“Yes, but he said a deal was made to keep his name out of the papers. What if that deal meant Simon took the fall when he wasn’t even involved in fraud. You know he claims not to be.” Lena looked between her parents. “You have to go and see him again, Papa.” He may have a chance at getting out. Bugger who you have to stomp over if it means freeing Simon.
“First things first. I’m going to go over and talk to Adam and see what he has to say. No point going off half cocked and getting egg on our faces. We can’t afford to do this wrong because if we lose the appeal, we won’t get another chance. Simon will have to stay where he is.” He sat down at the table. “I’m going to have my dinner while I ponder the whole deal and then I’m going over to see Adam.”
He glanced at Lena and Sofia.
Why can’t things be simpler? I’d go crashing in with guns drawn. “Yes, Papa. You’re probably right as usual. I guess that’s what makes you so good at your job where as I would rush in all in a tizz.”
“That’s okay, honey. We can’t all be the same.”
“Call Kyle for dinner, Lena. This is ready to dish up.” Sofia took plates from the cupboard and put them on the counter, ready to serve the meal.
The talk around the dinner table was sparse because the adults were tossing over the possibilities of getting Simon out of jail. When Ben finished his dinner, he placed his cutlery on the plate and stood up. “Back soon.” He patted Lena on the shoulder, kissed Sofia, and walked out the door.
“What’s that all about?” Kyle looked at the concerned faces of his mother and grandmother.
“Nothing you need to worry about. Finished your homework?” Lena looked up at him.
“No. I still have math to do.”
She stood up and gathered the plates. “Well how about you go and do that while I help Nona with the dishes tonight.” Keep you away from this conversation.
“I’m not a little kid, you know. You can tell me.”
“Kyle I know that, but at this stage there is nothing to say because we don’t know all there is to know, and there’s no point getting involved until we do.” And even then I don’t know if I’ll be sharing it with you.
“Fine.” He stormed away from the table and headed for his room where he slammed the door.
“Ahh, just leave him, bella. He is growing up.”
Too fast for my liking too. “I know that Mama. He’s a good kid but thinks he has to be involved in everything and he doesn’t.” Seem to remember being the same way myself. She dropped the plates into the sink and squirted the dishwashing liquid over them before turning on the water.
It was almost two hours of nervous clock watching before Ben came back home. He walked in the door with a frown on his face. “Well, that was interesting. His girlfriend worked at the same bank as Simon like you said, but that doesn’t mean they were involved in the same case. I’m going to go and pull up the file and read the court transcript. I want to make sure Adam’s ex is mentioned in the court case. If she isn’t, well I think we have some digging to do.”
“Adam told me his father fixed it so his name wouldn’t get dragged through the mud too. Do you believe him?” And who would let their father do that if it meant breaking the law?
“I’m not sure, Lena. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man to let others do his work for him, but we’ve only known him for a short amount of time. Let me do some more research and we can take it from there.”
* * *
Lena looked around the dairy and wondered if she should try and back out of the deal. If Adam was involved with Simon being sent to jail, she doubted she’d be able to carry on here. It would be too hard. Her father said she was being impulsive and advised against it. After all, they didn’t know if Adam had done anything illegal and how much he was involved in the case.
She looked up as Spencer came rushing into the dairy, his little toes tapping out a pattern on the concrete floor. If Spencer was here, that meant Adam was too. She squatted down and ruffled the long hair around his neck. He sat with his eyes closed enjoying the attention and opened one eye when she stopped. Lena sighed and stroked him again.
“You know he can never get enough of that, don’t you?” Adam walked down the raised milking platform and leaned on the railing staring down at her.
Lena stood up but didn’t want to meet his gaze. She didn’t know what to say to him just yet.
“Thank you for the other night. I’m sorry I was a little bit drunk and I hope I didn’t rave on too much. It was a bad day all round and I appreciate you making me dinner and keeping me company.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “No big deal.” Lena turned away and concentrated on the block that shielded the cool room from the rest of the building, trying to decide if she wanted to paint it or leave it as it was. It had character like this but the cleaner look might be appealing to the masses as well. Perhaps a couple of rustic picture frames with prints of different breeds of cows would be nice there. Yes, that would do it. Keep the theme cozy and farm like. Old wooden boxes filled with vegetables and rustic old kitchen utensils on display. She could use old mason jars on the tables for candles or flowers. It would all add to the ambience of the old dairy.
“Not talking to me
