Only about five minutes had passed when the courthouse door flew open and Sabre saw Bob and JP walk toward her. She dashed up the steps and hugged Bob. He hugged her back and then took a deep breath.
“What a great feeling—sucking that smoggy air into my lungs,” Bob said.
“At least there’s room for it now that you haven’t been smoking,” Sabre said. Then she threw an accusing look at Bob. “You haven’t been smoking, have you?”
He shook his head. “No. Cigarettes weren’t too readily available…at least not for me. I didn’t know how to work the system like some of the regulars.”
“Good. At least that’s something.”
“Yes, that’s something,” Bob said.
Sabre held the plastic bag up from Pho’s. “Smell,” she said. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have a sense of smell. Well, I knew you’d be in a hurry to get home to Marilee and Corey so I brought you lunch from Pho’s.” She handed him the bag.
“Thanks, both of you.”
“Ready?” JP asked. Bob nodded. JP turned to Sabre. “How about if I meet you back at the juvenile court after I drop Bob off? You said you had a hearing, right?”
“Sure. That’ll work.”
***
Sabre sat on the bench outside of Courtroom Four talking to Dave Carr as they waited for the special to be called.
“Dana confessed to the police that she lied about the affair with your friend, Bob Clark,” Dave said. “She and George were initially going to try to extort money from him. Then when Foreman died she didn’t see any reason not to continue with the lie.”
“Didn’t she realize that it made Bob look more guilty?”
“I don’t think she thought it through. I’m just glad I didn’t know any differently. That must have really haunted you to have to keep your client’s confidence while your friend sat in jail.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Sabre said.
“I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know they bandaged Frank up and placed him under arrest. He’s still in the hospital, but he’s handcuffed to his bed.”
“So, what Riley said was true?”
“According to Dana, Frank molested her from the time she was about twelve years old until she left his house with George and Riley. The DNA will tell for certain, but Dana says there’s no doubt who the father is. She claimed she wasn’t even sleeping with George when she got pregnant.” Then Dave smirked. “Riley had a pretty good aim. He hit Frank where it hurt the most.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say, Frank won’t have the balls to do that again.”
Sabre looked up and saw JP standing in the hallway near Department Four. She smiled at him. He stayed there and Sabre knew he was being respectful of her private conversation. She stood up and said, “Excuse me a minute.”
She walked over to speak to JP, certain that she felt Dave’s eyes follow her across the floor.
“We’re next,” Sabre said.
“I’ll wait outside. I just wanted you to know I was here.” Without even looking at Dave, he said, “I don’t like that guy.” And he walked out.
Sabre couldn’t help seeing the shrewd look on Dave’s face as she walked back to the bench where he sat. The usual smiling eyes were replaced with more serious ones. Then he sighed and smiled and the playful look returned. He gently picked up Sabre’s hand. “I really like you, Sabre. And you know I’d like to get to know you better.” He paused.
Sabre waited. She didn’t know where he was going with this and she was a little distracted by the setting.
Dave stood up, still holding her hand. “When you’re over the cowboy, let me know.” He brought her hand up to his lips, kissed it quickly and gently, and then let go and walked into Department Four.
Chapter 55
The waitress delivered a Corona and a Midori Margarita to the tall bar table where Sabre and JP were standing. JP paid for the drinks.
“Hey, this is my treat,” Sabre said.
“Next time,” JP said, but Sabre knew it would be the same the next time. He never let her pay when it was just the two of them.
Sabre raised her glass. “To Bob,” she said.
“To Bob.” He clinked his beer bottle against her margarita. They each drank from their respective drinks. “So, what’s going to happen to Riley and Marcus?”
“It’s hard to say. Riley will be charged but hopefully they’ll try him as a minor, not an adult, but either way they have to be able to see how troubled he is. And I’m hoping Dana can get her act together and regain custody of Marcus. If his grandmother doesn’t get her drinking problem under control, Marcus won’t be able to stay there. At the hearing this afternoon, they both seemed committed to making things better for him, but only time will tell.”
“I hope so,” JP said.
“Some parents make growing up so difficult for their children,” Sabre said.
“And some kids make growing up difficult for their parents. My parents were good and sometimes I was such a pain in the ass; one of my brothers was even worse. And look at Sammy’s dad, Ludwik Bernard Sampulski. He spent his whole life trying to make things better for his family and look how Sammy turned out. By the way, Ludwik called me today. He’s taking a trip and he asked me to check on Sammy while he’s gone, just to make sure he has books to read and stuff like that.”
“You must have made quite an impression on the old man.” Sabre looked at JP admiringly. “Where’s he going?”
“He’s returning to Poland with a canister of dirt. He scooped it up off the ground when he first arrived in America. He has saved it all these years and now he’s taking it home to sprinkle on his father’s grave.”
Sabre didn’t even know what to say to that. They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Sabre raised her glass again and said, “To Ludwik Bernard Sampulski.”
“To Ludwik,” JP repeated.
The waitress came by with another order of drinks. JP paid again over Sabre’s protests.
Sabre thanked him. She took a sip of her margarita and then looked into the eyes of a man she had such respect and genuine affection for and wondered why it made her so uncomfortable to think about changing their relationship in any way, not that he wanted to. But did she? Each drink brought her closer to saying something to him. Their eyes held each other in silence. The silence made Sabre squirm. Finally, she said, “What happened with you and Klakken?”
At first JP didn’t answer and he appeared very distant. He sighed. “We were rookies and I was young and foolish and a whole lot wilder. Some would even describe me as ‘cocky.’ The uniform made me more attractive with the ladies and I took advantage of it. I never dated any one girl too long. When they started getting too close I would back off.”
Sabre was surprised to hear this side of JP. She had known him several years now and all she ever saw was a stable, caring man. His charm was in his ruggedness and his laid-back attitude, but although he was extremely handsome and all the women found him charming, she never quite pegged him as a ladies’ man.
JP continued. “Then at a big Christmas party I met this one woman who was as beautiful as rain in west Texas and twice as mysterious. I fell hard and fast, too hard and too fast. It was a whirlwind romance of hotel rendezvous and secret meetings in dark places. She never invited me to her house and she never even told me her last name. I could have found out who she was had I put my mind to it, but at that age the mystery was part of the intrigue.” JP paused.
“And then you found out she was connected to Klakken somehow,” Sabre said, anticipating what was to come.
“Yes, she was his wife and he loved her very much. He idolized her. You could tell by the way he talked about her at the station, but I had never seen her with him and I didn’t know she was married to him. Klakken and I weren’t partners or anything so I wasn’t that close to him, but the other guys said that she was all he ever talked about.”
“Oh no. He found out, I take it.”
“That wasn’t the worst part.” JP swallowed. “We were meeting one night at a shady hotel, a place that rented by the hour. I know it sounds cheesy, but she always picked the hotels and they were always on the cheap side. I appreciated it because I had only been on the force about a year and I wasn’t making a lot of money. But for her, I think it was more about the secrecy and the adventure. We would share a six-pack of beer and she always had a cigarette when we were done, although she said she never smoked any other time. It was like something out of an old noir movie.”
JP stopped talking for a minute. He finished off his Corona and ordered another round before he started to speak again.
“I usually arrived at the hotel first, paid for the room, and waited inside. That’s the way she wanted it. But that night I was running late and I arrived just as she pulled up. I probably would have noticed I was being followed if I hadn’t been frustrated that I was late. And I was anxious to get there and see her. Anyway, I drove up right next to her and got out of the car. She took two steps toward me when a car flew up close to us. I saw the gun sticking out of the window and I flung myself at her to knock her out of the way. But it was too late. There she lay, sprawled on pavement in a pool of blood, her beautiful face blown to bits.”
“Oh, my!” Sabre shuddered.
JP sat in silence.
Sabre said, “Did they catch the guy who did it?”
“Oh, yeah. It turned out to be some punk-ass kid trying to make a name for himself in the gangbanger world. The bullet was meant for me because it would have changed his status if he killed a cop. He’s still doing time in Soledad State Prison. But it was all over the news, local and national.”
“National? Why?”
“Because it turned out the shooter was the illegitimate son of some congressman from one of the southern states.” JP’s eyes dropped down. “Klakken not only lost the love of his life that night, but he was further humiliated by the circumstances of her death. He didn’t want to blame her, so I received the brunt of his anger…not that I didn’t deserve it. I did. I should’ve found out who she was. I was an arrogant kid back then, but I’d like to think I wouldn’t have been with her had I known.”
JP looked at Sabre with a strange emptiness in his eyes. This strong, private man had just made himself so vulnerable to her. She suddenly felt the urge to hold him, to comfort him, even to kiss him. She quickly realized how inappropriate the latter would be and she grew frustrated with herself. It must have been the alcohol. She wasn’t used to drinking and her third margarita glass was nearly empty. It felt good to let loose after all that had happened the past few weeks—the Foreman case, the nightmares, and Bob’s arrest. She hadn’t realized until now just how much had piled up. Sabre didn’t think she was drunk, but she definitely had had too much to drive. That much she knew. She felt lightheaded and her lips were beginning to feel numb. Words were harder to pronounce, but she felt the need to console JP. She reached over with her right hand and touched his arm. He placed his hand on top of hers and his expression softened.
“JP,” she said, with some difficulty. “Why haven’t you and I…why is it…?” She reached up to his head with her left hand and gently stroked the side of his face. She teetered to the side and he reached out and steadied her. His face was so close that his breath felt warm on her cheek.
JP pulled back just slightly and his eyes smiled again when he spoke. “You are something special, Sabre. Probably too special for me, and as much as I’d like to have this conversation right now, I think you’ve had a little too much of the ignorant oil.” He loosened his hold on her.
Sabre tried to steady herself but she had little control. JP reached his arm around her. “We better go,” he said.
Sabre smiled at him as they walked out. “Tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he repeated.
Dear Reader,
Would you like a FREE copy of a novela about JP when he was young? If so, please go to www.teresaburrell.com and sign up for my mailing list. You will automatically receive a code to retrieve the story. Or you can email me at [email protected]
Thank you,
Teresa
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Teresa Burrell has dedicated her life to helping children and their families. Her first career was spent teaching elementary school in the San Bernardino City School District. As an attorney, Ms. Burrell has spent countless hours working pro bono in the family court system. For twelve years she practiced law in San Diego Superior Court, Juvenile Division. She continues to advocate children’s issues and write novels, many of which are inspired by actual legal cases.
Teresa Burrell is available at www.teresaburrell.com.
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