Chapter 28

Monday, June 7, 2010

Jake sat in the mostly empty courtroom thinking back on the preceding night. They had gone twice more before falling asleep. They had awakened once during the night and made love again. In the morning, she had been tender and walked gingerly.

They had barely gotten into Leanne’s car when Kara had announced that she was pregnant.

Leanne had turned and glared at him.

“I thought you were supposed to be responsible!”

“I think you and your daughter need to have a heart-to-heart talk.”

“Another one? It was the last one that caused this.”

“Leanne, if Kara is pregnant, it will make us happy, and I pledge to provide for Kara and the baby. Now talk to your daughter. There have been some developments that you need to know about.”

Kara had just sat quietly, smiling.

Leanne had dropped him off at his apartment, a bit abruptly, Jake thought. He had showered, dressed, and driven himself to the courthouse.

That was when he had learned the truth about the swift administration of justice. Just because the court had scheduled jury selection at 9:30 did not mean that it would happen then. The lawyers and the parties were there. The witnesses were there, too. It took another half an hour before the pool of potential jurors was seated.

While they waited, Jerry explained to Jake that the jurors would probably be chosen from the first eighteen to twenty candidates, so he should focus his attention on them. Jake told him that it would be better if he could sit within ten feet of the jurors and that the more people there were between him and the jurors, the harder it would be for him to read them.

That proved not to be a problem. Jerry told the judge that Jake was an employee of the firm and that he would be taking notes for him. The judge granted permission for Jake to sit at the counsel table, which was close to the jurors most likely to be selected. Jake was furnished with a yellow legal pad and a pen as props.

The jury panel finally filed in. After a few words from the judge, Jerry started his presentation to the panel. He explained that the case arose from a traffic accident and fault was clear, but there was a dispute about whether the plaintiff’s preexisting back condition was the cause of his current medical problems rather than the accident. He introduced the plaintiff and the defendant and asked if any potential jurors knew them.

Jerry then described the facts of the case and explained the law that applied. He went from person to person asking questions designed to find bias against his client.

Jake examined the mind of each juror as Jerry asked him questions. The jurors were, for the most part, nervous but willing to bring an open mind and do their duty. There was an exception.

Jerry, you’re not going to believe this. Number eight is the defendant’s sister.

“Judge, may we approach the bench with juror number eight?”

“Come.” The judge consulted the juror list. “Mrs. Patricia Groll, would you, please, step up here?” They waited for a skinny, middle-aged woman to come to the bench. “Go ahead, Mr. Amos.”

“Judge, it hasn’t come out in voir dire, but I believe that I recognize Ms. Groll.” He turned to her. “Ms. Groll, are you the sister of the defendant?”

She looked nervously at the judge then back at Jerry.

“No.”

Jerry shot a glance at Jake.

She’s scared to admit it because she denied knowing either of the parties when you asked earlier.

“What is your maiden name, Ms. Groll?”

“Galloway.”

“And you are related to Mr. Galloway, the defendant?”

“No.”

“And you’ve never met him?”

“No.”

She met him outside the courthouse before she reported for jury service.

“That’s odd, ma’am. Because when I arrived here this morning, I saw you and him together. Was I mistaken?”

“You must have been. I’ve never met him. Never seen him before.”

“What is the name of your mother?”

“Edith Galloway.”

She’s lying, Jerry. Her mother is named Elizabeth.

“You are not related to Elizabeth Galloway?”

“No.”

“Where were you born?”

“Here, in the city.”

“And what is your date of birth?”

“Objection,” the defense attorney said. “This juror has testified that she is no relation to the defendant. This is becoming a fishing expedition.”

“Overruled. Please, answer the question, Mrs. Groll.”

“May 14, 1958.”

Jerry looked over at Jake.

Yes, at Methodist Hospital on that date.

“And if I go to the city clerk’s office and ask him to check his birth records, he’s not going to find a Patricia Galloway born on May 14, 1958 to Elizabeth Galloway at Methodist Hospital?”

She began to tremble. “No.”

“Mrs. Groll,” the judge said, “I don’t doubt that Mr. Amos will walk across the street to city hall during lunch and ask the clerk just that question. If he comes back to this courtroom with a birth certificate showing that he’s correct and I have to declare a mistrial, I will hold you in contempt and put you in jail.”

She looked back and forth between Jerry and the judge and then glanced at the defendant. Then she broke down in tears.

“Mrs. Groll, we’re not at that point yet,” Jerry said gently, “and I’m not asking the court to bring any penalty against you. I just need to know if you are related to Mr. Galloway?”

She nodded her head.

“Move to strike for cause,” Jerry said.

“Granted. You are excused from jury service, Mrs. Groll. Mr. Grayson, is there anyone else in the jury pool that we should know about?” the judge asked the defense attorney.

“Not that I know of, Judge, and I want the court to know that I had no knowledge of Mrs. Groll’s connection to the defendant.”

Jerry glanced back at Jake.

He knew she was in the jury pool reporting today. He didn’t tell Galloway to do it, but he knew she would be there.

He’s always been a slimy bastard. That’s why the insurance companies like him.

Jerry returned to questioning the jurors. He and Grayson finished without any more surprises.

“Mr. Amos, Mr. Grayson,” the judge said, “I’ll give you fifteen minutes to prepare your peremptory strikes.”

“What are peremptory strikes?” Jake asked after the judge left the courtroom.

“Each side gets to strike six jurors without having to give a reason. Let’s run through the jurors and you tell me what they’re thinking.”

“Mostly they’re pissed off at the defendant for trying to put his sister on the jury.”

“They heard that?”

“The judge is mic’d. The whole courtroom heard it.”

Jerry chuckled.

“Perhaps the judge has had an unpleasant experience with Lawyer Grayson before. It looks like we’ve just seen a little rough justice. The judge is supposed to cover up his microphone so that the juror pool can’t hear the questioning of individual jurors.”

Jake told Jerry about the jurors who already had a predisposition against the plaintiff. He did not say anything about the jurors predisposed to Jerry’s side. He figured that there was no need to make it too easy. Jake could live with letting Jerry get rid of the jurors who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. He did not want to tell him how to stack the jury.

“I do think you’ll want to keep juror number 14.”

“Why’s that?”

“She thinks I’m better looking than you. She’s obviously got a keen mind.”

Juror number 14 was the best-looking woman on the panel.

“She does not, does she?” Jerry asked.

Jake just smiled.

“I think you can run along, Jake. Liability is clear. The case will turn on the medical testimony. It’s technical but straightforward. I could try it in my sleep.”

“That’s it? I was looking forward to some courtroom drama.”

“Not every lawsuit is interesting enough to appear on Perry Mason.” Jerry patted Jake on the back. “You did good today, kid. Mrs. Groll could have poisoned the jury against us. If she had been able to get two other jurors to vote with her, we wouldn’t have been able to get a verdict in our favor.”

“Okay, I’m out of here — no, wait. Jerry, I’ve got a question. How do I find out who owns a business?”

“Is it located in this county?”

“Yep.”

“If it’s a corporation, check with the secretary of state’s office. Otherwise, go to the county clerk downstairs. If it’s a sole proprietorship or a partnership there will be an assumed name certificate on file. Look it up under the name of the business. The certificate lists the owners. “

Jake went to the county clerk’s office and asked about the records. A deputy clerk looked it up and found that the Rave was a partnership. She made him a copy of the certificate. The owners were Colin Masters, three guys from New Jersey, and someone named Glen Harris with an address in the city.

So Darth has a name, Jake thought, a name and an address. What was he going to do with it? Since he was sitting in information central, he thought he would see what else he could find. The clerk told him that her office had real estate filings, records of lawsuits, and marriage licenses.

Jake found that Harris owned a house at the same address as the one on the assumed name certificate, along with several other properties around the area. He had not been married in the county and had not been a party to a lawsuit in the county court. Then he noticed an interesting entry on the computer. Harris had been the defendant in a criminal case in the district court. The computer showed that the charge was sexual assault, but the case had been dismissed before trial. When he asked about it, the clerk told him the old case files where stored in the basement. She scribbled down the case number for him.

A clerk in the basement dug out the file. Jake sat down to look it over. There was curiously little information there. A page entitled “Indictment” read, “The defendant did unlawfully kidnap Tamara Banks, a person over sixteen years of age, restrain her, and remove her from one place to another where he did commit rape and sexual assault.” The indictment was dated ten years earlier.

There was nothing more about the victim and nothing about the circumstances. He wondered where the evidence was for the case. Someone in the district attorney’s office would know more. He noted the name of the prosecuting attorney on several of the documents in the file.

Jake went back to the courtroom where the judge had just adjourned for lunch.

“Jerry, do you know an attorney named Sarah Trainor?”

“You mean the ADA?”

“What’s an ADA?

‘Stands for assistant district attorney. She’s the chief of the felony division.”

“I think she’s the right one. I’d like to ask her about an old criminal case that she worked on.”

“I can introduce you, but she’s an up and comer in the DA’s office. She may not appreciate having to account for herself to one of the little people.”

“I can handle her attitude.”

“I hope you can do it more gently than you did with me.”

“I’ll even make her grateful to you for making the introduction.”

Jerry led Jake up one floor to a suite of offices.

“Jerry Amos for Sarah Trainor,” he told the receptionist. She made a phone call and told them that ADA Trainor would be out in a moment.

A middle-aged woman stalked out a minute later. She was short, round, graying, and dressed in a business suit.

“What do you want —”

Jake implanted into her mind the idea that Jerry had, at great inconvenience, brought to her someone that she badly wanted to talk to.

“I’m sorry for being brusque, Jerry. Is this Jake Fielding?”

“In the flesh.”

“I owe you big time, Jerry. If you ever need anything, just call me.”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll just leave Jake with you.”

I just hope that I never have occasion to be grateful that the chief felony prosecutor owes me a favor.

“It can’t hurt to have a get-out-of-jail-free card, Jerry.”

“Jake, I know that I needed to see you, but I can’t remember why,” ADA Trainor said.

Jake dialed up her desire to cooperate with him.

“Do you mind if I ask you about an old case?”

“Whatever you need.”

“Do you remember a case from the year 2000 with a defendant named Glen Harris?”

“Too many to remember. Let me look it up.”

They went back to her office. She typed at her computer.

“Let’s see. It was a rape case. Dismissed after the preliminary hearing. Let me read over the facts. Complainant was eighteen. Kidnapped and held overnight. She couldn’t identify the defendant, but there was DNA evidence, at least until the judge excluded it.

“Yeah, I remember it now. It would have been a weak case to try. The victim couldn’t remember what happened. The defendant could have claimed it was consensual. When the judge excluded the DNA, our case fell apart. I don’t know what he was thinking. There was nothing wrong with the way we got it. Swabbed it right from the victim’s vagina.”

“How did you know that it came from Harris?”

“Got a sample from him based on a search warrant. There was a witness that saw him and the victim. He got a license plate.”

“What happened to the victim?”

“I wouldn’t know. After the case was dropped, I didn’t have any more contact with her.”

“Do you have an address for her?”

“Probably wouldn’t be good after ten years but let me write it down. Wait. Here’s something that might do you more good. I have contact information for her parents. That might lead you to her. Older people tend to be more stable. Uh, Jake, don’t let anyone know where you got those addresses. I wouldn’t have given them to anyone but you.”

“Of course. Do you have a picture of Harris?”

“Sure. I have the mug shot from his last arrest. Here on the screen.”

She brought up an image. It was the guy that he had seen in Steph’s memories. His face was a little rounder and his hair was a little longer and starting to turn gray, but he was the same man. The date on the picture was from the previous October.

“Can you email it to me?”

“Sure. It’s just a jpeg.”

Jake wrote down his email address for her.

“The last arrest was for rape?”

“Yes, and kidnapping.”

“What can you tell me about it?”

“I can give you the police report.”

“Please.”

The printer hummed and spit out several pages.

“Do you have current information about Harris?” Jake asked.

“The latest address we have for him will be on the police report. Hold on a second.”

She typed away for a minute and several more sheets came out. Sarah handed the top one to Jake.

“This is his rap sheet. That’s interesting. Over the last twenty years, there are eleven arrests for rape. None resulted in convictions, but where there’s that much smoke, there’s fire.” She gave Jake the second paper. “This is his driving record. This will have his current address if he has kept it up to date with the DMV. You can get all his identifying information from these records. Date of birth, Social, physical description, tattoos, and other identifying marks.”

The addresses on the police report and the driving record were the same as the address on the assumed name certificate.

“Thanks, Sarah. You’ve been a big help.”

As he left, he made permanent her new desire to help him. It might prove useful in the future.

Jake drove his car over to the DMV where he stood in line for half an hour for a driving test. The test itself was a breeze. Jake read the driving examiner throughout. He knew which maneuver he would be asked to do before the request. He knew what the criteria were that the examiner would use to grade him. He got a ninety-four without having to do anything to the examiner.

After standing in another line, Jake finally left with a temporary but fully functional driver’s license.

He had almost two hours before Gil and Jason would come over. He called Carol to arrange a relief session for her at his house.

When he got home, laden with drinks and chips for the poker game, Carol had not yet arrived. He checked his email. He found a message from Sarah Trainor with the picture of his father. There was also an email from Harris himself.

<blockquote>Jake,

You don’t have to be concerned about me. I’ve left your mother alone for fifteen years. If I had designs on her then, surely I would have acted on them before now. You ask for assurances, but I can think of no way to give you an ironclad guarantee. The best I can do is give you my promise.

Your father </blockquote>

Jake had to concede that Harris was right on that point. How could he show Jake that he wouldn’t hurt his mother, aside maybe from letting himself be locked away somewhere or something like that? Jake wrote a message to Jan.

<blockquote>I got this from Darth today. Would you let me know what you think?

I’d love to get together with you soon. I’m free this week during the day. </blockquote>

Jake sent the email to Jan with Darth’s message attached.

There was a knock on the door. Carol rushed in when he opened it. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard. Then she headed for his bedroom, throwing off her clothes as she went. She threw herself onto the bed clad only in a pair of gold hoop earrings.

“Come on, Jake. It’s been since yesterday morning. Do you want me to suck you first?”

“Yeah, that would probably be best.”

She was quickly on her knees in front of him. She opened his slacks, slid them and his underwear down, and put her mouth around him. She sucked and licked him to a fast orgasm.

“You are a great cocksucker,” he said, and she smiled and gave him another hug.

“Do you know what today is?”

“What?”

“It’s been a week since I had the injection. We don’t need to use a condom.”

“With that blowjob, I should be able to go for a while even without a condom. Can you make me hard?”

She pushed him down on the bed and sucked his penis again. In a minute he was erect. She climbed on and began to fuck him.

Jake watched the now-familiar sight of her rocking on him, pressing her clit against his pubic bone. Her first orgasm would come in just a couple of minutes. He wanted to look more closely at why it was that her horniness interfered with her concentration. The problem was that she jumped him every time she saw him. As long as she did that, he would not be able to observe the way her mind worked when she was horny.

He looked into her mind and compared it to Leanne and Kara. There was simply nothing in Carol’s mind that damped out her arousal. He noticed that her feedback circuit was well developed. Considerably more energy was looped back to the processing of the raw sensations than was the case with Kara.

What would happen if he stimulated the feedback circuit as he had with Kara? He fed a little energy into the circuit, not much. Her whimpering turned into a scream. He toned down the energy to about half that level and she quieted some but she was still in the throes of a huge orgasm. He let it go on for two minutes before he cut the flow of energy.

She collapsed. She lay on his chest, making whimpering noises. He felt her vagina still convulsing around his penis. He kissed the top of her head and went back to worrying about his father.

Were any of his other women in danger? He had no reason to think that Harris had ever had contact with them. None of them were in his mother’s league, but they were still exceptional beauties, except for Carol who was merely cute. He suspected that his father had been attracted solely by Ellen’s appearance, but he did not really know that. To him, his mother’s mind was almost as attractive as her form. Jake wished that he could rifle through the memories of his women to see if they had encountered Harris.

That raised another issue. Harris did not know that Jake had discovered his identity. He was sure that at the moment Harris felt anonymous and safe. What would happen if Harris learned that Jake was tracking him? Would he feel threatened and attack? Might he take one of the women hostage? Or would he decide that messing with Jake’s women was not worth the trouble? Jake did not know enough to even make a guess.

He did think it was a safe bet that Harris was not looking over his shoulder. If it came to open war, Jake thought that he should be able to get one free shot at him. That was an advantage that Jake did not want to forego unless there was a clear benefit. That meant that he could not talk about Harris with his mother, and probably not with the other women. That was not a good thing. Jake relied on Jan’s sound judgment. He did not want to lose that.

Jake felt Carol stir.

“You did something to me. I can tell.”

“What did it feel like to you?”

“That was the biggest orgasm that I have ever had, and I’ve had some pretty big ones.”

“How do you feel now?”

“Nice.”

“Was it as satisfying as the way we normally do it?”

“Are you asking if I got as much relief from the big orgasm as I usually do?”

“Yes.”

“Ask me again in three hours and I’ll let you know. But something good has happened. My mind is as clear as it’s ever been.”

“Next time, I need you to hold off jumping my bones. I want to see if I can get a better understanding of why the lust interferes with your thinking so much. Maybe I can do something about it.”

“I love the sex. Don’t do something that takes that away from me.”

“I won’t. I promise to be careful. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could think clearly even when you’re horny?”

“It would make me a better student.”

“Jason and his brother are coming over at three to play poker. Do you want to stick around?”

“I don’t know. You made him think that I have herpes.”

“Do you realize why I did that?”

“You didn’t want me fucking a bunch of different guys.”

“Not exactly. What I don’t want is for the guys at school to decide that you’re an easy lay. The word would spread, and soon you would be looked down on at school and all the wrong kinds of guys would be trying to push you into having sex with them.”

“Honestly, Jake, I don’t care if I end up with a reputation, and I’m not sure that I want to shrink the pool of available guys.”

“You know, don’t you, that none of them will be able to satisfy you like I can.”

“You’re getting full of yourself, aren’t you.”

Jake laughed. “I could try to sound modest, but just look at the facts. Who else can do that thing that I just did to you? Who else can you visit anytime without worrying my grandparents? And now Ellen won’t get in the way. We can get together here whenever you need relief.”

“Those are considerations.”

“And then there’s the most important consideration. I love you. None of those other guys will. They will just see you as someone to fuck. I respect you. Hell, I admire you. You are the smartest person I know when your mind is clear. And I think that you love me, too. Would it be so hard to let me be your main guy?”

“Oh, Jake, you know that I love you. As far as I’m concerned, anyone else would just be for relief.”

“If you really need other guys, I’ll help. We’ll find guys who will respect you. I’ve got some ideas. But we’ll find guys who don’t go to our school. Or older guys. Or girls. Or maybe we’ll even be able to find some guys at our school who are discreet.”

“Will it bother you when I screw other guys?”

“I expect that I’ll feel jealous. I know I’m a hypocrite, but that’s how I feel. I’ll make myself give you that kind of freedom if you really want it, but if I do, you have to make me a solemn promise that you will never have sex with another guy without a condom. And I mean not even once. Not ever.”

“You’re worried about diseases?”

“I’ve got to think about my other women. Look at the worst case. If you had unprotected sex and brought back something to me, I could spread it to the other women within a couple of days. Long before there are any symptoms. It would kill me to have to tell them that I infected them. And what if the disease was a really bad one like HIV?”

“I promise to use a condom.”

“Then I’ll start looking for other lovers for you. Will you promise not to have sex with anybody without my permission? That way I can make sure that you will be with guys that won’t hurt you.”

“If you’ll find me other guys, I’ll only be with them. But don’t make me wait too long or it’s no deal.”

“And what if I find a woman who’s interested?”

“I like women,” she said with a smile. “That would be just fine with me.”

“I might be able to get you the sexiest woman in the world.”

“You mean your mom?”

“That’s who I mean.”

“Oh, Jake. If you can do that, I’ll do anything. She sets me on fire.”

“Why didn’t you say something? You should tell me when you’re attracted to someone. I can’t promise, but there are bound to be times when I can make it happen. How about older men? I know a man who is in his late forties. He’s a nice guy and good looking, and I’m told he’s good in bed.”

“I’ll try it but it sounds a little creepy. I wouldn’t want someone that would remind me of my dad.”

“I think it would be good to try one or two older men. Then we can see how you like them.”

“Just to see. I guess that’d be okay.”

“So, are you staying to watch poker?”

“Is there any reason that I can’t play poker with you?”

“Besides the fact that you’re a girl, and everyone knows that girls can’t play poker?”

“Pig. I could hold my own. Besides, I know that you can beat anyone at a game like that.”

“We’ll just have to see how it works out. You can’t tell them, you know.”

“Duh. Of course, I know not to tell anyone about you. By the way, Julie’s feeling kind of neglected.”

“Why don’t you call her and ask her if she wants to come over? I’ve hardly gotten to see her lately.”

Carol trotted out to the living room to make the call. She came back after a minute.

“She said she’s heading right over.”

“This is going to be fun. Maybe this summer is going to be a good one.”

“Just why would I want to play poker with you?” Julie said when she came in the door. “I’d do better playing one-on-one with Yao Ming.”

“And yet you’re here.”

“Maybe I’d rather play some one-on-one.”

Jake checked the time.

“We’ve only got a half-hour before Jason and Gil get here.”

“Then get your ass in gear. You’ve been neglecting me.”

She was already heading for his bedroom. She looked over her shoulder and wiggled her butt at him.

“Let me be on top this time,” Jake said.

“Whatever. Just hurry up.”

Julie stripped and lay on the bed with her legs spread. Mindful of the time, Jake knelt between her legs without preliminaries and sucked on her clit and stroked her anus. The anal play stoked her arousal, and she quickly became wet. Jake climbed between her legs and reached for a condom.

“No. The ring kicks in today.”

“Ooooh, bareback. I’m told that feels better for the girl.”

“Why don’t you show me?”

Jake pushed into her. He sent some energy into her feedback circuit while simultaneously stimulating her affection for him.

“It does. Nothing’s ever felt that good in me before.”

Carol laughed but Jake ignored her. He slowly worked himself into Julie’s tight vagina and began pumping. He stroked steadily, very slowly sending more energy into the feedback circuit. Julie’s arousal climbed higher. She began to babble and then thrash. She grabbed at the sheets and tore them loose from the bed. It only took three minutes for her to reach a thundering orgasm. Jake backed off on the feedback circuit until he was energizing it only slightly. It was enough to keep her orgasm going for a full minute, a minute filled with her screams. Finally, she collapsed on the bed.

“Oh, Jake, I love you,” she sighed when she had calmed down a few minutes later.

Jake checked her mind. Wow. Her affection for Jake had shot up big time. He had only given her one orgasm, but it had not occurred to him that stimulating the feedback circuit would heighten the effect. He did not sense the level of devotion that Carol had, but Julie was probably at the same place she would have been after maybe five normal orgasms. He decided to just leave her at this level and see how she liked it.

“I can’t believe it was so much better than last time. How could a condom make so much difference?”

Carol laughed from the doorway.

Are you going to tell her the truth?

“What are you laughing about, you big voyeur?”

“She’s laughing because I tricked you. I learned a mental technique that makes the girl come faster and harder. I used it on you.”

“It was wonderful. You can use it again anytime, but let me recover before you do.”

“There was one unexpected side effect.”

“What was that, my love?”

“I was working on your affection for me. It turns out that this kind of orgasm works like several regular ones. You’re a lot further along than I was expecting.”