Capitol murder

Chapter Eight

T he moment Millie Reston woke up, she knew she was beginning one of the best days of her life, and life had been pretty good lately. When Judge Case ordered new trials for Clarence, every television station in the state featured the interview she’d given after court, and she became the hot new attorney in town. The retainer that the parents of a man convicted of murder had paid her to handle his appeal would cover her rent for the next two years; a drug dealer who had exhausted his appeals paid her an outrageous sum to file for habeas corpus relief in federal court; and there were less extravagant retainers that, taken together, amounted to a tidy sum. Millie would never have had the courage to ask for the money she’d quoted these clients if it hadn’t been for the self-confidence Clarence’s love had fostered.

The penitentiary was for convicted felons. As soon as his convictions were set aside, Clarence was presumed innocent of the charges against him, and he had been transferred to the Multnomah County jail in downtown Portland, a few blocks from her office. In anticipation of the transfer, Millie had sprung for a makeover and had had her hair styled in Portland’s top salon. After she showered and applied her makeup, she put on a new outfit she had purchased especially for today, the first day she and Clarence would be able to touch each other without bulletproof glass to stop the warmth from passing from Clarence’s hand into hers.

Millie hummed as she drove downtown. After parking in a lot near her office, she walked to the Justice Center, a modern sixteen-story, concrete-and-glass building that was separated from the Multnomah County Courthouse by a park. The Justice Center housed several courtrooms, State Parole and Probation, the Central Precinct of the Portland Police Bureau, a branch of the district attorney’s office, and the Multnomah County jail.

The jail occupied the fourth through tenth floors in the building, but the reception area was on the second floor. Millie walked through a glass-vaulted lobby filled with police officers, attorneys, defendants, and others having business in this hall of sorrows. When she passed the curving stairs that led to the courtrooms on the third floor, she pushed through a pair of glass doors. A sheriff’s deputy was manning the reception desk. He searched Millie’s briefcase after checking her ID, then motioned her through the metal detector that stood between the reception area and the jail elevator. As soon as Millie passed through the metal detector without setting off any alarms, the guard walked her to the elevator and keyed her up to the floor where Clarence was being held.

After a short ride, the elevator doors opened, and Millie stepped into a narrow hall with a thick metal door at one end. Next to the door, affixed to a pastel yellow concrete wall, was an intercom. Millie used it to announce her presence. Moments later, a uniformed guard peered at her through a plate of glass in the upper part of the door before speaking into a walkie-talkie. Electronic locks snapped and the guard ushered Millie into a narrow corridor that ran the length of three contact visiting rooms. The interior of each room could be seen from the corridor through a large window.

The guard opened the door to the first room. Then he pointed to a black button affixed to the wall.

“Your client will be brought over in a few minutes. When you need to leave-or if there’s any trouble-press the button.”

The only furnishings in the concrete room were two orange molded plastic chairs set on either side of a round, Formica-topped table that was bolted to the floor. The guard left, and Millie took the chair that faced a steel door on the side of the room across from the corridor. As Millie stared at the door her heart beat faster. The man she loved would enter through it in minutes. She was trembling and her hand shook when she tried to open the clasp on her attache case. Just as she started to take out the papers she had brought, the electronic locks on the rear door snapped open and two guards led Clarence into the room. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and the first things Millie noticed were that he had let his hair grow and he was putting on weight. Clarence had always been lean, but now he looked a little lumpy, and she credited the starchy jail food for the extra weight. When Clarence was free, they could both go on a diet and slim down.

Manacles securing Clarence’s ankles and wrists restricted his movements, but he shuffled forward with a huge smile on his face. The first guard pulled Clarence’s chair away from the table so he could sit down. When he was sitting, the other guard unlocked his chains.

“Buzz when you’re done,” one of the guards said. Then they left Millie and Clarence alone.

Clarence looked her up and down. “I love your hair. You had it done, didn’t you?”

Millie blushed. “I wanted to look good for you.”

“Well, you succeeded. You look great, and I’m honored that you went to all this trouble for me. I don’t imagine you have much free time. You must be incredibly busy after the publicity you’ve gotten.”

Millie couldn’t help grinning. “My business has been amazing. I’m actually turning away cases.”

“You deserve your success. It’s not every attorney who could have convinced Judge Case to reverse two murder cases as notorious as mine.”

Clarence paused and stared into Millie’s eyes. Then he reached across the table and took her hand in his. Millie felt an electric charge pass between them.

“Thank you for standing up for me,” Clarence said. Then he released her hand and looked down at the tabletop. Millie had the impression that he was gathering his courage to broach something important. When he looked up, he radiated none of the self-confidence she was used to seeing.

“Millie, maybe this is premature but… well, when I’m free-and I know you’ll help me gain my freedom-would you consider…”

Clarence paused. Then he flashed a shy smile. “I’m sorry, but when I’m around you, well, you make me so happy, but you also make me nervous.” He took a deep breath and looked Millie in the eye. “I should have a ring with a diamond as big as the moon, but,” he said, turning his palms up, “Tiffany won’t deliver in here.”

Millie couldn’t breathe.

“What I’m trying to say is, would you consider marrying me?”

Millie had dreamed about this moment, and now that Clarence had proposed, she was speechless. Clarence stopped smiling. He looked so sad. Then his eyes dropped to the tabletop again.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I…”

Millie reached out and covered Clarence’s hands with hers.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m just so happy I couldn’t speak. Of course I’ll marry you. I love you.”

Clarence looked up, a wide smile on his face. “Thank you, Millie. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world. I wish I could kiss you but…” He nodded at the closed-circuit camera that was fixed to the wall. “But soon, Millie, soon we’ll be together, and we’ll be able to kiss and… and make love.”

The blood rushed to Millie’s cheeks.

“I hope I haven’t shocked you, but I’ve wanted to hold you for so long.”

“I want to be with you, too.”

“You will be, as soon as I’m acquitted. Do you know when my first trial will be held?”

“I talked to Monte Pike. He’s the chief criminal deputy, and he’s prosecuting. We’re going to have a scheduling conference soon to work out the logistics; which case to try first, dates, that sort of thing.”

“Good. Please tell me as soon as you know.”

“I will.”

“There is something else I’d like you to do.”

“Anything.”

Clarence smiled. “This shouldn’t be too difficult. Can you get the judge to order the jail to let me wear a suit and tie when I’m in court? There are going to be television cameras all over the place, and I don’t want potential jurors seeing me like this,” he said, pointing to the jumpsuit.

“I’ll do it today. And I’ll buy you a beautiful suit and tie. You’ll look just like a lawyer.”

For the rest of the meeting, Millie and Clarence talked about the wedding and where they would go on their honeymoon. Clarence hinted that he had money that he would use to treat her like a princess, and Millie was afraid that her heart would burst from joy.

Finally Millie had to end the conference because she had to get back to her office to meet a new client. She rang for the guard. As she walked down the corridor away from the visiting room, she kept her eyes on Clarence until the concrete wall blocked her view of her beloved.

Millie arrived at her office with no memory of the trip from the Justice Center. The phrase walking on air came to her, and she suddenly knew what it meant. She had accepted the fact that she would go through life alone, but now, through a miracle, she was in love with a man who loved her. She smiled. She couldn’t help herself. She would gain freedom for Clarence, and in so doing, she would free herself from a life of loneliness.