Rocked To The Core - 16. Convictions, and Moving Forward

Tuesday July 4 - Randall Linden's POV - Evening

Shelly comes back in from inviting the boys down for dessert and I could tell right away something was wrong. She looks like she's seen a ghost and she's rubbing her hands on her face; a sure sign that she's upset.

"What's the matter dear?"

"Get me a cognac, please; a double."

Uh oh. She's really upset. I bring her back the drink, wait for her to take a sip, but she downs half of it in one gulp. I'm worried.

"What is..."

"They were fucking!"

Face rub, double shot of cognac, and cursing. This is bad.

"Who was?"

"Jeremy and Derek. I almost fell down the steps, I'm so upset."

"Maybe you saw something else."

If looks could kill, I'd be a dead man, my body unrecognizable.

"I won't have that happening under our roof. You have to talk to him. Tomorrow. I'm not going to be able to look at him after seeing that. I'm going to my sister's in the morning. I want him out."

"OK, but remember, he has a lease, we can't just kick him out."

"You can try. By the end of the month, then. That's close enough to 30 days. I might pack clothes for a few days. I'll never get that image out of my head."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow after work."

"You'd better. I'm calling to check tomorrow night."

Wednesday July 5 -With Bryson/Jeremy

Derek's back at work today, but I'd gotten used to spending whole days alone. I had some calls to make, anyway. The first was to Frank, Derek's brother, to see if he'd be able to bring William's truck over. He could. A couple of the calls might require follow-up visits. I also had Mr. Hamilton, Mrs. Perch, and my work on my call list. Any of those last three could warrant a face-to-face; the last almost definitely. It's still kind of early, for Frank anyway, so I keep going with my calls for the hour or so until he'll be here.

"Brewster and Brooks, attorneys at law, how can we help you?"

"I'd like to speak with Mr. Boyd Hamilton, please."

"One moment, please. I'll transfer you."

"Boyd Hamilton's office, this is Barbara, how can I help you?"

"Hi Barbara, is Mr. Hamilton available?"

"Who's calling, please?"

"Bryson Burlington."

"Ah, yes, Mr. Burlington, he was expecting a call from you. He's on another line, but I'm to let him know when you called. Hold on one moment."

Barbara sticks her head into Boyd's office and gives him a pre-arranged signal. He holds up 3 fingers, then 5. She nods and goes back to her desk.

"He should be free in three to five minutes, would you like to hold? I can have him call you back if you'd prefer."

Three minutes might not be enough to call Mrs. Perch and see if she's up for a visitor, so I say I'll hold. It was probably closer to two minutes anyway.

"Bryson, how are you doing? I take it you're out of jail in Georgia."

"Yes, Mr. Hamilton, I was released Monday to attend my father's hearing at the federal courthouse. I'm back home now.

"Yes, Steve Abington kept me up to date. How did he treat you?"

"He was great. Good advice and he helped with my testimony against dear old dad."

"He told me you did very well. He expects at least 20 years before your dad will be eligible for parole."

"I hope it's more, but as long as I don't have to worry about him for a long time, I'm happy. His own lawyer didn't do him any favors, except keeping him off the witness stand."

"He's still got the murder charge to face. I'm guessing you won't mind me saying this, but for a fairly wealthy man, he sure did scrape the bottom of the barrel finding a lawyer. Steve told me that Parlon's reputation, shall I say, leaves a lot to be desired."

"Don't mind it at all. He's always been on the cheap side."

"So, I'd love to hear the whole story, but not over the phone, and off the clock. Can you stop by the office tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, I'm free. Anything else that comes up I can schedule around that."

"Wonderful. Shall we say 9:30 AM?"

"I'll see you then. I would like to touch base on my case as well."

"Of course. We can do that. I do have some things I need to share with you."

"Nothing bad, like the DA changed his mind again and he'll push for a felony?"

"No, nothing like that. It's sort of good news/bad news, not too bad, but it's not for the phone either."

"OK, then. I'll see you tomorrow at 9:30."

"Looking forward to it. Bye."

"Bye."

Good and bad news. Still jail but a shorter sentence? Maybe no jail time from the IRS but a healthy fine? I'll try to be patient and just wait. Time to give Mrs. Perch a call. She's probably been worried about me, plus, I never got a chance to pay my respects.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Perch. Jeremy Berger."

"Jeremy! I was wondering about you. You seemed to have dropped off the planet. How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty well, considering. It's been a couple crazy weeks. I'd like to come by, visit with you for a while, maybe go to the cemetery, if that's OK with you?"

"Yes, that sounds lovely. I'm not busy today, so anytime you want, just drop by."

"Perfect. I'm waiting for Derek's brother to bring over William's truck and want to call in to Florida Palm and see if I can drop by personnel and see if my situation is something they'll be OK with."

"Your situation? You're too young to have a situation."

"Oh, you'd be surprised. How about I stop on my way over, and pick up lunch for us?"

"Oh, that would be nice. I've been hankering for a Zaxby's salad, would that be OK with you!"

"Yes, I can definitely find something there."

"Excellent. Can I text you my order?"

"That would be fine. I should be able to get there somewhere around noon, maybe 15 minutes on either side."

"That sounds good. I'll see you then."

"OK, so long."

On to the next call. I saved the hardest for last.

"Florida Palm, this is Cheryl, how may I direct your call?"

"Hello Cheryl, I'd like to speak to someone in personnel, please."

"Is this in regards to an existing job application?"

"No. I'm an employee out on medical leave."

"Sorry, sir. What is your name?"

"Br... Berger, Jeremy Berger."

"One moment Jeremy, I'll transfer you."

"Thank you, Cheryl."

"HR department, this is Caroline. How can I help you?"

"Hi Caroline, Jeremy Berger."

"Jeremy! It's nice to hear from you. Are you ready to come back to work?"

"I am, but a couple complications have arisen. I was wondering if I could come in and talk about it with someone."

"What kind of complications? Disability?"

"No. Legal."

"Oh, OK. I'll have to arrange something with the legal team, just in case they're needed. When are you available tomorrow or Friday?"

"I'll probably have an update tomorrow morning, so tomorrow afternoon, or any time Friday."

"OK, let me get in touch with them and I'll call you back, hopefully by the end of the day."

"Great. Thanks a lot."

"Talk to you soon."

"Bye."

Phone calls complete, appointments set up., now I just wait for Fr...

Knock, knock.

"Hey Frank. Come on in. Hope you got a good parking spot."

"Not bad, two blocks. How are you doing?"

"I'm pretty good. Got a lot of rest in Georgia. Trying to get my life back together now."

"Yeah, Derek told me a little about your problems. Both you guys have had a tough go of it lately."

"Yeah. But I think we're finally turning a corner onto a smoothly paved road."

"So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Lunch with Mrs. Perch, and not much beyond that."

"Yeah, I guess you need to take your time getting back into the old routine."

"Yep, one step at a time. I have a meeting with my lawyer tomorrow, and I'm waiting for an appointment to talk to HR at work."

"Well, it doesn't sound like you're dragging your feet. I guess if you can drive me back, you can get to your lunch date."

"Yeah. OK."

I never had a lot in common with Frank. Long conversations weren't the norm. So, I dropped him off at home and headed to Oakland Park, Zaxby's, and Mrs. Perch.

Ding dong.

"Jeremy, come on in."

We sit down at her kitchen table to eat our lunches. As we're eating, I tell her the story.

"Wow, that really is a situation. It's going to take some getting used to calling you Bryson. I hope Florida Palm lets you keep your job. So when will you know if you'll have to go back to jail?"

"I might still use Jeremy with my friends. It's better than Bryson, and similar enough to my middle name. I have a meeting with my lawyer tomorrow. He said he had some news for me, so maybe then."

"How did Derek take all this?"

"The amnesia was tough on him, but he's been behind me all the way. I would have been lost without him."

"You said you'd want to go to the cemetery. Do you still want to?"

"Yes. I never got a chance to pay my respects. Better late than never."

"I appreciate it. We'll take my car. I don't need to climb into that truck. You'll drive, if that's OK."

"Yeah, no problem. It'd be my pleasure to play chauffeur for you."

At the cemetery, she told me the headstone would be delivered in a week or so.

"I'll have to come back after that."

"That's kind of you."

We visit William's grave for a little while, cry together, and then we head back to her house.

"I have the title ready, if you're still interested in the truck."

"I am, but wouldn't it be better to give it to one of your children?"

"And have two mad at me because I gave it to the third? No, thank you."

"Haha. OK, you're the boss."

"Besides, it's mine now, I can do what I want with it."

She signs the title over, and gives me a copy of William's death certificate, since the truck was in his name and I may need it. I'll have to ask Derek about insurance, I've never owned a vehicle before. We say goodbye and I promise to come see her once in a while.

I drive home, don't get lucky and have to park on Jefferson. Four blocks isn't that bad, I guess. Item two to discuss with Derek, moving in together. That will have to wait until I find out about my pending jail sentence.

As I'm walking up the driveway, I'm surprised by Mr. Linden coming out to greet me.

"Hello Jeremy. I need to have a talk with you whenever you're available."

"Now is fine."

I wonder what this is about as we're walking in. He asks me to sit in the living room.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"A soda will be good, thanks."

"I'm having a beer, join me?"

"I'm not 21 yet."

"I won't tell if you don't tell."

"OK. A beer it is."

He goes into the kitchen and comes out carrying two bottles of Blue Moon. He sits down after handing me one, and takes a long drag on his. I sip a little, not being much of a drinker at all. Then I wait. He seems to need a few more swallows to gather his thoughts.

"There's no easy way to say this. Mrs. Linden went up yesterday evening a little while after your brother left. She wanted to invite you and Derek down for dessert and to ask about the kidnapping. As you know, the curtain on the door is pretty sheer."

He stops for another long swallow and I think 'oh shit' picking up my own bottle.

"I see you have an idea where this is going. She looked in and saw you and Derek having sex."

"I was afraid that's what it was. I'm sorry I never told you. Where is Mrs. Linden, anyway?"

"She said she couldn't face you just yet, so she went to her sister's in West Palm Beach."

"I'll apologize when she comes back."

"I have a feeling you won't see her after she gets back. She'll probably avoid you. She wants you out."

"Right away?"

"You do have a lease, so technically, we have to give you 30 days notice. August 4th would be 30 days, do you think the end of the month is possible?"

"I can make it work. It's funny, if things didn't go crazy with the kidnapping, I would have been asking if Derek could move in temporarily."

"Yeah, sorry. That won't be possible now. If it were me, I'd look the other way. But, for me, it's not a battle worth fighting."

"I understand. The goal was to get a place of our own as soon as we saved up a bit. We'll have to work something out. Derek said I'd be able to move in with him if I was still having memory problems. I may have to go that route."

"I'm really sorry. Like I said, I'd let it go, but you know how stubborn she is."

"I understand."

"Do you want another beer?"

I didn't even realize I had finished the whole bottle already.

"No, thank you. I hardly ever drink. I'm not sure what two would do to me. I'll head upstairs if you don't mind."

"If you wish. But I'm not chasing you away. You can stay with me if you want."

"I appreciate that, but I'll pass this time. Thanks for the beer."

"You're welcome. I feel really bad about this. You can skip paying the rent for this month."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

I no sooner walk into the apartment and my phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jeremy, Caroline Murphy."

"Hi Caroline. What's up?"

"Legal can have someone here tomorrow afternoon, if you can make it."

"Yes, that's possible. I have an appointment in the morning."

"Would 1:30 be OK?"

"Perfect."

"OK, I'll see you then. Bye."

"Thank you, goodbye."

With nothing to do until Derek gets out of work at 7, I fire up my laptop and start poking around looking for apartments. I find a few that might work. It's 7:20 and Derek knocks and walks in. I guess I won't be needing to get him a spare key. After a hello kiss, I ask him how his day was.

"Kind of quiet. I'm glad I was off yesterday, though. Carol's team had an ugly firework incident. Yours?"

"Interesting to say the least. I'll go in chronological order, because the punchline is a doozy. I made a few phone calls, have an appointment with Hamilton tomorrow morning to go over what happened and get some news he had. Then I called work, set up a meeting tomorrow afternoon, to see if I'll be able to keep my job. Then Frank brought the truck over and I had lunch and visited the cemetery with Mrs. Perch."

"I bet that was difficult."

"A little, I told her what happened and we cried together at the cemetery. Oh, and she signed the truck over to me, so we'll have to talk about what I need to do at some point. Then the afternoon finished with a bang."

"What happened?"

"Apparently, Mrs. Linden came up yesterday after Al left to invite us to dessert. She looked in and saw us making love."

"She told you that?"

"No. Mr. Linden did. She left to go to her sister's, she couldn't face me."

"I feel there's more to it."

"There is. She wants me out. I think she would want immediately, but he asked if the end of the month is doable."

"I guess we don't need to make any decisions right away, especially with your meetings tomorrow."

"Yeah. I started looking at apartments online. But, that won't be possible if I'm spending time in jail and not working."

"Damn. We have to have the worst luck in the world. Something has to go right for us soon."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

"Even though Mrs. Linden isn't around, I'm not sure I'm in the right frame of mind to make love or anything. Did you eat dinner at the squad?"

"No, I figured we could go somewhere, you probably need to shop again."

"Probably, I haven't even looked in the fridge."

We went to a reasonably decent place. Fast food didn't thrill either of us today. Afterward, he dropped me back off, we kissed a little, and he went home.

Thursday July 6

I'm pretty nervous walking into Mr. Hamilton's office. Not knowing how good the good news is or how bad is the bad.

"Good morning Bryson. Recovered from your ordeal?"

"Yep, just hoping something will finally go right for me."

"Then I'll start with some good news. I've spoken to the IRS on your behalf. They have no interest in prosecuting. They calculated your tax responsibility, fines and interest. You owe them just over $2500 all told, a healthy chunk of that being interest. If you can't pay it all at once, you can pay it off, further interest free, $100 per month for 25 months. First payment due August first."

"I guess that could have been a lot worse. At least they're not looking at prosecuting me."

"Exactly how I felt. Now, the somewhat bad news. I spoke with ADA Milton, gave him the highlights of your story. He took that to his boss. The DA held fast on some jail time. I spoke with him as well and he relented some. We agreed on 15 days, credit for the time you were in jail in Georgia. The last 5 days suspended, but you have 100 hours of community service, and 6 months probation. Due to the kidnapping and abuse, he waived the fine."

"How is that bad news?"

"I was hoping to get him to drop the charges outright, but he was afraid if there were no charges, you'd try to get restitution for your time in Georgia's system. So, you still have a criminal record."

"Do I have a deadline on the community service?"

"Same as the probation; six months. You'll need to contact his office to get the options for community service. He has clerks to handle that."

"I guess that's a good deal. Most places only ask if you've been convicted of a felony. So hopefully that won't be a hindrance. It may not even matter to the job I had at the time of the accident. I have a meeting with HR and legal this afternoon."

"Good timing for this then. Now, I have news from Georgia too."

"News. Not saying if it's good or bad?"

"I'll let you decide. Judge Urban sentenced your father to 30 years to life on the kidnapping and associated charges."

"So, he'll do at least 30 years?"

"From a federal perspective, he could get time off for good behavior. At least 25 years before he's eligible for parole, I'd guess."

"I guess I have to be satisfied with that."

"There's more."

"OK."

"He pleaded guilty to the murder charge when the DA there offered to take the death penalty off the table. Life without the possibility of parole. So even if he does get paroled from club fed, he won't be going free."

"I'm rid of him?"

"Yes. There is one more item, but you won't have to deal with him for it. He assigned power of attorney to you and your brothers. You three can dispose of the house and his other assets as you see fit."

"Other assets?"

"Yes. Roughly $450,000 in cash in CDs and other cash-based investments."

"Wow. I'm getting $150,000 from him?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't make that plain. It's $450,000 for each of you."

Next Up - "Will the Good Luck Continue?"