Sweetie's Diamonds (23 page)

Diane got out of the Honda and waved at him when she saw him watching her through the glass door.
 
He held it open for her and she went straight into his arms.

“Scotty,” she said, sounding as if she were on the verge of tears.

“Come inside, Diane,” he said.
 
He let her squeeze him as they kissed cheeks, then she moved indoors.
 

Scotty's office was a one-man show.
 
He had a secretary who had gone home for the day but he did practically everything himself—he even changed the light bulbs and replaced toilet paper in the unisex bathroom.
 
Despite the fact that this made him appear to be a hard luck lawyer, Scotty Lewis was highly respected in the Chicago suburbs.
 
Specializing in family court, Scotty was one of the best divorce lawyers in the area and was rapidly becoming a top-notch custody attorney as well.
 
His fees were unusually modest and he preferred a client base that was strictly lower to middle class and he also did a lot of
pro bono
work.
 
If ever there were an honest lawyer, Scotty Lewis was it.

“Sit down, honey,” he said to Diane.
 
“Want something to drink?
 
Soda?
 
Something stronger?”

“Oh, just some seltzer if you have it,” she replied.
 
“I'm afraid that if I drink something stronger I won't stop then I wouldn't be able to drive home.”
 
She sat in one of the big comfy chairs in the outer office.
 
There was no need to retire to the inner sanctum.

“It's been a tough couple of days, huh,” he said.

“You're telling me.”

He got a couple of cold bottles of sparkling water from a little refrigerator behind his secretary's desk and gave her one.
 
“You want a glass?”

“That's all right.”
 
She opened it and had a drink.
 

Scotty sat opposite her on the couch and studied her.
 
“You're looking no worse for wear.”

She waved him off.
 
“Stop.
 
I'm a mess.
 
My makeup is all smeared.
 
I feel like shit and probably look it, too.”

“No you don't.”

She smiled and said, “Thanks.”
 
Diane thought he was pretty nice on the eyes as well.
 
A man of Irish descent, Scotty had flaming red hair and freckles and resembled Howdy Doody but was infinitely more handsome and masculine.
 
He had put on some weight in the past few years but was still an attractive man.
 

“So what's going on, Diane?” he asked.

“Oh, Scotty.
 
Jesus.”
 
She shook her head as if the whole thing was merely a nightmare.
 

She told him about the videotapes starring her twin sister and that someone mysteriously got wind of them.
 
“Maybe it was David or one of his friends,” she said.
 
“I just don't know.
 
Peter Davis instigated the school board meeting, I think.
 
You remember me telling you about him?”

“The teacher who hates you but wants to go to bed with you.”

“That's the one.”
 
She continued to tell him about the meeting and what was finally decided.
 
“And so I'm suspended for a week, and the way things look I'll probably be fired.
 
Parents are phoning the school right and left with complaints.”

Scotty rubbed his chin.
 
“Well, Diane, I have one thing I need to ask.
 
Is it true?”

“I'll tell you what I told them.
 
The woman in the tapes was my twin sister, Dana.
 
Except I told them she was dead.”

His eyebrows raised.
 
“The Health Surrogate Act you took out three years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“I'd almost forgotten about that,” he said.
 
“Well, then you have nothing to worry about.
 
All you have to do is provide them with the truth that she exists.”

“I can't do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because you're the only one I want to know she's alive!”

Scotty wasn't sure what to think.
 
Once again she could see that she was not being totally straightforward.
 
It was as if a wall had suddenly been erected between them.
 
“Well, Diane, I'm sure we can fight this thing.
 
After all, you don't have a black mark against you.
 
This porn stuff was a long time ago, right?
 
You've moved on, you got an education degree, you've made a name for yourself at the school…”

“You don't believe me, do you?”

“I didn't say that.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Diane, if we have to sue the school board, then we'll sue the school board.
 
I'm going to have to consult some colleagues about this.
 
It's not really my expertise.
 
The best thing, though, would be for you to come clean and tell everyone the truth.
 
It simply
can't
be that difficult!”

Diane sighed.
 
It was the last thing she wanted to do.
 
Talk about opening a can of worms…

Scotty cleared his throat and shifted his weight.
 
“Diane, there's something else I have to bring up.”

“What's that?”

“You're not going to like it.”

“Tell me, Scotty.”

“I heard from Mark Spencer today.”

Greg's lawyer.
 
Diane got one of those sickening jolts in her stomach that indicated imminent bad news.
 

“Yeah?”

“Greg has filed for custody of David.”

“What?”
 
She sat upright.
 
“He can't do that!”

“He can, Diane.
 
He can do whatever he feels like doing.
 
And he's using this porn movie business as leverage.”

“I can't believe it!”

“We'll have to develop a strategy, Diane.
 
Whatever we use for the school board we'll have to use with him, too.”

Diane stood and paced the room.
 
“He's not taking David, never, no way.
 
He's out of his mind if he thinks he can do that.
 
That son of a
bitch!
”
 

“Sit down, Diane.
 
Take it easy.
 
It's going to be a tough fight for him.
 
Even Spencer thinks so.
 
It won't be easy on our part either, but it's not a slam-dunk for them.
 
We'll beat them.”

“Jesus, Scotty,” she said, taking her seat again.
 
She put her head in her hand and struggled to keep from crying.
 

After an uncomfortable silence, Lewis asked, “So what about your sister?
 
I don't understand why you can't tell the truth about her.
 
Where is she, anyway?”

“She's hidden.
 
No one but me knows where she is.”

“Right.
 
I forgot.”

“Look, I got that Health Surrogate Act done to make me the decision-maker for her because she's mentally and physically incapacitated but being kept alive.
 
It basically gives me the right to pull the plug, right?”

“Yes.”

“She's been in a coma for over twenty years and I can't decide if I want to do it or not.
 
Basically I'm very pro-life and I keep thinking that someday a miracle will happen.”

“You didn't answer my question,” he said.

She sighed and said, “The reason I can't let anyone know she's alive is because they'll come and kill her.”

“Who?”

“
Them
.”

“Y
ou bastard!” Diane yelled into the phone.
 
“Why are you doing this?”

Greg Boston replied, “Why do you think, Diane?
 
I don't want my son living with you.
 
No respectable father would.”

“Oh, give me a break.
 
You don't know the
first thing
about any of that stuff.
 
None of it is true, Greg.”

“Well, I hope it isn't.
 
But that's not going to change my mind.”

Diane had stormed into the apartment after the meeting with Scotty only to find David not at home.
 
A message on the answering machine, from her ex-husband, indicated that her son was at Boston Ford and she should come and pick him up.
 
Instead, Diane picked up the phone and called her former marital partner.

“You'll never win, Greg,” she said.
 
“Scotty and I will fight you on this, make no mistake about it.”

This time Greg blew up on the other end of the line.
 
“Then fight me!
 
You're the one who's lied to me all these years, not telling me the truth about yourself.
 
You know what?
 
I think a judge will take my side on this one.
 
I'm an upstanding member of the community, a village trustee, and I go to church.
 
And you?
 
You were once a porno star and you never revealed this to anyone, even the man you married.
 
What else have you done?
 
Were you a drug addict too?”

“Stop it, Greg, you're being a real asshole!
 
And you had no right picking up David from school and bringing him to the dealership.
 
You were just looking for a confrontation, didn't you?”

“For your information, Diane, he
needed
to be picked up because he got into a fight at school!
 
He was knocked out!”

“What?”

“Yeah!
 
Your son was knocked out.
 
The school tried to call you but you were too busy being raked over the coals by your own school board to pay attention to your son.”

“That's not fair, Greg, and you know it!
 
Is David all right?”

“He's fine, no thanks to you.”

Diane had to slow down and breathe.
 
Finally she said, “I'm on my way.”

She hung up and cursed to herself.
 
She felt like picking up a glass and throwing it across the room but she managed to control her anger.
 
This is getting out of hand
, she thought.
 
Something had to be done.
 
If it called for legal battles, then so be it.
 
Scotty would need to be paid and she might even need other representation beyond him.
 

Diane went to her bedroom and pulled out the dresser drawer where she kept the small velvet-lined jewelry bag.
 
She took it out, sat on the bed, and carefully unzipped the bag.
 
There were three diamonds inside.

Damn
, she thought.
 
She needed to go to the bank and retrieve more from the safety deposit box.
 

She replaced the bag, shut the drawer, and left the apartment.
 
It took her fifteen minutes to drive to Boston Ford and that gave her plenty of time to replay the phone conversation in her head.
 
She managed to work herself up again in the car by imagining various scenarios in which she and her ex-husband had it out in court.
 
By the time she arrived she was livid.