Chapter 4
Diamond Ring
Gale Fears
“Idon’t see what this has to do with me,” I said, leaning against my chair and looking at the wall.
“Mr. Fears, that witness could very well ruin this case for us,” Seth said.
I turned to look at him, giving him one of my coldest stares. Seth was one of the best lawyers in my company, and he darn well knew it. It’s why he was still standing in front of me. If anyone else had made that mistake, they would have been fired by now. I trusted him so implicitly that I would choose to work with him over some of the more senior lawyers in the company.
“Couldruin?” I asked scathingly. “She has already ruined this! How could you have made this mistake? How could you have missed something so obvious?”
“We have come up with a strategy to combat it,” Seth said, unfazed by my attitude. “I have devised a legal plan, which I have summarized and put in the file for you. You can peruse it at your convenience. I believe this will get us back on track. Mrs. Durrick will not suffer needlessly. Her innocence will be proven.”
I looked at him silently, thinking over what he has just said.Her innocence.Of course, he still believed that. I remembered when she had come to us for legal counsel. Dressed in an elegant black dress, her hair put up in a sleek bun, and a small hat on her head. Her face was pale, her cheeks shining with tears, and her red lips trembling.
“I have lost the only man I have ever loved, Mr. Fears,” she had said. “And now I am being accused of his murder. Not only do I have to spend the rest of my miserable life without him, but I also have to now bear these accusations. Help me, Mr. Fears. Help me before I do something drastic.”
The beautiful, elegant woman had made a powerful impression on everyone in the office. Everyone felt moved by her innocence and love for her husband. Even I, who was normally very reserved and never easily trusted any client, had been taken in. No one ever doubted her, and that was where we’d gone wrong.
I had a particular way of seeing things. As a lawyer, I was well aware that clients hardly ever told the truth, and I always took everything they said with a grain of salt. I had messed up by trusting everything that woman had said. Not only was she not innocent, she hadn’t told me that she had been seen. I was almost tempted to give a weak defense, just to get her caught and give her what she deserved. I might have done so, too, if the reputation of this law firm wasn’t so important to me.
The name Gale Fears was one that was revered among lawyers. And the firm of Fears, Brooks, and Banes was one of the best law firms in all of New York. My father had started this firm, and I had followed in his footsteps. Taking over it when he grew old. Of the original three founders, only Mr. Brooks was still working here. Mr. Bane had passed away a few years ago, and while his name was still on the law firm, his son showed little interest in joining it.
No matter how much I despised the woman for what she had done, I had to make sure she was found not guilty. If not with conventional methods, then perhaps with some unconventional ones.
“I will look over it,” I said. “Meanwhile keeping working on your defense. I want it to be iron-clad. And this time, don’t miss anything. I don’t want the prosecutor pulling anymore surprise moves.”
“Yes, sir,” Seth said, turning around.
“I mean it, Seth,” I called out as he walked away. “One more mishap like this, and it will be the end of your job.”
“Of course, sir,” he replied, and I shook my head. Nothing fazed the man; perhaps that was why I trusted him so much.
I opened my desk drawer to retrieve the files, thinking about how to handle the problem. As the files came out, my eyes fell onto the solitary box sitting in the corner of the drawer. I stared at it before reaching forward and pulling it out. Inside sat a simple diamond ring, the stone glittering in the light, and the memories flooded through me.
“That’s it, Stella,” I said. “I can’t take this anymore. Over. This is over.”
“How dare you?” she shrieked. “How dare you tell me it’s over?”
“I can’t do this anymore. I have had enough,” I said, sitting down and putting my head into my hands.
“Had enough? You love me!” she screamed.
I looked at her. Her beautiful blonde hair and her perfect blue eyes. Her pale cheeks were flushed, and her red lips pouted as they always did when she was angry.
“I do,” I whispered. “Which is why I have to do this.”
“How could you!” Her voice was so shrill, I was sure only the dogs could hear it. She picked up a plate and threw it towards me. This was Stella, after all. This is what she did. Whenever she got too angry, she threw things at me. Fortunately, she was so bad at aiming, it hardly ever hit the mark. The plates flew by me as I sat there, and she fell to the floor, heaving.
“You can’t do this to me,” she cried, collapsing.
I would never admit it to anyone, but I almost didn’t. I almost walked over to her, picked her up in my arms, and kissed her. But I didn’t.
“Goodbye, Stella,” I said, getting up to walk away.
“Screw you!” she shouted. She grabbed the engagement ring I had given her and threw it at me.
I reached down and picked it up, looking down at the ring I had gotten made just for her. And then I pocketed it. It was the end, after all.
As the memories washed away, I took one last look at the fateful ring and then put it back in the drawer. I didn’t know why I still kept it. Perhaps as a reminder of what could have been.
