Benji in Control
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2010 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 47 

I’m Not Guilty

During dinner, R. B. was explaining, “Guys, when my stepmother came into court, she was late as always.  She certainly didn’t look anything like she did when we saw her at the football game.  I almost didn’t recognize her, except for her voice.  She looked like someone who was a school teacher.  She reminded me of my drill sergeant at the military school.”

After dinner we were sitting in the living room.  Rocky and R. B. were doing homework.  R. B. was complaining, “The teachers all hate me.  I’ll never get all this homework done.  I’m never going to miss school again.”

Benji, Mark and Matt were studying their spelling words and Mikey was lying on the sofa, looking at a book while I was reviewing my materials for my classes .  The quiet was interrupted by the phone.  Benji went to answer.  He handed me the phone, “Daddy, it’s someone who says his name is Rax.”

“Hi, Mr. Cox.  It's Doug Christiansen.  To what do we owe the pleasure of this call?”

“Doug, I tried to call Mr. Willingham, but he’s not home.  I called Mr. Nicely and he said I should talk to you directly, since he’s not representing Ray, Jr., per se.  We’ve uncovered some information that you should know.  I don’t know what you want to do about it.”

“Rax, how am I going to decide what to do about anything, if I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Rax started to laugh, “Okay, so I ain’t a doctor.  If you must know Lyudmila Tallinn isn’t who she pretended she was.  She was born Lilly Tomasek in Los Angeles.  Her family is well known for being involved with some shady characters and they have a few sheckles at their disposal.  Anyway, after Lilly flunked out of college in her first semester at UCLA, her parents sent her abroad and she got knocked up and married Ivan Tallinn and they had a daughter.”

“The problem is that Lilly’s parents had a royal fit when they found out what happened, and brought Lilly home and had her wedding annulled.”

“Unbeknownst to the Tomaseks, Lilly arranged for Ivan and Natasha to illegally enter the country from Canada.  Lilly and Ivan were remarried, but had to keep their lives a secret.” 

“Anyway, for some reason, the Tomaseks were determined that Lilly should marry Ray Lewis when he became available after his divorce from Gwen Bradford.  It seems that Lilly used the name Rebecca Allgood when she was acting as a hooker, to make money to support Ivan and Natasha.  Mr. Tomasek had been turned down when he attempted to buy a professional football team, and it appears that he was going to try to use Ray Lewis to settle the score.  What do you want me to do?”

I was trying to assimilate everything that Rax had said, “Rax, I fail to see what this has to do with me or R. B.  Judge Flowers made it clear that his stepmother was to have nothing further to do with him, in view of the fact that his mother still has legal custody of R.B.  I’m just acting as her substitute, in her absence.”

Rax answered, “Dr. Christiansen, you have no idea how vindictive these people can be when they’ve been made to look like fools.  The Tomaseks’ lawyer has been raising holy hell, saying they were going to demand a trial by jury, since Judge Flowers’ arrest of Mrs. Lewis was totally unwarranted.  The Tomasek forces have some big name money behind them.”

“Rax, surely they aren’t after me or R. B.   We had nothing to do with making whoever she is look bad.”

I could tell Rax was pissed, “Dr. Christiansen, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I got the boys ready for bed and took a shower and decided to catch the late news.  I turned it on to my favorite television station and Rich Caster was just beginning, “Ladies and gentlemen, things are happening in Atlanta faster than we can keep up with them.  We have received word that District Attorney Kellogg has been relieved from duty and his wife has filed for divorce, on the grounds of infidelity.  To make matters worse, the political party that was supporting him to be the next state Attorney General has withdrawn its support and has named someone to replace him on the ballot.”

“There was a reported sighting of Mr. Kellogg and his secretary at Hartsfield Airport where they were  boarding a flight bound for Tahiti.  We’ll keep you posted on this story.”

“In a related story, we have just learned that supposed Coach Ray Lewis’ wife has filed to have the ruling of Judge Katherine Flowers declared unconstitutional and that she should not be the caretaker for the Coach’s young son Ray, Jr.  That’s all we know, so far.”

“In more pleasant news, Falcon’s owner Art Block has announced that he has been able to lure the Hall of Fame coach, J. T. White out of retirement to guide the Falcons for the rest of year.  The offensive coordinator, Bill Mayberry has resigned for personal reasons.  Coach White indicated that Mr. Mayberry would be replaced by Coach Will Bridenbaugh, who has been an assistant with the Rams for the past two seasons.  No one seems to know much about Mr. Bridenbaugh, but I can assure you that we’ll know all about him before too long.   Now here’s John Etherton with the weather.”

I turned off the light and was lying there thinking, ’I should have listened to more carefully to what Rax was saying.’

When I arrived a college, Walt and Clark were waiting for me.  Walt started, “About a fourth of the class left when they found out that you weren’t going to be there.  You should give them a wake up call and give them a quiz on Wednesday.”

Clark laughed, “These new students haven’t learned that we mean business.  You might as well be the person who gets the ball rolling.”

I was just about ready to call it quits for the day when a process server from Atlanta arrived, “Congratulations, Dr. Christiansen, you are due in court at the Fulton County Courthouse at nine o’clock on Friday morning.  Can you tell me where I might find Mr. Ray Lewis, Jr. to serve his subpoena?”

“I could tell you where to contact him, but that’s not my job.  You can find him yourself.”

The gentleman looked at me, “You’re an even bigger prick than they said.  I’ll find him if it’s the last thing I do.”

After the man departed, I called Summerhill and Benji answered, This is Benji Christiansen.”

“Benji, it’s Dad.  There are some people trying to find R. B., tell R. B. to not to talk to anyone, or let them see him.  Tell him to stay in my bedroom until I get home.  Tell him it’s important.  I’m leaving, now.”

As I was approaching Summerhill, I saw a car pulling away.  Benji met me.  “Daddy, why do I gotta be in Atlanta to go the Courthouse on Friday?”

“Benji, what are you talking about?”

“A man just left in his car.  We were riding our bicycles in the driveway when a car stopped and asked if this was Summerhill.  I told him it was and he looked at me and said, ‘You’re not as big as I thought you’d be.  I thought you’d be about the size of that black kid.  I have a present for you.’  He handed me a piece of paper and said, ‘Your presence is requested in the Fulton County Courthouse, of Friday.’  That’s all he said and quickly got in his car and took off.’”

“Where’s R. B.?”

“He’s in your bedroom doing his homework.”

“Benji, did you sign anything?”

“I wrote Benji on the paper the man gave me.   Is that okay, Daddy?”

“Benji, you did just great.  Go get R. B. for me and get ready for dinner.  I’m going to call Uncle Howie and tell him what’s happening.  Don‘t say anything to R. B. about the paper.”

I called Uncle Howie and before I could tell him what had happened, he started, “Doug, I just had a call from Mr. Nicely.  It seems he’s been subpoenaed to appear at a retrial of the Lewis case on Friday.”

“Uncle Howie, that’s what I was calling to tell you.  Benji and I have also received a subpoena as well.”

“Why was Benji subpoenaed?”

“The process server mistook Benji for R. B.”

Uncle Howie started to laugh, “This case is so ridiculous that it’s funny.  If these people want to play hardball, then we’ll show them we can play hardball, as well.”

I had to laugh, “Speaking of hardball, have you had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Cox?”

“Yes, he’s miffed that you didn’t take him seriously and realize that these people are ruthless and will stop at nothing.  I need to get some more information.  I’ll talk to you later.”

I watched as the guys boarded the school bus and drove to the college.  I decided to do as Walt had suggested and made up a quiz over the materials that he and Clark had presented on Monday.  They were very basic questions based on the information that had been highlighted by the slides that the two doctors had used.  Needless to say there were some rather upset students in the classes, but I made a point, “If you’re enrolled in a class then you are responsible for the materials presented whether by me or someone else.  I’ll be gone again on Friday, so it seems, and I expect you to be here.  If Dr. Baldwin informs me that there were a significant number of absences, then there will be another quiz on Monday.”

After my one o’clock class, Alex came to me with Miss Bailey, “Dr. C., when you want to make a point, you don’t mess around, do you?”

I grinned, “Alex, if these people paid to take this courses they should be here if they want to get their money's worth.  They need to learn right now that college is different from high school and they aren’t  going to be coddled anymore.  Someone spent money to enroll them, so they should make sure that it wasn’t money thrown down the drain.”

When I walked into the office, Uncle Howie was sitting there, “Doug, do you have a couple of minutes?”

“Of course, let’s go into my office.”

After we were seated, Uncle Howie started to unload, “Doug, for some reason, these people are hell bent on gaining control of Ray, Jr.  There has to be something that we don’t know.  They not only have subpoenaed you and Benji, even if it was in error, they’ve subpoenaed Mr. Nicely and Judge Flowers.  They are filing criminal charges against the four of you for obstruction of justice.  They have demanded a trial by jury.  I’m absolutely amazed that they were able to get on a court docket so quickly.  This smacks of some big payola.”

“Uncle Howie, how can R. B. and I be accused of obstructing justice.  We’ve done nothing?  All I’ve done is sign paperwork to be the temporary guardian of R. B. for Miss Starr, or Miss Bradford, while she was on location for her new movie.  This makes no sense at all.”

“Doug, I agree with you.  None of what is happening makes sense.  You worry about the boys and the college and I’ll see what I can come up with.  I think you need to take both Benji and R. B. with you when you go to Atlanta for the trial.”

When Cole finally called, I told him what was happening and he was silent for a long time.  He finally responded, “Doug, why don’t you and the two boys come and spend the night on Thursday at the apartment with me?  Get Greg and Jordan to stay with the other four guys.  You need to make arrangements for someone to take care of R. B. while you and Benji are at the defendants table.  The new coach is due to arrive tomorrow, and I’m sure we’re going to be busy getting ready for Sunday’s game.”

When I hung up, I started to think, ‘Okay, we have four other guys taken care of, but who do I know in Atlanta that I can trust with R. B.?’

On Thursday morning, as the guys were getting ready to leave for school, I decided to drop the bombshell on R. B.  “Benji and R. B., when you get home tonight from school, I want you to pack your clothes to go spend the night in Atlanta.  Make sure you pack your blazers and a shirt and tie.”

Matt asked, “Why are they going to Atlanta?  Does that mean the rest of us don’t get to go to the football game?  Why do they need to get dressed up for the football game?”

“Guys, Benji and R. B. have to be in court tomorrow morning.  We’ll be home in time to take you to the football game on Sunday.  If we aren’t, I’ll make sure you get to Atlanta on Sunday.”

R. B. started to back away, “Dad Doug, why do I gotta go to court again?”

“R. B., I don’t know.  The other day when I called and asked that you to go to my bedroom, a man gave Benji some papers like the man gave when we were at the funeral home.  He thought that Benji was you.  We need you to go, too, since we have no idea what is going to happen.  I’ll make sure that no one sees you unless absolutely necessary.”

Fortunately the discussion was ended because we saw the school bus approaching.  When I arrived at the campus, I stopped in Austin and Derek’s offices to see if, per chance, Greg or Jordan were there.  Greg was helping someone and when he finished he looked up at me, “Dr. C., you look as if you have a question?”

“Yeah, I was wondering if you and Jordan would be willing to spend the night with Rocky, Mark, Matt and Mikey.  I have to take the other two guys to Atlanta, for a hearing tomorrow morning.  We have to be there at nine o’clock, so I thought we would spend the night with Cole.”

Greg started to laugh, “Likely story, we’d be glad to pretend like we’re watching the boys, but it will cost you two seats to the Falcon’s game on Sunday.”

“That seems fair.  Me and Mikey will stay home and you and Jordan can take care of the other five guys.  I’ll make sure that the Lancers keep you out of trouble.  I’ll call Judge Willard and have him keep his eyes on you.”

When I arrived in my office, Karen handed me a note.  “Judge Joseph Willard called and asked that you call him.”

I called and Judge Willard answered, “This is Joe Willard.  How can I help you?”

“Judge Willard, this is Doug Christiansen.  I had a note asking that I call you.”

“Thanks for calling, Doug.  I had the strangest call from Judge Katherine Flowers.  She called to tell me that she had been slapped with a suit accusing her of criminal negligence in the way she handled the case on Monday and that she had to appear in court in the morning.  What’s happening?”

“Judge Willard, I wish I knew.  Benji and I have been subpoenaed to appear, as well.”

Judge Willard took a deep breath, “Doug, that makes no sense at all.  Why would Benji have been subpoenaed?”

I laughed, “The person who served the warrant thought Benji was Ray, Jr. and had Benji sign for it.  I figured we would continue the hoax for as long as possible.  Would you be available to make sure that R. B. isn’t visible until the proper time?”

“Absolutely, Ray, Jr., is a friend of mine as is Judge Flowers.  It will be interesting to see what these people are going to try to pull, now.”

To be continued...

Editor's notes: It seems to me that there is more skullduggery going on than we first thought. I suspect that there is a lot more money at stake in terms of R. B.  I also suspect that it has something to do with his name, and that of his father.

The 'you know what' is going to hit the fan when it turns out that even if Coach Lewis had actually married the bitch, it wouldn't have been legal, since she was already married. Also, the fact that R.B.'s mother is alive and well, and has had custody of R.B. for some time before his father's death, so there is no way that the bitch, who is, in fact, no relation to R.B. should get custody, and the bitch is, in no way, qualified to be a mother to him.  

I know, why don't I just come out and say what I think, instead of beating around the bush, the way I have been doing here?

Darn, we have to wait for still another chapter, to find out more.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 12/17/10