She hung up the phone and looked at me. “Girl, you really pissed off Alexis Winters. Are you going to tell me what you did?”
“I will,” I said. “I’ll give you the 90 second version, because I really have to get to court. I’m late for traffic court. Anyhow, Rina and Abby are being abused in their foster home, and I called Alexis last night to ask if I could keep them and file a motion for temporary custody. She said no, so I took the girls over to a hotel and my nanny is watching them right now. The nanny has no clue that I essentially kidnapped those kids, so if the shit hits the fan, she won’t be implicated.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tammy said. “You didn’t essentially kidnap those kids, you kidnapped them. And the nanny is going to be dragged through the mud, too. You have to get those kids back to their foster parents. Do things right.”
“I won’t. If you would have seen Abby last night in the car, you wouldn’t take them back, either. She was genuinely terrified. There’s no way I’m going to let either of them be subjected to what’s going on over at the Browns. No way.” I took a deep breath, knowing that the chances were great that I wouldn’t make it back from court. I completely anticipated being arrested the second I stepped into that courtroom. If I made it that far.
Pearl gave me a head-roll and raised her right eyebrow. “I know that’s right. If someone is abusing a kid, you don’t take them back there. I’ve seen too many kids end up dead in these situations. You doing the right thing, Harper.” She nodded her head approvingly.
“Thanks. I knew that you would understand.” I shot a look over at Tammy. “Now, please, Pearl, execute these subpoenas. I really need to get Heather’s case off the ground before the shit hits the fan, which it inevitably will.”
SURE ENOUGH, when I got to the courtroom, I saw that there were cops there waiting for me. Of course, I didn’t necessarily know that the cops were there for me, exactly, as there were always a ton of cops in these traffic courts. Yet, when I walked in, and I saw them look at me and point, I knew.
I glanced over and saw the Browns there, as well.
I went over to the cop who had pointed at me when I first came in. “Okay, Harry, I know that you’re here to cuff me. But I have a traffic client. Can you wait until I get my deal with the prosecutor for him?”
The cop looked over at Seth Brown, who was the father in that household. “I will, but you need to talk to Mr. Brown over there. Maybe cuffing you won’t be necessary.”
“I’m pretty sure it will. Because I’m not going to do what those people want me to do. But I’ll go and talk to him.”
I went over to Seth Brown, who looked at me as if he wanted to charge me. In fact, if he weren’t in a courtroom, with bailiffs and cops all around, he probably would have decked me. As for Marina Brown, she looked terrified. I looked at her face and saw that she was heavily made-up, but you could see, right under the shit-ton of foundation she had on, the outline of a faint bruise.
I shook my head. Abusers usually were smarter than to hit their victims in the face, where everybody could see the marks. I guessed that Mr. Brown either wasn’t that smart, or he simply couldn’t control himself.
“Hello, Mr. Brown,” I said, extending my hand.
“Don’t hello Mr. Brown me,” he said. “Your ass is mine.” He clenched his fist and took a deep breath. I could tell that he was using all of his energy in restraining himself from wailing on me with his fists. “You need to bring those kids back, and I mean yesterday.” He started to raise his voice, and Marina’s eyes started to get wide. She took his arm and tugged it and looked at me.
“Please, Ms. Ross,” she said to me. “Please bring those girls back to our house.”
“Don’t you plead with her,” Seth said. “That little bitch doesn’t deserve your respect and she certainly doesn’t deserve your pleas. The only thing that she’s going to understand is when those cops over there take her into custody for kidnapping.” He turned to me. “Now, Ms. Ross, this is your last chance. You call the person who’s watching those girls, have her bring them into this courtroom within the hour, and I’ll call off the cops. Otherwise, you’re going to jail today. Right now.”
I nodded. “I understand.” I turned away and went over to the prosecutor, who was offering plea deals for all the traffic clients who were in the courtroom. As I spoke with the prosecutor, whose name was Mitch Gross, I glanced over the Browns. I saw that Marina was literally holding Seth back – she had his arms behind his back and he was struggling to free himself while she talked to him presumably about his not coming over across the room and belting me.
“I’ll reduce the speeding ticket to a defective equipment ticket,” the prosecutor said. “And I’ll go ahead and give it to the judge. I think that you have bigger things to worry about right now.” He gestured to the cops who already had their handcuffs out.
“I guess I do. And thanks.” I went over to the cop with the handcuffs out. “Okay, Harry,” I said, putting my wrists out. “I’m ready.”
“I don’t want to do this to you, Harper,” he said, putting the cuffs on me. I looked around and I saw my colleagues whispering amongst themselves. I inwardly was amused by their faces. One thing was for sure – I was going to be the talk of the town after this.
I followed the cops out to their car and they put me in the back, taking off my cuffs. “I only put those cuffs on you for Mr. Brown. That man wants you to be tarred and feathered and run out on a rail.”
I nodded as I sat in the back of the squad car. “Can I make my phone call now? I would imagine Tammy, my law partner, is going to have to know what’s going on. I have three court appearances this afternoon that she’s going to have to cover.” Thank God Tammy rarely went to court herself. As an estate planner, she basically did her work in the office. I was lucky in that regard.
“Is she going to bond you out?”
“I don’t know what the bond is going to be, but I would imagine she will post it for me.” I sighed, knowing that wasn’t going to be the end of it. The next thing was that I was going to be held in contempt of court. There would be no bonding out of that one.
“Tammy,” I said into the phone. “I was arrested, just like I thought. Could you appear for me tomorrow morning and then bond me out? And cover for me for the rest of the day?”
Tammy sighed. “Harper…”
“Please.” I knew that Tammy was at the end of her rope. I didn’t blame her. I basically took a month off and left her holding the bag, and now this. “Tammy, it has to be this way.”
“You’re in the middle of a high-profile case and now you’re being arrested. How is that going to look in the media?”
“I don’t know. If Heather wants to fire me, then she can…” My voice trailed off. How irresponsible was that of me? I entered my appearance on Heather’s case, her life was literally in my hands, and I was going to jail. Yet, there wasn’t any way around it for me. I had to protect Rina and Abby. I was just going to have to figure out a schedule that would allow me to do what I needed to do to represent Heather, while being in jail, assuming the Family Court judge ordered me to bring the girls back and I refused, which I planned to do.
“She can what? You committed to her and she wants you. Only you. She’s adamant about that.”
“I wonder why she wants only me on her case?”
“I don’t know. She said something about an article that you wrote while you were in Law School. She apparently did some research on her case and she came across you and your Law Review article. What did you write about, anyhow?”
“I wrote about self-defense cases and how the victim’s character can be used in court when building a case. But my arguments I made weren't necessarily new. I did include a case where the victim was brainwashed and that caused her to become violent towards the defendant. I wonder if that was Heather’s angle. That sounds pretty similar to her case, so maybe that was why she wanted me to be her attorney so much.”
Was that what happened?
Heather’s mother was brainwashed? Did Heather believe that her mother was brainwashed? That was an avenue that was worth pursuing.
“Well, it sounds like that would be why she chose you. At any rate, you need to resolve the issue with the girls pronto. You can’t leave her high and dry, which you will, if you are in jail.”
I sighed. “I can’t. I just can’t. I have to protect them. No matter what happens, I have to protect them.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Call Heather and tell her what happened. I’ll be out on bond by tomorrow, and I should be out of jail until the judge calls a hearing on the Rina and Abby matter, at which point I would imagine he’s going to put me into jail for contempt of court. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“Well, you better get as much done as you can, because Pearl scheduled an emergency hearing on the Rina and Abby matter for Friday at 4.”
“Okay, then I have three days to get something done on the case.” I nodded my head. “Let’s expedite the subpoena for the mother’s computer. Heather has her password, so it won’t be a problem getting into it.”
“Pearl will get it done. It’s already with the process server. As long as the prosecutor doesn’t quash the subpoena, you’ll have her computer within a day or so. You’re going to have to work quickly, though. I don’t see how you can conduct depositions if you’re going to be behind bars.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime…” I looked up and saw that the jail was coming into view. “In the meantime, I need to get that computer and see if I need to do any depositions or investigation.”
I sighed as Harry opened up the door. “I never thought that I’d be arresting you,” he said. “I know that you know your Miranda rights like the back of your hand, but I need to read them to you anyhow.”
I smiled. “Maybe this is karma, huh? After all, you and I have been in opposition on more cases than I care to think about.”
Harry laughed. “Yeah, but that was all business. I always knew that. Now, you have the right to remain silent…”
My mind wandered as he went through the rest of the Miranda rights. I couldn’t think past today, however. I refused to think about the possibility that I was going to go to prison for a long time for this. Kidnapping was a serious charge, to say the very least. Not to mention the fact that I was going to soon be in contempt of an order. Thank god it was summertime, and the kids were out of school. Otherwise, there would be one more crime that I was going to be guilty of, and that was truancy.
Everything was piling up, and all I wanted was a drink. I tried to tamp down that urge. I had to, anyhow, because I wasn’t going to get alcohol where I was going. Drugs, yeah. Apparently, according to my clients, there were more drugs behind bars then there were on the outside. But alcohol – no, I wasn’t going to have access to that. That made me crazy, yet it also cheered me, because there was no way I was going to go back to that anyhow.
I went into the jail, where they fingerprinted me and mug-shot me. Everyone was joking around with me, because I knew all the cops. I had worked against them many times, and had cross-examined more than a few of them. Yet they never seemed to hold that against me. They had a job to do, and so did I.
After I was processed in, and I handed in my clothes, bag, shoes and jewelry and was issued an orange jumpsuit to change into, I was led into a cell. It was tiny, with a metal toilet and bunk beds that were really cots. The floor was cement and, even though it was in the middle of June, the cell was pretty drafty. I wasn’t quite sure why that was – maybe the air conditioner was up too high – but I did know that I was in need of at least a little blanket.
I lay down on the cot and pulled my tiny thin blanket over me. I didn’t have a cell-mate just yet, although I knew that was coming.
All at once, the adrenaline that was coursing through my veins prior to this seemed to have settled, which left me feeling empty. I swallowed hard, knowing that depression was going to roll in again. I closed my eyes, trying to will it away. Will away the depression and the anxiety that inevitably accompanied it.
I was in an absolute low place, laying there on that cot. I had made so many messes with my life. The girls were in an abusive situation and I didn’t do the right thing by hiding them in that hotel room. I didn’t see any way out, however. I had to do that. And Heather….I was behind bars. How could I give her a good defense?
I knew that the depression was going to get really bad, because I didn’t have access to my anti-depressants or the anti-anxiety pills I took when things got bad. I knew that the jail would provide me with my prescription anti-depressants if I had to stay here long enough, but I wasn’t as confident that my Ativan, which I took for anxiety, would also be provided, because I took that particular pill as needed.
I stewed with my thoughts until nightfall, which filled me with dread even more. It was completely dark, and surprisingly silent. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep, but knew that it was hopeless.
This cell might be my home. I couldn’t chase that thought away, no matter how hard I tried.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The next day, I was led, along with the other inmates, to court for my initial appearance. I was linked together with everyone else, and I dreaded this. It was bad enough that I was in jail for something serious, but I knew that everyone in that courtroom was going to be absolutely shocked to see me. The gossiping would soon begin. I didn’t want to deal with humiliation on top of everything else, but I was just going to have to keep my chin up and try to ignore the staring.
I sat down in the jury box, along with all the people who were hooked onto me. I hung my head, not wanting to see the eyes that were no doubt boring into me. I didn’t want to hear the whispers, either. I wanted to scream that I was charged with kidnapping because I was protecting two little girls, not that I was really a criminal. Well, I was a criminal. I guessed that there wasn’t any getting around that. It didn’t really matter that I had a justification – kidnapping was kidnapping was kidnapping. Unlike with Heather, who, if she could prove self-defense, would be judged not guilty, there wasn’t the same kind of defense available for me.
Tammy came up to me. “Okay, I’m here,” she said. “Your bond is going to only be $25,000/10%. That’s a good sign, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said. “A very good sign. Somebody must think that I’m not so bad.” I looked at Tammy, trying to studiously avoid looking around that courtroom. “Is everyone talking?”
“Of course. They’re all asking me about why you’re here. I just told them that you’re here because you’re standing up for what’s right. They all think that you got arrested doing some kind of protest or something. You’re okay.”
“They’re going to soon find out that’s not the case – that I was arrested as part of a protest. I’m being charged with kidnapping. In what world is kidnapping a part of a protest?”
Tammy shrugged. “I don’t know. Listen, I registered all my objections to you about what you’re doing, but you seem determined, so I’m on your side 100%. Plus, I saw Marina Brown, and you’re right. There’s a bruise on her face bigger than Dallas. She covers it up with a ton of makeup, probably Chanel makeup, but nothing can cover that up. She seemed pretty terrified, too.”
My ears perked up. “Marina Brown? When did you see her?”
“She came into our office. She wanted to impress upon me the importance of you bringing back those two girls. She didn’t say as much, but I got the impression that she wanted the girls to come back, because the stress with the girls being gone was making her husband that much more of a monster. She said that it was very important that the girls come back. She seemed desperate to make that happen.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I wonder about that. Why didn’t Seth come, I wonder?”
“I got the impression that Seth didn’t know that she was coming to see me. At any rate, I’m quite sure that your initial impression about that is right – I thi
nk that Seth is abusive. You’re doing the right thing.”
I sighed. “What about Heather? Did you explain to her that I’m in jail and I might be there for a long time?”
“I did. She said that she still wants you to represent her. I hope that you can resolve this as soon as possible.”
I sighed. “Me too.”
The judge called my case, and I went up there. It was Judge Wilson again. He was the Associate Circuit Judge, so he was usually the one who ended up getting the initial appearances in the Jackson County Circuit. He shook his head when I was brought up. “Harper Ross, I guess you got yourself into a pickle,” he said as he studied the paper in front of him. “Charged with kidnapping.” He read through the statement, which was unusual. He usually just read the charges to the defendants and sent them on their way. “Well, okay, then. Harper Ross, you’ve been charged by the State of Missouri with kidnapping. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty, you’re honor.”
He nodded his head. “I’m going to go ahead and assign you a signature bond,” he said. “Is there any objection from the prosecutor?”
I furrowed my brow, wondering what was getting into the cantankerous judge. First, he let Heather bond out and acknowledged her as a female, and now he was letting me out on my own recognizance?
The prosecutor, Ron Temple, just smiled. “I think that I can assume that Ms. Ross isn’t a flight risk. She has too many cases to deal with around these parts. I don’t have any objection to a signature bond, with the condition that she has no contact with the victims.”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Victims. Those two girls were victims, alright, but they weren’t my victims. They were the victims of the Browns. Specifically Seth and Peter Brown. Marina seemed decent. She was probably a victim, too.
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