I´m a little late again, I know!
Have to thank my beta reader once more for an endless discussion about a possible adverb of evil.
You´ll read my/our solution in the text. After surfing through the whole internet, we haven´t found an answer on that question ;-)
Thanks to all the readers and to the last reviewer, too. Always makes me smile a lot.
Btw – I somehow tried to get my act together with the story shown on TV in this chapter. Let´s hope you like it. But you won´t tell me anyway. You´re looking after your own business, I get that. It´s (not) attractive. – To keep quoting the show ^^
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~ 12 ~
Meet and Greet
"You know what I told you?" Julian watched Marti dressing herself for the visit at prison. She was about to meet her dad for real and he could imagine how nervous she must be.
"Yep. Keep cool and don´t expect too much. I got it!"
"After all, I don´t know if whether I´m able to help him, you know that, right?"
"I do. But we have to give it a try. Let´s talk to him. Maybe he can lighten up some darkness?"
"You´re trembling..." Julian remarked softly, embracing her. "I´ll be with you..."
"Thank you. If I hadn´t got you... I´d never have had the chance to meet him." Kissing him tenderly, she tried to calm down a bit.
"I know. Let´s go! They´re not waiting. Rex isn´t allowed to have visitors that often."
When they entered the prison, Marti felt terrible. Everything seemed dark and frightening to her. The fact that her dad lived here for years, made her feel awful once more. Especially in case of him being innocent. Julian took her hand and made her feel more comfortable. She used to visit Travis once, but now that she was going to see her dad it felt totally different.
They sat down in a special room and waited for Mr. Perkins to appear. When he came in, Marti got really shocked by the fact him looking just like her new found sister Deidra. He sat down across the table and Julian introduced Marti and himself.
"I know who you are. Wanda gave me a picture of you." Rex said, looking curiously at her.
"Wanda was here?" the young girl was wondering. Julian took her hand on the table to quiet her. "What?" she said being pissed off, looking punitively at her boyfriend.
"Mr. Perkins, your daughter and I wanted to talk to you about your case. Is that okay for you?"
"You´re a couple, aren´t you? Never thought one of my daughters could be together with some elder lawyer." He smiled amusedly.
"So, you´ve been talking to Wanda recently?" Marti wanted to know, hardly holding back herself.
"You´re much prettier than on her photograph..." Rex remarked, looking at her in some kind of surprise.
"Thanks. Answer the question, please."
"She paid me a visit last week. The first time ever. I was kind of shocked, you know? She looks awesome... Just like then..."
"What did she want?" Julian got to the point.
"She wanted me to be kind to her daughter in case she appears here because of you helping her, counselor. And you really did. I´m impressed."
Marti tried to hide her feelings but she was so nervous by sitting right in front of her dad, she could hardly breathe. Julian knew about it. He decided to do the right thing.
"I´m going to leave you alone for five minutes. The two of you have to talk privately, I think." A look at Marti´s face made him smile. So he left them, hoping for some good vibes for his young girlfriend.
"I wanted to meet you." Marti started the conversation with trembling fingers. "Wanda made me believe that you´re dead and now that I found out..." Her voice broke up.
"I don´t know what she told you about me, but I always loved you. And I´m innocent. Your mum never wanted to believe that. They told her about my imprisonment because of her being the only adult relative left after Judith´s death... She was my second wife... But Wanda never stepped by – until last week."
"I found some of your songs written down. Deidra and I played them all. You were a good songwriter. What happened to you? I mean... I´ve studied the whole case and I just don´t get it."
Rex sighed heavily. "I was stoned. You know, after Judith´s death in that car crash I felt totally lost. I´ve always been a drug addict and so it came back to me."
Julian went in again. "Go on, I´m trying to make some notes on your story." he said quietly, sitting down next to Marti.
"One day I took home that woman – she was just one of the bitches I used to fuck to forget now being alone with my kid. We had some more drugs and... we fucked. Then I fell asleep and when I woke up again, she was dead. Strangled. I ran away, totally freakin´ out."
Julian lifted his head, looking at Marti. She seemed to be okay, so he asked his question. "The woman was found dead at your home, right? There had been no violation or robbery according to the papers."
"I don´t remember anything. It must have happened while I was sleeping."
"How should anyone had come in without a key?" Marti thought loudly. "Didn´t you lock up the door?" she asked.
"We stumbled into my house and that´s all I remember. I probably didn´t even close the door."
"There hadn´t been any attempts in proving your innocence. How come?"
"Wanna hear my theory?" Rex looked into Julian´s eyes. "I´ve been a fucking drug addict. No one cared about me. They had convicted the murderer, that had been comfortable."
"Is this going to be my future?" Marti said to Julian, lifting her eyebrows. "I mean, do I have to re-open billions of cases like this or Travis´ one? You never told me about that."
Julian smiled at her. "Maybe. Depends on how you´re feeling with doing that kind of work. I love your attitude, you know that. So, back to topic." he looked at Rex again. "We´ll try to find the missing pieces of the puzzle, if you want me to."
"I can´t afford you."
Marti felt responsible. "He´s doing it for me. You don´t have to pay for it."
"Man, he must really love you! By the way – who wouldn´t? You´re beautiful and intelligent... Wanda did a pretty good job, you can tell her."
That was the moment Marti couldn´t hold back her tears any longer. She excused herself and went towards the door, wiping hot tears out of her eyes.
Julian felt like having to do something. "She´ll come back soon for a visit, Mr. Perkins. We gotta go now. Don´t worry, we´ll get the ball rolling."
"I don´t know what to say to that... Thank you." Rex seemed quite overwhelmed.
"She´s definitely your daughter." Julian smiled all over because of his similar answer. "I´m going to take her home now."
"Yep. Goodbye, Mr. Parish. Marti?" Rex called her name to say goodbye to her, too.
Marti turned around, still with watered eyes. "Wanna let Wanda know about all that?" she asked carefully.
"Whatever you think is the best thing to do. You´re perfect, like she told me."
Again Marti had to fight bursting into tears. "Bye... Dad..." she answered, disappearing through the door, with rolling tears all over her cheeks.
Julian nodded goodbye. "I´m really happy for you, Mr. Perkins." Then he left him, too. Taking a deep breath outside in the hallway, looking for Marti, who had already been gone.
They met outside the prison on the street where Marti sat on one of the benches, trying to fix herself by using a handkerchief. Julian felt responsible for what had happened and sat down next to his girlfriend, taking her hand, stroking her fingers and looking at her tear stained face.
"I know you´re happy. He´s quite likable, isn´t he?" he whispered carefully.
"Hm... I´m sorry. Didn´t want to cry in front of you..." Marti put away the handkerchief, sighing. "Kind of a childish behavior..."
"Not at all. He´s your dad. You have every right to be sentimental, okay? I appreciate you being not as cold as ice."
"Really? Thought you might be not a happy bunny over my reaction. I mean, it wasn´t lawyer-like, was it?"
He embraced her spontaneously, kissing her curly hair. "You foolish girl... I´ve been the lawyer, you´ve been the daughter of the client. Nothing else. Okay? I´m very proud of you. To meet your dad for the first time under those circumstances must have been very difficult for you. So don´t you dare to excuse your tears or whatever else, got it?"
How to hold back the tears when he tells her such nice things? Marti struggled once more. "I don´t want you to feel like being my second dad. But thanks for your understanding." she snuffled, looking for the handkerchief again. "Do you believe he´s innocent?"
"I don´t know. But there are a lot of things going wrong at court. The wrong jury, the wrong judge and the wrong attorney. You know about that. He obviously had an assigned counselor who wanted to get it done quickly. Let´s go home and think about some weird details in his case, okay?"
Marti nodded. She was glad to have him as her boyfriend. "Okay. I just don´t get Wanda having visited him in prison after all these years just because of me..."
"Your mum is a wonderful person, Marti. Don´t blame her for having had secrets, okay? She cares about you."
"She also believed in him being guilty. Guess she´s never had doubts about it."
"You´re not walking in her shoes, honey. Rex left her with a baby girl on her own and he never came back. Then she heard of him being arrested for murder years later, after he lost his second wife of whom she obviously didn´t know."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I am, she would have told me."
Marti interwined their fingers, standing up for leaving. "I have to see the doctor and later go practicing. Vanessa would be not amused if I missed it again. We go for nationals this weekend, you remember?"
"I do. Gonna miss you..." Julian smiled, putting his arm around her shoulder and kissing her softly on the cheek. "Is tonight okay for a girl over?"
"Thought you won´t ask since I´m getting off the cast today!" she smiled back at him. "Morgan still offers to back me."
"He is jealous, I can tell! You have no idea what conversation we had in class!" Julian shook his head, remembering the mocking. "He is in love with you and you should not use him anymore."
"So, what else can we do?"
"Let Wanda back you from now on. You stay at home for being by her side since Rex is about to go on trial once more."
"You´re evil but I like that!" she kissed him, grinning devilishly.
o
"Miss Monroe?"
Savannah turned around to look who´s been calling her name. "Professor Rathbone..." She gave Marti a love tap on the back and waited for her teacher to talk to her.
"I´m still waiting for your paper. Tomorrow is the last day, you know that?" Heather was standing in front of the two girls now, looking curiously at her Hellcat dresses. "You´re cheering?"
"We do. This is my roommate Marti." Heather looked her right in the eye and Marti felt absolutely terrible. "I know about the deadline. You´ll get my paper right in time, I promise." Savannah remarked, feeling seriously awful for her friend being examined that intense.
Heather´s glance got back to Savannah. "You´re about to fail class, you know that?"
"I know. We have to head on now, just late for special practice."
"See you in class. WITH the paper!" Heather said demanding. "No second chance!" She went away on her high heels, turning around once again. "Nice to meet you, Marti!"
Savannah pulled her away, breathing heavily. "Come on, you have to look quite innocent!"
Marti could hardly breathe herself. Heather´s glance had been totally disturbing. "She knows. She knows! Oh my God, she knows!" Stumbling upstairs, Marti was about to freak out immediately.
"You can´t be sure about that! Come on, we have to undress ourselves and change clothes. I even haven´t the slightest idea how to manage that fucking paper!"
"Savannah!" Marti got shocked once more by those dirty words out of Savannah´s mouth. "You promised not to fail again, remember? Need some help?"
"I do, obviously! History is as annoying as biology. I can´t remember all those dates and happenings! She wants me to write about the Civil War and its reasons."
"Have you ever seen North and South? That´s all you have to write down. Superficially considered."
"You mean that TV series with Patrick Swayze?"
"Yep. It may help you to get more interested in our history."
"It is TV, Marti! Not reality! I can´t believe that you gave me this advice..."
"Give it a try. You have your dorm for yourself tonight. I´m with Julian again, officially with Wanda since we didn´t want to use Morgan anymore."
"He asked me whether Julian and you probably broke up. He´s jealous as hell, I can tell!" Savannah grinned mischievously.
"What did you say?"
"You wish!" she laughed. "You should have seen his face! This guy is helplessly in love with you and you have to make him clear that there won´t be any chance for him to win you over. That would be fair, don´t you think so?"
"Go and watch Patrick Swayze!" Marti murmured and went off to her next lesson. Morgan was a big problem, too. Seemed her life would never get some rest.
o
When Marti entered Julian´s house in the evening, he sat in the kitchen, preparing their dinner. She nearly had a bad conscious about the fact him cooking all the time. But he seemed not to be irritated about that.
"Hey! What´s up for dinner, Parish Priest?"
"Some filled pepper and a hateful message on the machine for dessert." Julian answered seriously.
Marti got pale all over. "What did she say?" she whispered anxiously.
"Go and listen to it yourself!" His hand desperately clinging onto the knife. "I´d like to kill her, really!"
Marti went to the machine and pressed the button. Her heartbeat rose immediately.
"Hi Jules! It´s me, again. Just wanted to let you know that I´m about to have a party at my new house. You´re invited and you can bring whoever you want to. I mean, in case you have a girlfriend. There will be some other university staff, you´ll feel comfortable. By the way, I want to rearrange Ally´s grave. Just plant some new flowers – the current ones are really awful. Who did that to our little girl? Hope to see you Friday evening. Lexington drive 374. I´m waiting for you to discuss the new decorations of the grave. Bye!"
"I did that flowers." Marti murmured disappointed. "She knows about us, definitely."
Julian looked at her, sighing heavily. "Don´t take that too serious, P.P. She´s a bitch and I won´t go to that party either."
"Sure, you will. You have to keep her calm. To watch or control her next moves. I´m at nationals, so you´ll have time to investigate. We have to know what´s going on."
"You really want me to go to her party? Can you imagine what she´ll try to do? Win me back or whatever devilishly may grow in her head? NO way! I can´t see her again. Definitely not."
"Julian, we have no choice."
"Sure, we have. I won´t let her rule my life, end of discussion!"
Marti watched him setting the table as if nothing important was left to be talked about. He seemed angry, so she didn´t try to force him again. "Anything new about my dad?"
"Sit down. Dinner is served. I did some interesting research." His eyes were still dark and Marti sat down next to him over the edge. "Some wine?" he asked courteously, holding the bottle right away in his hand.
"Thanks. So, what did you find out?"
Julian served the wine and began to eat. So did Marti. "Tastes good, doesn´t it?" he remarked quietly.
"Very good. You´re a fantastic cook."
"No wonder. Had to bring myself down again. Thanks to Heather I´m going to start a new career."
"Julian..." Marti´s heart was about to burst.
"Okay, you wanted to know what I found out about your dad, right? The victim named Goldie Everett, as we all know, wasn´t the usually bitch we thought of. What they never wrote down in any paper is the fact that she was a well-known whore. I made some calls and one of my finks told me she was one of those girls who lead a real normal life and when it gets dark, they head off for their second job: prostitute theirselves. He only found out because of her photograph which he was showing around, asking people on the street if they might know her, well let´s face the truth – he did on Burlington Rd."
Marti knew that address very well, who doesn´t? "So, she led a double life?"
"Yep. My fink said her pimp is one of the biggest in town. So-called Eddie B. Cole. Ever heard of him?"
"Am I looking that cheap?"
"Well, not at all, honey." he grinned evil-eyed. "Listen, we have to do some research on his alibi for the date of crime. Plus I´m going to look for some evidence for him having had contact with his working girl that day. They must have saved some forensic material which we can use for our case. Like I said, they didn´t try to find the truth about the murder. It´s time to re-open the case. Are you ready for some dirty reveal?"
"Does Rex already know?"
"Yeah. He was glad to hear somebody´s willing to help him."
"We have to tell Wanda..."
"Sure. Do you want me to come with you?"
"No. She will take it like a real hero. Maybe we can change her mind about my dad this way."
"He´s still a drug addict, don´t you forget that."
"He´s clean now."
Julian sighed. "Maybe... I really hope so."
"So, what about the party?" Marti got back to their personal problem.
"I´m not going."
"Julian, please!"
"Trust me, it´s better, I stay away from her."
"Okay, we need a spy then..."
"You´re crazy."
"No, I´m not. Someone of the university staff you know maybe will appear on the party?"
"You´re kidding, right?" Julian asked totally shocked of her thoughts. "I´m not going to involve someone else in that game of intrigues and more."
Marti sighed heavily. "We have to do something, Julian! Anything would be better than just sit and wait for whatever the fuck she´s planning on doing!"
He knew that she was right. The better he watches Heather, the more he´ll be safe. "Okay, I´m going to her fucking party! But I´m not going alone. She wanted a girlfriend, she´ll have one!" He thought of some women he could ask him to do that favor but Marti didn´t seem to be happy with that option. "What?" he asked impatiently.
"You know what."
"Why am I always losing our arguments? Can you tell me?"
"Because I´m right. You´ll go alone and you´ll try to give her a false sense of security, just like you´re able to as an attorney at law. Got it?"
"You want me to make her believe that she´s probably got the chance to win me over again?" he complained, starring at her in disbelief. "You have no idea what she´s capable of!"
"I want you to make her believe the two of you can be friends again. Nothing else."
"On your own responsibility! Don´t you dare to complain in case she goes too far!" Julian remarked, watching her seriously. What a horrible imagination!
"I won´t. Just make her your friend again. You can do this, I know."
"It´ll cost me every nerve I have. And more!"
Marti looked at him, proud of having such a brave man by her side. "We´re going to kick her ass, aren´t we?"
"Hopefully we are." Julian pressed her hand on the table and smiled encouraging. "I´ve never wanted you to get involved into such fatal circumstances. And I´m about to worry of losing you..."
She had to think of Savannah´s arguing and sighed heavily. "We have to deal with it, I knew it from the start. And you won´t lose me on that crazy woman´s behavior. I promise."
"You don´t understand what I wanted to tell you. I´d rather let you go than take the risk of you getting hurt seriously, Marti. Even if it would break my heart..."
"Okay..." she whispered, totally overwhelmed by his caring words. Her eyes filled up with tears again and she really had to control herself. "Wanna go out with me?"
"Now? Where should we go? I´m still some teacher."
"Just taking a walk under the stars. Fuck them all..." She wanted to be with him, close and in a romantic way.
As he felt the same Julian decided to make another try in public. "How about a short late night trip to town?"
"Let´s go!" she smiled happily. "Oh, hold on! Are you a shopping guy?"
"Depends." Julian grinned.
"On what?"
"Who´s with me. I´d love to go shopping with you. You´re allowed to pick one piece, whatever it may be, I´m going to pay. Is that an acceptable offer?"
"I´m going to make you proud of me. How about some sexy dress?"
"Better sexy underwear..."
"I thought of some elegant clothes to let me star by your side."
"You don´t need any elegant clothes to star by my side, honey. You´re the star itself."
"Oh, Julian! You know what I mean!"
"Okay, compromise. We get ourselves something to wear every day and something to wear in the evening. Together, as considered."
"I´m in. Come on! It´s late. We´ll have to hurry."
Tbc...
©Mrs. NiG, 12.06.2011
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