Betrayal

Chapter 17

THE FUNERAL OF Samuel Lewis Jones was elegant and solemn. Tallie thought he would have liked it. The flowers were white and looked lovely in the church, the casket was a dark mahogany, the church was full, and she had given the minister enough information about her father’s life that the eulogy was meaningful and moving.

And Tallie spoke briefly about the extraordinary man he was. All of his peers and close friends had died before him, so there was no one to speak of his distinguished career, his accomplishments, his victories, the kind of friend he was, and the kind of father, except her. But she did a good job. Most of the people who came were old clients of his, who had been much younger than he was, and were now older people, since he had retired ten years before. Some of the people Tallie did business with were there as well. She saw Victor Carson in a back pew, alone; her father’s beloved housekeeper Amelia was there; and so were a few of Tallie’s acquaintances and friends. It was a respectable showing for a remarkable man who had been much loved and greatly respected. And as she and Max walked out of the church holding hands with tears running down their cheeks, she looked up and saw Jim there, in a dark suit, and he nodded solemnly at her, and she nodded back.

They stood outside the church for a few minutes, and she invited people to come to the house later that afternoon. She invited Jim too, who said he didn’t want to intrude at such a delicate time.

“You won’t be. And at least you’ll get some decent food at my place for once,” she said in an undervoice, and he laughed and said he would come. He said a few words to Max too. And then she and Tallie left for the cemetery to say their last goodbyes to Sam. It was agonizing leaving him there, for both of them, and Tallie looked wrenched by it when they got back to the house. Several people were already there, and Max and Tallie moved among them, thanking people for coming. There were many Tallie didn’t know well, who had only known her father, but she’d been happy to see such a big turnout for him, and she thought he’d have been pleased.

Both Tallie and Max looked very serious in two black dresses Tallie had found in her closet. She felt like a scarecrow wearing hers, but she wanted to honor her father as was proper. And she looked beautiful anyway, even in the somber plain black dress, and Max looked pretty and young. People enjoyed meeting her, asked where she went to school, and what her major was, and she was proud to say she was going to be a lawyer like her grandfather. Tallie was proud of her too.

And Jim came about an hour after they got back from the cemetery. He had brought an armful of white roses, and asked one of the waiters from the caterer to put them in a vase. Tallie was touched by the gesture, and she and Max chatted with him for a few minutes, and then they had to greet other people arriving, and he talked to several people before he left discreetly a little while later.

Max commented on it that night, as she and Tallie were foraging in the fridge. “Jim really seems like a good guy, Mom.”

“He is. He helped me make all the arrangements on Saturday. He was a big help. I’ve never done anything like that without Brigitte.” But it had all gone very smoothly, and the caterer had provided a very nice spread at the house. Tallie had used them before.

“When’s Brig going to trial, Mom?” Max had lost track. They were sitting in the kitchen with their shoes off, eating leftovers. Talking about Jim had reminded her of it.

“Ughhh…” Tallie hated to think about it. “It’s very confusing. She goes to trial on the embezzlement in April. I think she goes on trial for murder with the state after that, and I think the civil trial will come up in about a year, or before that. She’s going to be pretty busy next year,” Tallie said ruefully, and Max nodded. It was still nearly impossible for either of them to believe. “I can’t keep it all straight.”

The FBI, their forensic accountants, and Victor were continuing to put evidence together for the embezzlement to tighten the case, and they didn’t need much input from her at the moment. They had all her information. The murder trial didn’t involve her, except to testify to Brigitte’s phone call before she went to kill Hunt, and whatever she had said before that. And Greg Thomas was preparing the civil suit, which really only involved restitution, and getting back as much money as they could from Brigitte, but the civil trial was a long time away. Tallie talked to Greg Thomas about it regularly, but it was all still very distant. Both government entities were still hoping that Brigitte would plead guilty, but she hadn’t agreed to do so. She had entered a plea of not guilty at both arraignments and was sticking to it, but that could always change closer to the trial dates. For now, it was all hanging out in space somewhere. And to Tallie, closure seemed like a long time away. She longed for the day when the court dates and formalities would be over and they could put it behind them, instead of having it looming at them from the distance. Tallie was dreading all of it.

“She was such a fool,” Max said, as they went upstairs together after they ate. Max had gotten compassionate leave from summer school for a week for Sam’s funeral. And then Tallie would be on her own again. She was so grateful to have Max home now. “She completely destroyed her life,” Max said about Brigitte, “her work, her relationship with you, her career, her trust, her credibility. She’ll lose her home, she’ll be in prison for years… and for what? A bunch of clothes on Rodeo, some jewelry, a nice house? And she killed a man. She destroyed everyone’s life, even yours.”

“She didn’t destroy mine,” Tallie said thoughtfully, “but she certainly impacted it.”

“I’ll say. You wind up alone, minus a million dollars, and your boyfriend is dead.”

“Yes, he is. But he wouldn’t have been with me anyway. He was already with someone else.”

“But you worked together, and you could have wound up friends. And he had a right to a life too.” Max was justifiably outraged and had been since it happened.

“Yes, he did,” Tallie agreed. It was all very sad.

“What’s happening with the movie?” Max asked. “When’s it coming out?”

“Before Christmas. December fifteenth.” She had spoken to his office and the studio recently, and there was going to be a lot of hype about it being the last movie Hunter Lloyd produced. But with or without the hype, Tallie felt good about the film. It was definitely their best, and maybe the finest work she’d ever done. She hoped it did well, to honor him. And it would be nice too to make back some of the money she’d lost when she was embezzled by Brigitte.

“I’ll go to the premiere with you,” Max volunteered, and her mother looked pleased. “I’ll be on vacation then. Maybe you’ll get nominated for an Oscar again,” Max said hopefully.

“I doubt it, but it’s a date for the premiere,” Tallie confirmed, and the two of them got undressed and into bed together, snuggled, and watched a movie on TV. It had been a long day, but together it wasn’t quite as bad for either of them. But they agreed about how terribly they were going to miss Sam. He would leave a hole in their life a mile deep.