Chapter 4

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Jan parked Jake’s Cadillac on the street, half a block from the offices of Steven Cockrell, Builder.

When Jake remained still, she nudged his arm.

“We’re here already?” he asked. “You should drive race cars.”

“Hush. I drove the speed limit. I have to say that that’s an impressive display of focus.”

“It’s a lot of detail work. The problem is that too many of the neurons in the bundles are failing to forward signals. They probably haven’t developed a sufficient density of axons to overcome the default tendency of nerves to dampen impulses. My strategy is to stimulate them. That will cause neurons to grow more axons which will make them more effective at forwarding the signals.”

“Any luck so far?”

“It’s too early to tell. My approach is to stimulate natural growth. That takes a while to play out. I’ll see some results tomorrow from what I’m doing now.”

“How long do you think?”

“The signal loss isn’t uniform. Most of the length of the nerve is not very efficient, but it still works. It’s the half-dozen regions that aren’t working at all that choke off the signal. I’m focusing on them today. If there are no surprises you should wake up tomorrow morning with the first stirrings of telepathy.”

“Oh, God. That will be so great.”

“If, beautiful. We may fix these links and find problems downstream that will take more study to solve. It’s also possible that I’m completely wrong and this whole notion will never work.”

“Okay. I’ll try to keep my expectations low.”

“At first, what you sense may seem more like hunches or impressions. It’s going to be a while before you can sense minds in fine detail, like what I send when I open up a channel to you.”

“I’ll remember that, but it’s still exciting.”

Jake smiled at her. “It is, isn’t it? Are you ready to face Steve Cockrell?”

Jake and Jan stepped into Cockrell’s offices. The carpet was worn and the furniture was cheap.

“I’m Jake Fielding to see Mr. Cockrell,” Jake said to the receptionist.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. If you will tell him that I was sent by Clarence Johnson then he’ll want to see me.”

“Please have a seat. I’ll let him know.”

Jake did, though he stayed within range so that he could read her.

“Mr. Cockrell, there is a Jake Fielding here. He said to tell you he was sent by Clarence Johnson.”

Crap. Is he alone?

“No, he’s with a woman.”

Tell him I’ll be with him shortly. Get my lawyer on the phone.

“Tell him I’m not here on any legal matter,” Jake told her. “He won’t need his lawyer.”

She conveyed his message. “He’s just a boy, Mr. Cockrell,” she added.

Then why did Johnson send him?

“I don’t know, Mr. Cockrell. Would you like me to ask him?”

No. If he’s a boy just get rid of him.

“Yes, sir.”

Jake stepped up to her desk and put her to sleep. As her head started to fall, he caught it and set it down gently.

“Asking politely didn’t work, Jan. Time for plan B. Let’s find his office.”

They walked into the hallway behind the receptionist. They found a door marked “Steven Cockrell.” Jake sensed a disgruntled man behind it. Jake opened the door and entered. Jan followed him.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cockrell thundered as he stood up.

Jake disconnected his vocal cords. When Cockrell tried to yell again, he wheezed, but his voice did not carry.

“Please sit, Mr. Cockrell.”

Cockrell wheezed again but Jake ignored him.

“I’m here on behalf of Leanne DeRizzo, Gus DeRizzo’s wife. You have wronged her, and I’m here to seek redress.”

This time Cockrell’s wheeze conveyed frustration.

“If you’ll keep your voice down, I’ll let you speak, Mr. Cockrell.” Jake restored his voice. “Try it now.”

“What do you mean you’ll let me speak?” he shouted.

Jake disconnected his voice again.

“No, that won’t do. Until you agree to speak with a normal tone of voice, you won’t be able to talk.”

Suddenly Cockrell’s legs gave way. He fell back into his seat.

“That was something I’ve never done before,” Jake said. “But if I did it right, I just stopped the functioning of your spinal cord between the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. That means that your legs no longer work. If you’re suddenly unable to control your bladder or bowels, I apologize, but it is a side effect that paralyzed people sometimes experience. Do I have your cooperation or will you make me take harsher measures? You can speak again.”

“How can you do these things?”

“That is not any of your business. In fact, if you ever tell another person about what I can do, I will come back and deal with you harshly. Of course, if you did tell someone, they would probably just send you to a mental hospital. It would be better if you just accept the fact that I can do these things, and many other things besides.

“Now let’s get down to business. I’ve got some bad news for you, Mr. Cockrell. It turns out that you picked your victim poorly. Mrs. DeRizzo is one of the finest women in the world. She didn’t deserve to be wronged by you.”

“What happened to my legs?”

“I told you. They don’t work anymore. Now, back to Mrs. DeRizzo. You have a lot to answer for.”

“Gus DeRizzo brought it on himself.”

“And I couldn’t care less what you do to Mr. DeRizzo, but you humiliated Mrs. DeRizzo. She was innocent of wrongdoing. That means punishment is required.”

“I’m sorry she got in the way.”

“Got in the way? She wasn’t collateral damage. She was your target. You put her in the way. Is there any woman you love, Mr. Cockrell?”

The image that came to mind for him was his mother, an overweight, elderly woman at a holiday meal. Jake overwrote the memory with a dramatization of a huge, angry man accosting her in front of her family. He ripped her clothes off of her, leaving her nude. She tried vainly to cover her nakedness with her hands and arms. The man pushed her to her knees and then upbraided her for preying on children.

Jake infused the scene with a sense of the humiliation and shame that the old woman would have felt. Then he played the memory for Cockrell. Cockrell grabbed the edge of the desk. Jake played the memory again.

“Do you want to see it another time?” Jake asked.

“No, I didn’t want to see it at all.”

“That’s an illusion for your benefit. I’m afraid that it’s going to come to mind every time you think of your mother. Having seen that, let me ask if you would like me to really do that to her? I assure you that I have the power to make that scene become reality.”

“No, she didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

“Neither did Mrs. DeRizzo. Do you still want to make excuses for bribing Mr. Johnson to have her charged?”

“I couldn’t just let DeRizzo get away with what he did to me.”

“Of course you could have. But even if you were determined to get your revenge, you could have done it without targeting his wife. If you are unwilling to accept responsibility for your actions, Mr. Cockrell, I will have to take sterner measures to convince you.”

“Okay. I’m sorry I brought his wife into it.”

“I doubt that you really are sorry, sir. But I will be satisfied if you accept responsibility and agree to make things right.”

“Make them right, how?”

“Whatever it takes, Mr. Cockrell. Do you accept responsibility for having wronged her?”

“But what does that mean, making things right?”

Jake ringed his optic nerves.

“I can’t see.”

“Sir, I have taken away your legs. I’ve taken away your eyes. I’ve implanted a horrific memory of your mother. There are many more things I can and will do to you. The next step is for me to resort to torture. I will continue in this way until you say to me in all sincerity, ‘I have wronged Leanne DeRizzo, and I accept responsibility for what I have done.’ Would you care to say that or shall I keep going?”

“Stop. I’ll do anything.”

“All you have to do is say what I just told you.”

“Okay. I wronged her. I’ll take responsibility.”

“Is that just something you’re saying, Mr. Cockrell, or do you mean it.”

“I mean it. I’ll try to make things right.”

Jake restored his vision.

“Good. Now let’s talk about how you’re going to do that.”

“What can I do?”

“Let’s start with you sharing her shame.” Jake activated feelings of shame in Cockrell and turned them up high.

“Stop it. What are you doing to me?”

“That’s what shame feels like, Mr. Cockrell. It seems fair to me that you should have to endure it since you brought it on Mrs. DeRizzo, and she endures it still. Now let’s talk about reparations. How can you compensate her for what you have done?”

“I’ll do whatever I can. Just make it stop.”

“Do you think that Mrs. DeRizzo’s shame ended after just a few seconds? Whatever else you do, you will endure these feelings until I’ve decided you’ve had enough. I’ll come back on Thursday to see how you’re doing. We’ll decide then how you will compensate Mrs. DeRizzo. I’ll give you an idea of what you can do. She is going to need a place to live that is bigger and nicer than where she’s living now. It’s looking like twelve bedrooms might work. But it will also depend on your resources.”

Jake probed Cockrell’s mind to see how to figure out what his resources actually were.

“When I come back, I will expect to see your financial statements.”

Jake broke the ring around his spinal cord.

“Don’t keep me waiting next time, or I will leave your legs paralyzed permanently.”

Jake got up and left. Jan followed. Jake woke the receptionist on the way out.

Jake walked into the reception room of Jerry Amos’ office. Denise was sitting at the receptionist’s desk. He had come ten minutes early to tease her. Jake noticed that in the time it took him to walk from the elevator to her desk, the top two buttons of her blouse had come undone. She stood and put her hand on his hand when he reached the desk.

Jake resumed the game, stimulating her sexual circuitry when she touched him or him her and stopped it when they were no longer touching. Denise didn’t understand why the young runner affected her as he did, but she couldn’t stop herself from wanting more.

Denise really was beautiful. For at least those few minutes when they were together in the reception room, Jake was willing to overlook the fact that she wasn’t very nice.

“You look lovely today, Denise,” he said. “This blouse really becomes you.” Jake ran his fingers along the collar and onto the top of her chest. She breathed in sharply.

“Thank you. I hoped you would like it,” she said, her breath coming a bit faster. “Jerry told me you were coming in today.”

“So you wore it for me? That deserves a reward.”

Jake leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. He gave her extra stimulation while his lips were in contact with her.

“How do you do that to me?” She pulled his head to her and kissed him hard on the lips.

Jake continued to energize the circuit, letting Denise feel the beginnings of an orgasm. She threw her arms around him. Jake almost laughed when he sensed Tammy, the office manager, enter the reception area from one doorway and Jerry from the other.

“Denise! What do you think you’re doing?” Tammy cried. “He’s just a boy. And this is a place of work.”

Denise jerked back as though she had been shocked. Her hair was askew, her chest heaving. She was sweating, and her nipples were pronounced.

“Jake, I wish you would stop that,” Jerry said, but Jake sensed his amusement. “He’s only after sex, Denise. His intentions are not honorable. And if I were you, I’d find out how many other girls he’s involved with at the moment.”

Denise dropped back into her seat. Her face was a bright red, equally from arousal and embarrassment.

“Not much privacy here, is there, Denise?” Jake said. “Maybe next time we can find a quiet corner.”

“Come with me, Jake,” Jerry said. “Let’s walk over to the courthouse. We’ll talk on the way.”

He escorted Jake to the elevator. Jake waved to Denise as Tammy looked on sternly.

“It’s really not her fault,” Jake said when the elevator door had closed. “You won’t let Tammy fire her, will you?”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you seduced her.”

“That was very lawyerly done, Jerry, but don’t put this on me when you’re the one who has the power to act.”

The doors opened and someone got on the elevator.

You’re talking to the wrong person, Jake. You know that Tammy runs the office.

I also know you can overrule her.

I don’t have enough capital with Tammy to influence her personnel decisions except in extreme cases. I can either fire Tammy or let her run the office her way. I’d really rather not fire her. She’s too good. If you want to save Denise’s bacon, you’ll have to convince Tammy yourself.

They arrived on the ground floor and started walking toward the courthouse.

“What’s up today, Jerry?”

“Partly I wanted to bring you up to speed on things. Partly I wanted you to take a look at Judge Thompson.”

“Isn’t he the judge who did you a good turn when the defendant tried to put his sister on the jury?”

“Yes.”

“He seems to like you. Why are you concerned?”

“The stakes are very high, and the defendant is both devious and desperate. It’s a lawyer’s worst nightmare that the judge is biased. I’ve never before had a chance to find out whether the judge is fair.”

“I’ll do what I can. If you’ll bring up the subject, it will help me to probe the judge’s thoughts.”

“I need a setting for a hearing on an unrelated case. That will give us an excuse to see him. How’s Nina doing?”

“She’s charming everyone in the family. They’ll be sorry to see her go after you’ve taken her deposition.”

“About that, Cox filed a motion to quash our deposition. There’s a hearing on the motion Thursday morning, nine a.m. I’d like for you to be there.”

“Sure.”

“I talked to the O’Connor family this morning. They won’t settle unless Cox publicly admits that he caused the accident that killed Carolyn and that he allowed her to die when he failed to promptly report it.”

“I don’t think that’s likely. When I read Cox’s chief attorney, he was already composing a non-disclosure clause in his head.”

“That’s why we have courtrooms, my young friend. When you can’t get the parties to compromise the only thing to do is to put the case into the hands of twelve jurors, honest and true. It looks like this one is going to go to the mat. All the more reason to have a judge we can trust to do the right thing.”