Chapter 4
They stayed at it for another hour and a half.
It would probably have lasted much longer.
Colin didn’t care. It could have gone on for days.
Weeks, in fact. When the chair could no longer hold him, he slipped around the table and stood beside Arnold, who shifted his chair over to make room for him.
They chattered with an increasing sense of shared energy, flying through the lessons, spilling papers everywhere.
Colin couldn’t say which he liked more, getting the answer right, or the sudden electric illuminations that came when Arnold explained something that he could not figure out on his own.
But the door finally opened and Celeste came in, smiling larger than Colin had ever seen. She was followed by the man who had passed them in the parking lot and the other woman, grey haired and precise, but in her own tight way Colin thought she looked as pleased as Celeste.
Arnold said, “We’re not done.”
The woman said, “I for one have seen enough.”
“More than enough,” the grey-haired man agreed. “Young man, you are an astonishment.”
They all left together. Arnold joined the two other strangers, walking ahead and talking all at once. Celeste led him down the hall and asked, “Are you hungry?”
He realized, “I’m starving.”
She found that humorous. “So let’s go see if they’ve got anything here worth eating.”
They descended two flights of stairs, then walked a long hall, passing several conference rooms and a classroom and then a cafeteria filled with noisy children. Colin was immensely pleased when they passed those doors.
They entered a smaller cafeteria filled with adults in soft conversations. The windows were tall and frosted with sweat from the AC. Green plants grew from large ceramic planters. The walls held beautiful photographs. Celeste said, “What do you feel like?”
“I could eat anything.”
“Well, you’re the man of the hour, which means you can have anything you want.” As they walked down the line and he settled on beef brisket and mashed potatoes, she asked, “You want some vegetables with that?”
He shrugged. “If I have to.”
“Not today, you don’t. You want a Coke?”
“Lemonade.”
“Lemonade it is.” She filled up a glass and set it on his tray, then said, “Some days it is just so good to be me.”
Colin liked that enough to laugh out loud.
“Child, you should do that more often.” She gestured to the line of desserts. “Anything suit your fancy?”
As they started toward a table, the silver-haired gentleman called over, “Celeste, the attorneys are here.”
She settled him at a table by himself. “You going to be all right, sitting here alone?”
“Sure.”
“That’s my little man.” She pointed to where the adults gathered. “You need something, I’ll be right over there.”
He ate slowly, relishing every bite. The brisket had been cooked until it flaked on his fork.
There was a lake of gravy covering his plate, so much it had spilled onto the tray.
Colin started to use his only napkin to mop it up, but nobody was watching, so he ate and reviewed some of the more challenging exercises Arnold had shown him.
He did not mind the solitude at all. In fact, he almost felt as though it was important.
He was so used to making himself small. Finding the tight corner, the little area behind his bedroom door, any place that left him feeling momentarily safe.
Here was different in every way. The light was different, even though it came from the same sun.
The food, the quiet conversation, the solitude …
Glorious. When he finished eating, Colin took a long breath, so long he wondered if he could just keep on breathing in, growing bigger and bigger until he actually filled all this beautiful space.
Abruptly the silver-haired man answered his phone, spoke briefly, and all the adults rose as one. Colin stood and started to pick up his tray, but Celeste halted him with, “No, leave it there.” She hurried over and pulled out a chair next to where he stood.
The older woman with the severe face said, “Celeste, they’re waiting.”
“You go ahead, I’ll be right up.” Her gaze never left his face. “Do you trust me, Colin?”
“Yes.”
“They want you to be present for what’s going to happen.
I don’t like the idea, but …” She shrugged.
“I’m just one voice. Never mind. I want you to listen carefully.
Your father is coming with … No, Colin. Look at me.
There is no reason to be afraid. You’re not going to be alone with him.
I’m there, and all these other people, they’re all on your side.
Now I want you to take a deep breath and calm down. ”
He tried. He really did. But the fear of losing everything this day had held left his muscles jerking slightly. Like they were being pulled by tight electric strings.
She rose to her feet. “All right. Let’s get this over with.”
They were the last to enter the conference room. This place was completely different from where Arnold had examined him. The table was polished wood and so large sixteen leather chairs on swivel bases could fit around the gleaming surface.
Roger Eames was seated with his back to the windows.
When Colin entered, just his eyes shifted.
Two grey gun barrels that held nothing. No love, no recognition, no rage.
Cop’s eyes. Colin would have stopped and run away, but Celeste was there behind him, her hand on his back, guiding him down the long line of adults seated across from his father.
Past the silver-haired man and Arnold and the other woman and now two more, a man and woman, both young and wearing similar charcoal-grey suits.
The adults watched as he slipped into the chair and Celeste pushed him up close to the table.
Some of those on his side of the table had to lean over to see him.
Once he was settled, the young woman seated next to him said, “You were saying?”
A slender black man with angry eyes was seated to his father’s right.
To his left was the mayor of Rocky Mount, a man with silver-grey hair and a heavily pockmarked face.
They had once attended a barbecue cookout at the mayor’s house.
The mayor had two teenage boys who looked like they would have happily bullied Colin had their father not been keeping a close watch.
Colin thought the mayor held the same bullying manner as his sons.
The black man said, “We wish to register an official complaint against Dr. Celeste Talbot.”
The woman seated next to Colin was very attractive, but her voice matched the black attorney’s for harsh edges. “On what grounds?”
“She forcibly restrained Sheriff Eames, a highly decorated police officer, from approaching his own son.”
“I fail to see how the lady seated to my left could forcibly keep the sheriff from doing much of anything.”
“You know very well what I mean. She ordered a local police officer to stop Sheriff Eames from approaching his son in what was undoubtedly a highly charged and emotionally distressing situation for them both.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“No,” the lawyer replied. “I am not.”
“There is the matter of why everyone had gathered in the first place.”
“That has nothing whatsoever to do with my complaint!”
The woman seated next to Colin smiled tightly. “I’m fairly certain the judge in family court will disagree with you on that point.”
The two attorneys acted as though they were the only people in the room.
Colin felt the breath catch in his throat.
They acted. They were performing. This confused him, like so much of adults’ behavior.
He felt a gradual slipping away of all the wondrous events and the feelings that had carried him through the day.
In desperation, he tried to look at the people and their words from the perspective of what he and Arnold had been discussing.
From logic. Deductive logic was impossible.
There were too many unknowns to draw a straight-line conclusion.
That was the term Arnold had returned to time and again.
A straight-line calculation resulted in only one possible outcome.
Abductive reasoning was needed here. Working with incomplete knowledge, searching for …
His father’s attorney said, “That you would even suggest taking this matter to court indicates you are far from possessing all the relevant materials.”
It was the silver-haired gentleman who said, “Enlighten us. Please. We’re all ears.”
Colin thought the attorney’s expression was theatrical. “I’m sorry, who exactly are you?”
The woman began, “Dr. Saunders is head of a trust. …”
“A trust.”
“Correct.”
“And his role here is …”
“An interested third party.”
“What possible interest could a private family matter be to you?”
“The child.”
“Colin Eames.”
The gentleman nodded. “Yes. The child’s …”
Celeste offered, “Status.”
“Excellent. Yes. The child’s status is of great potential interest to my trust.”
“Meaning what, exactly?” The dark gaze swiveled back to the woman next to Colin. “Do you intend to level some sort of scurrilous charge against Sheriff Eames?”
The female attorney made a process of lining up her pad and file and pen. “We were addressing the matter of missing evidentiary elements that would explain why we don’t wish this to go to court.”
“Answer my question, Counselor.”
She lifted her gaze. “Why ever would we want to level charges against a highly decorated officer? What could possibly have placed such a notion in your head?”
“You were the one who mentioned family court.”