Appearances, copyright 2006, by Etienne. All rights reserved.

-5-

Early Morning Plans

When I woke up Friday morning just in time to lie in bed for a few minutes waiting for the alarm, my first fuzzy thought was that somehow Robert wasn't snuggled up to me in the position he usually preferred. Then I came to with a start and realized that the snuggler wasn't Robert, and that it had in fact been a long time since I had awakened with a warm body adjacent to mine. That brought a flood of memories, and before it could invoke a flood of tears as well, I disentangled myself carefully, slipped out of bed quietly so as not to wake Philip, padded across the room, and turned off the alarm before it could sound. I opened the bedroom door so that Lance could find his way outside to take care of his own needs, and then headed for the bathroom.

Entering the bathroom, I rushed through my morning routine as quickly and quietly as possible, and returned to the bedroom, wearing the same old robe I had put on the night before. Philip was beginning to show signs of waking up, so I bent over and kissed him into full awareness of where he was.

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Um, ....morning. I slept well, but not nearly long enough," he replied, yawning and stretching.

"I'm going to go put some coffee on. You'll find everything you need laid out in the bathroom. After breakfast, we can round up some suitable casual clothes for you." I gave him one more lingering kiss, and went downstairs to retrieve the paper, and then went up to the kitchen.

I started the coffee, then picked up the telephone and called the small air strip where I keep the plane, telling them that I would need it fueled and ready several hours earlier than planned. That detail having been attended to, I rounded up juice, found some frozen danish that I could nuke, and tried to make the breakfast area presentable for a guest. A few minutes later, while standing at the sink (I was making so much noise that I didn't hear anybody enter the room) so was surprised when a pair of arms slipped around me and someone kissed me on the side of the neck.

I turned around to give my attacker a better target. "Mmm, you smell good."

"Not as good as that coffee does," he said. Is it ready?"

"Just about. Why don't you pour, while I go wake up Richard?" I went upstairs, knocked on Richard's door, and stuck my head in the room.

"Rise and shine."

He mumbled an obscenity, and rolled back over. I tried again, with the same response. I knew from long experience, that it would require stronger measures, so I went to my study, turned on the receiver, set the volume at concert hall level, turned all speakers off except those in Richard's bedroom, inserted a cd in the player, pressed 'play.' I went back to the kitchen. Philip was standing at the counter with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Richard is impossible to get up in the mornings, which normally does not matter, as it is not my responsibility. Today, however, I have resorted to drastic measures." No sooner had I said that than very loud music could be heard coming from upstairs, followed by a series of yells and obscenities. I cracked up.

"Mind letting me in on the joke? What did you do to him?"

"I treated him to von Zuppe's 'Light Cavalry Overture' at full concert hall level. You know, the one with the bugles and fanfares." This cracked him up as well.

"Please don't ever do that to me," he begged.

I bent over and kissed his cheek. "I've got a whole repertoire of much nicer ways to wake you up."

I went back to the study and turned off the music before settling down to the business of preparing breakfast. We had just sat down to our coffee, juice, and danish, when Richard came storming in also in a robe, hair still wet from his shower. "God dammit, Charley, did you have to do that?"

"Well, I tried it the nice way, twice, but it didn't work. You left me no choice. Anyway, you'll get over it."

"You may not, when I find a clever way to retaliate."

"Later. Right now we have plans to make, so eat your breakfast and then join us in the study."

"Yes, mon Cap-i-tain," he said, giving a mock salute.

Philip and I went into the study, which is my favorite room. For someone else, it would probably have been a fifth bedroom. We (Robert and I) had redone the room with floor to ceiling bookshelves built into three of the walls. The fourth wall contained a built in a cabinet which concealed my computer, printer, and a couple of file cabinets. The only windows in the room were on either side of the cabinets. There was a Partner's Desk in front of the cabinet with a swivel chair between it and the wall, which allowed me to swing back and forth between the desk and the computer, when I was working at home - which was often. The desk also held a multi-line telephone as well as a good quality answering machine which could double as a speaker phone. There was a pair of wingback chairs on either side of the desk. Across the room from the desk, flanked by bookcases, were the built in cabinets that housed both the stereo system and a large screen television set. In addition, there were a small sofa and two easy chairs facing the television set.

I motioned Philip to one of the wing chairs. "Help yourself to the telephone. That call to your broker probably should be the first order of business." I opened a desk drawer, and found the phone book. "Do you need a directory?"

"Yes, thanks. I know his office number, but not the home one. It is listed, though, as I have looked it up and called him at home before. Never this early, of course." He looked up a number and dialed.

"George? Philip. Yes, I know what time it is, but this is urgent. I need you to transfer $500,000 by wire, from my account to the trust account of Chandler, Todd, Woodward & Barnett. Yes, that's right, the law firm. As you know, there is more than enough purchasing power in the account to cover the transfer.”

He continued. “Remember that list of stocks we discussed disposing of by the end of the year to take some losses. The same. Sell enough of those today, at market, to cover the wire. Got that? Okay, but sell them in the order we discussed, and save the last two items on the list if possible - they might just turn around. I'm going to hand the phone to Charles Barnett of that firm, whom I have just retained. He will explain, and give you the particulars."

He handed the telephone receiver to me. "This is George Williams, of Merrill Lynch, Charles. Tell him what he needs to do about the wire."

"Hello, Mr. Williams, Charles Barnett here."

"What the hell is going on?" a gruff voice wanted to know.

"In a nutshell, we expect the police will issue a warrant later today for Philip's arrest with regard to the death of his wife. The funds are to cover bail."

"Jesus H. Christ," an explosion came over the wire. "I've known Philip for years. He's incapable of murder."

"Tell that to Craig Wetherbee."

"That prick. He's a disgrace to this city."

"Well, he would like to move up to being a disgrace to this state, and probably looks on this sensational case as a stepping stone. Anyway, I'm taking Philip out of town this morning, otherwise if they arrest him this afternoon, he might spend the entire weekend in jail. We will be back early Tuesday, and if a warrant is indeed outstanding, he will turn himself in. That being the case, I can probably spring him on bail in three or four hours, in which case, we will need to have funds in the firm’s Trust Account to cover a sizeable amount of bail."

"Let me get a pad and pen." There was a pause. "Ok, I'm back."

I gave him the name of the bank, the Trust Account number, and the telephone number of the firm. "If you have any questions later on this morning, contact Andrew Chandler at the number I just gave you. He will handle any details until Tuesday."

"Got it. As it happens, I know old Chandler slightly. Now, let me talk to Philip again, please."

I handed the phone back, and tried not to eavesdrop too obviously while they spoke. When he had replaced the receiver, I turned on the speaker phone function, and dialed Andrew's home number. "That's one down."

The phone rang a few times before a female voice answered. "Hello."

"Good morning, Emily. I need to speak to Andrew, please. It is quite urgent."

"Hello, Charles. Just a minute and I'll get him." Bless her heart, Emily had been a Lawyer's wife long enough to know when to make small talk and when not. We could hear her calling in the background for Andrew to pick up.

"Hello."

"Good morning Andrew."

"Good morning Charles. Where are you, and what can I do for you at this early hour?"

"I'm at home. Philip is with me, and the situation is not good. He is on the speaker phone with me, by the way. We found out last night, through one of Richard's contacts, that a warrant will be issued for Philip's arrest late this afternoon, probably not until nearly five o'clock."

"I was afraid of something like that."

"Well, the situation is in hand. I'm not going to go to the office this morning. Instead, I'm going to fly down to the beach in a couple of hours, and take Philip with me. We will be back early Tuesday, and if there is a Warrant, he will surrender himself."

"Good thinking, my boy. What about bail?"

"Way ahead of you. Sometime later this morning George Williams, of Merrill Lynch, will have funds wired to our trust account. I have advised him to contact you if there is any problem with the wire, or if he needs anything. You know how to reach me at the beach, of course."

"How much?"

"$500,000."

"That should be more than enough for bail and retainer. I may give George a call, anyway. He and I have done some business together in the past. Did you have anything scheduled this morning?"

"Nothing important enough that it cannot be rescheduled. After we finish, I'm going to leave some instructions for Rosemary with respect to that. Speaking of instructions, I have given Richard marching orders to drop everything and work on this case. His informant says that the police have stopped looking for anybody else. Have I overlooked anything?"

"Not that I can see. Do you need anything else from me?"

"Just some advice," I said. "You might want to begin thinking about who we can ask to handle the actual defense. Mark might be a good choice."

"I expect you will do that quite well enough."

"That would be true enough perhaps, if I weren't involved with the client."

"Of course you're involved," he said, "you are his attorney."

"No, I mean emotionally involved. It seems you played the role of Yenta entirely too well."

He gave a slight chuckle. "Really?"

"So it would seem. I'm still sorting it all out."

"I really wouldn't worry about any conflict. You are quite capable of being as detached as you have to be. Moreover, you know it, so don't go getting all humble on me now."

"If you think so. I had to lay all the cards on the table, you know how it is."

"Anything else?"

"Not at the moment. I've got a number of calls to make before we leave, so I'll let you go. I'll see you Tuesday morning." Then I remembered something "Actually, there is one more thing. We left the club last night via the back entrance, in my car - in case he was being watched. His car is still there." I turned to Philip. "What would you like done with it?"

Philip said "Can you have it sent to Morehouse Motors? It is due for servicing. I can call them later and give appropriate instructions."

"Consider it done," Andrew said.

We said our goodbyes, and hung up. Philip looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" I said, innocently.

"The part about not wanting to represent me."

"Oh, That. Well, you see, the canon of ethics frowns upon Attorneys representing spouses, lovers, sweethearts, or anyone with whom they have an involvement. An involvement is thought to impair judgement in a trial. To put it crudely, if I'm sleeping with you, I shouldn't be representing you."

"Andrew didn't seem to be particularly concerned."

"No, he didn't, did he?"

"Well, if he isn't worried about any conflict, I certainly won't be."

"Fine. I had to lay all the cards on the table, so to speak. While I make a call, why don't you draw a diagram of your apartment and where to find the prescription you need."

I handed him a yellow pad and pen. Then I punched the speaker phone again, and dialed the office dictation system. A mechanical voice answered, and spat out instructions - instructions which I didn't really need, so I punched in a bypass code that would allow me to leave instructions that only my secretary would be able to retrieve. I dictated her marching orders for the day, and hung up.

"I do love toys," I said.

"I can tell."

Richard wandered into the room just then, obviously dressed for work.

"Cadet Greene reporting for instructions as ordered, sir." He clicked his heels, and saluted.

"Richard, you know as well as I do what needs to be done. First, however, you need to retrieve Philip's prescription for him."

Philip gave him the sheet with the address and diagram, and excused himself to go and retrieve his keys from the bedroom.

Richard looked at me critically. "Are we in love?"

"Ass over teakettle."

"I was afraid of that. Does he know? Is it reciprocal? Are the two of you going to set up housekeeping, etc etc?"

"1 - He has reason to suspect; 2 -I don't know; and 3 - Ditto.. It's much too early to tell, besides that is the least of my worries at the moment."

"Well, you can give me the unexpurgated version next week, I just hope you aren't setting yourself up to get hurt."

"I'm not worried. Even if it goes nowhere and is over tomorrow, it will have served a purpose in that I have, how did you put it last night, 'returned to the land of the living.'"

"Just so you know what you are about." He started to say something else, but stopped as we heard Philip coming down the hall.

"This is the key to the deadbolt and the door," Philip said, handing a silver key to Richard, "and, I've written down the code for the alarm system - the pad is just inside the entrance."

I added, "Take my car, please - it is much less conspicuous - and watch out for Atlanta's finest. They may be watching."

Richard nodded, all business again, and left.

"Well," I said. "Let us go and find you some suitable weekend-at-the-beach attire."

We spent some time in my closet, discovering that he could wear my underwear, shorts, and shirts, and Robert's slacks were a perfect fit. That left shoes.

"What size shoe do you wear?" I asked.

"10 D."

"That's a half size smaller than mine, but no problem, because that happened to be Robert's size and I gave all of his shoes to Richard."

I went to Richard's room, and found both a decent pair of deck shoes, and a pair of tennis shoes that would do. "Where we are going, these will be more than enough. You can bring your shoes from last night, in case we go out or anything."

"Will it bother you, seeing someone else wearing Robert's clothing?"

"Not if you are that someone."

There was a knock on the open door - I hadn't heard Richard return.

"Trouble in Dodge, bossman," he said, and continued "There was the proverbial unmarked sedan parked right across the street from Philip's place. I recognized one of the plainclothes guys."

"Did they spot you?"

"Not very likely, I saw them first and just drove on by." He handed Philip his keys.

"Good. Then we switch to Plan B. Philip, do you know your Doctor well enough that you can call his office from the airport, tell them you are out of town without your prescription, and ask them to phone one to a drugstore in Ft Walton Beach."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Fine. Then, we are off. Richard, I trust you will have a short list of prime suspects by the time we get back."

"Well, as you know, the Hebrew children were able to make bricks without straw, but I can't build a report without information."

“I will call the office from the car, and dictate all of the particulars you need while we are on the way to the plane. Rosemary will have it transcribed for you later this morning."

Philip followed me back to the study, and watched while I dialed area 850 Information, and asked for the number of a CVS Pharmacy in Ft. Walton Beach, which I jotted down on a memo pad. I handed the piece of paper to him. Then we carried our stuff to the car and I drove us to the air strip in suburban Marietta.