“Now there’s tears on the pillow, Darlin’, where we slept… Without your sweet kiss my soul is lost, my friend. Tell me how do I begin again? My city’s in ruins.” ~ Bruce Springsteen My City of Ruins

 

“I should have had this tailored.” Epi complained as he accepted the forearm crutches from Nick and stood up. “I look like I’m wearing my father’s suit.”

“I thought it looked nice on you.”

Epi snorted. “This isn’t bought off the rack, it’s supposed to fit.” The law office looked like any other vague office building built in the last decade. It had a bit too much tan used on its exterior, a bit too much reflective glass to make it look modern and the same generic landscaping. He shook his head. “It’s not the suits fault I’m not the man I was the last time I wore it. I should have had it tailored.”

Nick hadn’t dressed up. He’d put on a nice pair of pants and button down shirt and worn his nicer coat but he had been surprised when Epi had come out of the house in a full suit. “I still say you look nice.”

That brought a small, very tiny, quirk of a smile to Epi’s face. “Thanks.” It quickly fled when Nick held the door open for him. “God, I don’t think I can do this.” He looked to Nick but he saw no agreement or disagreement there. “If I wig out…?”

“We’ll leave.”

“Good.” He had needed to know that, needed to know that if he had to run someone would be backing him up. “If they don’t let me leave, I can always fake a seizure.”

Nick chuckled and got the second set of doors open. “I can’t wait to see that.”

“Epi!” A voice called out as soon as they crossed the threshold.

Any mental image or thoughts Nick had as to what Epi’s lawyer, Shawn Goodman looked like didn’t match the man that met them. His skin was a bit pale and his belly a bit round. He was about their age, maybe a little older but his hair was close trimmed and receding. The suit he was wearing fit well and looked expensive but didn’t seem at all showy or flashy. Even the shine on the man’s shoes didn’t seem overly bright. He was ordinary, even the wedding ring on his finger was plain and simple.

“I have a conference room for us if you want a moment before we go in.” Brown eyes flicked over and across Nick and Nick changed his mind, the lawyer wasn’t plain or simple, he was efficient.

“Nick Kern, this is my lawyer, Shawn Goodman.”

Nick stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Look, Epi if you’ve a new boyfriend you needed to tell me that.”

“Nick isn’t my boyfriend. He’s the guy living in the apartment at the house I bought and driving me around and making sure I don’t crack my head in or have a seizure or something.”

“But…”

Nick knew he was going to blush and was grateful he was tanned enough to hide it. “We’re not involved.”

“Huh, well no offense intended.”

“None taken.” Nick muttered back.

“Nick is going in there with me.”

“It’s your right, Epi. You sure you’re up for this?”

“I’m fine.”

“If you say so. Just remember, if you don’t understand the question, don’t answer it. Ask for it to be rephrased or ask me to have them rephrase it. If you answer it, they’ll assume you knew what they meant. Don’t answer anything until the other lawyer is done speaking, give it a second and then answer. If you don’t know or can’t remember it’s okay to say you don’t know or to give your best guess but tell them you are estimating. Got it?”  Shawn spilled out as they moved across the lobby and down a hall way to the reserved conference room.

“I understand.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let them bully you.”

Epi nodded. “I know, you’ve always taken care of things.”

Shawn stopped with his hand on the door knob. “Look, Epi, generally with this sort of thing I’d tell you to answer as short and crisply as you can, yes, no, answers and not to give up more than that. But all they have here is your story and your story of that day proves this case doesn’t have any merit. Be honest, tell them what happened, answer as fully as you can. If they go to far I’ll let you know but we’re going to take this statement today and ask for the suit to be dismissed. So be honest.”

He didn’t even like to think about that day inside of his head, speaking of it freely and honestly was going to hurt. “I’ll try.”

“Good, good, let’s get you settled and sworn in.”

The room was not what Epi would call spacious and felt almost claustrophobic with another lawyer, a court reporter and Timothy’s parent’s already around the table. Epi hadn’t seen them in over a year but the resemblance his lover had with his father still struck him. They had the same dark eyes, same smile, same nose and Epi couldn’t met the man’s gaze. He was sworn in and Shawn waved for him to take a seat next to him.

Nick moved to sit on the other side of the table but the lawyer he didn’t know tried to take the seat directly across from Epi. Nick slapped his hand on the back of the chair and frowned at the man, loomed a little over him and tried to look the part of the belligerent red-neck that would pick a fight over far less things. It must have worked because the man cleared his throat a little and took one seat away.

“Is this who you replaced our Timothy with?” Mrs. Ridell snapped out.

Epi opened his mouth to answer but Shawn beat him to it. “Please, address all questions through your counsel, Mrs. Ridell.”

Their lawyer held up a hand slightly to stall her protests but he kept his attention on Epi. “Shannon,”

“Mr. Whitmore, if you don’t mind. I prefer to be on a first name basis with people I actually know.”

The lawyer nodded. “Fair enough. Mr. Whitmore, before we start, if you need to take a break at any time, please say so.”

“Alright.” He had his hands folded on the table and for the time being it was easier to keep his eyes there.

“For the record, are you currently under the influence of any drugs or alcohol?”

That snapped Epi’s eyes up and he glanced from the strange lawyer to his own. “What the…”

“It’s a standard question.” Shawn added softly.

“Yes, I’m on several medications.” None of which were any of their concern.

“Will any of your medications impair your judgment or affect your ability to give honest and accurate answers today?”

“No, none.”

“Have you ever been charged or convicted of a felony?”

“What? No. Never.” It wasn’t a question he’d been ready for.

“Have you discussed this lawsuit with anyone other than your lawyer?”

“No.”

“What was your relationship with the deceased, Timothy Ridell?”

The name alone was like a knife. “He was my partner.”

“Would you explain how you define partner?”

“He was my lover, we lived together.”

“How long did you and Mr. Ridell live together?”

“About eight years, we’d only been dating three months when his lease was up and he moved in with me.”

“And what is your profession, Mr. Whitmore?”

“I’m a writer.”

“Is it not true that you live off of a trust fund established for you by your grandfather?”

He had to glance to Shawn but at the man’s nod he answered. “My grandfather left me a trust fund, yes, but I earn an income from my work as well.”

“And what is the value of your trust fund?”

“When I inherited it or it’s current value?”

“Both.”

“It was three and a half million when I gained control of it and it’s currently valued at close to nine million.”

“So it’s safe to say that your background and Mr. Ridell’s were vastly different.”

“Is that a question?”

“It wasn’t until after Mr. Ridell moved in with you that you told him of your wealth, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So you lied to him?”

“No, it wasn’t…it’s not…the money didn’t matter. Timothy had a good job, he was…he was happy.”

“How did your family feel about you dating a cook?”

“He wasn’t a cook, he was a chef, a good one. They were supportive of my choice.” He forced the words out.

“Is it true that your family offered Mr. Ridell a rather large sum of money to remove himself from your life?”

“No…yes…but it wasn’t until later and I didn’t know anything about it until after the fact.”

“But your family did try to buy him off?”

“Timothy had a problem. My parents are protective of me. I had nothing to do with that.”

“You cheated on Mr. Ridell didn’t you?”

“I…” Epi glanced up and it was Nick’s eyes he met. “It’s complicated.”

“Un-complicate it for me, Mr. Whitmore, did you or did you not have sexual relations with someone else while you were in a committed relationship with Mr. Ridell?”

“Timothy’s restaurant went under and he was out of work. He got…bitter about my paying all the bills. We were fighting a lot. The only reason we were still together was because he couldn’t afford to move out. He got a job at this crappy little place downtown. It improved things because he was only ever really happy when he was cooking but the other line chefs and staff went out every night. Timothy started going with them, started partying. He got into trouble, started drinking too much and doing drugs. He was addicted to heroin before I even knew he was using. By the time I found out he was doing meth too. He lost his job because he was high all the time. He stopped having a problem with me having money but when I found out he was using it to get high I cut him off. He stole my wallet, maxed out my cards, pawned our tv, my watch, the cufflinks and rings my grandfather left me. I found the receipt and bought them back and the only reason he didn’t re-pawn them is because I moved everything valuable to a safe deposit box. When he couldn’t get money from me he was out partying with other men, men that he was having sex with and doing drugs with. He came home twice with different diseases. Yes. I had an affair. I ran into an old friend from college, we had a few drinks, one thing led to another. It happened once and never again. Just because he was strung out at the time and fucking any guy that would buy him dope doesn’t make what I did right.”

“Mr. Ridell was arrested about this same time?”

“Yes. We got into a fight, he had found out about what I’d done. He left to go hang out with his friends and get high. The police caught him trying to buy and they arrested him.”

“You arranged for him to enter rehab?”

“Yes, the court was going to order him to thirty days in a county rehab. I asked my lawyer, Mr. Goodman to arrange for Timothy to attend a private ninety day rehab in state instead.”

“Rehab that you offered to pay for?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you do that? Given how your relationship seemed to be over.”

“I wanted my boyfriend back.” He rubbed at his eyes and didn’t think that anyone sitting at the table would understand. “I just wanted the man I met back.”

“And did he get clean?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you say to his parents after he came out of rehab?”

“I…” He shook his head. “I told them I loved…I loved their son.”

“What else did you tell them?”

“I told them I would take care of Timothy, that I’d be there for him.”

“Were you aware that your version of taking care of him was emasculating?”

Shawn tapped his fingers on the table. “Rephrase that.”

“No.” Epi stopped him. “It’s okay. Timothy had a difficult time forgiving himself for the things he did while he was high. I tried not to throw that in his face but I’m just human, we had some rough spots after he got out of rehab but we worked them out. He still hated that I could pay for him when he was still out of work.”

“You don’t consider finding him a new job emasculating?”

“All he wanted to do was cook but it’s a small community and he had a reputation. He’d stolen money from his last restaurant.”

“Money you paid back for him.”

“Yes, I did.” He’d expected to be hurt and upset at the questions not angry. He was happier being angry. “I won’t apologize for that. Yes, I got him an interview for a new job but his cooking got him the job.”

“Did Mr. Ridell feel that you’d somehow bought his new life? His recovery and new job?”

“He mentioned….a couple of times that he felt a little kept. I was still paying the bills. It upset him. It was a non-issue to me, it’s what you do when you care about someone. You take care of them.”

“Tell me about that last trip the two of you took, before the accident?”

“I wanted to go to West Virginia to some of the battlefield sites, as research. Timothy wanted to go to someplace more exciting but he agreed.”

“Did you know he was using again?”

“No, not when we left.”

“Was that because you’d become so involved with your own life and work that you just didn’t notice, or because you didn’t care?”

“Don’t answer that.” Shawn stepped in. “Really now, Mr. Ridell’s own parents were unaware of his relapse. My client is not psychic.”

“No but your client also lived with Mr. Ridell while his parents did not.”

“No, I didn’t know. Things were tense but he’d been passed up for promotion at work to someone he thought wasn’t as skilled as he was. I thought he was just frustrated over that and being snappish because of it. I didn’t know he was using again.” Epi broke in.

“Mr. Whitmore, would you please describe that day before the car accident that took Mr. Ridell’s life?”

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