I'm done with the latest installment of this story. I hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading and for your feedback.
She wouldn't look at him as he followed her along the fence line of his uncle's ranch where she had been working all morning. He had been searching for her but she obviously didn't want to be found easily. His uncle's spread spanned across thousands of acres and he hadn't known where to begin. Roy hadn't been much help.
"She's out mending fences," he had said while chopping onions.
And naturally, there were several miles of fencing, all which needed fixing. But he had finally found her out on the far corner near the lake not too far from her horse. When she saw him, she just stood there by the fence and continued her work, focusing on nailing two pieces of wood together and not looking at him.
He approached her and she started walking away.
Matt grabbed her arm and she flinched, pushing him away from her as her eyes flashed anger along with other emotions in a kaleidoscope that he recognized from someplace else but didn't understand.
"C.J. what the hell are you doing," he said, even as he retreated back a step.
She took that step back towards him and waved a finger at him.
"Just get out of here," she said, "I've got this work under control. After all, I grew up on a ranch just like you did."
The same ranch in fact. But now the two of them stood toe to toe on another ranch some miles away on the other side of the outskirts of Wild Fork.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me…"
She interrupted him.
"Why I'm working here with Roy and not playing lawyer in town?"
He folded his arms, his jaw tensing.
"For starters…"
She just stared at him, anger stripping her of her words. But not for long, he knew and since he had arrived back in town, he had seen a wealth of that emotion in her eyes and through her body language. What he didn't know was what fueled it. He'd been angry too for a long time, furious with himself for letting anything bad happen to his cousin, furious with himself for picking up shrapnel while under fire that nearly took his leg. And angry at himself for no longer wanting the life his father had planned for him. But he had a feeling that whatever he had felt paled next to what lived inside his friend.
"Where's your fiancée Houston," C.J. said, more quietly though her body still shook, "Why aren't you with her?"
His fiancée was a model that he had dated in college and had fallen back with when she did a USO type tour where he had been stationed overseas in a war zone.
"She's in Austin, doing a photo shoot," he said, "then she's heading back to a job in L.A."
Curiosity overcame her anger for a moment.
"Why aren't you going back with her?"
He countered that question with one of his own.
"Why are you throwing your law degree away," he asked, his arms still folded.
She just stared at him, tears threatening one moment, anger welling in her throat the next, her fists tightly clenched, ready to fight or to flee she didn't know. But he had stood before her refusing to leave and she didn't know how to respond to someone not afraid of her anger, someone who had anger of his own.
"None of your damned business," she said, before walking away, limping slightly.
Walking away from her best friend and his judgmental attitude, when she had heard enough of that already including from inside herself.
C.J. woke up with a start, relieved to discover that morning had arrived at the same ranch, only years later. In this time, she didn't harbor anger towards her best friend who slept in another room. She stretched her arms as she looked around the familiar room that she remembered from years ago. The sunlight streamed through the window and the room already felt warm. This time of year could be quite hot in this corner of Texas and Matt had told her that Chris had gone to her house and packed up a suitcase of clothing for her.
She got out of bed and went to take a shower before getting dressed and heading towards the kitchen for breakfast. The shower woke her up completely and she threw on some jeans and a casual shirt before leaving the bed room. Matt ran into her into the hallway and she saw he had dressed in casual attire also. When he saw her, he pulled her quickly into an embrace, greeting her with a very nice kiss and she wrapped her arms around him.
Drawing him in hadn't been that difficult when she finally had decided to put down her defenses after a case had caused her to reevaluate her life. And she knew that her best friend had been a huge part of that life but she had kept her feelings about him to herself for most of it. As it turned out, so had he and now they were as they called it in social circles, dating. Not to mention trying to make up for lost time.
She pulled loose and smiled at him.
"I'm heading to go help Roy with breakfast," she said, "What would you like?"
He caressed her hair back.
"C.J. you've spent the past day locked up," he said, "You should really relax a little bit."
She folded her arms and that glint of stubbornness came in her eyes, the one that Matt knew all too well.
"Houston, I'm doing fine, much better and cooking relaxes me."
He chuckled.
"Since when C.J.?"
"Believe it or not," she said, "Roy and I used to do a fair share of cooking together when I stayed here."
His eyes became solemn even when he smiled.
"Okay…if that's what you want to do."
"Yes I do…I want some normality in my life so I can pretend for a few minutes that this hasn't happened."
She left him and went into the kitchen where she ran into Roy who stood next to his island preparing ingredients for omelets.
"Need any help," she asked.
He looked up and smiled.
"Sure you can work on the eggs," he said, "I put out enough for the three of us."
She cracked them placing the contents in the bowl, happy to keep busy.
"Where are you and Matlock going to do today," Roy asked, "Meet with the attorney?"
C.J. nodded.
"He's going to try to find out more about the investigation," she said, "but he's not sure he'll have much luck until the official arraignment."
She whisked the eggs in the bowl while Roy prepared to add the ingredients.
"I won't know what they have," she said, "besides Nadine's statement and she never liked me even when I tried to help her."
"She wasn't ready to see what she really married," Roy said, "Too many young women fall in the same trap."
C.J. poured the omelet mixture in the skillet.
"She knew," C.J. said, "She just didn't care what he did as long as he paid attention."
Roy popped some bread in the toaster.
"Do you think she might have anything to do with his death," he asked.
C.J. had given that a lot of thought, since she first had been arrested. When she thought of a list of suspects, the list hadn't been all that short. Dylan hadn't made many friends in Wild Fork during his stints there. But who killed him and why did the sheriff's investigation state that the evidence pointed towards her as the only suspect?
"I don't know," she said, "She backed him no matter what he did and she always went back home…Even after that night."
Roy remembered.
"And he disappeared not long after she returned," he asked.
Matt walked into the kitchen and C.J. looked up at him before she could answer.
"Do you need any help," he asked.
She smiled at him.
"You can get some plates," she said, "and some silverware on the breakfast room table."
Matt did that and added some glasses.
"After breakfast, I'd better call Rusty," she said, "He's coming into Wild Fork today, hopefully with more information."
The three of them took their plates of food to the table.
"Hopefully he'll have a list of other suspects," Matt said.
C.J. stopped eating a moment.
"I don't think so Houston," she said, "If they arrested me, they don't have anyone else."
"What about Nadine," Matt asked.
She looked at him strangely.
"We were just talking about her," she said, "They fought a lot up to the time he disappeared. That's why most people thought he left town to get away from her."
"I never could figure out why they got together," Matt said.
C.J. raised a brow.
"Because she didn't stick around and wait for you," she said, "I'm not sure what she saw in him either but clearly she saw something."
Nadine had been married by the time C.J. had graduated from Harvard Law School and had returned back to town to handle her uncle's estate when he died not longer after her graduation. At first she had planned to work in Boston for a while but when she had come back to close one chapter of her life, she had wound up staying longer than she had anticipated. And she had soon found herself back working for Jack.
When Matt had encountered Nadine when he had returned to Wild Fork, she had been married to Dylan but he had disappeared by that time. Matt remembered that she had made a play for him after she had too much to drink when he had shown up one night at the Wrangler to shoot some pool with an old friend. And while she had tried to drape herself over him, he had quickly put her in her place. But she had been persistent even when Matt told her he was engaged to Christina. Nadine had asked him where his fiancée was hiding but Christina hadn't accompanied him back to Texas because she had been doing a series of cover shoots for some of the top women's fashion magazines in the country.
Nadine and her flirtatious attitude towards Matt indicated to him that she didn't seem to miss her errant husband all that much and now that five years later Matt knew he was dead, her behavior could have taken on a whole new meaning.
They finished breakfast and C.J. called up Rusty who was on his way to Wild Fork to pick up some files and he could meet with them in the local diner in about an hour.
"We'd better get going," C.J. said, "Rusty's got to head back to the city this afternoon."
The two of them left the house and walked towards the car. C.J. looked around her, marveled at the ranch that didn't look much different than it had years earlier.
"It's really beautiful out here," she said.
Matt smiled.
"The hands did a really great job with this place since Roy's come to L.A.," he said as they headed to the car which would take them into town.
They hit what passed for downtown Wild Fork and parked outside the local diner, the one that both of them had spent a lot of time in while living here. The place looked like it had just emptied out after a morning rush and a couple of harried waitresses were clearing the table, when one of them saw the two of them and walked up to them. She did a double take.
"C.J., is that you," she asked.
C.J. looked at her and then her face lightened in recognition.
"Sylvia, how are you doing?"
The waitress sighed.
"Still working here," she said, "I got married to Ed and we have a couple of kids."
"That's great," C.J. said.
Sylvia looked at Matt.
"Aren't you…the Houston boy, Matt?"
"One and the same," he said, "It's been a long time."
She led them to a booth and poured them some coffee.
"What are you doing back in town," she asked.
Matt looked at C.J.
"It's about Dylan," she said.
Sylvia nodded.
"I know they found his body a while back on that old lot," she said, "The sheriff said he was murdered."
C.J. paused.
"I've been arrested," she said, "They think I killed him."
Sylvia looked shocked.
"You," she said, "How would that be? We all thought he just took off one night."
Matt looked at her.
"When did you last see him?"
Sylvia thought about it.
"I don't know if I can remember but I spent the evening at the Wrangler when he had been there looking for Nadine. He was very upset with her if I remember."
C.J. sipped her coffee.
"You remember that don't you C.J.," Sylvia asked.
She looked up startled and then nodded.
"I guess I do," she said.
At that point, she looked up and saw that Rusty had entered the diner carrying a stack of folders. When he saw them, he smiled and went to join them. Sylvia batted her eyelashes at him and poured him some coffee.
"So what's up," Matt asked.
Rusty paused, stacking his files.
"I went to the Sheriff's Department and I was unable to access the complete investigative file."
C.J. rolled her eyes.
"Surprise, surprise," she said, "Oldest trick in the book."
Rusty nodded.
"They're going to try to withhold it as long as possible, which means that maybe the case isn't very strong…"
"It can't be very strong," Matt said, "because she didn't do it."
Rusty sighed.
"But there might be something that they have that has some teeth to it that they might want to spring at the official arraignment," he said.
C.J. couldn't think about what it could be though the investigators had said they had evidence which definitely tied her to Dylan around the approximate time of his death.
"Have you spoken with Jack," Matt asked.
Rusty shook his head.
"I called and left messages at his office but he's been on the campaign trail," he said, "He's recusing himself from the case and having one of his associates handle it."
Matt knew that was because C.J. had worked for Jack when she had been younger but he wondered if partly it was due to the fact that he was running for higher office. Would prosecuting this murder case help or hurt him?
"My daddy knew his daddy," Matt said, "and I know his daddy wouldn't raise a fool for a son."
C.J. knew that to be the case also, as Jack had proven to be both shrewd and charismatic. But her last time working for him hadn't been pleasant and had abruptly ended with her departure not long after... Her throat felt dry and she reached for her water glass. Matt saw the darkness settle in her eyes and raised his brow inquisitively but she just smiled and looked away.
"I think that we should plan for the preliminary hearing," Rusty said, "the arraignment is just a formality, a chance for the media to get its photo opportunities but a case like this could be made or broken at that hearing."
C.J. agreed, knowing that the preliminary hearing proved the prosecution with the opportunity to present its available evidence to a judge and the defense could too, before the judge would decide whether or not there was enough evidence presented to take the case to trial or to drop it. If the prosecution's case was baseless, then it was highly probable that her ordeal could end right there with the judge's decision in her favor. On the other hand, the standard of proof was much lower than that used at trial and the case could very well wind up being forwarded to trial.
"Have they made any offers yet," C.J. asked.
Matt looked at her sharply.
"It's just the lawyer in me Houston," she reassured him, "I'm not taking any deal for something I didn't do."
Rusty sighed.
"Not yet," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if they did at arraignment, maybe a reduction to manslaughter…"
"She didn't kill him," Matt said, "so she shouldn't serve any time for a crime she didn't commit."
She looked at him.
"You know better than anyone else how easily a person could be framed for murder," she said, simply.
Matt looked at her and remembered that month that had been stolen from his life a couple of years ago. When he had woken up one day in a cold sweat and had realized that he had no idea where he was and what he had been doing. It didn't take long for him to figure out that he had been framed for murder. If it hadn't been for C.J., Roy and others…he didn't even want to think about it. And the worst part of it was that there had been moments…when he had doubted his own sanity and wondered if he had killed a woman.
He just nodded and C.J. knew where he had just been and slipped his hand into his own, and felt him squeeze it in return.
"You wouldn't kill him."
And that's when she didn't want to look at him. Because she knew inside of her lay a part of her who knew how wrong that assessment was, that at one point, she had wanted to do just that to Dylan. But as she had told other clients accused or charged with murder, there was a big difference between wanting to kill someone and actually doing it. She wondered about Nadine…had she wanted to kill her husband?
"C.J…"
She looked up at both of them returning to them because she had been just about to slip back into the past again. So she stopped herself by addressing them.
"Houston, there was a time where I might have done that if I had the chance."
Rusty and Matt looked at each other.
"You filed that report," Rusty started.
"Oh yes I did."
Matt looked at her, startled and she shot him a look back.
"But it didn't go anywhere," was all she said.
He had followed her even further into the wilderness part of his uncle's ranch. Into the trees which grew thick closest to the stream, their roots penetrating into its edges. The sound of the water flowing through the labyrinth of stones towards the lake filled his ears as he heard her walk just in front of him.
"C.J…."
And suddenly he heard a branch snap on the ground as she turned to face him.
"Why are you following me," she asked, pushing her hair out of her face.
He just folded his arms and looked her.
"I just walked away from you," she continued, "and I asked you why you left her in L.A."
He didn't budge but then he could be just as stubborn as she.
"I asked you a question too…"
She threw him an exasperated look.
"Houston, I didn't give up on the law."
He ran his hand through his hair.
"You quit your job," he said, "You went to work at the Wrangler."
She sighed.
"Only for a little while," she said, "I needed some time away to think…"
"That's no place for you to be working…"
She laughed mirthlessly.
"That's funny coming from one of its most popular patrons," she said, "Besides I quit and now I'm here."
"Why did you go to Harvard and spent all those years working towards your dream and then throw it away?"
Oh how she really was angry, she didn't think she would control what came next but for the sake of their friendship, she tried to rein it in as best she could.
"This is your uncle's ranch, the man who helped raise you," she said, "He's out a son and his wife's had a breakdown. And he needed the help with the horses."
He nodded, digesting that.
"How long are you going to be staying here," he asked.
She thought about it.
"As long as I feel like it," she said, "I have no idea what I want to do Houston…"
He closed his eyes at the pain etched in her voice, pain which he didn't understand anymore than her anger. Nor more than his own emotions that had only grown in intensity the more he had tried to get away from them.
"And what about you Houston," she said, "You're standing right now blaming yourself for what happened to Will for no good reason when you've got Christina waiting for you out in L.A."
His face looked torn.
"Go back to L.A. Go back to her," she told him, "Forget about us here and go back to your new business and your new life. We'll just fine here."
But when he looked at her, even as the anger faded from her face to be replaced by a tentative smile, he found his feet even more firmly placed on the ground where he now stood.
"I can't do that C.J.," he said, "not unless you come with me."
She just stared at him in shock.
"I can't Houston…and you need to just…go."
And for the second time that morning, she walked away from him again.