Free Soulful Strut by Lynn Emery Page B

smartest women I know were in my
cell block, including a couple of lawyers, an accountant and a
former med school student” Monette held up a hand to forestall
another comment from Lenore. She wrote for five minutes, and then
sighed with satisfaction.
    “Told ya coming down here would help.” Lenore
put two plates on the counter. She put ice in glasses and poured
from a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator.
    “You were right. I’ll get it,” Monette said
when there was a knock at the back door. She looked through the
peephole. She recognized Jayson and opened the door. “Hello
again.”
    “Hi. How have you been?” Jayson said as he
came inside.
    Monette enjoyed the deep bass in his voice,
and then recalled his reaction to her a few days before. She let a
little ice creep into her tone. “Pretty good.”
    “Hey, Jayson.” Lenore grinned and licked
mustard from her thumb.
    “Hi, Lenore.” Jayson glanced at her with a
smile for a second, and then looked at Monette.
    Lenore raised a dark eyebrow. “Umm, did you
stop by just to say hello?”
    Jayson cleared his throat. “Huh? Oh, right. I
brought the van back. I need to leave the keys and invoice with
Miss Sherman.”
    “Trudy ain’t here right now. I’ll let the
secretary know. Either she or Sherrial will sign the invoice and
take the keys.” Lenore left for the small office.
    Jayson gave Monette another one of his shy
smiles. Monette pretended to find her notepad more interesting than
his handsome face. When his back was turned, Monette looked up in
time to see him walk over to the window and look out. She admired
his long-legged stride. He had the powerful build of a man used to
lifting heavy objects. His sleeves were only rolled up to his
forearms. Still, one portion of a tattoo was visible. Monette tried
but failed to read the words. Probably the name of some woman, she
mused. A few minutes later Lenore came back.
    “They’re both tied up right now. Can you wait
a little bit? Sherrial promised not to take too long,” Lenore
said.
    “Sure.” Jayson smiled at her.
    Lenore hurried off when the hall phone rang.
“I’ll get it. Probably for me. My mama knows I’m off on
Tuesdays.”
    “Ahem. I listened to your show yesterday.
Really interesting.” Jayson crossed his arms as he spoke to
Monette.
    “Thanks.” Monette glanced at his handsome
smile but didn’t smile back.
    “I, uh, really hate that you had to suffer at
the hands of a corrupt man like Winn Barron. He gives the justice
system a bad name.”
    “Yeah, well that same system doesn’t see him
as corrupt. They didn’t do a thing to him.” Monette shrugged.
“Jerry Hines isn’t exactly dripping credibility. Since there was no
evidence backing up either of our stories, nothing else is going to
be done.”
    Jayson walked toward her. “Maybe not, but
everybody knows the truth. Why else would the governor approve the
parole recommendation? I read his statement. He said there was
strong reason to believe the case against you had been ‘tainted.’
”
    “Like I said, no hard evidence to indicate
Barron broke any law. So, he gets to keep sunning on the beach in
Palm Springs. My reward is parole. Oh, well, no use whining.”
Monette lifted a shoulder.
    ‘Too bad he’s not facing a judge. Anyway,
just wanted to say I think your show is really going to inform
people. I learned a lot.” Jayson nodded, an earnest expression on
his handsome face.
    Monette felt a definite thaw in his
direction. Maybe she’d just mistaken shyness for snobbery. She did
have a small chip on her shoulder sometimes. She turned in her
chair to face him. “Oh, really? Like what?”
    “The Justice Project, for one thing, and that
some way- out stories might just be true.” Jayson gave her an
apologetic smile. “To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have believed
you, like a lot of folks.”
    “It’s okay. Jim Rand had a healthy dose of
skepticism, too. Like Hines, I had my own credibility issues.”
Monette