Jail Cell Love Affair - 12. Results and Impacts

It took another two weeks, but Fred got an email from the appellate court, requesting, oddly enough, only legal representation presence on Monday December eighteenth to review both cases, in two weeks. As expected, Sebastian and Karter were copied. He was reading the email for about the twentieth time when they walked in.

Karter obviously saw the email, he was very cheery, "Good morning Fred."

"Good morning Karter, Sebastian."

Sebastian simply nodded a greeting. He let his boss drive.

"I assume you've read the email from the appellate court?"

"Yes. About twenty times. I almost can't believe it."

"I don't know if I would get too excited. The fact that they requested your presence, and didn't include your two clients, worries me."

"How so? If they weren't going to hear the appeal, wouldn't have they just said that?"

"Perhaps. Three other possibilities come to mind. First, their decision is a little complicated in one or both instances, perhaps needing more information or clarification."

"Okay. Number two?"

"Number two is a positive result. It could mean they wish to provide you the release orders because they summarily found for one or both of the defendants. Killing two birds with one stone, as it were. Finally, number three is because it's getting close to the holidays, they wanted to tell you in person that they'll hear one or both cases, but not until after the new year."

"Even number three seems it would be reasonable by email."

"It does seem so, but the higher courts can be very particular. Nearly everything they do has to be on record and an email won't satisfy many requirements they are bound by."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Regardless of their reasoning, Sebastian will accompany you, since you are so new and have no trial or hearing experience."

"I would welcome that whole-heartedly."

"Yes. Anyway, keep up the good work. Before then, make sure you get to Rosharon to give the two clients an update. And definitely look at your other four open cases closely, in case Silas missed, or possibly ignored, something else in them. I do believe we'll hold off on going through everything else he lost while he was here until after you check on the four others."

"I will do that Karter. Thank you for the advice."

He gave a big smile, "The advice is free. Well, to anybody working in the building."

Karter left, but Sebastain stayed.

"So, about the hearing, if that's what it is. I'll let you handle any questions about the appeals themselves, but if there's anything you don't know, for sure, look at me and I'll handle it. I wish they gave us a little more detail in that email. I don't like going to court without knowing what to expect. But we have to deal with that."

"Have you ever run across a situation like this before?"

Sebastian took his glasses off and inspected them, "Not exactly. There have been times where the appellate court wanted more information, or clarification, but they always mentioned that in advance. Just a generic 'be here,' isn't normal."

"Would it be proper to ask in my reply, confirming we'll be there?"

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he started cleaning his glasses, "Again, being a unique situation, I wouldn't want to ruffle any feathers. Just reply that you will be there along with your supervising senior associate. If they want to tell us more, to prepare better, they'll follow that up."

"Will do."

Putting his glasses back on, Sebastian left, and Fred replied with his RSVP as instructed. Since Sebastian and Karter were copied on the invite, he did a reply all. He arranged for a visit with Wallingford and Mo for the next morning. Finally, he took out the other four case files, and started a deeper review.

A few hours later, he heard a knock on his doorway. He looked up to see a crowd. All five of the other defense group's junior associates and Kirstin were huddled outside his door.

Dante queried, "Hey Fred, it's Peter's birthday, so we're all taking him out to lunch. Care to come along? I know you usually work through lunch, but..."

Peter Smitters was another of the junior associates.

"Wow. Lunchtime already? It feels like only minutes since I started looking at this case file. Sure, I'll go along."

Lunch had the feeling of a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, with everybody telling anecdotes about Peter. He was a good sport and took it all in stride. After a break in the conversation to stuff their faces, the topic turned toward Fred's appeal meeting. Once again, Dante took the lead, knowing Fred the best.

"So, Fred. Summoned to your first appearance before the A.C. this morning, huh?"

"Yes."

Dante continued, "The rumors are flying. Is it true they don't want the clients there?"

"Right. Both Karter and Sebastian are unsure of their reasoning, and therefore the purpose of the meeting. I'm not even calling it a hearing, having no idea what's going to happen."

Leslie Esposito, the next newest associate spoke next, "Are they worried? I mean, Wallingford's an important client. If something is very wrong, it could have pretty significant ramifications."

"They didn't seem worried. More like curious, or maybe perplexed. I don't think they're expecting disaster, but I don't know them well enough to be sure."

Dante picked up the interrogation, which is what Fred started to feel like it was becoming, "Did Sebastian fiddle with his glasses while he was talking to you?"

"Yeah, he looked at them, and cleaned them. At times, he seemed more interested in them than me."

The others were quiet for a long moment. Fred got nervous. "What?"

"He's scared, or at least nervous." Dante replied. "Did he tap them against his leg?"

"No. Just looked at them and cleaned them. Why, what would that have meant?"

"It would have meant the end of your career at LMG. If he and Karter knew what the meeting was about, and it was bad, you wouldn't be here right now."

"Seriously, Dante?"

"As a heart attack simultaneous with a stroke and an epileptic seizure."

"Shit. So, either they know it's not a big deal, or they don't know at all?"

Everybody nodded. Marcus Lopes, the most senior member of the team, shared his opinion, "The odds that Karter doesn't have any idea are pretty small. He has a lot of contacts. If it was a major issue, or he didn't know anything, he'd be tagging along. Is he?"

"No, he just told Sebastain to come along."

Marcus continued, "If he does know something, it's good."

"I'd say so. When he first came into my office, he was all smiles."

This was followed by an even longer silence. "What now?"

Marcus continued, "He never smiles."

"Never?"

"I've been here twelve years. I've only seen him smile once."

Fred was worried, "Do you know why?"

Marcus tried to hide a smile, but failed, "It was when Percival won a thirty-million dollar lawsuit. The biggest the firm has ever had."

"Geez. You scared the shit out of me."

Everybody laughed. Well, everybody but Fred.

Dante gave Marcus a high five, "That was classic. You really shook him up."

"Wait, this was all a set-up?"

Still chuckling, Dante said, "Mostly. It really was Peter's birthday yesterday, but when we heard about your meeting, we decided to have a little fun at your expense."

"I don't know if I should hate you all for that, or love you all for putting the effort together to pull that off. If you didn't like me..."

"You're cool, Fred." Dante confirmed. "We wanted to make you feel like you fit in. You're always so focused, and keep to yourself. We consider the group a family. We wanted to tear that black sheep's costume off of you."

"Got it. I'll try to be more personable. But the Wallingford appeal is make or break for me. I lose, I'm history. I needed to focus on it. That, and I got used to being alone from being in prison."

Everybody nodded, then Marcus essentially closed the luncheon. Raising his glass of iced tea, "Here's to Peter and Fred. A pair of good sports."

A chorus of 'cheers' and 'hear, hear' responses followed. The team settled the bill, splitting it six ways, not letting Peter pay. Then it was back to the office. Fred spent that afternoon looking at the second of the next four case files.

The next morning, Fred headed back to the prison. As before, he met with Wallingford first.

"Hi Fred. Do you have good news for me?"

"Hi Burton. I have news. I won't know until the eighteenth whether it's good or not. The appellate court requested my presence on that date. It was odd that they specifically said you should not attend. Gold and DeVore were concerned that the invite didn't include you, and don't exactly know what it means."

"But they didn't specifically deny the appeal?"

"Nope, just that lawyers should be there alone. Sebastian DeVore will be attending along with me, in case it gets complicated."

"Hmmm. I guess that's curious. I never had to deal with them before, thankfully, so I can't even guess what it means."

"Same here. Karter had a few ideas. One of the three was positive, and the others could go either way."

"What were they?"

"One, that they're physically handing me release orders. Second, that they want to inform me of a delay, likely until after the holidays. Finally, that they had specific questions they need to be answered before they make a decision."

"Yeah, a delay could be done via email. The release orders could be messengered or faxed. Questions seem to make the most sense."

"Karter felt that perhaps email wouldn't satisfy some requirement they have. The messenger/fax idea may or may not discount the immediate release possibility. Anyway, like I said, news, but we won't know immediately what it means."

"Well, thanks for letting me know. Silas probably wouldn't be anywhere near this point if he wasn't shit-canned."

"No problem. I'll be back on the eighteenth or nineteenth, depending on timing of the meeting. Just because they want me there at ten, doesn't mean that's what time they'll get to me."

They said goodbye, and Fred waited for Mo. The first part of their conversation mirrored Burton's. Then after that it got a little more personal.

"So, Fred, I've been thinking a lot about getting released. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't get my hopes up, but if I do, I could probably crash with one or two old friends, but really, I'd have nowhere to go."

"So, would you want to stay with me?"

"Yeah, but how does that fit into the attorney/client relationship? I don't think we could still have both."

"Well, if you're cleared, and you stay out of trouble, you won't need my services as a lawyer anymore. If the need does arise, I could probably convince one of my peers to be primary for your case."

"I don't plan on getting into any trouble if I'm released."

"That would be smart."

"Yeah. Anyway, officer Obie over there looks like he's getting ready to take me back to my cell. I'll see you in a couple weeks, then?"

"For sure."

They shook hands, the only contact that was allowed, and parted ways. Fred went back to the office and reviewed case numbers three and four. There was a tenuous link among the four. Including Mo and Burton, they were all first or second-degree felonies. Two were arsons, the third and fourth were related to possession of a controlled substance. Fred's next step was to go through the documented evidence for each, and re-read the trial transcripts. Boring, he thought, but at least it's more interesting than house sale contracts.

So, the next morning, it was hitting the first arson case hard. He kept going back and forth between the evidence, and the trial transcript. Hoping to find a bit of evidence or testimony Silas overlooked. The morning passed with no real progress. He stopped for lunch, and asked around if anyone else wanted to go.

Only Kyle Preston took him up on the offer. Kyle was only three years older than Fred, at thirty-one. Married with two small children at home, he was usually introverted at first, but after a while he opened up some. At the restaurant, Kyle brought up the topic that everybody thought about, but didn't want to ask. One-on-one, Kyle felt a little more comfortable asking.

"The talk around the office is that being in lockup wasn't the only reason you were given Wallingford."

Fred was open about his homosexuality, but didn't run around announcing it to the world. "It wasn't."

When Fred didn't continue, Kyle had no choice, since he opened the door. Turning a little pinker, "Is it because Wallingford junior is gay, and you are too?"

No hesitation on Fred's part, "Yes. Conrad thought he and his father would be more comfortable with a gay lawyer. I suspect Silas may not have been as tolerant as he made himself out to be."

"Oh, he wasn't very tolerant at all. Every time he ended up with a gay client, he bitched and moaned constantly. He put on a different face with the senior associates and partners. He'd asked himself out loud many times why he got stuck with all the fa... gay ones. Sorry, I almost slipped up there."

"It would have been okay. I've heard the term before, believe it or not. But since you were repeating his words, it wouldn't have had the same sting."

"Well, it's wrong to say it, regardless of the circumstances. I wouldn't want to alienate you for using a term I don't like either. I have a gay brother."

"Well, it's nice to know you don't like the word, regardless of your brother's status."

"Thanks. I think you'd like him. You're a lot alike. Not just because you're both gay. He doesn't hide it or act like the stereotype either."

With a badly exaggerated lisp, "Oh, but honey, I do. Just not around the straights."

Kyle just looked at Fred, jaw dropped, obviously shocked.

Grinning, "I'm kidding. I can't stand those types. That is probably one main reason why there's so much gay bashing. That attitude annoys a lot of people."

"You had me going there."

Trying not to laugh, Fred followed that with, "I know. But the look on your face? Priceless."

"I don't mean to pry, but since I think you're close to Jerry's, my brother's age, are you attached?"

"It's okay. I don't have a problem sharing. I sort of have a boyfriend, but it's complicated. I'm not really looking for anyone at this time. Sorry if you were aiming to set me up with Jerry."

"No, not in that way. It's just that he's very lonely. Mom and Dad practically disowned him. None of his friends from school will talk to him since he came out. I just thought, if maybe you wanted a friend..."

"Okay, I see. Yeah, that's fine. I'll meet him, give him someone who understands where he's at, someone to talk to. My father and brother would probably get along with your parents. They don't want to have much to do with me. Although they did act as character witnesses at my trial."

"Your father sounds like he's at least a few steps up on mine. Dad would side with the prosecution, pay the jury to vote guilty, and then act as judge and sentence him to death."

"Shit, I hope you're kidding."

"I'm not. When it comes to homosexuals, he's a fucking jerk. I don't talk to him anymore."

"Unfortunately, there are too many people like our dads in the world."

"That's true. We should be getting back. If I invite Jerry over for dinner on Saturday or Sunday, do you think you could join us?"

"Yes. Just let me know where and when."

"Sweet."

They traded cell numbers and headed back to work. It wasn't until Fred got home that evening before he realized what he may have missed. He wondered if all four of those other clients were gay too.

Next up - "A New Friend and Another Trip to Rosharon"