by T. L. Haddix
“Attorneys, I’ll see you in my chambers in five minutes. We’ll have a one-hour recess while we sort this mess out. Ms. Hudson,” he said, softening his voice as he turned to Beth, “you’re excused for now.” He banged his gavel on the bench and left with a flurry of his robes, his fury obvious.
Gordon, concern on his face, hurried over to Beth and grasped her arm. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “I need to get out of here.” Her eyes were wide with shock, and he ushered her out of the courtroom and into the hall, shielding her from the people milling around. As her family saw them approach, they rushed up with concern. She held her hands up to ward off questions, unable to speak. She glanced around and saw Ethan approaching. She shot him an accusatory glare, her anger simmering to life inside.
“I need a minute,” Beth managed to say, and she darted into the restroom, seeking quiet and refuge. She hadn’t expected such a reaction from Ruby, and her own inability to act had shaken her more than she wanted to admit.
~ * * * ~
In the hall, Ethan only hesitated for a couple of seconds before he cursed and followed her, seeming to not care that he was going into the women’s room.
“Oh, hell, no,” Chase said, starting after him, but Jackie held him back. There was a loud exclamation from within the restroom. Seconds later, an indignant woman stormed out, complaining sourly about arrogant police officers. The door closed behind her, and as everyone exchanged a shocked look, they heard a crash, followed by a thud. There was silence as they waited to see what would happen next.
“Mom, one of us needs to go in there.” Chase gently shook loose from Jackie’s grip and started toward the bathroom again, but her vehement order stopped him as though he had run into a wall.
“Richard Chase Hudson, don’t you dare go into that bathroom,” she said, her tone broking no argument.
Chase turned to face her, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment. “Excuse me? What am I, twelve?”
“If the shoe fits. I’ll go in there to check on them, but I want all of you to stay out here.” She met all their gazes. “Don’t let anyone in that bathroom after me, either.”
She waited until Chase conceded with a muttered, “yes, ma’am,” before walking over to the door and easing it open. After a moment, she came back out, easing the door closed behind her. Facing the four concerned men who stood waiting on an explanation, she waved them away from the door and spoke in a low voice.
“Leave them be for now. It’s the best thing you can do for Beth, understand me?”
Chase threw his hands up and stalked off, and with an apology, Gordon followed him.
“Jason, guard that door and don’t let anyone in, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted her and moved to comply.
Richard slid his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in for a hug. “What happened to our level-headed children, Jackie?”
She leaned back, raised an eyebrow at him, and snorted. “Level-headed? Well, let’s see - Jason, the hothead has become Jason, the voice of reason, and the mild-mannered and easy-going Chase has finally discovered his temper, which is worse than his brother’s ever was. I’m not sure where the girls come in at this point. I’m just glad we stopped at four.”
With a small laugh, he tightened his arm around her and led her to a bench, and they sat down to wait while the saga played itself out.
~ * * * ~
Inside the bathroom, Beth paced like a caged tiger, muttering under her breath. The older woman standing at the sink shot her a wary look, and Beth made an effort to control her temper and appear less threatening. She moved to the far sink and made a show of washing her hands. The woman was still shooting her cautious glances out of the corner of her eye, but calmed down enough to pull out a makeup bag out of her purse. Beth bit back an oath, wishing she had kept the woman on edge enough to run her off. They both jumped as the door flew back and Ethan came in.
The woman shrieked and grabbed her purse. “You can’t be in here!”
He tore his eyes off Beth’s face long enough to glare at the woman and show her his badge as he jerked his head toward the door. Indignant, she scurried around him and out the door, complaining the whole way. He waited for the door to close before meeting Beth’s gaze again. He flinched at the anger he saw there, but took a cautious step toward her with his hands extended in supplication.
“Beth, we need to talk.”
Angry beyond words, Beth turned and grabbed the bowl of potpourri someone had placed on the counter. She threw it as hard as she could toward his head. The bowl barely missed him as he ducked, and flakes of potpourri stuck to his suit. Before he could close the gap between them, she had picked up the loose roll of hand towels and thrown it, this time hitting his shoulder.
He scowled. “Ow, damn it.”
When she turned to look for more ammunition, he pounced, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her arms to her sides.
“Let go of me, you ass.” Struggling to get her hands between them, she raised her knee. He quickly shifted, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the groin, and his grip loosened, which allowed Beth to wrench one of her arms free. She made a fist and swung blindly toward his head as tears blurred her vision. Cursing, he managed to grab her hand before it made contact.
“Damn it, Beth, you’re going to get hurt.” He managed to wrap his arms around her again and backed her into the wall, pinning her there with his body. He waited, and as her struggles died down and sobs rose in her throat, he pulled her head to his shoulder. He didn’t turn around when he heard the restroom door open.
For several minutes, he let her cry. As her tears finally slowed down to a trickle, he put his lips next to her ear and spoke. “We really have to stop meeting like this.” When she gave a choked laugh, he closed his eyes with relief.
“Don’t make me laugh, damn it. I hate you. You aren’t supposed to be funny.”
Ethan pulled back far enough to see her face. When she swiped at her wet cheeks, he moved into one of the stalls and tore off a large section of toilet paper, which he used to gently wipe her face. He handed her the rest so she could blow her nose.
“I figure the toilet paper has to be softer than the hand towels, right?”
After tossing the used tissue into the garbage, Beth turned to the sink and ran the cold water. She leaned down and splashed her face repeatedly, and he leaned up against the counter beside her with his arms crossed. His voice was somber when he spoke.
“Beth, did you mean what you said? Do you really hate me?”
She slowly straightened and tore off a piece of paper towel from the second roll that was still sitting on the counter. She carefully patted her face dry before she faced him squarely, studying his face.
“No.” Her voice was still thick from the tears. “I’ve tried to, believe me, but I can’t hate you.”
To her surprise, he turned away, his breathing ragged as he struggled for composure. Once he seemed to have a handle on his emotions, he straightened and stepped close to her. Cautiously, he cupped her face with his hands and ran his fingers into her hair, linking them behind her head and drawing her to him. Resting his forehead against hers, he spoke.
“You know we can’t go on this way. It’s killing both of us.”
Beth brought her hands up and wrapped them around his wrists, holding on tightly as she agreed. “I know. I just don’t know what to do to change things.” A single tear made a track down her cheek, and Ethan wiped it away with his thumb, barely grazing her skin.
Her breath caught in her throat at his gentleness and, powerless to stop herself, she turned her head and brushed his lips with hers. With a groan born of desperation, he deepened the kiss. It was a tender kiss, reverent, and it didn’t last nearly long enough. Before she could fully respond, he had pulled back, moving one of his hands to the wall beside her head for support.
As he rested his cheek against hers, Beth was shocked to feel moisture on his cheek. She l
ifted her hands and cupped his face as she used her thumbs to brush away the moisture under his eyes.
“Ethan…”
Shaking his head, he leveraged away from her, squeezing her hands as he pulled back. He moved to one of the sinks and stood over it, bracing his hands on the counter to stare down into the basin.
“You can’t hate me, and I can’t stop loving you. How’s that for irony?” He wasn’t able to meet Beth’s gaze or even his own in the mirror, but the words rang true.
Beth drew in a sharp breath, and she started to speak, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Beth? Ethan? They’re calling everyone back to the courtroom,” Jackie said as she came in. She stopped before she came around the privacy divider.
Beth had to clear her throat before she was able to answer. “Okay. Thanks, Mom. We’ll be right out.”
Ethan hadn’t moved, and Beth walked over to where he stood. She placed a hand on top of his on the counter and rested her head on the back of his shoulder, a half-embrace that wasn’t nearly close enough.
“We have to talk about this,” he told her.
She brought her other hand up to touch his hair. “When? Tell me, and I’ll be there.”
He thought for a moment before he responded. “My house, this evening? Say around six o’clock?”
Beth nodded. “Okay.” Reluctantly, she pulled away, giving his hand one last squeeze. “I’ll see you then.” She hurried toward the door, wiping her cheeks and smoothing her hair as she pulled the door back and went into the hall. Jason straightened away from the wall beside the door, and her parents turned toward her anxiously.
“I’m okay.” She managed to summon a small smile. When she noticed that Jason was guarding the entrance, she reached out and touched his arm. “Can you give him a few minutes?”
“I’ll make sure he’s left alone,” he promised her.
Richard held his arm out, and she took it. Jackie came to stand on her other side and put her arm around Beth’s shoulders. They watched the door of the courtroom in tense silence while Jackie rubbed her hand lightly over her back.
“Where’s Chase?”
“Gordon took him to cool off,” Richard said.
She closed her eyes with sorrow. Her brother was a long way from forgiving Ethan. The situation worried her, but before she had time to mention that to her parents, the courtroom door opened. People started pouring out at the same moment Ethan came out of the restroom. Beth met his gaze briefly before turning back the crowd. She was startled to see Rhonda Roberts heading straight for her.
Mouth pinched, the prosecutor touched her arm. “We need to talk privately.”
Beth followed her, Richard and Jackie close behind. Rhonda stopped halfway down the hall and opened a door, leading them into what turned out to be a small conference room.
“Come in and have a seat.” When she closed the door behind them, she kept her hand on the doorknob for a moment. Her seething anger was obvious, as was her struggle to control it. Beth’s heart sank, knowing that whatever was coming was going to be unpleasant. She pulled a chair out from under the table and dropped into it.
Rhonda spoke. “Given Ms. Sloane’s outburst, the judge has ordered an emergency psychiatric evaluation. We can’t do a damned thing until that comes back, and it’s going to be at least Monday, maybe later, before that’s ready. It’s pretty obvious to anyone with a lick of common sense that she’s not sane - at least where it concerns you, Beth. The defense is going to try to claim insanity, and he has a damned good shot at getting it. At the very least, there’s probably going to be a mistrial declared since she had her little conniption fit in front of the jury.” She studied Beth’s face as she sat down.
“We have a couple of problems here. If we press on and there isn’t a mistrial declared, there’s an excellent chance of appeal. That would mean a retrial or, even though it is highly unlikely given the severity of her crimes, possibly even an overturned conviction. It’s happened before, and since we’re pushing for the death penalty, it actually makes the probability a little higher than usual.”
Dismayed, Beth just stared at her. “Okay, so what then?”
“If that were to happen, she’d have to be retried. As long as I’m in the prosecutor’s office, I guarantee she would be, but I can’t promise you I’ll still be here. You never know how the political winds are going to shift.”
As unsettling as the thought was, Beth knew Rhonda’s statement was true. “I’m guessing that you have a proposition for us.”
“I do. I’m going to talk to the other victims’ families as well, but since you’re the only survivor, I wanted to talk to you first. I feel that you should have the strongest say-so here.” She spoke bluntly. “We would like to offer Ms. Sloane a plea deal. We’ll drop the death penalty and ask for a seventy-five year sentence, no possibility of parole. The defense is going to counter, probably asking for twenty to thirty years, and we’ll settle for forty five.” She sat back and waited as Beth considered the options.
An angry flush spread across Beth’s cheeks. “I’m going to speak just as bluntly as you have. You’re a ball-breaker when it comes to criminals. You don’t back down from a challenge. I know we haven’t always seen things the same way, but I trust your judgment. What do you think is the best option?”
Rhonda didn’t disagree with Beth’s assessment. “Honestly? I’d love to see her fry. I am a ball-breaker, and if she hadn’t had her little outburst today, she’d be on death row in a few weeks.” She leaned forward. “Having said that, I think we’d better play it safe and make this offer. The last thing we want to do is to put ourselves in a situation where we could have had this woman locked away for what essentially is the rest of her life, and we threw it away because of some ball-busting prosecutor’s ego.” Rhonda stood, pushing her chair back. “I’ll give you a few minutes to think about what I’ve said.”
Beth stopped her with an upraised hand. “There’s no need. It’s a no-brainer, really. You don’t have a choice. Offer her the plea.”
Rhonda saw the resolution in her eyes. She nodded once. “Then that’s what I’ll do.” She shook Beth’s hand before she went to the door and opened it. “I’m glad we agree on this.” With a nod to Jackie and Richard, she headed out the door at a brisk walk.
As the tapping of her heels echoed down the hall, Jason poked his head into the room, concern written all over his face. “What the hell’s going on? Are you guys okay?”
Beth waved him out of the doorway. “They’re offering her a plea deal,” she said as she pushed past her brother. As she looked around the nearly empty hall, she frowned. “Where’s Ethan?”
“He left. Said he would see you later?”
She nodded. As their parents came out of the conference room, she spoke. “If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d really like to go home now.”
“Of course it isn’t too much trouble,” Jackie assured her. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter Fifty Six
The bailiffs had taken Ruby to the jail’s infirmary after her outburst, where the nurse had checked her over to make sure she wasn’t injured. Her attorney came bustling in after she’d been examined, his face mottled with an angry flush.
“What the hell were you thinking in there? You can’t pull a stupid stunt like that. The judge has called a halt to the trial and wants you examined by another shrink. Do you have any idea what you did today?”
Ruby held her chin up and smirked. “I have every idea of what I accomplished today, but you don’t. I got exactly what I wanted all along. Did you see the look on the bitch’s face when I went toward her?”
She cackled, and her maniacal amusement left the public defender cold. He shook his head slowly as he took a step back away from her, stunned.
“You really are sick. My God, all this time I thought you were just playing the insanity card as a defense.” He turned on his heel and hurried out of the room, her laughter following him as he went.
Chapter Fifty Seven
Ethan was so nervous that evening as he waited for Beth to show up, he thought he was going to be sick. He had gone down to the sheriff’s department after the debacle outside the courtroom, thinking to catch up on paperwork. It was busy work that kept his mind off the goings-on upstairs.
It didn’t take long for word to filter downstairs that the prosecution was going to offer Ruby a plea deal, and once it had, Ethan found himself on the receiving end of more than a few speculative glances. When Jason had come in a short time later and sat down in the guest chair at Ethan’s desk, the looks subsided. Jason hadn’t had much to say, but the fact that he had made the effort to show their co-workers a peaceful, united front had meant a lot to Ethan.
He had called it a day around five o’clock. Once home, he’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, and as he paced back and forth in his living room, the craving for a drink was nearly as bad as his anxiety. When he went to his grandparents’ house in Texas right after the shooting, he’d started attending AA meetings, something he had continued once he returned to Leroy. He hadn’t been to a meeting in a couple of weeks, and he could feel his control slipping.
Swallowing his pride, he picked up his cell phone and dialed his sponsor’s number. “It’s me. Do you have a few minutes? I’m struggling.”
