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CHAPTER 16769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1EAijSmsd
THE LETTER ARRIVED YESTERDAY.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1zSB9jdXK
Dear Mr. Rollins Stonehouse, Esquire,769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1N1xIxR2V
With the power vested in me as Governor General I take great pleasure in appointing you, Rollins, know henceforth as Your Honor, to judgeship in Champagne County, First District court of Appeal, on this day, May 15th, in the year of our Lord...769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRpLjCgTom
Sincerely,769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuO3TJfMdd
Frederick Wolfgang Belevdere, IV, Governor General769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oGQTyB5ct
Rollins held the parchment in his hand feeling its thickness between thumb and fingertips and marveled at the man's penmanship; exquisitely strong and artfully cursive without loops and curls of calligraphy that so often flower an expression of prose. The man had sat at this desk in Parliament Building's East Wing, perhaps in a rare moment of solitude facing sunrise, picked up a fountain pen and drawing indigo ink into its nib from a well gave a thought to an orphaned boy, Rollins of Stone House. The dignified engraved letterhead hovered across the top of the page like an eagle's wings spread in flight but protective of the content below. Thin black pin-stripping outlined the document's margins enclosing a simply stated phrase of appointment to a station, and congratulations, and signature. And oh, what a signature! Rollins held the missive to the light and saw variations in the ink's depths as the Governor's nib slid across the page under the pressure of his fingers.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmALvyDltnX
Folding the letter along its creases as had been the way of it originally Rollins stuffed it back into the envelope and press it to his lips. Then he inhaled. Ah, the scent of power! What is it exactly that power smells of? 769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWuuhNCHtP
Unwavering righteous struggle, of duty, honor and unbiased fairness, of humility and thoughtful judgment... the gavel weighs heavily in my hands. Strengtht, do not flee me769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIh6KbYyDn
Chimes ringing in the foyer brought Rollins' eyes open and his senses correct. With a swift flick of his wrist the letter in its envelop slipped into the nightstand's top drawer.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC47YChYNK9
Today I am a judge, Monsignor Philippe!769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZaN9OJTTe
With a swish the drawer closed to darkness within the nightstand's locked confine.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooyeomDZ3P
"Need a hand with your bags, Your Honor?"769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnENe9ab53
Hermes called out as he strode into the great room to stand before the window. His Wedgwood-blue eyes gazed over the cityscape beyond.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVchZpeXtp
"A superb day to fly, Rollins, your flight waits! Your driver is at hand, so, let's be off!"769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANFiTabc8c
Hermes grasped the duffle bag from Rolls' hand the moment the man stepped from his bedchamber. "Don't forget your camera, buddy! You need some interesting new material in that gallery of yours downstairs!" It had been some time since Rollins had gone on a sojourn in search of a captivating face and a very long time since a new portrait hung from a hook below lamp-glow.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kxLLSiwIQ
"It's in this hand, good friend! See? My other hand!" Rollins slung the camera bag over his shoulder as the elevator doors swished closed.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiYYSFsib4
Hermes drove the Range Rover away from Wayfarers Inn onto the boulevard then on to the city's streets beyond. Women in cotton swing-dresses shopping for shoes and hats darted in and out of boutiques. Men sat in barbershop chairs or on sidewalk benches reading newspapers, some with pipes dangling from their teeth.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlSYdI9MvV
Boys in shorts rode bikes. Girls in ponytails roller skated after them. Sometimes it was the other way around. Dogs barked at anything passing. Cats looing in shady places slept. Hermes, in his pushed-up cotton T-shirt sleeves and faded blue jeans whistled to a radio tune and Rollins in his coarse linen slacks and soft leather loafers wondered of the wonder of being a judge and the possibilities of Quinn, Sam and Hermes arguing before his bench.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRu2P9goIz
Hermes approached the airport waiting for lights and arrows to turn green. Red backlit graphic hands in rectangle boxes turned to green walking person icons. Whistles blow and white-gloved traffic cops wave. Hermes proceeded toward the parking structure.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNNAN031PF
"You can drop me at the curb. International flights gates are right along here, coming up."769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn23cJ5Ik6f
A recorded generic-tone feminine voice repeated over and over through a speaker above the sidewalk,769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr76M0IvpQK
The white zone is for loading and unloading only... La zone blanche est pour le charement et le dechargement uniquement... La zona e bianco soto par il caricoe lo scarice... The white zone...769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCn1lf2rQeu
Seemingly deaf on some level, Hermes drove past International Fights' sliding glass doors without any attempt to brake. The man drove past the entire airport's length of wide clear window where Rollins can see the darkened forms of harried passengers hauling their bags race up and down the concourse in search of their departure gates. And he drove past acres of general parking, past idling trucks lining the curb next to a string of freight buildings and around the curve of high wire security fencing guarding the edges of cross-airstrips and pulled to a stop before the massive gates. An air sock on a steel pole across from the control tower billowed due East. And Hermes hummed.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniqGNf2zqm
"Un, Hermes? You OK, buddy?"769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPq3bqOjGZo
"Quebec is transcending this time of year. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Women bloom all over the place... simply heavenly!" Hermes picked up the lyrics mid-song unabashedly adding his own vocal styling with the artist's smooth tones.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCI1aIu6qJ
The Range Rover waited now in front of a gate post where a little slot cut horizontally in a box on the pipe received Hermes' flat plastic card. Beeps sounded from a box and lights flashed from red to green and the wheeled gates on tracks rolled apart. Hermes pocketed his card and motored onto the tarmac guiding the Range Rover over the terrain as if he owned it. Rolls looked sideways at Hermes, then past Hermes when a sleek gleaming black body of an exquisite McTJetStream aircraft came into full view.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3BEmrB3Kp
"Whoa! What's this?" But Hermes had hopped out of the vehicle to stand by the opened passenger door, Rollins' bags in hand.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HwAfSPEMu
"That, Your Honor, is your ride."769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHNAodZ0dz
The captain and his co-pilot waiting on the tarmac beside the loading ladder waved a salute to Hermes. Hermes waved back.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVobNf0ago
"Meet Judge Rollins. Fly swift, Land safe! I'll be here on the spot Sunday afternoon!"769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcFmBiKsId
And that was that.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOPldOlo8u
Rollins stood beside his bag watching the Range Rover disappear through the gate and onto the street fading into traffic until he could see it no more. When he turned back to the steps the captain and co-pilot had vanished into the plane's cockpit and a spectacularly-golden fair-of-face flight attendant stood in their place. Her platinum hair is would into a chignon pinned below a pert cap. The prim collar of a white cotton blouse peeked up from under her brass-buttoned royal blue blazer. A tiny wing pin glints on the placket of her left pocket. Black and blue satin ribbons tied in a bow sit just over the top button of her blouse. She stood in sheer kohl sil hose and matte gray pumps beneath her suit's sleek pencil skirt."769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPfyUk3nqC
"Bienvenue a bord, Monsieur Rollins. Je suis Cherie." She waved her hand toward the steps.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCSuw1uDLl
After you, big boy!769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcFY4h32h2
Cherie poised ramrod-straight as Rollins climbed the ladder but he did just happen to notice a flicker in her forget-me-not blue eyes and a twitch at the corners of lips glistening in a thin wash of pale pink gloss.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMOwEWTKx3
Mmmm... yummy769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkzTcF9IpH
Rollins' eyes adjusted to the cabin's tranquil lighting then startled.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGLHOpvHoQ
What's this? This isn't a cabin! Where's the aisle? There are no passengers!769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwFR8lpOaw
Rollins stepped into a space that could be a small sitting room found in a luxury penthouse anywhere in the world, so plush lay the carpeting under his feet, so glistening shines the mahogany burl wood table sitting before armchairs so wide and deeply cushioned upholstered in leather so soft as to feel like cashmere and silk. Soft rays of light stream below burnished chrome lamp shades. Rollins can't be sure but he thought the oval windows hinted of a grayish purple tint; a shield against the glare of natural sunlight, silver clouds and powder blue skies.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdPCcAj5hO
"Sit, please, monsieur. We are lifting off as soon as I secure your person beneath the seatbelt."769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Z3yfTRbBL
Cherie's voice wafts about his ears like a cat's purr. Rollins picked an armchair with a window view and sank into the sweet kiss of a neck cushion billowing under the weight of his head. In a blink of his eye a seatbelt slid across his shoulder, belly and hip to fasten with a click into a lock so artistically designed it could have been a jeweled buckle bedazzling a royal's garment. But is the subtle strength of Cherie's fingers that startle him. Her milky-skinned hands belied the power of muscle and tendon working the fine bones in her long tapered fingers. Her smooth palm brushed across the length of his body under the seatbelt. Sensing imaginary slack in the belt her fingers grabbed the end of the belt below a bar in the lock and tugged it taught thus snuggling his body deeper into the seat's embrace. Cherie's eggshell-thin cheek hovered next to his face and in that moment he sniffed the scent of the perfume she'd stroked behind her ear.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqvnCLXKAU
In your boudoir during that private hour between bath and dress769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWzs1Yxy52
Rollins closed his eyes. He felt faint for the second time in his life since the first time he'd felt faint when opening the envelope containing the results of his bar exams.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYfA1fj6ou
"That should do it, sir." Cherie's lullaby-hushed voice broke through a wishing dream forming in his head. "Relax Monsieur Rollins, and when the jet is safely at altitude I will return and release the belt. Then you'll be free to walk around and make yourself at home." In a flash Cherie produced a hand-held cassette into which she said a few words to the pilot before vanishing from the cabin. Rollins thought she must be ushering others into the plane before takeoff as surly he can't be the only person on board an aircraft such as this. But he heard nothing. He felt only a slight swaying as the plane angled away from the tarmac and taxied like a prowling Puma onto the runway. And it was only moments later clouds' foggy mists caused whispery shadows to fall across the tabletop.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFPBLpLI3U
Gosh769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOL3BzCR3V3
Before Rollins could even muster into his dream, Cherie's deft hands were at the buckle, snapping the latch open releasing the belt of its safekeeping. For a moment he felt severed of the security as he floated in that weird space between confine and freedom. When Rollins opened his eyes it was to a silver decanter and ice chips in a flute sitting on an onyx tray upon the table that brought his senses into focus.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0DMfiCqiq
"Quinn and Stoltz deserve a massive token of gratitude for all this." Rollins' voice trailed off as he took in the luxury surrounding him. "A chartered plane... five days among French women whispering Francoise idioms and feeding me nibbles in the way only a mademoiselle can."769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eLuXLitn4
"Excuzez moi? Who are Quinn and Stoltz" A look of puzzlement crossed Cherie's face.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLrF7N5w6s
Never mind769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOEP9OeJAq
Rollins raised his hand at the glimpse of Cherie's small pale wrist inches from grazing his cheek.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYeOQ916bB
You tempt me, woman... I want nothing more than to grasp your slender white wrist, yank you onto my lap, slide your feet free of those silly little shoes while at the same time squash that crazy prim cap under the table and retain your body in my grip as I pull hairpins from that platinum chignon with my teeth one at a tine while watching those long tendrils fall one by one over your shoulder to gather at your waist as you squirm breathy and helpless in my clasp.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fdMxIrYed
But for a reason he cannot explain, even with his skills, Rollins dipped his toe in the waters instead.769Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaX556Iv7v
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