Chapter 11

Randal - Chapter 11

Phillip sat on the bench and waited for Tanner. Tanner was a good attorney, and a better man than he'd ever worked with. Not that they were working together on this, but Phillip wanted to be like him and liked by him. As he sat there thinking of all the crap that Rosemarie had been telling him, all he could think about was getting out on his own and becoming an attorney that he liked. Not this flunky that had to take the pro bono cases that no one else wanted. When he saw Tanner pull up in front of the station, he stood up.

"She doesn't want me to be in there with you, and threw a fit when they told her I had to be." Tanner said that they could both go to the bar and have some lunch until it was okay to have a beer. "Yes, I'd like that as well. She's a pain in the butt."

"Yes, she is. But whatever she wants, I'm recording it." Phillip hadn't brought his own recorder, but knew that he should be recording this conversation too, as they were supposed to be on opposite sides of this case. Phillip had pulled his out of his briefcase at his desk at work and had forgotten to put it back. "I'll send you a copy of whatever it has on it. She just might want to plea down or something."

The two of them entered the room. Phillip had asked for the room to be recorded, both with video and sound. He wasn't taking any chances with this woman saying that anyone hadn't given her a fair shake. As soon as he sat down with Tanner at his side, she told him to go away, she wanted to talk to Tanner.

"He's not going anywhere, Rosemarie. He is representing you in this case that is being put before a judge in the morning. You called for this meeting, now tell me what you want so I can go home." She told him that she wanted to see Lance, alone, and without chains. "No. Anything else?"

"I don't like you very much. He's my husband and I want to talk to him. I know that you can't let him take the stand against me because we're married." Tanner said that they weren't, and he asked her for a copy of the license if she had one. "I don't have it on me. They took all my shit when they brought me here. But we're married, you check it out."

"We have. You're not married. You were at one time to someone else—who we're having exhumed, by the way—but you were never wed to Lance Price." Tanner was cool and calm, and Phillip tried to emulate him. "If that is all you wanted from me, you could have asked your own attorney who would have contacted me. I have nothing more to say to you."

Phillip stood up when Tanner did. Rosemarie tried to stand as well, but the chains at her wrists and legs were hampering her. She told them both to sit, she wasn't done, and neither of them did. Whatever she wanted, she wasn't going to get it from Tanner.

"I want whatever you gave Lance." Phillip asked her what she meant. "You shut your pie hole, you idiot, I'm talking to him. He got himself a good bargain, I'm betting. Lance did, didn't he? Well I have shit on him too."

"No you don't. And if you talk to him like that again, I'll get you for threatening someone." She sneered at him. "I mean it, Rosemarie, I won't put up with this. I have better things to do than sit here and listen to your drivel. You have a hearing in the morning, and I'll see you then."

"I don't deserve to go to jail. I did nothing wrong but want to see my granddaughter."

When she started sobbing Phillip started to reach for her, he had no idea why, but as soon as Tanner pushed him back away from her, he saw the pen sticking out of his arm. She'd stabbed him with it.

"Just sit down." He said that he was sitting. "No, you're standing on wobbly feet. Just slide to the floor for me while the officer takes her back to her cell."

"All right." He wasn't sure what she might have done had he been in here alone with her. Or to Tanner. But she had tried to kill him. At least that's what he thought.

"She did." He asked Tanner what he meant. "You're talking out loud. You wondered if she tried to kill you or me, and you said it aloud. The ambulance is coming. Once it gets here, I'll call your firm and let them know what she did."

"I need to come and work for you." He said that he didn't have a practice except his family and a friend of his. "I can help you. Even if it's only to do research on cases. I can't go back to that firm. And they'll probably fire me after this anyway. I'm on the shit list. Every nasty job that comes in, they put it on my desk."

He looked at the pen sticking out of his forearm. It made him slightly sick to see it there, with the blood dripping down to his elbow. Laying his head on his other arm while Tanner held his injured one, he tried to think where she had gotten the pen. The woman that was standing near him when he looked up smiled at him.

"The Feds sent you in?" She said that she had come on her own, and told him what her name was. "Hello, Anastasia Coulier. I'm an idiot."

"The pen isn't yours, but that of an officer that works here. He left it for her to write a list of things she wanted in the way of food. He'll be reprimanded. You, however, aren't going to be fired. If they try, I'll come there and make them see reason." He asked her if she was going to kill them. "Not unless it comes to that."

When she laughed, he wasn't so sure she wasn't serious. She looked it. In fact, he thought she looked like she could kill them all without much in the way of effort. When the medical team entered the small room, he asked Tanner to stay with him, he wanted some company.

He was taken to the hospital where they were going to remove the pen. It was evidence, and they were afraid that someone would touch it and hurt him more. Phillip wasn't sure that he could be hurting any less. The pain was starting to make itself known to him in a big way.

"I have a sister…she's not going to be happy with me if she hears about this on the news. It will be on there, right?" Tanner told him he'd call her. "Yes, her name is Bridget McGowan. Her husband, Rogan McGowan, is a bastard, so if he answers, just hang up. He won't give her the message anyway."

"If it helps you at all, I'll have an officer go there and get her for you." Phillip told him that would only be worse on her. "I see. Is she in an abusive relationship then?"

"You have no idea. She's left him several times. And while she's still with him, it's not like you think. She goes back when he threatens the kids. She has four of them. Well, he has four. She doesn't have any, thankfully, but when she leaves, he hurts the kids. And they're all she has, she told me."

"I'll see to her." Phillip thanked him as they inserted an IV in his other arm and gave him something for pain. "You just let the meds kick in."

"Christ love a doodle. That's nice." He was floating. And every time he tried to open his mouth to tell Tanner again where she was and to be careful, he felt himself sliding down a slippery slope of drugs that he couldn't fight. When Tanner asked him for Bridget's address again, he pointed to his phone, telling him it was in that. Phillip let the drugs take him under then. He could no longer fight them.

When he woke the next time, his arm was in a sling above his head, his body was heavy, like he'd been encased in concrete, and his mouth was dry. Looking around the room, he saw that he had visitors, but couldn't make out who they were. When she spoke, he smiled.

"You could have been killed, then where would I be?" Phillip told her that she was his benefactor with his insurance. "If that's supposed to be funny, I'm not laughing. What happened?"

"I did something incredibly stupid and paid the price. Are you here alone?" He tried to look around, but his head was very heavy too. "I'm so thirsty. Can you get me something?"

"The doctor said you could only have ice shavings." He looked at Tanner and thanked him for bringing his sister. "It was my pleasure. She is going to be staying here tonight. Her husband is in jail. He tried to stop us from leaving."

When he didn't say anything, Phillip thought about asking if he'd been hurt. But the man was huge, and while Rogan was big too, his was mostly due to eating fatty foods and drinking. It mattered little to him what kind of booze it was, so long as it was cheap and he could drink all he wanted without being bothered.

"I'm hoping that he stays there too. At least long enough for me to get some distance this time. And the kids are relieved as well." He looked at Tanner when he shook his head slightly. "We don't have a lot of funds, but Mr. Calhoun here, he's offered to help us out. Even set us up with a nice place in Las Vegas that we can stay in until we get up on our feet."

"We?" She nodded at him and told him he was coming too. "Honey, I can't leave here. I have commitments and a job. Leaving here would…. I can't even practice law out there. I don't have a license."

Tanner cleared his throat before speaking. "That's been arranged too. I have a couple of friends that are making it so you can take the bar exam there and be fully licensed. Also, the place that we have set up for the six of you will be rent free for one year. More if you need it." Phillip thought this was too much, not to mention going too fast. "Her husband will only be in jail for forty-eight hours, Phillip. And you know as well as I do that once he's free, he's going to come after you when he can't find his wife and children."

Phillip thought about telling him that he could handle the man, but he couldn't. Rogan was a man who talked with his fists and not his mouth, unless it was to spew racial slurs and comments that were crude. Instead, he thanked Tanner.

"My family is the one to thank. They have a fund set up for just this sort of occurrences. And it does happen a great deal. All the arrangements are made. All you guys need to do is pack what you need at your homes, and someone will pick you up and take you to the airport. One of my brothers will go with you to show you around the area and make sure you have all that you need." He thanked Tanner again. So did Bridge. "We want to help you. And also, your firm has been notified here. It's all taken care of."

In less time than he thought it should have taken, they were all packed, with the help of some very nice people, their things loaded onto a large jet, and they were on their way. Phillip was so overwhelmed that when one of his nephews came to sit on his lap, he was shocked by it.

"They were never allowed to touch Rogan very much. You know how he was about people." Phillip did know. "When we get settled, Phillip, I want you to be happy too. It's about time, don't you think?"

"I am happy, Bridge. I have been for a long time." She just shook her head. "And what about you? How happy are you?"

"I'm going to get a fresh start with my kids. I know that they're not of my body, but I love them as much as if they were. I won't leave them to him. And I have you close should I need you. I don't think I could be any happier than that. But you, you've gone without for a long time. And we both know why." He didn't comment. There were few people who knew anything about him and his sexual preferences. "I want you to find yourself someone and settle down. There won't be people there that will hurt you because of it."

"Rogan was the only one that did." She told him she was sorry. "Don't be. As I've told you before, I'm fine. Happy too now that you're going to be getting everything that you deserve."

He looked down at his arm and the sling that was wrapped around it. There was something there, an envelope. Pulling it out so that no one would see it, he opened it up and looked inside. There was a note with some cash. Heading to the bathroom, he read it and counted the money.

"Phillip, good luck with your future. The boards have been taken care of and you have an office set up. My brother, Sterl, he's going to show you where it is. Here is some cash to tide you over until you start working. And Sterl is going to use you for the business dealings he has there. Good luck, Tanner."

There was ten grand in the envelope, as well as a gift card for a pizza place that he'd never heard of. Phillip sat in the bathroom and sobbed. He just could not believe the kindness of this family. And he was going to make it right too, by being the best attorney that he could be.

~*~

Lance sat in the back of the courtroom. He wished he could sit up front with his daughters, but he wasn't going to push himself into their lives. It was hard enough even facing them after what he'd done. But this was better, and Laney had invited him over for dinner tonight. He was taking this one day at a time, and was happy with what she'd give him.

After the room was called to order, he watched the doors that would bring out Rosemarie. She had a lot going against her, and he was glad now that he'd been able to distance himself from her, even after all that he'd done too. When she was brought out, in a suit that wasn't her style, he felt himself shrink up a bit, not wanting her to see him. They chained her to the floor and desk, and he wondered about that.

They were listing off her charges when little Heather came back to sit with him. He put her on the chair next to him, but she climbed into his lap. It was the first time either of them had come to him first. And the first time since he'd sent Heather away that he'd held her. When she looked up at him, he simply fell in love with her.

"You're my dad." He said that he was. "I'm not going to call you Daddy. I want to call Mr. Randal. Is that okay?"

"Yes, it's perfectly fine with me, so long as you know that I'm your father, it's fine with me." She nodded and looked up front. He wasn't sure what to say to her, so didn't say anything. Lance didn't know that many children, and wasn't sure how to interact with them anymore.

"That mean lady up there is my mom, huh?" He said that she was. And she was mean. "I don't like her at all. She tried to kill me. And she cut open my head like a melon."

He laughed. It was said with such venom that he wanted to hug her to him and laugh again. But the room turned to look at them, so he held her and told her she needed to keep it down.

The things that were brought against Rosemarie were long and harsh. There was a great deal of it that he'd participated in, and some that he'd had no idea. The part about stealing the children and selling them, he'd had no idea that was what she'd done. She had told him over and over that the children were going to families, not to some third world country to be sold as slaves and as sex partners. Lance had cried for two days when he'd heard that part.

"When am I going to get a deal?" Lance wasn't sure that she'd been offered one, so he listened to Rosemarie's questions. "I should get a deal too. It's all his fault, all this. I was just an innocent victim in Lance's schemes."

"You will not address this courtroom without permission. And that will come from me." Rosemarie waved the judge off. "You will keep your comments to yourself and wait until someone asks you a direct question. This is my courtroom and my rules."

"That work for you?" The judge looked at Rosemarie's attorney when she spoke again. "I'm not going to sit here and have you pass whatever it is you're thinking of doing without me getting a deal too. I didn't do shit."

"Ms. Prichard, I'm not warning you again. Keep your mouth shut." She stood up as best she could, and told him to make her. The courtroom was as quiet as he'd ever heard it. "Bailiff, take Ms. Prichard back to her cell, and we'll proceed with this case without her presence."

"You can't fucking do that. I have a right, just like everybody else, to have myself some good shit given to me too. I want you to cut me a deal. I don't want to spend not one day in prison. I didn't do shit." She was being dragged out, literally kicking and screaming at them all. "You mother fucker, you're going to pay for this shit. Where is Lance? He's the one that made me do all this. He needs to be brought here and made to get me out of this. It's his fault."

He started to stand. In fact, he set Heather on the seat next to him so that he could. But she grabbed his hand and shook her head. He told her that it was his name and he thought to calm her.

"She's weird. And mean. You stand up and she's gonna hit you too. She might even split your melon so bad that you spill out your brain." He told her that he was sorry that she'd been hurt. "Me too, but you got no reason to be hurt too. I don't like her, but I do you. So far."

He'd take it. Even if she only liked him for the next hour, Lance would take it. So he remained in his seat and Heather climbed into his lap again. It was right then that he realized that not only had he been a fool, but that he could make a difference in his life. Starting today.

While he wasn't sure how he was going to make this work, he was going to do it. To have someone look up to him again, even so far as she'd said, was something that he'd missed. Lance hadn't been the best of fathers, especially after his wife had passed, but he was given a second chance here and he wasn't going to mess it up. Thinking about all the things he'd been up to and what he was doing now, he thought how lucky he was that either of his daughters would allow him to be in the same room with them. Lance had been a failure.

"You think too hard." He told Heather that he did at that. "You have to chill. That's what Dad tells me all the time when I can't get something to work. He said to stop thinking too hard and it'll come to you."

"Does it work?" She nodded at him with a huge grin. "Well, I think I can start thinking less hard if you come around sometimes and tell me that. I do get all messed up at times."

"Mom said it's because you had a bad fluid." He started to ask her what she meant by that when she shook her head. "No. Not fluid. That's like water. But I don't remember how to say it."

"Influence. I have had a bad influence." She told him that was it. "She's right. I did. But I'm not going to let that happen to me again."

Lance listened to the goings on in the courtroom. His mind was about half on it, the other on things he wanted to do. He had a nice place to stay now, but it lacked personal things. Which wasn't to say he had any to add there, but he was going to make some. Pictures. He needed to add some pictures to his walls. Then he remembered that all this things from his house had been put in storage. Things that he was going to get out and see if Laney would want any. There was a great deal of it too.

As soon as the courtroom proceedings broke for lunch, he made his way to Laney and her husband carefully. He was never sure about being welcome. Not that she did anything to make him feel that way, but he supposed it was his own thoughts and feelings. Heather asked if they could go and get pizza together, and when Randal told her sure, Lance started to step away.

"You'll join us, won't you, Dad?" Lance nearly wept, he was so happy that Laney would include him, but only nodded. "Good. I wanted to talk to you about a job that we might have for you. I know that at one time you used to coach my baseball team, and there is a need for some coaches."

"It's been a long time, honey. I don't know if I remember all the rules." She told him, as they made their way out of the big building, that they had courses for coaches, even teaching them how to keep score and some CPR classes. "I'd like that. I work only part time now, but I can see the schedule for it and help out. I'd like that."

"I'm going to play too. I never been on a baseball team before." He thought about teaching his little girl baseball and smiled. "I got me a bat for Christmas, but I'm not allowed to hit nobody with it, and I can't break any windows or Mr. Wally said I have to do hard labor. He already makes me take the trash out to learn how to earn my keep. He's a good cooker, so I don't want him mad at me."

They were still laughing about it as they made their way into the restaurant. Lance thought about the storage units he had and mentioned it to Laney. The look on her face made him think that she was upset with him, but when she thanked him, over and over, he asked her what she was feeling.

"I don't know. I thought, I guess you can understand why, but I thought that you'd sold it all off when you left with Rosemarie." He said that she'd tried to talk him into it, but he'd not been such a bad person then. "I don't think you were bad, not really, Dad…just misguided. And yes, I'd love to have some of the things from the house. What are you going to do with it? I mean, I thought that had been sold too."

"No. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have. It has belonged to you since your momma passed." She said that she didn't know that. "I didn't either until about a week or so after the funeral. I had just met Rosemarie, I think, so I might not have gotten around to telling you. I messed up on that."

"No, you did the right thing, I think. Had she known, there is no telling what she might have done to make me turn it over to the two of you." He was glad that she was eager not to blame him solely on this, but he might well have done it too.

The rest of the lunch was spent talking about the upcoming spring festival at the school. Not only did Lance volunteer to help out, but he got talked into baking cookies to sell at the bake sale. All in all, he thought it was the best meal he'd ever had.