Howard Brought A New Customer After The Last Court Date

At the arraignment, Nolan sat beside his lawyer and stared at his shoes.

Delia looked for me when she entered. I sat behind June with my hands open on my knees. I had brought no folder that day. The people handling the criminal case already had copies of what they needed.

Neither defendant entered a guilty plea that morning. There were months of hearings, record requests, and dates that changed. I learned to leave those dates on my calendar and keep working between them.

The bank recovered the $129,600 held from Nolan's company account. Its later report traced the other $56,800 through personal spending by him and Delia. Their invoices had covered no real work for my shop.

Nolan sold a condo during the case. Under the repayment agreement, $56,800 from the closing went to the bank. That finished repayment of the principal the bank had restored to my company.

It did not erase the charges.

The bank kept its settlement with me. Its recovery was its recovery; my eleven deposits stayed restored. I filed the final statement behind the original lockbox agreement.

Rusk's sale contract and supposed lease took a different path through court. His lawyer eventually agreed to orders declaring them unenforceable against the company. No deed had changed hands. His $45,000 escrow advance went back to him.

I did not get to keep his money because he had been willing to ruin my week.

I did recover $14,800 from his company under a civil settlement for the extra storage, moving, lost work, and legal costs we documented. He had kept the crew scheduled after written notice of the dispute. His lawyer could not make that breakfast disappear.

The city closed the demolition application. Rusk built his project somewhere else. I never needed to find out where.

Our divorce became final that winter. The house was sold. We divided its net proceeds and our other marital assets under the court's judgment, with full financial records on both sides. Delia received no ownership or signing authority in the business. She had to return the remaining company records and credentials.

I moved into a small apartment above a quiet insurance office. I bought a table that was too narrow for spreading out eleven bank checks.

That pleased me every time I ate there.

Delia sent one message through her lawyer asking for a private meeting.

I answered through June: "There is no business left that requires one."

In early spring, both criminal cases ended in guilty pleas. At sentencing, I heard the court describe theft, forged authorizations, and the use of false papers to get money from a bank.

Delia received a three-year prison sentence. Nolan received four years. Their repayment was considered, along with the length of the scheme and the steps they had taken to hide it.

Delia's lawyer read a statement about how hard she had worked in the marriage. I thought of all those meals and rides counted twice: once when she gave them, again when she wanted something.

When it was my turn, I spoke for less than a minute.

"The checks were promises to customers," I said. "I had to call people who thought I'd taken their money. I couldn't open my own door to finish their work."

I did not ask the judge to make her understand me.

Outside, Howard waited with my coat. He had attended because I asked him to, and he did not fill the walk to the car with advice.

"Coffee?" he said.

"At the shop."

By May, all six remaining concert-hall jobs were complete. Each director had signed an acceptance sheet. The seventh hall sent a new request after its building work finished. I quoted it at the current rate and waited for approval.

The bank had changed how routing requests were reviewed. I used my own access, read the statements, and paid an outside bookkeeper to reconcile them each month. She could prepare payments. I approved them.

My hands still carried glue and black dust. Those hands also opened the mail.

One Thursday, Howard arrived with his granddaughter, Ruth, to see the small upright her school had sent me. She was learning repair work through a school program.

"She has questions," he said. "Please charge for the answers that involve labor."

Ruth set her paid lesson receipt on my bench. I had written $60 in careful blue ink.

"How do you find a bad note without looking?" she asked.

I laid my green felt square beside the keys.

"Play slowly. Give each one time."

She pressed middle D. I closed my eyes, listened to the hammer fall cleanly, and rested my hands on the warm wood as Howard brought the coffee in.