Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

up and dialed Mrs. Howard’s number.  We went through pretty much
the same conversation I’d had with Mrs. Johns, and I got the same response from
Mrs. Howard.  Somehow, this Landra Krally person had charmed her way into the
Last Will and Testament of not one, but two of my neighbors.  My question was,
how many others had she conned?
    I finished up early at the office and went for a run in my
neighborhood when I got home.  Oliver must have seen me leave because he was
waiting in ambush in the Johns’ yard when I returned.   His face lit up when he
saw me, and he came running over.
    “Hi, Samuel!  Want to play catch?”
    “Oh, not right now, Oliver,” I said, trying to catch my
breath.  “I need to take a shower.”
    “After that?” he asked hopefully.
    I was about to put him off until another day, when a white Lexus
pulled into Mrs. Howard’s driveway and distracted me.  A girl got out and took
some grocery bags out of the trunk and headed towards the front door.  She
looked about my age and was wearing a pink and black exercise outfit that
showed her bare stomach and left just enough to the imagination.  Her long
brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail high on her head and it swayed from side
to side as she walked.  She looked athletic but incredibly feminine at the same
time.  My jaw fell open and I couldn’t draw my eyes away from her.
    She looked in our direction and smiled and called out,  “Hi,
Ollie!”
    He waved enthusiastically, then ran across the street to greet
her.  She set her grocery bags down and picked up Oliver and spun him around,
then she smothered him with kisses all over his face while he laughed and
fought to get away.  I was in awe, totally transfixed on her.  She had to
notice that I was staring at her.  How could she not? But when she looked in my
direction again, she smiled casually and gave me a little wave, then gave
Oliver one last hug before letting him escape.  He came running back over to me
as she gathered up her grocery bags and resumed her progress towards the door. 
She knocked on Mrs. Howard’s door and let herself in, and then she was gone.
    I started walking towards my door, with Oliver right in
stride.  “Who’s your girlfriend?” I asked, trying to shake whatever emotion had
taken hold of me.
    “She’s not my girlfriend,” Oliver laughed.  “That’s Landra.”
    I stopped dead in my tracks.  “ That’s Landra Krally?” I
exclaimed.   No wonder the neighbors love her .  Hell, I was ready to
revise my will and I hadn’t even met her.
    “She’s really nice,” Oliver said.
    “She likes you ,” I said, reaching down and rumpling his
hair.  He laughed and took my hand in his and studied my knuckles, then he held
his palm up to mine and compared size.
    “Is your hand as big as David Robinson’s?” he asked.
    “Not even close,” I laughed.  Now, don’t get me wrong, San
Antonio loves their NBA Spurs, and David Robinson is a household name; but I
was shocked that a three year old would know of him. “How do you know about the
Admiral?” I asked.
    “The what?”
    “The Admiral.  David Robinson,” I clarified.
    “He used to play for the Spurs.  He’s a seven-footer.  How tall
are you?”
    “I’m a six-footer.”
    “Oh.”  He said it like he was disappointed.  “Are you a role
model?” he asked with a hopeful note in his voice.  “Mommy says David Robinson
is a good role model.”
    I couldn’t argue. David Robinson had brought morals and values
to a league full of gangsters and thugs.  Somehow, those qualities had been
translated into a negative, with his critics calling him soft -- the
league’s choir boy.   For me, I’d take Robinson over the league’s punks any
day.  “David Robinson is a great role model.  I think you should stick with
him,” I said, and Oliver smiled happily.
    Now . . . I’d never been big on kids, not that I’d been around
that many of them.  But in general, I didn’t like