Southern Justice, Part 34

I’m Fixin’ To present part 34 of Southern Justice:

After Chris Adams finished his late breakfast and had a shower he dressed and sent a request to Uber for a ride to the Ritz Carlton Hotel where he retrieved his car. Then he drove straight toward his intended target for tonight because he wanted to check it out one more time in the daylight.

But this time he drove down the street one block over from the Hormel Law Office where he located the building whose parking lot he had landed in Friday night while he was being chased.

He drove around to the rear parking lot of the building and there was the tall hedgerow. It had a nice round hole burrowed through it where the two security guards had apparently torn through, after he had been long gone.

Good, he thought, that’s the way I’m going in!

Around five o’clock, back at his house, Chris reached for his phone and saw there were two messages on it. The first one was from Shanna, his friend who took her clothes off for a living at the Gentlemen’s Club. He listened as she said, “Hello–hello. Pick it up. Where are you hiding? Call me. I need to see you.”

The other one was from Jones asking him to call him back at his lake house. Both calls had come in last night before he and Patty had arrived home. He ignored Shanna’s call and dialed Jones’ number at the lake. There was no answer and Chris figured that he was probably already on his way back to the city.

He dialed Patty’s number and she picked up on the first ring and said, “It’s about time!”

“Hey, I just had a couple of errands to run. I’ll be a little late tonight—probably around nine-thirty or ten. We’ll have a late dinner.”

“Why so late?”

“I have to finish my project. It’s due tomorrow morning.”

“You didn’t even pick it up when we were in your office.”

“I know. I was distracted. I’m going to my office now and finish it up. I’ll call you when I leave and you can give me directions to pick you up.”

“Wait a minute,” Patty said, “how are you going to do this with your car being in the garage?”

“Oh, uh, I already picked it up. It was at Pep Boys. They are open on Sunday,” Chris said and immediately resolved that he would try to let this be the last time he would tell her a lie.

“I have a better idea,” Patty said. “Why don’t I come to your house? That way we can be together earlier. And I’ll pick up a pizza on the way.”

“Sounds great,” he told her. “The key is under the third loose brick on the right side of the walkway. And, hey, listen, if you bring an overnight bag you can go from my house straight to work tomorrow morning.”

“Um–we’ll see. You miss me?”

“More than I have time to tell you. If I’m not home when you get her, I’ll be there shortly thereafter.”

Full darkness had set in by the time Chris pulled into the now familiar parking lot of the strip mall near the Hormel Office. Dressed in black sweats, running shoes and armed with nothing except a pin light, he stepped over the edge of the landscaped parking lot and melted into the darkness.

When he arrived at the hedgerow, he quietly slithered through the convenient tunnel and made his way to the window he had unlocked from the inside last night. He slipped on a pair of gloves, and being as sure as he thought he would ever be, raised the window. With a little hop and a pull he was inside surveying the room with his light.

How ironic, he thought, here I am breaking and entering, about to commit burglary, and who knows what else, surrounded by several hundred law books.

Now the question was where to look first, filing cabinets or desk drawers? Slowly he made his way down the hall and found the door to the conference room open. He stepped inside, swept the tiny beam of his pin light over the table, and couldn’t believe his eyes or his luck. There it was! The green legal folder with the coffee stain, just lying there!

He quickly dropped into a seat, opened the folder and found that the documents inside were exactly as Hormel had quoted. There was Rick Junior’s will leaving everything to Jackie, and her will leaving everything to Rick Junior. Then he saw a single piece of paper which looked like some sort of list, and it was in Rick Senior’s hand writing. He defiantly knew Rick Senior’s hand writing. The list included everything Rick Senior had owned with Pic-Ric Products being the last item on it. But wait! That wasn’t his hand writing! Not where it listed Pic-Ric Products!

Rick Junior had been right! His father had not intended for the company to go to Jackie! This list was their proof!

Chris tucked the list securely into his pocket and turned to exit the conference room. He had one foot through the door when he heard a sound like a key turning in a lock. He froze. That’s when he heard the front door open and suddenly the hallway was flooded with light from the reception area!

(tmdunagan@aol.com)