Straightening the Curves

Chapter Six: First Day in Atlanta

Balladeer: After the long drive to Atlanta, the boys an' Eve checked into the two hotel rooms that Eve had already reserved—Eve to herself an' the boys in the other of course. She was rather shocked to see Luke back in town, but she didn't mind in the least that he tag along. As promised, Eve called her "poor darlin' husband" (as she'd been calling him since they left Hazzard) to give him her phone number, should he need it—which he probably would, knowin' him. Nobody had time to rest. Almost as soon as they unpacked, Eve dragged them along to meet with the judge. I have a feelin' that whirlwind of activity is gonna take place over this trial . . .

Calvin Whitney heard the knock on his chamber door as he was writing down some sort of memo on his notepad. "Come in!" he grumbled loudly, not liking to be disturbed even though he was not busy.

"Judge Whitney?" he heard a familiar female voice say. He stopped what he was doing and peered over his reading glasses to see who the voice belonged to, and then he promptly smiled.

"Miss Willows!" he said in astonishment, taking off the spectacles and rising from his seat to meet her. "What brings you back here, I thought you'd moved?"

"I did," Eve replied, giving the elderly man a hug, then pulling back to hold up her left hand. "And it's Mrs. Coltrane now."

He took her hand to look at her rings. "Ah, so I see. Happy I hope?"

"Very."

"Good," he smiled, inviting her to sit down. "What pleasure do I owe this visit then, Mrs. Coltrane."

"I'm here on legal business I'm afraid."

"I might have suspected that," the judge sighed, sitting in his own chair. "We miss you down here, Evie. You were rather popular with the prosecution department."

"Turns out I'm gonna be workin' on the defense this time," she told him, placing a fallen strand of hair from her up-do behind her ears. "You're presiding over the murder case involving the hammer-beaten nurse, aren't you?"

"The Caskells case? I should say so."

"It's my cousin, Judge. It's my cousin that they're sayin' killed that woman."

Judge Whitney frowned. "Oh, dear, that's not good. Not at all. But you know that I can't exempt him just because he's a relative to a good friend of mine. I've always like you, Eve, you do a fine job without letting the system corrupt you. But if the evidence points at your cousin—whom I'm guessing you are representing in court—I will have no choice but to either put him away or have him receive the injection."

Her heart stopped hearing the part about the injection. The fact that her own kin was in danger of being killed himself over something he didn't do appalled her.

"That is, of course, unless you find evidence that proves he's innocent."

"Judge Whitney?" a man called from the door. The judge looked up and Eve turned around to face—

"Nick?" she asked in disbelief, nearly falling out of her chair.

Nick gave her a rather curious look himself. "Eve?"

Eve stared at Judge Whitney. "What is he doing here?"

"Well, Evie, it turns out that—that is I mean to say, that Mr. Rogan here—" the old judge sighed, not sure how to put it delicately. "He's representing the prosecution in the Caskells case."

Balladeer: Now how do ya like that? Folks, that there is Nick Rogan, Eve's ex-husband. This trial is really goin' to be interestin' now.

Eve gave her ex a wide-eyed look—Nick was also a lawyer, but she had never seen him work locally in the Atlanta courthouse. A nasty feeling built up in her stomach as if she were going to vomit. She shakily picked up her purse and began to head out the door.

"I—I better go," she stammered, pushing her way past Nick and began to head out the door.

She was half-way down the hallway when she heard the man she loathed more than anyone calling her name. She wouldn't have stopped had he not run ahead of her and blocked her path.

"Get outta my way, Nick," she growled, not daring to look him in his enchanting eyes that fooled everyone that looked into them.

"Look, I know it's a shock to see me," the handsome, dark-haired man that sort of resembled Cary Grant told her. "I wasn't exactly expecting to see you either." He stepped closer to her. "It's been a real long time . . ."

"Not hardly long enough," she bit, stepping back. "I would've preferred never to see you again as long as I lived."

He shrugged. "Okay, so the marriage was rocky."

"Rocky? Ha! It was an avalanche of dishonesty, insensitivity, and cold-heartedness—all on your part I might add. Now will you excuse me, I must be going."

He grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving, an icy feeling spreading from her arm to the tips of her toes. She wished very much that she hadn't told Luke and Cooter to wait downstairs in the lobby while she talked with the judge. Cooter for sure would've loved to slam his fist into the man that made his cousin's life miserable for the year that they were married—and Lord knows what Rosco would've done if he'd been there.

"Why don't you tell me why you're here?" he asked in a low voice, peaked with curiosity.

Her eyes narrowed and she ripped her arm free of his grasp. "If you must know, I'm here on behalf of a cousin of mine who has asked me to represent me in a murder trial—the Caskells case."

He raised his eyebrows. "Ah, so your cousin killed the nurse."

"He didn't kill anybody. And I'm gonna prove it."

Nick smiled in spite of himself and chuckled.

Balladeer: I've only known the guy less than five minutes, and already I don't like 'im.

"Eve, no offense, but as good as you were on the prosecution, I doubt you'll be equally good on defense."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" she snapped, turning on her heel and huffing towards the stairs to leave the building.

Behind her, Nick called out in a sarcastic tone, "Glad to see you're still a charming little angel. The men must love you."

Against her better judgment, she turned back around and held up her left hand. "I suppose they must. Otherwise, I wouldn't be wearing this wedding ring, now would I?" She jerked her hand down. "An' it's Mrs. Coltrane to you, Mr. Rogan."

Nick, whose jaw was dropped at her comments, was very surprised that she had built up the nerve during the past few years to speak back at him. He was also rather surprised to hear she'd remarried. Eve gave him a grim smile then bolted for the stairs.

Cooter had a rather mean look on his face and he slammed a fist into his open palm. "I would've given anything to smack that jerk right in the jaw."

"I know, but that wouldn't have looked too good to be hittin' the guy that's tryin' to prove that you're guilty, now would it?" Eve replied as she walked out of the courthouse with Cooter and Luke.

"Kinda odd coincidence," Luke noted. "Ex-husband versus ex-wife during trial of ex-wife's cousin. That's a real head-liner right there."

Eve smiled at Luke's comment, but then as she approached her car her smile fell and her eyes widened into a look of anger and horror all at the same time. She jogged to the sedan and put her hand on a rather large dent that somebody had placed on the back bumper while trying to parallel park behind her.

"Urrrrrgh!" she growled out loud, kicking the back tire. "Only been in Atlanta one day an' already someone's done scuffed my car!" she muttered angrily to herself on her way to the driver's side to unlock it. She then noticed that Cooter had burst into an array of giggles and Luke was hiding a smile behind his hand.

"Now what is so danged funny?" she asked, irritated over the dent and the fact that they were supposedly laughing at her.

"Someone's done scuffed my car?" Luke repeated, unable to hide his smile any longer and burst into laughter along with Cooter, who thought he was going to pass out from not being able to breathe.

Eve gave them a look of annoyance then chuckled herself. "Shut up, before I scuff y'all. An' don't you dare tell Rosco I stole one of his catchphrases." She got this far-off look in her eye when she mentioned him and sighed to herself. It wouldn't be the first time that she'd wish he was there with her instead of all the way back home in Hazzard County.