Amethyst Purple Pt. 02

Foreword

This is a work of fiction which exists solely in my imagination.

While I've used actual towns, landmarks and locations in the following tale, none of the people, events or businesses depicted have any actual or implied connection to any actual event or person, alive or dead, with the exception of certain historical references. These references are included only to allow the reader to be able to relate better to the timeline of this work of fiction.

Part 2

Sunday, June 19, 1994

St. Louis, MO

Marti had to fly out of Knoxville's McGhee-Tyson Municipal Airport at 10:44am in order to arrive at Lambert-St. Louis International at 1:11pm, which included a 41 minute layover in Atlanta. Otherwise the three and a half hour flight would last five to seven hours due to much longer layovers at Hartsfield and she wanted to be checked into her hotel early enough to relax before stepping out for supper. Marti spent her travel time reading the latest Danielle Steel paperback, 'Accident' and was surprised that she'd been able to finish the book in one sitting. Her busy work and home schedule never allowed her to commit such extended time to reading for pleasure. She briefly considered that she should be ashamed that she didn't spend that time going over her data on the company she was on her way to audit but dropped that line of thinking once she reminded herself of the many hours she'd already invested in her research, quite a bit of that time spent, unpaid, at home. Time she truthfully owed to Ted even if he never complained. In all honesty, there were many evening hours spent by the pair, both sitting beside one another on the sofa, her with a glass of Chardonnay and him with a glass of Bourbon, and each lost in their own work related paperwork and research. Despite both of them maintaining exhaustive work schedules, they always found time to spend together and their sex life flourished; three or four nights almost every week and often times more than once in a single day. No matter how often they were intimate, they still had failed to conceive four years into their marriage but she wasn't lying when she told Ted she felt confident she would conceive this time. And if the three bouts they'd gotten in Saturday night and Sunday morning before her trip didn't do the trick she was absolutely certain that by the time she got home after being away and celibate for nearly two weeks she'd be ready to attack him. Well, unless he attacked her first.

Marti picked up her rental car, a Silver Mustang GT convertible, and grinned to herself, appreciative of how well her boss' Personal Assistant knew her and exactly what type of car to arrange for her stay in St. Louis.

After checking into the hotel, Marti made her way to the tenth floor and was astounded when she opened the door and faced the view out the windows on the opposite side of the room of the river and Gateway Arch. She stepped over to the window and gazed down at the wide span of water and muttered to herself "The Tennessee river in Knoxville is nothing more than a mountain stream..."

She looked at her watch and noticed that it was almost a quarter 'til three and decided to rest for a couple hours before going downstairs to find a salad or something for supper after she called Ted to let him know she had arrived safely.

After dinner, Marti got in a short workout in the hotel's gym and then soaked for an hour alone in the hot tub before returning to her room and showering. She called her husband and they exchanged "I love you's" then she fell asleep feeling that she was lost, adrift in a small boat on a vast ocean in the King size bed.

Monday, June 20, 1994

Knoxville, TN

In Knoxville, Ted hadn't slept much better but he was at the courthouse by 0800 making final preparations with the Lead Council on the Turner case, Martin Wynn. Their case wouldn't begin before that afternoon at the absolute earliest but they wanted everything perfectly sorted nonetheless. Having to search through one's own files for a particular item during a trial or hearing doesn't make an attorney appear very professional. At precisely 0900, at some unseen signal the Bailiff announced in a commanding voice "ALL RISE, KNOX COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT IS NOW IN SESSION, THE HONORABLE MILES BAKER PRESIDING!"

"You may be seated." Responded Judge Baker as he made himself comfortable at the Bench.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking this time out of your valuable schedules to be here and help us with the proceedings we face this morning and throughout this week. I know it can be a challenge and some of you don't want to be here but it truly is a privilege to be able to sit where you are this morning. Our justice system is far from being perfect but it's the best example available to any human on this side of the Great Judgment we will all face eventually. If you're here because you received a summons to serve on a jury, make sure you sign in with the Clerk here in the front of the courtroom. In a minute she will call anyone who has not checked in then we will proceed with separating the Jury Pool between my courtroom here and Judge Mertz' in courtroom #2."

After another fifteen minutes passed, during which time Judge Baker addressed several motions filed by both Prosecuting Attorneys and Defense Attorneys, the last prospective juror in line at the clerk's desk turned and walked into the gallery to find a seat.

The clerk turned and handed Judge Baker the Juror Pool list. "Alright, alright, alright..." Brief muffled laughter broke out in the audience among those who recognized the judge's allusion to last year's movie 'Dazed and Confused'.

"Thank you, ma'am, if you'd be so kind would you mind calling out the names of anybody who hasn't checked in yet, please."

After the clerk called six names two more people walked up from the audience and signed in then returned to their seats. Judge Baker addressed the Sheriff, who was standing with his Deputies and the Courtroom Bailiffs at the side of the room. "Sheriff, would you send someone to find these other four people and bring them to explain to me why they failed to answer the Court's summons for their service?" Then speaking to the court again, "Now to administer the oath to all our Court Officers and those in the Jury Pool then we may begin proceedings."

Once all the Sheriff's Deputies, Bailiffs, Prosecuting staff and prospective jurors were sworn in, Judge Baker once again addressed those in the audience.

"When you checked in with the Clerk of the Court, you were given a Juror's badge, on it you will find a number between one and five hundred, I know we only have about three hundred here so we don't need to worry about the rest. I'd like for everyone whose badge has a number between one and one hundred fifty to remain here and the rest will go down the hallway to Judge Mertz' courtroom. If we strike too many jurors from this case we can exchange with the second half of the pool as needed."

About half the audience stood and left by the large double doors at the rear of the room and for the last time of the morning Judge Baker addressed those left in the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although I know you're sitting there all a tremble wanting to get to the exciting part of a court case with the testifyin' and all that but unfortunately we have to cover a lot of other concerns first and I know just how boring and uninterestin' that can be so I'm going to excuse you for the rest of the morning. Go out and get a cup of coffee or Second Breakfast or early lunch, for that matter. Whatever you want to do. Just be back in this courtroom at one thirty rarin' to go and we'll get started."

Once the audience was cleared except for a small hand-ful of courtroom junkies Judge Baker began hearing pleas and motions for other cases on the Court Calendar that were not destined for jury trials.

The afternoon was consumed by striking the jury for Ted and Martin's case but a jury was seated by just before four thirty pm, too late to begin proceedings so everyone was excused until 0900 Tuesday morning.

St. Louis, MO

Marti spent her Monday being shown around the company's headquarters on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, just north of St. Louis, meeting the company's executive staff. She wanted to become familiar with the people involved before diving into the numbers that the bank was more interested in. She was assigned a Personal Assistant who was to act as her liaison with the company for the duration of her trip. Jordan Dunn made sure Marti knew where the better restaurants nearest her hotel were located and what sections of the city she should avoid. She also provided Marti with whatever company information she requested and explained anything she had trouble with in a way Marti found more easily understandable. Her personal interactions with the people from all levels of a company gave Marti the insight she used to bolster her higher-than-average success rate and she used this preliminary time to her great advantage. On Tuesday she would visit the docks where the maritime side of the company did business and the air shipping side at the St. Louis Downtown Airport. Tuesday would be the day Marti would be farthest out of her element, she knew next to nothing about aviation, airplanes, ships, docks or shipping in general so she'd have to be especially vigilant about what she was shown and intuitive enough to discern what she was not shown.

At the end of her first day investigating the company on site, Marti felt even more confident that her earlier impressions were accurate and that she'd found her bank another winning investment. She called home after she got back to her room from dinner, had a shower and was ready for bed.

"Hey, Babe, how was court today?"

"Nothing exciting, we did finish seating the Jury today so the Prosecution will take the floor in the morning. We expect them to present their case tomorrow through, possibly, Thursday afternoon. But there's really no way to know, they have some well known expert witnesses scheduled, as a matter of fact they have more than a dozen on the witness list right now. They could find reason to add someone at the last minute depending on what might or might not come to light during testimony."

"Why do they need that many expert witnesses?"

"They don't, really, they'll pack the witness list to cause us to spend precious amounts of our limited time and resources preparing to counter anything they may present. They'll likely use three or four, maybe a couple more in the actual trial, but we'll only know when the time comes for sure."

"Have the time estimates changed? Are you expecting the case to go nearly two weeks?"

"Nothing has changed as of today, the estimate is a week and a half, maybe. But I've been following a bit of science that might make a difference all by itself. We're still waiting on some test results on some blood samples I sent to a national lab a couple weeks ago. It's a brand new process, legislation was only enacted last month, and there's been no precedent set yet so it's tenuous at best but it's still a shot."

"Hmm, that sounds interesting." Marti allowed.

"We'll see. I'm hopeful. I honestly don't think he did it. I know they all say they're innocent but most of the time I can tell when they're lying to me. I still feel greasy when I represent them but my conscience isn't condemning me with this one. The way he acts, he doesn't 'feel' guilty to me and everything he's told us so far seems to have checked out in our investigations. It's the prosecution's witnesses that aren't always checking out."

"That's what I admire about you, Ted, you think about more than the payday at the end of the trial. You actually look for the truth."

"I'm afraid it'll be too easy for me to grow jaded and disillusioned over the process and find myself tempted to play the easy game like a lot of other attorneys: pander for the dollar instead of staying ethical eventually. I really don't want that to ever happen. I'm afraid I won't like the 'me' that I'll become if that does happen." "Anyway, enough about me and Knoxville, what happened to you in St. Louis today?"

"Let's see, I spent the day being shuffled around meeting the executive staff and upper level employees. It's amusing that they're afraid to tell me or show me the wrong thing like it might kill the whole deal if I'm not amused and entertained the whole time. And they're trying to shield me from the weak areas of the company but doing that only highlights and confirms what I've already established them to be."

"That's Human Nature, and it's hard to recognize when you're doing it, especially if you're trying your best to avoid being obvious about it. That's what gets most witnesses in trouble on the stand because the jury knows they're hiding something and it only hurts their credibility."

"They did assign me an Assistant while I'm here and she's been pretty good at providing me with everything I've asked for. She understands that nothing should be hidden and has had an answer to any question I've had almost immediately."

"So, things looking the way you expected them too, then?" Ted asked.

"Yeah, I haven't had any surprises yet. I think our prospectus is pretty spot on, I just need to cross the 'T's' and dot the 'I's' for the Underwriters. I'm confident I could come home after tomorrow but the Director wants to be absolutely certain. I told him I could audit the financials at home but he was adamant about doing it here to make certain nothing was held back. He even wants me to go to the local banks and interview the Officers who deal regularly with the shipping company."

"That sounds like fun." Ted added sarcastically.

"Yeah, I expect that to take at least three days and of course that excludes Saturday and Sunday."

"So are you still expecting to be done and headed back home by the middle of next week?"

"My ticket is for Wednesday morning."

"Great! Just let me know your arrival time and I'll be waiting outside the gate to pick you up."

"Well, if we're done with foreplay, are you in the mood for a little telephone fun?" Marti asked in a faux sultry voice.

"Absolutely, just give me a few seconds to get comfortable." Ted grinned then lay the phone receiver on his night stand and stripped off his briefs and slipped into bed, reaching for the phone again. "Now, where were we?..."

"Hmmmm, I really miss you. I hate these times away from you."

"I miss you, too, Babe, I'll be happy when you get back Wednesday."

"Yeah, then we can do this for real. For one another."

"Yes, we can."

A half hour later they shared goodbyes with a hint of sadness in both their voices then each slipped quietly into slumber occupying very small sections of their beds.

Tuesday, June 21, 1994

St. Louis, MO

"Good morning, Mrs. Kilgore." Jordan greeted Marti when she entered the meeting room where Marti was reviewing the company's Operations and Policy Manuals.

"Please, I'm serious, call me Marti. To be honest, such formality with someone I'm working this closely with exhausts me. Besides, I'm here without anyone I know and everybody else is so scared of saying or doing the wrong thing or afraid I'm going to see something I think is a deal breaker that they're walking on eggshells around me, I appreciate your directness and reliability yesterday, I'm confident the rest of our time will be beneficial for both our interests."

"Of course, thank you."

"I think there are a few administrators I wasn't able to meet yesterday, then we can move to the warehouses and shipping divisions. I'd like to spend today and tomorrow meeting with anyone we missed yesterday and observing your company's shipping procedures. It's important that everyone feels that they were important enough to have a part in our transaction."

"You really feel that way, don't you Mrs... sorry, Marti?"

"If there's someone who isn't important enough to the company that I should consider them in our current deal then how do they benefit the business at all? I need to have a true grasp of the actual health of the company and my most honest evidence of that will come from interacting with even the most 'unimportant' employees. I get a stronger opinion of the company overall by determining if they give preferential treatment to one group of employees over another group. Either all employees are important to the company or their employment might need to be re-evaluated."

"That's an interesting philosophy, Marti. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone look at doing business that way."

"To be honest, nobody really does. But some do a better job of faking it than others do. Some CEO's and CO O's honestly try to adapt their policies to reflect the doctrine once they become conscious of it's existence while others unapologetically ignore it. That is one of the key issues I consider before making my recommendation to my Underwriters because it is one of the most reliable indicators of a company's financial health and future feasibility."

"I see. But why is that?" Jordan queried.

"Because a business needs all it's employees to not only thrive but to even survive. A business whose administrators don't value all their employees enough to ensure that they have a healthy work environment won't survive long, it'll collapse under its own weight. Thousands of businesses fail every year due to maladministration. That is the main trait I'm looking to protect my bank from."

"I understand now why Fellowship Trust sends you on these trips. Shall we go ahead and get started then?"

"Absolutely."

Knoxville, TN

Assistant District Attorney JoAnn Reeves stood behind a small, thin podium in front of the courtroom facing the Jury.

"Good Morning. I trust you're all comfortable this morning? Good. My name is JoAnn Reeves, I'm a Knox County Assistant District Attorney and I'll be representing the Great State of Tennessee and Knox County throughout these proceedings. We have a lot of ground to cover today and maybe tomorrow morning but I expect things to fall into a groove after that and we should be finished presenting the State's witnesses on Friday, maybe even as early as Thursday. We usually try to finish cases within the first week so as not to inconvenience the Jury any more than absolutely necessary but we have so much information to share from the heinous acts perpetuated in this case that I feel it would be criminally unfair to the victim and the victim's family if we attempted to take short cuts or not present all the available evidence for your consideration. I'll be calling a number of witnesses, some of whom will be Doctors and Scientists and their testimonies may seem overwhelming at times but please remember that the information they'll be bringing to these proceedings is vital for our purpose of proving our case. This is a very dark chapter in the lives of everyone connected to Jenny Reynolds or the defendant. The evidence will show that Ms. Reynolds' innocence and naivete was preyed upon by an evil lurking within our very presence. An evil who maybe even walked, anonymously, elbow to elbow with someone inside this very courtroom at some time within the past several months. The evidence will show that this evil assaulted Ms. Reynolds and forced violent, unimaginable sexual acts upon her defenseless body while she suffered untold pain and indignity. When the perpetrator of this horrific attack finally satisfied his animalistic urges he strangled her until she fell unconscious. He then noticed that although unconscious, Ms. Reynolds was still alive. Barely. So he struck her in the head, not once, not twice but three times with a tree limb then threw her into the dark Tennessee River at the Riverside Landing Park, expecting the flow of that great river to erase the evidence of his guilt. But some guilt cannot be assuaged, it cannot be covered by anything as thin as water, no matter how dark and muddy. Ms. Reynolds' slight and broken body was discovered hours later by a fisherman when she drifted alongside his boat, as though the river's very own conscience couldn't bear the sin that had been foisted upon it by the defendant, forcing it to confess it's part in the atrocity."