by N. M. Silber
“Maybe this isn’t the best time to mention this but my parents invited her along with your aunt and uncle and cousin Rachel for a house party on Friday night.”
“What?!” I cried, spitting out a mouthful of Chianti onto Lily’s white shirt. “I’ll pay for that, by the way,” I told her. “Are you nuts?!” I asked, turning my attention back to Beth. “You don’t want to invite that woman into your home! You’ll have to have to have it cleansed by a medicine man and blessed by a priest after she leaves!”
“Gabrielle!” Beth laughed, sounding shocked. “She’s your grandmother!”
“Oh my God! Why? Why? What have I done?” I asked the ceiling imploringly.
“I’m sure it will be just fine, Gab,” Lily said reassuringly.
“You’ve never met her!” I practically shouted. “Evil has a name and it’s Rose Lipschitz!”
“Rose Lipschitz? You’re kidding, right?” Jess asked, coming back into the room from the kitchen and handing Lily a damp cloth to wipe the Chianti off her shirt.
“Bubbe is no laughing matter. Please let me apologize in advance to your family, Beth.”
“For what?” Beth laughed.
“For everything,” I answered and chugged the rest of my wine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
OCTOBER
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Commonwealth v. Durbin
“Ms. Holden, where are you employed?” Braden asked the witness, Britney Holden, who had big Jersey Girl hair, a big Jersey Girl accent and a wad of gum the size of Jersey lodged in her mouth.
“H&R Block.” Incidentally, in addition to the accent she also had a voice that made you want to jump off a bridge. It sounded like someone had taken a screeching cat and dragged its nails across a blackboard.
“Were you employed there on September twelfth?”
“Yes. I was.” I hoped that she wasn’t the front desk person. Personally, I would rather risk an audit than go to that H&R Block if she was there. I felt like my ears might start bleeding.
“Was the defendant Mr. Durbin also employed there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you work in the same area?”
“Yes. His cube was right next to my cube.” Wait, who was the victim here?
“Did anything out of the ordinary happen on that day?”
“Yes. I was on the phone with a girlfriend of mine when suddenly he came crashing through the wall of my cube.”
“Right through the wall?”
“Yes. Right through the wall. Then he grabbed my cell phone and beat it.”
“Wait – you mean beat it, as in he left with it?” Judge Channing asked.
“No. He actually beat it. He threw it down on the floor and he stomped on it but it didn’t break. So he picked it up and slammed it against my desk several times but it still didn’t break, because, you know, I have one of those protective covers on it. Then he slammed a book down on it a few times and when it still didn’t break, he screamed.”
“He screamed? Did he say something?”
“Yes. He said, ‘die die die motherfucker!’ Then he went running outside, and while we all watched from the window, he ran over it with his car.”
“How much was the phone worth?”
“One hundred and ninety dollars.”
“Thank you. No more questions.”
“Any questions, Ms. Ginsberg? Recall that this is just a preliminary hearing, not a trial, so whatever motivated your client won’t be relevant. In fact, I’m sure it’s no mystery at all what motivated him, and perhaps a jury will feel some sympathy, but this is neither the time nor place.”
“Well then, I suppose I don’t have any questions, Your Honor.”
“Good choice Ms. Ginsberg. I’ll hold it as a theft rather than as a robbery.” I guess that was my gift for not annoying him by making him listen to Ms. Holden’s voice any longer.
“Thank you, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Roth, call the next case.” Just then a deputy came in.
“Sorry to interrupt, Your Honor, but Judge Wilson is ordering Ms. Ginsberg downstairs to talk to a defendant.”
“Tell him she’s busy,” Judge Channing snapped.
“It’s kind of important, Your Honor. They brought in the defendants on that West Two Ten case for some kind of emergency hearing and there’s a guy in there who she was representing. The PD he has now is out in the districts and since she was the last counsel of record and they have to do the hearing, he needs her to at least talk to him until his lawyer can get here.”
“Alright then,” Judge Channing conceded. “She can go down to talk to him and explain what’s happening until his lawyer gets here. I’ll take Mr. Roth and Ms. Albright’s cases first. But I’m going to need her back here when they’re done.”
“That should be fine, Your Honor. Mark Patterson is the guy’s lawyer now, and he called to say he’s on his way in.”
“Okay, Ms. Ginsberg. You’re excused for now.” I looked nervously at Braden. He did not look happy at all. Just what I did not need a few days before our huge engagement party. I sighed and grabbed my notebook.
“I’ll be right back.” Famous last words.
In retrospect, something felt off from the very beginning. I met up with two senior defenders, Tom and Rob, who filled me in quickly on the hearing. When the deputy buzzed us in he seemed distracted, and I heard raised voices somewhere within and what sounded like a scuffle. I tensed up instinctively but we kept walking toward the interview rooms because those sounds weren’t exactly foreign in lock-up. We had just made it there when all hell broke loose. I was confused at first and I didn’t understand what was happening. There was shouting and people were running and pushing. We turned and started back for the door but then I saw a blur of bodies in motion blocking it. I heard a gunshot and my heart almost stopped. Tom and Rob shoved me into an interview room. Holy shit! We weren’t going to be getting out of there.
“What’s going on?” I asked, feeling terrified.
“I don’t know, Gab, but there wasn’t any way we were going to get through that door with the fight that was going on there,” Tom answered.
“Who was that fighting?”
“Looked like two deputies and two West Ten Sixers,” Rob said.
“Oh my God.” My stomach felt like it dropped to my feet. It was the gang members and they were out of their cells.
“Just stay calm Gabrielle,” Tom said. “People had to have heard the gunshot and they’re going to send reinforcements here really soon.”
“What if they start a shoot-out? We’re like sitting ducks in here.” I wasn’t handling this well.
“Only one deputy would be armed so there should only be one gun,” Rob replied.
“Yeah, but who has it?” I was starting to shake. This had to be a nightmare. This kind of thing didn’t really happen, did it?
The door burst open then and a guy in prison clothes ducked inside with us and slammed it again. He looked up at us and got startled. Putting his hand over his heart, he took a deep breath. If he was a gang member, he wasn’t one of the braver ones.
“Ya’ll scared the shit out of me! I didn’t know this room was occupied, but it’s gonna be a little more occupied, because I ain’t goin’ back out there!”
“What’s going on out there?” Tom asked. I could still hear shouting and crashing sounds but thankfully there were no more gunshots.
“What the fuck you think’s goin’ on? Bunch gangbangers going fuckin’ apeshit!”
“You’re not West Six Ten?” Rob asked.
“Do I look like a motherfuckin’ gangsta? That ain’t even my part of town.” I looked at him and I had to admit he didn’t look like a motherfuckin’ gangsta. At least he didn’t have any tattoos and he didn’t look very tough. He was kind of scrawny, to tell you the truth. Gang bangers came in all shapes and sizes though.
“Who are you?” Rob asked.
“Terrell J
ones, and I’m only in here because I bought a bag of weed off the wrong guy. Shit ain’t even illegal in Colorado and they dump me in here with a bunch of criminals.” Terrell sounded seriously aggrieved. “Hey wait. You guys PDs?”
“Yeah, why?” Tom answered.
“Well, hallelujah, praise Jesus! It’s about fuckin’ time! I’ve been tryin’ to get in touch with ya’ll! That cop set me up, man!”
“Uh, Terrell, I don’t think this is the time,” Rob began. Out the window in the door I saw two people fly past and then I heard a crash.
“It’s never the time, man! I’m tellin’ ya I was entrapped goddamnit and I need defendin’!”
“Okay, uh, Gabrielle, why don’t you talk to Terrell here and I’m going to take a quick look out there and see if I can find out what’s going on,” Tom said.
“What are you whack?!” Terrell cut in. “I’ll tell you what’s goin’ on. Some fancy private defense lawyer with mo’ money than brains came strollin’ into a cell and ordered the guard to uncuff his gangsta client and the stupid ass guard did it. The dude went fuckin’ nuts and grabbed his lawyer by the neck. In came Dudley Dooright deputy with his piece and another banga’ took him down from behind. I don’t know what happened then because the door was open and I was on my way out but it looked like a fight over the gun and now somebody out there is strapped up. I figure it must be one of the home-boys ’cause if it weren’t we’d be out of here by now.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do but wait then,” Tom said.
“So, while we waitin’ let me tell ya’ll how I was set up!” I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves and focus. I sat down at the desk and started listening to Terrell’s story about how he was the real victim in his case.
It wasn’t lost on me that I was a woman trapped in a locked area with a bunch of loose, and possibly armed gang members. Who had probably been incarcerated for a while. Without access to women, but I tried not to think about it. It actually wasn’t as hard as one would believe because I felt kind of numb at the time and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I was experiencing mild shock.
There were still the sounds of yelling and fighting outside but I kept taking notes on how Terrell believed that it was totally unacceptable that a cop would tell him that he was running a special on marijuana. After all, who could resist a buy one get one free deal?
I had no idea how much time had gone by, but finally, after what felt like an eternity, we heard a huge crash and loud voices. The door flew open and I saw officers in riot gear there. They ordered us out, and believe me, we weren’t arguing! As soon I cleared the outside door I saw Mark, who ran over, grabbed me, and pulled me out of there and past a gauntlet of reporters yelling out questions. He yanked me into a stairwell, grabbed me by the arms and spoke to me frantically.
“Are you okay, Gab?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. There are reporters. How long were we in there?”
“Only about twenty minutes. They were probably in the building already.”
“Twenty minutes! Oh God! Braden! Is Braden okay?”
“Is Braden okay?! You two really are in love.”
“Is he? Where is he?”
“They’re all in the courtroom waiting. They wouldn’t let him come downstairs. In fact, it took Adam and two deputies to hold him back. He’s pretty upset.”
“Oh God. I feel so bad.”
“Gabrielle, you were just in a hostage situation in lock-up. Cut yourself some slack. Come on though! We need to get upstairs. Judge Channing wants to see you too.”
“Oh fuck! I was supposed to come back to do my cases. Am I in trouble?”
“Are you nuts? No, you’re not in trouble! He wants to see for himself that you’re okay.”
We got to the courtroom door and Mark led me inside. Suddenly a cheer went up and a dozen public defenders, a few prosecutors who were Braden’s friends, Judge Channing and various other members of courthouse personnel were waiting but I only focused on one person. I literally ran to Braden who pulled me into his arms tightly and wouldn’t let go.
“Mr. Pierce! Take her back into my chambers,” Judge Channing ordered. “Don’t come out until you’re ready.” Braden kept his arms wrapped around me as he led me quickly up the stairs and behind the bench where we went through the door and back into the judge’s chambers. He closed the door behind us and pulled me over to a sofa and onto his lap where we just held each other.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Eventually, I stopped shaking and eventually Braden was willing to loosen his grip. Our heart rates even started to slow down.
“I want to get married,” he said. I sat back and looked at him with confusion. My brain was pretty scrambled at the moment.
“I know. You gave me this ring, remember?”
“Saturday, before the party.”
“You want to get married before our engagement party?”
“Yeah. If we apply for the license today we’ll get it on time. Judge Channing will marry us. I asked him.”
“You did? In the middle of all this?”
“That deputy who came and got you earlier came back and interrupted court in the middle of the hearing. He said that there was a riot down in lock-up and that you were one of the public defenders trapped inside.”
“Oh God, Braden! I’m so sorry about what you must have gone through.”
“Me?! Baby … anyway, I tried to leave but they held me back. They said there was nothing I could do down there. They wouldn’t even let me call you until they knew what was going on.”
“I wouldn’t have had much to tell you. I was holed up in an interview room with two other PDs and guy named Terrell who was only in for taking advantage of BOGO on some marijuana.”
“I felt so powerless, Gabrielle. It made me realize that anything can happen and life is too short to waste. Whatever does happen, I want it to happen to us together as man and wife. So, I asked Judge Channing if he would marry us and he said yes. Now I know that …”
“Okay,” I interrupted.
“…we talked about … Did you just say okay?”
“I agree. Life is short and whatever happens I want it to happen to us together.” I didn’t care about what anyone said. Even if it had only been a few months I knew that this relationship was the real deal. Braden looked elated.
“I was thinking that we could do it Saturday before the party!” he said with a huge grin filled with relief and love.
“Maybe the Ritz will let us have a smaller room too. Just a little private ceremony and the party can be our reception.”
“Yeah! And we could see if your friend Stan is free to play us a song.”
“Stan?” I smiled. “You would let Stan play at our wedding?”
“He played at our first date. And we can invite your friends from the kabob place too.”
“Oh Braden!” Finally, I had tears in my eyes and they were tears of joy. Go figure.
“So how about if we get the hell out of here, and go apply for a marriage license. Then we’ll go get our dog, go home, make plans, and make love.”
“Yes to all of that.”
“Come on, let’s go.”
That night we mostly held each other and talked. We discussed all the details we had left hanging including the plans for our non-profit. We tossed around some names and The Justice Project was our favorite so far. We agreed to talk to our parents as soon as possible to get their help with setting it up and we hoped to be able to start running it by the new year or at least by the spring. We decided that even though we would be working on the same team in the future, we would keep our skills sharp by arguing cases with each other privately. After all, we liked all that adrenaline, and arguing cases was much better than arguing about personal things.
Finally, after we were all talked out, he brushed a piece of hair that had come untucked behind my ear and then leaned in to kiss me slowly, lovingly, and sweetly. I responded, pourin
g all of my feelings and my desire into it. Finally, he pulled back, scooped me up into his arms and carried me into our bedroom. Bruno followed along but he was perfectly content to just lounge in his doggie bed with his chew toy. We really had trained him well.
Braden put me down and the two of us undressed each other slowly and walked hand-in-hand to our bed. Then we lay down next to each other and just stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. There were no words at all to describe the intensity of emotion between us that night. It may have only been a few months, but we were deeply and passionately in love. I felt like our souls recognized each other. Like we had always been together and we always would be. We began to kiss and caress each other tenderly and when he finally slid slowly into me, he told me that he loved me and that he would love me for the rest of his life. I told him that he was my bashert – my destiny – and that I would love him forever. Later, we fell asleep in each other’s arms.
The rest of the week was kind of a blur. My office gave me some time off, which I appreciated. Braden also took a couple of personal days and he enlisted his mom to organize the wedding, a project she performed with great talent and skill. She managed to secure the musical talent of Stanford Benson, (also known around Philly train stations as Stan the Bluesman) to play a special dedication for our first dance. She not only invited Ahmet and Damla, she put in a huge order for their special Turkish pastries. Their desserts would be sampled by senators, congressmen, judges and various other notables. Since they would all be joining us at the engagement party turned wedding reception later, Claire even made sure that they all had formal clothes to wear. She thought of everything.
Senator Pierce and my dad quickly assembled more security than the Pentagon had and arranged for us to have access to a private plane and a room at a lovely resort for a long weekend on St. Thomas the following week. My mom dedicated her energy to trying to get her relatives to behave themselves. She had the toughest job of them all. She also came into Philly several times that week, and took me shopping for my dress, veil, and shoes, out for mani/pedi, to have my hair trimmed and styled, all the good girlie stuff. She and I talked a lot about marriage, the ups and downs, the give and take. In case I haven’t mentioned it, my mom is an incredible woman.
