She left the courthouse, giving him something to think about, and not long after, he decided an early morning trip out to the ranch was in order.
* * * *
The Judge rose early, mentally preparing himself for the unannounced morning visit.
He was used to intimidating people in his courthouse, and maybe even James in the jailhouse meetings when he was still considering running for Mayor, but now he was the one asking for something and not on his own turf.
He was hoping to appear both confident and concerned about James’ recovery, as well as the future of the town.
At 8 a.m., most of the town still slept, or at least remained indoors.
He was the only vehicle on the road, as far as he could see.
He passed a few tractors and one old beat-up car on the way as he got closer to the property, parking just in front of the gate at Second Chances Ranch.
His first instinct was to honk, but after only a minute he saw two figures coming towards the gate on four-wheelers.
“Hello, Judge,” greeted Janice, with Jason just behind.
“Hello, ma’am, Jason,” he replied. “Sorry, I didn’t call, but I just wanted to stop by and check on your husband.”
“That’s nice,” she said, not offering for him to stay. “I’ll be sure to let him know you stopped by.”
“Well now, I was hoping I could talk a bit with him and you, Jason…if I’m not imposing, that is. I’d hate for this trip all the way out here to be wasted is all.”
Janice paused, not wanting to turn him away flatly, but not really feeling like entertaining anyone this morning.
“You missed breakfast,” said Jason, “about an hour ago.”
“Oh, that’s okay. With just a cup of coffee and a little friendly conversation, I would be a right happy man. Would you do that for me, Janice?”
She paused again before conceding.
“All right, Judge, but only 30 minutes. James is on the mend, but he still needs his rest. I’ll put a fresh pot on as well.”
“Thank you, ma’am. That sounds fine by me.”
Jason opened the fence so the Judge could drive through before locking it again.
James could see the road from inside the house with his binoculars and made it out to the front porch as they all pulled up.
“Howdy, Judge. You don’t mind if I stay seated this morning?”
“Fine by me, James,” he responded, making a deliberate gesture to shake James’ hand. “I’m just glad to see you’re up and about and still breathing after that heathen of a man shot you down.”
“Well, it’s water under the bridge, as far as I’m concerned,” replied James. “I was wondering, though, what happened to that guy? I never did hear about your ruling on him, but I’ve also been a bit out of the loop lately.”
“I haven’t ruled yet, haven’t even been presented with all of the evidence to make a judgment either way. I guess that’s part of why I’m out here visiting you today.”
“How do you take your coffee, Judge?” asked Lauren, who was helping Janice.
“Black is fine, ma’am. Thank you.”
“We will leave you two out here to talk then.”
“Have Jason come on out, please,” said James, not asking Judge Lowry for his agreement.
“The good Judge has some things to discuss,” announced James, as Jason stepped out on to the porch. Jason’s stomach tightened, as it had always done whenever he had any sort of meeting with either the Judge or Sheriff.
“As you may remember,” started Judge Lowry, “back when you both considered running for office in my town, there was a sort of...well, what I mean is that the town ran a particular way after the lights went out, and even before that day.
“Sheriff Johnson and I didn’t see eye to eye on everything relating to town business, but together we got things done to move this town forward.
“In the past couple of weeks, things have changed a bit…well, a lot, to be honest. He and I don’t talk much at all anymore. It’s that meddling girlfriend of his, I’m pretty sure. He used to have her under control, but even back then she was always yapping about how he should be in charge and not me.”
James gave Jason a look to just listen. It was a good thing Janice didn’t hear the Judge’s comments about the Sheriff controlling his girlfriend or her “yapping,” he thought, or the good Judge may have been shown the road right then.
“Anyway, we used to be a good team, and now, as I said, I don’t even know what he plans to do with that shooter of yours. He’s even gone so far as to have someone jumping a motorcycle, of all things, right over my courthouse! What if he misses—dies right up on the roof? How’s that going to look?”
James didn’t answer, as he was sure it wasn’t actually a question but just a man venting about losing his power.
“All I’m saying is that I have supported you and Jason here since the very beginning, when it all started. You two have the support of the town; I knew that when I counted the electoral votes. Your race wasn’t even close.”
“I believe the Sheriff’s was the same,” interjected Jason.
The Judge laughed out loud.
“Are you kidding me right now? I told the Sheriff that the results indicated a landslide victory; what I didn’t tell him was that the landslide was in favor of Mr. Grimes!”
“Well, wait a minute…” Jason started, as James jumped in before he could say something he wouldn’t be
