Let's Kill All the Lawyers

Chapter 1

Heath caught the ball as he was crossing the street. Not that he had a lot of choice. It was coming directly at his face, and his reflexes saved him. He caught it in his left hand as he heard the boy running up behind him. He turned fast after he caught the ball.

And it wasn't a boy. It was Turner Powers, a full grown intelligent man who worked for a local ranch, a man who was known to act more like a kid when given the chance. "Aw, sorry, Heath," he said as Heath tossed the ball in the air to himself. "I saw the ball game here in the street and couldn't resist."

Heath laughed. Sometimes Turner's impishness was contagious. Heath turned and threw the ball back to the two genuine kids at the other end of the block, who tussled with each other to grab it. One of them got it and threw it back Heath's and Turner's way.

And for a minute or so Heath forgot his errands in town and played ball, he and Turner on one side and the two kids on the other, just throwing the ball back and forth. Heath and Turner tussled as much as the kids did when trying to catch it, but eventually Heath had to bow out. "Sorry, fellas, this grown-up has work to do."

"Yeah, so do I," Turner said and started off with Heath.

The two kids moaned for about three seconds and then split up so that they could keep playing between the two of them. "We're forgotten already," Heath said.

Turner laughed and walked up onto the boardwalk with Heath. "Where you off to?"

"First the bank, then fetching my brother Jarrod from the train depot," Heath said. "How about you?"

"Dry goods. They're loading up my wagon now, wire and nails," Turner said. "Pretty dull lives we lead, huh?"

Heath chuckled. "It suits me fine. Sometimes it's not as dull as I'd like it to be."

"I reckon we couldn't stand it if it was all one way or the other."

"Well, Nick and I just got back from a long drive, and we ran into a nasty pack of coyote on the way. There's getting to be too many of them down Lathrop way. They're getting too brazen because there's not enough food for all of them. That's excitement I could have done without."

They arrived at the dry goods store and stopped for a moment. "Thought I'd be at Harry's Friday night for some poker. You and Nick coming in?"

"Yeah, we were thinking about it. Reckon we'll see you there."

Heath kept on going as they waved good-bye to each other. The bank was not very far away, and within a few minutes Heath had finished depositing the money from the drive, minus the bonus pay they paid out to their drovers. He heard the train whistle as he came out to the street, so he hurried back to the depot, checking on the horses he had left there before he went up to the platform.

Jarrod had just climbed down out of the family car that the train had left on the siding, and he was making his way across the rails, carrying his briefcase. Jarrod seldom had luggage when he was coming from San Francisco, since he had clothes at his home there, but he always had a briefcase. He had been gone for nearly three months this time, owing to a very big case he'd been working on. Heath could tell it had been a hard job, because Jarrod looked several pounds thinner.

"So, you've been working too hard and not eating enough," was the first thing Heath said as he reached to shake his brother's hand.

Jarrod gave a weary laugh as he shook hands. "Silas will take care of that second little problem for me, and I don't plan to do any work at all for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks? What are you gonna do with yourself?"

They began to walk together toward the street. "Oh," Jarrod said, "read a book or two, take a good long walk or two in the hills – maybe even go skinny-dipping in the creek."

"Whoa!" Heath laughed. "You really are planning to ease up, aren't you?"

"It was a very hard case, Heath."

Heath wondered if he should ask, but he did. "Did you win it?"

"It was something of a draw," Jarrod said. "The jury dismissed the more serious charges but came back guilty on the lesser ones."

"You gonna appeal?"

"No, my client thinks he got lucky, so he'll just take the light sentence he got, do his time, and start over again after he's out in a few months."

They reached the horses. Jarrod fastened his briefcase to the saddle and mounted up.

"You need to go by the office?" Heath asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "Got a wire from my secretary that everything was locked down for me to take a vacation, so I don't need to. Let's go home and let me get some of Silas's good cooking in me. My belt is buckled two inches tighter so my pants don't fall off."

Heath laughed, and they took off together toward home.

XXXXX

Victoria and Audra gave Jarrod a greeting full of hugs and kisses, and Heath took lunch with them before he left to get back to work out in the field with Nick. Jarrod lingered at the table with his mother and sister over coffee, and he kept complimenting Silas over the food.

"Just glad to have you home, Mr. Jarrod," Silas said as he poured more hot coffee.

"Glad to be here," Jarrod said.

Victoria said, "You haven't said much about how your case went."

Jarrod sipped his coffee. "Well, not much to say. Horace was acquitted of the more serious charges but he'll do some jail time on the lesser ones. All in all, he was happy with the result."

"Were you?" Audra asked.

"I'm pretty happy the jury agreed with me where they did, but I know Horace was not guilty of any of those charges, and I wish I could have gotten him acquitted of everything."

"Why isn't he appealing if he was innocent?"

"He's a politician. He doesn't want to keep the case in the public eye. He'll spend a few months in jail on minor charges and everyone will forget about it – or so he hopes."

"Corruption charges are always so controversial," Victoria said. "Sometimes it seems like the court of public opinion tries the case and convicts the defendant before the jury ever gets the case."

"True," Jarrod said unhappily. "What have I missed around here? Anything exciting?"

He knew he was giving his sister an opening to go on and on about things he didn't necessarily care about, but as Audra perked up and started talking, he still smiled. It was good to hear about unimportant trivia – unimportant to him but important to his little sister. Those little matters would drive the big ones out of his head, and he was glad to get rid of them.

XXXXXX

"Saw Turner Powers in town this morning," Heath said to Nick as they paused for a moment in their chore of clearing away some trees that had fallen and taken out a fence.

"What's Turner up to these days?" Nick asked, using his bandana to wipe the sweat from his forehead before he put his hat back on.

"Same old," Heath said. "I expect we'll see him at poker Friday night."

"Maybe we can talk Jarrod into coming in with us, seeing as he's on vacation." Nick sneered a little at the word "vacation." He really didn't believe in them. If Jarrod wasn't doing legal work, he should be out here helping to clear trees.

Heath chuckled, reading Nick's mind. "He'll be out here with us before long, soon as he gets some pounds on him from Silas's cooking. He's skinny as a rail."

"Well, then, soon as he gets some food into him, we'll get him out here with us and put the muscles back on."

Heath laughed again. "Nick, you are one merciless pit boss."

"It's good to be the pit boss," Nick said with a wicked grin.

XXXXXXX

"Poker sounds good," Jarrod agreed when Heath approached the subject while they were having drinks before dinner.

Nick was still upstairs cleaning up, but Victoria and Audra were seated on the settee. Heath and Jarrod remained standing. Heath poured himself some whiskey while Jarrod diddled a little on the piano with one hand, holding his scotch with the other.

"Did Horace remember to pay you before they took him off to jail?" Victoria asked.

"I got paid up front on that one, Mother, every single cent," Jarrod said. Sometimes he would take a case and be paid some up front but wait on the remainder until the case was over. But then, most of his clients were not as wealthy as Horace Kane was. On a case like this, Jarrod often wondered if his fee was being paid out of dirty money, but he honestly believed that Horace was innocent of all the charges and had no dirty money to pay him out of. He frowned, wishing again he had gotten the man off completely.

Victoria saw the frown and figured it was from the Kane case. "I'm sorry I brought it up, Jarrod. You're on vacation now. I won't bring it up again."

Jarrod smiled and wandered back over to his "thinking chair" near the fireplace. He sat.

Heath said, "Nick is planning for you to work with us a bit and build those muscles back up."

"You are very thin," Audra said.

"Don't worry, a couple weeks of Silas's cooking and I'll be portly," Jarrod said.

"Then we'll work it off of you," Nick said as he came in, finally cleaned up and freshly shaved. He headed for the refreshment table and poured himself some whiskey. "I got a working vacation planned for you, Big Brother."

"Maybe some," Jarrod said. "I plan to play the next two weeks by ear, and then I'll have to get back to my office in Stockton. A lawyer's work is never done."

"That's 'a woman's work'," Audra said.

"It applies to lawyers, too," Jarrod said.

"You wanted to be a lawyer," Victoria reminded him.

Jarrod smiled. "I have no complaints, Mother. You had a good idea when you sent me to law school. And I had a good idea when I agreed to go."