I let out a nervous chuckle. “Well, this one’s a humdinger. Just to be sure, if I explain the circumstances to you, you won’t share that information with anyone, correct?”
“Of course. Even if you choose someone else to represent you, I won’t disclose anything we talk about here.”
I still wasn’t comfortable about all this. I gestured to the degree hanging on the wall behind him. “I see you went to school at Mercer. You from Georgia?”
“Originally, yes.” Removing his feet from the desk, Stanley leaned forward with a friendly smile. “Can I make a suggestion? Why don’t you explain your circumstances to me, and I’ll tell you how I would handle it and what my fee would be. Then you can decide if I’m the right man for the job. How’s that?”
“Sounds fair.”
Mrs. Pierce reappeared and handed me a cup of coffee. “Cream and sugar?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She disappeared again, leaving me holding the warm mug in my hands. Stanley looked at me expectantly, so I decided to do my best to explain. “All right. I’m not the one needing representation. It would be for my wife. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to the electric chair back in 1936.”
Just as I took a breath to continue, Mrs. Pierce returned with two cubes of sugar and poured a bit of cream into my cup. She dropped a small spoon into it and promptly left again. I stirred my coffee, trying to think straight.
“I see,” Stanley prompted. “Are you looking to make an appeal?”
“Well, it gets complicated. You see, my wife, who wasn’t my wife at the time, was being transported to Wetumpka, when there was…an incident.”
“An incident?”
“Yes. Her uncles staged an escape attempt, and she had no knowledge of it. During the confusion, the car she was in crashed into a deep spring. Her body was never recovered, and she was presumed dead.”
Stanley sat back and held his fingertips together over his chest. I could tell he needed a moment to process everything, so I paused. “This is beginning to sound familiar,” he said.
“I’m told you took over the cases for Mr. Oliver. She was one of his clients.”
“Yes. I remember reading a summary of the case a few years back when I first took over his files. I believe the last name was…Graves.” He paused and his eyebrows shot up. “But you said she wasn’t your wife then.”
“Yes.”
“And she is your wife now…so…”
“Yes.”
“Ah, so she isn’t as dead as everyone thought?”
“No. She isn’t.”
The lawyer tapped his index fingers together. After a long moment, he sat up and leaned onto his desk again. “So what is it you’re after?”
“First of all, she did not kill anyone. She’s innocent, and I want a lawyer who’s going to operate from that standpoint. Second of all, I have documents in my possession that seem to imply there have been motions filed to overturn her conviction. I’d like you to look over the papers, tell me what they mean, and find out what is going on in her case before we make any decisions about her turning herself in.”
“I’m presuming that folder you’re holding on to contains the documents in question?”
I placed the folder on the desk. “Yes. I received these from my father a few weeks ago. He played a role in Ruby’s conviction. I don’t trust him. I want to know if these documents are legitimate and what exactly they mean.”
Stanley picked up the folder and flipped through the papers. “All right. Tell you what I need to do. I’ll dig out everything I already have on your wife’s case, contact the county clerk and request details on everything that’s happened involving the case, and I’ll look over these documents as well. I’ll need a few days. When I’m ready, we’ll meet again, and if you decide to go with another lawyer, you’re welcome to take everything I’ve collected with you.”
“Sounds fair.”
“Mother!” Stanley called. “Set up an appointment for this gentleman on Wednesday or Thursday.”
Lilah Pierce called her assent from her desk.
“I think I’ll be able to make sense of everything for you, Matthew, but it’ll be better if I paint the whole picture for you when you come back next week, so you can decide how you want to proceed.” He pushed away from his desk and extended his hand again. “You can trust me to keep all this information confidential.”
I stared at his outstretched hand, my gut uneasy. I stood and extended to my full height as I looked down on him. This kid had better not be lying. I took his hand, gripping it tightly in mine. “Just so we’re clear: I want nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with my father. And if you have anything to do with him, I won’t be able to trust you either. I do not want him to know anything about my presence here. Not until I’m ready. Understand?”
Stanley swallowed hard, but met my gaze. “I understand.”
I released his hand and headed out to the foyer, stopping only to make an appointment for the following Wednesday morning. When I pushed the door open, I glanced back over my shoulder. Stanley stood in his office doorway, watching.
I was going to have to stay on my guard. There’d be no unpacking for us just yet.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Matthew
March, 1943
Luzon Province, Philippines
For the past two months, we’d been working our way north across the Luzon Province, cutting a main path from Floridablanca, up through Fort Stotsenberg, with a destination of Lingayen Gulf. From the main path, we often took detours east or west, contacting every guerrilla cadre already in our network, and recruiting from barrios we discovered along the way. We avoided the Huks by sending out local scouts ahead of us to report on any tricky situations in our path. It made for slow progress, but this also allowed us to avoid Japanese patrols.
We were nearing Tarlac when I got word that Harris and his cadre were camped only a few kilometers west of us. I debated on whether I should make contact, especially since I was wary of Harris’s influence over Henry. But I wanted another shot at bringing Harris into our fold. So we made the trek west and found him camped within a small, abandoned barrio.
After sharing some of our provisions with his men, Harris and I sat alone by a small fire in a dilapidated hut, while he complained about the lack of support for his efforts. He’d conducted several more raids since we’d seen him last, and he’d lost over half his men to death or capture.
“I need supplies, and I need more men,” he summarized. “That’s just all there is to it.”
I’d listened without interrupting, but I’d seen who Harris truly was, and what he was about. I already knew how this conversation was going to go. “I can’t send you more supplies. We don’t have enough for ourselves. I’ve told you over and over that these ambush tactics aren’t going to benefit the war effort in the long run. All they’re going to do is get you and your men killed, and threaten the intelligence efforts of the rest of our network. We’re building a strong system across the Philippines, and we’re getting good information out to MacArthur about the Japanese troop levels and movements. I’m telling you, staying underground, keeping ourselves hidden, and gathering information is our most valuable contribution. It’s also the best way to get out of here alive.”
Harris shook his head. “We’ve had this conversation. I’m not going to just sit around on my behind like some scaredy-cat waiting for MacArthur’s gang to rescue me. Maybe you can do that. Maybe you can just give up, but I have to fight. And I’ll fight until those dirty Nips kill me.”
“I’m not giving up either. I’m fighting just as much as you are, but I’m fighting to get home. You’re just fighting out of anger. What good does it do to die out here in the jungle? Just think about it. If you join our organization, you can come to our camp. This place isn’t a camp. It’s a cemetery. Come back with us to Floridablanca.”
“And get ordered around by you every day? No, thank you. Out here, I run my own s
hip. It may be a sinking ship, but it’s mine.”
“All right, look. I’ll put you in charge of something. Maybe it’ll be a smaller ship, but it won’t be sinking, and it’ll be yours.”
He perked up at that. “Like what?”
“I need someone to go into a particularly dangerous section of Manila. It’s so dangerous, even the Japs don’t go in there. So it’s a perfect place to establish an underground intelligence hub. But it’s also a perfect place to get killed.”
“Sounds like my kinda place,” he said, grinning. “What’s the catch?”
“The catch is that I’m in charge. You gotta run this operation the way it’s designed. You can’t go off on your own program. I need to be able to count on you.”
“So it’s still technically your ship, I’m just borrowing it.”
“If that’s the way you want to see it.”
He considered his options, but not for long. “It’s a deal. But one last thing. I want a promotion to Captain.”
“Done.”
***
Captain Harris and I nailed down the details of the arrangement. He and his men would join us on our journey north and return to Floridablanca with us. He cozied up to Henry pretty quickly, bragging about his dangerous assignment. Of course, Henry wanted to join in on the fun. I squashed that immediately. Not only could I not afford to lose Henry from a personal standpoint, he was my most valuable scavenger out in the jungle. He kept us from starving.
Two nights into our journey north, I was awakened by Diego’s intense voice. “Major, we have a problem.”
Shaking my hazy dream from my mind, I grabbed my pistol and followed Diego to the position one of our night sentries had taken about fifty yards away from camp. Several of my men had already gathered there, including Harris. I pushed through the circle to find a small Filipino woman seated with her hands tied behind her back and a bandana around her mouth.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded. This had to be the work of Harris or one of his men.
But Sanchez stepped forward, one of Diego’s best guards, who’d been on my personal detail several times. “Major, she…ah…” he glanced at Diego. “Ah…espiar.”
Diego rattled off questions in Spanish, and Sanchez answered quickly. Then Diego turned to me. “He says she is spy. He caught her watching us.”
I took another look at the woman, realizing she wasn’t much more than a girl. “Get that off her mouth,” I said. “And find out what language she speaks.”
Diego questioned her, but she said nothing. Her dark eyes darted from mine back to Diego’s, before she dropped her gaze to the ground. After several minutes of getting nowhere, I told the crowd to go back to camp and get some sleep. Most of them cleared out, except for Diego and Harris.
I went around in front of the woman and knelt down, trying to get her to look at me. “Diego, ask her again what language she speaks.”
He tried both Spanish and Tagalog. She looked up at me and mumbled something I didn’t understand. “Tagalog, Major,” Diego said.
“Tell her we’re not going to hurt her. I just need to know where she came from and what she’s doing out here.”
He translated. She shook her head.
“Tell her we’ll have to kill her if she doesn’t talk,” Harris growled.
I glared up at him, knowing it wasn’t necessary to tell Diego to say any such thing. “Diego, tell her again. We’re not interested in hurting her. If she’ll tell us where she’s from, we’ll help her get home.”
Diego stared down at me in surprise. “Ah, Major. We do not know if she is spy. We should not promise what we cannot keep.”
I stood just as Henry came out of the shadows from the direction of camp. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Harris struck a match and lit his cigarette, talking out of the side of his mouth. “Caught a spy. Just trying to get some answers from her.”
“Her?” Henry stopped when he saw her seated on the ground, her hands still tied behind her back. “That little thing is a spy?”
“You’d be surprised,” Harris said.
“We don’t know if she’s a spy,” I said. “We’re trying to ask some questions now.”
“You can’t just turn her loose,” Harris drawled, blowing a puff of smoke out of his mouth. “She knows where we are. If she runs to a Jap patrol and reports us, we’re dead. We don’t have enough men to defend our position from a raid.”
I hated to admit it, but he was right on that point. But still, we weren’t in a position to maintain a prisoner. “Then what do you suggest?” I asked.
“Kill her,” Harris said, without hesitation.
“What?” I gaped at him, surprised by both the suggestion and his flippant attitude about it. “We can’t kill her.”
“Why not?”
“For several reasons. First of all, it’s a war crime. Second of all, it’s just morally wrong. I ain’t having that on my conscience.”
“That’s only two reasons. Besides, you’d rather have the blood of our men on your conscience?”
Harris was insufferable. I couldn’t have this conversation with him. I turned to Henry and Diego. “Come on, now. I’m not the only one here who has a shred of decency left, am I?”
Henry and Diego stared back at me, then looked at each other. Diego spoke first. “Major, this is difficult decision.”
“Yeah,” Henry chimed in. “I don’t know. Harris might be right.”
“You can’t be serious.” I paced back and forth, unable to comprehend the choice before me. Coming to a stop, I looked at Diego and Henry directly. “All right, then. Which one of you wants to pull the trigger?”
They both dropped their gazes.
“I’ll do it,” Harris said.
I wasn’t surprised. “No one is doing anything of the sort,” I asserted. “Harris, go back to camp and get some rest. Henry, go find some food to give her. Diego, we’ll sit out here all night if we have to until she talks.”
Henry shrugged. “All right. But come tomorrow, we’re going to have to move out. Better figure out what you’re gonna do.”
“Just get her something to eat, and she’ll start talking as soon as she realizes she’s not in danger.”
Henry looked skeptical, but he followed orders. We spent the next several hours feeding her and trying to encourage her to break her silence. The most she would do was nod or shake her head. “Are you from a barrio nearby?” Nod. “Are you helping the Japanese?” Shake. “Are you helping the Americans?” Shake. “Where is your home?” Nothing.
By the time dawn approached, we were exhausted and getting nowhere. Harris approached again, this time with some dried meat and rice for breakfast. If I had to eat another grain of rice, I was sure I would vomit. I took some meat from Harris.
“What did you find out?” he asked, lighting up another cigarette and handing one to Henry.
“Nothing, really,” I said. “Just that she isn’t helping the Japs or the Americans, and she lives in a barrio nearby, but won’t tell us where.”
Harris leaned against a palm tree, looking out over the jungle. “I tell ya, I got a bad feeling about this. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Most of the locals will help you out in a heartbeat, but there’s a few that are either loyal to the Nips or need the reward so bad they’re willing to rat you out. Some of them actually believe the Nips will go easy on them if they turn us in.”
“Well, I’m not willing to trade my soul to the devil on the off chance she’s a snitch,” I said.
Henry, who’d been sprawled against a tree sucking on his cigarette, waved his hand around in the air. “Look at this place. We’re stuck here in the jungle, going on, what? Well over a year now? And there’s no sign of the Americans coming back for us. We’re on our own out here. And it’s kill or be killed. The way I figure it, I still owe them a few more head shots before we’re even.”
“Henry, my friend,” Diego said as he leaned against the tree to my left. “You mu
st not despair. The time will come for your victory, not your revenge.”
Henry shook his head in disgust. “Revenge is my victory.”
I looked over to my right at the young Filipino woman sleeping on the ground. She’d closed her eyes nearly an hour ago. “We can deal with vengeance or victory tomorrow. Today we need to decide what to do about her.”
“Well, I’m with Harris,” Henry said, pushing himself up to standing. “I know it don’t feel right, but it ain’t worth risking all our lives.”
“Agreed,” Harris chimed in.
“We don’t even know if she’s a snitch,” I said.
“Don’t matter,” Harris said. “Sanchez said she was snooping around. What else would she be doing out here in the middle of nowhere? Have you searched her?”
“No.”
Harris went over to her and pulled her up to sitting. She jolted awake, letting out a scream. He planted his hand firmly on her mouth. I jumped up and pushed him away from her. “Hey, take it easy.”
“She’s going to tell the entire Jap force where we are.”
“Look, I’ll take care of this. You just back off.” I went back to the girl and held my palms in the air. “Diego, tell her I’m not going to hurt her. I just need to search her to make sure she doesn’t have any weapons.”
Diego translated. I helped her up to her feet, and patted her legs up and down. I stuck a hand in her pockets, my cheeks warming. I’d never put my hands on a woman without her permission before, and everything about this felt wrong.
Kneeling down, I patted my hands along the lower part of her legs, feeling nothing. Then I stood and turned her around. I ran my hands down her back. When I turned to her front, I realized I’d have to touch her in areas that I just couldn’t bring myself to do. So I turned away and declared her clean.
Harris groaned. “Oh, come on. You can’t worry about being a gentleman out here. You’re a soldier in a war.” He walked over to her and pulled the collar of her shirt away from her chest, sticking his hand inside.
Abiding Hope: A Novel: Healing Ruby Book 4 Page 27