The Advocate - 03 - The Advocate's Conviction

by Teresa Burrell

  “What is going on? Do you think there is some cult trying to take over the city?”

  “I think the tagging is just kids trying to jump on the band wagon, and satanic stuff can be pretty intriguing to teenagers. The media has really tried to sensationalize it.”

  “That’s true. ‘The devil made me do it’ is a great excuse to act badly. But what about all the cases we’re seeing in juvenile court? And that house? Someone is doing something.”

  Bob spoke in a creepy, quiet voice, hissing as he said Satan, “Do you think S-s-s-atan is behind it all? Is he building his empire so he can control everyone and rule the world?”

  “No, I think some creep is out there trying to make a name for himself and destroying people’s lives as he does it, and I think others are getting caught up in the hysteria.”

  The waitress approached the table and took their order. Two eggs, hash browns, bacon, and white toast for Bob. The crepes, or Swedish pancakes, as they called them here, for Sabre. After Sabre placed her order, she said, “I’m getting as bad as you. I order the same thing every time we come here.”

  “No, sometimes you order the French pancakes.”

  “Yeah, I change the topping. Big deal. But I guess that is more than you’d ever do.”

  Bob wrinkled his brow and then nodded as if he had a brilliant thought. He said, “We need to look at all the cases at juvenile court and see what they have in common. Maybe we can figure this out.”

  “We can’t look at all the cases. We don’t know which ones are ritual cases and they’re all confidential.”

  “We can talk to the other panel attorneys and see who has an unusual case, anything that might fall into a ‘ritual abuse’ case. There’s nothing wrong with consulting on the cases.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And I can steal the new detention and disposition reports as they come in. I’ll make copies, of course, and return then.”

  Sabre shook her head. “Bob, you can’t do that.”

  “Sure I can. I’ll gather the information and give it to you. You can make a chart.”

  “Why don’t you make the chart?”

  “You do charts. I don’t do charts. And you know I’ll never get it done. So that’s the plan.”

  “It’s not a very good plan.”

  “It’s a great plan. We’ll record everything we know about these cases, put it all on a spreadsheet, and see what they have in common. Maybe they all belong to the same church, or maybe it’s a political thing.”

  “A political thing?”

  “I’m just saying there must be some connection between these cases.”

  The waitress arrived with their food.

  After she left, Sabre said, “I heard Underwood got a new ritual case yesterday.”

  “I bet he was all excited about that. That guy is weird. He probably gets off on that kind of thing.”

  “You were excited to get one, too, remember?”

  “Yeah, but I was glad to have something that wasn’t so routine. Underpants will probably use it in one of his crazy comic books.”

  Sabre laughed. Bob had a nickname for just about everyone at court. “They’re graphic novels,” Sabre said, imitating Underwood’s previous statement.

  “They’re damn comic books. They look like comic books, they feel like comic books, and they’re even the size of a comic book. They’re comic books.”

  Sabre laughed. “They look like comics to me, too.”

  Bob and Sabre ate their breakfast, occasionally talking about other things in their daily lives. They talked about Corey and Marilee. They discussed the progress on the Lecy case and the lack thereof on Johnson. But Bob couldn’t let go of the plan he had come up with. “We’ll make some categories to compare. So here, write this stuff down.”

  “Why don’t you write it down?”

  “Because I don’t have a pad of paper with me and I bet you do.” Sabre looked up at him sheepishly and took a yellow pad out of her bag. “And besides, you always complain that you can’t read my handwriting.”

  “You’re impossible.” She smiled. “Okay, shoot.”

  “A common church would be the most likely thing.”

  Sabre wrote down Churches. “How about the area they live in?”

  “That’s good. We need to look at any organizations they may belong to.”

  “What kind of organizations? Most of our clients aren’t exactly ‘Rotarian’ material.”

  “I know, but they could belong to some community groups or something,” Bob said. “But, you’re right. Let’s look at other stuff like who the social worker is, stuff like that.”

  “And indicators.”

  “Huh?”

  “The things that make it a ritual abuse case. They vary from case to case. We’ll assess what’s alike and what’s different. It might tell us something.”

  Bob nodded. “That’s a good one. And let’s check to see if these cases are coming out of drug related cases. Maybe it’s a drug culture thing.”

  “Most of our cases are drug related. I don’t think that will narrow the search much.”

  “True, but if there are cases that don’t have drugs involved, it’ll tell us something.”

  They continued to compile and refine a list until it was time to leave for court. Sabre paid for the check since it was her turn. On the way to the car, Sabre said, “You know, this just might help us to understand what’s going on. Who knows? We might crack this thing wide open.”

  “Yeah, it’s a great plan.”

  “Ahh … It’s an okay plan,” Sabre said. “And my secretary can help me.”

  All morning, between cases, Bob would bring Sabre sheets of paper with information on other ritual abuse cases. He gathered it from Underwood, Wagner, Collicott, and several other panel attorneys. By noon, Sabre had information for eight cases, or nine if she included the one she was working on. She skipped lunch and returned to her office to have Elaine create the spreadsheet. She also needed to spend a little preparation time for her afternoon trial, although she was pretty certain it would settle.

  She returned to court around 1:15 p.m. Bob was still there. His morning calendar had run late and he had to meet with his client who was produced from Las Colinas for his trial. Sabre walked up to Bob and handed him a file.

  “What’s this?”

  “The ritual abuse spreadsheet.”

  “That was fast.”

  “Of course. You want a job done, you give it to a woman.” She smirked at him. Sabre was organized and efficient almost to the point of being anal. Her files were all color coded, and every bit of information gathered on a case was attached inside her files with metal fasteners. Sabre knew she couldn’t control certain things in her life and they often became chaotic. But she could keep order in the little things and she counted on that to make it through the day.

  “So did you see any glaring clues?”

  “Nothing jumped out at me, but I just glanced at it. I haven’t had time to study it yet. There are still a lot of blanks we need to fill in, and we might want to add more categories, but it’s what we have so far.”

  Bob reached down and kissed her on the forehead. “Thanks, my post-pubescent nugget of love and carnality.”

  Sabre laughed and walked away. “I need to go do my trial. See you later.”

  Sabre’s trial took about forty minutes to settle and to put it on the record. When she walked out of the courtroom, Bob was still waiting for his trial to start. “How did it go?” he asked.

  “Fine, no surprises.” She shuffled her files to place them more comfortably in her arms. “And that’s a rap.”

  “My trial won’t start for another half hour at least. Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”

  They left the building and started across the parking lot. Sabre handed Bob her files. “Hold these a sec. I need to turn my phone back on and check my messages.” She took her phone out and turned it on. “I’m always hoping I’ll receive some news on Cole.
Oh, there’s a message from JP.” She listened. Her mouth turned down with concern.

  “What is it?”

  “Apollo was arrested for Scott’s murder.” Sabre hung up her phone.

  “And Bailey?”

  “She’s still on the loose.”

  19

  JP entered Sabre’s office building through the back door. It opened into the copy room, which doubled as a lounge area. The small room had once been a porch on this old Victorian home. An attorney, Jack Snecker, had purchased the building some time ago and turned it into office space. The house sat directly across from the family law court so it attracted primarily divorce lawyers. Sabre had been handling domestic cases when she first rented the office space from Jack, but shortly thereafter she found her calling in juvenile court, which was located about ten minutes away. It was an easy decision to remain in the building.

  Jack’s office was on the bottom floor, as was another family law attorney who spent most of his time working with his wife in an ice cream business. Sabre had the third office downstairs. It was meager, but comfortable, and remained the way she had decorated it over the five years she had been there. She often thought about redecorating but it never seemed to be a priority, so the cheap furniture, the simple gray blinds, and the one picture of a single flower remained. Other attorneys occupied the rooms upstairs. They came and went through a different entrance so she seldom saw them.

  Sabre smiled at JP as he stepped inside the copy room through the back door. He seemed to fill the room, although there was admittedly little space left. She stepped forward just as he did, accidently brushing against him. She felt a little awkward, but JP made her laugh when he quickly said, “I’ll give you an hour to quit that.”

  JP stepped back and waved his hand toward the door, allowing Sabre to go first. He followed her into her office, closing the door behind him. Sabre always insisted on privacy when they discussed cases. One of her colleagues had been sued once for something she said in the courthouse restroom. She knew one couldn’t be too careful.

  “So what’s new on Cole and Bailey?” Sabre asked.

  “I keep receiving reports of sightings on Cole, but I’m not sure it’s even him. If it is, that kid is slicker than a wet weasel on a linoleum floor. He’s gone before I can smell the scent.” He rubbed his chin. “I hate being outsmarted by an eight-year-old, but I’d rather think that than to think some pervert has him.”

  “I know. The alternatives are unbearable to think about.” Sabre took a deep breath. “He’s been gone for five days now. What are the chances that he’s even still alive?”

  “The police haven’t found a body, so there’s still hope. And I can’t help but believe he’s out there, but we’re missing something. I just don’t know what it is.”

  Sabre sat for several seconds without speaking. Then she asked, “What about Bailey? Anything?”

  “I’ve been talking to her friends. Or should I say previous friends? She doesn’t seem to have many any longer. I hear the same story from them all. She just sort of dropped out of everyone’s life. She was missing a lot of school, attending only a couple of days a week, and then she often showed up late. She apparently dropped out completely the last three or four months of the last school term. Until recently, no one saw her after that.”

  “No one?”

  “I think maybe Shellie did. In fact, I think she knows a lot more than she’s saying, but she’s not giving it up.”

  “Do you think she knows where Bailey is?”

  “That I don’t know. But it might be worth tailing her for a while, especially now that Apollo has been picked up. Bailey might call on Shellie for help.”

  “That’s a good idea. If she doesn’t have anywhere else to go or anyone to turn to, she may seek out Shellie. God knows, she’s not going to call me. She doesn’t even like me. We never had the chance to bond.” Sabre made quotation marks in the air when she said the word bond. “Maybe you can convince Shellie that I can help Bailey and maybe she’ll be able to convince Bailey to at least call me.” Sabre’s eyes lit up with hope.

  “Not a bad idea, kid. I’ll see what I can do,” JP said. “And by the way, I met with Collicott’s minors on her case and I did some investigation for her. I haven’t had a chance to write the report yet but she said I could share the information with you, for what it’s worth.”

  “So what did you find out?”

  “It’s a single mother caring for the children, dead beat dads, a different one for each child. The first one disappeared when Mom filed domestic violence charges against him. He was in and out of the joint a few times, nothing long term. He’s apparently on the lam now. The second father is unknown, or at least she’s not telling who it is. There’s no name on the birth certificate.”

  “What about Mom?”

  “She has no drug or employment history and receives state aid for the children. She was pretty young when she gave birth the first time, fifteen or sixteen. I’d have to check my file.”

  “Does she have family support?” Sabre asked.

  “She lives with her alcoholic mother. There are other relatives around but they’re all marginal. Frankly, I think the mom is the best of the lot. She seems to really care for her children. She’s just so young, but she seems to be pretty protective. In fact, she kept her baby from being kidnapped.”

  “What?”

  “She was leaving the grocery store with the two kids. The older one had been begging for something and wouldn’t let up. When she knelt down to talk to him, a man tried to steal the baby from the cart.”

  “Oh my God. What did she do?”

  “She attacked him. Hit him with her purse, kicked him, and bit him. He apparently didn’t have the baby all the way out of the basket. The man started to fight back, but then some people came out of the store and he ran off.”

  “Good for her.”

  “That’s what I thought, but DSS is using it against her. They’re using it as an example that the children are at risk.”

  Sabre shook her head. “Did you find anything that would help us?”

  “Not really. No strong religious ties, but they all appear to believe in God. I didn’t find any suspicious activities or unexplainable behaviors. Admittedly, I didn’t have a lot of time to investigate, but I have nothing so far. Nothing except the social worker’s interpretation of the pictures the children drew.”

  Sabre nodded as she listened.

  JP continued, “And Collicott has another case where a teenage girl is in a group home and previously claimed they wanted her to join a cult.”

  “Claimed? Past tense?”

  “Yeah, she has since recanted. I visited the home, and although I haven’t found anything yet, I felt a real strange vibe—like everyone was walking on eggshells. I’m still investigating, running background checks on the employees and owners, etc. But for now, I have nothing.”

  “Sometimes nothing is something.”

  20

  JP had no more than walked out of Sabre’s office when Bob stepped into it.

  “Hey, you just missed JP,” Sabre said.

  “We ‘howdied’ outside,” Bob said, imitating JP. Does he have any news on the kids?”

  “No, but we’re trying a new approach on Bailey. By the way, do you think your client, Karen Lecy, can be convinced to have her daughter call me if she hears from her?” Sabre waved her hand from side to side. “Never mind. I forgot; she’s locked up. She’s not going to hear from Bailey.”

  “No. She’s back on the streets. They released her.”

  “Already?”

  “I guess they don’t think she committed Scott’s murder and there’s no room at Las Colinas to house the druggies right now. But as for convincing her of anything, that’s doubtful. She’s dumber than dirt. She’s fried her brains with all that crap she’s been using. When something about Bailey comes up, she vacillates between blubbering about how Bailey will never forgive her and yelling about what a pain-in-the-ass she
is.”

  “Forgive her for what?”

  “For being such a crappy mother? For bringing her into this world? Hell if I know. I’m sure the kid has plenty of reasons to be angry at her mother and vice versa. But my client isn’t exactly June Cleaver material.”

  “June who?”

  “Beaver’s mother.” Sabre’s face was blank with lack of recognition. “You know, Leave It to Beaver.” Still no response from Sabre. “You don’t watch enough late night television.”

  Sabre tilted her head to one side and rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll talk to her, but I wouldn’t count on much,” Bob said.

  “Just do what you can.”

  Bob opened a file folder, removed the spreadsheet they’d been working on for the ritual cases, and handed it to Sabre. “I have a little more information for you.”

  Sabre looked at the sheet. “Wow. You dug up a lot more. You’ve added three more cases on here and filled in lots of blanks. Where did you get these?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Bob,” Sabre said in a reprimanding voice. “This looks like County Counsel stuff… . Did you snoop in someone’s files?”

  “Would I do that?”

  “Yeah … if you had the chance.”

  “Look, I obtained it legally. Well, sort of.” He waved his hand making a gesture of dismissal. “Just take the information to Elaine so she can type it up and we can start sorting through it.”

  Bob threw three disposition reports on Sabre’s desk. “Oh, and I have these. They should be helpful,” he said.

  “Now you’re stealing reports?”

  “Don’t worry. I made copies. The originals are still in the folders at court.”

  Sabre smirked as she walked out of her office to take the spreadsheet to Elaine. She returned shortly to find Bob reading through one of the reports, his glasses down on his nose so he could see over them. Most people she knew looked over their readers to see distance, but Bob’s nearsighted vision allowed him to see up close. Without his thick glasses, everything in the distance was blurry.