The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Fifteen



The universe called the next day in the form of Wanda Reardon, an old friend and client of Jack’s. Wanda was a single mother with five children, ranging in age from twenty-one to twelve. An attractive African-American woman in her midforties who worked night and day, Wanda had come to Jack a year and a half ago because she had been involved in a car accident.

Jack had made his living and amassed a small fortune defending insurance companies in personal injury actions before he retired to Bass Creek. He hadn’t defended a case as small as the one Wanda brought to him in twenty years, and he had represented very few plaintiffs in his career. Besides that, he had embarked on a new vocation representing death row inmates. It didn’t pay at all, but Jack was not looking for money at this stage of his life.

Wanda had made an impression on him that first day. She was a determined woman who refused to let life defeat her. Her accident had caused her to be out of work for six weeks and, since she lived on the margin, that brief period of time had almost crippled the family. Wanda had lost her job as a practical nurse and was unable to find another.

It had taken two letters and a phone call for Jack to settle Wanda’s case for twice as much as it was worth. The insurance adjuster handling the matter took one look at the name of the attorney representing Wanda and coughed up the money. Jack had left the practice of civil law but his reputation remained. He had also made some inquiries at the hospital about why his client had lost her job after she was in an automobile accident. It didn’t take the hospital long to get the message. Wanda was offered her old job back.

It was nine o’clock on Sunday morning when Wanda knocked on Jack’s door. Both Jack and Henry were up and about, getting ready for another day of fishing. Jack answered the door.

“Wanda, how are you? Boy, it’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has, Jack. Yes, it has.” Wanda gave him a big hug. “You need to come over to the house for some good home cooking.” As she said the words, she gave him the look that Henry had given him the day before. The one that said “you need to put some meat on those bones.”

“I will for sure, Wanda, but you didn’t come all the way over here to invite me for dinner. Come on in and tell me how you’re doing.”

He led her to the living room and offered her a comfortable spot on the couch. Henry was in the kitchen making coffee.

“You remember Henry, don’t you?”

Wanda smiled. “I sure do.”

Henry smiled back from the kitchen. Jack sensed there might be something more between the two of them than just knowing each other’s names.

“Can I get you some coffee?”

“No, I don’t want to bother you on the Lord’s Day. And I’m too troubled to eat or drink.” She did appear upset although not too upset to smile at Henry.

“What’s the problem, Wanda? How can I help?” Jack sat down on the couch next to her.

“It’s my son Julian. You remember him, Jack. You went to one of his football games with me up in Oakville.”

“I do. What a great athlete.”

A smile again came to Wanda’s face, but for only an instant. “Yes, he is, but he’s in trouble. He’s about to lose everything. Everything he and I have worked so hard for.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Some girl up there at the university claimed he tried to rape her. Now, Julian is no angel, but I talked to him and he told me he’s innocent. He says the girl is just making it up. The press is all over him because the football team is having a lot of these kinds of problems. He needs a lawyer bad, Jack.”

It was not a case that Jack would normally take. There were plenty of good criminal lawyers who could handle a case like this, but Wanda was a friend and she had no money. That was the unspoken conversation between them. Jack knew Julian and he liked him but he didn’t know if he was innocent or not. If he had tried to rape the girl, Jack was not going to help him.

It occurred to him as he sat next to Wanda that maybe something else was going on here. Maybe he was supposed to go to Oakville. He’d been there many times and his good friend Ron owned The Swamp, the most popular bar and restaurant in town. Oakville had a vibrant community of intellectuals, a great arts community, a world-class medical facility, rivers and natural springs, and so much to offer.

He’d long ago forgotten about Ron’s prediction that he would come to Oakville someday to live.

“I’ll tell you what, Wanda. Henry will be disappointed, but I’m going to forego fishing today and take a drive up to Oakville to see Julian.”

“Oh, thank you, Jack. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll talk to Julian but I won’t help him if I don’t think he’s innocent.”

“That’s fine. That’s fine. He’s innocent. You’ll see it right away, Jack. You’ll look into his eyes and you’ll know.”

“Henry is going to be awful disappointed he won’t get to spend the rest of the day with me.” Jack turned and looked at Henry, who was walking out of the kitchen toward the dining room table with his coffee and a bagel in hand.

“Oh, don’t you worry about Henry,” Wanda said. “I’ll take him over to my house and feed him a good meal.” She looked over at Henry and smiled. Henry smiled back.

Maybe the universe is working for both of us, Jack thought.