Chasing Justice

by Danielle Stewart

  “I knew you weren’t charming enough to have been born here. You lack the innate warmth of a southerner. I mean you have that endearing little drawl and the yes ma’am thing going on, but I knew you were too brash to be a good ol’ boy. Northerners are a different breed. We’re skeptical and hotheaded. I could tell you had a little of that in you. I blame it on the cold winters. There is something about dredging through icy puddles before the sun comes up that makes it impossible to love thy neighbor the way people do down here.” She poked his chest accusingly with her finger. It was firm and muscular and bent her finger back slightly.

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it. I like to think I have more than a yes ma’am and a drawl. I learned the exaggerated wink, and I’m practically a professional chitchatter in the supermarket. You’ve got the wrong idea about me. If you had met me a month ago, you’d think I was the poster child for southern gentlemen. You, on the other hand, are clearly from the north. Which frosty New England town do you hail from?” Bobby asked, starting to realize Piper hadn’t said much at all about herself in their few encounters. She had clearly tried to drop her accent but it still lingered enough for him to hear it occasionally.

  Piper wasn’t sure how she had let this conversation get away from her. This is what happened when she let little pieces of her former self show through, people always wanted to dig deeper. If she hadn’t been lost for a minute in the majesty of the setting sun falling behind the tree line, then she would have been more effective in guiding the conversation.

  “We moved around a lot. But this is as far south as I’ve ever been, and sometimes I feel like I’m on a different planet. What’s this whole sweet tea thing about? They know it tastes terrible, right? I can’t tell you how many glasses I’ve had to choke down since I moved here just to be nice.” Piper hoped a little commiserating about the swill of the south, as she liked to call it, would have them focusing on something other than her mysterious past.

  Betty pushed the screen door open with her elbow while balancing a tray of empty glasses, a bowl of ice, and pitcher on her forearm. “Who’s ready for some sweet tea?” Betty sang with an enormous grin. Piper had made the idiotic assumption that Betty was inside brewing some hot tea and coffee for an after-dinner treat. But obviously she was inside mixing up the simple syrup and black tea bags to pour over large glasses of ice.

  Bobby’s face was bright red as he tried half-heartedly to stifle his laughter. Piper plastered a gigantic smile across her face and said with as much conviction as she could muster, “Yum.” At that, Bobby let loose his poorly contained amusement. His body shook as tears began to roll down his cheeks, and soon Piper followed suit. The two couldn’t catch their breath long enough to give some explanation to Betty, not that they would have told her the truth anyway.

  “Are you two on drugs? I mean it’s nice to see you getting on so well but someone’s going to pull a muscle.” The two had begun to gather their composure, sit upright again, and wipe the wetness from their eyes. “Well that’s better,” Betty sang, grabbing the handle of the pitcher she had placed on the small outdoor table. “Now we can have our tea.” Piper and Bobby erupted once more in irrepressible laughter.

  Chapter Five

  Piper found the cable company to be a relatively good fit in her life. She had made it easily through her training as well as her thirty day probation period. She was ready to get started on her unaccompanied installations and repairs. The work was repetitive but gave her time to think, and she appreciated that.

  For the last month she had continued to join Bobby, Scott, and Jules for dinner at Betty’s every Wednesday night. Because of her rotating schedule she didn’t have the ability to tail the judge as well as she had before. It also meant fewer breakfasts at the diner with Betty, which was disappointing.

  These new friends and a new job were beginning to lull her into complacency. The world was looking a little shinier and brighter these days, and the memory of the judge’s assault was becoming fuzzy. Her nights were spent dealing with long, internal battles between what she thought was right and what she currently felt was right in her life. She had spent so much of her adolescence immersed in turmoil that for the first time she was feeling a sense of normalcy. Who in their right mind, she wondered, would give that up for the sake of traveling the moral high ground? There were days when she was convinced she had the righteous fortitude to continue chasing down information. Then there were other days she could easily picture herself being quite content swinging on the front porch and counting the lightning bugs after a home-cooked meal at Betty’s house.

  Piper wasn’t inclined to believe much in fate, but it seemed hard to deny as she pulled her white cable van into the driveway two doors down from the judge’s house. She sat for a moment staring over at his door. She told herself if a sign of some sort presented itself then she’d let it reignite the spark that had seemed to be burning so brightly a month ago.

  Piper’s attention was drawn from the judge’s door to the entry of the house she was parked in front of. A tall, voluptuous blonde woman stood waving and practically bouncing out of her much-too-tight clothes. This woman looked as though she was greeting a ship coming home on military leave rather than a stranger from the cable company. Piper liked playing a new game she called “What would Betty say?” Betty would probably describe this woman’s clothes as being tight enough to see her religion. She loved Betty’s unique colloquialisms and found many of them stuck in her head.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” she called to Piper as she stepped out of her van. “Oh, you’re a woman? Well I wish I had known that, I wouldn’t have gotten all gussied up for nothing.” The overwhelming excitement that had seemed to fill the woman left her body all at once.

  “Sorry, Mrs. Jenkins, right? I got a call that you’re having problems with your cable connection.” Piper looked down at her clipboard and read through the brief notes left by the dispatcher.

  “Yes, I’m Mrs. Jenkins. The box thingy won’t come on. I didn’t realize they let women do this kind of work now. I was hoping I’d get one of those tall, handsome men with a baseball hat. Are you one of those lesbians or something? It’s okay if you are. I’m no bigot or anything, not like Mr. Avery down the block. If you tried to fix his cable he’d be standing behind you quoting the Bible to you like he was performing an exorcism or something. But I applaud you people really, bless your heart.” The woman clasped her hands together and tilted her head in a look made up of pity and encouragement.

  “I’m not a lesbian,” Piper said flatly, completely puzzled by how the conversation had turned from a faulty cable connection to her sexual orientation.

  “Oh, thank Jesus. I didn’t think so because you’re so pretty, it really would be a shame,” the woman said as she showed Piper into the house.

  Piper considered starting a long conversation about how assuming that the outward appearance of someone somehow contributed to her sexual orientation did, in fact, make this woman a bigot. But she had to remember that this was a customer, and pissing her off certainly wouldn’t help her in the long run.

  The entryway and formal living room were massive. Piper had never been in such a stunningly decorated home in her life. There were multiple bouquets of fresh flowers adorning every available nook and mantle. Beautiful artwork was hung thoughtfully around every corner. Either Mrs. Jenkins was a designing genius or she had an amazing interior decorator. Considering how hideously and inappropriately Mrs. Jenkins was dressed, Piper assumed it was the latter.

  “You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Jenkins. Now which television is giving you the problem?” With her frighteningly long candy apple red fingernails, Mrs. Jenkins pointed to the spacious media room that had more audio equipment than the local cinema. Piper said a silent prayer that the problem would be something minor and she wouldn’t need to call for any assistance. She wasn’t sure she could stomach one of her coworkers pawing at Mrs. Jenkins and belittling Piper for not being able to do the
job.

  In the center of the room, sitting crossed-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table was a girl. She had dark brown hair cut in a short pixie style that suited her sharp-edged features. She had three large textbooks open in front of her as she tapped her pencil to the beat of whatever pop song was playing through her iPod. She looked up at Piper and Mrs. Jenkins and rolled her green eyes that were covered in far too much pink eye shadow and black eyeliner.

  “Are they finally here to fix the cable? It’s about time. I told you to tell them to hurry up, Mom,” she huffed loudly in the way only a teenager could.

  “Nikki, what are you still doing here? You’re supposed to be over at Judge Lion’s house already. Get your things and go,” Mrs. Jenkins spoke in a hardline voice significantly different than the bubbly exuberance she had shown Piper—well, prior to insulting a whole subset of the population by announcing that Piper was too pretty to be a lesbian.

  Upon hearing the judge’s name Piper stumbled and knocked over the tool bag she had just placed on the side of the cable box. Had she really just heard Mrs. Jenkins tell her daughter to go to Judge Lion’s house?

  She quickly tried to gather up her loose tools from the hardwood, praying one of them hadn’t scratched it and the commotion wouldn’t push the conversation into another room.

  “Mom, I told you I didn’t want to go there anymore. It’s boring. All we ever do is talk about old court cases and look through stupid photo albums of people I’ve never heard of. I wrote one paper on the guy because I figured it would get me a good grade, and now he thinks he’s my mentor. I’m over it.” Nikki’s argument didn’t seem to faze her mother, who had begun closing her books and shoving them into her backpack.

  “You are going. Having a man like Judge Lions take an interest in you is an honor, and you aren’t going to blow it because you think it’s boring. The man is very important in this community, and if he sees potential in you then you should take it seriously. Do you want to end up working at the cable company like this poor girl? She has people thinking she’s a lesbian all day, and do you know what? She isn’t. Do you want that to be you? Do you want to wear that unflattering shirt and khakis, crouching down behind people’s televisions all day?” Mrs. Jenkins continued to gesture over at Piper as though she were an exhibit at a museum rather than a person with feelings who might take exception to the insults being hurled in her direction.

  “No, I don’t want that. Fine, I’ll go.” Nikki snatched her backpack from her mother’s hands and stomped heavily out the door.

  “Kids—they think by thirteen they have it all figured out,” Mrs. Jenkins sang to Piper, seemingly unaware of how wounding her little speech may have been. “Just let me know when you have it fixed,” she said, sauntering out of the room.

  Piper went from her crouched position behind the television to sitting with her back up against the wall. She thought if she didn’t lean on something she might just fall over. Her mind swirled with thoughts.

  Was Judge Lions so brazen that he would groom his neighbor’s daughter for some kind of sick purpose under the guise of mentorship? Was that the real reason Nikki didn’t want to go there? It was infuriating to think that he had this community so blinded by his prominence that people were begging to send their daughters to him.

  Maybe it wasn’t like that with Nikki. She seemed very strong-minded and self-confident. She didn’t seem like someone who would carry that weight around with her, even under the pressure of her mother. Either way, regardless of Nikki’s situation, the thought of Judge Lions being allowed in the presence of a young girl was sickening to Piper. Here was her sign; the flame inside her that had dimmed over the last few weeks was officially reignited.

  The image of the powerless girl in the alley, bleeding and petrified, was once again as clear as it had been the day she had witnessed it. The nights she spent parked outside the motel watching the judge exit the back door and arrogantly pull away in his black Mercedes were now all she could think of. She had assumed her sign would come in the way of seeing the judge. Instead, the possibility of another victim was enough to remind Piper why she started this endeavor in the first place.

  Chapter Six

  Her time at the Jenkins home had Piper’s mind wandering through the different possibilities of proceeding with her plan. She knew the judge was a lofty target, she knew following the regular law enforcement channels wouldn’t work, but she also knew he needed to be stopped. She had thought about going to Bobby and telling him what she had seen that day. But after he had shared with her what had gotten him suspended, she realized he didn’t need any more attention. She put herself back in a dark place, one she worked hard to stay out of. She asked herself a question she hated, How would my father have handled this?

  The question may have terrified her, but it did offer a solution. Her father wouldn’t have turned the judge in, because he knew that wouldn’t result in the outcome he needed. The judge was well-connected and would likely be protected. Her father would realize when a man is well-insulated by people, then the only way to make him vulnerable is to turn his protection against him. So the key for Piper would be to learn about the people with whom the judge had frequent dealings. Who was making it possible for him to regularly meet with prostitutes, yet never get caught? Would people protect him in return for judicial rulings in their favor or some sort of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours?” There was very little Piper would admit she had learned from her father, but in this case she knew it was advantageous to have had such a dysfunctional family. Her father had taught her that no man attempting to live two separate lives could maintain such a lifestyle autonomously. Someone, maybe multiple people, must be helping him to continue his charade. Finding out who would be the key. That led her to an old acquaintance she actually found herself happy to see again. He had been one of the first people she connected with when exploring her criminal justice career in Edenville.

  “Piper Anderson, I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth. I haven’t heard from you in over two months,” said the absolutely statuesque Michael Cooper. He stood in the waiting room of his upscale office, ready to escort Piper in. Michael’s hair was sandy blond and a little longer than Piper usually liked on a man, but he kept it styled perfectly with a litany of salon products. “I was so happy to hear you had made an appointment with my office. I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

  “Good to see you as well, Michael. No, I wasn’t waiting long at all, thank you.” Piper took a seat in the large leather chair that Michael had gestured toward. She loved being in his presence. She felt like a different person when she was with him, very much her old self.

  He brought back the unshakable confidence she thought she had lost. When they had spent time together in the past Piper found herself becoming bolder with each encounter. Being with Michael was easy. He was self-absorbed enough not to really notice that Piper never mentioned her past. He never asked her deep questions, and never seemed to need an explanation for anything. When they were together, they lived in the here and now, and something about that made Piper feel completely at ease. In her entire time in Edenville, he had been the only person to have that effect. When she was with Michael, she almost felt like she had an alter ego. Or maybe she simply allowed herself to fall back into being the dynamic, vibrant person she used to be. Everything that had been taken from her seemed to come back when she was with him.

  “I was secretly hoping you had reconsidered my invitation to dinner. I know I’m at least ten years older than you, but I really felt a connection. You are one of the most passionate students I’ve had shadow me in all the years I’ve been doing this. You’re really something special. So it had me thinking we should get to know each other a little better.” Michael lounged back in his plush leather office chair and laced his fingers behind his head. If Piper hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing his bleeding heart in action on three pro bono cases she might find him to be another slimy prosecutor. S
he had watched him work tirelessly for people and things he believed in only to be let down by the very rules he was fighting to uphold. He may have wanted to seem arrogant, but he couldn’t convince her.

  Piper fought a smile as she spoke. “It’s awkward for me to have to be the one to break this to you, but you know you’re gorgeous right?” She leaned in toward him and waited for his response. They’d had their share of playful spats over the course of their brief time together, so she knew he would be game.

  “I’m not really sure how to answer that without sounding completely self-absorbed. Thank goodness I’m not under oath.” He sat up from his lounging position, readying for her quips.

  Piper continued in a mock serious manner. “You’re gorgeous. You have blond hair and those mesmerizing emerald green eyes. Chiseled movie star features. You’re over six feet tall right? You’ve got to be in the gym at least five times a week to have a body like that.” She gestured at his chest. “You wear perfectly tailored thousand dollar suits. I’m sure you have a really expensive car and only eat at the finest restaurants. Let’s face it, you smell amazing. I have a hard time sitting next to you without becoming completely intoxicated by that cologne. And Michael,” she continued coyly, “that smile... you could be in a toothbrush commercial with that smile. You pretty much have what every woman wants.”

  “I thought you were making a case for why you didn’t want to have dinner with me,” he said, raising his eyebrow skeptically, unwilling to accept the compliments until he knew her angle.

  “Well, you see, you’re single. Any man with all those qualities who’s still single has one of two problems. Maybe his standards are far too high, and if I don’t meet them my self-esteem will be shattered, and I’ll develop an eating disorder or get addicted to plastic surgery.” She smiled wryly at him and shrugged her shoulders.