Chasing Justice

by Danielle Stewart

  “Are you sure he hasn’t been flashing the pictures around anywhere else? Why would he bring them to you? We can’t be that lucky.” The judge’s tone changed from frustration to alarm.

  “I know the kid. You’re going to be pissed to hear this, but he was Grafton’s neighbor. He practically idolized the guy. Grafton’s the reason he became a cop in the first place. He thinks I’m one of the old timer good guys like Grafton was. He thinks he can trust me,” the man said and Piper could hear his growing irritation with the situation.

  “So let’s take care of him the same way we did Grafton, and let’s do it quickly before he realizes you’re not quite as good a guy as he thinks,” the judge retorted sarcastically.

  “Things are different now. We can’t go around taking guys out anymore, Randy. Luring a cop into a building, shooting him, and pinning it on some mystery criminal won’t fly anymore. There’s too much technology, too many people with damn camera phones everywhere. Not to mention, Internal Investigations isn’t on our side. We don’t have as many of the guys as we used to in there. They’ve all retired. We’ve got to be smart about this.” The man’s voice was forceful as he tried to deter the judge from making a rash decision.

  “Come on, Red. Buy him off, everyone has a price. If he’s such a determined kid I’m sure we can find a place for him in our organization,” the judge snapped, clearly underestimating the situation.

  “You don’t get it,” the other man roared, pounding his fist against a desk or a wall that Piper couldn’t see. “He’s like Grafton reincarnated, it’s actually scary sometimes. I can tell you right now a payoff wouldn’t have worked on Stan and it won’t work on this kid either.”

  “So what exactly are you proposing? I’m hearing a lot of objections and not too many solutions. You know this kid, what’s it going to take to get him off this?” The Judge was now pacing the room and Piper could hear his voice growing louder as he came closer to her, then fading as he headed back in the other direction.

  “I’ve been wracking my brain and the only thing I can come up with is we hit him where it hurts. He’s got a thing for Grafton’s daughter I think, and I know he’s real close with Grafton’s old lady too. Maybe we let him know if he doesn’t drop this then they’re not safe.” The man cleared his throat frequently as he spoke and Piper tried to make a mental note of this habit. If she couldn’t turn and get a good look at him, then she’d need to try to piece together his identity any way possible.

  “If we can’t kill him, and we can’t buy him off then let’s scare the hell out of him and see if that works,” the judge said arrogantly.

  “I’m going to try one more time to get him off this whole kick first. Maybe I can get through to him. I really don’t want to start messing with anyone’s damn family, especially a dead cop’s wife and kid. I’m getting too old for this shit.” The man’s voice trailed off as he turned in the other direction away from where Piper was hiding.

  “Well if you find yourself getting cold feet about this then I’ll have Christian take care of it for me. He’s got no problem doing what needs to be done. Maybe that’s why he’s stepping on your toes so much lately. Maybe it’s time you retire.” The judge knew this was a hot button and he enjoyed exploiting it.

  “Christian might have the stomach for all this, but he’ll never be able to give you what I do as a cop on the force. We haven’t found one decent officer to recruit, and I’m one of your last guys left on the inside. You might want to drop the retirement bullshit. If anyone should be bowing out of this game, it’s you. You’re getting sloppy. We wouldn’t be in this position right now if you could keep away from teenage girls.” The tension in the room was palpable. Piper could sense it even from behind the crates.

  “You take care of this kid before I decide your pussy diplomatic approach is a sign of weakness. Get your hands on those pictures, and put this to bed. Now get the hell out of here. I’m supposed to be in court in fifteen minutes.” As the first man, the one the judge called Red, left he mumbled something under his breath that Piper couldn’t make out.

  A few minutes later the door pulled open and slammed shut again. Piper heard the key turning in the door again. She sat motionless. The amount of information buzzing in her mind was almost too much to process. The meeting wasn’t between the judge and Christian, it was much bigger than that. The meeting was between the judge and a corrupt police officer, and more than that the rookie cop causing trouble was Bobby. As all the pieces came together, her head spun with the reality of it all. The person they were talking about murdering ten years ago was Betty’s husband.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Bobby, I know I’m the last person in the world you want to talk to right now, but I need you to come to my house. It’s important.” Piper skipped the niceties; she needed to get to Bobby before that cop did.

  “Piper, I think we were both pretty clear that day. If you didn’t want my help I wasn’t going to let you put people I care about in danger.” Bobby’s voice was quiet and she heard the noise of the diner crowd in the background.

  “I’m not the one putting Jules and Betty in danger, you are. I know you’re across the street at the diner eating that same old breakfast. Pay your bill and get over here.” Piper hung up the phone and tossed it onto the kitchen counter. It was so nice to hear Bobby’s voice again even though the circumstances were tense.

  Fifteen minutes passed before she heard a knock on her door. She looked through the peephole and saw Bobby standing there, looking annoyed and impatient. She knew that nothing about this conversation was going to be easy, but what choice did she have?

  She opened the door and waved Bobby in, then headed for the living room without speaking. She hadn’t had time to change her clothes, put on any makeup or even tidy up her house. This wasn’t how she had wanted her reunion with Bobby to go. When she dreamed about it at night it always involved him having some kind of injury leading to memory loss that allowed them to start fresh and move on from all the friction that had grown between them.

  “I’ve only got a half hour. I have to get to work. So in the interest of time, let’s cut through all the bullshit and figure out if this conversation is going to go anywhere.” Bobby only took two steps inside the house and folded his arms across his chest in childish resistance.

  “Fine, I won’t mince words. Have you been digging around for information on Judge Lions since the last time we spoke?” Piper didn’t care if he didn’t want to come in. She wasn’t going to stand in the entryway and have this conversation. If he wanted to know more he’d have to at least stand in the living room with her.

  “I don’t really see how that’s any of your business. I don’t know anything about you, remember? For all I know you’re in on whatever scheme he’s running and you’re pumping me for information. If you can’t prove to me that you’re worthy of my trust then nothing you say is going to mean anything. Even if you pull that crap about Jules and Betty being in danger, I’ll chalk it up to one of your lies.” Bobby had indeed followed her to the living room but stopped in the doorway. His stubbornness was so frustrating. She had hoped enough time had passed to soften him. Instead it seemed to have made him more scornful toward her.

  “So even though Betty and Jules are in danger, and I have important information about that, you don’t want to hear it unless I’m willing to dredge up everything I really am. I have to prove to you that I’m not some drifter con artist who changes her identity to uphold her charade?” The question was full of sarcasm and petulance. The idea of having to bare herself to him, to dig up parts of her past that she had intentionally buried to keep herself sane and safe, made her so angry. She was only trying to help him. Why couldn’t he accept that and let her keep her secrets hidden where they belonged?

  “Yes, that’s it exactly,” he replied curtly. He wanted to know that she was capable of telling the truth, of letting him in. If she could do that, then he’d be willing to hear her out.

  �
�You have no idea what you’re asking of me, and you’re completely minimizing the impact it will have, but I don’t care because Betty and Jules are in danger, and that’s all that matters. If you’re juvenile enough to think knowing the real me makes a difference then I’ll appease you, even if it crushes me to talk about it. But if I’m doing this it’s not going to be while you have one hand on the door ready to leave. If you want my story, you’re going to get all of it, and you’re going to sit here with me and listen. Also, this never leaves this room. What I tell you about me is my story to tell, not yours.” Piper sat down on the couch and Bobby came and joined her. He had a look on his face like he had won something, something he wasn’t really sure he wanted anymore.

  “I’m not trying to minimize this, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to have to dredge up everything about your past just for my entertainment. I want to believe that I can trust you, but you need to show me I’m not making a mistake by doing so. I swear, I won’t tell anyone what you tell me here today.” Bobby wanted to hold her hand, to brush the loose strands of hair out of her face. She looked so tired, so alone. He wanted to hold her and forget all of this, but it was too late now. He needed her to come through for him.

  “Promise me that you’ll take what I say about the judge seriously and that you’ll heed my advice. If you guarantee me that then I’ll tell you everything you want to know about me. But remember, Bobby, this is a bell you can’t unring. Once you know where I come from and what I’ve done chances are everything between us will change.” She swallowed hard and could barely believe she was about to share the dysfunctional narrative of her upbringing with Bobby. He nodded in agreement, and she took in a deep breath and tried to start from the beginning.

  “My name, my real name, is Isabella Lawson. I haven’t said that name out loud in two years. Can you imagine what it’s like to not be able to say your own name, like it’s a curse word? My father was Roberto Lee Lawson, my mother, Carolina Murphy. They never married. I was what you would call an accident, but that would be a nice way of saying it. I found out as I grew up I was a mistake, a pregnancy that went undetected too long to be erased by an abortion. My parents were neglectful, sadistic drug addicts who spent their entire lives dabbling in one crime or another. My mother would sell her body in order to bankroll her next fix. My father would find out, and after partaking in half of her score, would violently beat her. I was in school only frequently enough to pass my classes and fly under the radar. Half the kids there should have been taken from their parents. The system wasn’t equipped to deal with every bruised child who looked a little hungry. I spent days locked in my room as my parents binged on drugs and threw rowdy parties. I went without eating, without having a bathroom to use. My childhood was one horrific moment after another. The ironic thing is, that’s not even why I’m here. That’s not why I changed my name. It isn’t even the darkest part of my life, and I can already feel you looking at me differently.” Piper stared straight ahead as she spoke. Bobby wanted to put his arm around her and pull her up against him but he hesitated.

  “When I was twenty years old, and on the verge of getting the hell out of that place, my mother got arrested again for prostitution. Living in the projects is miserably oppressive at times, but I saw plenty of people succeed. My parents just weren’t those people. They were swallowed up by it. After that last arrest my mom was locked up for ninety days. She came out completely sober, and you know the old cliché—she had found God. She told me we were leaving, to pack up whatever I could before my father got home because we were getting out of there. The clergyman in the prison had found us a shelter sixty miles away and had arranged a ride for us. She told me she was tired of protecting my father. At the time I had no idea what she meant. It seemed like my father was doing just fine taking care of himself. It was the two of us that needed protection. I was so happy to be leaving that place, and my mother was like a new person. She got a job at the mall next to the shelter. A few months later we transitioned from the shelter to a place of our own” Piper gulped back the lump in her throat.

  “That was the closest to normalcy and contentment I had ever experienced. We didn’t have to worry about my father’s beatings or ripped-off drug dealers coming to our house on a vendetta. I thought I finally had a chance at a real life. We lived that way for twenty-one months and twelve days.” Piper wanted to look over and see what type of expression Bobby had on his face. Was he horrified? Sad? Maybe he didn’t believe her at all. Either way she couldn’t bring herself to turn toward him. She carried on with her story.

  “Then my mother came home one night from work high out of her mind. She had fallen off the wagon. I had suspected it for a while, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. She told me she had made a mistake, that in a moment of weakness she had called my father and told him where we were. She said he was furious and that we’d need to leave as soon as possible before he came to get us. I couldn’t believe after all this time, after all the hard work, my mother would be so stupid and selfish. We packed our duffle bags and gathered up every dollar we had in the apartment, pulling even the loose change from the couch cushions. It didn’t matter though, we weren’t fast enough. There was a loud thumping on our door, and I heard my father’s voice booming in the hallway. I thought we’d get the beating of a lifetime and have no choice but to return back home with him. Unfortunately, it was worse than that.”

  There were warm tears rolling down Piper’s cheeks now. She could feel them forging itchy paths on her face, but she didn’t wipe them away. If Bobby was going to insist on hearing this then he could deal with the consequences of what it did to her.

  “My mother finally opened the door and without a word my father cocked his fist back and punched her across the face. She fell backward onto the floor and was disorientated. I pressed myself up against the living room wall, feeling like a helpless child again. I thought about grabbing a knife from the kitchen or the baseball bat from under my mother’s bed, but my father was too strong and too fast for me to take such a chance. I had resolved to endure the thrashing and beg for mercy as my mother was doing on the floor. But my father changed the game, he pulled a large metal spike from his jacket, and my mom shrieked in a way I had never heard before. She begged him not to do it, she begged him to let her live. I didn’t know it then, but my mother knew exactly what my father was about to do. He struck her again in the face with his fist and then pinned her down by sitting on her stomach, his back to her face so that he could hold down her legs. He raised the spike over his head and plunged it into her thigh. He yanked it back out and blood, an ungodly amount of blood, poured out of her. I did nothing. I didn’t scream or run over to her or try to stop him.” Piper choked back her quivering voice.

  “I stood, still pressed against the wall, praying he would forget I was there. When my mother stopped moving and the blood had stopped spurting from her wound, my father pulled a switchblade that was clipped to his belt. I couldn’t see what he was doing from where I stood, but whatever it was took precision. When he stood up, I begged him to let me go. I promised that I wouldn’t tell anyone. He didn’t blink, he didn’t speak. He walked slowly up to me, hit me in the face, and shoved me to the ground. He was about to pin me down when we both heard the sound of sirens approaching. I thought, he’d stop and run. But he didn’t. The sirens had distracted him but not stopped him. I decided in that moment, that I didn’t want to die that way. I didn’t want to be someone who didn’t fight back. As he tried to pin me down the sirens grew closer, and he finally just raised his arm up, spike in hand, and plunged it into my leg as I tried to twist away from him. I was pulling at his hair and clawing at his back. Finally, he spun around, grabbed my hair, and slammed my head into the floor, knocking me out.” Piper might have been furious at Bobby for forcing her to tell this story, but there was something cathartic in saying the words out loud, about admitting what had happened to her.

  “There is a lot more to this story, Bobby, but I kno
w you need to get to work and it’s important that I tell you the information I have.”

  “I don’t need to go to work. I have the afternoon shift today. I was being a jerk. I’ve got time and I want to listen. I’m sorry this is so painful for you, but I promise none of this changes how I feel about you,” Bobby said, wiping a tear from Piper’s warm red cheek. It felt so good to touch her again.

  “That’s easy to say, Bobby, but there are things I still can’t forgive myself for. Don’t assume you’ll be able to look past it,” she said, pulling away from him slightly. “I don’t want to stay here anymore. Can we please get in your truck and go for a ride? I don’t want to talk about it here.” Piper stood up and ran her fingers through her hair pulling the loose pieces away from her face and tying them back into a messy bun. She knew her lack of sleep, lack of makeup, and overall ragged appearance should have kept her from leaving the apartment, but all she wanted was to be riding in the passenger seat of Bobby’s truck watching the world zip by. Most people would assume that the memory of nearly being killed and watching your mother take her last breath, would be the hardest thing to reminisce about, but really it’s what happened next that Piper struggled with the most.

  Bobby and Piper climbed into his truck, and he started to drive with no real direction in mind. Piper waited until they were out-of-town and heading down a long stretch of open road before she started to speak again.

  “The police came and stopped my bleeding just in time. My father had fled, and, because I wasn’t conscious, they had no leads to start hunting him down. When I woke up in the hospital there was a woman sitting next to me.” Piper conjured up the memory of that haunting and familiar face she had awoken to. She remembered she had short jet-black hair and the darkest eyes she’d ever seen. Her skin was a rich dark espresso.