Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “Yes, there is one thing. Do you have a picture of the decedent on your easel there?”

  Of course, Molly had a blow up of the decedent and another even closer shot of his crotch.

  R.C. leaned forward. “You see that man has his pants unzipped and his, pardon me, penis in his hand. That is called the death grip. A bullet to the right part of the brain and the person will grip whatever they have in their hand, at the time of the shot. He must have been about to do something with it when I shot him.”

  There was an audible gasp in the gallery.

  “With your experience as a math teacher, could you take the times we have discussed here and feasibly have Ms. Warren arrive at the cottage before the alarm was cut.”

  “Not unless she’s a NASCAR driver and the Smokies were asleep, which isn’t often.”

  Decky could hear people mumbling in agreement. That kind of drive on winding roads is just not possible, not for a normal person in a normal, all be it hot, car. Charlie had just moved here. No way had she made that drive in less than thirty minutes. The judge had driven these roads his whole life. He had to know it was almost impossible for Charlie to make that run.

  Decky had also been doing some adding. If she hadn’t stopped to call Charlie’s cell phone, or the house phone she might have beaten Charlie to the cottage. She could have prevented this. It was only a three-minute window between the times Charlie probably arrived, at the cottage, and when Decky called the twins. She was that close.

  Decky came back to the courtroom from her ruminations on how three minutes had changed their lives, only when she heard her full name being called. The Rebecca usually meant she was in trouble, so she always snapped to attention when she heard it. She realized she had been called to the stand. The prosecutor had decided not to question R.C.

  Charlie whispered, “Stay calm.”

  Decky flashed the image of Charlie on her tiptoes denying she had slept with Lynne the week before they got together. Charlie sure kept her cool all right.

  Molly began before Decky could settle in to the fear that now gripped her heart. This was it, the decisive moment.

  “Ms. Bradshaw, everybody around here knows you as Decky, may I call you that?”

  Decky was southern through and through, even though the woman who was questioning her was younger, she was in a position of authority. Decky’s answer reflected this, “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Okay Decky, we have heard what happened from Ms. Warren and your father. I want you to take us through your ordeal, from the time you got the call from the alarm company, until the gunshot. Take your time.”

  Decky told the story. She tried not to become emotional, but she did. She told the courtroom exactly what she said to the man, while he held her at gunpoint on the floor. The gallery was transfixed. Decky was in full fury by the time she finished. The anger boiled out of her. She glared at the prosecution table.

  Molly tried to redirect her, “Decky, did you know the gun wasn’t loaded?”

  “Hell, no!” Decky’s reply had the gallery in stitches.

  “Do you know how the gun came to have an empty clip in it?” Molly was trying to keep Decky focused.

  “I put the clip in before school got out. My son, Zack, had an end of the year party and I didn’t want one of our finest shooting a foot off. I forgot to reload it. I certainly wouldn’t have knowingly carried an empty gun into a dark cottage where a bleeding woman was lying on the floor. I have better sense than that.” Decky was playing the audience for all it was worth. She liked this part and she was not as angry anymore.

  “Decky, now I’m going to ask you a tough question. Why did you tell him to shoot you?”

  “Because, I did not want to see what he was going to do to Charlie. She might have been able to escape. She still had Dixie. I thought maybe I could buy her some time.”

  Molly was finished. She knew the prosecutor was going to go for Decky like a starving dog. She was counting on rebuttal testimony to put out any fires. Molly had discussed her strategy with Decky, so she knew it was coming.

  “Ms. Bradshaw,” the prosecutor was going to keep this formal, “Do you consider yourself a violent person?”

  “No.” Decky remembered yes or no answers.

  “But we have heard testimony today that in a jealous rage you attacked a woman at someone else’s home. How do you explain that?”

  This was not a yes or no answer. She swallowed hard, “She was rude.”

  “She was rude? Is that all, just rude and you nearly broke her nose?”

  “Yes.” Back to yes or no, good Decky thought.

  “Well now, I find that hard to believe. You’ll have to be more specific.”

  Decky couldn’t help herself, “She said some things about Charlie, and if you were any kind of gentleman, you would not ask me to repeat it. If she had been a man most people in this room would be slapping me on the back, not judging me.”

  This caused a stir amongst the gallery. The prosecutor changed tactics.

  “You would have us believe that within eight minutes you arrived at the cottage? You were in an orthopedic boot at the time I believe. You reacted extremely fast. Were you expecting trouble?”

  “No. I drive fast. Too much NASCAR.” This elicited nods from the gallery. Decky at one point or another had passed most of them.

  “You had no reason to fear for your safety? Isn’t it a fact, your own mother shot at your home just three nights earlier? Were you taking that gun to kill your own mother?”

  “No. Are you nuts? My mother and I may have issues, but she is my mother. What kind of person are you to even imagine such a thing?” Decky thought this guy was really an idiot. He was beaten, so now he was grasping at straws.

  The prosecutor looked flustered. He was losing steam. One last plunge and he might just quit.

  “I’ll ask the questions and I have one final one. Why would you risk your life to save a woman you barely knew? You expect us to believe that you were trying to stop her from being hurt, at the very peril of your own life? You had known her only ten days. That seems to be the hanging point here. How are we to believe that you went from being straight to gay and fell in love in ten days? It is easier to believe you attacked this man in a jealous rage.” The prosecutor looked smugly at Decky. He thought he had her.

  But, Decky knew what she had to say, “Mr. Prosecutor, I feel sorry for you. If it is so hard for you to believe that two people can find each other, find the missing piece, then why listen to love songs? Why read love stories? Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story; just burn the scores. Don’t look at a painting of a beautiful woman painted by her lover hundreds of years ago. Poetry is worth no more than the paper it’s printed on.” Decky was on a roll.

  “Our whole lives revolve around the search for true love. The fairy tales we read our children, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty are entranced in our minds, from our own childhoods. What little girl doesn’t dream of being swept off her feet? What boy doesn’t dream of being someone’s hero?

  No sir, I’m not the one asking you to believe something unfathomable. I find it just as unfathomable to believe in a world where love at first sight doesn’t happen and soul mates don’t exist, for all of us. Mr. Prosecutor, I did not go from being straight to gay, I went from being alone to in love, it just happened to be with a woman. And if you wouldn’t give up your life to save the woman you love, then I feel sorry for her, and quite frankly you, too.”

  The courtroom erupted. The judge let it go on for just a second, he then rapped his gavel to quiet the gallery, but he wasn’t as adamant this time. The prosecutor had given up half way through Decky’s speech.

  Molly, who had been sitting, rose, “Your honor, I see no need to redirect this witness. She may be excused.”

  Decky barely had the emotional energy to crutch back over to the table. R.C. could see she was hurting and jumped up to help her. Charlie did also. She whispered to Decky, “I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you, the sou
thern poet, the hopeless romantic.”

  The court could see that these women were nowhere near healed. It would be a long time coming.

  Decky reached the table and grabbed Molly’s arm. “Momma doesn’t have to testify does she?”

  Molly grinned just like Jodie Foster with a secret. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” She turned to the judge, “The defense calls its final two witnesses.”

  The prosecutor fumbled with papers on his desk. He knew nothing of an additional witness. He let the court know with a loud objection.

  Molly laughed at him. “Your honor, the one witness is being escorted by the other. We call Elizabeth and Dixie Bradshaw.”

  Decky turned to see Dixie leading her mother down the aisle. Dixie was petted and scratched the whole way. Everyone loved Dixie. She was the star of her own show. Decky couldn’t help but smile. She gave Dixie a kiss as she came by, but did not make eye contact with her mother.

  Dixie went right up on the witness stand, following Lizzie. She even allowed the judge to pet her. When Lizzie took her seat, Dixie sat where she could see the gallery and they certainly could see the princess, posed in perfect show form. Decky loved that dog.

  Molly smiled and approached Lizzie. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Bradshaw. I asked you to bring Dixie with you, didn’t I?”

  Molly didn’t have to ask another question. Lizzie was off. “Yes, well anybody can see this dog would not attack anyone unless one of her people was in danger. Everybody here knows this dog. She would never hurt a flea. A baby is safer with this dog than half the mommas in this county. This dog bit that man because he was going to hurt people she loved. Dogs don’t know how to lie. They steal, but they don’t lie.”

  The gallery was trying desperately not to make noise. There was a lot of shuffling of feet and butts grinding into the benches. Molly, too, was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Decky buried her face in her hands. Charlie made her sit up.

  “Decky, where do you think you got all those dramatic skills, now sit up and pay attention, she’s brilliant.” Charlie was unbelievably becoming a Lizzie fan. Would this day never end?

  Molly finally regained her composure long enough to ask, “We have heard testimony as to what happened when your husband arrived at the cottage. You were with him, what happened from the time you pulled up?”

  And they’re off! Lizzie hit the starting gate before the horn sounded. She had been waiting all day to say this, and by God, everybody better listen.

  “R.C. said as soon as we could see the cottage that something was bad wrong. He gets those feelings and I’ve come to trust them. He hit the ground running. The truck wasn’t even stopped. He had his rifle and he was focused on getting up the steps. He did not know I was right behind him. I could hear Decky screaming, although I could not make out the words, I knew she was in trouble. A mother knows.”

  A pang shot across Decky’s chest. Her mother might pull this out. She sat up straighter and listened.

  “R. C. stopped at the front door, but he only paused. He was moving in on the prey. I’ve seen him do that hunting deer. When he moved away from the door, I could then see the shadow of a very large man. The room was a mess from what I could see, and Decky was shouting for this man to kill her. I followed R. C. around to the picture window. I saw the man slap Decky and put the gun under her chin. Then he grabbed his… male member. The next thing I knew, he is on the floor and that was that. R.C. told me to call 911 and I did. That is what happened. You can all make this out to be about whom my daughter has chosen to love, I for one will not. I may not agree with her choices, and most of you know I don’t, but they are her choices and it has not one damn thing to do with that maniac that tried to kill them both.”

  Decky was in shock. She looked at her father who was grinning from ear to ear. The prosecutor simply said no questions. He wanted none of Lizzie. Molly rested her case. She chose not to summarize so the judge could deliver a quick decision, hopefully. The bailiff called for everyone to stand so the judge could exit. The gallery grew restless. The judge was almost out of the room, when he came back to the bench. Decky thought he must have forgotten something, but instead he sat down and asked everyone to be seated.

  “I have the responsibility to the state, meaning you people, to render a judgment on whether there is sufficient evidence to bind the defendants over for trial on the charges of conspiracy and murder. Now, I could leave here and go back to my chambers and play solitaire on the computer so you’d think I was reviewing this case. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I have ever seen victims of a crime treated in this manner in my entire career. From where I sit, the victims are the defendants in this case and I urge them with all due speed to file civil cases against everyone involved, in the travesty that was letting Jim Bagley walk around free among law abiding folks. Case dismissed!”

  Decky was not going to prison. She was not going to prison! Thank you, God! Dixie barked at all the excitement. She evidently thought all the applause was for her. For the room did erupt in applause. A few people were not pleased, but were too outnumbered to matter. Decky hugged everybody after she hugged Charlie. Her ribs were not a concern, although she was reminded frequently that they still needed a little more time to heal.

  Molly was as excited as everyone else was. She hugged Decky. Decky looked her straight in the eyes and said, “Sue their asses off.”

  Molly grinned, “Then forget the fee for the criminal trial. I am going to make so much money suing these assholes it would be a drop in the bucket. I’ll call you with their first offer, but I can tell you already we’re not accepting it.”

  Slowly the crowd finally cleared. Decky saw her mother with Dixie by the door. She approached cautiously just in case the meds her mother was obviously on had worn off.

  Lizzie didn’t even wait for Decky to speak, “Decky, I meant what I said. I don’t agree with the lifestyle you have chosen, but I saw what you were willing to do for her and I have to say you really do love her. She’s a smart girl. You should listen to her. I would never put you in harm’s way. Not really.”

  Decky knew Lizzie was trying to rationalize the gunshot to the house.

  “Momma, it’s over. Let’s go home. We’re both sorry for things we said and did. Let’s just live and let live for a while and see how it goes.”

  Lizzie agreed and they all left the courthouse in a stream of honking cars that followed them almost all the way home. The lesbians were queens for a day.

  Chapter Fifteen

  An impromptu party enveloped Decky’s house. It went on into the night. There was a joyous time had by all. Even R.C. and Lizzie came for a little while. Decky enjoyed the place of prominence on the couch with Dixie and Miss Kitty. Charlie played hostess and looked beautiful doing it. Even with the bruises, she was still the most beautiful woman Decky had ever seen.

  They snuck a kiss or touch when they could. It was well past 1:00 a.m. when Brenda and Chip left, after helping straighten up and shooing away stragglers. Finally, they were alone.

  Decky used the remote lighting control to turn off all the lights, except for the windows, which she made glow a light moonlight blue. She stepped out onto the deck, taking in the bright moon shining across Currituck Sound.

  Charlie slipped up behind Decky. She wrapped her arms round Decky’s waist, hugging her from behind. Charlie stayed there with her head resting on Decky’s back. Quietly, they remained like this for a few minutes.

  “I’ve spent most of my life in this county,” Decky said, breaking the silence. “I was thinking the other day that we might have to leave here to find some peace. I was willing to do that. Just cut the ties and go somewhere with you, where we could live in peace.”

  Charlie squeezed her ribs, but remained silent as Decky continued, “I think I’d miss the Sound the most. I always found my serenity on the water. No matter what was happening on land, as long as I was out there, I could leave it behind for awhile.”

  Decky turne
d around to face Charlie. “I think we’re going to be alright here. What do you think?”

  “Yes, I think we’re going to be fine,” Charlie said with a twinkle in her eye, “but you have to promise me one thing.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “I want a houseboat.”

  This was not what Decky had expected Charlie to say. She didn’t know what she thought Charlie was going to say, but houseboat had never crossed her mind. She cocked her head and looked at Charlie.

  “What on earth do you want with a houseboat?”

  So when Lizzie goes off her meds, I can find my own serenity, out on the sound.”

  “What, you don’t think Lizzie can drive a boat?”

  Epilogue

  It had all started with a touch. Decky closed the top of the laptop. There were more adventures to come and a few since, but the first four weeks of their relationship were all she could hope to capture, in the new book she was sending her publisher.