The Advocate - 01 - The Advocate

by Teresa Burrell

They continued their conversation at McDonald’s, Sabre being careful not to interrogate her. “Tell me about school in Atlanta. What did you like best about it?”

  “My friend, Mattie,” Alexis said. “She’s my best friend in the whole world. We played with our Barbie dolls. She has more than I do, and she has lots of doll clothes, too. But mostly, we played school and I was the teacher. We didn’t play with the other kids because they would tease Mattie and call her names because she couldn’t hear and she talked kinda funny. I wonder who she plays with now. I sure miss her.” Alexis always spoke fast, like she needed to make sure she could get it all in.

  “Maybe you could write her a letter. Do you know her address?”

  “Yeah, I’ll write her a letter. She’d like that.”

  Sabre picked up her briefcase and took some paper, an envelope, and a stamp and handed them to Alexis. “Here’s everything you need.” Sabre pointed to the upper left corner and said, “You put your name here above mine and Mattie will know who the letter came from. If she writes you back, I’ll bring the letter to you. Here’s where Mattie’s name and address go.” Sabre wrote Mattie’s first name on the envelope for her so she would know where to write it. “What’s her last name?”

  “Sturkey,” Alexis said with a smile. “It’s turkey with an ‘S’ in front. It’s a funny name, but she can’t help it. The other kids would gobble around her. She couldn’t hear them, but she could see and she knew they were making fun of her. When I grow up, I want to take care of kids who can’t hear, like Mattie. Maybe I can teach them things. I can sign, you know. Mattie taught me.” Alexis spelled out her name in sign language. “A-l-e-x-i-s. That’s my name. I can say other things too, like ‘Good morning,’ ‘I love you,’ and lots of other stuff. Mattie taught me something new every day.”

  “How long have you known Mattie?”

  “Since we came back to Atlanta from …” Alexis caught herself and didn’t finish her sentence. “She was in my class. I was new and she was real nice to me. We sat next to each other.”

  “It sounds like Mattie is a great friend. No wonder you miss her.”

  “Yeah, I miss her so much. She shared my bed, you know …” Alexis stopped talking for a second, looking at Sabre with her eyes wide open like she surprised herself. She picked up where she left off. “… whenever she would stay the night. She would stay sometimes. We’d have slumber parties, just the two of us.”

  “Did you ever stay at her house?”

  “Nope. She only stayed at mine. Father doesn’t like me to stay overnight anywhere. He doesn’t like me staying at Jordan. He says I should be going home soon. Will I?” Her voice held little emotion.

  “I’m not certain yet. We’ll go back to court in a few days, and the judge will decide whether you can go home or if you need to stay out a little longer.”

  “But I’ll go home sometime?” Alexis’ expression did not change.

  “Do you want to go back home to your father?”

  “Sure. Who wouldn’t want to go home to their father?” Obviously a canned response.

  On the ride back to Jordan Receiving Home, Alexis chattered about things she had seen or heard while in the Home. She talked about new kids who had come in and others who had been there awhile. She seemed to know just about everything going on there.

  By the time they arrived Jamie had fallen asleep, so Sabre took him out of the car seat and carried him in. She handed Jamie to one of the workers and turned to Alexis. “You have your paper and envelope to write to Mattie. If you can have the letter done, I’ll swing by here tomorrow, pick it up, and get it in the mail for you. It should arrive in a couple of days. I’m sure she’ll enjoy hearing from you.”

  “I’ll have it ready. She’ll like getting a letter.” Sabre detected sadness in her voice.

  “Good night, Alexis. I enjoyed our time together.”

  Alexis took a step toward Sabre, and with her arms stretched out, reached up to hug her. Sabre reciprocated and Alexis held on for a couple seconds, then let go, said, “Bye,” and ran back to her room with a staff member.

  “She must like you a lot,” said the attendant.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because, as long as she’s been here, she has not allowed one staff member to hug her. She’s a very lonely little girl.”

  7

  After court the next day, Sabre stopped by Jordan Receiving Home to pick up Alexis’ letter to mail to Mattie. The two of them sat for awhile in the visiting room with Alexis chattering away and Sabre listening. Alexis appeared to be comfortable at Jordan now, and she knew every staff member and every nook and cranny in the building. In the midst of her chatter, Alexis turned to Sabre and said, “I’ve been thinking. You know that confidential stuff you told me about. Is that really true? If I tell you something, you can’t tell anyone?”

  “That’s absolutely right. You have my word. Why? Is there something you want to tell me?”

  Alexis looked down at her feet and twisted her body back and forth. She remained silent for a few seconds and then said, “Nope. Just wondering.”

  “Well, if at any time you want to tell me a secret, you can be sure I’ll keep it. I need to go now, but I’ll see you soon. You have my card. If you want to talk, just give me a call. I wrote my cell phone on the back, so you can reach me any time.” Alexis gave Sabre a quick hug, handed her the letter to mail to Mattie, and walked off, chattering to the attendant.

  Sabre stopped at the post office and mailed Alexis’ letter on her way back to her office. Elaine greeted her when she walked in. “Here’s your mail and your phone messages. Detective Carriage just called a few minutes ago. I told him you’d be in shortly. Carla must be taking extra meds; I haven’t heard from her yet today.”

  “Thanks, Elaine. I’ll call just the same and make sure she’s all right.”

  Sabre passed David’s office on the way back to hers and saw him sitting at his desk. David had moved into the middle office right after Jack leased the building. He and David had been friends in law school and had both worked for the same insurance defense firm after graduation.

  She stopped for a minute to chat. She seldom saw him because he spent little time in the office. He had tired of practicing law and stayed away as much as he could, spending his free time helping his wife in her ice cream shop. Sabre listened to David complain about working too many hours and his plan to quit practicing, but she had been hearing the same story since she moved in. She doubted he would ever leave.

  Back in her office, Sabre dialed the phone. “Hello, Detective Carriage. This is Attorney Sabre Brown. We spoke last Saturday morning.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I recall, and I want to apologize again for waking you.”

  “No need to. I needed to get up anyway. You did me a favor,” Sabre reassured him. “You called a bit ago. Did you get any information for me on Murdock or Smith?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I did, but I don’t know if it’ll help. As you know, the Murdocks are very well-liked and respected in this town. There’s not a one of them, including Gaylord, with any kind of criminal record. They’re pretty powerful, though, so I’m not certain any record would remain if they ever did get in trouble. Gaylord married a beautiful, local woman named Elizabeth Sterling about ten years ago. Some say Gaylord married way below his class.”

  “Below his class?” Sabre replied, with obvious indignation in her voice.

  “Ma’am, you have to understand. This is the South. People here still think that way. Elizabeth didn’t come from old money. Heck, she didn’t come from any money – not exactly trailer trash, but not a socialite either. Her father taught at a local high school and her mother worked in a bank. Anyway, about five years ago she disappeared. It seems she dropped Alexis off at her mother’s house on her way to the gym, but she never made it there. The department investigated every lead they had on her disappearance, but nothing ever materialized.”

  “Was Gaylord a suspect?”

  “No, ma’am. No
one thought for a minute he had anything to do with it. Nothing in the file indicated he might be involved, and Gaylord seemed devastated by his loss. He appeared distraught and genuinely upset about the whole ordeal. From all outward appearances at least, he was a very loving husband and father. He and his wife seemed to be the perfect couple. No one ever saw them fight. If they did, it was out of the public’s eye.”

  “Seems almost too good to be true.”

  “Not really, ma’am. Well-bred southerners don’t generally fight in public,” he instructed her on their culture. “But here’s the odd thing. Yesterday, my boss approached me about looking at the file and told me in no uncertain terms to ‘leave the past in the past.’ Then later, when I went to look something up in the file again, it was gone. I’ve had a clerk looking for it all day, but it seems to have disappeared.”

  “That’s odd,” Sabre said, but she thought it equally odd he had tried to look in it again after his boss told him not to.

  “Well, we’ll see if it shows up. In the meantime, I’ve made an appointment to speak with Ruby Sterling tomorrow afternoon. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “Please don’t get me wrong, because I really appreciate your help, but why are you doing all this?”

  “I just want to make sure those children are safe, ma’am. Isn’t that what you want?”

  “It sure is. Thanks, and I’ll let you know if I find out anything more on my end. Oh, by the way. Would you please check the report you sent us and resend page eight? Mine was illegible.”

  “Sorry about that. I’ll send it again.”

  Sabre hung up the phone, wondering why Detective Carriage was being so helpful. Maybe that’s just more of the “southern way.”

  Sabre returned the rest of her calls, checked on Carla, then gathered up her files and left for the day. For the first time in months, she left the office before the others.

  On Monday, Sabre spent most of the day in court. She had a jurisdictional trial in the afternoon. She represented a non-offending mother, which meant she didn’t have to do much. Her thoughts turned to the Murdock case. About a quarter to three, the court took a recess. Sabre called her office, hoping to have a message from Detective Carriage regarding Ruby Sterling. It had been almost a week since she had last spoken with him. Either he didn’t have anything to report, or he was just too busy to call. Elaine read her the list of calls. No message from Carriage.

  By the time Sabre returned to the office, everyone had already left. Elaine had placed a stack of phone messages and her opened mail on Sabre’s desk. Sabre laid her files down and started through her routine. First, she separated out all of Carla’s messages, eleven of them today – not the record of seventeen, but a bad day nevertheless. She punched in number four on the automatic dialer and heard Carla’s voice on the other end ranting, as usual. Sabre turned the volume down like she always did and commenced sorting her mail.

  On the top of her stack of mail lay Alexis’ letter to Mattie, marked “ADDRESS UNKNOWN” across the front in big, red letters. Sabre wondered if Mattie had moved or if Alexis had just written the address incorrectly. Sabre sat, staring at the letter, flipping it over and over again in her hand, tempted to read it in order to learn more about Alexis and hopefully provide her better representation. However, the private, personal letter belonged to her client, and reading it would undermine the trust her client had in her. While those thoughts went through her mind, she realized she had pulled the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it. Her eyes caught the greeting. It read, “Dear Honey, I’m sorry … .”

  “What am I doing?” Sabre said aloud and quickly folded the letter back up, stuck it in the envelope, and set it aside.

  She heard the pitch in Carla’s voice start to lower and the speech pattern slow down. Sabre knew Carla would take a short hiatus from her ranting soon and she would have a few seconds to cut in so she prepared for her counseling session. “Butterflies and green pastures … .” Sabre said. When Carla seemed calm enough, Sabre hung up the phone. She would be all right for a while. She wished she could do more for her.

  Sabre tapped the receiver for a dial tone and made another call. “Detective Carriage, this is Attorney Sabre Brown.”

  “Hello, ma’am, I was just about to call you. Sorry I took so long, but I was hoping I’d have more to report. Ruby Sterling refused to see me. I could’ve gone over there, but I doubt she would have told me anything. She doesn’t have much trust in the Atlanta Police Department. You may want to give her a call. I think she has a genuine interest in her granddaughter’s welfare. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”

  “Okay, I’ll try,” Sabre said. “Detective, would I be imposing too much to ask you to check out one more thing?”

  “I’d be delighted, ma’am. What do you want me to do?”

  “Well, Alexis wrote a letter to her best friend, Mattie, and it came back. She was her classmate. Perhaps you could see why the letter returned and maybe check with the school as well to see what you can learn about her.”

  “I can. Has Alexis tried calling her friend?”

  “No. Mattie’s deaf. That’s why I suggested she write to her.”

  “I’ll take care of it right away. What’s her name and address?”

  “Her name is Mattie Sturkey.”

  “Are you sure the last name is Sturkey?”

  “Yes. Alexis even explained it is spelled turkey with an ‘S’ on the front. Why?”

  “Because Ruby Sterling’s maiden name is Sturkey. Something’s not right. I’ll check out the address as soon as we hang up. First thing in the morning, I’ll go over to the school. I’ll call you tomorrow. Oh, what’s the address?”

  Sabre gave him the address, and he gave her Ruby’s phone number. Sabre hung up the phone and called Ruby Sterling. A voice on the other end said, “Hello.”

  “Hello, may I speak to Ruby Sterling, please?”

  “Who is this?” the woman said curtly.

  “My name is Sabre Brown. I’m the attorney for Alexis Murdock. I’m calling from California,” Sabre stated as politely as she could.

  “Ruby’s not here. Bye.”

  “Wait!” Sabre said before she hung up. “Please ask her to call me. It’s very important. Her granddaughter needs help.”

  “Okay, what’s the number?” the woman said, still sounding agitated.

  Sabre gave her the number, thanked her, and hung up. Before she could make another call, the phone rang.

  “Hi Marla, what’s up?”

  “I wanted to give you the latest info on the Murdock case. Peggy gave birth to a baby girl this morning and she was born positive.”

  “So she was using drugs like Alexis and her father said,” Sabre mused. “How’s the baby?”

  “She’s so tiny. She only weighed six pounds. She’s going through some withdrawals, mostly restlessness, and she isn’t sucking very well. No signs of fetal abnormalities or convulsions, so she could be worse, but she’ll have to stay in the hospital for a few days anyway.”

  Sabre cringed. The baby would likely have severe tremors, eating problems, restless sleep, and a lot of pain. In addition, who knows what damage the drugs would cause down the road?

  “What did they name her?”

  “Haley. Haley Murdock.”

  “Pretty name,” Sabre said. “So, how’s Gaylord reacting?”

  “He’s pretty upset at Peggy. I can’t say as I blame him.”

  “Do you think he uses?”

  “It’s hard to say. There haven’t been any indications of it so far. He’s been drug testing for the past couple of weeks now and has had nothing but clean tests.”

  “I assume you’re filing a petition on the new baby?” It was more of a statement than a question.

  “Yes, the detention hearing is set for Thursday. I don’t think the baby will be released from the hospital before then, but if she is she’ll be detained in a foster home. The mother says she’ll get into a drug program, but we’ll see what sh
e actually does. The father wants the baby home with him. Since they’re not married we’ll need to establish paternity first. He seems to be a pretty decent guy from all outward appearances. It looks like he’s been a good parent to Alexis. She never says anything bad about him. So, if everything checks out, maybe we can get those kids in his care. The problem is Jamie isn’t his child, and it’ll break Alexis’ heart to separate them.”

  “And hard on Jamie, too,” Sabre said.

  “Anything new from Atlanta?”

  “Nothing concrete, but I have a call into Alexis’ maternal grandmother and Detective Carriage is checking on the school for me. I hope we have some information before the detention hearing.” Sabre loathed the tough calls, dealing with people’s lives, knowing her decisions could affect them forever. She hated this part of her job, but she hated it even more when people in her position didn’t care.

  For the next couple of hours, Sabre prepared her other cases, but her mind kept returning to Alexis. Mattie’s last name being Sturkey seemed pretty strange. With a name that unusual, she had to be related. If so, she wondered if Alexis knew. If she did, why didn’t she mention it? The greeting of the letter really nagged at her, Dear Honey. She tried to think of the reasons why Alexis would call her best friend “honey.” It must be just some term of endearment. After all, Sabre often used it herself with her buddy Bob. Reading the letter might give her the answer, but she resisted the temptation.

  Sabre got ready to leave for court. She felt comfort in the fact nothing odd had happened tonight at the office. It seemed there had been something strange every night she had worked late for the past few weeks.

  When Sabre reached the back door to leave, she noticed the porch light was out. She reached for the switch to flip it up, but it was already in the “on” position. She set her files down, walked over to the cupboard, and took out a light bulb and a flashlight. She turned the flashlight on, but nothing happened. “Damn it,” she said out loud, remembering she forgot to buy batteries.

  Though not afraid of the dark, Sabre felt some trepidation after all the things happening at the office recently. She cautiously opened the door and looked around. Seeing nothing, she reached up to unscrew the bulb; it jiggled. When she tightened it, the light came on. Just then, the phone rang and Sabre jumped. She jerked her arm back inside, slammed the door, and locked it. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and answered the phone. No one responded. Her hand shook as she hung up the phone. Her heart pounded like a drum in her chest, and her muscles tightened. She had to tell herself to breathe.