Weeping Willows

Chapter 13

Haunting Light of Day

                Elizabeth woke with a start the next morning completely drenched in sweat.  She tried to slow her labored breathing as she shook violently with the remnants of the dream swirling through her head.  Jan entered the bedroom toweling off her wet hair utterly unaware of the current state of her friend.  Elizabeth watched Jan in her mundane task using the image to chase away her thoughts.  Jan glanced over at her raising her eyebrow in question.  She merely shook her head in response heading to the now vacant bathroom. 

                She stood beneath the steaming spray letting the heat relax her.  She needed to find something to occupy her busy mind with and with a slight smile the perfect idea presented itself.  She emerged from the room wrapped in a towel feeling invigorated.  A cloud of fog trailed her into the bedroom as she got ready for her day.  Cleaned, dressed, and a bit achy Elizabeth followed her nose to the kitchen where a steaming cup of coffee greeted her.  Smiling she brought the cup close to her face huffing the aroma like it was crack.  Jan snorted into her own cup at Elizabeth’s antics.

                “I’ve got to go in and finish my shoot today.  Will you be alright here by yourself or would you like me to call one of the gang over?”

                “I’ve got plans to go through some of the stuff in the attic today.”  Jan looked at her with sad puppy dog eyes and a pout.

                “That won’t work on me so you might as well stop now.  You can see what I’ve unearthed if you want to tonight when you’re done.”

                “UGH, fine! Just try not to uncover anything too good before I’m able to dig around with you.”  Elizabeth chuckled but made her no guarantees.  It will be fun to explore with people who would enjoy it just as much as her, but she was looking forward to treasure hunting alone first.  They finished their coffee and small breakfasts in near silence.  Only occasionally breaking it for light banter.  Elizabeth’s nerves were still a bit raw and she wasn’t in the mood to talk.  As if she could sense this, Jan didn’t push for much interaction.  Instead she watched her when Elizabeth wasn’t paying attention. 

                After Jan left Elizabeth raced up the stairs in excitement sliding to a stop just under the attic.  The mess left on the floor had been cleaned up already and she made sure to lay down a drop cloth to prevent any more.  She did not want to have to do a big clean up three times in one week.  Dropping the ladder, she climbed into the attic and turned on the lantern Clayton had left there for her.  She bounced on the balls of her feet while rubbing her hands together in anticipation.  Gazing around she was trying to decide just where she wanted to start.  

                She decided to get the boxes of clothing down that had belonged to the artist.  There might be more things inside besides just clothing but after what she planned to do, she truly hoped not.  The boxes had weight to them but no more then luggage would have.  Bringing each one out she slid each across the open part of the floor to the door.  She had three boxes in total that smelled of oils and turpentine.  Grabbing the first box she squared it up with the ladder.  Tipping it up slightly she gauged where to set it.  She had only meant to set the bottom of the box to the ladder lightly, but Elizabeth lost her hold on the container.  With a loud bang it hit the ladder full on skidding down as if sliding on melted butter.  Elizabeth could only watch in horror as it careened off the side of the ladder about halfway down plummeting to the floor.  She stared wide eyed at it as the box was torn asunder from the impact.  The slapping of the old cardboard echoed through the house as clothing exploded out of it flinging in every direction.  A smattering of dust floated in the air only to land on top of the c*****e. 

                Descending the ladder, she decided to try again.  She would just need to make the ladder less slick.  Grabbing a second drop cloth and moving the clothing from in front of the attic she climbed back up for her second attempt.  Elizabeth draped the second cloth down tying the corners to the top rung.  Placing the second box in position she held tight until she felt the bottom touch down.  With a light shove she peered down watching the box slid down slowing as it neared the bottom.  A smile of triumph broke out but quickly morphed into a frown.  The box made it three fourths of the way down and came to a stop just sitting there near the bottom.  In frustration Elizabeth gave the cloth a jerk and watched as the box toppled end over end landing in another heap at the bottom.  The lid had popped off mid tumble sending the clothing tumbling in a scattered mess.

                Huffing out an aggravated breath she eyed the third box.  She was bound and determined to get this to work.  She hefted the last carton to the opening handling it rougher in her agitation.  She squared it up deciding to put more power behind her thrust.  Standing, she placed her foot upon the edge and steadied herself.  With as much force as she could Elizabeth shoved the box out then quickly dropped to the floor to watch its progress down.  It crashed to the ladder and went zipping down, but it didn’t stop at the bottom.  Instead it made contact with the last box still laying there at an angle and in wide eyed fascination she watched as it sped across the top.  It flew over the makeshift ramp and caught air soaring down to the ground floor. Because the box had picked up speed with the downward trajectory when it met with the sealed slick hardwood, instead of stopping it kept going speeding right out the open front door.  A high-pitched scream pierced the air outside as Dan, who had just opened the screen door, had watched as the large object careened by him and was now staring out the door.  He turned his now big brown eyes to the second floor where they met Elizabeth’s own stunned gaze.  His shoulders began to shake uncontrollably as a fuming Clayton stormed in pulling a pair of women’s bloomers from his head.  Elizabeth lost it joining in with Dan’s guffawing with peals of her own mirth echoing down.

                “Yuck it up you two.”  Clayton growled out glowering at the both of them.  “You might want to go retrieve your clothing Lizzy.  There’s a raccoon out there eyeing a particularly fetching corset.”

                Yanking up the drop cloth Elizabeth hustled down the ladder and rushed to the front door.  She grabbed the bloomers Clayton was holding on her way out the door.  Dan had doubled over in a new fit of hysterics while watching her shoo the animal away from the undergarments.  The container hadn’t faired any better than the first one forcing her to gather everything up in her arms.  With one last glare at the raccoon she huffed backed inside holding her head high as she passed the two men with her armload of ladies’ unmentionables.  She marched back up the stairs and flipped the now empty second box over placing her things inside it.  Clayton and Dan stood on the landing looking at the war zone before them.

                “What on earth have you been up to now?”

                “Experimenting.”

                “What?”

                “I was trying to figure out how to get stuff down by myself.  I thought some of the boxes of clothing would be the best to use.”

                “Clearly it was working well.”

                “Clearly.”  Both men shook their heads at her watching as she picked up her mess.  They followed her into a near by room where she deposited everything.  Clayton leaned lazily against the doorway while Dan stood stoic beside him.  They effectively cut off her exit trying to contain the tornado of a woman and stop her from creating any more disasters.  However, she walked over to the second door they had thought was a closet and left the room entering another.  Opening the door to that room she walked back out onto the landing and approached the ladder with renewed purpose.  Clayton rushed over grasping her shoulders and turning her away with a sigh.

                “Did you have a plan here or were you just going to take out more bystanders with your UFOs?”

                “The only plan I had was to get things down here and take them in there.”  She stated finishing by pointing to the room Dan still stood in front of.

                “How about Clay and I bring stuff down and you put it where you want it?  As amusing as your little stunt was earlier, I have to agree I would hate to see anyone get seriously hurt.”

                “Fine.”  Elizabeth huffed in annoyance reluctantly giving up and letting them help.

                “Anything in particular?”  Clayton asked as he started up the ladder tearing down the cloth to prevent them from tripping on it.

                “I hadn’t really looked at anything else up there.  I guess boxes and trunks for now.  As brawny as the two of you are, I think we should wait on any furniture pieces until later.”  They nodded in agreement and disappeared into the attic.  Elizabeth hustled back to the room for storage to organize the mounds of clothing she had just heaped onto the floor.

                It wasn’t long before they came down the ladder hefting William’s trunk between them.  They came in and set it in the middle of the room before leaving her once again.  All day they worked together cracking jokes and making light banter.  At one-point Elizabeth went down to the kitchen bringing back a pitcher of cold water and glasses.  They worked steadily bringing down crates to her while she figured out where best to place them.  Once lunch rolled around Dan left to get food while Clayton helped Elizabeth move some of the heavier things around.  After lunch was done, they fell back into the same steady rhythm of the morning and worked until the sun began to set.  As they guys were bringing down the last of the trunks Elizabeth received a facetime call from Lauren.  She answered it absentmindedly still concentrating on her task.

                “Lizzy?  Lizzy?”

                “Huh?  Oh, sorry Lauren I wasn’t paying attention.  What did you need?”  Lauren was about to answer when she saw Dan and Clayton clear the door to the room.  With a raised eyebrow she turned back to her friend looking at her in amazement.

                “What on earth is going on over there?”

                “We’re clearing out the attic.”

                “Correction we’re clearing out the attic.  You’re organizing and staying out of trouble for a change.  I’m Clayton nice to meet you…..?”

                “Lauren.”  She responded then turned her gazed to the big robust man standing in the background.  Clayton chuckled at his awkward friend turning to introduce him.

                “This is Dan.  Part time muscle full time chef extraordinaire.”

                “Hello Dan, nice to meet you.”

                “Just Dan, you wound me so.”

                “You too Clayton.  It’s nice to see someone keeping an eye on our girl.”

                “Hey!”  They all chuckled at Elizabeth’s outburst as Clayton handed her back her phone and went to get a drink of cool water with Dan.

                “Looks like you’re having fun, glad I’m not there to help.”  She beamed from the phone making Elizabeth roll her eyes.  “So, what do you two do for a living besides save damsel’s in distress?”

                “Lauren!”

                “What we worry, and I want to make sure you’re in good hands.” 

                “You don’t know how true that statement is.”  Dan snickered while Elizabeth blushed and glared at Clayton.  He just gave her an innocent hundred-watt smile in return.  What a snitch!  She thought as she avoided answering Lauren’s questioning gaze.

                “Clayton’s family owns and runs a pest control business and Dan is a chef in a restaurant chain he created.”  This peeked Lauren’s interest immensely.

                “Any place I’ve heard of?”

                “Le Buisson.”  Clayton supplied making Lauren squeal in excitement.

                “I’ve been wanting to go there but it’s so hard to get a reservation.”

                “A romantic dinner for two I imagine.”

                “Lord no.”

                “Wait aren’t you still with Alec?”

                “Huh?”  Lauren looked confused for a second before Elizabeth’s words made any sense.  Waving away the thought she plowed on.  “Of course, were still together but that’s not why I was trying to eat there.  We’ve got a new case in the last month or so.  I was called in when there was a bust on a sweat shop.  Somehow these low lives managed to find quite a few foster families that were only fostering for the government check.  They could give a rat’s ass about the kids that were in their care.  So, these guys offer to buy them, but the foster parents still register them as living with them.  They get a nice hefty check and continue to get government checks while these bastards get slave labor they don’t have to pay.  Most of these kids were living in the warehouses where they worked.  The things I’d like to do to people if only it were legal.  Anyway, they’ve been placed back into the system to be put back into new homes.  The foster families they were in are all up on charges but once they serve their time most of them can foster again.  Those slime balls that worked these poor kids are awaiting trial, but it never seems like they get enough punishment.  Of course, they have some big fancy lawyers to defend them too.  And these poor kids have been living in squalor working day in and day out.  They were taken out of school under the guise of being home schooled.  Most of them have been living like that for years Lizzy!  The whole thing is so damn messed up that I wanted to treat them to an amazing meal before they’re placed out again.  Le Buisson was my first choice, but I’ve had to look into other options.”  Lauren sighed in defeat, she always felt so much for the kids she was called in to counsel.  She usually saw some pretty awful cases.  Elizabeth’s heart always went out to her friend.  After Lauren started talking Dan got out his phone and wasn’t off yet.  Clayton came up slinging his arm across Elizabeth’s shoulders.

                “Which city you in hon?”  After Lauren told him the biggest smile spread across his face as he winked at her walking away while taking his phone out.

                “What on earth was that about?”  Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders looking just as confused as she watched the both of them.  Dan’s phone call seemed to be taking a while, but Clayton was making call after call.  Both men finished at the same time nodding to each other in satisfaction.  Walking over to Elizabeth they stood behind her.  She had to tilt her screen to make sure Lauren could see the three of them at the same time.

                “You have a reservation for tomorrow at the restaurant.  I’ve reserved the whole second floor for you.”  Lauren gasped in shock as tears leaked from her eyes.  Clayton addressed her next.

                “We have a friend in your area who just happens to be a shark of a defense attorney.  He’s just waiting for me to give him your number and he’ll be on it.”

                “Is he really that good?”

                “Trust me no one goes against Mikey and walks away.”

                “The Mikey!”

                “The one and the same red.”

                “Whose Mikey?”

                “His name is Michael Weston, but we know him as Mikey.”  Clayton grinned.  It was tinged with a bit of malice which Elizabeth was positive was from visions of what his friend would do to all parties involved.  Lauren looked at her for an explanation since the name meant nothing to her.

                “Think Courtney with a penis.”  Lauren’s eyes rounded in shock then lit up with a little malevolence of her own.  She quickly rattled off her office and cell phone numbers which Clayton then shot off to Mikey in a text.  The answering text was swift in pinging his phone.

                “He’ll be calling you later today.”

                “Hey Clayton, why’d you call me to hurry over?  I would have been here in another couple hours.”  They all gave Jan a quick rundown of what was going on and with each new fact fire burned in her eyes turning them molten gold.  Whipping out her cell she placed a quick call before turning back to the group.

                “So, I went to school with a videographer who just so happens to now be a very prominent news reporter.”  She told them all that this classmate and friend of hers worked for a national news outlet then dropped the name.  Elizabeth’s and Lauren’s mouths hung open in shock.  Jan gave Lauren their number and told her they were expecting her call soon. 

                After numerous thank yous and buckets of tears Elizabeth finally managed to end the call with Lauren.  She turned her attention to the three people chatting idly away with a newfound outlook on each one.  Exactly what kind of big leagues did she stumble into?