CHAPTER 49: CLASH OF THE WASP Part 2: THE TRAIN IS COMING
BRIAN:
There aren’t many days when I marvel at my own genius. I am Brian Taylor-Kinney, master of plans and contingency plans, after all. But then there are the days when even I have to say ‘DAMN! I really am THAT good!’ In watching Melanie Marcus come down the stairs, this is most certainly one of those times. She looks just the way Justin and I discussed when we decided to pick this particular shade out of the line up of what must have been a million and five red suits. Instead of the tough as nails local lawyer she’s always been, she now looks like she was born to rule the high-profile circuit.
“Mel, you look spectacular!” Justin exclaims, and I certainly cannot disagree with him.
Everything from her hair, which she’s been growing out since Gus was born, to the suit, the briefcase and those kick-ass shoes, it works together so well that there isn’t another word to describe her. Add Wonder-Em’s work with her makeup and the confidence radiating off of her right now, and simply put, Mel is absolutely breathtaking.
“Thank you, Baby. I can hardly believe that I am the same person.” She smiles, making her eyes sparkle and I feel that we have killed one of those nay-saying ghosts that have lived in her head for far too long.
“Bullshit, Mel,” I say. “The real question Justin and I need answered is how do you feel?”
She smiles even more then, and I think she and I have just reached an understanding. I also believe that we won’t have any more arguments or criticisms about my shopping habits, which in truth was my secret mission all along.
“I feel like I can kick a million asses and make sure to catch every fucking one of their names. But right now, I’ll just settle for one.”
And that’s what I wanted and needed to hear from her. I won’t lie. I’m a bit nervous about seeing Lindsay again. It’s not because of the way she would want it to be, where she thinks she holds some kind of power over me. No. It’s that I’m afraid that she’ll piss me off so bad that I end up in the prison across town where Michael is. Now THAT would be a disaster waiting to happen, since technically he’s in the safest place for him right now, which is in police custody. I’m still itching to put my foot to his ass about what he tried to do to the three of us, but to use Gus… Indeed, the safest place for my ex-best friend is under police guard.
But Lindsay has always had the uncanny ability to dig and dig until she strikes a nerve. With Mel and I, it’s almost a given that she will try, since that is the way she operates. And in the past, I'll admit that she succeeded beyond whatever initial expectations she might have had. It's what happens whenever you pit to hot-tempered people against each other, or set them up to become their own worst enemy; never realizing that the snake's head they should have proverbially cut off was that of Lindsay Peterson. But that’s why I’m glad Justin is coming with us. She may have been able to try her tricks with him during the bashing episode of our lives, but with this latest reinvention of Justin, he’s as close to pre-bashing Justin as he could be, but with an edge that none of us ever expected. That’s the Justin she’s going to meet, and he’s had more than twenty-four hours to sharpen that fucking stinger he has no problem jabbing into people in a way that will inflict the most damage. I would feel sorry for Lindsay, but she brought this all on herself.
“Ready to go?” Justin asks me, and I can’t help but snicker at the far away look in his eyes at the mention of that particular phase.
“What?” Melanie asks.
“That song was playing the night that started this entire episode of our lives. It was the night that Stockwell and Vance barged into my loft to catch me fucking the libelous intern, which is how Gardner thought of Justin at the time. Too bad he didn’t realize just how much truth was in the counter-campaign before he lost his illustrious career to Kinnetik Enterprises.”
“You don’t really think you’ve beaten him though,” Melanie says, already knowing the answer.
“Not for one second. He’ll try some other tactic, and another and another, until he finally realizes that he’s lost,” Justin answers. “But by then he will have lost everything else he has left, including his self-respect. In all fairness, he was warned.”
Within an hour, we were walking into the Federal Building where Lindsay was being held. As we finished going through the customary checks and detectors, we are greeted by the facility’s warden. “Ms. Marcus, Mr. and Mr. Taylor-Kinney, I’m Warden Shelia Montgomery.” Honestly, I was not expecting a woman, especially one who could appear on any fashion magazine in the wider world to be a Warden in a federal prison.
Mel extended her hand. “Please call me Melanie, and this is Brian and Justin. As you know, we’re here to see Lindsay Peterson. We acknowledge that it’s customary for the prisoner to only have one visitor at a time, but I’m requesting that we all be given access to her at the same time as all of our questions pertain to the same case and other related cases as well.”
“Not to worry, Melanie, and do feel free to call me Shelia as well. I just finished up a very interesting telephone conversation with DA Linton. He advised me of the convoluted, yet sensitive nature of this case and how it relates to the others. I will tell you that there is some concern for Ms. Peterson’s health at the moment.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Well, there is no easy way to say this, but she’s… she’s pregnant.”
“It’s not mine,” I say, before I can catch myself.
Both Mel and Justin snicker at my response. “Brian I know you are rather well-endowed, but not even you can perform that trick with the trick, no matter how much she wishes otherwise,” Justin says.
“Justin, retract your stinger, please?” Mel requests, even as she’s trying to compose herself. Turning back to the Warden she apologizes. “Sorry, Shelia. To say that Justin’s personal history with Ms. Peterson is one of a love-hate relationship would be an understatement.”
“I would imagine so, since it is rumored that the young blond here replaced the older wifely blonde.” And the way Shelia says that with a voice sounding of such innocence, but with eyes narrowed in suspicion makes me wonder what else Lindsay has been spewing.
“I’m sorry Shelia, but you were lied to, mercilessly, if you believe that bit of hogwash. The truth is that I’m gay, have always been gay, and will always be gay, and I don’t mean in a funny ha-ha fashion. Justin has always been my partner in some capacity from the night I first met him, which just happens to be the same night that Lindsay delivered our collective son, Gus, while she was yet Melanie’s partner. The only time I EVER had a lapse in judgment, which unfortunately resulted in Lindsay and I having sex, was during my first year at Penn State when I was pursuing one of my two Masters degrees, and it’s the reason I still won’t touch Wild Turkey bourbon with a hundred foot pole, as that’s what we’d drunk before I took a dip in Lindsay’s pond. Something had to be wrong with it; they had to have mixed a bad batch or something!”
“Calm down, Brian,” Sheila snickers. “I believe you. And not to worry, none of the rest of us really believe her either. Lindsay seems the type to tell stories based on how she wants things to be, not how they actually are.”
“Are you saying she’s delusional?” Melanie asks her. Both Justin and Shelia shake their heads.
“Lindsay is not delusional in the slightest. Nor is she being willy-nilly in what she’s picking and choosing to say,” Justin says.
“I agree with you, Justin, but what makes you say that?” Shelia asks him.
“Am I wrong to believe that she’s being recorded with every interaction she's had to date?”
“No, you aren’t. So are you saying that she’s being careful because she knows she is?”
“Absolutely. So I’m going to ask you to think completely out of the box in our case. Turn the recorder on her off.”
“WHAT?!” All three of us look at Justin as if he’s lost his damn mind. “Justin, the whole purpose of this visit is to get her to admit what she has done, is doing, and hoped to accomplish with the information that we’ve found out,” Mel reminds him.
“And we still will. Doesn’t the law state that as long as ONE of the parties know they are being recorded, the tapes are still admissible in court? So record the three of us instead, without her knowing about it. It will be enough for her that the recorder is off of her, so she will feel free to speak her rancid mind without filter. She’s too arrogant to believe that we would actually have the forethought to request that our visit with her be taped.”
I swear, Justin is a fucking marvel with how he thinks, and the way he is able to pick Lindsay apart without her even knowing he’s doing it. “He’s right. She’ll be so wrapped up in the fact that Mel and I have come to see her…”
“And Justin,” Shelia says, but Mel, Justin, and I shake our heads.
“No, she’s going to be pissed off that he’s here, joined at my hip.”
“She’ll try to ignore my presence at first, but as Lindsay has learned the hard way, she can’t ignore me for very long.”
Justin adjusts the yellow and blue striped tie against the cornflower blue shirt, which makes his already impossibly blue eyes glow even brighter. The tan Hugo Boss suit is fitting him like it was made just for him, and I have to agree... Lindsay won’t be able to pretend he’s not there for very long, especially not with that lustrous spun gold hair of his growing out and grazing his collar. He’s the very definition of ‘sunshine’.
“Earth to Brian! Calling Brian! HEY ASSHOLE!” Melanie yells, snapping her fingers before my eyes to bring me back into focus. “You know, someday you’re going to go blind if you continue to stare at Justin that hard.”
I smirk at her assessment, and lift my eyebrow in a mischievous manner. “You wanna know what I was thinking?”
“NO! UGH! I swear, it is always this way with you two!” Justin and I just laugh.
“Don’t worry, Mel. Someday very soon we will have the same kind of reaction to your sex life, should you EVER resume it… Just saying, get busy,” Justin says.
“You two are busy enough for me right now. But come on, let’s get phase one over with.”
Shelia has once again composed herself. She asks, “I know that DA Carver said that you were to be given three visits?”
“That’s correct,” Melanie confirms.
“Is it possible to have an open time limit, but not longer than two hours?” Justin asks.
“That’s an odd request. May I ask why?” Shelia asks.
“Sure, you can, but if you’d like to see for yourself, I would suggest you put us in a room with a two-way mirror should one be available.”
“We do, but…”
“I’m about to afford you a crash course in WASP 101, but also one in how Lindsay operates. It’s something that none of us can explain in mere words. However, it’s something that I can draw out of her rather quickly, and if you’re not watching carefully, you’ll miss the nerve I plucked to get her there. We WASP are like chameleons and adapt quickly to situations, especially those with high-emotional intensity. Lindsay is good; I’m better.”
“She has a few years on you, young man. What makes you think so?” Shelia smirks at his confidence, but it’s short-lived with his next words and bright smile.
“My family is higher up on the food chain than hers. My mother was Jennifer Alwin before she married Craig Taylor, but whereas my father never achieved her status, she never lost hers when she married down. It’s that connection in my lineage that Lindsay hasn’t quite figured out yet, and ultimately will be her undoing.”
“Sunshine, what haven’t you told Mel and I?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically, before winking at me as he passes by me to get fitted for his recording device.