A Time to Stand

by Robert Whitlow

  Much like he’d reacted after he shot Deshaun Hamlin.

  Still mad at Sharon Rogers and frustrated with herself for her reaction, Adisa arrived at the office. She fixed a cup of hot tea in the break room and waited for her emotions to calm down.

  Unlike the law firm in Atlanta, the offices of Grayson, Baxter, and Williams were deserted on weekends. Midmorning, the phone on the corner of her desk lit up. Since she didn’t have any clients of her own, Adisa was surprised that a call came directly to her.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Ms. Johnson,” a male voice responded. “This is Luke Nelson. I tried to reach Mr. Grayson, but he’s not answering his phone.”

  “He’s at a soccer match with his granddaughter. Is everything okay?”

  “No,” Luke answered. “Shots were fired at my house this morning. The bullets came through the wall in my little girl’s room.”

  “Was she hurt?” Adisa asked, sitting up straighter in her chair.

  “No, she was in the kitchen eating breakfast. Detective Maxwell is coming out in a few minutes, and I wanted to let you and Mr. Grayson know what was going on.”

  “I’m sorry but glad you’re all safe.”

  “That’s not all.”

  Adisa listened as Luke told her about the bloody uniform. The whole scenario at the Nelson residence made her slightly sick to her stomach.

  “I’m coming over there,” she said. “I need to see this for myself.”

  “Are you sure? I took pictures of the uniform and the holes in the wall.”

  “Did you find the bullets?”

  Luke was silent for a moment. “No, and I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. I guess I’m still in shock.”

  “That’s understandable. I’m on my way.”

  The call ended. Adisa realized she didn’t know the address and had to check the file before leaving the office. It was less than ten minutes away. She pulled onto the modest suburban street. In her rearview mirror, she saw a black car with tinted windows following her. She parked in front of Luke’s house and got out.

  The black car entered the driveway. A white man in his forties eyed her suspiciously. The look communicated, in a minuscule way, what she knew many young black men experienced during even a casual encounter with the police.

  “This is private property!” he called out, holding up his hand.

  “I’m Adisa Johnson, one of the lawyers representing Officer Nelson,” she replied, staying close to her car. “He called me about what happened.”

  “Then you know this is a crime scene. I’m instructing you to remain where you are.”

  Adisa leaned against her car. The front door of the house opened, and Luke came outside.

  “This is Detective Maxwell,” Luke called out to her.

  Adisa didn’t move. Luke spoke to the detective, who said something to him that Adisa couldn’t hear. Luke gave a longer response. The two men talked back and forth several times before Maxwell turned to her. Adisa was on the verge of leaving when Maxwell spoke to her.

  “You can join us,” the detective said.

  Holding her head high, Adisa walked down the driveway to the detective’s car. Up close, Maxwell had striking blue eyes that were inherently intimidating. It was a physical characteristic she suspected would be a big asset when trying to pry information from criminal suspects. He turned his blue eyes on her.

  “Do you realize there’s a risk being here?” he asked.

  “Yes, but I wanted to come anyway.”

  Luke gave Adisa a look between gratitude and desperation. She heard a siren as a second police car came barreling down the street.

  “That’s Officer Alverez,” Maxwell said. “I’d like you and Ms. Johnson to stay in the house while we check the wooded area.”

  “I’d want to go, too,” Luke said. “After all, it’s my house—”

  “And whoever was there might risk another shot if he sees you,” Maxwell said. “We can’t take that chance.”

  Luke wiped perspiration from his forehead and didn’t argue. Adisa followed him inside, where Jane and Ashley were sitting on the floor of the den. The baby was surrounded by toys. Jane looked up when Adisa entered.

  “Sorry about the mess,” Jane said in an attempt at a normal voice that disappeared behind a quivering lip and a cascade of tears.

  Adisa immediately sat down on the floor beside Ashley, who had her back to her mother.

  “My nieces have one of these,” Adisa said to the little girl and then picked up a hollow ball with different shapes cut into its surface so that plastic pieces could be placed inside. “Do you know where to put the square?”

  Adisa handed Ashley a purple square and positioned the ball so it fell inside.

  “Good!” Adisa exclaimed and then glanced at Jane, who was leaning against a well-worn couch with her eyes closed.

  “I found a shell fragment,” Luke said, standing in the door to the den. “It was on the floor on the opposite side of the room. There are probably others.”

  “Maybe it would be better for the detective to take over,” Adisa replied as she handed a yellow oval to Ashley and then rotated the ball so the little girl could find the right opening. “That’s his job.”

  “Ashley and I are leaving Campbellton for Florida to stay with my mother,” Jane said.

  Adisa glanced at Luke, who had his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t respond. She didn’t want to step into the middle of such a tumultuous marital discussion.

  “But I’ll come back for the trial,” Jane continued. “I have to be here for that.”

  “Yes,” Adisa said quickly. “Your presence in the courtroom will send a powerful message.”

  She picked up a green triangle that Ashley tried to squeeze through the hole designed for the circle. Adisa gently placed her hand on the little girl’s fingers and guided the triangle to the right spot. She felt the softness of the baby’s hand. Her heart jumped up in her throat over the scary events of the morning.

  “Everything is okay now,” she said soothingly to Ashley.

  “No, it’s not, and that’s why I have to go,” Jane responded.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disagree,” Adisa said. “I was just trying to say something comforting to Ashley. At least she’s innocent and doesn’t know.”

  “Which makes placing her life in danger even worse.”

  A shocking comparison suddenly hit Adisa. In the moment before Luke pulled the trigger, Deshaun Hamlin had been as innocent as a fifteen-month-old child.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  ADISA FOCUSED ON playing with Ashley and trying to get to know Jane better.

  “You’re awesome with kids,” Jane said after Adisa finished reading a couple of books to Ashley.

  “I used to babysit when I was a teenager, and I’ve had a little bit of practice with my sister’s children. But actually, it’s been a while since I spent this kind of time one-on-one with a toddler.”

  “You’re a natural and will be a great mom when your time comes,” Jane said.

  “I’m not in a rush,” Adisa said with a smile.

  “And you shouldn’t be,” Jane said, glancing over her shoulder at the entrance to the den and then lowering her voice. “Luke and I were just beginning to adjust to life as parents when the shooting happened. He loved his job, we’d been able to buy this house, and Ashley was born. It goes to show how life can turn upside down in a hurry.”

  Adisa handed Ashley a magnetic toy that had proved its ability to fascinate the little girl and scooted closer to Jane.

  “I’m praying about the case,” Adisa said.

  “Thanks,” Jane replied. “We need all of that we can get. And the story you told about the young man’s grandmother asking God to forgive Luke really touched me.”

  “I hope to see her when I go to her church.”

  Jane paused for a moment. “Do you think you could give her a message from me?”

  “Maybe,” Adisa said. “But some wo
rds need to be said in person.”

  Jane ran her fingers through her hair. “Just tell her I’m praying that Deshaun will get better. I haven’t brought it up with Luke, but it’s been on my heart since that day at the office.”

  “Okay,” Adisa said and nodded. “I’ll see if there’s a good chance to pass that along.”

  There was a loud banging at the front door that startled both Adisa and Jane.

  “I’ll answer it!” Luke called out from the rear of the house.

  A few seconds later, Adisa saw Luke quickly walk past.

  “I’m going, too,” she said to Jane.

  By the time Adisa reached the front door, it was already open and Luke was talking to Detective Maxwell and Officer Alverez.

  “We covered the whole area,” Maxwell said to Luke. “We found a spot where the underbrush was smashed down and the shooter would have had a good view of the house. We didn’t find any spent shell casings, which isn’t surprising. We interviewed the people who live on the other side of the woods and no one heard or saw anything. It’s surprising someone would do something like that in the daylight.”

  Luke handed the detective a plastic bag containing several metal fragments. “Here’s what I found in Ashley’s room and dug out of the wall,” he said. “It looks like hollow-point ammo.”

  The detective lifted the bag and held it at eye level. “Yeah, it broke up on impact. Not the best for piercing the walls of the house. It looks like there are copper components. We’ll send it to the ballistics lab in Atlanta and see if they can figure out the caliber and the type of gun that fired it.”

  Adisa shuddered at the thought that one of the sharp fragments could have struck Ashley. Luke glanced over his shoulder toward the interior of the house.

  “Jane is with the baby,” he said. “And I don’t want her to hear any of this. She’s threatening to take Ashley to Florida to stay with her mother until this is over.”

  “I know you want your family with you, but it might be a good idea,” Maxwell said, his voice softening.

  Adisa saw the muscles in Luke’s neck tighten.

  “In the meantime, don’t do anything else in the room,” Maxwell continued. “If you happen to see other fragments, collect and save them, but don’t dig into the walls or repair the damage. I want to come out on Monday and go over the room myself.”

  “Jane isn’t going to like that,” Luke said. “She’ll want to remove any trace of the bullets as soon as possible.”

  “Blame it on me,” Maxwell answered.

  Watching the exchange between Maxwell and Luke, Adisa couldn’t figure out if the detective was sympathetic to Luke’s plight or not.

  “And the uniform in the yard,” Alverez said, turning to Maxwell. “I brought the kit you radioed me about.”

  “What kind of kit?” Luke asked.

  “To test the stains on the uniform.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it’s paint,” Luke replied.

  “I’d rather be sure,” Maxwell answered. “We can do a field test, and if it’s positive, I’ll take the fabric in for further evaluation.”

  “May I watch?” Adisa asked.

  Maxwell hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. “Okay, but don’t get in the way.”

  Adisa stuffed the feeling that the detective was treating her like a fourth grader. She and Luke followed him across the yard to the uniform. Alverez opened the door of his cruiser and brought over a black briefcase.

  The blue cloth was discolored in several places, with the biggest stain on the front of the shirt. Maxwell knelt for a few moments before opening the briefcase and putting on latex gloves. He took a bottle of liquid from the briefcase.

  “What’s that?” Adisa asked.

  “It’s similar to hydrogen peroxide,” the detective replied. “It reacts with organic matter by foaming up.”

  The stain looked like brownish-red paint to Adisa. Maxwell unscrewed the top of the bottle and poured it on a corner of the stain near a pocket. Foamy white bubbles immediately appeared.

  “Whoa,” Luke said. “It is blood.”

  Maxwell looked up at him. “Yes, and it took a lot of it to cover this much of the uniform.”

  Maxwell slipped the clothing into a large, clear plastic bag.

  “Where do you think the uniform came from?” Luke asked. “It looks real to me.”

  “It is,” Maxwell replied.

  “What size are the pants?” Alverez asked.

  “Are you missing a uniform?” the detective asked.

  “Yes,” Alverez replied. “The cleaners lost one.”

  Maxwell took the trousers from the bag and, with both Luke and Alverez peering over his shoulder, looked at the place beneath the waistband for the pant size.

  “Thirty-six thirty-two,” Alverez said. “That’s my size.”

  “Which cleaners do you use?” Maxwell asked.

  “New City on Sunset Avenue.”

  “I’ll check it out,” Maxwell replied. “And let the chief know you shouldn’t be charged a lost uniform fee.”

  Maxwell returned the bloody clothing to the plastic bag. Alverez reached out and patted Luke on the arm.

  “See you, buddy,” Alverez said.

  “Thanks for coming,” Luke replied.

  Luke headed toward the house. Adisa started to follow him.

  “Ms. Johnson,” Maxwell said. “Stay for a minute.”

  Luke turned around as well.

  “Not you, Officer Nelson.”

  Adisa started to protest that Luke had a right to hear anything Maxwell wanted to say but stopped. The detective waited for Luke to reenter the house and close the front door.

  “I’ll let you know about the test results for the uniform,” he said.

  “Okay,” Adisa said slowly. “I’m working at Theo Grayson’s firm. You can call me there.”

  “I know.” Maxwell checked the closure for the plastic bag and then directed his gaze toward her. “Mr. Grayson represented my father in a case a number of years ago.”

  “I hope that went well.”

  “It did.” Maxwell gripped the plastic bag tightly in his right hand. “And I’m willing to speak with you about the Nelson matter so long as it’s completely off the record.”

  “What do you mean?” Adisa asked, her eyes widening. “I can’t commit to confidentiality without knowing what it’s about.”

  “Trust me, you should agree.”

  Adisa hesitated. At some point she would have the opportunity to place the detective under oath and ask him anything she wanted to about State v. Nelson. But Mitchell Maxwell would also have the opportunity to select one of a thousand answers to give. She mentally scrambled for a way forward.

  “Agreed,” Adisa said before she talked herself out of making a commitment she wasn’t sure she could keep.

  “There’s good beef jerky, and there’s bad beef jerky,” the detective said and stopped.

  Adisa waited. Maxwell knelt and began to repack the test kit into the black briefcase.

  “What does that mean?” Adisa asked.

  The detective closed the top of the black briefcase and didn’t respond.

  “That’s it?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Maxwell said, standing up.

  He carried the plastic bag containing the uniform and the black briefcase to his car. Adisa watched him back out of the driveway. Before she reached the front door, Jane appeared with a cell phone in her hand.

  “You had a call so I grabbed your phone from your purse.”

  She handed the phone to Adisa, who quickly pressed the receive button.

  “I’ve been here for almost an hour,” Shanika said. “How soon can you join us? The weather is so nice that I’d like to take Aunt Josie out for a drive around town, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it by myself.”

  “I’ll be there in a bit,” Adisa replied. “I’m almost done.”

  Luke joined her and Jane in the doorway. “What did Maxwell say?” he asked.r />
  “He’s an odd guy, isn’t he?” she responded, stalling for time.

  “Yeah, but he’s the best investigator on the force,” Luke replied. “Did he say anything about me and my—”

  “I thought you didn’t trust him,” Jane cut in.

  “Oh, that was about the way he handled a burglary case when I caught some kids breaking into the abandoned warehouse on Lancer Avenue. He criticized the statements I took from the suspects at the scene.”

  “He probably wanted to interview them himself,” Adisa said, looking at her watch. “I need to go. My sister arrived in town a little while ago to spend time with my aunt. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything from Maxwell about further tests on the uniform.”

  “Okay,” Luke replied.

  “And thanks for letting me play with Ashley,” Adisa said to Jane. “I hope it helped.”

  “A lot,” Jane said with a glance at Luke. “Oh, don’t forget your purse.”

  Jane reentered the house. As soon as Adisa had her purse, she walked quickly to the street and drove away. She called Grayson’s cell phone, but he didn’t answer.

  “Probably turned off his phone so he could watch soccer,” Adisa muttered.

  Arriving at Aunt Josie’s house, she saw Shanika’s new minivan parked in the driveway.

  Emotionally exhausted by the morning’s trauma, Jane curled up with Ashley for a late-morning nap. Luke remained hypervigilant. He moved Ashley’s crib into the guest bedroom, which was better protected from the rear of the house. In the process he found another bullet fragment beneath the crib. He didn’t tell Jane, but he put the metal shard in a fresh plastic bag that he hid in the bottom of his sock drawer.

  Checking on Jane and Ashley, who were still sound asleep, Luke took his gun from the top of the refrigerator, quietly left the house, and walked across the yard to the wooded area. As he approached the trees he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His senses sharpened. He carefully made his way forward a couple of steps at a time, turning around to see if he’d reached a spot where the shooter could possibly have fired at the house. He was surprised by how soon the trees obscured the line of fire. Whoever took the shots was very close to the edge of the woods. Several broken twigs and areas of pressed-down underbrush revealed the recent presence of Detective Maxwell and Bruce Alverez. Luke got down on his knees in a likely area and crawled around looking for anything unnatural on the ground. He saw something under a leaf and pulled out part of a torn candy wrapper that looked like it had been there for weeks or months. He stuck it in his pocket.