Longhorn Law 2: A Legal Thriller

by Dave Daren

  Evelyn shifted in her seat and dabbed at her eyes one last time with the handkerchief before she thrust it back toward Brody without so much as glancing in his direction. Even if she didn’t look completely back to herself, it seemed she was getting her personality back.

  “For how long?” she asked after inhaling a deep breath.

  I took a few more steps back from her desk to lean up against one of her metal filing cabinets and heaved a sigh.

  “Three or so hours,” I said. “I didn’t have much of a way of telling time, but I got home around eleven at night, so maybe it was closer to four hours. But I spent most of the night researching the election.”

  Brody and Evelyn exchanged a questioning look before they both turned their focus back to me with twin looks of confusion.

  “You missed a date because you were held in police custody for four hours and then researched the upcoming election,” Brody repeated to me with a dubious lilt to his words.

  I offered a tired smile and scratched at my damn cheek again.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” I admitted. “And it seemed like the most feasible plan of attack for dethroning Thompson.”

  Brody gave a slow nod and reached up to adjust his hat on his head. His eyes shifted between Evelyn and I for a moment, and then his shoulders drooped, just a little.

  “Now’s probably as good of a time as any to admit that I’ve also had some issues with the sheriff’s department,” he said the words with a deep, exhausted sigh.

  My eyebrows raised, and I couldn’t help the look of surprise on my face. I gave a quick glance toward Evelyn to see a similar look reflected on her own face.

  Brody removed his hat to scratch at his head before he placed it back where it belonged again.

  “My wife, Leslie,” he began as if Evelyn and I had no idea who Leslie was, like we hadn’t attended numerous cookouts at his home. “She said a few of the deputies were sniffing around her job but hightailed it when she marched over to talk to them herself.”

  Brody gave a low, soft laugh and a shake of his head that almost seemed fond. Lindsay was a take no shit sort of woman, and no one ever expected that given her petite frame and long, blonde hair.

  She had probably scared the living shit out of those deputies.

  Good.

  But despite my small thrill at my imagined interaction between the deputies and Leslie Lucas, I couldn’t help the growing pit of worry in my chest.

  While the deputies had gone after Evelyn and I directly, they’d chosen to go after Brody’s family instead. It made sense in the worst sort of way. Eveyln was a widower, and I had no family in the area. Brody, however, had a whole family that could face Thompson’s wrath.

  A small, irritating voice in my head reminded me that now Clara and Emma could face his wrath, too.

  I shifted my stance and exhaled a deep breath as I tried to sort through all of the thoughts that rushed through my mind. I could feel my nerves and my adrenaline as they butted heads in my chest.

  “Is she alright?” I asked as I dragged my spiraling thoughts back to Leslie.

  She was a good woman, and I hated to think that she might have suffered any real repercussions from her husband’s work, for the second time.

  Brody heaved a sigh and reached up to adjust his hat on his head.

  “She’s alright, just a little shaken up,” he assured me. “Not that she’d ever admit it. But, I figured it was right for me to let the two of you know that the sheriff’s department has gone after all of us now.”

  His words hung in the air, and I looked back at Evelyn with my lips pressed into a thin line as my tongue worried against my cheek.

  I was glad to see that she had started to regain some of her color at the very least, but she still had a haunted look in her eyes that I knew from experience wouldn’t go away for some time.

  It was never fun to be on the other end of a gun.

  “When I was researching last night, I did have an idea,” I said with a slow creep to my words as I thought through each one.

  The last thing I wanted to do was suggest something insane, especially after both Brody and Evelyn had suffered at the hands of the sheriff’s department, too.

  Evelyn tilted her head up toward me and raised both of her thin eyebrows in question.

  “What sort of idea?” she asked.

  The fire wasn’t quite back in her tone, but I could tell it wouldn’t be too long before she’d fully regained her bearings, at least on the outside.

  I reached up to scratch at my cheek as I adjusted how I stood once again. I felt dead on my feet and could feel every ache in my body at once.

  Apparently, my barstools weren’t meant for sleeping.

  “Well, what if we found someone to run against Thompson?” I suggested as I fervently avoided eye contact with both of my co-workers.

  Even as I said it aloud, the words sounded a little insane. Maybe my lack of sleep was really starting to catch up with me.

  But, to my surprise, neither of them acted shocked by my words, and neither of them laughed them away. Instead, Brody pursed his lips in what I assumed was deep thought, and Evelyn shifted in her desk chair as a small series of creases lined her forehead.

  “Are you suggesting rigging an election?” Brody asked with a slow cadence to his words. It was as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

  I blinked in surprise and gave a small shake of my head.

  “What?” I asked, a bit dumbfounded. “No, of course not. That’s what got the town into this sort of situation in the first place. I’m suggesting we find someone, a good someone, to run against Thompson.”

  As I continued, I realized that I could see where Brody was coming from. It did sound a little like I was suggesting we try to control the outcome of an election, so I back-pedaled a little.

  “What I mean to say is, we find someone willing to run against Thompson so that we can bring everything he’s has done to light,” I explained again.

  I was pleased to see that my new phrasing seemed to make Brody and Evelyn more comfortable.

  “So, we find some good, upstanding citizen to put their name on the ballot,” she began. “And even if they don’t stand much of a chance of winning, they use the platform to expose Thompson.”

  I felt my lips quirk up at the edges and nodded. I wasn’t surprised that Evelyn had cottoned to my plan first.

  “Exactly,” I said. “We have someone run, someone willing to run red, because no blue ticket is going to swing in this county, and when time comes for the debate with Thompson…”

  I trailed off as I let Brody and Evelyn fill in the blanks.

  The silence in Evelyn’s office felt palpable, like it was a thing I could have held in my hand if I reached out to grab it.

  “It’s not a bad plan,” Brody finally admitted, though I could tell that he was wary of the idea.

  I couldn’t blame him. After everything that had happened with the college admission’s scandal he’d been embroiled in, his reputation in the field had taken a sharp nosedive, and he’d only just started to get his good name back. The last thing he needed to float around were rumors that he’d rigged an election.

  “But,” he said to put a pause to my mental celebrations. “Who would we even get to run? Who in this whole damn town would have the balls to run against somebody like Thompson and even stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning?”

  I felt the smile on my face grow even wider at his question.

  “I know just the guy,” I said.

  Chapter 15

  Brody’s eyebrows shot up toward his cowboy hat as he fixed me with a questioning look.

  “You know a guy?” he repeated my words with a question attached.

  I hadn’t given a name much thought until I’d floated my idea past Brody and Evelyn, but once I knew they were both on board, it had suddenly struck me like a bolt of lightning or some sort of premonition.

  I nodded and shifted my stance against Evelyn’
s filing cabinet to slide my hands into the pockets of my rumpled dress pants. Had Evelyn not had such a horrible morning, I was certain she would have commented on my appearance and told me I looked like I’d died the day before or something equally cutting.

  “Shockingly, yes,” I said with a soft laugh.

  To be honest, I was just as shocked as Brody seemed that I already had a name in mind for the job.

  “He organizes the 5Ks I’ve done since moving here,” I explained. “His name is David Vaneck, and he’s a veteran, former spec-ops, if I’m remembering correctly.”

  When I had first made the move from Mesa to Crowley, I had wanted to get involved with the local community so that I could learn more about the people I wanted to help, but I had no idea how to get started. But I did like to run, and there was a pleasant park a mere mile from my apartment.

  It was on one of the mornings that I’d gone for a run in the park that we’d met. David had run alongside me for almost two miles before we had decided to strike up a conversation.

  I’d told him that I was a lawyer new to the area, and he’d told me that he worked at the local Veteran’s Association, and that when he wasn’t working with the VA, he organized charity runs to benefit Wounded Warrior and a few other local organizations.

  After that first meeting, we’d kept up our weekly runs together, and I had helped out at a few of his charity runs. While I couldn’t say in good faith that we were the sort of friends’ that would stop and get a beer, I felt confident in saying that we were friendly, and that David was someone we could trust.

  And so, when I first had the idea to run someone against Thompson, David was the first name that came to mind. The man had charisma, an infectiously positive personality, and he was a veteran that cared about his community. He was the perfect counterweight to Thompson, and he’d certainly garner plenty of attention.

  Brody pursed his lips and looked at Evelyn. The pair seemed to weigh my suggestion, but it was Brody who finally gave me a nod of approval.

  “And he’ll do it?” Evelyn asked, and it was comforting to hear the dubious lilt back in her voice.

  I hesitated.

  “I have no idea,” I admitted with a sigh and a shrug. “But I think he might be our best chance. He’s a good guy, and I know once I explain the situation, he’ll want to help. It’s just the sort of person he is.”

  For the first time that morning, the energy in Landon Legal seemed to teem with life, and dare I even say, hope. It was practically electric, and I felt it course through my body as my body seemed to come alive for the first time in days.

  “When can you talk to him?” Evelyn asked.

  I started to chew at my lower lip and then quickly stopped. It was a nervous habit I’d developed during law school, and one I wanted to put an end to so my opponents couldn’t get a read on me. Still, I supposed chewing my lip was better than booze or cigarettes, but I was also very tired of running through tubes of lip balm like they were going out of style.

  “Usually, I’d just call him, but they kept my phone at the sheriff’s department last night,” I said with a sigh as I pulled one of my hands from my pockets to scratch at my stubbled cheek. “He should be in the park now, though. I missed our weekly run.”

  I felt bad about that, and about the fact I hadn’t even been able to contact him to let him know.

  “You want me to take you to the park?” Brody asked.

  “I think I’ll stop by the sheriff’s department to see if I can get my stuff back first, and then I’ll make my way to the park to talk to him,” I mused aloud.

  “And when are you going to go home to change clothes?” Evelyn asked with a pleasant smile that didn’t actually feel all that pleasant.

  I let out a surprised laugh and couldn’t even find it in me to be annoyed at her comment. I was just glad that she was coming back to herself after her incident.

  I pulled my other hand out of my pocket and held them both up in a show of surrender. I then used my foot to push myself up and off of her filing cabinet while I endured one of her stink eyes.

  “Alright,” I said with a shake of my head. “I give, I give. Phone. Change. Then park.”

  She gave a pleased, prim little nod, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Brody do a piss-poor job of hiding his own smirk. At least he had the decency to hide his laugh with an unbelievable cough.

  I could appreciate the attempt even if the execution needed work.

  “I’ve just got to check something in my office, and then I’ll head out,” I announced as I started to make my way to the door of Evelyn’s office.

  Brody took a small step to the side to let me pass, and as I brushed by him, he reached up to clap a meaty hand on my shoulder.

  I wasn’t sure what the gesture was supposed to mean, but it felt nice anyway. I liked having a sense of camaraderie and friendship with my colleagues.

  It’s something that I had been lacking at the Maricopa County’s Public Defense office in Mesa. We all had shown up to work, but I’d barely spoken with my clients, much less my co-workers. There had been too many cases and not nearly enough lawyers to cover every appearance. Most days, I’d made do with nods in the halls to my fellow Public Defenders, much less actually engaging in conversation.

  But I couldn’t imagine going through a situation like this with anyone but Evelyn and Brody. They’d become not only co-workers, but supporters and fellow fighters for what was right in Crowly, and that was something I hadn’t expected to find.

  I nodded to the pair as I stepped into the hallway, then I veered toward my office and flicked the light switch on as I stepped inside. I was happy to see that everything was still exactly where I’d left it, but then again, it wasn’t as if I had expected it to have moved.

  I walked over toward my desk and sank down into my large, leather desk chair. The material gave its usual creak under my weight, and as always, I tried not to be offended. When things felt normal again, I reached forward to bump the mouse to my desktop computer to stir the screen to life.

  As the computer whirred and started up, I glanced over at the phone on my desk. The little green light on the phone’s base that indicated I had a voicemail blinked up at me, and the knot of worry in my chest I had nearly forgotten was there faded away.

  I shifted in my seat to lean forward and raised the phone up to my ear. I cradled it against my shoulder as I pressed the button next to the blinking green light before I leaned back against my ever-creaking chair.

  The phone’s perpetually tangled curling cord knocked against the papers scattered across my desk, but I didn’t care.

  “One new voicemail. Press one to play the new voicemail,” the phone’s robotic voice intoned in its stilted, feminine way.

  I pressed the “1” on the phone base’s keypad like I was told. The receiver gave a high, sustained beep, before I heard the faint sounds of static cut across the line.

  “Hi, Archer,” voicemail Clara said, and her soft voice sounded far off and thin over the phone. “I made it home alright, and I promised I’d call.”

  She hadn’t needed to remind me, but I found myself smiling at her words. I was suddenly very glad that Brody had stayed in Evelyn’s office instead of following me. But just to be safe, I spun in my chair to face the wall of windows behind me on the off-chance Brody or Evelyn tried to peek into my office.

  It was already mortifying enough that they’d both assumed I had taken the walk of shame that morning. Though if I was honest with myself, the truth was even more mortifying.

  “I’m not sure what else to say,” voicemail Clara continued with a faint laugh.

  I heard what sounded like shifting over the phone, and I assumed she had been settling into bed or maybe stepping into the house.

  “I think we might have said everything in the car,” she continued. “But, I expect a call soon. Goodnight, Archer. And, well, I suppose good morning, too.”

  The line clicked off, and the mechanical voice began to ask
me what I wanted to do with the voicemail, but I spun my chair back around again and set the phone back onto the base before it could finish its question.

  I wanted to sit and dwell on her call for a bit longer, and I also wanted to call her back on the spot. But to do that, I’d much rather use my own phone in a place where prying ears wouldn’t overhear.

  I pushed myself up out of my desk chair and heaved a sigh as I remembered that I would be walking everywhere. Maybe I would see if they’d give me my car back as well, though that felt like a much longer shot than getting my phone, wallet, and watch back.

  My wrist still felt strange without the watch, like it was naked. I’d worn the watch nearly every day since I started college, and it had become as much a part of me as the fingers and toes I’d been born with.

  There was something simply wrong about walking around without it, like the heel of one of my shoes sat higher than the other. It didn’t mean I couldn't go about my day, but I couldn’t help but notice how strange it felt.

  I flipped the light off in my office and briskly made my way down the hall toward the front door of Landon Legal. I didn’t even have to look over my shoulder to know that Brody and Evelyn were still locked in whatever conversation they’d delved into when I had left the room, so I didn’t offer any sort of goodbye as I stepped back out onto the sidewalk.

  A perk of our new office’s location was that it sat central to nearly everything in Crowley. When we had selected the location, I didn’t think that it would be nearly as useful as it had proved to be, but that had more to do with the fact I didn’t expect to have my car towed by the police than anything else.

  I let my mind wander as I started the trek toward the sheriff’s department, and I started to formulate exactly what I wanted to say to David. That turned out to be a difficult exercise because I wasn’t sure what would sway David the most. It wasn’t as if David and I had ever discussed any secret hopes for political office during our runs. In fact, the only thing I was sure about was that he was someone who always wanted to do the right thing.