The Sins of the Fathers

***** Writer's Note: This series is my first attempt at writing here. This is the second in 30 Chapters of this story. Enjoy!

THE FIRM'S NEW CLIENT

When Jack dropped Nikki at the mall on the way to his office, the next morning, he watched her turn and wave to him. He heard her yell, "Bye, Daddy," and she was gone. He caught a flash of white cotton panties as she spun on her heels and dashed up the stairs.

His cock stirred at the flash of white cotton.

I wonder if those are the same ones? Does she even own anything but white cotton? I mean, why would she, she is just a high school girl?

Leaning down, he banged his head twice on the steering wheel to check if he was truly awake. He followed up by banging it harder another couple of times, simply because he knew last night certainly wasn't a dream.

Then he reached down and adjusted his erection in his business slacks.

Well, at least I won't have to bang that against the steering wheel!

Jack knew she was meeting MacKenzie; the girls were going mall-crawling, one of their favorite pastimes. It seemed a requirement now that school was over. As Nikki pointed out, "Oh Daddy, There is nothing else to do in this town, anyway."

That is kind of why we moved here, to get away from the problems of the big city. Less crime, safer schools for his daughter, less social issues in the community. And, it was still close enough to the big city if they needed something. He smiled, it seemed like the small town they lived in was a snapshot in time. It was like America thirty-years ago. Quiet, peaceful, respectful, god fearing people. You didn't have to wonder what was going on behind your neighbors doors.

Nothing! The answer was nothing was going on!

Jack Grant smiled. He realized that he and Nikki probably agreed.

Nothing is going on!

He just realized that he saw the

Nothing is going on!

as a plus. She saw it as an absolute indictment of where they chose to live.

Strike that, Nikki sees it as an indictment of where I choose to live. And, where I have chosen to make her live.

He had to smile as he could almost hear her sigh,

Nothing is going on, Daddy! Absolutely nothing!

Jack carefully steered the Jeep as he wove his way through traffic until he arrived at the small remodeled building. It was 'The Practice' where he shared a small set of Law Offices with his best friend and partner.

One of my best friends! My best friend...except, maybe for Jenn.

'Jenn' was Jennifer Justice-Grant, his ex-wife who was technically still a partner in the firm. It was just a technicality. She hadn't set foot in the doors of The Practice in almost four-years.

Spencer Phillips was Jack's oldest friend. He had been Jack's law partner for over two decades. He was one of the few people who had known Jennifer since she'd first met Jack. Back then, a little more than two-decades ago, Spencer had been married.

Eighteen-years ago, more of less, when Spence's wife, Kayla, had died in childbirth, Jack and Jenn had been there for him every day of the awful year. There wasn't much he wanted to remember from that year. But, the times he spent with Jack and Jenn were good ones, worthy of remembering. Seemed sometimes, those memories and the memories of his new daughter were the only thing that kept him going.

Spencer Phillips was Jack's law partner. That is a special bond. He was Nicole's godfather. That's another very special bond. Nikki and Spencer's daughter, MacKenzie, had grown up together and were as close as sisters. The two single dads and their daughters made a kind of odd nuclear family. Like sisters, the two girls had two fathers. It sounded weird but it worked. No one had better dads.

A strikingly handsome black man, Spence was a tad taller than Jack; he'd played a little football in college and he kept himself in great shape. He was a definite hit with the ladies. Spencer Phillips didn't sleep alone often. The master bedroom and it's bed were seldom empty.

He liked the ladies. Spence liked them small and white. Actually, he just liked them small; but a lot of them were white, and he didn't want his daughter to think he had a thing for white ladies. He didn't usually fill his bed unless his daughter had somewhere else to be.

Usually!

As a result, MacKenzie Dawn Phillips spent a lot of time at Nikki's house and slept over frequently because her dad liked the ladies and they liked him back.

Jack walked thru the front door of The Practice, and waved to Spencer, heading down the hall to his office. Like clockwork, as if someone had hit start on a stopwatch, their Monday morning ritual began a few minutes later when Spencer stuck his head in Jack's door and asked, "So how was the weekend? Did you finally get any?"

I did!

Jack glowered at him. "Nope, but I still lead a rich fantasy life."

You know I didn't get any. Fuck you, asshole!

"Jesus, Jack," Spence continued the banter, sauntering into the office, "since I have known you, you've had sex with a judge's daughter, a high school senior, a college freshman, a first-year law student, your firm's Junior Law Partner...." He stepped closer to Jack. "Oh Yeah! And, you shared your wife with your best friend. If I was you, I swear to God I wouldn't be able to tell real life from fantasy." As an afterthought, he added,"And let us not forget that you fucked a lesbian. Not every man can claim such a remarkable history of sexual conquest."

"They were all the same woman Spencer. There has always only been one woman in my life!"

Jennifer!

Spencer looked at his friend, "I know."

Jennifer, it is always, Jennifer!

"And, you forgot the last four years of seducing my own hand."

Raising his hands palms-up, Spence merely shrugged his shoulders. "Still pining after that little lesbian we used to know, huh?" He leaned forward and quipped, "You know something, Jack? I think she liked me better than she did you anyway, old buddy."

If that remark had come from any man but Spencer, Jack would've punched him; instead, he only smiled weakly.

"Why didn't you ever remarry, Spencer?"

Because, you're getting more ass than a toilet seat in a woman's health club.

"Why won't you date, Jack?" Spence countered.

Because you still think she will come home!

"I miss Jenn."

Hell, every time someone opens the door, I think it might just be her! Even here at work. She might walk thru that door and go to her office. Just like the last four years never happened.

"Me too, Jack. Me, too," Spencer sighed deeply. Now, it was his turn to give his best friend a bittersweet wistful smile. Jack knew the smile was heartfelt. After all, they'd had some version of this same conversation every Monday morning for four long years.

Spence walked over to the window, and stood there watching nothing in particular. "You know what's weird? Not having to drop the girls at The Academy this morning."

"Yeah," Jack answered, "Did MacKenzie seem any different to you this weekend?"

"You noticed it too, huh? Not little girls anymore?" Spence speculated.

Young ladies!

"Nikki must have corrected me twenty times this weekend that she's not a 'little girl' anymore, now she's a 'young woman'."

What-ever-the-fuck that is supposed to mean. Although, I have to admit, that sure as hell didn't look like a little girls ass last night. Last night, fuck!

"You know anything about incest, Jack?" Spence asked, seemingly out of the blue.

The Monday morning banter and what little thoughtful silence there was in that office was shattered by a godawful strangling sound as Jack suddenly began choking on his coffee. Pivoting from the window Spencer whirled around only to see Jack leap up from his desk, coughing and grabbing for a napkin.

"You okay?!"

What the fuck, Jack?

"Yeah, yeah," Jack sputtered, frantically dabbing at the coffee stains on his tie. "Just let me catch my breath."

Finally, he managed a few deep gulps of air.

Where in the fucking nine-hells did that question come from?

"That's better. Sorry, to scare you; the coffee just went down the wrong way," he apologized. "Now, what did you mean 'know anything about incest?'"

"Have you ever defended a client charged with incest. Specifically, a father accused of incest with his daughter?"

Jack shook his head. "Can't say I have, Spence. Why are you asking?"

Jesus Christ, is this some kind of fucking joke? Cause the timing leaves a lot to be desired.

"I've got a client I want you to talk to. We need to decide if we want to take the case. The District Attorney has charged the man with incest and felony child abuse. They're trying to take the daughter from him.

"Who turned him in, the wife?"

"Nope."

"His daughter?" Jack asked, figuring the daughter was the only other possibility.

It's got to be one of the two. She told on Mommy or he got caught!

"Nope." Spencer grinned wickedly. He absolutely loved these lawyer games. "You'll never get this one. The daughter's boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend?!" Jack was totally dumbfounded.

Spence smirked. "Yep! The boyfriend. A couple of weeks back, after their high school prom dance, they unsuccessfully attempted sex on the side of the road in the boyfriend's car. I guess things got a little hot and heavy. The girl got frustrated and somewhere in that storm of adolescent hormones, she told him her dad's cock was a lot bigger than his and stayed hard for hours."

Jack Grant stood there for a moment with his mouth open. It was not open mouthed admiration. It was shock.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing is going on! This town is so boring you can hear the paint drying!

"Jesus, Spencer! Where do you find these cases?" His legal interest piqued, Jack immediately shifted gears into lawyer-mode. "How old is the daughter?"

"Eighteen."

"The dad?"

"Forty-three."

"Ok, I see the incest, but, where's the child abuse? She's an adult!"

Spencer just smiled broadly, delighting in the fact that Jack was working up a lather and about to go ballistic. He watched Jack stand and start to pace.

"Spencer, you know Oregon law as well as I do. She's not a minor. So, the DA can just write off that charge. And, on Oregon's Coast, no judge in his right mind is going to go after consenting adults, who just happen to be related. Why the hell is the DA bringing charges?"

"I don't know, it's not an election year. And I looked it up. Here in Oregon, an incest charge was recently brought against consenting adults and they both went to jail," Spencer opined. "It wasn't the Coast but it was rural just like the Coast so conservative, God fearing, Christian, rural Oregonians."

"Is the District Attorney female? A woman. You know what I mean. One of those who believes all young women are abused, all men are bad, and men who're also dads are particularly suspect."

"Nope, the DA in charge of this case is Jeff Riley."

Jack turned and began to pace again, gesturing excitedly. "Why would they charge him? Must have thought girl was underage. Child abuse/molestation? Check. Then if you're a good little DA, you stick on incest just to add pressure. It usually won't be charged if freestanding, because the cases get messy. If you are not careful, you wind up jailing people for a 'non-violent crime' that's better addressed with therapy and family counseling. The trial and the subsequent jail time are both expensive for the County."

Jack methodically tapped his fingers on the edge of his desk. "There should be a third charge, assuming the DA is worth his salt. I know Jeff Riley; he went to Lewis and Clark. He's a very good attorney and a pretty damn-good DA. What am I missing here, Spencer?"

Spencer lifted his palms as if to say,

do you think I am holding something back. You think I would hold out on you?

Jack stopped and asked point-blank, "Did he do it?"

Spencer Phillip's eyebrow shot up in surprise before he could stop it; it was the first time he'd ever heard Jack ask about a client's guilt. It generally wasn't good lawyering practice to know that; in fact, sometimes, it made a good defense almost impossible.

"He said his daughter was, and I am quoting from the interview, 'the single best fuck of my entire life'."

"Other than the hearsay evidence of a pissed-off boyfriend, what's the DA got for a case?" Jack probed.

"A video."

"Of what?!" Jack swiped a hand across his eyes in frustration. "Jesus, not of his eighteen-year-old daughter naked or something? Please tell me it's not one of these taking pictures of your daughter- naked things. What's that called now? Sexting?"

"Jack, 'sexting' is the term for sending and receiving sexually explicit messages, usually on mobile phones. Or sending pictures of yourself naked to someone, as you pretend to be having sex or masturbating while looking at them on your phone or a computer. Although, technically, that is actually having 'cyber-sex'."

"Really?" Jack opened up his flip phone and looked at it. "How?"

The wonders of our modern age. Technology at its most compassionate. So how do you use a cell phone for sex?

Spencer couldn't help but laugh. Everyone who had to work with Jack Grant knew about his phone. Jack Grant was old fashioned, he believed a phone should be held to your ear.

"You have to own a

real

phone, Jack!"

Luddite!

"Anyway, to answer your question, No, she wasn't naked, at least not in the part I saw. She was giving her father a blow job and there's no chance it's not them." He hesitated, clearly embarrassed. "Uh... the dad is rather uniquely endowed, and she's pretty much shown swallowing the whole thing."

"I see," Jack stated matter-of-factly, his voice almost a whisper. "And, he recorded it."

On his phone? What the fuck is the world coming to?

Spencer nodded affirmatively.

Hell of a world we live in.

"Okay, let me think," Jack continued, "because, I guarantee you, there's bound to something else."

Less than thirty seconds later, he froze in his tracks and snapped his fingers. "Bingo! I got it! Jesus, the video is gonna be the third charge. Production of 'child pornography'. Weak, but just maybe. The three charges put together gets you three-strikes-you're-out conviction, go to jail forever, and labeled a repeat offender even if the events are all actually the same 'crime.' Plus, the two child-related charges gets you listed on the National Sex Offender Registry."

Spencer agreed, "Brings a lot of pressure to bear on the client and his attorneys to bargain. They make a deal, promising to plead guilty to one charge if the prosecution drops the other two. Then the DA's office gets itself a freebie."

"Yeah, but the flip side here is that the 'girl' is eighteen," Jack argued, "They'd have to charge her with the crime, too. Not a good case for the local DA. Very unsympathetic with the public to make the girl a what... 'co-perpetrator'?"

And with that, Jack Grant went nuclear. "What possessed the father to make a recording like that? No dad in his right mind is stupid enough to record something like that," he railed, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Hell, doing something with your daughter is bad enough. But, to fucking record it is stupid. You know, stupid as in 'Darwin Awards' stupid.

Spencer stared at his partner; evidently, something about this was making Jack take it personally.

What's got you so worked up?

Opening a small notepad, Spencer read directly from the client's statement, 'I know she won't always be with me. Someday she'll have a boyfriend, a husband, and kids of her own. I just want to never forget this moment in my life. I never want to forget what she looked like kneeling down in front of me, like that'." He cleared his throat again.

Silence filled the room.

"I know your mind Spencer. I know how you approach the Law. I know generally what interests you. You live and breath as an Attorney to 'make the Law'. I just don't get it. Spencer, why in God's name did you take this case?" Jack demanded, wagging his head in disbelief. "I don't see any way an incest trial has the potential to set a legal precedent. Make case law."

He paused for several seconds, taking his time to figure the angles. "So what's got you so fired up about this particular case? What's the catch?" he needled his partner. "Just an unusual interest in the topic? Anything I should know here?"

What is it I'm missing here. What are you not telling me cause you think I will go nuts?

Spencer was pleased. Jack knew him pretty well. "Jack, every man deserves a defense. That means some attorney needs to take his case!"

"Bull . . . shit!" The expletive was prolonged, as Jack hurled it at Spencer. "Neither you nor I are the touchy-feely type of attorney. You're gonna have to do better than that."

Turning away from Jack, Spencer smiled, sighed, and calmly laid it all out. "Asset forfeiture. They've seized all his assets. Frozen his accounts, placed his home under a lien, and probably put his pay under a garnish order as well."

"Asset forfeiture?"

OK, smart ass, I actually don't know what that is. You got me. Enlighten me!

Spencer looked back at Jack and smiled. He recognized 'clueless' those rare times Jack Grant displayed it. "Jack, I've been watching the courts. The police and DA's are doing this all the time now. Even in these borderline criminal cases. The forfeited money goes to the local PD and the local government system. Even if you win the legal case, you usually don't get your assets back."

Jack scratched his head. "How is this relevant to our potential client?"

Don't the assets have to come from the 'crime'?

"When you institute the asset forfeiture procedure, you make it impossible for the client to hire legal defense."

"Because they don't have any money to pay for the attorneys," Jack interjected, finishing the sentence for him. "Oh hell, this case just gets better and better." He started to rant again, but stumbled mid-thought. "Wait a minute. There's something I'm not seeing here. Why are they after this guy? Is he a city commissioner, a politician, someone high up in the community? Why not just let it fade quietly away because of all the baggage?" Turning quickly on his heel, he nailed his partner with a single glance. "Spence, who's Daddy?"

"You wouldn't know him. I didn't." Spence tried tossing it off with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"So a nobody?"

"Well, not exactly." Spencer hesitated just enough to make Jack raise his hands, as if questioning

'Then, what the fuck is he?'

"He's the principal at Fornell Middle School." Spencer held his breath, waiting for the impending explosion.

Surprisingly, Jack didn't even bother. Instead, he simply walked over to a cabinet, taking out a bottle of ten-year-old bourbon, poured two fingers into a shot class, strode back behind his desk, and plopped down just staring at the glass.

He began softly, "The new client is a public employee of the school system. He's a school principal, which means he has daily contact with hundreds of children. He's screwing his own daughter. Her teenage boyfriend knows. This potential client has no money because the District Attorney, a dynamite DA, I might add, has seized his assets. Would you agree that about sums up the facts of the case in your opinion?"

Reluctantly, his partner nodded assent.

"Okay, we have a consensus," Jack affirmed, "Now, let's consider the ramifications. Spencer, we've spent twenty years and a bit more building this practice. You and I. Twenty years of ball-breaking work. To take this case will probably break us financially."

Spencer started to say something; Jack just held up his hand, "Hear me out."