Sam sat at his desk pondering the matter. He finally said slowly, “Well, I think I can get them to let him go after paying a little bond, pending further investigation. But I cannot drop the charges just based on your words.”
Alfred was pleased, so he blurted, “All right. I agree. But__”
Sam stood up raising his hand, “No buts please…I have to go back to my guests and we can talk later” He scribbled a few words over a sheet of paper, signed and stamped it and then handed it over to Alfred.
At this moment his wife opened the door quietly and snarled, “Sam…”
Her husband glared at Alfred and answered, “Yes honey I’ll be there in a minute” She threw a scornful look at Alfred and withdrew, closing the door.
Alfred smiled shouting after her, “Happy birthday Maria”
Sam was gnashing his teeth and then couldn’t help bursting into a nervous laugh, “If only you know how she would answer that?” He said giggling.
But Alfred was bemused, he simply replied, “If only she gets to know me better. I am a harmless creature who happens to favor the poor and trodden children of God”
“You go around in the company of bums…then you must be one of them. That is her logic…period” Sam said walking towards the door.
Alfred then snapped a quick question, “Why do you have the file of the Miller Village Fire on your desk? That happened more than ten years ago. You were not even around here yet. Has anything new come up?”
Sam stopped and turned around saying, “Do you know anything about that?”
“Of course, I was one of the officers in charge of that district at the time…” Alfred said quietly. “Wesley, the magistrate before you handled that investigation very poorly…it was like…well, I shouldn’t speculate…”
Sam walked back towards him slowly, “I want you to tell me everything you know about this” he said grimly, “You must meet me tomorrow to discuss this…OK?” after Alfred nodded agreeably, Sam walked back to the door.
Alfred queries again, “What’s happened?”
Sam waved his hand saying, “Tomorrow…” and went out the door.
The following morning, Alfred went to meet the magistrate at his office at lunch time. Sam ordered lunch to be served in his office. After the orderly left the room, he finally said, “Did you spring your wretched client out of prison?”
“Yes, thank you. I was there this morning before I went to court” Al answered cheerfully, “why are we eating here? Does that have to do with the Miller fire case?”
“Yes and no. I don’t know for sure. Here is what happened.” He went on to tell his friend about his encounter with the disfigured man the week before at the Miller Village Cemetery. Then he concluded, “I spent a couple of nights unable to sleep. The horrible monstrous face of that poor guy was chasing me everywhere I go. I began wondering about the great fire he was talking about…and finally I decided to find out for myself. Mind you, it was sheer curiosity. So I asked one of the staff to get me any report of a fire in that village in the past few years. When he started to dig around in the archives, I was shocked at the reaction of some people in the office. It even reached the ears of Prince Williams who promptly paid me a visit and questioned the reasons why I was reopening that case. I told him I was not reopening the case but that I was looking for some legal precedents in a case study I was conducting. To my surprise he tried to discourage me from even reading the report. That is why, when my staff member finally found the information I asked him for, I had to take it home rather than examine it here.”
Alfred was deeply alarmed, “What was the name of the man you saw at the cemetery?”
Sam was taken aback. He raised his eyebrows wondering, “I didn’t ask him about his name. How is that important? I tell you even the Prince is involved in the matter now”
Alfred was visibly shaken. He insisted, “It is important to me. You see, Barnard Lind was a good man who owned a modest estate in the Miller Village. He had a farm in which among other things, he was raising sheep for shearing. He was a philanthropist of sorts. He helped many other villagers when they stumbled in their lives. He had a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. It so happened that his estate was adjacent to the land of one Solomon Jacquard, who was the Mayor of the Village. When the government decided to build new barracks for the troops to shore up its defenses in the south, it had to take over either Lind’s land or a substantial portion of Jacquard land. Somehow just before the meeting to make that decision was convened, a great fire engulfed the house of Lind and all its adjoining farm buildings. Lind and his family died in the blaze. The only one, who might have survived, was his young son Michael as far as I know.”
Sam stayed silent for a moment. Then he slowly uttered the words as one who was scared to spit them out, “Solomon Jacquard…as in…?”
Nodding Alfred answered, “Yes, the second oldest bother. He had an accident a couple of years later … he fell from his horse and broke his neck, but he survived and remains paralyzed from the neck down to this day.”
“…An accident? How did that happen?” Sam asked gingerly.
“They say that while riding back home from the market, an apparition suddenly appeared in front of him and startled the horse. If you ask me I’d say it must’ve been an apparition from heaven” Al said disdainfully.
“So what happened to the boy…the Lind boy, you say survived?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know. Michael was about twelve when this happened” Al said fervently, “He was a young man to reckon with. Smart, energetic and handsome was he. He was in the neighboring village fetching fire wood. When he returned he saw the house burning, he ran into the fire screaming and trying to save his family. When he finally got out, he was carrying his sister who died that same night in the infirmary. But Michael wasn’t done…he went back into the fire to get his parents. That is when I arrived at the scene. I had to jump into the fire myself in search for him. I got him out kicking and screaming for his parents. He was badly burned. When I left that village, he was still in the hospital and they were expecting him to die any day…” Al stopped for a moment, and then went on somberly, “He stayed in the hospital many weeks though, fighting for dear life. I had to leave Miller district office for my new post in Walto city as I was promoted. I don’t know what happened after that. I figured he must’ve died…nobody could have survived such injuries.”
Sam was looking pale. He picked his words carefully, “Those barracks were never built as you know. I do wonder what happened there.”
Alfred stood up and said. “I must be going. I have a court appearance in a case shortly. I think I should go to Miller…may be tomorrow. If the man you met at the cemetery is Michael, I’d love to see him after all these years.”
“Alfred, take it easy” Sam warned, “You have got a reputation for becoming a terror to the judicial system. You resigned your lucrative public office and as an attorney you go on defending these villains who can hardly pay you any money, and in the process you have created a big cartel of adversaries who will eventually strike back and may hurt you bad” He stood up to shake hands with his friend, “Let me know what happens when you go to Miller.”
“Don’t worry Sam. The one who protected us so far is the one who will protect us to the end” Al said with a reassuring smile, “A lawyer is an advocate… So it matters what you are advocating…”
The ride from the City to the Miller Village was arduous but uneventful. Alfred only stopped by an inn at Salima – a small village by the lake bearing the same name – to have lunch. When he arrived at Miller, he bypassed all the municipal offices and went straight to the barber shop of his old friend George. He was recognized and welcomed heartily by the owner and the elderly client who was in the barber chair. He pretended to be stopping by Miller on his way to a farther destination. The hospitable barber offered him tea and biscuits as they began to speak nostalgically about their memories in Miller. In the course of the discussion, Al brought up the Lind family and how Barnard saved George’s family once in the past, when he helped George pay his taxes and thereby avoided going to prison. “By the way, do you know what happened to Lind’s son? Did he survive?” Al asked casually.
It was the elderly man in the chair who answered, “The poor devil has turned into a monster. You should see him now. He frightens the daylights out of all the people in the village. Right George…?”
Chapter 3 next weeks