A Timely Vision

Luke scratched his spiky, sandy-colored hair. “I wish I could do more. I’m not giving up yet. Not by a long shot. But she won’t listen to reason, and I can’t prove what you just said. It may be true, but without proof, she’s a crazy old lady who killed her sister after years of feuding with her.”

“Yeah. We all know about the feud. I suppose that didn’t help either.”

“I can tell you it didn’t help when Chief Michaels testified about how calm she was when the two of you went to tell her Miss Elizabeth was dead. I know he’s supposed to tell the truth, but it seemed to me that he went out of his way to make it sound worse than it was.”

I thought about Silas Butler, but then shook my head. “If I can help in any way, please let me know. What happens now?”

“She’ll be assigned to a mental hospital, probably on the mainland. Someone will be put in charge of her well-being. I suppose some family member will be given her power of attorney and they’ll take care of her estate. She could be stripped of her rights in a legal procedure. But that will take some time.”

“She has no family left. The sisters had no heirs. There aren’t any cousins, nephews. At least not as far as I know.” Silas Butler whispered in my brain.

“I guess a legal guardian will be appointed.”

I put up my hand to shade my eyes from the sun behind his head. “Could that be you?”

“I don’t know. I’ll check on it and get back to you.”

“Thank you so much, Luke.” I put out my hand to shake his. “I really appreciate what you’ve done.”

He shook my hand and smiled. “That’s what I like about Duck. Everybody looks after everybody else. It means we all get in each other’s business from time to time. But it’s okay.”

“That’s true.” We stood there smiling at each other for a few minutes. The rest of the small ribbon-cutting crowd wandered away. Part of me was thinking about Silas Butler and Miss Mildred. The other part was noticing how blue Luke’s eyes were.

“Would you like to get some lunch?” he asked in an offhand way, as though unsure of how I’d reply.

“Sure. Why not?”

I judged his age to be around forty, not too far ahead of me. He seemed to be in good shape. He must’ve been a very good lawyer to have retired so young. I could do worse for a lunch companion.

We agreed to try out the new restaurant. The enticing cooking aromas were already wafting out to the parking lot.

Inside was cool and colorful with Mexican music playing in the background. There weren’t many people yet. I felt sure it would be popular later. We ordered our food, then sat back in the cool, dark booth to look at each other. Oh, the awkwardness of first encounters!

“How about those Braves?” Luke began the conversation after a long pause. “They’re really moving this year.”

I hated to admit I knew next to nothing about sports, so I nodded and agreed. I’d realized earlier in my career as mayor of Duck that this was all most people needed. “This is a nice place,” I commented. “Especially since we don’t have any other Mexican food down at this end.”

He nodded, smiled and agreed, which told me he knew next to nothing about local demographics. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for Mrs. Mason. But I’ll check on being the trustee for her estate.”

“That would be wonderful.”

The waiter brought some chips and salsa, and we spent the next few minutes munching. I could hear a TV somewhere in the restaurant, but I couldn’t see it. That was okay with me. It was probably tuned into a sports event anyway.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” I finished a chip and waited for the question.

“What makes you so certain that Mrs. Mason didn’t kill her sister? Is that a Duck thing, all for one and one for all?”

I thought about it. “I’ve known her all my life. She taught most of the people who live here at some point in their school careers. She was widowed young like her sister. She never had any children of her own. She gives to every children’s charity that exists, besides being an all-around good person.”

He nodded. “I get that. But you know, sometimes good people do bad things. The case against her may be circumstantial, but it’s strong. When I was working in the system, I would’ve considered this a slam dunk.”

“Why did you offer to defend her?”

“Because she didn’t have anyone else, and everyone is entitled to representation. That’s what our government is based on. She seemed like a worthy cause to me.”

“That’s very good of you, Luke. Even if you don’t think she’s innocent.”

He leaned his head closer to mine across the narrow table. “It’s enough that you feel she’s innocent, Dae.”

I was very flattered by the way he said it. I glanced up as someone brushed by us and looked into Kevin’s slightly sunburned face. I moved away from Luke suddenly, as though we’d been doing something wrong. Then felt silly for doing it. “Hi, Kevin. I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I needed a break from roof repair.” He nodded to Luke. “Hey there.”

Luke nodded back in that way all men seem born to understand. “How’s it going, Brickman?”