “I really would like to get to know you better,” he stated. “But I am a patient man and I’m willing to wait until after the trial.”

  What did one say to that? “Thank you, Colin,” was the only thing that came to mind.

  Still holding her hand, Colin escorted her out to the parking lot.

  * * *

  On the other side of town, Beau’s agent, David, was making his own phone calls. But everyone he was able to reach claimed to know nothing about Beau’s equipment. That wasn’t entirely surprising given that it had been months since the accident. David had started off calling Beau’s coach and had ended up leaving a message.

  Trying to remember all of the details, he replayed the day of the accident. What could he have missed? It had started out so hopeful. His star, the person he had nurtured and was a surety to bring home gold, had failed. He’d had such big plans for Beau.

  The entire ski team had been psyched and so confident that day. Their practice run earlier that morning had gone well, and they’d been elated. In high spirits they’d gone to breakfast. At least that’s what he’d been told.

  David had heard the scuttlebutt about Peter Turner seeing a man hanging around the equipment. The guy had allegedly taken off when Peter had called out to him. David assumed it was a fan. It wouldn’t hurt to give Peter a call. They’d only spoken briefly at Beau’s.

  It had been mass chaos after Beau’s fall. He’d been rushed by helicopter to a hospital. David had taken a commercial flight to be with him, but it had been days before Beau was up to having visitors. The team had packed up Beau’s personal effects supposedly. David had assumed that Beau’s skis and boots were among them. But they had not arrived in Denver with his other stuff, and he’d concluded in the rush to get Beau medical attention they’d been left behind and someone had thrown them out or an overzealous fan had gotten hold of them and kept them as a souvenir.

  David got out his phone and found Peter’s number. He punched a button and counted the number of rings. Four. Five. Six. He was about to hang up when a woman answered.

  “Hello.”

  “This is David Mandel. I’m calling for Peter.”

  “One second, please.”

  After some time Peter got on. “Hi, David,” he greeted. “What’s up?”

  “I’ve been calling around trying to find out who might know something about Beau’s equipment. I thought you’d know who packed Beau’s things after the accident.”

  “It was a joint effort,” Peter said, sounding groggy. “Everyone pitched in. I packed his clothing. Joshua helped gather his toiletries, and another guy gathered his equipment. Beau had several pairs of boots and skis, like we all did.”

  “You don’t recall who that was?” David asked.

  “Not really. We were all still in shock. I do know that most of the heavy stuff was supposed to be sent UPS ground.”

  “Honey,” the woman in the background called. “Are you going to be long?”

  “Let me not keep you,” David said. “Call me if you can think of this person’s name.”

  “Will do.” With that, Peter abruptly hung up.

  Something wasn’t right. Peter was the one who’d gone out of his way to get in touch with Beau. He’d alluded that Beau’s accident wasn’t an accident at all. And according to Beau they never got to finish their discussion. Why then did Peter have such a clear memory of everyone’s responsibilities, yet he couldn’t remember who was in charge of packing up Beau’s equipment. Maybe the mystery man seen snooping around the equipment wasn’t a mystery man at all. Maybe he was someone that both Peter and Beau knew. Something really didn’t smell right.

  David picked up the phone and punched in another number. He needed to remind Beau of the commercial shoot later that week. It was to his advantage to get out there again and show his face to the world. People needed to see that he was alive and in good spirits. David had always believed Beau would ski again. Now it was up to Beau to show the naysayers that he was a fighter and on the mend. No way would he let Beau roll over and die.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Colin faced Ebenezer Williams across Mohammed’s paper-filled desk. He assessed the older man carefully. While he appeared down on his luck he was neatly if inexpensively dressed. Ebenezer’s graying hair had been carefully brushed in place and there were no unpleasant odors emanating from him. So far he had answered all of Colin’s questions carefully, and coherently. He appeared lucid and together. Still, Colin could not risk unpleasant surprises on the witness stand. He would have the private eye run a background check on Ebenezer.

  “So how long have you been going to this particular McDonald’s?” Colin asked.

  There was no one to overhear them. Mohammed had been kind enough to allow them use of his private office.

  Having a closed door had helped eliminate distractions. Colin had been talking about everything except his client, hoping that Ebenezer would get comfortable and spill.

  The older man ticked the years off on gnarled fingers. “Let’s see. Used to be a Laundromat on that corner until 2002. Then the McDonald’s replaced it. When it was new and shiny folks like me wasn’t welcomed inside. I started coming in 2006. Back then there were only a couple of us. We’d drift in out of the cold, buy a coffee, and catch up on the goings-on in the community. Word quickly spread if you bought something and didn’t bother no one, management wouldn’t bother you. Then they started giving us food, the stuff they would normally throw away, and more and more of us started coming in, especially out of the cold.”

  “You must live close by?” Colin commented, peering at Ebenezer over his glasses.

  “Not too far away. Walking distance.”

  “That’s good. The neighborhood’s fairly safe then? You never got mugged?”

  “Pushed around a bit. This place has its share of crime. Happens when people don’t have no money. Know what I mean?”

  Colin nodded and watched Ebenezer use the cuff of his sleeve to wipe his nose. Colin passed him a tissue.

  He did know what Ebenezer meant. He’d grown up in a poor neighborhood. The kind where parents scrimped and saved to send their kids off to school wearing a brand new pair of sneakers that cost them almost two weeks of salary. They’d hoped to give them a better life and wanted them to fit in. Some grabbed the brass ring and went for it. Those less ambitious took the easy way out, resorting to a life of crime,
hoping to make a fast buck.

  Colin persisted. “This guy you were sitting next to, the one with the radio, how long have you known him?”

  “You mean Bert? Let’s see.” Ebenezer began ticking the years off on his fingers again. “He started coming to McDonald’s in 1997 after his wife left him.”

  “So you’ve known him for quite some time then?”

  “Yes. We listen to the news. Talk a little politics. Discuss what’s going on in the world.”

  “Does Bert have a last name?” Colin asked, scribbling on a notepad.

  “What you doing?” Ebenezer regarded him with rheumy eyes. He looked ready to bolt.

  “Taking notes so I can remember. I’m representing a teenager who’s in danger of being tried as an adult. That boy didn’t commit any crime and I’m trying to keep him out of jail. I need your help, Ebenezer. Help me to help Reggie.”

  “He the boy I seen around? He seems alright.”

  Colin paused in the middle of his writing, thinking how he could best reach Ebenezer and drive home the importance of his testimony. “Boys like Reggie are our future, Eb. They’re the only hope we have. So many of our young men are in jail or barely eking out a living. That’s why I need you and Bert’s help.”

  Ebenezer nodded his woolly head sagely. “I hear that I’ll talk to Bert.”

  “And Bert’s last name is?”

  “Templeton,” Ebenezer finished after a pause.

  Colin scribbled the name down. After he was through he cleared his throat and looked at the older man full in his face.

  “Ebenezer, what if I need you to testify, would you be willing to do so? Have you ever been arrested? Any history of mental illness? Anything I should know about?”

  Ebenezer hissed out a breath. “I used to like my drink but I stopped a while back.”

  Great. His star witness was a drunk.

  The older man elaborated. “I stopped drinking in 2005 after I lost my house. I promised my wife on her deathbed I would. And I’ve been good ever since. My children were gone. It was time I got my act together.”