Chapter 18

Thursday, June 24, 2010

After a couple experiments while waiting for the hearing to start, Jake decided his father was right about filtering out mind noise. His experience was much like Ellen had described the night before.

Jake damped out everybody at one point except for Donna Glenn. She was nearly 25 feet away from him, and mind noise should have made it impossible for him to read her. Instead he knew that she was bored, impatient and was wondering if Mr. 23b7d5i was sitting in the courtroom.

Sidney Vincent was already sitting at the counsel table. He was feeling confident. Jerry was backslapping with a couple of criminal defense lawyers across the aisle.

The bailiff entered the courtroom and cried out, “All rise.”

The judge entered, sat, and called the case. Jerry took his place at the other counsel table.

“Go ahead, Mr. Vincent,” the judge said.

“Are we on the record, Judge?” Jerry asked.

“Yes, we are, Mr. Amos. Please, proceed, Mr. Vincent.”

“Your Honor, Mr. Amos has noticed me for a deposition in the same way that he did the week before. We ask the court to quash this one also as improperly requested.”

“Mr. Amos?”

“There are a couple of differences, Judge. I faxed Mr. Vincent notice before noon on Friday so that he could see it before he went golfing. In any case, he will have had ten calendar days to prepare for the deposition.

“The second difference goes to the argument of relevance. In this case, the deponent is someone who has even more knowledge than Ms. Tamborg of Mr. Cox’s shameful, tortious conduct. The witness is Ryan Caldwell, Mr. Cox’s former chief-of-staff and a co-conspirator with Speaker Cox in the attempt to cover up the accident.

“Mr. Caldwell bribed Nina Tamborg to hide her from the plaintiffs. He called in the physician who drove Ms. Tamborg to a distant city so that the police wouldn’t know of her existence. Mr. Caldwell used his influence with the police to ensure that Speaker Cox wasn’t required to submit to a field sobriety or Breathalyzer test.

“The only part of Speaker Cox’s wrong-doing that Mr. Caldwell didn’t contribute to and have personal knowledge of is how Speaker Cox got himself drunk, holed up with two young women for sex, drugs, and more alcohol, and how the then impaired Speaker Cox lost control of his automobile and crashed it, killing one young woman and maiming the other.

“And although Mr. Caldwell has no personal knowledge of Speaker Cox’s dissolute conduct prior to the accident, his testimony is still admissible under a hearsay exception because he learned of those facts from Speaker Cox’s own lips. I’d say that Mr. Caldwell’s testimony is very relevant and will be very compelling when it is presented to the jury.”

Vincent had been stewing, grimacing at each detail as Jerry disclosed it. Jake looked over at Donna. She was scribbling away on her reporter’s pad.

“Anything else, Mr. Vincent?”

“No, Your Honor.”

“Motion to quash is denied.”

“But your honor, we can’t be ready in time for the deposition.”

“You had a week to prepare. You’ve still got the weekend,” Judge Thompson said.

“Judge, I renew my request for a setting to depose Nina Tamborg,” Jerry said.

“I order that the Tamborg deposition be held on the Monday following the Caldwell deposition at 10 a.m. That would be July 5th. Mr. Amos, write the order. Anything else, gentlemen?”

“No, Judge,” Jerry said.

“No, Your Honor,” Vincent said.

Jake felt Vincent’s unhappiness and confusion about the rulings.

Donna Glenn found Jerry and Jake after the hearing.

“Why didn’t you mention the sex and drugs last week, Jerry?”

“Shame on you, Donna. If I say anything the judge will jump on me, as you well know. By the way, congratulations on your big story.”

“Thanks, Jerry. Did you have anything to do with the anonymous tip I got on that?”

“No, darling, that was all news to me.”

“I wish you could talk more about this case.”

“So do I, Donna. Believe me when I say that there’s a lot of stuff here that I wish you knew about. Perhaps your own investigation can bring it to light.”

Jerry steered Jake toward the courthouse door.

Is he going to be like that the rest of the trial? Jerry sent, indicating the courtroom with his thumb.

Jake went to his car. He turned on his phone and found a message on it from Andy. He called him back.

“Andy, this is Jake.”

“That guy I saw yesterday is back again today.”

“What’s he doing?”

“He’s just standing across the street watching.”

“Intercept Randy and Nina before they can leave the building. Have Nina find a back entrance. You hop in your car and pick her up in the alley. Make sure that nobody follows you home. Tell Randy the same thing. If either of you picks up a tail call me immediately.”

“Yes, Jake.”

“I think it worked,” Jake said, still panting.

“What worked?” Jan asked.

“This is the time you catch. One of the little soldiers in today’s assault is going to be the one who storms the castle.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, I sent in the elite troops today. They won’t let me down.”

“So after this, all the invaders are second rate?”

Jake laughed. “Logically that seems to be the only way to look at it. But they’ll still be loyal soldiers who want to do all they can to contribute. Don’t spoil it for them.”

Jake sat down at the kitchen table. Kate was nursing a soft drink at the island and studying math. Annabelle was puttering around making lunch.

Jake laid out the four pages of handwritten notes he had gotten from his father that morning. They weren’t in any particular order.

There were four tips on how to use the power with commentary about when and why to use each one. One of the techniques was for making a slave more docile. Another described how he could make a clerk miscount money if he needed some pocket change. In the third tip, he discussed how to assassinate a pedestrian by making him mistake the state of the traffic lights and the flow of traffic. Jake didn’t think that he’d have many occasions to use those tips.

But there was one technique that Jake thought might be useful. Harris described broadcasting a mood-elevating command to a sullen group. Harris used it in conjunction with suppressing inhibitions to turn a dull crowd into a wild party. Jake didn’t make it to many parties, but he thought that he could use the mood-altering effect to provide relief to depressed people. The effect would probably last for six months before it needed to be renewed. He would talk to Jan about whether it would be useful with Kate.

Jake decided that he would pick up a laptop for his father and ask him to use it to write and organize his pointers. Jake could use a flash drive to transfer the files to his own computer.

Kate dropped down next to him with her math book and papers.

“So how do you know which denominator to use when you add fractions?”

Jake looked at the problem she was working on.

“Oh, I remember. One way is to multiply each numerator and denominator by the other denominator. That guarantees that your denominators are the same. Then just add the numerators like you did yesterday.”

“That sounds easy.”

“The only problem with doing it this way is that the denominators can become pretty big numbers. That makes it harder to simplify the fraction when you’re done. There are techniques for finding smaller common denominators if they exist. You’ll read about it soon. But the way I just described works every time if you don’t mind big denominators and the extra work simplifying.”

“Thanks.” Kate paused for a few seconds. “Did you mean it when you said that guys would hit me if I treated them rudely?”

“A few. Not that many. Maybe one in twenty-five. I don’t know for sure. It’s more likely that you’ll run into guys who are rude back. Maybe one in five or one in ten.”

“But I don’t want guys to mess with me. It’s not fair. Why don’t they just leave me alone? I hated the way that guy stared at me yesterday.”

“Some things you’ll never be able to change. Guys are going to stare at you, Kate. Your beauty is remarkable. As long as guys are guys, they are going to stare, and some are going to want to do more.”

“Why are guys like that?”

“Why does the ocean reach the shore? All I can tell you is that it’s the result of millions of years of evolution. It’s a fact you can’t change, so you’re going to have to live with it.”

“There’s nothing I can do?”

“There are some things that will help you get along, but they won’t make the problem go away entirely. And some of them might be worse than the problem.”

“Like what?”

“Dress stodgily. Make yourself unattractive. Have your hair cut in an unflattering way. Wear sunglasses and a scarf. Don’t wear makeup.”

“Oh.”

“Or when you do go out, go out with a guy. The other guys will think you already have a boyfriend. If you’re by yourself and a guy tries to talk to you, look down and say something quiet to put him off.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re late and you have to go. Or your boyfriend is the jealous type and you can’t talk to other men. You’re sick and don’t feel good or you’re sick with something contagious. It depends on how inventive and audacious you are. But if you come off as rude, you will be inviting a confrontation.”

“I shouldn’t have to worry about guys messing with me.”

“And you shouldn’t have to worry about ultraviolet radiation either, but don’t lay out by the pool without sunscreen. Your safest bet is to ask Andy, Randy, or me to accompany you. We won’t mind, and none of us will show you unwanted interest.”

The door opened. Randy pushed Nina into the kitchen.

“Jake, what happened out there? It was scary having to sneak out the back.”

“Andy saw something suspicious. There’s been a man standing across the street.”

“What was Andy doing there anyway?”

“I sent him. I didn’t feel comfortable. You are too important for me to take chances.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“I’m going to find out tomorrow why the man is there.”

“Why put yourself in danger?”

“A mind reader has ways of dealing with such things. Remember when we were followed after eating with Jerry and Mattie?”

She nodded.

“I used a couple of tricks on them. They’re not a problem anymore. In fact, they are now spies for us.

“How much danger am I in?”

“We know that Cox is capable of doing pretty much anything to protect himself. We have to assume the worst. The judge finally ordered a date for your deposition — July fifth. That means the danger is worse than it was before. But we now know that we’ve only got to worry for eleven more days.”

Jake pulled out his phone and called Boris Havel.

“The situation with Nina is heating up, Boris,” Jake said and told him about the suspicious man and the upcoming deposition.

“Does Cox know about your new house?”

“Not so far as we know.”

“That’s not a no. I’ve about finished my recommendations for security upgrades for you. I can have you look them over when I come by tonight to work with Ellen, Shannon, and Kara.”

“Good. I’d like you to protect Nina personally when she goes to physical therapy, starting tomorrow.”

“You’re my number one client, Jake. I’ll clear the time on my schedule.”

Jake hung up the phone and turned back to Nina.

“We’ll do whatever it takes, love. Boris is very good.”

She put her hand on Jake’s cheek.

“I trust you, Jake.” She turned her chair toward the front of the house. “Now, I need to clean up after working up a sweat at therapy.”

“Would you like a hand?”

Kate clicked her tongue.

Nina glanced over at her and smiled. “Kate, a poor crippled girl like me has to take advantage of any help she can get. Especially when the offer comes from a handsome, young man like Jake.”

Jake smiled at Kate as he pushed Nina to the door. He rolled her to her room. Nina had picked it because it was on the first floor and had a large shower stall.

“Jake, would you help me undress and then put me in the shower chair?” Nina asked.

Jake took off Nina’s shoes and socks, rubbing her feet for a few moments. Then he pulled her shirt off and stepped behind her to unhook her bra. When her back was fully exposed Jake leaned down and kissed the side of her neck and then kissed his way to her back and halfway down it before the back of the wheelchair got in the way. He kissed her shoulders and then went back to her neck where he lingered for several minutes.

“Oh, that feels good. It’s been so long since I had someone kiss me tenderly like that. I miss it.”

“And I’m glad to do it for you. But you know that there are other people in this house who would like to do just what I’m doing.”

“But everyone else here is female.”

“I do have it nice, don’t I?”

“I have a lot of experience with men, Jake. I’ve never done anything with a woman. It’s not that I’m repulsed or anything, but I’ve always had men available, and I find them quite satisfactory.”

“What you need right now, regardless of whether it’s a man or a woman, is someone who won’t hurt you. There are only five people like that, four of whom live in this house. All but one of them are female.”

“I didn’t think of that. The other mind readers can do what you do?”

“Soon they will. Ellen and Jan are already far enough through the process to learn the technique. Leanne and Kara might be there, too. I’d have to see. Would you like one of them to see if they can help you?”

“On one level I think I’d like that, but I’m not sure I should. It would make me feel, I don’t know, like a degenerate or a sex fiend.”

“I can’t think of anything that could help you blend in here any better.”