“Anderson Law firm how may I direct your call?”
The voice on the other line was Charlotte’s, Jessie had known her since they were both in kindergarten, and she was practically family. “Hey Char can I talk to my dad?”
“Sure Jessie one moment, he is just walking out of a meeting.”
The on hold music used to drive him insane but since he had opened his own business and was stuck getting on hold music himself, he had come to appreciate the fact it was current popular songs. Instead of the traditional elevator music he was stuck with using. The copyright costs for that feature was more than he had realized. He, and his dad, had been discussing a small business loan. It wasn’t until he started adding up all of the different costs of the random items that he realized, maybe his dad was on the right path.
“Hello Jessie, you’re calling pretty late.”
“Yeah I know Dad, I am at Merewyn’s, we need some help.” Jessie thought to himself that his dad was one to talk given the fact it was six in the evening and he was just walking out of a meeting, but decided now wasn’t the time to point that out.
“What kind of help son?” The concern in his father’s voice brought him some comfort he hadn’t realized he needed. It wasn’t his life this was involving but in so many ways he felt he was responsible for her.
“Remember how I told you she broke up with her fiancé?”
“Yes and that you were trying to win her back.”
“That isn’t relevant.”
“Of course it is son, but continue.”
“The ex went and filed charges against her for theft of the engagement ring. Cops just took her away from her folks place.”
“Did they Mirandize her?”
“Not that we heard, I am here with her parents right now.”
“Then they didn’t arrest her. They must have taken her down to their station for questioning. Do you have their station number I can go sit with her.”
“Thanks dad. I don’t, all I know is the officer’s name, Officer Oliver.”
He heard his dad laugh, “I hope it isn’t the same officer from Brazoria County, he doesn’t do anything by the book.”
“I don’t know what county the guy was from.”
“Was he in a Sherriff’s uniform or a traditional cop uniform?”
“Hell dad I don’t know, I didn’t pay that much attention to details. Let me ask her folks.” I turn my head towards Merewyn’s parents and ask, “Do you know if he was a cop cop or a Sherriff cop?”
“He was a sheriff’s officer; I saw it on the badge.” Her dad said firmly.
“Hear that dad? He was in the sheriff’s office.”
“Has to be the same guy, I’ll make some calls and start heading that way. Did she do it son?”
“Do what, steal the ring?”
“Yeah is she guilty?”
“She kept the ring after she found him banging her cousin, but he gave it to her three days earlier. Isn’t what you say ‘possession is nine tenths the law’ going to apply?”
“It can I’ll have to get more info on it.”
“You should also know dad that Albert stole seven grand from her, she should file a counter claim.”
“Thanks for that info, now let me go so I can find out how to set your girlfriend free.”
“Ha ha thanks dad, love you too.”
“You know I will always love you and do anything I can to help you.”
“I know, her folks say thank you as well.”
Jessie hung up his cell phone and looked at Merewyn’s parents. Neither were saying anything but he could tell in both of their eyes they were very thankful that his dad had agreed to help.
“Charlie Anderson is a good man. Your mother would be so proud of you two.”
“Thank you Mrs. Smith, I know she would be too.” It still hurt to talk about his mom, but that was okay, right now was about Merewyn, and her mother was simply trying to be nice.
“Dad is going to find out where she is at and meet her there. Hopefully she will call us soon.” Jessie started to pace around and then suddenly stopped. “Do you know exactly what happened?”
Both of her parents nodded and then her father started to speak, “I feel like I should go rip that boy in half, how he is misusing my daughter like this. He should be ashamed of himself.”
“That won’t do anyone any good. Let my dad do some work, he is killer in the court room he will handle it I promise.”
Jessie watched the former love of his life’s parents both nod their head in unison, the grief and anguish on their face was evident to even a blind man. “I am really sorry this is happening.”
“It isn’t your fault son,” Mr. Smith said to him.
“No but I still feel bad for all of this. Maybe if she and I hadn’t been spending so much time together, Albert wouldn’t have taken after her like this.”
“You think he is jealous?” Her mother questioned.
“Sure, wouldn’t any man be? A great woman like that dumping him and then taking off with some other guy from her past.”
“You two aren’t an item Jessie.” The motherly tone in her voice was comforting. But it didn’t make it any easier to know that she was in trouble, and there wasn’t anything he could do right this moment to help Merewyn.
“I want to be, you both know that.”
“We know son, but it will happen in due time, if it was meant to be, you know that you’re a smart lad.”
“Mr. Smith I haven’t been called a lad since I was a teenager in this house.” The men laughed and Jessie started to make his way to the front door. “I am going to head out; I will call you if I hear from my dad. Please let me know if you hear from Merewyn, and if she is okay. I can help go pick her up once we find out where she is at, if it is needed too.”
“Thank you Jessie for everything.” Mrs. Smith pulled him in for a hug; the embrace warmed his body in such a soul lifting way. It made him miss his mom more and more, because there really was nothing quite like a hug from a mom.
“It is always my pleasure, you know that. Talk soon.”
He nodded his head and walked out of the front door then down the driveway. The truth was he was kidding himself if he thought that Merewyn was a former love of his life. He was head over heels in love with her but he didn’t know how to handle that fact, or more importantly tell her that.
When he started the car up, he looked over onto the passenger seat and pictured her sitting there. Like when they were kids. She would lean her head back and gaze up into the sky from his convertible. He still had the convertible at his dad’s house. When she got over being taken by the police and was ready for company, he was going to pick her up in the yellow stallion and take her for a spin. That would be what she needed to bring a smile back to her face, and to remind her of how much fun the two of them had together, so many moons ago.
Jessie was in a daydream driving on auto pilot towards his apartment when his cell phone went off. When he looked at the screen to see who was calling he didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?”
“Jessie! Oh my god you will not believe what is happening!” The sound of Merewyn’s panicked voice was enough to put him into full over protection mode. He began clutching his fist to the steering wheel.
“Merewyn what happened where are you? I’ve called my dad.”
“Good I need a lawyer, they arrested me! This is my one phone call. I am in the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department jail.”
“They can’t arrest you! How could they do that when you weren’t even in their county to arrest? They didn’t have jurisdiction.”
“That’s what I thought, but I willingly went in for questioning I didn’t know the whole time they were just trying to get me to cross into their territory so they could arrest me.”
“I’ll get my dad to force them to release you. Your dad is ready to go ape shit on Albert.”
“Dear God please do not let my dad do anything stupid. Albert is likely to press charges on an old man, just as easily as he did on someone he claimed to have loved at one point in time.”
“Okay M just hang tight let me head over there can you give me the address?”
“No, Jessie I am scared, they did a fingerprinting on me, I have a record now.” He could hear the tears forming in her voice and that broke his heart. He really wanted to kill Albert for this, badly.
“Baby it will be okay, I promise Dad is going to get you out and he will turn this around on Albert, just wait and see. He will get your record expunged. I promise.”
“Jessie, don’t make promises you can’t keep. You know that you cannot control any of this.”
“Let me call my dad so he can head that way. Do you want me to come too? I will.”
“Only come if he thinks they will release me, no sense in you driving all this way out here. We took the belt around until we crossed the county line. We are south of Sugarland somewhere, but I don’t know what city exactly.”
“Okay M I will help you fix this, and I will call your parents.”
“Thank you Jessie, I owe you big for this.”
“You don’t owe me anything Merewyn; this is what you would do for me if the situation was reversed. This is what friends do for each other.”
He could hear her crying now, she wasn’t holding it back or trying to cover it up, and it broke his heart. There was really nothing he could do right this moment to take her fear away, and he hated feeling so crippled.
“I’ll see you soon okay M, be strong for me.”
“I will Jessie, bye.”
The silence on the other end killed him, like a spear through the heart. “Siri call dad.”
His iPhone responded, “Calling Dad.”
Jessie could feel his heart pounding as if it was going to jump right out of his chest. He had to keep it together Merewyn was depending on him.
“Hey Jessie have you heard anything?”
He took a few deep breaths and then responded, “Yeah she just called me, the arrested her, she is in the Brazoria County jail. Dad you have to get her out.”
“You know son it is after closing time, there are no courts open. She is going to have to spend the night there.”
“Dad come on it is M you can’t call someone?”
“I don’t know anyone well enough in that county The best I can do is reach out to my contacts in Harris and see if I could get any favors. But looking at the time it is damn near seven there isn’t anyone who could magically get her released in twelve hours let alone two.”
“Dad, I love her you have to.”
“Son I know you have always loved her. I will do everything that I can, but I just cannot promise you anything. But trust me I will be there first thing in the morning. They still have to process her.”
“She said they finger printed her, that she has a record now, they are processing her as we speak.”
“Once this gets cleared up I can get her record expunged.”
“That’s what I told her, but are you going to be able to get it cleared?”
“I won’t promise, but I am going to do my best it is a flimsy case from what you’ve said. This Albert guy seems like a real piece of work. I will call my partner and see if he knows anyone.”
“You know you can just call him Uncle Ed right, you don’t have to say partner.”
“I know but he likes being a partner so I try to help his ego.”
“Whatever Dad, just please help her.”
“I promise son, I will do everything I can. But right now there isn’t anything you can do to help her so just go home, and try to sleep. If she can get out tomorrow she will need you.”
Jessie let out an audible sigh, “I should have told her I loved her.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. That will just mess with her head. And she was just engaged Jessie what are you thinking telling her that? Hell that could prove the DA’s case if there is motive for her to break up with him. You got to stop thinking with your heart and start thinking with your brain.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re mean?”
That made both father and son laugh, “Yeah your Uncle Ed all the time growing up.”
“Just so long as you knew.”
“I know this is hard Jessie, trust me, just go home and we will do battle in the morning.”
“I’ll come with you to the jail.”
“You know you cannot see her right away.”
“Can’t you say I am with the firm? I mean, Dad, technically it is a family business.”
“I suppose I could. Okay I will look up the address and text it to you because I assume you don’t know where it is at.”
I started to nod but then remembered he wasn’t in the car with me. “Yeah that would be great Dad, thank you.”
“No problem get some sleep son, we start battle tomorrow.”
Jessie waited for the phone to completely disconnect before he said, “Siri call Mr. Smith.”
“Calling Sara Trist.”
“No Siri, I said, call Mr. Smith!” He yelled into his iPhone and hit the end call button over and over. He looked up and suddenly slammed on the breaks. He almost made it out of the incident unscathed but when he blinked open his eyes he realized he had barely rear-ended the driver in front of him.
“Ugh! You have got to be kidding me! Damnit!”
He reached into his glove box and pulled out his insurance paperwork and opened his door, while killing the engine all at the same time.
“Can’t you see where you’re going man! You hit me!”
The angry driver was walking towards him and based on the size of his strides, he was ready to kill someone.
“I just bought this car twenty days ago man and now you’re going to make me take it to the shop! What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Look man, you’re not hurt, and I am not hurt, just take my insurance information and give me yours, and let’s call it a day okay?”
“I don’t think so, my wife is already calling the cops from the front seat.”
Shit. Jessie knew this was going to take a long time and he still needed to call Merewyn’s parents.
“I’m going to take a couple pictures of the damage may I have your insurance information?” Jessie decided the best course of action was to remain calm and attempt to be neutral. He knew he was at fault, but the first thing his dad taught him was that you never admit fault in a wreck.
“Kindle bring me my insurance!” The man yelled towards the front of his vehicle. A few moments later the passenger door opened and a tall woman stepped out of the car. Jessie’s gut instantly dropped when he saw the round bulge of a stomach pressing out against her body. She was pregnant. Double shit.
“Here you go Monty.”
Monty? Great. Jessie thought with a name like that he was sure to get the shaft end of this deal when it was all said and done.
“Look man, why don’t we each just take pictures of the insurance card and call it a day. I am in the middle of a family emergency and I need to get home.”
“You put my unborn baby in jeopardy; we are waiting for the police!” The pregnant woman yelled in his direction.
Jessie let out an exhausting sigh, “Fine I will wait in my car for the cop.” He walked back to his car and took his seat in the driver’s side. The only thing he had going for him was in this town his dad knew almost every officer and maybe there was someone who would take pity on him and not site him a ticket. Even though it was his fault and he did feel bad about the whole ordeal.
The time passed by slower than time had ever passed by in Jessie’s life. He was ready for the whole thing to be over, Jessie was about to just drive away when he heard the sirens then saw the flashing lights in his mirror. As he focused closely on the person who stepped out of the cop car his gut felt a little better when he saw not his dad’s friend but his uncle’s college roommate walking towards him.
Thank god for small favors. With a quick sign of the cross in thanks to God Jessie stepped out of the car and gave a half smile of innocence to the man who Uncle Ed used to call Brewster.
“Hi officer.”
The cop simply shook his head back and forth and began taking both parties statements about what happened.