“Regardless, I don’t see it as necessarily relevant. The official creed of the Aryan Brotherhood talks about racial purity, but it says nothing about any kind of hatred of the LGBTQ community.”
She laughed. “That’s your argument? That the Aryan Brotherhood hates people who are nonwhite, but they don’t care about people who are transgendered or gay? Seriously? Listen, a hate group is a hate group. And if you’re a member of a hate group, and somebody who is marginalized is murdered, we’re going to charge it as a hate crime. Not always, but that’s definitely something that we look at.”
“Be that as it may, there’s nothing that stands out in this particular murder that would show that it’s a hate crime. You have any witnesses who’ll testify that my client was badgering Adele before she died about her being transgendered? Any witnesses who will testify that he’s been harassing her? Do you guys have anything that will give you evidence to charge this as a hate crime?”
“Not yet.”
The judge came on the bench. It was Judge Wilson, who traditionally did the initial appearances for everybody who came through the Jackson County Justice system. I took a seat, and the judge started calling the cases, and soon got to mine.
“Mr. Harrison, I see you’re back. And you have private counsel. Now, I’m going to read you your charges again, and take your plea, and set the case over for a preliminary hearing.”
I knew that Beck’s case wouldn’t actually get a preliminary hearing, however, because it was a Grand Jury case. That was how murder cases went in Missouri. They were brought before the Grand Jury, a jury which decided if there was enough evidence to bound the defendant over for trial.
“Beck Harrison, you’ve been charged by the State of Missouri with one count of murder in the first degree. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty, Your Honor.”
“Okay. I see that there’s a motion for a bond review in front of me as well. Ms. Brighton, do you have any objections to the defendant getting a bond?”
“None, Your Honor, although I would ask for a bond of at least 3 million.”
“Three million is pretty steep,” the judge said. “I’ll set the bond at one million, 10%. The conditions of the bond are that the defendant is not to have contact with known felons, he must wear an electronic monitoring device, and he must report to a probation office and submit mandatory regular drug screening.”
I looked over at Beck. I had a feeling that he could not even do 10% of a million. Most people couldn’t. But, I was somewhat encouraged by the fact he was even given a bond.
I left the bench, and I looked over at him. “Any chance you’ll be able to make bond?”
“Maybe. I just might be able to.”
“Really? Who has that kind of money?”
“Don’t worry about that.” He nodded his head. “If I find that kind of dough, you just don’t even ask. It’s really not your business.”
I sighed. “It is my business. If you’re going to get it from some kind of felon, then that’s a non-starter. You’re not supposed to have contact with anybody who’s been convicted of a felony.”
Beck laughed. “Yeah? I know. But who else do you think I’m going to be able to get money from? Ain’t nobody in my life not a convicted felon. Except for my sister. And it’s just a matter of time with her. It’s pretty much I gotta get the money from somebody who’s got a record, or I don’t get it at all.”
“Maybe it’s best you don’t get it at all, then.”
“Whatever. Okay,” he said as the guard led him away. “I’ll let you know if I’m going to get out of jail or not.”
As he was being led away, I had a feeling that he was going to get out of jail.
I also had a feeling that his getting out of jail, somehow, someway, was gonna lead me into the key to this case.
Chapter 15
I knew I had to find an attorney for my paternity case, and I knew I had to do it quickly.
I got the devastating results of my paternity test, on the Friday after I took it. I got the results expedited, and I found out that, indeed, Amelia was not my daughter.
The envelope came in the mail, and I didn’t want to look at it. The last thing I wanted to do was look at it. Yes, I knew that no matter what, Amelia was my daughter. Even if I did not actually supply her DNA, she was always my daughter. But that didn’t matter. What mattered to me was that she actually was my biological daughter.
So, when I got the results in the mail, which showed that I was not her father, I had a minor breakdown.
No, scratch that, I had a major breakdown.
I called up Sarah. Somehow, even though I had known that this was a possibility all along, I was able to keep it together. I was able to keep it together before when I talked to Sarah, because I wanted none of this to be true. However, once I found that it was true, I decided it was time to tell Sarah exactly what I thought about her and her little plan to take Amelia away from me.
“Hi Damien,” Sarah said as she picked up the phone.
I took a deep breath. Calm down Damien, calm down. However, I could not calm myself down. I just wanted to tear this bitch limb from limb. How could she do this to me? Even if she knew all along that I wasn’t Amelia’s father, how could she break us up like that? That was the secret that she should have kept until she was dead.
Which, if I had my way, would happen sooner than later.
“Don’t fucking ‘hi Damien’ me,” I said to her. I took a deep breath. “I got the results of the paternity test.” I chuckled ruefully. “And yes, you’re right. I’m not Amelia’s dad. But that doesn’t matter. I’m going to stay her dad, if it’s the last fucking thing I do. If I have to fucking come over, and flay you alive, bit by bit, I’m gonna do that, if it means that’s what I have to do to keep Amelia with me.”
Sarah, on the other end of the line, remained calm. Maddeningly so. “Damien-”
“What? What can you possibly say to me at this point? I could kill you at this point, and I don’t think that there’s a jury in this world that would convict me for it.”
“Listen, Damien-”
“No. You’re not going to do this. You’re not going to succeed. I’m gonna find out things about Baron Wicker, and there’s no judge in the world who’s going to allow that rich asshole to take Amelia away from me. This is where she belongs, and this is where she’s going to stay.”
“Baron’s her father.”
“No, he fucking is not. He wasn’t the one who was there when Amelia was sick, and possibly dying. For that matter, you weren’t there either. I was there. I was the only one who was there. And why do I think that Baron has known all along that Amelia was his? Why do I think that you told Baron a long time ago, and he didn’t give a shit?”
Sarah was quiet for a spell. “Damien, you’re right about that. I did tell Baron, when Amelia was born, that I thought that she was his. And I kept him in the loop about her all these years.”
“You kept him in the loop, seriously? So you told him when she got sick, and she was possibly going to die, that she was in that state? You told him about all that? And what did he say? He didn’t give a crap, did he?” By that time I was shaking with rage. I wanted to throttle her, and Baron.
“He knew about it, but, Damien, I wasn’t going to put him in the middle of all that. You and Amelia, the last thing the two of you needed at that point was to have some baby daddy drama. I did this for you.”
“Bullshit! You’ve never done anything for me, and you sure as hell have never done anything for Amelia. What’s the real reason why Baron never got involved in Amelia’s life, prior to this? Because I’m not buying that you were looking out for mine and Amelia’s feelings. I don’t believe that for a second. I’ll find out the truth. The truth will always win out, and it’s not going to look very good for you or Baron.”
“Here’s the truth, Damien. What would’ve happened, if I would’ve announced to you, years ago, that Baron was Amelia’s father? I wasn’t goi
ng to say anything about that, because you and I were trying to work things out. And now we’re not trying to work things out, and you’ve made it clear that you want nothing to do with me, so I just figure that it’s time for Amelia to know who her real father is. Plus, Baron wants to raise her. He’ll be a good dad. He doesn’t have any other children, and he’s very well off. He can spoil her, the way that she wants to be spoiled. The way she needs to be spoiled.”
I shook my head. “No thank you. I’m not going to allow her to be spoiled like that. She’s going to have a normal life, right here with me. And there’s nothing that is going to change that.”
Little did I know that I was actually right about that. There was a piece of information, about to come to light, that was going to throw a monkey wrench into all of this.
And it was something I never, in a million years, expected.
Although I probably should have, knowing sneaky Sarah the way that I did.
Chapter 16
Something was nagging me about Larry Rodriguez. He had popped up in this case, quite unexpectedly. He was the one back in the day who got Beck in trouble in the first place, with the Rob One. And now, apparently, he was also the person who got Tina Phillips in trouble. She was a drug mule for him, and he hung her out to dry. At any rate, since he was somehow in the middle of both of my cases, I was going to have to find out more about him. To do anything less would be malpractice on my part.
I went back to see Tina at her halfway house. I was hoping that she would know something more about Larry. Maybe she could somehow be the key to my case with Beck. I don’t know why I thought that, but I figured I should try to cover all my bases.
She was sitting on her porch swing, waiting for me. I called her ahead of time to tell her I was coming. “Hey!” she said as I approached her. “What did you find out about my case?”
“I’ve been in touch with the prosecutor, and I’ve been trying to ask them about Drug Court,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “I told you, no Drug Court. I don’t want to mess with that shit. I’d rather go to prison.”
“Well, I just might be able to arrange that.” I was annoyed by her. Yeah, I knew that she was a victim too. But, if I got something as lenient as Drug Court for her, she better fucking take it. At least with Drug Court, there was a chance she wouldn’t go to prison. Granted, it was a small chance, since if she continued to do drugs, she would never graduate from the program. But she would for sure end up in prison if she didn’t take Drug Court as her sentence. Yet, she was trying to avoid all of that. That wasn’t making sense to me.
“Hey, does Connor know that you talk to me like that?” she asked.
“I’m sure he doesn’t. And I don’t know how Connor has a thing to do with this.”
“He doesn’t.” Tina looked annoyed. “So tell me, what you got going? What you got cooking?”
“Listen, there’s not a whole lot I can do for you, unless you’re willing to roll on Larry. But you’re not going to, and so I don’t think I can really do a thing for you.”
“So, why are you here?” Tina looked suspicious. “I mean, seriously, why do you bother coming down here to talk to me?”
“Because I need to talk to you about Larry. He’s popped up in another case of mine, and I wanted to find out more about the guy.”
“What do you need to know?”
“I need to find out if he has ever dealt with a woman by the name of Adele Whittier.”
“Adele Whittier? You mean the Adele Whittier that your client, Beck Harrison, has murdered? That Adele Whittier?” she asked with a snort and a shake of her head.
“One and the same. Listen, I found out that Adele used to go by the name of William, and that she was a drug dealer herself back in the day.”
“So what do you think, just because she was a drug dealer at one time, that all drug dealers know each other?” Tina shook her head. “That’s like saying that all black people know all other black people. Or when you tell people that you’re from a certain city, and they’re all like ‘do you know such and such?’ He lives in that city too.” She laughed. “You ever get that? People asking you if you know John Brown, because after all, he lives in Kansas City, too?”
I ignored her question. I had to at least try to get to the bottom of this. “What about Jordan Kennedy?”
“What about Jordan Kennedy?”
“Does Larry know anybody by that name?”
Tina shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Why do you ask that question?”
“Because Jordan Kennedy was a person who Adele worked for back in the day. When she was a drug dealer, she worked for him.”
Tina did not necessarily dismiss that question out of hand, the way she did the other one. “Jordan Kennedy,” she said nodding her head. “Actually, I think that Larry does know him. Or, you might say that Jordan Kennedy is a business rival for Larry.”
“Business rival, meaning?”
“Meaning Jordan Kennedy was trying to work the same turf as Larry. I think that Larry had to set him straight a time or two. What does that have to do with anything?”
“I don’t actually know the answer to that question. I just wanted to know if Larry and Jordan were somehow associated.”
I tried to work it out in my mind. Larry was the drug dealer who was in charge of Beck back in the day, and he was responsible for Beck getting nabbed for Rob One. Jordan was a dealer who was in charge of Adele, back when she was known as William.
Larry and Jordan were business rivals.
“Listen, Tina, if you have any information about Larry that I need to know, then you need to tell me. Don’t worry, I’m your attorney, so whatever you say to me stays with me. Unless you want it to get out to somebody else. But you know you don’t have to worry about me telling anybody about what you’re telling me.”
“Like what? What are you looking for? What kind of information do you need?”
“I don’t know.” I was having a hard time working it all out in my mind.
Tina scoffed. “Whatever. Listen, if you want some kind of specific information, ask a question and I’ll tell you. But you have to ask me something. You have to come to me and ask me a specific question. If you do that, then I’ll answer you. But as it is, I got nothing for you.”
I suddenly realized that I was talking to the wrong person.
The person I really needed to be speaking with was Heather.
Chapter 17
I was going to have to find out a lot more about Adele. There was something sticking at me, and I just had to know what it was. It was somewhat unusual, to me, that she was a dealer back when her identity was male. And now she was a nurse.
I had a hunch, and I was going to have to follow up on it.
The first thing I did was go to her high school, which was called Van Horn High School, in Independence, Missouri. I needed to find a copy of her yearbook. I needed to find out what she looked like in high school when she had a male identity.
After that, I was going to get Anna involved in finding out more about her background.
I saw the class picture, and I squinted when I looked at William Page. I was struck by how different he looked from Adele. I had seen pictures of Adele, and she had soft features, like that of a woman. She had a small nose, large eyes, soft cheeks, and a rounded chin. On the other hand, this picture of William Page looked very different from Adele’s pictures. I saw a large pointy nose, eyes which were much smaller than that of Adele’s, and cheeks which were not rounded, but rather angular, and so was his chin.
I made a note of how different William Page looked than Adele. I thought that that was slightly unusual. From what I knew about transgendered people, most of them actually didn’t look all that different when they transitioned from male to female, or from female to male. Their same basic face followed them from gender to gender, as it were. Not so with William Page. He apparently did wholesale plastic surgery on his face when he transitioned into a woman.
He also wanted to become an entirely different person.
I called Charity. She picked up on the third ring.
“Hello, this is Damien Harrington, I talked to you yesterday.”
“Yes, hello. How are you doing?” Charity’s voice was pleasant, and I heard the baby screaming in the background. She shushed the baby for a few seconds and then came back on the phone. “What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering what you knew about William Page. Was he a friend of yours?”
She cleared her throat. “I knew him well enough. I went to high school with him.”
“Was there anybody in particular that he used to date in high school? And, if he dated somebody back then, was it a man or a woman?”
She was silent for a few seconds. “There was, and it was a woman. Her name was Darlene Reich. However, everybody always assumed that she was a beard. Even then, I think that William was into men. That was before he transitioned into Adele, of course.”
“Really? Is there any reason why he felt the need to have a beard? Was your high school the kind of place where that kind of thing wasn’t all that accepted?” This was getting interesting to me. I had no idea why, because I was still going down a blind alley, but I felt like I was latching onto something. What it was, I didn’t know yet. But it was something significant.
“No, nothing like that. I mean, we graduated from high school only seven years ago. So, you know, LGBT wasn’t exactly unheard of. We’re millennials, after all. There were other guys who were transgendered, and some girls as well. And, you know, we had gay guys and lesbians. Nobody really gave a care about what other people were doing. So, I guess the answer to your question is that I don’t really know why he wanted a beard. But, apparently he felt the need to have one. Anyhow, Darlene Reich is probably the person who knew him best in high school.” She paused for a few minutes. “So, is there anything else you need to know about William?”
The Hate Crime Page 10
