Love Story: In The Web of Life (32 page)

Tina and Sofia said they were going to tour the
Pioneer Museum and then see the sights of town.

Elizabeth, Buster, and I snuck back to the
secret passage to the courthouse. In the conference room, Buster
sat in one of the antique captains chairs, rocked back, put in his
ear buds, pushed his Stetson down over his face and had a nap.
Elizabeth and I read. At four o'clock, the clerk called and said
she had seen the bailiff come out of the jury room and get some of
the formal papers that the jury had to fill out. They would have a
verdict soon.

Inside the courtroom, tension filled the air.
All the spectator seats were filled. Reporters had their laptops
open and were talking to each other.

The Sodastroms joined us in the courtroom and
soon Judge Cartright appeared and banged his gavel. Hush fell over
the court.

The jurors filed in not smiling.

Judge Cartright asked, "Has the jury elected a
foreman?"

"Yes, sir," Said juror number five.

"Have you reached a verdict?"

"Yes sir," said the foreman as he handed a
piece of paper to the bailiff.

The Judge put on his eyeglasses and read the
slip of paper. He paused with a look that could have betrayed
disagreement, and handed the paper back to the bailiff.

"Read the verdict," commanded the
judge.

The foreman paused and glanced at the other
jurors. They all looked timid or almost embarrassed.

"We find in favor of the plaintiff."

Noise filled the courtroom.

Judge Cartright stood and banged his gavel and
called, "Order! Or, I will clear this court."

We all held our breath.

The jury foreman said in a loud voice, "We
award the plaintiff twenty–million dollars."

Chaos erupted in the court, Reporters were
pushing to leave the courtroom.

Judge Cartright again stood and banged his
gavel and called, "Order! Order!"

As the judged was thanking the jury, I heard a
gasp and tuned around to see Ed catching Ann.

"I'm OK." she said. "My knees just went
weak."

The gavel banged. "This court is
adjourned."

Elizabeth gave me a hug as I stood there
stunned, and cried, "We did it boss!"

Ed and Ann's Sodastrom cried as they shook our
hands and said, "Thank you! Thank you!"

Normal color had returned to Ed and Ann's faces
for the first time since I had known them. I tried to say goodbye
to opposing counsel, Dean Buttress, but he was gone.

I motioned to the bailiff to come over. I said,
"Will you take the Sodastroms out the back entrance of the county
facility to avoid the media?"

He agreed.

Ann gave Elizabeth and I a tearful hug. "Thank
you!' she reiterated as Ed led her off following the
bailiff.

Elizabeth and I gathered up our briefcases.
Buster led the way, nudging reporters out of the way as we left the
courthouse. On the steps, several reporters, and two TV crews
pushed microphones in front of us. "Mr. Willard: Carol Tipton from
the NBC: Congratulations! Do you have any comment on the
verdict?"

"I congratulate the jury on reaching a fair
verdict. No amount of money will bring Lucy back, end the
Sodastrom's grief, or restore their health.

"This verdict has created one lasting memorial
to Lucy: this verdict will put all California counties and sheriffs
on notice that it is negligent to ignore any reasonable person who
claims to have knowledge of where a missing person is, even if they
claim to have psychic powers."

"Thank you," said Carol.

As we continued down the steps, dodging
reporters and microphones, Elizabeth quipped, "A press conference
after a verdict already: this is more like it."

****

Back to the lodge, Sofia, who had poured each
of us glasses of champagne, greeted us at the door. Tina, still
dressed in her red gingham dress, ran over and gave me a big kiss
and hug. Everyone was jubilant.

After a few congratulatory minutes, Tina and I
sat down at the table with Sofia who was still dressed in her light
blue gingham dress. Tina and Sofia were snickering about something,
and I sensed it was not about the verdict. I noticed that Tina was
resting her hand on an ice pack.

Sofia laughed and said, "We might have a new
client for you: an assault and battery case."

Tina giggled and said, "It was self defense,
perfectly acceptable conduct in the Wild West."

Sofia continued, "After we had seen the sights
of Rocky Butte we decided we couldn't leave Rocky Butte without a
little honky-tonkin, so we stopped by the Claim Jumper to have a
beer, cowboy-style. We were sitting alone at a table, minding our
own business, enjoying glasses of Claim Jumper Pale Draft Beer when
Tina excused herself to go to the Ladies Room. I heard a little
commotion and saw a big cowboy sliding down the wall, bent over in
pain, holding his bloody nose. I saw Tina disappearing down the
hall to the Ladies Room. Some of his buddies took him away. I heard
a lot of groaning. In a couple of minutes Tina reappeared from the
hall walking demurely, as though nothing had happened. The cowboys
gave her a lots of room to pass."

Tina laughed and said, "He groped me. I hit him
reflexively. I didn't even know I did it until I saw his nose and
felt my knee in his crotch."

I said, "Sofia, you might have created a
monster."

She replied, "You should have seen that room
full of cowboys. Casting directors can't assemble a group as ugly
as that. For an instant, I thought the two of us were going to have
to fight our way out, back-to-back, doing karate kicks. I was
saying to myself, 'Where is my fight choreographer when I need
him?' Tina, have you ever thought you would like to be in the
movies?"

She looked at her swollen hand and said, I
think I would rather deal with Beverly Hills High juniors than make
a living doing that."

We all laughed and drank more
champagne.

Buster's cell phone rang, and he walked outside
on the porch to take the call. Without saying anything, he went
down the steps and drove the SUV down the hill toward the lake and
airstrip.

Steve and Georgia drove up to the lodge and
joined the celebration. Steve was beaming. "I knew it would be a
win, but not that big. I hope that nobody else will ever have to
tell my sad story."

Georgia then added "Steve said your
dark-complexion lady with reddish hair is here. I'd like to meet
her."

I replied "Yes, come meet her." I led Georgia
over to the table where Tina was sitting. She arose and introduced
her. They seemed to form an instant connection and were soon
chatting about metaphysical activities in LA. I noticed Georgia was
giving Tina the stare that meant she was reading her pictures.
Suddenly, Georgia broke into a big smile and continued on with the
conversation.

I went to Steve and said, "I was a little tense
during your court demonstration. You seemed so calm. Weren't you
nervous about performing on–command in that
environment?"

Steve said, "I sort of cheated. I went into
meditation the night before and traveled in time to the
demonstration. I perceived where each of them would all be hiding
and what they would be doing. The only thing I didn't know before
the court performance was the names of the children. I was able to
recheck my conclusions during my testimony."

I replied, "Oh, I guess I should have known
that. Excuse me for thinking so linearly."

I noticed a vehicle making dust coming down the
road from the entrance to the ranch. It was some sort of white
delivery vehicle. Sofia walked out of the lodge, talked to the
driver, and directed him to the back kitchen door. She came back
in, disappeared into the kitchen, and came back into the living
room with a fresh bottle of champagne. She said, "The caterers have
arrived."

"From Rocky Butte? That was fast!"

Sofia smiled, "From Sacramento, I placed the
order this morning."

"How did you know....?" I asked.

She smiled and turned her head inquisitively
and said, "I called Steve. He said the verdict would come back in
early afternoon, and it would be cause for celebration. You of all
people seem to doubt his predictions."

Two minutes later a man and a woman dressed in
black uniforms appeared from the kitchen carrying trays of hors
d'oeuvres.

Then, to my great surprise, Buster drove up in
the SUV. Vince Colson and Dore got out, wearing business
suits.

I greeted them at the door and received
vigorous handshakes and congratulations.

"How did you time getting here now?" I asked
Vince.

Vince grinned and said, "Steve had alerted them
that the trial would be over this afternoon. We timed our flight
from a business meeting in LA to Palo Alto so that it could be
diverted here when final word came. We selected the particular jet
for the trip to LA so that our pilots would be comfortable landing
here at the ranch airstrip.

"We wanted to be here to congratulate you and
the whole team. I consider this an enormous win in our crusade to
widen the scientific paradigm. My security consultants say that we
are rid of that Skeptemos guy for good. You know, he put a bomb on
one of our airplanes a couple of weeks ago. We have a good
surveillance system at our hangar, mostly to know whether somebody
places industrial espionage eavesdropping devices on our plane. It
works for mad bombers too. Our video surveillance clearly shows it
was your guy. That's how we got the FBI involved."

Dore excused herself and went over and gave
Georgia and then Steve a hug and then began chatting with them. I
had never seen her enjoying herself before. She was usually all
business.

Dore made the party rounds, spending time
taking to everyone. She seemed to already know everyone except
Elizabeth and Tina. She spent quite a while talking to Tina. I
could see that Tina had been fully assessed and that Dore seemed to
like her.

Vince joined Steve and Georgia. They talked
animatedly like old friends.

After about a half hour, Dore looked at her
watch and then pulled Vince from a group conversation. They came
over to me.

Dore smiled approvingly and said, "Is there
some place we can talk in private?"

I led Vince and Dore to the TV room and closed
the door. Dore turned to me with her fixed stare and said, "We
would like to offer you a position as the CEO of the Colson
Foundation, directing our further missionary efforts encouraging
scientists embrace the eight-dimensional paradigm. Here is our
formal offer."

She handed me a letter that I opened and
scanned. "This is very generous," I said. "I need to discuss this
with Phil Bracken before I reply."

"Of course," said Vince. "I have already talked
to him as a courtesy. He said he would be reluctant to see you go
but is amenable to the idea."

I thought to myself, 'this is a win–win
situation. I get a new job and Phil gets to tell Sam Perris of
ChralMed that I am no longer with the law firm. Sam will think he
won and got me fired.'

Vince continued, "You can set up your office
anywhere you like, as long as it is near an airport. The LA area is
fine."

Dore added, "You will report to me for most
matters. The first effort will be establishing research grants to
various universities, similar to that with Dr. Montgomery. You will
have other legal responsibilities, but, as far as we know we don't
have anymore trials like this one on the horizon."

"We expect that your office will follow the
general design of ours, with no private offices guarded by
secretaries. I'll have our interior designer contact you
later."

Vince then said, "We can talk details later.
Let's get back to the celebration," and led the way out to the
living room.

After a few minutes more of socializing, Dore
nodded to Buster, gathered up Vince, and walked over to where Tina,
Sofia, Elizabeth, and I were talking.

She said, "I understand you are taking some
well-deserved vacation. Don't worry about responding to that letter
until you get back."

Vince added, "Good luck with your soaring, I
have always wanted to try that."

After we all exchanged pleasantries, they left.
I noticed that Dore's goodbyes to Tina were particularly warm. She
had passed.

Soon, the catered dinner was served. It was
quite a party.

****

The next morning, it seemed as though everyone
was sleeping in. I woke Tina and told her that we needed to go into
town for our last breakfast in Rocky Butte. There was one more
thing I had to do.

At Bob's Cafe we sat on stools at the counter,
somewhat to Tina's surprise. Four rough looking cowboys, wearing
their cowboy hats, sitting in a booth, told Agnes something while
she was taking their orders. She shrugged her shoulders, came over
to us, carefully looking Tina over, and said,
"what’ll-ya-have."