Read Online Legally Wasted by Tommy Strelka - Free Book Online Page A

vacant desk.
    In the time that she had worked for Larkin,
Charisma had done little else besides straighten the seldom used
waiting room and clean the twenty-seven picture frames of her
enormous extended family that hung behind her desk. After Sam
Wexler’s final trip to Richmond, Charisma had asked Larkin if he
would consider allowing her to personalize her workspace. He had
readily obliged, not knowing that Charisma had planned on putting
two dozen holes in the wall. Nearly one hundred smiling black faces
greeted anyone who entered his office.
    “Didn’t you tell?” asked Madeline.
    “Tell?” asked Larkin. She always assumed that
Larkin could read her mind.
    She pointed to the photos. “Didn’t you tell
these people that they could come and get these pictures?”
    Larkin nodded. “I did, I made a number of
calls, left messages, but no one came.”
    “No you didn’t.
    “No. I really did.”
    Madeline glared at him, her lie detector on
maximum sensitivity. Her shoulders relaxed and she returned her
gaze to the photographs. “That’s sad.”
    “It saves on spackle.”
    “None of these people loved her as much as
she loved them.”
    “That’s a bit of a leap,” said Larkin. He
could tell that his comment irritated her. “What the hell is this?”
Larkin flung the manila envelope across the room. It landed neatly
on the edge of the desk and slid to a stop directly in front of
Madeline. He could always throw things.
    “Nice toss,” said Freddie.
    Larkin nodded. “You’re goddamned right. Now
explain to me just how in the hell you think you can sue me for
Rusty?”
    Madeline picked up the envelope. She withdrew
the contents and straightened the stack of papers. “That’s not all
I’m doing,” she said. She held up the Notice. “You’re not the only
one who can learn the law, Larkin. We have a never-ending divorce
case pending in Circuit Court. I talked to the clerk and the Court
typically refers custody matters to the family court. I went down
there, and brought it to the Clerk’s attention. Apparently Judge
Loundsbury found it worthy of consideration.”
    “Son of a,” said Larkin. “This is
insanity.”
    “These,” said Madeline with guttural
inflection. She swung a stack of seventy-five pages or more over
her head. As smooth and steady as a construction crane, she moved
the stack laterally until over the middle of Charisma’s desk.
Freddie and Larkin’s eyes trailed her slow and somewhat graceful
movement. “Are the final divorce papers that I prepared requiring
your signature.” She slammed the paperwork down upon the desk.
Larkin jumped.
    “You? You prepared? Didn’t I type up the
separation agreement?”
    “Which you never signed and then lost. I did
the research. To be honest, I’m glad I didn’t sign that thing. Do
you use that as a model? It was missing some key things.”
    Larkin raised his hands. “Don’t even - -”
    “I was going to ask you about that, Mr.
Monroe,” Freddie interjected. “You see, I was flipping through some
of the pages in the documents your wife prepared, and there’s a lot
more in there then what you put in my divorce papers. I mean a lot
more. That thing’s got some weight and I think you gave me no more
than twelve or so pages. There’s Latin stuff in her work. That’s
important right? The Latin stuff?”
    Larkin turned to Freddie. “You’re divorced.
You owe me twelve hundred bucks. Get out.”
    “Right,” said Freddie. “I’ll wait by your
car, Ms. Monroe.”
    Freddie brushed past Larkin. Larkin squinted.
“Her car?” The light went off. “And you owe me another eight
hundred bucks for that DUI last fall,” shouted Larkin as Freddie
raced out the door. “You get your license back when I say so, pal!”
The door slammed.
    Silence. Larkin could barely turn to face
her. “So that’s it?” he finally asked.
    Her huge brown eyes blinked.
    “You found someone?”
    “Maybe,” she said. “I want you to handle
this. Put it on the