Read Online Legally Wasted by Tommy Strelka - Free Book Online

thankfully
ended and Margie was either quietly cleaning the room or perhaps
even leading an afternoon meditation class. With his necktie wadded
in his left hand, he reached out and gripped the doorknob. His
fingers fumbled with both his tie and his keys and as he tried to
manage both, his right hip bounced against the door which opened
easily.
    “What the . . . ?” he muttered. He dropped
the tie on the ground and gripped his key as if it were a stabbing
weapon. With his loafer, he pushed against the door until it opened
completely.
    “Hi, Mr. Monroe,” said a familiar voice.
Freddie Beard, a lean man in his forties stood from his seat in the
lobby area of Larkin’s office. His right hand stroked against the
many wrinkles in his khaki pants, but it proved useless. They were
utterly wrinkled, not unlike the temples of Freddie’s eyes. Too
many years spent harvesting in Bedford under the hot sun. Freddie’s
left hand held a thick manila envelope.
    “Is this about the bill?” asked Larkin. “Did
you come to make a payment?” Larkin had handled Freddie’s
uncontested divorce a few years earlier. “And how the hell did you
get in here?”
    Freddie took a deep breath and raised his
left hand.
    “What?” asked Larkin.
    Freddie wiggled the envelope. Larkin snatched
it out of his hand. “You’ve been served with process,” said
Freddie.
    “What?” He tore open the envelope. The top
page was a Notice of a hearing in two weeks in the Juvenile and
Domestic Relations Court for sole legal possession of Rusty,
Larkin’s cat. “What in the name of Christ is happening here?” He
glared at Freddie. “Did you break into my office to serve me with
this bull shit?”
    “No,” said another familiar voice. Larkin’s
heart fluttered before dropping like a dead butterfly. “I let him
in.”
    A thin tiny woman with long attractive brown
hair neatly pulled back with a tan headband walked out of Larkin’s
private office. As Madeline passed the secretary’s desk, she
briefly studied the dozens of pictures upon the wall. She paused
and turned to regard Larkin. Her big brown eyes seemed full of
fear, but Larkin knew that was how Madeline always looked, like a
deer just about to leap behind a pile of brush and escape. The look
was her secret weapon. She might have been the most confident and
headstrong woman he had ever met. But she cloaked it, when needed,
behind a mask of vulnerability. In short, she could push his
buttons with a blink, even those he never knew existed.
    “You hid a spare key in the tomato can by the
gutter,” she said as she held up the brass key. The size of the key
strangely made her fingers appear even smaller. “You didn’t even
turn over the tomato can. It was right side up, Larkin. It had
filled with an inch of rainwater. You have confidential files in
here, right? What are you doing? Anyone could have come in
here.”
    Her sudden appearance was too much. Larkin
turned to Freddie to delay, to stall, to breathe. “You owe me
twelve hundred bucks, Freddie.”
    “I gave you all them cases of Sunny Devil,”
Freddie quickly replied.
    “You’re not paying my bill with
moonshine.”
    Madeline sighed. Larkin could hear her
roll her eyes.
    “Hey,” she said. “Is this the same tomato
can? You kept it?”
    Larkin headed across the room to take the
key, but the thought of her proximity made him pause. He tried to
remember the last time he had touched her hand, but he could not
remember.
    “I’ll just leave it on Charisma’s desk,” she
said after easily interpreting his hesitation. She looked to the
pictures on the wall. “Where is she?”
    “She passed away,” said Larkin. “It was
sudden. A heart condition.”
    Madeline’s hand covered her mouth. “How long
- -”
    “A year . . . no. Two years.”
    Madeline’s hand fell from her mouth and
covered her chest. “Two years?” she repeated. “Two years, and still
this?” She gestured to the array of family photos hung behind
Charisma’s