ONLY YOU - THE MEREST GLANCE

PREVIOUSLY

He looked back at Starr, watching them from a distance, then at her. "Hell," he answered.

"Sam said you'd been to Chicago."

He looked surprised for a moment, then laughed ruefully. "Yeah, it looks a lot like Chicago."

He broke away, and this time she let him go.

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Author's note: My knowledge of courtrooms is limited to, well, TV, and a few pals in the law profession. So you might have to "suspend your disbelief" for my trial scenes. It is, after all, a soap opera trial, essentially… 8)

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The Courtroom

The prosecutor was wrapping up his opening statement, pacing around the front of the courtroom as he detailed the case he was about to present. Jensen was his name, the State's Attorney, a droll, humorless man with impeccable logic and a talent for reasoning with a stubborn jury. He had been called in on this case, to everyone's surprise - Hank Gannon had been removed, for reasons unknown. Gannon was sitting in the gallery, in fact, not far from Sam Rappaport. They exchanged a formal hello - they'd been on the opposite sides of too many cases to be very friendly, but they had a healthy professional respect for each other. And a healthy interest in the case at hand.

It was pretty cut-and-dried, according to the prosecutor. Matthew Eagan was hiding from the law here in Llanview, for crimes that they were about to detail. After only a day in the Palace hotel, he learned that he had been followed. The officer, undercover, had encountered him in the Bar downstairs, and allowed him to escort her to his room upstairs, where she had hoped to persuade him to reveal his indiscretions on tape. Eagan discovered the wire, shot the officer, and left her to die in his hotel room as he fled. Witnesses had viewed him leaving the room, and viewed noone else in the vicinity. His prints were on the gun, the bullets, and the officer's person. He had been arrested soon after, preparing to flee the state. Also discovered on his person was about $50,000 cash - acquired from an underground criminal organization based at his former home city, LA.

The crime was serious - murder in the first degree. Killing an officer in the line of duty, execution-style. Transport of illegally acquired funds, possibly with an intention for future illegal activities. The man had mob connections, a record of drunken behavior, and was on the run for suspected extortion attempts. The case would be clear-cut, succinct, and indisputable. It would be the responsibility of the Jury to come to the conclusion obvious from the mountain of evidence that he would present.

Jensen ended his opening remarks, and returned to his seat. He did not look at the defense table, and his expression was unreadable. The consummate professional.

Tea Delgado rose slowly from her chair, a slight smile on her face. She strode to the front of the room, and slowly over to the jury box. The gallery watched her closely, whispering amongst themselves. Tea was a big subject of conversation in Llanview these days, taking on her famous client, in a case surrounded by national press. She was either the pride, or the scourge, of Llanview, depending upon whom you asked. Sam shook his head with a smile. She had such a flair for the dramatic. The young ones always had it, but Tea knew how to use it. She came before the jury box and looked at all of the jury members, smiling in a friendly way, as though she knew a secret she couldn't wait to tell them. The whispers in the courtroom died away to silence.

"Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen. Well, you heard their side of the case, how does it sound so far?"

Several of them smiled back, unable to resist. "Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Pretty simple. Famous man.. some dirty laundry.. tries to cover it up and gets caught. That would be a pretty simple case for all of you, wouldn't it? Yes, it would. But that's not this case."

"This case is not simple, nor is it clear-cut. Because, you see, the prosecution has evidence, but they don't know the whole story. They don't know why Matthew Eagan REALLY came to Llanview, to Llanview in particular.. Why he was here that particular weekend.. And who came with him. These are things that will help you discover what really happened that night, and why that fine police officer was killed in the line of duty. So you pay attention to those 'facts' the prosecution was talking about.. And then I will show you what they mean."

She smiled one last time at the jury, and then returned to her chair. Short, but effective. The jury was going to have her claims in their mind all through the prosecutions case, which was precisely what she had intended. After all, she couldn't counter their evidence, not yet anyway. They were still working on that. What they did have was some dirty laundry of their own, some that the prosecution was not going to like..

"Is the prosecution ready to present it's first witness?" The judge inquired.

"We are, your honor." The case had begun.

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Vicki Carpenter was seated in her office at the Banner, surrounded by copy, preparing to put out the latest edition of the paper. Now that she was shouldering the blunt of the responsibility for the paper, with Clint gone, she was busier than ever. She delegated some of the work to her son, Kevin, but the majority she chose to handle on her own. It was a lot of work, but she could handle it. The paper, fortunately, was picking up some steam, gaining in readership every day. Especially with the latest news. She glanced at the clock, and allowed herself a short break. There was not much she could do at the moment, really, as she waited for a report from the Matthew Eagan trial. She would be there herself, if work did not interfere. She would want to be there for Tea.

Tea had become very dear to her, a good friend. Despite the fact that they were no longer sisters-in-law, Vicki still considered her family, and still met her for lunch every Thursday at the country club. They discussed everything from town gossip to family matters to business, and they enjoyed each others company. The one thing they did not discuss was Tea's former husband, Vicki's brother, Todd. Since his disappearance Tea did not discuss him in any way, and Vicki did not bring the subject up. She knew that Tea did not want to think about things now; she needed time and distance to heal, and she would not want her to interfere. Vicki could understand perfectly, as she herself had been avoiding the subject for some time. Not that she had needed to try; things had become very busy, very complicated, in the last few months. Her life. Her daughter's life. Her new grandchild. The paper. All these things.. and Clint being gone..

But she did wonder about her brother, now and then. The wounds he had given her were still fresh, and hurt when prodded. She could not think of Todd without remembering how he had used her, used the darkest time of her life for his own benefit. It made her furious beyond belief, and she did not want to remember him with anger. Someday she would have to make peace with her memories of Todd, just as Tea would. Vicki was not certain that they would see him again for some time, if ever. It made her very sad, despite all that had happened. She may never be able to forgive Todd, but she would always love him, and she would never stop hoping that he would one day find the healing that she had. She wondered where he was at that moment, and wished him peace, wherever he may be.

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When the trial broke for lunch, the gallery crowd packed into the lobby, dodging the swarm of media. Tea's team, shielding her client struggled down the hallway to the antechamber, issuing various "no comments" to the inquiring reporters. Tea led the way, and the crowd parted before her. They were a blur, the various faces, some she would know and some not, but all were unfamiliar in the press of bodies in the hallway. She was too engrossed in thoughts of her case to give much thought to the faces in the crowd, she bypassed Sam Rappaport completely without seeing him. It was going well, she thought. She was planning her redirect for the coroner, which would probably come up this afternoon.

Suddenly Tea stopped short, causing her assistant to crash into her from behind, and the traffic through the hallway halted. She was searching earnestly through the crowd to her right, her eyes wide. "What is it, Tea?" her assistant questioned her. She searched a moment more, her smile faded, her body suddenly tensed. Then she turned back to her assistant, who watched her with some concern. "It's nothing," she assured him. "I just thought I saw someone.. someone I used to know.." She looked one more time and then proceeded to the anteroom with the others. She looked distracted, vague. It would be some time before she could concentrate once more on the task at hand; for now, her thoughts were on other matters, faded memories, a million miles away…

Sam Rappaport observed these events, and, walking quickly to where she had stood, spotted a side door which he knew to lead into another hallway. He yanked it open (with a sudden feeling of urgency) and saw a long hallway.. And caught a glimpse of a tall shape vanishing around the corner. It was only a glimpse, but he knew right away who it was.

End Part 3
Next: Dreams