Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
“ O kay, Lance. You’re going to ride back with Sloan, right?”
“Yeah. He just had to make an appearance this morning. Said his testimony would be well over by noon.” Brick and Dan were dropping him off at the county courthouse on their way to take Brick to an appointment to adjust his prosthesis.
Lance hoped to hell Sloan was still around, though he had been ten minutes ago when Lance had texted him to ask what he was doing for lunch.
“Okay, we’ll drop you off on the square. If you need us—” Dan cut off.
“Yes, Mom. I’ll call.”
“Good deal.” The van pulled up parallel to the curb, he thought. “Okay, the place is pretty parked up, so you’re about a block and a half away.”
“Just point me and shoot me.” He’d researched this town’s downtown and where he needed to go, where he wanted to take Sloan for lunch. All in relation to the courthouse.
“Okay, when you get out on the right side, turn left. Block and half down on the right. Big stairs. ”
“That’s good to know.” He and Abby were still working on stairs and handrails and his leg and all. So this would be good practice. “Thanks, guys.” He tamped down his nervousness as best he could. Abby needed him to be confident.
They stepped out of the van, facing away from it, and he turned left.
There was quite a bit of traffic around the square, from what he could hear, but not a lot of people on foot.
So typical of the US, especially Western places like Texas.
Everyone drove and parked as close as they could to their destination.
He grabbed Abby’s harness and his cane, which he’d been practicing with. He found that kept people away far better than the Do Not Pet-Service Dog stuff on Abby’s vest.
“Okay, girl, here we go.” He tapped, and Abby walked, and he tried to focus on not tripping and making an ass of himself.
They headed to the courthouse, and he found the stair rail, so he put away his cane and held on to Abby with one hand and the rail with the other.
His heart was pounding ninety to nothing. All he had to do was get up the stairs without falling down.
And then find the door and then ask for directions to the elevators. God.
He could do this.
Lance even had a place he could ask. In fact, he’d done enough research that he knew that there was an information desk through the big doors in the front.
But first the stairs.
Abby was patient, waiting for him to haul himself up. They got up the first set and then rested for a few heartbeats on the landing. Then they started up the second flight.
He could do this. He had this. And if something happened, he could ask for help. That was the hard part, wasn’t it, the whole asking for help part. He hated feeling like a blind dude with a bad leg.
But the simple fact was, that was what he was, or at least it was part of what he was now.
He managed to get up to the top of the second set of stairs.
“Okay, Abby. Door.” There was a hesitation, then a firm tug, and she led him right over.
“I got the door for you, sir.” The voice was young, male, and eager to help. “Your dog is real pretty.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” He smiled, and he was surprised to find that he meant it. “Her name is Abby, and she’s amazing.”
“I got the second one, Bubba.” That voice belonged to a girl who sounded younger. His smile just grew. Thank God for Texans.
“Forward Abby.” She let him right on through. “Thank you very much y’all. Have a good day.”
“No problem, you too. Come on, Kayleigh.”
The big lobby echoed, and he stopped, a little disoriented.
“I don’t suppose one of y’all could point me toward the information desk?” He asked, and the little girl made a squeaky noise.
“Bubba?”
“I got this. No problem, I’ll come help.” The young man came right up next to him. “Should I take your hand or just talk to you? I don’t… I don’t know what to do, but I’ll do it.”
Sweet kid sounded more worried than he was, and that calmed him. “If I could just take your arm and then you could take us over to the information desk, it would be a big help.”
“Yep. Yes, sir.” His hand was taken and put on a skinny arm that felt like a twig. This kid had to be damn near six-foot-tall already, and if he weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet, Lance would swallow his tongue .
“Lead on, MacDuff.”
“My name is Aaron. Aaron Radican.”
God save him. This kid was too young to have ever even heard of Shakespeare. “Thank you, Aaron. I very much appreciate it.”
They walked a half dozen steps to the desk, and his hand was placed on the cool wood.
“Miz Anderson? This man here needs to ask you some questions, and I got to go because Momma’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs with Granny.”
“No worries, Aaron, y’all run along, have a good day. Tell your granny I said hello.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lance grinned, as the hurried footsteps faded. “Good morning, ma’am. I’m trying to find the elevators. I need to go to the third floor please.”
“Of course. Do you need help getting to a certain room?”
“I’m headed to courtroom three-oh-four.”
“Okay. Sure. Would you like me to walk with you or just give you directions?” She sounded like she was smiling, her voice steady and calm. He could picture her in his mind, her hair flat-ironed stick-straight, her professional little shirt done in pink and white stripes. Texan to the bone.
“I’ll try directions. If I get lost, I’ll just ask someone for a hand.” He was being fucking brave, right? He had to do this. It was like a really hard exam.
“Yes, sir. I’ll walk you to the elevator, though. This foyer is like a giant cavern.”
“Thanks.” He smiled in what he hoped was her direction.
“Of course. It’s my pleasure.” She stood and came around, her heels clacking, put his hand on her sweater-covered arm.
“Now when you get up to the third floor, you’re going to walk out into a short hallway.
When you get there, if you head to the end of the hallway, it’ll go left and right.
Courtrooms are left. The county clerk is right. ”
“Perfect. I’m meeting someone for lunch as soon as he gets finished in the courtroom. Courtroom number three.”
“Well, there will be benches, in front of the courtrooms, and there should be someone outside the courtrooms to help you should you need it.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I really appreciate it.”
She walked them to what had to be some kind of a little smaller entryway or hallway because the sound immediately stopped echoing. Lance could hear the tinny ding of a single elevator. “Okay, here’s the elevator. Jim, are you going up?”
“Yes, ma’am.” That voice was deep and low, rich as the scent of wet coffee grounds.
“Excellent. This young man here is going to the third floor, and he needs to have a seat outside the courtrooms. If you could give him a hand. This is our security guard, Jim Bennett.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
He walked into the elevator with Abby, and they turned around. He had a sudden moment of panic. Were they waiting for him to push the buttons. “Do— Do I?”
“The button’s already pushed, and I’ll ride up with you. I was going that way anyway. They like to have someone in a uniform standing upstairs around the courtrooms just in case. We never have any trouble, but it’s a job.”
The doors closed, and Abby sat. “I understand that.”
“Yeah. No one loves to work, but we do all love to eat and have a roof over us. I swear to God, though, I wish they’d let us wear jeans instead of this itchy damn stuff. Do you know which courtroom you’re needing to go to?”
Lance shook his head. “I’m not needing a courtroom. I’m meeting someone for lunch. It’s— I’m just going to wait. She…she said there were seats up there. ”
“Oh yeah. There’s a nice bench. Yeah, I’ll totally get you there. No sweat.” There was a moment of blessed silence, and then he could feel the elevator crawling up, like it was a huge effort. “So were you in an accident?”
“In a manner of speaking.” He didn’t laugh, but he wanted to. “A bomb went off on a mission. I was deployed.”
“Well, thank you for your service.”
He nodded once like he was needing a gate pulled at a rodeo. “I appreciate it.”
“Ah. I was in the 101st during the Gulf War, so it’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, I was little in that when it happened. I was stationed at Fort Liberty.” He didn’t tell people they were special forces. He didn’t feel he needed to. He guessed some guys did.
“I’ve been there once or twice to visit. My daughter was 82nd Airborne.” The elevator bell dinged, and the doors opened. “All right, you’ll just follow me. I’ll keep talking, and I’ll lead the way.”
“Thank you, sir. Forward, Abby.”
“She’s just about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. I do love me a shepherd dog. I have hound dogs personally. I’ve got four out at the ranch. Ranch. I have myself a little hobby farm. Four dogs and a little horse for my granddaughter.”
Jim wasn’t lying. He did talk the entire way to the courtroom lobby. “The bench is open, it’s right here. If you need anything, I’m going to be wandering around. Just give me a holler.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Go away, leave me alone now. Let me just sit with my dog and wait for Sloan to get done.
He felt like he’d done all right—not perfect because he hadn’t done it on his own. He’d had folks help him, but he supposed that may be even harder than wandering around without help. To ask and receive help was a blessing, right? At least that was what a preacher would tell him.
The corridor was quiet, the murmur of voices muted, echoing some like all big public spaces did. Churches, courthouses, those big old houses and shit in Europe. He’d toured a couple of those when he’d been on leave.
His heart slowed its pounding, Abby leaned on his leg, and in no time it, he was dozing a little. This kind of place always made him feel sleepy.
He lost track of time, and before he knew it, he heard Sloan’s voice, happy as all get- out. “Lance! Hey, babe. Look at you, all out and about.”