I kept my gaze steady. “Judge, you know the law. Whether you pulled the trigger or not, you are responsible for Justin Harris’ death.”
The Judge frowned. He leaned back in his chair and leaned toward me. “Harris? The one you asked me about the other day? Harris was a troublemaker and a drug abuser. Not much of a loss.”
I nodded. “He was someone’s child. There was someone who loved him as much as you do your daughter. Sure, he was the informant working with me. The one you all were afraid would lead to your daughter here.” I shook my head. “And it’s a hell of a thing that you got someone killed and you don’t even remember his name.”
I could hear thunder to the west of the courthouse. The Judge looked me in the eye and said, “I could make you a very rich young man if you would be willing to turn a blind eye to all this.”
I shook my head, hoping I wasn’t signing my death warrant. “Judge, I’ve had to report to my bosses every night. Even if I wanted to, I can’t switch teams now. That ship has sailed.”
That comment seemed to upset the Judge. “Government reports are lost, emails not delivered. Mysteries of the internet. But I doubt you would come into the fold. I had already concluded as much, but I felt the need to ask.” For a moment he looked deeply saddened by the realization of how bad his problems were. After a moment, he met my eyes again.
“This is all over, whether you admit it or not,” I went on. “You, and everyone in this room, have violated the oath you took. Half of the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office saw me kidnapped. The story the Chief Deputy concocted won’t hold up long at all.”
“What are you talking about?” The Judge didn’t know what had happened. I saw the Sheriff looking suddenly very uncomfortable.
“A handful of Gilmer County Deputies came up to Fannin County. They chased me up the parkway and then wrecked my GBI ride. Then they abducted me from right in front of some Fannin County Deputies. It won’t take long for them to start putting two and two together.” I limped toward the Sheriff as I spoke. He and the Chief Deputy were the only ones armed in the room, I assumed.
The Judge’s face became as dark as the storm clouds. The Judge slammed his hand on the bench and shouted at the Sheriff, “This was your idea? What on God’s green earth made you think trying to drag him out of Fannin County was a good idea? And by now, the State Patrol and the GBI are on their way here.”
“I couldn’t sit on my hands and watch him bring all of us down,” the Sheriff boomed.
“We could have fought this in court. We could have fought this in the State House. We had the edge. No grand jury in this county would every indict anyone in this group. He would never have made the case against us. We had a good defense. The government pushed the money on us and didn’t bother to validate anything we spent. That man was an informer, a traitor to his own people. We would have prevailed if you had let me do what I do. I had things worked out with the Governor’s Office. We might have hit a bump in the road, but no prison.”
The Sheriff was more agitated. “Your own daughter talked me into this. She said we had to do something or this GBI man would bring everything crashing down. Seems like to me that you and her are trying to put me behind the eight ball.”
Linda made a grab for her gun and then tried to pull the Sheriff’s gun from its holster. The Sheriff gave her a shove and she stumbled against the railing behind her.
The Sheriff walked up to the bench and looked the Judge in his eyes. At that moment, lighting struck somewhere nearby. For a few short seconds, the shadows of the courtroom disappeared, and I could see everything clearly. I hoped it was a sign from above, but I couldn’t tell if anyone else saw the symbolism.
I thought for a second the Sheriff was going to hit the Judge. I could see his hands were balled up into fists. “Sheriff,” the Judge started, “I still wonder whose daughter she really is. Her excesses seem to come from someone else’s loins.”
Linda Pelfrey was shaking her head as she spoke up. “A little late to deny my paternity now, Daddy. And no matter what the biology may be, you made me what I am. One way or another, you made us all what we are.”
The Judge ignored his daughter. He was shaking his head. “We’ve all been participants in this enterprise. Each of us has gained from our time in public service. Some of us just have more to lose than others.” The Judge stood up and stepped down from the bench. He walked around in front of me.
“Son, I have only sentenced one man to death,” the Judge said in a somber tone.
I interrupted. “I think, from a technical standpoint, it would be two. If you count Justin Harris.”
The Judge looked at Givens. He shrugged. “I guess from a technical perspective, I did have a hand in that, even if I didn’t pass sentence.”
“Judge,” I said, “you can’t get out of this by killing me. In fact, you’ll only make matters worse. You know this better than I do, there isn’t a good way out of this for you. Things are too far off the rails for you to be able to politic your way out.”
The Sheriff stepped closer to the Judge. “I’m an old man. I ain’t going back to prison.” I saw a look pass between Givens and Judge Pelfrey. My eyes darted between the two of them, trying to read an expression, hoping to prepare for whatever they might do next.
The Judge looked around the courtroom for a couple of seconds. He pulled his hat back on and stepped down from the bench. “Sheriff, we have some difficult decisions to make, right now. And whatever we do, it would be wrong to do them in this courtroom. This is still a house of the law.”
The Sheriff sneered at that. “It ain’t never bothered you before to do things in this courtroom. What’s changed?”
The Judge stopped for a moment, lost in thought. He looked at Linda for a moment and then back at the Sheriff. “Let’s me and you and the Chief step back outside and talk. And bring along our young friend.”
They walked out the front door of the courthouse, and I followed them out. Whatever was going to happen, I hoped to have a say.
As we made it outside, there was another clap of thunder off to the north. When the rumble had died, I thought I could hear a truck coming toward the square. The engine’s rumble and the sound of tires in the rainwater were clear. I wondered about trying to flag down the driver for help but wasn’t confident Givens was districted enough for me to try.
I saw Givens move to the side, equidistant between the Judge and the Sheriff. He had Linda’s revolver in his right hand and was bringing it up to a “low ready” position.
Givens was focused on the Sheriff. I saw that Givens was holding out Linda Pelfrey’s gun. I tried to cut him off, but he went straight to the Judge. Before I could get in a position to do anything, Givens handed the pistol to the Judge.
Linda Pelfrey came out into the rain and moved toward her dad. She pointed at the Sheriff. “He has to be the fall guy. He’s already served time.” She pointed at Givens. “You have to fix this.”
“You do your own dirty work,” Givens said. “I’ve done your dirt for too many years.”
I looked toward the road to Blue Ridge, and what I saw made my day. A procession of Georgia State Patrol blue-and-gray cars rolled into the square. I counted eight. No one on the porch seemed to notice, or maybe they didn’t care, too focused on what was unfolding between the Judge and the Sheriff.
When I turned back, there was a look of sadness on the Judge’s face. Then it was resignation. He was holding the little revolver in his big hands and seemed to be contemplating what to say next. Then, without warning, he pointed his daughter’s gun at the Sheriff.
The State Patrol cars lined up in front of the courthouse. Behind them all was Willie’s DNR pickup truck. They were still, apparently, unaware of the group gathered on the portico.
The Sheriff realized the Judge was bringing the gun up in his direction. The Sheriff’s right shoulder dropped as he was trying to get his own gun out, but the raincoat was in his way. I didn’t even hear the blast from the gun in the Jud
ge’s hand, I just felt it. The concussion of an explosion from a pistol can be stunning when you are close to the muzzle. The flash was blinding. Then a fine mist of blood hit my face as the Sheriff dropped in his place. The Sheriff had managed to get his gun out and fired a round into the pavement, which struck near my right foot. The Judge’s bullet had entered just below the Sheriff’s right eye. When he hit the ground, his body jerked and then went still.
Almost as soon as the shots was fired, the Judge’s daughter ran forward and started kicking the Sheriff’s still-cooling body. Everyone else stood stock still. Still trying to process what had just happened to the Sheriff, there was no time for me to react as the Judge stuck the gun under his chin, pressed tight against his flesh, and pulled the trigger. I heard Linda screaming, but she was too late.
The .38 bullet did a lot of damage. But the biggest damage from a pressed contact wound is from the expanding gases coming out of the barrel. The gun pressed under the chin had caused the Judge’s skull to explode and brain matter to rain down on everyone close by.
The Troopers seemed to have heard the shots as they got out of the State Patrol cars. The passengers pulled riot shotguns from inside the car and racked the mechanisms. That sound was about as loud as the thunder on that stormy night. They were looking all around, struggling to figure out where the shots came from.
Givens looked over his shoulder and saw the Troopers coming up the steps toward him. He made a break back into the lobby of the courthouse. He pushed past Linda and knocked her off her feet. She rolled over backward into the standing water. Givens hit the door with his right shoulder. Without thinking, I took off after him. My left knee was killing me, but adrenaline helped me keep up with someone who smoked unfiltered cigarettes.
I glanced back and saw the Troopers were moving en masse, but I knew they were too far away to help me.
Givens ran into the front hallway of the courthouse. I was about ten steps behind him. He must have heard me come through the main door. He stopped and turned toward me, looking me over, as if to size me up. He dropped his hand to his pistol. I saw his eyes narrow; he had decided I was in his way.
The adrenaline had my heart thumping in my chest and my breathing was ragged. I tried to sound calm and rational. “Chief, you won’t get far. And shooting me is only going to make matters worse,” I said.
Givens shrugged. “Maybe from where you stand. But from where I stand, I’ll get a lot of satisfaction from killing you. You ain’t from here, and you don’t know our ways. You’re just another outsider who needs to be put in his place. I been crushing people like you all my life. And if I go to prison, the time will go faster knowing your dead.”
I put my left hand into my pants pocket and grabbed for my set of extra keys. His revolver was still in the holster for the moment, and it looked like he was still deciding what to do about me. His top lip curled as I took a limping step toward him, obviously not seeing me as a threat.
I took another step, and as I did, I tossed my keys directly into Givens’ eyes. Both his hands went up to his face, and I lunged at him. Unarmed and weakened from exhaustion, I took the only option I had and slammed my fist into his Adam’s apple. His face went white, and he doubled over. As he started falling, I followed him down. He was still trying to fight with me, but gasping for breath, working to get his revolver out. I laid on top of him and tried to get his gun under control.
We rolled around on the floor for a few seconds, but it seemed like hours. Givens was struggling with me to get his handgun out of the holster. I started driving my right knee into his gut to keep him from getting it out, but he was a tough old bird. He edged the revolver out of the holster, and I heard a loud boom. It felt like my left calf was on fire. Then I twisted my upper body around to my left. I got my left hand on the cylinder of his gun and jammed my right elbow into the side of his head. I had a death grip on the cylinder, and as long as I could hold on, the gun wouldn’t fire. The weight of the handcuffs in my jacket pocket reminded me that I had a weapon after all. I pulled the cuffs from my pocket and hit him in the head several times with them. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were replacements for the ones left on Justin Harris. Finally, he stopped moving.
I heard people come running into the courthouse behind me. I was glad when I heard Willie speak up. “That man is a GBI Agent. Somebody put the Chief Deputy in cuffs. I’ll explain the charges later.”
Two Troopers in raincoats sat Givens up. He was having a hard time breathing and his head was bleeding. One of the Troopers kicked Givens’ gun out of reach.
“You might want to get him some medical help. I had to hit him in the windpipe to get his gun away from him,” I said. They looked at me like I was from Mars. Givens was coughing and wheezing, and we were both sitting on the floor bleeding on the carpet.
Willie helped me from the lobby floor. I got back on my feet with considerable effort. I felt down my left calf and found a burn spot in my pants. The gun had gone off right beside my leg, but the bullet had missed me. I noticed that my hands were shaking, and my mouth tasted like cotton.
When I limped outside, the Troopers were gathering everyone together. They handcuffed everyone and put them on the wet steps of the courthouse. They cuffed the Gilmer County Deputies, too. I stood on the porch of the courthouse and watched them.
I heard sirens in the distance and knew more help was on the way. That sound was one of the best I had heard in a long time. It was like a trumpet sounding as the cavalry comes to the rescue.
In a couple of minutes, I recognized Will Carver’s GBI dark-blue Crown Victoria pulling up on the scene. He was followed closely by several other older Fords driven by Regional Agents. All of them were wearing their mesh vests with the letters GBI in bold yellow. I had never been so happy to see those gold letters in my life.
Carver got out of his car and walked up to the steps. He asked the nearest trooper, “Who are the bodies?”
I spoke up. “Will, that’s Sheriff Hodge and Judge Pelfrey.”
Carver’s face was drawn with worry. I realized that when he saw the bodies on the steps, he assumed one was me. Carver said, “Are you okay, son?”
“I’ll be damned if I know,” I said. “I’m not even sure I can tell you what just happened.”
“Did you shoot either one of them? Or anybody else, for that matter?” He motioned at the two bodies on the top of the steps.
I shook my head. “No. It was a murder-suicide.” Carver seemed relieved.
“Who shot who?” Carver asked.
“The Judge popped the Sheriff, and then did himself.”
About that time, two of the Troopers brought Givens out and called for a medic. His face was white and he was still having trouble breathing. I heard a trooper call Gilmer 911 to get an ambulance dispatched.
Carver gave me a look. I thumbed toward Givens. “I did do that one.”
Carver looked at Givens and then looked back at me. After a second, he broke into a big smile. “You might make a good Field Agent yet.” Then he turned and started dealing with the mess we had.
Carver got a couple of the Troopers to put raincoats over the bodies. Then he turned back to me. “There are several more agents on the way here. As soon as we get enough help on the scene, I’ll have one transport you down to the hospital in Jasper to get looked at.”
“I’m okay,” I said.
His eyebrows went up. “You don’t look okay.”
I couldn’t figure out what had happened. “You got here faster than I thought you could. Who got through to you?”
“I got the notice when GSP Blue Ridge ran your tag. They did it while working the accident. When the notice came into the Radio Room, I called the post and they said the driver was arrested by Gilmer County for impersonating a GBI Agent. They told me the whole thing was fishy. Right before I called them, one of the Troopers on the scene had started making inquiries. When the wrecker pulled your truck up onto the road, they found the police radio and your notebo
ok in the car. I had barely hung up the phone with GSP when the GBI Radio Room patched your DNR friend through to me.”
“But if that’s what alerted you, what took so long to get help here?”
Carver smiled and shook his head at the same time. “The GSP Troop Commander for this area is Chargin’ Charlie Jenkins. When we put a call in for help and told him what was going on, he insisted on getting Troopers from all over the area. Said he wanted enough help to get control of the situation.”
“I’ve never been as happy to see a Trooper coming my way with blue lights on as I was tonight. I didn’t think this crowd would kill me, but I wasn’t sure anybody gathered here tonight could come up with a better idea. I was beginning to think I would end up the one under the raincoat.”
A Trooper wearing Captain’s bars came up and shook Carver’s hand. The man I assumed to be Jenkins looked me over without offering his hand. Carver said, “This is the reason for all the excitement.” Carver introduced me, and Jenkins shook my hand. With my head and leg bleeding, and my clothes covered in blood from the Sheriff and brain matter from the Judge, I’m sure I looked like a mess.
Jenkins looked me over. “Son, you look like ten miles of bad road. Can we get you an ambulance?”
I shook my head. “I’m okay.”
Carver spoke up, “We’ll transport him down to the hospital in Jasper. I think he’s ready to get out of Gilmer County.”
“Amen to that,” I said.
Troopers were taking each of tonight’s participants from the steps to be locked into a patrol car. Most everyone was sullen and quiet. Linda Pelfrey was screaming and crying intermittently. She didn’t take well to being locked into the back of a GSP unit.
Captain Jenkins motioned for a Trooper to come over. He was carrying a Medic bag. Jenkins told him to check me over for any bullet holes. That was a good call, I knew of people in high stress situations who had been shot but didn’t know it. After assessing me, he shook his head. “No apparent bullet holes other than the nick on the leg, but you’ve sure had a rough day. I guess the GBI must pay a lot more than the GSP.”
Mountain Justice Page 19
