Archives:
May 27-June 2, 2007

May 27, 2007

“So, are you still having fun at your job, or have you succumbed to hating life in the office?” I ask over the phone, flipping through TV channels on mute, talking to Teri.

“Well I don't have any murder suspects, or their families to pull me out of the office,” she says, “but unlike you, I do still like the desk job.”

“What were you working on today?”

“Well, a couple of the local churches pooled some money to get us a billboard downtown. So I've spent the last couple days drawing up designs for it.”

Teri is doing a PR internship for an after school program for underprivileged kids. It's a good cause, but I think we were both a little skeptical of it in the early going, because she was the first person to work in the position, and they didn't seem to have really clear plans for her.

“What are you trying to do with the billboard—just attract more customers?”

“Sort of. I mean, we do want for more parents to realize they can send their kids to the program, but, besides that, we're also trying to attract more sponsors to make the program better.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I say, turning the TV off. “And how is our buddy Rob doing?”

Rob works full time as a counselor for the program, and has been flirting really awkwardly with Teri since she started working. I'm not really threatened by him—just a little annoyed that he's trying to move in on her. Teri's not really annoyed—just amused.

“He's been going to the gym, apparently.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. The other day I told him how I go running. So today, he struck up a conversation about how he's been hitting the weight room, trying to get in shape.”

“Uh oh—is he going to kick my ass?”

“ Preston , I think I could take this guy.”

“Do you think you could take me?”

“Eh, if it came to a fight, I'd just kick you in the balls.”

“You fight dirty.”

“Is that a problem?”

“I'd just rather you talk dirty.”

Teri sighs. “And with that, I think it's your bed time.”

May 28, 2007

“How many times have I told you that that's not the way I like to try my cases,” my father said, his last words before leaving the office in the early afternoon.

That didn't stop Natalie and I from playing the game she had introduced moments before. Assuming that Darryl did not kill his wife, we began our own guessing game and debate around who was guilty.

“Goodman was a dentist,” Natalie says, tapping her nails on her desk. As much as I hated sitting there, I sort of miss the desk now. When we share the office, I'm relegated to a little card table in the corner. “So you would think he had lots of enemies.”

“What makes you say that?”

She adjusts her glasses. “Nobody likes a dentist. Even if they do their job right, you walk out of there in pain. And if they mess up? It isn't pretty.”

“So you think it could have been a patient.”

She shrugs. “It's possible.”

I lean back a little in my chair, before thinking better of it. The folding chair I'm using now doesn't look to be in the best of shape. “What about Adam?”

“The daughter's boyfriend?”

“Yeah. I mean, he seemed a little dense when we were meeting yesterday.”

“He is dense. Too dense to pull off a murder and not get caught.”

“But how smart would he need to be? He's been with Valerie for years. Maybe he had a key to the house.”

“Darryl never would have trusted him with a key.”

“Then maybe Valerie gave it to him. Then all he would have to do was wear gloves, grab the gun and fire away.”

“You're forgetting about the motive, though. Why would he want to kill his girlfriend's mother?”

I scratch my chin. “Was he ever one of Darryl's patients? Then we get the revenge motive and the easy access to the house.”

Natalie makes a face then nods. “You're not bad at this.”

May 29, 2007

“So what do you think made Chang want to work at a camp this summer?” Matt says, twisting open an Oreo. He promptly dunks the cream coated half into his glass of milk, tucked against an armrest, in a corner of the couch next to him.

I feel myself starting to get a little warm, and keep my eyes on the TV. “Well it's a fun gig, right? Go out and do kid stuff for a few months.”

“Yeah, but I never really pegged Chang for a guy who liked doing kid stuff. And I remember him busting my balls for the camp job last year.” He pauses, eating the rest of his cookie. “What do you know about his friend Brad?”

I chew my cookie slowly, and reach for my glass of milk. “Not a lot,” I say, taking a long drink, trying to act disinterested, rather than secretive. “We hung out a few times. He seems like a cool guy.”

Matt nods. “It's just kind of weird how close they got, isn't it? I mean, it's like every time I talked to you this semester, he was hanging out with the guy. And now he's going to Maine to work with him.” He pauses pulling the plastic tray of cookies out from the packaging to make the Oreos more accessible. “I would get it more if it was a girl. Because, really, who hasn't gotten hung up on a girl at some point?”

“Well you've gotta remember that things are different for him,” I say. “I mean, he was home for a year, while we went away for college—while almost all of his friends went away, besides Joey. And then he does go away, and I get him mixed in with my friends. I think maybe Brad's just a buddy he can call his own—a piece of his own life at college.” I kind of impress myself by spinning this all out of thin air. Of course, I guess there is some truth to it, overlooking the obvious important point that I saw Chang and Brad kissing.

Matt seems satisfied, giving me another nod and turning back to the TV. A twisted piece of me wonders how he'd react if I told him Chang was gay—and that he's my half brother.

May 30, 2007

“So you're worried he might be guilty?” Teri asks.

"I don't know," I say, phone pinned between the side of my head and shoulder as I check my e-mail in my room. "It's just that my Dad said he's not in the business of drumming up other suspects, because he wants to prove that Darryl's innocent—not that someone else is guilty. But without trying to pin it on someone else, I'm just having trouble seeing any alternative to him having done it."

"But you said that he'd never do that."

"I can't believe that he would. But at the same time, someone got in the house—either having a key, or because it was fluke instance when no one locked the front door. And then that person knew where to find his gun, and either had a key, or found that, on a fluke, that was unlocked too."

"Are you sure it couldn't have been a suicide?"

I take a sip from my can of Pepsi. "It happened with a hunting rifle. With the angle on it, she couldn't have done it herself."

"OK," Teri says. In my mind's eye, I can see her playing with an end of her hair, thinking. “So what about the daughter.”

"Valerie? Doesn't really seem like the mother killing type."

"There's a type?"

"Granted." I click to sign out of my e-mail. "But na—I mean, if you knew this family, it just doesn't add up. The only way I can make sense of it is that it was a heat of the moment kind of thing. Valerie said her folks had been fighting—then one night it goes too far." I pause, scratching my forehead. "But I can't believe he'd lie about it afterwards like this if that was what happened."

"It's a unique situation. It's like, you can't compare how someone would act after they killed someone to how they are any other time."

"Yeah, I guess." I get up from my chair, headed toward bed. I can't help thinking we're still missing a piece of the puzzle.

May 31, 2007

"And then there was the grocery store that got sued when the women fell and hurt her knee," Natalie says, scribbling on some form or other, over at her desk.

"Right, I remember that. It must have been 10 years ago," I say, from over at my card table, we're I'm flipping through today's newspaper. Dad had a few errands for me to run in the morning, but this afternoon, I don't have much better to do than read the paper and reminisce with Natalie about my father's past experiences in court. "I forget how that one turned out."

"The plaintiff was a liar. John proved that the shape of the bruise on her knee matched up perfectly with the busted garden gnome she had actually fallen on when she slipped off the front steps at her own house." She pauses, turning to her computer screen and typing something in. "I do have to give her credit for making it to the store though, and making it look like she really had slipped in one of the aisles. It would have been more convincing if she didn't have a little limp in the security tape, but she made a decent go of it."

"It's amazing what people will do for money," I say, shaking my head. "I mean, I know my father works insane hours, and makes a lot for it. But at least he's really working for it—"

"You don't think that's why he does it, right?" she asks, looking at me from over the rims of her glasses. "He sets his own salary, there's no benefit to working the hours he does. He just cares about doing what's right."

"You don't hear that often about lawyers."

"And that's why I work for him. He's an honest man. A work-a-holic, but an honest one." She turns back to the computer. "I did feel bad for you kids, though. I always said he should scale back and spend more time with you and your brother—not to mention your mother."

I turn the page. "Well, we're spending time together now."

Natalie chuckles. "I guess that's true."

June 1, 2007

I'm sitting by the kitchen window when Teri arrives. I've been sitting here for just shy of two hours, waiting for her car to pull in.

I race toward the front door, then stop, taking a deep breath and straightening out my shirt before I head outside. Over the last couple days, I've grown progressively more excited about her coming here. It's hard to believe it's only been two weeks since I last saw her.

“Hey,” I say, once I'm outside.

Teri hurries toward me, and wraps her arms around my neck hugging me tightly. “Hey.”

I turn my head and we kiss quickly. “Any trouble finding the place?”

“Missed my exit on the highway and had to back track. Set me back, like, 45 minutes.”

“But you're here now.”

She smiles. “Yeah.” She gives me another kiss, a little longer than the first, before pushing off of me. “Let me grab my bag.”

“Allow me,” I say, maneuvering past her, to get to the trunk, and her duffel bag first. Slamming the trunk shut, I turn to see my father pull in the driveway.

I'm relieved when he steps out of his car with a wide grin on his face. Lately, he's been coming home deep in thought, if not frustrated, analyzing every detail of the case over and over again. I had worried about him getting home late and ignoring Teri, or coming off as rude. I don't know what sort of impression she had from they first met—back when he came to see me at the hospital when I was in a coma.

He reaches out his arms. “How are you doing, Teri?”

“Great,” she says, stepping over to him and giving him a hug. “How about you?”

“It's been busy, with the case and all—I'm sure Preston 's told you about that.” He pauses, smiling again. “Have you two eaten yet?”

I gesture to Teri's bag. “She only got here a minute before you did.”

“And I'm starving.” Teri throws in, flashing Dad a grin.

“Well let's take care of that,” Dad says, loosening his tie. “Set your things inside, then let's head out back and I'll fire up the grill.”

June 2, 2007

“And this is where I worked last summer.” I say, holding hands with Teri, standing outside of Stephon's.

“Huh. I'm not gonna lie, it looks a little girly,” Teri says, laughing and putting a hand to my chest.

“Well I had a lot of fun working in this ‘girly' place.”

“Fair enough. So why don't you take me inside to meet your old cohorts?”

“Sounds good,” I say, proceeding to lead her in.

All in all, the store's the same as I left it—same royal blue carpet, same positioning of the racks, displays and shelves. The same tinny radio plays trendy pop hits. I can only assume its still a rotation, repeating itself just infrequently enough that a customer won't catch on, while all of the employees are all too aware of it.

There are a couple new mannequins, and I don't recognize the first employee I walk by, a young looking girl folding baby tee shirts. It makes me think about the competition Anastasia and I had last summer.

And then Anastasia is there.

She has her hair all in long braids, and it looks a little longer than it did when I last saw her. “Preston Burns, how are you doing?” she asks, reaching out to me.

I'm a little reluctant, but I give her a hug. I steal a glance at Teri and she's smiling.

Anastasia pulls away. “So who's your friend?”

“Teri,” she introduces herself, and they shake hands.

“This is my girlfriend,” I say kind of dumbly.

“I'm Anastasia, and it's great to meet you,” Anastasia says, shifting her eyes between the two of us.

“So,” I go on, questioning whether I should have brought Teri here, but looking to move things along now that I'm already invested, “how was your first semester—”

“ Preston !” I trail off as Lois comes over from the register.

“Lois,” I say with a smile, glad to add another person—any other person—to the mix. “Teri, this is Lois, and she manages to the store. Lois, this is my girlfriend Teri.”

“Great to meet you,” Lois says, shaking her hand. She seems about as caffeinated as I remember, though she's tanner this summer. She slaps a hand against my chest. “And you—I didn't even know you were back in town. Why aren't you working?”

“Well, I've actually been working in my father's office.”

“An office job, huh?” Lois says. “Well you're always welcome here on the weekends.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

Lois touches Teri's arm. “You know, you have a very nice boy here. He's one of the best employees I've had.”

“Yeah, he's something,” Teri says with the hint of a grin.

Lois's eyes shift to Anastasia for a second, then back to me. “Well, I suppose you two probably want to be on your way.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say. “Great seeing you guys, though—and I'll let you know about working sometime.”

“You should,” Lois says. “It really was great seeing you.”

Anastasia nods. “Yeah, good to see you Preston .”

I wave a little awkwardly, and turn to leave, Teri at my side.

As we leave the store, Teri elbows me in the side, smiling. “So what's your story with Anastasia?”