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CHAPTER 16824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaWeogAxpF
THE LETTER ARRIVED YESTERDAY.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNW3ITubY64
Dear Mr. Rollins Stonehouse, Esquire,824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVg3qxWj4P
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...824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo59cJns34
Sincerely,824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJTi4oS7Ky
Frederick Wolfgang Belevdere, IV, Governor General824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0iEeRA6mU
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡND0NEC2w2L
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? 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjGfFNNNr9
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 me824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDlIq90eqH
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqvXRkkea1
Today I am a judge, Monsignor Philippe!824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEmm39dbXr
With a swish the drawer closed to darkness within the nightstand's locked confine.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wgIZJJzwX
"Need a hand with your bags, Your Honor?"824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKWR6soVon
Hermes called out as he strode into the great room to stand before the window. His Wedgwood-blue eyes gazed over the cityscape beyond.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGSimY8lXe
"A superb day to fly, Rollins, your flight waits! Your driver is at hand, so, let's be off!"824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuI3eDn5wVh
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5Jldmq4GV
"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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OV5uFCGFp
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ728rgnPMNB
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwy8MPvcFl5
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcNzRimWQ5
"You can drop me at the curb. International flights gates are right along here, coming up."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4lf6jvOHm
A recorded generic-tone feminine voice repeated over and over through a speaker above the sidewalk,824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawCY5ZtJr6
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...824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfA95gKsmV
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXFCpe0rWK
"Un, Hermes? You OK, buddy?"824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwe4VKgQBI
"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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZA5RJF0P0t
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5Q9N4u9Z9
"Whoa! What's this?" But Hermes had hopped out of the vehicle to stand by the opened passenger door, Rollins' bags in hand.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCO9kovzJQ
"That, Your Honor, is your ride."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcbbqXSzmZ
The captain and his co-pilot waiting on the tarmac beside the loading ladder waved a salute to Hermes. Hermes waved back.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhet491MWU
"Meet Judge Rollins. Fly swift, Land safe! I'll be here on the spot Sunday afternoon!"824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsePgDEsEb
And that was that.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMepjXCVI7
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."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh13iaBvYev
"Bienvenue a bord, Monsieur Rollins. Je suis Cherie." She waved her hand toward the steps.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94QlEEKoE2
After you, big boy!824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBSKdBYo82
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mdHzXmTBg
Mmmm... yummy824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EneQ3Cg9E
Rollins' eyes adjusted to the cabin's tranquil lighting then startled.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKNK7a2gl1
What's this? This isn't a cabin! Where's the aisle? There are no passengers!824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5XJYSqvqF
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MTEup7ZmV
"Sit, please, monsieur. We are lifting off as soon as I secure your person beneath the seatbelt."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TYFx4BQE1
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftZszfTZXy
In your boudoir during that private hour between bath and dress824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o4i50FEYT
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Oqo0wROZY
"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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDQvdiPWlg
Gosh824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqCDWzbsoW
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWTOFOAOck
"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."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWrWooTBWs
"Excuzez moi? Who are Quinn and Stoltz" A look of puzzlement crossed Cherie's face.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbP1v7LGN7
Never mind824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXAyEvTIsY
Rollins raised his hand at the glimpse of Cherie's small pale wrist inches from grazing his cheek.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBX4PE3bLLN
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bzJVHB2mS
But for a reason he cannot explain, even with his skills, Rollins dipped his toe in the waters instead.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfp8xR7iQV7
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