Court Papers in the Locked Drawer of a Community Doctor

He walked toward the small hallway that led to the exit, his heavy boots making a dull thud on the pine floor. I followed him to the door, keeping my hands in my pockets so I would not reach for my watch. At the threshold, he turned back to look at me, his hand resting…

We got into the car, and the engine turned over with a familiar, raspy hum. The clock on the dashboard showed exactly three o’clock as I backed out of the driveway and turned down Pine Lane. The oak trees lined the street like old sentinels, their bare branches reaching toward the grey Pennsylvania sky. “Thank…

“She is going to be alright, Robert,” Brandon said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “She is nineteen, Brandon,” I said. “She should be worrying about exams, not whether her mother wanted her father dead.” “We will get through the audit,” he said. “The accounts are already frozen.” “Go back to the office,” I said….

“And the civil suit?” I asked. “The court will enter the default judgment on Friday since their attorney failed to file an answer,” Rachel said. “They will have to pay the court costs and your legal fees.” The waitress set a plate of dry toast and a small bowl of fruit between us. “You could…

Beside her, Maribel was weeping. She did not cover her face, nor did she bow her head. She sat upright in her chair, her shoulders rising and falling with her breaths, her cheeks wet with tears that caught the light from the stage. Her small hands were gripped together in her lap, her knuckles white….

A young man named David, Linda said. He was the assistant cook at the nursing home, so he knows how to get things out on time. She tapped the edge of the folder against the truck’s hood, the cardboard making a soft thud. Troy’s father called my office at six this morning, she said. Carter…