One Way or Another

by Rhonda Bowen

  Trey tried to dribble past Adam with the ball. But Trey was weak on his right side, and Adam knew it. Blocking him hard on the left, Adam forced him right and then easily stole the ball. By the time Trey caught up with him the basketball was already swishing smoothly through the net.

  Trey rested his hands on his knees, panting. Adam shook his head at his friend, who was so out of breath that he could barely call “time.”

  “Man, look at you,” Adam chided mockingly. “You’re a disgrace to men everywhere.”

  “Hey, I’m not as young as I used to be,” Trey said breathlessly, even though at thirty-one he was only a year older than Adam. Staggering, Trey followed Adam over to the bench by the side of the court. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” Trey panted.

  “You mean your will is weak,” Adam teased, grabbing his bottle of Gatorade from off the bench behind the center. “I’ve been to your house. I know what Jasmine’s been feeding you. You just can’t say no.”

  “Hey, no blaming the wife,” Jasmine called out as she walked toward them from the back doors.

  “Baby, did you see how Adam was whopping my behind out there?” Trey called out. “How you gonna let him do me like that?”

  “Sorry, hon, I got my own battles to fight with this one,” Jasmine said, sitting down on the bench beside Adam.

  “Before you say another word, Jas, I’m not changing my mind.”

  “Come on, Adam. You haven’t even given her a chance,” Jasmine whined. “You know she’s a really good reporter. I’ve heard you say so yourself.”

  “She’s a criminal in the making,” Adam said, wiping his face with a towel. “You forget that I saw her assault a police officer?” A serious look came over Adam’s face.

  “I don’t need Jerome picking up her any-means-necessary attitude. We’re tryin’ to instill certain values in these boys—so they know how to come correct in every situation.”

  “Don’t you think that you’re making too much of it, though?” Jasmine asked. “From the way she told it, that officer was pretty out of line. If he had done to me what he did to her, I would’ve probably gone off on him as well.”

  Adam knew that she was right. After all, he had almost taken matters into his own hands.

  “All she wants to do is talk to Jerome, find out his case, maybe write a story about it,” Jasmine finished.

  What Jasmine said sounded innocent enough. But even though Toni had been disrespected that night at the station, it was hard for Adam to forget everything that had gone down before that.

  “Your girl was still caught doing something shady,” Adam said, shaking his head. “That’s how she ended up at the station bargaining for her freedom in the first place. Plus the way she went off on me while I was there ...”

  “She can be a little rough sometimes,” Trey admitted.

  “Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side,” Jasmine said, whopping him with his towel.

  “Oww ... But, baby, it’s true,” Trey said, rubbing his arm, a wounded look on his face. Adam grinned at the two of them as they fussed with each other. They were one of the most functional married couples he knew. Though he had no immediate plans, Adam knew that whenever he tied the knot, it had better be as real as Trey and Jasmine.

  “Adam, come on,” Jasmine tried again. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”

  Adam sighed and began stuffing his high tops into the gym bag at his feet. “Jas, I know you’re pretty sure about this, but I gotta do what’s right for Jerome.”

  His eyes darkened as he thought about the seventeen-year-old young man, and even the warm afternoon sunshine streaming through the maple trees surrounding the court couldn’t lighten the air of solemnity that seemed to fall over the three of them.

  “How did things go today?” Jasmine asked, referring to Jerome and Adam’s visit to Legal Aid earlier that morning.

  Adam shook his head. “Not good. We spent almost all day downtown and I feel like we keep getting the runaround. You would think that since they know us there they would give us a break and get us through the system, but sometimes I feel like they make it harder on us, just because.”

  “So still the same lawyer,” Trey said with an air of disgust.

  Adam nodded and Jasmine hissed her teeth.

  “Have you even heard from him?” Jasmine asked, her distaste obvious.

  “Not since he showed up late to court for Jerome’s hearing three weeks ago,” Adam responded dryly, leaning back against the picnic table portion of the bench. “We’ve tried calling and leaving messages but I guess we’re not high up on his list of priorities.”

  Adam’s brow furrowed as he remembered the frazzled guy who had been assigned to Jerome this second time around. The guy hadn’t even known Jerome’s name before he entered the courtroom. If only they could have had Jerome’s original lawyer, Wallace. But he had left Legal Aid and moved to Alberta, Canada, to open up his own labor law practice a year earlier. And since there was never a dull moment between oil workers and mining companies over on that side, Adam doubted that he would see the dedicated court officer on this side of the border anytime soon.

  “There’s got to be something we can do,” Jasmine said, shaking her head. “We can’t let this happen to Jerome, not when he’s come so far.”

  “I talked to his teacher last week. She said he finished at the top of his class this past spring. So are you telling me the kid’s gonna go through all of that just to serve five years in prison?”

  Adam wished he could tell Jasmine that wouldn’t be Jerome’s story, but he had seen too much happen with the boys who came through this place to be optimistic. Jerome’s situation bothered him more than the others though. Maybe it was because he had seen the kid grow up before his eyes. Maybe because he knew Jerome was bright, and deserved a second chance. Maybe because Jerome reminded him of himself, and it didn’t seem fair that he should have been able to start over and this kid couldn’t.

  “What are you thinking?” Jasmine asked, her brow furrowed as she peered at him.

  “Nothing,” Adam said, pushing the thoughts of his past out of his mind. The look she gave him told him she knew he was lying. But he had not told Jasmine and Trey about his past, and he wasn’t about to start now. He hated when she shrinked him.

  “Look, maybe I can make a few calls and see if we can find someone,” said Trey, who had been silent for awhile. “We really should have a lawyer on volunteer staff here.”

  “Like we should have a gym, and a computer room with more than five machines, and a few tutors,” said Jasmine dryly. “There’s no money for any of that either.”

  “God gives us what we need when we need it,” Adam said, standing up and slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. “Let’s give thanks for that.”

  But the words were more for himself than for his friends. And as he walked toward the center’s back doors with Jasmine and Trey trailing him, he couldn’t help but hope, like they did, for a little more.

  “So how’d it go yesterday?” Afrika asked, following Toni into her office and plopping down in a chair beside Toni’s desk.

  “It was a bust,” Toni said, as she recalled her run-in with Adam at the center. She dumped her purse, iPhone, and portfolio on her desk. “Remember the guy from the station the other night?”

  “The sexy one with the kid?”

  “Yeah, him.” Toni raised an eyebrow. “You thought he was sexy?”

  “Yah, girl,” Afrika said, her eyebrows going up in confirmation. “All six-plus feet of him. And did you see his—”

  Toni raised a hand to stop her friend before she could go into details. “He’s the director for Jacob’s House.”

  Afrika whistled. “Sometimes I forget how small the ATL is. Guess that story’s a wrap.”

  “You got that right,” Toni said, sitting back and grimacing. “He was not happy to see me at all.”

  “That’s too bad,” Afrika said, resting a manila folder on top of the junk on Toni’s de
sk. “ ’Cause from all accounts this one looks like it could be a front pager.”

  “Really,” Toni said, not hiding her skepticism as she powered up her laptop with one hand and flipped Afrika’s folder open with the other. “What did you find?”

  “Let’s just say, you owe me big time for this one,” Afrika said with a smug grin.

  Toni shook her head. Afrika was good at hair, but the truth was she should have been a private eye for the way she could dig up information. Not only did she seem to have a cousin, aunty, neighbor, or friend in every single area of the city, but somehow she had a knack for uncovering the most unattainable pieces of information. God bless the day Toni walked into Banyan Tree Salon and reconnected with Afrika. Who knew her old high school friend would be more connected than Atlanta’s finest?

  “Okay,” Toni said, swiveling her chair toward Afrika. “Convince me.”

  “Well, it looks like this whole case is less about the kid and more about what the city is doing with the police.”

  Afrika dropped her voice and leaned in toward Toni. “So you know this kid got charged for grand theft auto, right? Well, apparently, two months ago the city cut the number of officers working in that area.”

  Toni shrugged, not particularly impressed. “So what? They reassign officers all the time. What’s the big deal?”

  “The deal is that once the insurance associations heard about it they got into a fit,” Afrika continued. “Of course, the city ignored them so they leaked it to the opposition, who plan to use it as a campaign tool against the current city government. And guess what year it is?”

  “Election year,” Toni murmured absently, as the gears began to fit together in her mind. “So they’re using Jerome and his case as an example of how they are not ignoring auto theft, but making their unit more efficient.”

  “Exactly,” Afrika said triumphantly.

  Toni leaned back in her chair, rolling her pen between her palms absently. This was definitely something she could work with. In fact, she already knew at least three different angles she could approach the story from. Afrika was right about her initial suspicion that they could wring at least three headlines out of the whole thing, if they did enough digging.

  “Aren’t you glad I talked you back into this story?” Afrika asked, crossing her legs in satisfaction. “With all the work I’ve done too, you better show a sister some appreciation.”

  “That’s if this story ever makes it to print,” Toni said, sitting up straight again and pulling up her contact list on the computer. “If Adam Bayne doesn’t let me talk to Jerome, then there won’t be any appreciation for any of us.”

  Afrika stood up. “Well, maybe someone needs to bite the bullet then and get to begging.”

  “First of all, I don’t beg for anything,” Toni said pointedly. “Secondly, why should I have to convince some glorified juvenile parole officer to give me a story that’s going to help his kids?”

  “Because I know you, girl, and there ain’t nothing you love more than a front page story,” Afrika tossed behind her as she sashayed toward the elevator.

  Toni scowled, but even as she did, she picked up the phone and started dialing. If she really wanted this story it was clear that she would have to make it good for Adam.

  “Hey, Dwayne? It’s me, Toni,” she cooed in her best voice through the receiver. “Remember when I delayed running that story on your client so his stock wouldn’t fall before his big sale, and you told me you owed me big time? Well, I’m ready to collect.. . .”

  Chapter 4

  “Knock, knock.”

  Adam looked up from his desk at the head of long, silky black hair that had stuck itself inside his office door. He grimaced.

  “Now, that’s no way to greet your guests,” Toni said, slipping inside and taking a seat before he could say a word.

  Adam rubbed his temples. There were things he could deal with today. Like the past-due energy bill sitting on his desk and Dexter’s failing report card. But Toni he didn’t have the energy for—even if her vanilla-scented perfume brought a welcome change to his office.

  He watched her smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles in her black slacks and fold her hands in her lap expectantly. He took a deep breath and inhaled another whiff of vanilla. Guess she wasn’t going anywhere.

  “How can I help you, Miss Shields?”

  “It’s Toni,” she said brightly. “And actually I’ve been thinking there’s a way we could help each other.”

  She smiled and Adam wondered if this was the same person who had taken out an Atlanta PD officer less than a week ago. He glanced at the morning’s copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sitting to the side of his desk. A few hours earlier he had skimmed over her latest article about the shortage of legal aid at city court. It was a lot milder than most of her other pieces—not that he followed her stories.

  Something told Adam she wouldn’t leave until he heard her out, so he put down his pen and clasped his hands together resignedly. “I’m listening.”

  “So you know I want to talk to Jerome about his case... .”

  “You already know how I feel about that,” he interrupted.

  “Yes, but I think it might help everyone if we were to work together on this,” she added quickly.

  Adam raised an eyebrow. “I suspect it would help you more than it would help me, Miss Shields.”

  “I disagree. And it’s Toni.”

  “Well, Toni, I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree.”

  “But you haven’t even heard what I have to say yet.” She narrowed her large dark eyes.

  “Given what I’ve already seen of you, I’m not sure I want to,” Adam said.

  Toni’s mouth fell open. “That’s not fair! You don’t even know me.”

  “Yes, but apparently the Atlanta PD does.”

  “That is so judgmental... .”

  “But true. Right?” Adam challenged.

  “Look, are you going to fight me all morning or are you going to at least hear me out?” Toni asked, losing the brightness.

  He couldn’t help but smirk. “I was wondering how long it would take for the real you to show up.”

  “Well, here I am.” She let her glare reinforce her words. “So let me know if I should leave now, or if we can have a civilized conversation like two grown adults.”

  Adam glared back at Toni. He was doing it again. Picking a fight with her. Something about her seemed to unsettle him, and the quicker he could get rid of her the better. Unfortunately it seemed like the only way to get rid of her would be to hear her out.

  He frowned. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “For real this time?” Toni challenged.

  Adam bit back what he really wanted to say and settled with “Yes.”

  She took a deep breath and for a moment Adam saw that she was a bit nervous. He was surprised.

  So she did have feelings.

  “I know you’re trying to protect Jerome.” Her voice had mellowed out to an even tone. “I can understand that and I’m not trying to exploit him. But I do think there are people out there who are.”

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked, his brow furrowing.

  “Your people downtown don’t really care about Jerome,” Toni said flatly. “They’re just using his case to hit the opposition at elections.”

  Adam listened, stunned, as she explained what Afrika had told her about the changes in the auto theft unit and the way the opposition wanted to use it against the current government.

  “They’re planning to make an example of Jerome,” Toni said. “They want to use him to prove how well the system is working, even though they cut the budget. When he goes to prison, Jerome will be the poster boy for how committed they are to fighting crime.”

  Adam leaned back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his face. So Jerome was just a puppet. And everyone knew it. That’s why no one at Legal Aid would touch the case. It was a suicide mission—failed from the get-go.


  “How do you know all this?” Adam asked.

  Toni offered a tight smile. “You don’t really wanna know.”

  Adam sighed. “This is not good.”

  “That’s not all,” Toni said, her eyes tainted with something that looked to Adam like pity.

  His eyebrows rose. “What do you mean?”

  She bit her lip. The pause before she answered only served to increase Adam’s apprehension.

  “If you lose the case with Jerome, chances are they’re gonna start reopening all the cases on all the boys here.”

  “What?” Adam asked, the lines in his forehead deepening as he sat forward.

  “There’s already a list of the ones they’re thinking of looking into first,” Toni said.

  Adam closed his eyes.

  “Listen, they haven’t started looking into any of the others yet,” Toni followed quickly. “It might not even come to that, but I thought I should let you know.”

  “So is this how you’re helping me?” Adam asked dryly. “By letting me know the Jacob’s House program is falling apart in slow motion?”

  “No,” Toni said sincerely, shaking her head. “I was just explaining the situation.

  “But I do know someone who can help,” she continued. “I have a friend who’s a lawyer who would be willing to look at your case.”

  “We already have a lawyer.”

  Toni chuckled. “Not a good one.”

  “So I guess you’ve been talking to Trey.”

  “Well, he is my brother, so yes,” Toni answered, her sarcasm thinly veiled. “But I also know Emmett Green, and trust me when I tell you, he’s not trying to help you out. You’d be better off defending yourself.”

  Adam grimaced. They had already figured out that part on their own.

  “Look,” Adam said. “It’s nice that you’re taking an interest, even though it might be opportunistic of you... .”

  Toni rolled her eyes.

  “... But we can’t afford a big-time lawyer. Look around,” Adam said, nodding to the peeling walls and aging ceiling. “We’re barely getting by as is.”

  “Adam, my sister-in-law and brother both work here. Give me some credit,” Toni deadpanned. “I know money is tight. The lawyer I spoke with is willing to do this pro bono for you. He’s got a quota he has to fill for his firm.