Wednesday Excerpts #4

Do you like reading courthouse dramas? I do! It’s not exactly the same, but there are a number of public hearings in Book 2 of the Lighthouse Island series. I sat through too many of these at the state level for work, and have watched too many local-level ones here on Tybee as the Short-Term Rental Ordinance has been debated.

Here’s part of a first draft of a hearing scene that I shared for workshopping (Warning: My characters say bad words. I can’t seem to stop them.)

Prompt: Develop

“Ms. Delaney, the proof of ownership submitted with your application was a statement that everyone on the island knows the land has always been in your mother’s family.  Staff indicated you did not submit any official records, or any title search.  Is that correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.  But I—”

“Mr. Madigan, the proof you submitted consisted of an undated, unnotarized copy of an apparent deed for the property, without any official markings or evidence of having been recorded in the courthouse, that bore a handwritten note from a Hank Delaney allegedly conveying the property to you.  Is that correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And, may I ask, what is this Hank Delaney’s relationship to the parties here today, and to the land in question?”

“I’ll answer that.”  All heads, including gape-mouthed John Madigan’s, turned toward the back of the room.  A slender, gray-whiskered man in a white tee shirt and jeans leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. 

Among the gasps and exclamations, one voice was heard to say, “I’ll be damned.  Hank Delaney’s back in town.”

“I thought he was dead and buried in Kansas,” said another.

“I’m Frederica’s father and that piece of paper John Madigan gave you is bullshit.”         Red glared at her attorney, Frank Langdon.  He had tightened his grip on her arm, preventing her from rising to confront Hank, her father.  What the hell was he doing at this hearing?  They’d found the missing deed.  They already knew it was bullshit that Hank had ever even had the right to sign the land away.  So why was he here?

“Mr. Langdon,” the hearing officer asked, “Is Mr. Delaney here on your client’s behalf?”

Frank couldn’t stop Red from answering.  “Hell no, he isn’t.”

“Aww, little girl,” said Hank.  “Is that any way to show your appreciation after I came all this way to save your ass?”

“My ass doesn’t need saving, especially not by you.  In fact, my ass would be better off if you’d gotten the hell off this island a lot sooner than you did, before—”

“Order!” The hearing officer pounded the gavel.  “Mr. Delaney, are you saying this is not your signature on the document allegedly conveying the deed in question to Mr. Madigan?”

“No, it’s my signature all right.  I was in over my head in a poker game with that scoundrel and I was sure he was bluffing.  So I tossed that in, knew he wanted it.”

“Then why isn’t the deed valid?”

“Because it’s bullshit.”

The room erupted in laughter, resulting in even more vigorous gavel-pounding from the hearing officer.  “Explain,” she said.

“I typed that deed up myself.”

“Just to carry around in case you needed it in a poker game?” 

More laughter.

“Nah.”

“Then why?”

“Yeah, why?”  Red stood, folded arms mirroring her father’s earlier pose.

“That land shouldn’t have ever been in my wife’s name.  Women back then weren’t supposed to own land.  I had a plan to get it mine, where it belonged.”

Frank needed two hands to restrain Red.  “You obnoxious son-of-a-bitch!” she yelled.

“Ms. Delaney,” the hearing officer said. “Please control yourself or I will have to ask you to leave.  While you calm down, I would like to hear from the representative of the county clerk’s office.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said a bespectacled, clean-shaven man in khakis and a white button-down shirt.  “We performed an investigation after Ms. Delaney found the official recorded deed had been cut out of the book.”

“And?”

“We believe the deed was removed by an individual who visited the courthouse a few hours before Ms. Delaney, a Mr. Brian Langdon.”

“Your big brother,” said Red to her lawyer.

“Do you have proof?”

“Indirectly, through discovery of the document in the home of his girlfriend, Ms. Cilla Tucker.”

Cilla Tucker leapt out of her seat.  “I am not his girlfriend and you did not discover the document at my house!  I brought it to you!”

“Nice speech,” Red muttered to her attorney.  “Next she’ll tell the world she and your brother are just fuck buddies.”

“ORDER!”  The hearing officer banged the gavel.  “Ms. Tucker, is it or is it not correct the missing property deed was recently in your possession?”

“It was in my house.  I had nothing to do with it.”

“The HELL you didn’t,” roared Red, again rising to her feet.  “You were all over that land from the minute you saw it and you were in cahoots with that creep, John Madigan.”

The hearing officer stood and raised the gavel. “MS. DELANEY!”

“Yes, ma’am.  I know.  No need to pound that thing.  I’m out of here.”  Hank followed Red out of the hearing room.

A voice was heard to say, “Like father, like daughter.”

The hearing officer rubbed her temples.   The room quieted. “This,” she said, “is a bit much to sort out.  However, the matter of Mr. Brian Langdon’s alleged desecration of official property records, and Ms. Tucker’s potential involvement, are not within the purview of this commission.  So, with apologies to all who were hoping for more of that particular drama, we will move on.”

“Mr. Smith, who is listed as the property owner on the newly found deed?”