Delayed Justice

by Constance Bretes

  “Yes, well, he thinks I handled the whole situation with the bombing incident wrong and that I shouldn’t have let you get off. He’s almost like a damn vigilante cop.” Makeeta frowned.

  “Where do you two stand in the polls?” Sami asked, hoping that Makeeta had a good lead over Sargeni.

  “Oh, I’m still ahead of him by forty percent. I have a seventy percent lead, he’s at thirty percent, but I hate having to go around and justify every little thing I’ve done for the last four years.”

  * * * *

  Their dinner arrived, and they continued to talk about different things in between bites. Sami made Makeeta laugh a little bit when she told him about a writers’ retreat that she’d gone to last summer.

  “We rented a house by a lake for the weekend. We settled in our chairs and on the couch, and we were listening to a well-known author talk about writing plots. I felt what I thought were little muscle spasms in my backside. So I got up and pulled the seat out of the chair to fluff it and out came a squirrel. It wasn’t muscle spasms, it was a squirrel kicking me to move so it could get out. I jumped over the coffee table, and all the girls raced out of the area, while two of the braver ones used a broom to coax it out the door. All of us were afraid to sleep on inflated mattresses on the floor for fear there were other creatures lurking about. None of us really got any sleep that weekend.”

  Makeeta smiled. Sami always had these little funny stories to tell where she was the fall guy, and that was one of the things he enjoyed about her—she was always first to make fun of and laugh at herself.

  “You’ve never talked about your childhood or your early years before becoming sheriff. Did you have a good childhood?” Sami asked.

  “My childhood was fine. I’m an only child, and my parents were good to me. We lived on the reservation, and though we were poor, we had plenty to eat. Of course, I also had my granddad, who I always loved to visit with. When I turned eighteen, I joined the Marines. I became a sharpshooter and they sent me to the Persian Gulf War. After my tour ended there, I came home and went to school to become a sheriff officer.”

  The waitress stopped by the table with their bill, and after they paid it they walked out of the restaurant. Makeeta walked Sami to her car and opened the door for her. Before she got in, she looked up at him and he noticed that her eyes were shining in the darkness. Makeeta reached out with both arms and pulled Sami to him as he bent down and kissed her, his mouth covering hers hungrily. She rested her hand gently on his chest as he tightened his arms around her, savoring the taste of her lips. The air was cold and snow was falling, but the warm heat radiating from the close contact of their bodies kept the cold out.

  When Makeeta came up from the kiss, he looked deeply into Sami’s eyes. “Drive safely going home,” he instructed, quietly and gently. “There’s a lot of snow on the roads.”

  * * * *

  The drive home became quite a challenge for Sami as she carefully navigated the snow covered roads with the small car. She still had those warm, fuzzy feelings when Makeeta kissed her. Why did her body betray her so?

  While in court that day it had snowed at least another two feet. The snow drifted and continued blowing on the highway. She almost went into the ditch twice. Finally, she arrived home.

  She didn’t want to go out and use the snowblower to get the snow out of her driveway but knew she had to do it. After spending about two hours clearing her driveway, she went inside, totally exhausted.

  She went to her computer to get her thoughts about the trial down on paper. It really was an excellent opportunity for her to find out how a trial worked so she could use it in her next book. She got some notes down, and then went to bed. Because of the trial, she was trying to keep ‘normal’ hours by staying awake during the day and sleeping at night, even though she did her best writing in the still of the late night into the early dawn hours. Her thoughts were their clearest then and she was able to allow her mind to wander as she typed, getting everything down. Then, after she’d written until her mind went empty, she’d have breakfast and go to bed.

  * * * *

  Tuesday morning, Sami looked out the window and shook her head. How am I going to get out of here and get to town? They hadn’t plowed the road leading up to her place yet. They usually didn’t do it right away, and most of the time she didn’t care because she rarely had to go anywhere. She knew that highway 47 would be opened, but it was about a half a mile from her driveway down to the highway. She didn’t think she had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the car out. The depth of the snow came up to the body frame of the car, and the car had barely trudged its way down the road to her cabin last night. Adding to the condition, at least another foot of snow had fallen since yesterday.

  What should I do? Well, she could try it, and if she was lucky she’d get the car out to the highway. She started the car and brushed off all the snow, then proceeded to get in and start backing out. As she got into the snow covered road, the car wouldn’t move forward. It got stuck, just that quickly, that instantly. She tried rocking the car out of the rut she’d gotten stuck in, but it only moved a few inches. She got out and walked around the side of the car, looking at the tires. Well, maybe if she shoveled it out... She went to her porch and got her shovel and brought it back. After shoveling out one wheel and the snow under it, she went to the other side and did the same thing with the other wheel. She got back in, and decided to take the shovel with her in case she needed to dig herself out again. She managed to pull the car forward, but further down the road, before reaching highway 47, was another snowdrift. She stepped on the gas pedal thinking that if she went fast and kept the car moving it would get through. No such luck. The car got stuck right in the middle of the snowdrift. What am I going to do now?

  She still had Makeeta’s cellphone number listed in her cellphone’s call list, and she wondered if it still worked. She hated calling him—she didn’t want him to think she was ‘after’ him—but she didn’t know what else to do. She didn’t want to be held in contempt of court for not showing up, and she figured the district attorney would surely be pissed off if she didn’t show up. She searched through her phone list, found his number, and pushed the send button.

  After two rings, Makeeta answered in a low, quiet voice. “Hello.”

  “Makeeta, hi, this is Sami. I’m kind of in a bind. I’m in this rental car and I’m stuck in a snowdrift on this road leading to my cabin. I don’t know what to do, and you know that the district attorney told me I need to be at court every day. I don’t know—”

  “I’ll be there in about forty-five minutes to pick you up,” he said, cutting her off.

  The phone went dead. She felt guilty having to call on him after having dinner last night with him. It was an enjoyable dining experience despite her reservations about it. They were just there as two individuals, chatting about different things. He’d seemed less reserved and more willing to talk. He’d told her some of the things that this Sargeni fellow had done, and what he’d had to do to clear up misunderstandings and put things back to order. She felt warm inside that he would share some of these things with her. She thought that if things really improved, she might even be willing to work on his campaign, then she thought about the town and changed her mind. He wouldn’t get elected for sure if I showed up to support him. But she’d always supported him in his bids for re-elections until she moved out of Big Horn County and into another one.

  She felt herself melting toward him. Could she really forgive him for everything? Could he get past all her scars? He’d never said a thing about the scar on her face, or about her limp. She didn’t know if he just didn’t look at it or if he didn’t really care. She never thought about Makeeta being the kind of person who cared about stuff like that, but she’d been wrong about him once, she could be wrong about him again.

  Chapter 11

  Sami could barely get out of the car and walk back to her cabin to wait for Makeeta. Her car was stuck in the snow that
came up almost to the hood, and she struggled just trying to get the door open. She was already tired because of the shoveling she had done earlier. She couldn’t believe the predicament she’d gotten herself in.

  She managed to get to her driveway and walked it a little bit better due to the fact that she’d used her snowblower last night to clear it out. She went inside the house and sat at the kitchen table.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours, Makeeta walked up the road to her driveway. She started to put on her coat and scarf when he knocked at her door. She opened the door. “I’m ready, just have to put my boots on.”

  “Okay.” He seemed quiet and calm.

  “How is highway 47?” she asked.

  “It’s passable, but snow is drifting in spots. Plows were out all night. When do they clear this road?”

  “Usually a day or two after the snow stops falling,” she answered as they walked out. “I’ll have to get the snowblower out again tonight when I get home. Plus, get a tow truck to get the car out. I’m really sorry about calling you like this, I just didn’t know what else to do.” She looked at him from under her eyelashes.

  “Not a problem, Sami. If you had called the district attorney’s office, they would have asked me to send a deputy out to get you anyway. I called Dani Spencer and told her we were going to be a little bit late.”

  While on the way to the courthouse, Sami called for a wrecker to get the car out of the snowdrift and put it in her driveway.

  They were almost two hours late by the time they got to the courthouse. When they arrived, the bailiff called for everyone to rise and the judge entered.

  “Counselor, are all your people here to testify?”

  “Yes, Your Honor, everyone is here,” Dani responded.

  Then the judge looked at the defendant’s attorney. “Mr. Yates, are you and your client ready to proceed?”

  “Yes, we are, Your Honor,” Mr. Yates replied.

  “Your next witness, Ms. Spencer,” Judge Harding said.

  “I’d like to call Sheriff Makeeta Robertson to the stand.”

  Makeeta took the oath and then sat in the stand. Dani stood at the prosecutor’s table. “Please state your full name and occupation for the record,” she said.

  “Makeeta Robertson, and I’m the elected Sheriff of Big Horn County,” Makeeta replied, quietly and matter-of-factly.

  “Were you the sheriff when Glacier Pharmacy exploded due to a bomb on July 11th, 2008?” Dani asked as she rounded the table and walked toward the witness stand.

  “Yes, and I happened to be on duty at that time.”

  “Tell us what you did,” Dani instructed.

  “When I reached the scene, ambulances were pulling up, along with the fire department. I had my deputy section off the surrounding area and assist with getting the wounded out. The building had partially collapsed, and there were small fires in different areas. Rescue workers, firefighters, myself, and a few of my deputies shifted through the rubble looking for survivors. I saw twisted metal, debris, glass, and pharmaceutical products scattered all over. I found two people under the debris, and then I found Carol, her chest and her head completely covered in blood, metal, nails, and glass. There was debris embedded in her body, and portions of her body were blown off.”

  “What did you do next, Sheriff?” Dani asked quietly and somberly.

  “I fell down to my knees and called out to Carol, but I knew she was dead. I picked up her mangled body and held her in my arms.”

  “What was your relationship with Carol?” Dani asked.

  “Carol was my fiancée. We were engaged to be married that summer.”

  “What happened next?” Dani coaxed as she walked to the jury box and looked at a few of the jurors.

  “One of my deputies came up to me and said ‘I’m sorry for your loss, sir, but you know there are others we need to rescue’. Knowing that I couldn’t help Carol, I went back to looking for survivors. I came upon Sami Parker’s body under a beam. I could see that she was badly hurt, and I bent down to see if she had a pulse. I called for help to lift the beam off her hip. A few of us lifted the beam up and moved it, and then the paramedics came to tend to her and take her to the hospital. After that I went further into the mess and pulled up a wall that had caved in and found someone huddled under the wall, shivering and crying. I helped that person out and another deputy came and took her to the paramedic. I continued my search for other survivors or victims until we felt reasonably sure that we had found everyone who was there.”

  Sami could see the sadness in Makeeta’s face as he recalled finding Carol’s body, and her heart ached for him, knowing what he must be going through, and for herself, because he would never love her that way. Her thoughts moved to her little secret that no one knew about. She still hadn’t told the district attorney about her pregnancy and losing the baby.

  Dani came back to stand in front of Makeeta and asked, “What did you do next?”

  Makeeta continued. “I knew that it was a bomb, just by the debris that we found in Carol in Sami’s bodies. I called the state crime scene investigators, and I called the medical examiner’s office to have someone come and get Carol’s body. I called the FBI and asked that they send out their bomb expert. I then asked the few survivors who were not hurt to come to the station and give us a detailed statement about what they saw and heard. I called in extra deputies who were off duty to help with the gathering of information. Some of the people that were hurt had already gone to the hospital, so I sent a deputy over there to talk to them. I had deputies keep watch around the perimeters of the crime scene while we talked to the victims and investigated what happened.”

  “It sounds like everything was under control,” Dani said as she walked over to where the jurors were.

  “It was total chaos, but I tried to keep a firm handle on everything,” Makeeta responded.

  “During the course of your investigation, what were your initial findings and what did you do?”

  “We found that the body closest to the bomb was Carol Shields. Next to her was Sami Parker. But when the bomb went off, the force of it blew Carol out and over Sami to about four or five feet from her. Initially, we theorized that Sami Parker had something to do with the incident.”

  “Why would you think that Sami Parker had anything to do with the bombing?” Dani asked.

  “No one had seen anything that could help us determine how the bomb got there. No one had seen anyone suspicious or unusual. The bomb experts hadn’t given us a report yet, and the crime scene investigators hadn’t lifted any prints at that time except Sami Parker’s prints. Sami was the only one we could think of who would have any motive or reason to do this.”

  “Why did you suspect Sami Parker?” Dani asked, again looking at the jurors.

  “She had a possible motive,” Makeeta replied quickly.

  “What motive was that, Sheriff?” Dani asked and looked directly at him.

  “I was previously involved in a relationship with Ms. Parker. I broke off the relationship a few months prior to the bombing incident and became engage to Carol Shields.”

  “That doesn’t seem hardly enough to warrant looking at Sami Parker as the perpetrator.”

  “No, not in and of itself, but we were coming up with nothing. We couldn’t rule out even that possibility,” Makeeta explained.

  “Why would she stay around and get hurt herself?”

  “The thought was that the bomb might had detonated before she could get out of the pharmacy, or she might have handled it wrong and it went off prematurely.”

  “Did you interview Sami Parker?” Dani asked, again looking directly at the jurors.

  “The doctors weren’t sure she would pull through, but when she did, I did interview her at the hospital, several times.”

  “And her response?” Dani looked at Makeeta.

  “She couldn’t even tell me why she was in the hospital at first. She seemed stunned and traumatize by the whole event. She didn’t
remember what happened to her until later, when she had started healing from her wounds. At that time, she said that she remembered seeing two men, and we had a sketch artist draw a picture based on her description.”

  Dani walked to the prosecutor’s table and picked up a sketch. “Let the court know this is exhibit B.”

  “So noted,” the judge responded.

  Dani walked by the jury, showing them the picture as she brought it up to the judge. “Go on, Sheriff,” she encouraged.

  “Sami seemed very adamant about the fact that there were two men, but she couldn’t see the face of the second one because he had a hood on. We went back to all the victims and witnesses to see if anyone else had seen this man walking around the pharmacy or even outside the building. No one else in the building that day remembered seeing him. I wasn’t entirely convinced that Sami didn’t have anything to do with the bombing, so I obtained a warrant to search her house and we came up empty.”

  “What happened when she was discharged from the hospital?” Dani asked.

  “We went to the hospital and took her to the station for an interview.”

  “Why did you do that?” Dani leaned back against the table, looking at Makeeta.

  “We found Sami’s fingerprints on some of the debris surrounding her body and near Carol’s body, and we felt that we had enough to bring her in for questioning.”

  “What was the result of that interview?”

  “We kept her for a little more than four hours. She claimed that when she came to she was lying on the floor and she attempted to crawl over to Carol’s body. While we were interviewing her the forensic technician reported back to us that her fingerprints were located in a way that confirmed her story. So we let her go, as we really didn’t have anything to hold her on and she denied being the one that brought in the bomb and she denied being a co-conspirator in the crime. Then the crime lab came back with a partial fingerprint that didn’t match anyone in the building at the time it exploded.”

  “What happened to this case after that discovery?” Dani asked as she went around the table and sat down.