A long lane at night

2.19. THE POWER Part 1

** NATE **

'READY?' JACK ASKED, CLEARLY NOT FEELING ANY prepared at all himself. He was adjusting my tie under my collar just to have something to do with his hands.

'Ready,' I answered, feeling indeed confident. I smoothed the shoulders of his blazer and moved my hands down his arms to his hands. 'How about you?' I asked.

Jack exhaled, shook his head violently, and sighed.

'As ready as I can be,' he was trying to control the shake in his voice. 'Let's get this over with. I want to go home. I never thought I would so desperately want to get as far away from this flat as I want to do now.'

We were taking separate cars. I knew that Jack would like to go with me, but he was rooting for a chance to go from the judge's office straight to the Big House and he knew that I would have to linger round to finish some paper work. He kept all of that to himself, of course. All he bothered to say was 'I think it'd give a better impression if we arrived separately. I don't want people to think you've been sleeping with your client.'

I tried to counter his argument, telling him that both the judge and the social worker were perfectly aware that I was engaged to him, but I decided to let it pass.

So, different cars it was. I checked my back seat to ensure my folder with all the documents I would need was still sitting safely there and made my way out of the parking area.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear before I go on: I will never not want to have Jack around me. I will never look at a situation where I will think 'this is actually something I want to do without Jack.' Yes, I know I had to do a lot of things behind his back in this whole messy situation that I was praying would end today, but that was different. Those were things I needed to do without him, not wanted to. But, if I am to be entirely honest here, taking this drive alone was actually helpful. I was allowed to recollect my thoughts and put my mind in work gear, all that without needing to worry about keeping Jack's nerves under control. I just hope that he's being able to do so by himself.

I left before Jack. I even left the car park way before Jack. So why on earth was I turning off my engine next to his passenger door at the forum garage? Oh Lord, please don't let him get a ticket. We don't need him getting into any kind of trouble today.

'What took you so long?' Those were the words he used to welcome me the instant our eyes met.

'I didn't take that long!' I said indignantly. 'How did you get here so fast?'

'Ah,' Jack said, snapping his fingers and pointing his index one at me. 'You took the highway and it was jammed.'

'Of course I took the highway!' I answered. 'How else am I supposed to get here?'

'Same way I did, airhead,' he said. 'Cut through the neighbourhoods. There's no traffic, you just have to avoid any school zones.'

'Well, I don't know the city as well as you, do I?' I was feeling annoyed. One glance at my watch showed me that he was absolutely right. I did take forever. At least we were still perfectly on time.

'All right, country boy, calm down,' Jack said raising his arms. We went to sit at one of the benches close to the judge's office after I made both of our arrivals known. We still had a quarter of an hour to spare.

I wanted to say something reassuring to Jack, but he was doing some breathing exercises next to me, clearly finding an invisible outlet to get rid of his nerves, so I decided to let him be. When we only had five more minutes of waiting and were about to be motioned into the room, I asked him:

'Do you have any last questions before we go in there?'

His breathing was steady, his posture was relaxed enough.

'No,' he answered. 'I have complete faith in you, Nate. We'll be just fine.'

Those words right there were the biggest confidence boost I could have asked for.

We both stepped into the office and sat across the same social worker who had been summoned to take Alice on the day of the fire. Good. The less people involved, the easier my job gets. It also gave me a good advantage with the research I had ready with me. I truly hoped I wouldn't need to use everything I had, but there's no way I'm leaving this room today without playing any necessary cards I must in order to win.

'Custody hearing of the seventeenth of November, regarding Jack Altridge-Leech and his daughter, Alice Altridge-Leech,' the judge said right on the clock. 'The state is hereby represented by Janice Pearce and witness for the defence is Nate Wyatt.'

'Good morning, everyone,' I said. 'Janice, why don't we hear from you first?'

It was bait and Janice was the only one naïve enough not to notice. Sideway glances showed me even Jack was aware that I was setting her up.

'Thank you, Mr Wyatt,' she said, putting emphasis on my last name, a clear indication that she hadn't appreciated being addressed by her first one. So far, so good. 'The state's case is simple: in less than one year, Jack Altridge-Leech, a single man who applied for adoption under circumstances unclear, has already recklessly endangered the child that was trusted upon him. Seeing this as a clearly poor decision made by some other member of the Service, the best course of action now for the child is to retrieve her from such harming environment and find her a truly solid family that can give her the best life possible.'

'What do you have to say for you client, Mr Wyatt?' The judge asked.