Night Magic

by Emery, Lynn

  “Despite anything that Mr. Simmons has said, we are sure that Batton Chemical will be vindicated. We will present evidence that the state and federal environmental agencies gave conflicting orders as to what regulations are under which the Big River plant is required to operate. The permits were obtained and standards followed in a good faith effort to fully comply with accepted state and federal laws. Further, we will demonstrate the extraordinary steps my client has taken to not only assure safety, but to address any legitimate concerns of the surrounding community.”

  “Damn, I see what you mean. He ain’t no slob at this,” Charice whispered.

  “Wait until he really gets into it.” Savannah stared ahead grimly. At the first available break, she planned to pull Gralin and Simmons aside to coach them on what to expect from Devin in the way of tactics.

  “You look worried, which is makin’ me worried, cher.”

  “Don’t expect the worse, poppy. He’s good, but he’s not invincible. We’ve got a strong case.” Savannah squeezed his arm.

  For the next two hours Devin called preliminary witnesses. It was obvious from the way Simmons cross examined them that they were not crucial to the case. Devin was simply attempting to lay the groundwork for proving that Big River was like any other business that could benefit the community. A parade of engineers and industry experts took turns talking about the plant’s safety features, back up plans, and the kiln process that produced the aggregate for use in construction. Under cross examination, Simmons got several to admit that the process was so new that the safety procedures had never been truly tested. He even got one of scientist to admit that it could take several years before the effects on people who come into close contact with the aggregate could truly be evaluated.

  “That Simmons is doin’ some job up against Mr. Big Time.” Antoine smiled, encouraged that his side seemed to be holding its own.

  “Redirect, your honor.” Devin rose a few seconds before Simmons sat down again.

  “Go ahead, Mr. Martin.” Judge Duplessis nodded his head without looking up from the notes he was taking.

  “Mr. Bankston, you just stated under cross examination that it could take years to evaluate the safety of the aggregate.”

  “That is correct.” The small balding scientist adjusted his heavy frame spectacles.

  “Isn’t it also true that tests show that even under extreme conditions of heat, exposure to large amounts of water, and other elements that might be encountered in the environment have shown not leaching of dangerous chemicals?”

  “That is also correct.”

  “And isn’t it also true that the extreme conditions would not be expected to occur in the natural environment?”

  “Most definitely. We tested at temperature 200 degrees Fahrenheit just as one example.”

  “So, what would you conclude from this?”

  “That under normal weather conditions, the aggregate should pose no threat whatsoever.”

  “Thank you. No more questions, your honor.” Devin strolled back to his seat.

  “As it is now noon, this court will adjourn until ten tomorrow morning.” Judge Duplessis dismissed court with a sharp rap of his gavel.

  Outside the court room, groups on both sides compared notes and opinions. Antoine was still upbeat despite the obvious score Devin had made at the end.

  “It’s the first day; Simmons got time to put on our witnesses. That Devin won’t be so smart faced then.” Antoine reassured several committee members.

  “Sorry I didn’t get here for the first day. How did it go?” Paul had finally been able to make his way through the milling crowd to find them.

  “I’d say it was about what and what. We holdin’ our own.” Antoine clapped him on the back before moving off with his friends to pick up sandwiches and root beer at Snooky Boo’s.

  “Sounds like Mr. Antoine is encouraged.” Paul walked between the two women as they headed for the exit and lunch at the fish net.

  “Well, this is just the beginning.” Wearing a distracted expression, Savannah bumped into several people.“I kind of agree with Mr. Antoine. Seems like we’ve got a fighting chance,” Charice said.

  “Hey, earth to Savannah.” Paul laughed as he gently steered her from yet another collision course. “Snap out of it.”

  “Savannah, Savannah.“Devin caused heads to turn as he came towards them. The crowd parted around him. Some were hostile, but quite a few were impressed at the tall handsome figure he cut.

  “I meant what I said earlier. I will be pretty busy while I’m here, but I’d like to have dinner sometime.” Devin spoke without acknowledging Paul or Charice.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Devin.”

  “Why not? You may be opposed to the plant, but we certainly have more to discuss than this case.”

  “Oh really?” Paul looked from Savannah to Devin.

  “Devin, this is Paul Honorè. Paul, Devin Martin. We were… associates at the same law firm.”

  “How are you?” Devin gave Paul a curt nod before turning his attention back to Savannah. “So what do you say?”

  “I think she said no.” Paul moved close to Savannah putting his hand on her waist.

  “Did she?” Looking up from Paul’s hand on Savannah’s waist to Paul, Devin studied him longer this time.

  “Sure did.” Paul’s stance suggested that he was ready to go on the defensive.

  “Back off, Paul. I can speak for myself,” Savannah snapped as she pushed his hand away.

  “Why don’t I give you a call? By the way, are you the Paul Honorè who wrote the site report?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Your testimony, the objective assessment of an African-American engineering consultant, will go far in helping my client. I’ll be contacting you, Mr. Honorè. About the case, of course. Well, I have to be going. Mr. Trosclair has invited me to lunch at some fancy restaurant. Savoie’s I think is the name. Savannah, in case I haven’t mentioned it already, you look fabulous as always. I’ll be in touch about getting together. Ms. Collins.” He brushed his lips against Savannah’s cheek before striding away.

  “What was that about you two getting together?” Paul whirled to face her.

  “He wants to have dinner. Probably to brag about himself. And you made a real scene with your `she is my woman’ act.”

  “Oh, well excuse me. I thought he came on too strong. Didn’t you say he was no good and not to be trusted?”

  “Yes, but I don’t need any help handling him.”

  “Oh, sure. You were definitely handling him when you told him you didn’t think dinner was a good idea. Yeah, that sure set him straight about where you were coming from.”

  “Wait a minute, are you saying you don’t trust me?”

  “For someone who claimed not to be interested, you seem to warm up to him pretty fast.”

  “Hey, hey, kids. Cool it; we’re drawing a crowd here. Let’s go outside.” Charice stepped between them. Grabbing an arm from each, she led them onto the courthouse steps.

  “I’m sorry. Guess I just lost it when he started acting so cozy towards you.” Paul spoke without looking at Savannah.

  “Yeah, well.” Savannah hesitated, the expression on her face had not yet softened.

  “I jumped too fast.”

  “True,” Savannah retorted, but the frown was gone.

  “He’s up to something, but you’re right. You can deal with him.”

  “Thank you.” Savannah turned to him, hand on one hip.

  “Oh, come on. The man has apologized up and down. Cut him some slack.” Charice shook Savannah’s shoulders.

  “Okay, okay. Under the circumstances, I can understand your first reaction. But believe me, any contact I have with Devin is not for pleasure or my choice. He probably thinks he can finesse me into revealing something he might find useful. What he doesn’t realize is that I’m not the naive little law school graduate he met five years ago.”

  “Damn righ
t, babe. Set him straight,” Paul said.

  “Will you please kiss and make up, I’m starving!” Charice clutched her stomach.

  “You heard her.” With a swift, sweeping motion, Paul pulled Savannah to him and planted a solid kiss on her lips leaving her breathless. “Now, let’s go before we have to fight our way into that restaurant.”

  “I didn’t want to get Poppy down about our chances, but Devin is good. Clayton didn’t send him just for window dressing, you can count on that.” Savannah sat with her arms folded watching the still long line waiting to get in the Fish Net.

  As Paul had predicted, the lunch crowd was heavy. After a twenty minute wait, they were finally able to get a table. Ordering the lunch special, the salad bar and a bowl of andouille gumbo, had at least meant they wouldn’t have to wait long for their meal to arrive.

  “Listen, don’t think this is some classic case of bad guys versus good guys. Trosclair is not stupid. Any accidents at Big River and he will have more trouble than profit. He knows that these days being green is good business,” Paul said.

  “Get real, Paul. Trosclair will go through the motions, but he is not cutting into his bottom line,” Savannah retorted with a sneer.

  “He hasn’t said no to anything I’ve suggested yet. And a few of those changes cost him some big bucks.”

  “I gotta agree with Savannah on this one, babe. We know the Trosclairs. Old Claude may be smooth, but he has a reputation of going for the throat when he gets pissed off.” Charice said.

  “The spotlight is shining on everything they do right now. But as soon as things were to quiet down, it would be back to business as usual.” Savannah leaned forward tapping the table with her finger for emphasis.

  “I just don’t see it that way.” Paul shook his head.

  “I know you think that you can influence him to do the right thing. Maybe you can, for a while. I doubt that it will last though.”

  “Well, I hate to see the hard feelings this thing is causing here in town. If the plant does stay open, we need to have some common ground to get people back together. A way both sides can come together. Safety measures and jobs. I think it can be done, that’s all I’m saying.”

  “Yeah, but if it closes—” Charice looked around her, watching the faces. Like them, many of the diners were discussing the case.

  “If it closes there will be bitter feelings for a long time. Losing jobs and the money pumped into a depressed local economy won’t be easily or soon forgotten.” Paul finished the thought that came to all of them.

  *****

  Savannah felt as though the weight of the whole world was on her shoulders. She was tired all the time, her sleep still disturbed by frightening dreams. After so many weeks, she didn’t jump when she found gris gris at home, in the shop, or on her car. She threw them away with grim resignation. She was determined not to let it get the best of her, but the strain was wearing her down. One afternoon, Tante Marie found some of the gris gris stuffed down in the trash can. In her weakened state, it only took seconds for Savannah to confess all when her aunt demanded an explanation.

  “Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. I knowed something was goin’ on.” Tante Marie picked up the telephone receiver. “Shirleen, we got some work to do.”

  Tante Marie and Nenaine Shirleen sprung into action. Over her objections, Nenaine Shirleen collected the gris gris. She would perform some ritual to counteract the curses then burn them.

  “Tante Marie, will you talk to Nenaine please? What she’s doing is silly. What’s more it’s unnecessary.” Savannah stood watching Nenaine Shirleen sprinkling dust of some sort on the sidewalk in front of the shop.

  “She believes what she believes. Can’t hurt I say, cher. Some of them gris gris is powerful.” Tante Marie moved around the shop examining things.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “See if that wench done left anything lately.”

  “She hasn’t, I checked. Oh great, look at this.”

  Savannah watched as several tourists stopped to observe Nenaine Shirleen. With an audience, her gestures began to take on a dramatic tone as she took an old straw broom and swept the brick while she began a colorful explanation of what she was doing. It was clear that the tourist thought this was a performance for their benefit alone. After having her pose for pictures, they applauded before moving on.

  “Nenaine, I wish you wouldn’t do stuff like that.” Savanna took the broom from her hand and took it to the back storeroom.

  “You got to fight fire with fire, darlin’. A woman, I can’t tell y’all who ‘cause she don’t won’t it known generally, is advisin’ me just what to do. Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to you if I can help it.”

  “But nothing will happen anyway. This voodoo stuff is all psychological. If I let it get to me then she wins. You spreading goofer dust or whatever that is, is just making me even more nervous.”

  “That ain’t goofer dust, it’s brick dust to protect you. And Marie say you can’t sleep at night, so it is gettin’ to you.”

  Looking at the determined expression both women wore, Savannah gave up. It was apparent that they would never be convinced that these measures were useless. As much as she could, she ignored Nenaine Shirleen’s activities. Like a tuning fork, Savannah also felt the tension brought on by the fight against Big River. No matter where she went these days, she found herself defending the actions of her father and the others who opposed the plant. Even being with Paul became an exercise in walking on egg shells. They avoided talking about the case or Devin which meant there were no arguments, but they both knew how close they were to the edge. Savannah felt stretched to the limit. She hoped that things would at least get better between them once Paul testified. Later that evening went to Charice’s house. At least there she could share of anxieties with a trusted friend.

  “I’ll be glad when this case is over. Then Paul and I might be able to relax around each other.” Savannah’s only relief these days was confiding in Charice.

  “I’m not so sure about that. You may not like what he says.” Charice pushed a stuffed rabbit out of her easy chair so she could sit down. The girls had left their toys everywhere in the tiny den next to her kitchen.

  “I already know that. But then we could discuss it. Now he can’t. Besides, it isn’t as bad as I thought anyway. He’s just going to say that they are taking precautions and following industry safety standards.”

  “What about Devin? Have you been out with him yet? That’s another unexploded bombshell you’re playing with if you ask me.”

  “Paul understands now that I have no feelings for Devin. If we did see each other it would only be to scope him out, about the case that is.”

  “Uh-huh.” Charice puckered her lips

  “He does!”

  “Sure he does. Let me ask you this, have you told him that you are definitely going to have a date with dashing Devin?”

  “No-oo, but-”

  “Have you discussed it since that first day at court?”

  “No, but see-”

  “So as far as you know, Paul may be assuming that since it hasn’t happened yet it won’t. I mean, that was almost two weeks ago.”

  “Not necessarily. I think we just haven’t discussed it because it’s not an issue.” Savannah picked up the rabbit and began playing with its floppy pink ears.

  “Hey, this is me you’re talking to girlfriend. You haven’t discussed it because you know what would happen. Boom!”

  “So what do you think I should do?”

  “Honey, don’t ask me. The last time I was caught between two gorgeous men that wanted to see me was, let me think— oh, never,” Charice said.

  “Some help you are.”

  For several days Savannah had a reprieve from being forced to make a decision about Devin. Every time the phone rang, the bell jangled over the shop door, or there was a knock on the front door at home, she jumped. She was beginning to think he had changed his mind when her father tappe
d her shoulder one day as she sat engrossed in completing sales tax papers at his desk in the shop.

  “That fella is out front for you.” Antoine jerked his head towards the open office door.

  “Devin.” Savannah knew from the scowl on his face who he was talking about. Taking a shaky breath, she went out to greet him.

  “Hi, Devin. How’s it going?”

  “Not too bad, sweet. I would ask how you are but I can see for myself. You are fine.” The same line from anyone else would have sounded phony, even ridiculous. But Devin with his famous gentle smile and modulated baritone voice could carry off even the most worn out come on lines.

  “Uh-huh. The trial is keeping you busy I guess.” Savannah was now immune to his charm.

  “You guess correctly. Simmons has done his homework, but then so have I.” With practiced smoothness, Devin switched gears to follow her lead.

  “So you’re not worried about the case? I mean, the issue of whether or not Big River can legitimately claim to be a recycling site is serious enough to jeopardize its future, but then there’s the question of the plant operating in violation of its permit.”

  “Got my work cut out for me, that’s for sure. However, as you well know for every point there is an equally effective counterpoint. Now, what have you got planned for dinner this evening?” Devin performed another lightning fast subject switch, this one caught her before she could prepare.

  “Well I’m not sure.”

  “I tried to get in touch with Honorè to go over his testimony coming up day after tomorrow, but his partner said he was on-site doing some work in Breaux Bridge. He won’t be back until late tonight. So I’m free.” He gave her that smile again.

  Savannah agreed, at least she would not be tense worrying Paul would show up. At her suggestion, they went to a small restaurant in the tiny town of Lebeau that was renowned for its steak and seafood. Yet the reputation or atmosphere of Petite Maison was not reason she chose it.

  “Nice place. Quiet and out of the way, even further into the country.” Devin wore an amused grin.