52) Show me what you got

Two weeks ago I would have gotten up and walked off without a word if someone had planned an ambush like this.

I’m not sure how I would have gotten home in that situation, which is why I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair while glaring at everyone else at the table.

Ebler smirked at me while Brad cleared his throat.

For once he looked sure of himself, fully awake.

“Mr Bright? While I still do and have always enjoyed cooking for myself and others, I was never a professional cook. I practiced law for most of my adult life, while it was mainly bankruptcy law, I did take other types of cases for some of my clients, friends, and family. Even if it was just to advise them on who they would be better off hiring.”

He patted his hand on top of the folder he had laid on the table. “Which is why Beryl asked me to speak with you. I understand you worked with Steven Abdallah when setting up your will?”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at Brad. A lawyer, no wonder I never liked him.

“Yeah.”

Brad sighed and his shoulder slumped a little as he opened his folder and fiddled with his papers. “I’m trying to help you here Mr. Bright. And I’m doing it Pro Bono at that. I want a working relationship with you since from what I’ve been told…” He tipped his head toward the Army reserve captain. “You’re going to have a lot to offer someone with my class from what you are going to be able to grow on your land. And in return, I’m going to be able to offer a lot back to you, and to other people that can be useful to you.”

He closed his folder and clasped his fingers together on top of it. “We can help each other, and you don’t need to trust, or like me. Just work with me.”

I sighed and dug out my wallet. From it, I dug out a dollar bill. I didn’t know how exactly this Pro Bono thing worked, but I was pretty sure once money exchanged hands it did something legally that could make it harder for a lawyer to screw me over.

Not impossible, there are always some legal shenanigans a lawyer can try to pull, but it couldn’t hurt.

Brad took the dollar with a nod, and then wrote something down on a sheet of paper and signed it before handing it to Ebler. “Could you note that you witnessed this and sign as well?”

He had one of the waitresses who had begun to collect dishes signed as a witness as well. I guess the lawyer wanted people young enough they couldn’t be questioned in court for being too old.

I’m not sure how much of that was needed, and how much of it was just to make me feel better, but I’d take it.

He handed the note off to me after taking a picture of it with his phone, “I’ll send a copy to Mr Abdallah for his files as well.”

I read it, it pretty much amounted to ‘I will not screw over Harold Bright.’ but in legal talk.

When I started folding up the sheet of paper, Brad fished out another folder from below his which he handed to me. “There is going to be more paperwork before we’re done.”

I grunted and tucked the first sheet away. As I finished Brad started in again.

“First question, did you leave Reed Bright anything in your will?”

Nodding I held up one finger. “Steve, which I think might not be his real name, told me to leave the little bastard one dollar so he couldn’t claim he had been overlooked or forgotten in order to challenge my will. I also had myself examined by a doctor to make sure he couldn’t claim I wasn’t of sound mind.”

I smiled to myself. I had also asked Abdallah to pass on my hopes that Reed would choke on it if my lawyer ever spoke to him in person.

Steve had just sighed and agreed. Good guy, even if I did pick his name out of the phone book because it was at the top of the first page that was all lawyers.

Brad made a checkmark on a list and wrote a note next to it. “If you could, please contact Mr Abdallah and ask him to forward a copy of your will to me. I would like to know in advance anything that might be challenged so that if I do represent you I can slap it down, hard.”

The look on my new lawyer's face was, colder than anything I had seen on his face before. No wonder he and Beryl had gotten close. They both seemed to look forward to a fight.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

After that, he talked about setting up a court date for a Restraining order, which I found out from Brad by way of Beryl that Patricia had long ago set up to keep Reed away from her and Bea, but now planned to set up again since it had expired.

Which I had never heard anything about. “Did he try to contact her?”

Brad’s eyes seemed to go foggy for a moment as my question pulled him away from whatever he had been thinking about. “Ah, from what I understand he has never attempted to contact either your daughter in law or your granddaughter since he abandoned them. Ever. I just want to cover every avenue of attack he may try.”

Good idea. “Can I shoot him?”

My new lawyer seemed a little off put by that. “...No?”

Sam laughed. “If he shows up on your land, and you tell him to leave, but he tries to close in on you, then yes, you can. If he tries to break into your house, yes, you can. You don’t even have to warn him. It all comes down to if you can convince a judge that if you had reason to fear for your life, you’re good.”

He gave me a nod. “But it’s best if the other guy can’t argue in court because you blew his head off. It makes it a little hard for him to sue you as well.”

Brad shook his head at Sam and gave him a resigned look before turning to look back at me. “I can neither support nor deny, his advice. But brandishing or firing a firearm is never a good idea, legally.”

I gave my lawyer a long look but nodded. I think he was required to say that for his own protection.

Still, if I had to shoot. I’d aim for a knee.

I may not think of him as my son, not anymore, but…. My granddaughter gets to make her own mistakes, that's how you grow up. She has the right to forgive her father for how he failed and betrayed her.

No matter how stupid of an idea that would be, I wasn’t going to take the ability to do so away from her.

At some point, I had not so much forgiven my parents for kicking me out at eighteen, but at some point, I did decide to stop hating them. It was more effort than it was worth to keep being mad at two people for what they had done, but who had been out of my life for so long they themselves had stopped mattering to me at all.

Learning to forgive someone takes work and understanding, Apathy does the same thing and it just comes to you over time.

Ebler had nodded at Sam’s advice and snorted at what Brad had said. Which made me finally ask, “What the hell are you doing here anyways?”

He tipped his head back. “I understand you acquired some land. I was a bit curious how our deal was going to work out?”

Hmmm. I nodded at him while I thought that over. “Everything that your guys got planted, and anything else you can get into the ground around the old store in time for it to grow is yours, until the end of the year.”

I waved my hand around, “You can even dig up anything you want to take with you to see what happens if you plant it somewhere else if you want. But next year whatever grows there is mine.”

To my surprise, he just nodded. “Sounds fair enough, I’ll have a few of my men check on things a few times a week and water whatever needs it… or whatever else they need to do with a garden.” He shrugged and then stood up.

“Good luck dealing with your… whatever the opposite of a prodigal son is. And I contact Mr Colshek after I’ve dealt with Special Ops Super Pena.”

While Brad while holding some more paperwork he wanted me to look at, I turned to shoot a questioning look at the Saboutor as Sam shook his head and muttered something about Ebler obviously not being a churchgoer.

The Grinning man didn’t look all that happy. “The other Dungeon Harry. Somehow the Border Patrol got ordered to stand guard on it, and they have refused to hand it over to Ebler’s command. And since they’re Feds, they’re dragging their feet on doing anything with the place, especially since the first group they let go in, didn’t all come back out.”