“A two most of the time. A four when I’m an idiot.”
“Idiot less.”
“Working on it.”
Hank stood up and stretched his lower back. “Tell Grace about her lawsuit, and don’t do anything stupid that’s going to force me to drive to a hospital.”
“I’m working on that, too, Grandma.”
Hank punched him affectionately on the arm, and they went back to work.
On his way to pick up Lily, he stopped at the drugstore on Main Street. The kid’s aisle had stickers, and he found a pack with bright pink lettering that said, “I’m AWESOME!” The girl at the register asked if it was for someone special, and he said yes. As she put it in a bag, she called him Sweetie, which was a thing women in this town did to him frequently. He’d never figured out how to respond except to say, thank you, Ma’am, and leave as quickly as possible.
Lily came out the door of the preschool and climbed into her booster seat with great purpose. She reported proudly that she’d been allowed to wash the paintbrushes today, which was a Big Job.
“Wow!” He exclaimed, genuinely tickled. Not at the paintbrushes, but at how proud of herself she was. “Way to go!”
“Joey didn’t get to do it because he’s bad at paintbrushes.”
“What makes a person bad at paintbrushes?”
“He squeezes too hard.”
“Good to know.”
He drove to the back of Buns ’N’ Roses and pulled into the alley. Grace came out the back door with flour on her cheek and her hair coming out of the knot at the back of her head. She looked like a million bucks.
He drove the long way home, taking the road that ran right beside the lakefront until west of town. Schools of tiny fish, each one a flashing sliver of silver, were jumping out of the water today, and Lily squealed with excitement.
He didn’t have the heart to tell her it meant bigger fish were hunting from below and gobbling up members of the schools of fish.
When the road turned away from the lake and they’d rejoined the main road out of town, Lily announced that her stuffed seal had finally decided on its birthday cake. It had chosen carrot cake with a frog on top.
When they pulled into the driveway at the cottage, Lily spontaneously announced that being head paintbrush cleaner had earned her a sticker. She looked at him expectantly.
Grinning, he reached into the bag on the seat beside him and fished out one of the new sticker and handed it back. Lily took it and looked at it as Grace told her what it said.
“Mr. Reno, you’re awesome, too.
He had to look at the steering wheel for a second to manage that one. “Thank you, Sweetheart.”
He ushered Grace and Lily inside, and recruited Lily to tuck Grace into bed for a nap, which tickled Lily to no end to do. He heard Grace laugh in her room, and then Lily emerged, looking triumphant.
He set up Lily on the back lawn with construction paper and safety scissors while he pulled out his laptop and got caught up on Montana statutes listing maximum penalties for filing frivolous lawsuits. He was delighted to see the state would allow him to file a malicious prosecution counter-lawsuit against Tara Marchand and against her lawyer, as well. He went to work drafting the preliminary filing on it.
If his hunch was right and she’d sent the email accusing Grace of selling a cup of hot chocolate with a dead fly in it, he could also sue for libel. He sent a quick email to Cooper asking him to trace the IP address of the anonymous email and see if it led to a computer owned by Tara Marchand. Just in case, he drafted the filling document for a libel suit.
While he was at it, he also wrote up a complaint accusing Tara of slander, which was spoken defamation to others. It would be risky for him to call Mary and her sister on the witness stand and expect them to tell the truth about Tara claiming Grace was stealing customers. But, Tara’s lawyer would have to put at least the sister on the stand to testify that people had come to the Apple Pie Creek bakery who were looking to hire a baker to cater a party or wedding. The whole case would rest on those people having later hired Grace.
Once the sister was on the witness stand and talking about losing customers, it would be an easy jump to get her to talk about what Tara said in response to losing those potential accounts. He knew full well he could catch any lie she told and break her down. After all, he’d gotten dozens of slick, white-collar criminals with years of lying under their belts, and millions of dollars in fines plus jail time on the line, to tell the truth.
Finally, he wrote up the filing paperwork for three more lawsuits accusing Tara Marchand of criminal mischief, harassment, and stalking.
He wasn’t sure which of the filings he would make. It would depend on when Tara’s lawsuit landed in court and what evidence Cooper found on the woman and her son between now and then. But he was ready to make Tara Marchand’s life, and her lawyer’s life, very miserable.
Nothing made him happier than putting opposing counsel on the defensive from day one.
He closed his laptop and relished the sun on his face as he sat on the grass by Lily. Sparrows sang in the maples, and somebody nearby was running a lawn mower.
