Fairly Legal Eagle

By Philip Y. Coleman

Ted O’Daniel avenges his Mother’s rape then extricates himself by stealing the victim’s name, becoming a lawyer, and enabling murder for hire. His life becomes successively more tangled.
Then he finds a way out.

Poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and former college professor, Phil Coleman writes about killing for revenge and the entanglements that follow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Aug 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483456393

Book preview

Explanatory

THE WAY YOU TREAT YOUR MOTHER

1

S itting in the back seat, Ted waited until Harry parked and turned off the ignition. Quickly then, he threw his belt over Harry’s head, yanked it into his neck and killed him. He gripped the leather belt just above the buckle with his left hand and had it looped for better grip in his right. Harry tried to yell but gurgled. He reached with his hands, but could not loosen Ted’s hold. He thrashed and heaved. Ted put a knee into the back of the seat, then his foot, then both feet and leaned and pulled as hard as he could.

His elbows ached. He could feel the belt buckle cut into his hand. But he held tight and kept Harry’s head pressed against the head rest. Ted began to fear he couldn’t hold long enough. He was gasping hard through his clinched teeth. Still Harry kicked with his feet, tried to reach Ted with his arms, and gurgled what must have been blasphemies.

He shuddered. Then he was quiet. Ted kept his hold and told himself to count a long count. He had to be sure. Finally he eased his grip and pulled the belt free, It didn’t slide easily around. It seemed to be glued to Harry‘s neck, but it came loose.

Ted leaned back and cried.

Ted got out of the car. It was dark at 9 p. m. The lot was lighted but not bright since it was mostly for daytime employee use. There were 15 or so other cars, but no one was coming or going. He opened the driver’s door and reached for the keys, still in the ignition. He started to close the door, then changed his mind. He reached in Harry’s vest pocket and found that rich man’s billfold he always flashed. Then, Ted pushed Harry’s body down onto the front seat floor. He closed the door, used the key signal to lock it, and looked through the window. Harry was almost impossible to see, so he thought that it probably wouldn’t be until morning that anyone saw him. Ted checked himself, unlocked the door, threw in the key, and used the manual latch to lock it.

Bastard!

Then Ted walked away.

2

Hating Harry was easy. He had raped Ted’s Mother. Wanting to kill him was easy. Planning was not too hard. Ted had thought about a knife. A gun. He even considered poison. But he didn’t have weapons. He had a belt. And suddenly an opportunity. So he had done the deed without planning.

No matter how much he hated Harry, and no matter how easy the act turned out to be, doing it and having done it shook Ted to the core.

When you mix exultation with hate, revenge, sorrow (yes, sorrow), fear and guilt, the result is incapacitating. Ted walked in a kind of hurried shuffle; anyone who saw him would see a guilty person. Then he found an unlighted spot and huddled on the grass and shook. When he felt better, he got up and walked again. Then sat on a bench. Then walked. Finally, he came to a tavern and drank a beer.

3

He wasn’t sure that he slept at all. He clinched his eyes shut … But he saw Harry. He felt the panicked floundering as Harry struggled. He felt the change as Harry realized he was going to die. What he saw was Harry -- big, fat -- floundering on top of his mother. His mother struggling in a strange way … But then he awoke and he knew he had slept.

The morning paper didn’t have anything. Neither did TV news. So Ted figured no one had seen the body over night. He went about the business of acting normal. At 2 p.m., he went to work as a waiter at an expensive restaurant. Most days, he worked the afternoon through dinner shift. Afternoon wasn’t much, just a few business men eating light and drinking heavy. This was how he first knew of Harry. Knew of, not knew or met. If Ted waited his table, Harry virtually never looked up. He could order without a menu, and he paid attention to the man or men he was with. He came in about once a week, but not on a regular schedule. Just when he needed to do business over drinks. Harry always seemed to be in charge. He was one of those legal eagles who always seemed to be in charge. He was a good tipper, probably because he wanted his guests to see him tip big.

Harry Fielder, his full name.

At work that day Ted kept his eyes and ears tuned but didn’t hear anything and didn’t see any of the men he had seen Harry with -- what few he might recognize.

The dinner crowd was what made the job okay, On a typical evening, Ted would get around a hundred dollars in tips. He could live on that.

Ted listened to the news after work and still heard nothing. Again the next morning, nothing in the news.

4

They say the killer returns to the scene of the crime. The third morning, Ted was curious, so he drove by the parking lot. He did not go in. Harry’s car sat there. A different car was parked beside it. But Harry’s car seemed to have been ignored. Ted drove on.

Ted saw Harry’s billfold sitting on his dresser. Somehow he had tossed it there and had forgotten about it. Having it was definitely incriminating if anyone should get suspicious enough to search his apartment. Ted opened it and took out everything. Several credit cards, a bank book, a little book with phone numbers, $350 in twenties and fifties.

He kept the money and started cutting up cards. For some reason, he kept the debit card and the checks. He buried the rest, including the billfold, in the bottom of the garbage bag and took out the garbage.

He thought about his mother. Harry had rolled off of her exposing his belly and his engorged dick. Get out!

And Ted had slinked away, out of the room.

Then Harry emerged and offered him a ride. Let me explain a few things, son.

You’re not my father.

5

Ted kept going to work every day and kept listening to the news and checking the paper. Nothing. He drove by the parking lot and saw the car still there.

He knew it wasn’t possible, but he began to wonder if Harry wasn’t dead. Could he have waked up and wandered away? He didn’t think so. But curiosity was getting the best of him.

One morning, he decided to check out Harry’s apartment. He knew Harry lived in a fancy high rise, and one of the keys on the ring with the car key said 703. That might be his apartment number. Harry lived on Tenth Avenue North, near the bay. Ted drove by and then found a place to park a few blocks away. He walked past. No one in sight. Then he walked right up the sidewalk and in. He saw a bank of postal boxes, so he tried the key in 703, It worked. He opened the box and stuff fell out. Obviously, more mail had arrived than would fit. He pulled it out and began picking up stuff from the floor when a voice startled him.

"He should have cancelled his mail. Are you supposed to pick it up?’

Yeah. I guess I should have come by sooner.

You’re going to have to come by every couple of days. I put the overflow in his apartment. But I ain’t supposed to do that. This was obviously the super. Dressed in loose jeans and a work shirt, with two or three day growth of beard. He had a broom and was headed out to sweep the entrance.

Sorry. I guess I‘ll go up and sort it there.

How long is he going to be gone?

No telling. He just said a couple of weeks. Well, thanks for putting it up there.

Since the key marked 703 was the mailbox key, Ted had to hope one of the others was the apartment key. He took the elevator up and tried them. The second key worked.

6

When Ted awakened each morning, … a wisp of his last dream would linger for a minute or so. Then it would dissipate like a morning fog. This morning, his last dream was of his mother. He wanted to snuggle next to her, but she was full of instructions. When you drive a new car, go slow for the first 500 miles. Learn to type correctly. All ten fingers. Help me put together a rent payment. The worst part of this dream was finding her in bed with Harry. Harry was fat and crude. His penis was dark and swollen. She didn’t tell Harry what to do. Harry told her. The last and best part was her stroking Ted’s hair to make it lie flat. But then the last bit of dream was gone.

. … …

Harry’s apartment was dusty but sterile. The furniture was substantial but odd lots. Nothing matched. The pieces ranged from modern to Victorian. Colors varied from bright to mauve. Ted dumped his pile of mail on the dinner table with the mail the super had brought up. He wanted to go through it, but first he wanted to see what he could learn about Harry. All he knew was that Harry owned the mortgage to his mother’s house. He had been using it to force her into sex. He turned on Harry’s computer, and while it warmed up, he looked through the papers on the computer desk.

Nothing of interest as far as Ted could tell. Ted looked at the mail. There was lots of standard advertising. The only magazine was Playboy. Several bank statements and credit cards bills. Telephone bill. A condominium maintenance bill. Ted decided to take these with him. Ted looked out the window to be sure there wasn‘t a police car pulling up.

Harry’s closet and dresser offered nothing. There were no women’s clothes. There was nothing that didn’t seem to be Harry’s size and style. Sears business suits.

There were a half dozen pairs of shoes in black and brown plus a pair of Air Jordans that looked unused.

The bathroom looked normal: shaving and tooth care supplies, two kinds of deodorant; Harry’s only prescription pills were Viagra.

Ted found a plastic garbage bag in the kitchen and dumped all the mail in it. On his way out, he didn’t see the super.

7

Ted was hiking with friends, boys and girls. They got to a shaded spot near the ridge and spread blankets. Jane said, Where are the marsh mellows?

Can’t we get along without them?

Jane whined, We can’t have s’mores without mellows. That’s no fun. She looked at Ted with puppy eyes.

I’ll go get them.

Ted walked to the edge and found a zip line. He zipped down and around and landed near the store. He didn’t have money, so he hid a package in his shirt. Then he went out. Someone had invented a zip line motor, so he grabbed hold and zipped back to the picnic. Jane and Peter weren’t there. He heard them in the bushes. But then he awakened and the dream turned to mist.

. … …

Ted went to see his Mother. As he neared the house, he sensed sadness and apprehension. He knocked on the door, called Mom! and walked in. His mother brightened as he entered, got up and gave him a hug.

How are you, son?

I’m fine, Ma. How are you doing?

Oh, I worry so about losing the house. The bank, you know, says it can take it from me. Only Harry, Mr. Fielder, stands in the way.

Mom, what does he have to do with it? He’s only their lawyer.

Theirs? He’s mine. My lawyer. He worked up the bill of sale with your father ten years ago. He says that by strict interpretation of the law the bank has every right …

He says! Have you seen the deed? The bill of sale? The loan papers?"

I wouldn’t know what they meant if I had. You know how legalese works. Do you doubt Harry?

Yes! I doubt him. Let me borrow those things and go over them."

You’ll have to ask Harry for them.

What!

Harry keeps them in his files. You can go ask him if you want. You know, son. I try to get along with Harry. He’s not all that bad. I think he’s going to ask me to marry him.

No! God, Mom! He uses you.

A PLAN

8

T ed wanted to see the loan papers. He tried to consider the risk of going to Harry’s office. He didn’t see any obvious problem. But he -- and maybe only he -- knew the truth about Harry. First, he wanted to be sure of what he knew. Driving by the parking lot hadn’t told him much. So he drove into the lot and parked on the far side. Then he walked toward the office building and strolled past Harry’s car. As he walked by, careful not to seem interested, he saw nothing, just a car getting dusty. He walked on to the building and hid in a restroom for five minutes.

The building, Winthrop Investors, was eight stories tall, mostly glass. It was on the edge of town, in what used to be a pasture, far enough from town center so that land values didn’t prohibit a parking lot. The building directory listed all sorts of businesses, law firms, brokers, a travel agency, etc. Nothing that Ted could connect Harry to.

He walked back toward his car, This time, on the passenger side of Harry’s car, he paused and looked. The body was there. And a smell was beginning to foul the air. But Ted saw that you had to look for the body to see it. Two weeks had passed. He figured that the smell would get someone’s attention in the next week.

The stench made Ted think. He had been so sure that Harry was evil and should be killed. Seeing his mother humiliated -- and not even recognizing her humiliation -- had sent something boiling inside. He had planned revenge without reservation. That’s when he had considered alternatives methods of murder. He didn’t want to get caught. He didn’t have a gun. Harry was too big, even if he wasn’t fit, for him to dare attacking him with a knife. He knew that he couldn’t do anything near his mother’s house.

He didn’t want to get caught. Then the opportunity fell in his lap. A minimum of thinking