SCRUGGS AND SAMANTHA CHAPTER THREE SURPRISE!—MISSING IN ACTION (13th installment of Scruggs and Samantha, by Mary de la Pena)

SCRUGGS AND SAMANTHA

CHAPTER THREE

SURPRISE!—MISSING IN ACTION

(13^th installment of Scruggs and Samantha, by Mary de la Pena)

The euphoria I felt after finding Scruggs was ephemeral.  As I left the Humane Society, my phone rang with the distinctive ringtone warning me my law partner husband was calling.  I knew I was late getting back to the office, but at that moment my feeling of connection to God and his universe was much more alluring than my desire to practice law.  However, without thinking, the more-than-twenty-year habit and sense of duty took over.  I answered the phone.

“Hey,” I said.

“Are you coming to the office?” my husband asked using the Prince Charming “voice.”

The “voice” was a richly resonant sound that comes from a place deep within his psyche.  It could be soothing or stern or sympathetic or commanding—sometimes all of them in one sound.  It was his voice that first attracted me to him more than twenty years ago when I was a deputy district attorney and he was the opposing counsel.  I was mesmerized by it so much that when he used it on me I was helpless before him.  I would usually cave in and do whatever he asked of me.  You would think that after all these years I would be immune to it but, just like juries and judges, I still would follow him into the depths of hell if he asked. 

But that day was different.  I was excited, indifferent to the demands of a law practice, and on a mission of my own.

“Hmm, yeah,” I answered, still riding the high of finding Scruggs and recovering from the draining emotional experience of dealing with the shelter.

At my non-committal response there was just enough of a pause from his end to let me know he was considering my answer.  It was also enough to let me know he was “counting to ten” to settle his voice before saying anything more.

“How long?” he asked.

“I am at the Humane Society,” I answered, letting the implication hang.

Again the pause.

“I have discussed the case with the family and they are anxious to meet you as well,” he finally said.

In that short sentence he told me all he needed to say.  It was time for me to get back to being a lawyer posthaste.

It also told me the people sitting in front of him wanted to hire us for an important case. More importantly, he needed my help to close the deal because it was well known by the people in the Inland Valley that when they hired our office they were hiring a team.  Everyone knew we were married, thus giving the clients two lawyers for the price of one.  This was an asset my partner liked to exploit, but he needed me present so they could see both of us. 

As anxious as I was to tell him about Scruggs, I swallowed my excitement and told him I would be to the office immediately.

By the time I got to the office, my partner was a more than a little short-tempered with me. I was late, again, to meet with important clients.  He did not care that I was “saving a life.”  He did not have time to try to figure out why his formerly dependable partner and wife was scattered and unreliable; all he knew was that I had promised I would be there to meet potential clients with a desperate problem, and once again I was “missing in action.”