Facing Evil

by C L Hart

  Bernard and Cheryl, two lawyers from Nathan’s firm, sat quietly amongst the boxes and folders filled with papers. Neither seemed to be overly concerned about the expectant atmosphere of the courtroom; they had their work to do, and they were doing it. The noise level dropped considerably when the side door of the courtroom opened and Nathan and Abby came in.

  Abby sat silently observing the legal team working on her behalf, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed a familiar face and she turned in acknowledgement.

  Lieutenant Banks nodded discreetly, but her expression didn’t change. A moment passed and then she stood up and came over to the short partition separating the defendant from the general public. “Nathan,” Lieutenant Banks hissed loudly.

  He turned around in surprise. Seeing Mary Banks, he jumped to his feet and went to her. Abby watched with interest as the two whispered back and forth, but try as she might she couldn’t make out what was being said.

  The doors to the courtroom opened and Ronald de Barr and his entourage of legal assistants entered like a rock star. If it hadn’t been her life on the line, Abby would have found great amusement in the Assistant DA’s circus-like performance. With much pomp and circumstance, de Barr marched down past the rows of the gallery with his eyes firmly fixed on the judge’s bench. When he reached the small gate of the partition, his eyes drifted over to Lieutenant Banks in deep discussion with Nathan. Annoyance flashed on his cocky face as his glare went from his professional adversary to Abby.

  Ignoring de Barr, Nathan and Mary finished their conversation and parted. Nathan’s outward appearance had not changed, though Abby could sense something was wrong. Nathan took his seat and reached into his briefcase.

  Abby leaned over and whispered, “What’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said without looking at her. “Mary got wind of something yesterday, and she spent the morning trying to find out what’s going on, but she came up empty.”

  “Well, de Barr certainly didn’t like the idea of the two of you talking. Did you see the look on his face?”

  “Yes, I did.” He pulled out several papers and scanned them quickly.

  “What’s that?”

  “The witness list,” he said, concentrating on the names listed. “de Barr applied for a warrant, but Mary couldn’t find out what it read, only that it had something to do with a witness...which bothers me.” Nathan turned to his niece and looked her dead in the eyes. “Should it bother me?”

  Before Abby could answer, the door at the front of the courtroom opened. “All rise, the honorable Judge Porter presiding,” a voice boomed as the black-robed judge entered the courtroom.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, are we ready to proceed?” No one demurred, so he nodded to the bailiff. “Bring in the jury.”

  A hush fell over the room as the twelve members of the jury and the two alternates made their way into the courtroom.

  “Okay, let’s get this going,” the judge said to the prosecution and defense legal teams.

  “Actually, Your Honor,” de Barr rose from his seat with a paper in his hand, “before we get started, I’ve one small item that needs the Court’s attention.”

  “Here we go,” Nathan said under his breath to Abby, without moving his lips.

  “I have a warrant, Your Honor,” de Barr waved the paper in his hand, “for the arrest of Nathaniel James Holoman.” de Barr turned to smirk at the defendant’s table.

  The entire courtroom erupted as Nathan jumped to his feet. “What? That’s preposterous! What’s the charge?”

  “Manipulation of a prosecutorial witness.”

  Abby started to rise out of her chair, but she felt Cheryl’s hand on her forearm. “Let him handle it, Abby,” she warned.

  “This is an outrage,” Nathan glared at Ronald de Barr. “I’ll hit you with a slander suit that’s so large, de Barr, your grandchildren won’t have enough money to change their minds.”

  “You and your money don’t scare me,” de Barr challenged before Judge Porter’s gavel rang out loudly.

  “Gentlemen, that will be enough!” He pounded angrily. “Counselors, approach the bench.” All the lawyers on both sides rose. “Lead counsel only,” Porter specified.

  He waited for the two men to approach. “Before either of you says a word, heed my warning.” The judge leaned forward with his hand over the microphone. “I will not let you turn this trial into a circus. Keep the cheap tricks and theatrics where they belong, not in my courtroom! Is that understood?”

  “Your Honor, it wasn’t my intention to disrupt your courtroom, I was only—”

  “Oh, cut the shit and ass-kissing, de Barr! It was your intention and you know it. If you want to use this trial to your own benefit, that’s your business, but play it to your television audience, not to me.” de Barr did his best to keep face as Nathan turned his attention to the judge.

  “Now let me see this warrant.” The Judge took the paper from the ADA’s hand. “What are you trying to pull here?” he muttered as he looked over the legal document.

  “You got this on Saturday evening, so why are you serving it here, this morning, in my courtroom?”

  de Barr looked from the judge to Nathan as both stared back waiting for his answer. “I was waiting for further information, and I was unable to proceed with serving the—”

  Annoyance crossed Porter’s face. “If what this says is true, Ronald, you should have done something about this a long time ago, not now. You wanted to grandstand for the jury and the press.” Before de Barr could answer, Porter held up his hand. “Save it. All right... manipulation of a prosecutorial witness, explain this.”

  “Your Honor, one of the key witnesses for the prosecution, who has been uncooperative to say the least, has been hiding out at the residence of Mr. Holoman.”

  Irritated by the accusation, Nathan looked to Porter. “He’s referring to Sarah Murphy, who has been ‘hiding out’ only from the press. You’re making her sound like a criminal.”

  “But she’s a witness for the prosecution and she’s living at your residence?” Porter looked up from the warrant.

  “The young woman is recovering from life threatening injuries, Your Honor.”

  “Injuries she received from the victim in this case,” de Barr cut in. “And it’s her girlfriend who is sitting there in the—”

  “Hold it... hold it.” Porter held up his hands. “I’m not doing this here. In my chambers.” He grabbed his gavel and slapped it down, "Recess for... whatever."

  The judge rose from the bench.

  "All rise," was quickly interjected, but Porter was already heading to his chambers. The two lawyers followed him, both firing accusations back and forth as they made their way into Porter’s chambers.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this, Ronald. This is petty, even for you,” Nathan sneered. “Manipulation of a prosecutorial witness! What a load of crap.”

  “You have my witness and you’re filling her head with all kinds of things.”

  “She’s a witness, and what she’s a witness to isn’t going to change.” Nathan shook his head in disbelief. “Give the woman a break. She’s still recovering and she needs a place to stay.”

  de Barr fired back, “Then get her a hotel room.”

  “She’s not staying in a hotel room! If you recall, that’s where she was attacked.”

  “Gentlemen, enough,” Porter warned as he removed his robe and sat down. “Now, explain this to me again, Ronald.”

  ♥

  “What’s going on?” Abby hissed the moment Nathan got back to the table, but he ignored her as the judge took his seat.

  Porter made quick work of telling the jury to disregard the charges mentioned by the prosecution. Then he announced an adjournment until the following morning. With a bang of his gavel, Porter left the courtroom. The bailiffs came over to escort Abby to a holding room, and Nathan silently followed.

  “What the hell is going on?” Abby asked angrily as the door c
losed behind Nathan.

  “de Barr is putting on a show for the jury,” he said as he sat down.

  “Well, it worked. Did you see the looks on their faces?” Abby asked.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “So what is all this about?”

  “Sarah. We have to move Sarah out of the mansion.”

  “What? Why? Wait. Is that what this was all about?”

  “In a sense, yes. According to the law, he’s right. She shouldn’t be there while we are at trial.”

  “So he waited until now, that little prick,” she said. “Well, he got the show that he wanted. The second you all left the courtroom, every reporter flew out of there like rats leaving a sinking ship. You realize your place is going to be crawling with them now that they know who she is and where she is?”

  “Yes. I let Lincoln know when we came out of Porter’s chambers, so he is on his way back to the house.” Nathan leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “It was a dumb stunt on de Barr’s part, designed to rattle my cage and to generate more publicity, but it’ll leave us with a foot in the appeals doorway.”

  Abby face grew somber. “You think they’re going to win, don’t you?”

  “I always think they’re going to win. It makes me try all that much harder to prove them wrong.”

  “But do we have enough to prove them wrong?”

  “All we need is reasonable doubt. And that, my dear Abby, we have.”

  ♥

  Lincoln raced up to the front gates of Nathan’s home and was not surprised to see the reporters were already set up next to the driveway. He inched his vehicle forward as the tall iron gates opened, allowing him to pull past the small mob, but not before he was bombarded with questions.

  “Is that really the daughter of Phillip Murphy in there?”

  “Do you know Sarah Jane? Was she Billy Ward’s last victim?”

  “Did you know S. J. Murphy was the reporter who broke the story on Abby Stanfield?”

  He did his best to ignore them as the questions kept coming. When the gate clicked shut, Lincoln roared away up the driveway. His car had barely come to a halt when the front door opened and Robin came out to greet him.

  “They started arriving fifteen minutes ago. Sarah knows they’re there, but not why.”

  “Where is she?” he asked as he climbed from his car.

  “In the garden, where else?” she called after him.

  ♥

  The pressures of the morning weighed heavily on Sarah’s small shoulders as her fingertips brushed over the bright red scar on her neck. Even with all of the work she had done in physical therapy, her head still tilted to one side and the corner of her mouth refused to smile.

  “Sarah.”

  She turned to see Lincoln moving quickly down the pathway toward her.

  “Lincoln, what’s going on?” The fact he was back at the house this early concerned her. “Is Abby okay?” He came around the edge of the rose bushes and she saw the forlorn look on his face.

  “Abby’s fine.”

  “Then what are you doing here? And what’s with all the reporters outside?”

  “They...the reporters, and I’m sure now half the state, know exactly who you are and where you are.”

  The disappointment showed clearly on her face as she tried to smile away the news. “We knew this was going to happen. You all did a great job of keeping it a secret for as long as you did, but they were going to find out eventually.” She turned away from him and from the thoughts racing through her mind. “It’s been a long time since I thought about being in the public eye. I always hated the whole society page thing.” She looked back at him. “Guess that’s part of the reason why I never got along with my social climbing parents. Lincoln, there’s something else, isn’t there?”

  He sighed deeply. “Sarah, you can’t stay here any longer.”

  “What?” The information was not what she was expecting. A wave of fear swept over her face.

  He quickly filled her in on what had transpired in the courtroom that morning.

  Sarah felt her heart skip a beat at the thought of leaving her sanctuary. “I have to leave?” she whispered in disbelief as she looked over the garden and then down at the turbulent ocean below. “After all this time, why now? Where will I go?” she asked over the rising sound of the surf.

  “Nowhere that you don’t want to.” Lincoln watched the blood drain from her face. “Nathan has no choice, but I assure you — wherever you go, you won’t be alone and your privacy will be protected.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be okay,” she said, more to reassure herself than him, as her hand unconsciously came up to cover the scarred side of her face. “I’ll be okay.” She sat up a little straighter and pulled her hand away from her face. “I’m not going to run and hide,” she said defiantly over the increasing noise.

  “No one said you would, but as you can see from the front gates, the press isn’t going to give up easily,” Lincoln said loudly over the rising winds.

  Sarah turned and looked him in the eyes. “Well, you know what? Neither am I!”

  He smiled at her show of spirit. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” he hollered as a rush of thundering air burst above the cliff with the swirl of helicopter blades.

  Startled by the helicopter’s sudden appearance, they turned and looked directly at the photographer hanging out of the side of the open door. Reaching over with his long arms, Lincoln pulled Sarah to his side, doing his best to shield her as she held up her hand to block the camera’s view. Her red hair thrashed wildly in the downwash of the rotors, its loose ends whipping against her sensitive face.

  “Lincoln!” she called out in pain and fear as she turned into his protective shoulder.

  “Come on,” he shouted over the noise. With their heads ducked away from the camera and from the power of the helicopter’s wash, they rushed along the garden pathways. Approaching the house, Lincoln looked up to see Robin throwing open the door.

  “What the hell’s going on? It sounds like Apocalypse Now out here.”

  “The press,” Lincoln said as they hurried past the nervous nurse. “Sarah?” Lincoln motioned her to the small sofa against the wall.

  “I’m okay,” she said, but her voice was shaking almost as much as she was.

  “No, you’re not.” Robin took her wrist to check her racing pulse.

  “I said I’m fine,” Sarah said in a stronger voice as she pulled her wrist from Robin’s hands. “Don’t treat me like a child. Yes, I’m shaking — that stupid helicopter scared the shit out of me.”

  Lincoln knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You realize that was a reporter?”

  “I think that was pretty obvious. I’m sure he got a couple of good shots, too.”

  “There must be something we can do to keep the helicopters away, isn’t there?” Robin asked as she heard the noise of the intruding aircraft flying over the mansion again.

  “Nothing short of inviting the President over for dinner,” Lincoln commented as he looked up at the ceiling.

  “They’ll leave when I leave,” Sarah said quietly.

  Before either of them could comment, the dining room door swung open to admit an angry Nathan. “I knew it wouldn’t take them long to get here.” He gestured to the ceiling.

  “And with a telephoto lens, no less,” Lincoln said. “She was out in the garden and I’m sure they got a clear shot—”

  “You know she is right here. I hate when you do that.” Sarah jumped to her feet. “I’m no longer in a drug-induced coma, so don’t talk over me or around me like I’m not even here.”

  “We don’t mean to, it’s just that...” Lincoln stopped. “You’re right, and I apologize.”

  “It’s my life.” She looked from one to the other. “Maybe it’s time for me to make some of the decisions.” The room fell silent. “Can they really make me leave, Nathan?”

  “Yes,” he said reluctantly. “
Sarah, don’t worry about it. I’ll get you the best room in the best hotel in town.”

  “For me to hide out? For how long — six weeks, six months? I might as well be in prison.” Dejected, she sat down in one of the tall chairs. “Nathan, I appreciate the offer, but no. Besides, it’ll still be a hotel, and I’m not overly fond of them right now.”

  Nathan walked over and placed both his hands on her shoulders. “You tell us then, what do you want to do?” Sarah looked everywhere but at him. “Sarah?” he questioned.

  She lifted her eyes. “I don’t know.”

  At that moment, Nathan wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and tell de Barr and Porter to go to hell, but he knew it would only make matters worse and the headlines bigger. He looked at Robin and Lincoln. “Any ideas?”

  “All I have is a one bedroom studio suite,” she said apologetically.

  Lincoln walked over to kneel next to Sarah. “How about if you come and stay with Carla and me, for tonight anyway? All we have is a pullout sofa in our second bedroom, but it’ll get you out of here and away from the press.”

  Sarah looked to Lincoln. “Don’t you think you should ask Carla first?”

  “Nah. She’ll be thrilled,” he said with a smile.

  “Now all we have to do is figure out how to get you out of here without the world’s press following you,” Nathan said grimly.

  “Don’t worry. I have an idea,” Lincoln said with a growing grin.

  ♥

  First out of the gate was Nathan in his sports car, roaring quickly through the mob of reporters, some of whom sped away in pursuit. Next out of the driveway was Lincoln in his car, quickly followed by Robin in hers, each taking a share of following press, now falling over each other in an attempt to decide which vehicle actually had Sarah inside. Several minutes later, Nathan’s long black limousine slid slowly out of the driveway, the black tinted windows hiding the identity of the occupants in the back.

  “That’s it, that has to be the one she’s in,” said one of the two reporters left as he ran to his car. “The limo and the Mercedes are the only vehicles the old man owns.”