at the time of jonah james’s untimely and violent death at the hands of a person or persons unknown, the town of jamestown had prospered to the extent that it had two lawyers.
jedediah bartholomew jones, familiarly known to the townsfolk as “j b” or “old j b” was the more respectable of the two and handled much of the james family business - i e, such of it that did not require the resources and connections of a big city practitioner.
after the proper condolences as to her loss, j b sat back in his chair and solemnly listened as miss taffeta james explained her reason for calling on him.
it was the same story she had told ted tenner, except that now she had the “evidence” of jonah’s murder and ted’s disappearance, to add to her conviction of buck gray’s guilt in robbing jonah of the patent that would have made him fabulously wealthy.
j b did not know what to reply. his brain did not work very fast, and this was all news to him. like the rest of the townsfolk, he had assumed that jonah, and probably ted too, had been murdered by a passing hobo. and that jonah, an old man who had liked to go for long walks out beyond the outskirts of town, was lucky he had not been killed before. no matter how stout his stick was, or how big his dog was.
“have you spoken to the sheriff about - your concerns?” he managed to ask.
“i have, for all the good it would do me.” j b did not like the look in taffeta’s eyes when she said this.
“and his response was - ?”
“that as far as he was concerned, the murder was committed by a hobo, and ted tenner’s disappearance was purely coincidental. and that if it was otherwise, it was out of his depth and he suggested i contact the state attorney general. which i have done, but have not heard from him yet.”
“well, in that case - “ j b tried to smile. “perhaps you should wait to hear what the attorney general has to say.”
“no, i don’t think i will. i don’t like waiting on people. especially - “ taffeta looked j b in the eye - “people who might not produce anything anyway. so i want you to go ahead and file a suit against buck gray for stealing the patent for the thingummy from father.”
“but - but - be that as it may, we have no case - i mean - have you spoken to the chicago attorneys, the ones who handle the - who handle the firm’s business? they might be more equipped - “ j b stammered, and hoped his face was not getting red.
“i wrote to them, and got no satisfaction. so i thought i would give you a chance, j b, a chance to show what you can do.”
“and i appreciate it,” j b recovered himself enough to say.
“after all, j b, when you think about it, there is really no reason why the chicago attorneys should not handle all the family business, is there? it might simplify matters. father was always one for being a good neighbor and good townsman by giving local folks business, including law business. but this is the modern age, isn’t it, and maybe those old ways don’t apply any more.”
“well, i would hope the good old ways will be with us for some time to come. but look here - this tenner fellow, whom you hired to look into this whole business - did he come up with anything before he disappeared?”
“i am afraid he did not.”
“ah. so do you plan on hiring someone else in his place - or waiting to see if he shows up?”
“i thought i would leave that up to you, j b. at least for now. if you want to get some other investigator, that is up to you.”
“i see. and - suppose i did want to hire somebody - would price be an object?”
“it most certainly would.” taffeta smiled. “i would expect you to pay him yourself, out of the handsome retainer you receive for handling the family’s local business. for now, i am considering this local business.”
j b wondered, but not out loud, how much “i”, i e taffeta, had to say about the “family business”, and how much jonah’s good-for-nothing son had.
“well, that is very forthright, taffeta, very straightforward indeed. we attorneys always appreciate it when a client puts all their cards on the table.”
“i am sure.”
when taffeta had left, j b felt some relief at not having made , he thought, a complete fool of himself.
but then the futility of what she was asking hit him, and he wanted to put his head on his desk and cry.
there was no case! he would be laughed out of any courtroom - if he could even get the case into a courtroom.
and the previous “investigator”, this tenner fellow - who sounded like a complete rascal and fraud, using oily charm on silly women - had in fact disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
not that there was likely much to it. but still…
at times like this j b wished anew that he had not followed his father into the law but had followed his dream of opening a bait and tackle shop and spending most of his too brief life going fishing.
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