Southern Men: Ballad of a Texas Rose (7 page)
###
Love and Sex in the Lone Star State
‘Permission to approach the bench,’ Clara spoke and Judge Moses McKennedy gruffly complied. She walked towards his chair, holding in her hand the secret papers that were guaranteed to seal the deal and win this case at last. Behind her, Ace Cooper and his crack team of lawyers sat at their table, none the wiser as to how close they were to the end of it all.
Ace was the owner of
Texxon
Oil, a multinational company with a habit of cutting corners and endangering lives. Clara was representing the townspeople of a small community by the name of Prudence in south Texas, who’d experienced first hand the negative effects of
Texxon
dumping in their area. Clara was doing the case for free, simply because she believed in the cause, and two nights earlier a breakthrough came when she’d been furnished with documents that proved once and for all just how far up the corporate ladder the responsibility for these crimes ran. The papers had been leaked to her by Bobby Cooper, Ace’s only son and heir to his throne. And now the endgame was already underway.
‘Your honor,’ Clara said, ‘these papers are
Texxon
documents, some of which are over thirty years old now, which were anonymously sent to my office two days ago. They prove beyond a reasonable doubt Ace Cooper’s involvement in the illegal pollution on Prudence. I want your permission to introduce them into the court.’
Judge Moses McKennedy was a giant of a man, a southern monolith and a throwback to a wilder age. He looked over the papers briefly and then nodded. ‘Yes Miss Silverman, you may,’ he said.
‘Thank you your honor,’ Clara replied and stepped back from bench. She’d had a minor fling with the judge early on in the case and it was obviously now in their best interests that they should absolutely never acknowledge such an encounter.
Addressing the whole court now, Clara held up the papers and began to speak. ‘Your honor,’ she said, ‘I hold in my hands interior documents from the highest echelons of
Texxon’s
upper management. These papers date as far back as the nineteen seventies in some cases and many of them are actually signed by Ace Cooper himself.’
Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Ace, dressed in full southern garb with a white Stetson above his matching suit, sat up rigidly and began whispering franticly in his lawyer’s ears. Whatever it was he was saying
,
they didn’t look happy about it.
Clara resisted the urge to smile and continued talking. ‘As I showed you a moment ago your honor, some of these documents relate directly to the prudence waste campaign, such as the one I hold in my hand right now. As you can see the signature at the bottom of the page is that of Ace Cooper.’
An audible gasp swept over the courtroom. Clara looked at Ace Cooper and relished what she saw. His face was white from anger. He knew she had him.
Ace’s lead lawyer stood up.
‘Uh objection your honor,’ he began, ‘if these papers are indeed private
Texxon
documents then we demand to know how they came to be in the possession of Miss Silverman. This is surely inadmissible if she procured them through devious means.’
‘Nonsense,’ Judge McKennedy grunted, ‘if the documents are legitimately from
Texxon
then they prove Ace Cooper’s guilt in this case once and for all. If they are not, then you will have to argue that in a moment. I’m ordering a short recess. We’ll reconvene in half an hour and you will have your chance then. Though I suspect this case is all but over as it is.’
He banged his gavel and stood up to walk away. The courtroom rose to their feet until he was out of the room and Clara looked over her shoulder, smiling widely at Mary
Booka
the Prudence community representative. She looked like she couldn’t believe it either. The audience started filing out of the courtroom and Clara sat back down to gather her documents, before leaving herself too.
Outside, the lobby was a hive of activity. This was one of the busiest courtrooms in San Antonio and there was always a smorgasbord of different faces hanging around. She heard a voice call her name.
‘Clara!’ it was Mary. The older woman hurried to her side. ‘Wow,’ she said, ‘I can’t believe
it,
it’s actually coming to an end.’
‘It would take a miracle to save Ace Cooper now,’ Clara smiled, ‘Nothing short of an alien invasion will get him off this one.’
‘It serves him right,’ Mary said, ‘that evil, evil man. Look at him over there.’
Clara followed Mary’s line of sight over to Ace Cooper and his team. The oil baron was admonishing his team as vociferously as he could, without actually speaking loud enough to be heard by the passersby in the big marble lobby. Clara laughed. It looked like the guy was having a seriously bad day.
She looked past him a little and the smile disappeared from her lips. Beside his father, the stoic figure of Bobby Cooper
stood,
his face expressionless and his posture slightly slumped forward, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. The poor guy had been torn between sticking by his father or doing what was right for everybody else. He’d made the right choice in the end, but he was still going to have to pay for it. The worst thing was that no one could ever know just what he’d done for them. It was the way he wanted it.
‘Sorry Mary,’ Clara said, ‘I’ve got a few things I need to go over. Could you give me a minute?’
‘Sure,’ Mary replied, ‘I’ll see you after the case. Good look in there.’
The community representative made her way back to her people and Clara began sorting through her folder. She didn’t really have anything to look over, the case was as good as done now, but seeing Bobby Cooper over there, slowly crumpling inside as the first cracks in his father’s empire emerged – it kind of got to her.
‘Clara.’
She knew the voice and it brought up some conflicting emotions. But she never expected to hear it here.
‘You did great in there.
Really.
That was amazing.’ It was him, Sheriff Harvey Klein, the whole reason she’d moved to this crazy state in the first place.
‘Harvey,’ she said, turning to face him, ‘my God, what are you doing here?’
Harvey was as handsome as he ever was, all brawn and muscle with a boyishly handsome face beneath his wide-brimmed Stetson hat. He smiled at her, almost shyly. ‘I had to see you,’ he said, ‘I’ve been following your case in the news. It’s really something that you’re doing here.’
‘Yeah,’ Clara said, ‘it is. I’m sorry Harvey I have to get back.’
‘Wait!’
Harvey reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned back to him and was surprised by the emotion in his face. Harvey didn’t like to show emotion. That had been part of the problem.
‘I should have never let you walk out that door,’ he said, ‘I should have done something to stop you.
Anything.’
Clara snorted. ‘Yeah, well it wasn’t up to you, was it?’ she said. Jeez, all these guys down here acted like they were trapped at the start of the last century.
‘That’s not what I meant Clara,’ Harvey said, ‘I just… Damn it I don’t know what to say to you. I’ve missed you every single damned day you’ve been gone.’
‘Harvey,’ Clara said, ‘in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been very, very busy. I’m sorry, I have to get back.’
Harvey’s face turned stony again as he buried whatever emotions he was feeling beneath his cowboy exterior once more. ‘I understand,’ he said. ‘Knock em cold in there Clara. I know you will.’
‘Goodbye Harvey,’ Clara said and turned to walk back to the courtroom. The half hour was up and it was
showtime
yet again.
But as the case started up, she couldn’t stop thinking about him – so it was a good thing the
Texxon
lawyers had nothing to work with in their defense. If Harvey knew how much he’d potentially endangered the case just by putting himself back in her thoughts… Hell, maybe he’d be pleased about it.
‘If you can’t dispute the veracity of these documents,’ Judge McKennedy said, addressing Cooper’s lead lawyer, ‘then the case is over. You have failed to clear Mr. Cooper of the charges brought against him. I have no choice but find him, and by extension the whole of
Texxon
oil, guilty of all charges. In light of the decade-long struggle of the people of Prudence, I award damages of five hundred million dollars to be distributed evenly amongst the townspeople.’
The lawyer’s face fell. Clara looked back at Mary
Booka
and the people of Prudence and grinned. They couldn’t believe it. It was finally over.
Ace Cooper
rose
from his chair. The man was livid. ‘No!’ he barked, ‘God damn it, no! I demand a retrial! You’re finished Moses McKennedy, you and that little Jew cunt from New York. You done in this state boy!
You done!’
Clara brought her hand over her mouth, not so much out of shock but to hide the smile that was slowly emerging there. She knew Ace Cooper was a snake, but now the rest of the world was getting a chance to see the man’s true colors too. It was too good to be true. And hell, she’d heard a lot worse in her time. She was a New Yorker.
Moses McKennedy spun towards the defendant like the fury of God himself. ‘What the damn hell did you say to me!’ he demanded, ‘you watch your mouth Ace Cooper or I’ll hold you in contempt of court. Now you’re in a lot of trouble as it is, don’t make this any worse on yourself, you hear me?’
Cooper’s lawyer rose frantically to his client’s defense. The poor bastard was sweating from the stress of the thing. ‘Ah of course your honor,’ he said, ‘Mr. Cooper has been under a lot of stress these past few months. He of courses apologizes profusely for losing his temper like that.’ Ace sat back down, muttering angrily to himself as his lawyer tried to calm him down. Judge McKennedy continued to stare at him with those furious dark eyes before leaving the courtroom.
Clara looked over at Bobby Cooper just in time to catch his eye. She gave a little smile but he’d already looked away again. If his people ever found out he’d been the leak then his life would be over. That was his cross to bear.
Suddenly Clara felt very sad. She scanned the faces in the crowd – searching for Harvey’s, even if she wasn’t quite willing to admit that to herself. He wasn’t there.
‘Clara!’ It was
Mary,
she approached the lawyer and threw her arms around her in delighted embrace.
Clara laughed, patting the older woman’s back as they hugged. She’d knocked the breath out of her.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Mary said, ‘I just can’t believe it.’
‘It’s finally over,’ Clara said, ‘justice has prevailed.’
Outside the courtroom, a whole gaggle of reporters had gathered to catch the main players as they left. They gave Ace Cooper a seriously hard time as he fought his way towards his limo and then they reset themselves to pounce on the people of Prudence. Mary and the other townspeople left and Clara was just about to follow them, when the huge figure of Moses McKennedy approached her.
‘Miss Silverman,’ he said, ‘excellent work, if I may say so myself.
Especially for a
yankee
.’
He smiled, almost imperceptibly and then held out his hand to shake hers.
‘Thank you, your honor,’ Clara said, holding his strong hand a little longer than was appropriate, a private
moment passing
between them.
‘You better get out there,’ he said, nodding towards the doors, ‘the people need their hero.’
Clara smiled and turned to face the onslaught of reporters. She wasn’t a hero, just someone who’d been in the right place at the right time.
After the press conference, Mary and the rest of the Prudence people invited Clara to dinner with them. They’d booked out a whole Steakhouse and they wouldn’t take no for answer. Suddenly Clara felt very tired, all the work she’d put into the case building up on her, but she knew there wouldn’t be an excuse good enough in the whole world for the people of Prudence so she agreed to follow them there.
The atmosphere in the restaurant was great, after all, most of the diners had just found out they were about to become rich after spending their whole lives in poverty, fighting a case that had started with their grandparents, for some of them. It was quite a thing to behold.
Not long after dinner, Clara excused herself without much fuss and slipped away. She’d always wondered what it would be like to be a hero but really now that she was experiencing it she’d discovered that it wasn’t for her. She just wanted to be treated like anybody else. But to the people of Prudence she was an archangel now. They were even talking about erecting a statue. That was the last thing Clara wanted.
She’d had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner (they’d insisted) so she took a cab back to her apartment across town. It was dark by the time she got there and she slipped the key in the downstairs lock and then made her way up the stairwell towards her fifth-floor apartment. As she stepped towards her door, she realized that something wasn’t quite right. The door was already open.