Count This Cowboy In

by Malone, Misty

  Clay related to Trevor and Sam that the police were looking into June Davis, as she was known before marrying Sam's father. They discovered she had also gone by June Simon for a time and June Barrington, although she'd never been married. They were looking for a reason for the aliases.

  They also talked with the doctor who took care of her sister that had the mental condition. They discovered that June had gone to him and asked for a replacement refill of her medication, saying her sister had lost a new 90-day supply. That explained how she got the medicine.

  True to his word, Trevor started letting Sam help on the ranch occasionally. It was always when he was there, as well, but Sam was happy with that for now. She knew it would take time for him to see that she could do some of the routine things, like ride fence and fix weak spots. She was happy with that for now. She hoped to eventually be able to do more, but she was willing to give him the time he needed to feel comfortable with her out in the field some.

  He also made sure they went riding together at least once a week during the month she was not to go out alone. Riding together was something they both enjoyed. He was coming to see just exactly how much she loved living on a ranch. He hoped some day she'd live on his ranch for good and not in the guesthouse, but as his wife. He saw their relationship heading in that direction, but refused to rush her. He had to be sure she came to want that same thing on her own time, with no pressure.

  Clay called a couple months after he turned the matter over to the prosecutor, with news that something had finally happened. The police had made two arrests. They arrested both her stepmother, June and the young attorney, Matt Kline that they now had strong reason to believe she had bribed.

  June was denying everything vehemently, not saying a word without an attorney present. Once she hired an attorney, he advised her not to say anything, so all they were getting from her was a complete denial.

  Matt Kline, however, was ready to talk. He was upset. He related a scheme, wherein she would pay him $5,000 in cash to tell Hank Simmerly that he was representing The Children's Horse Riding League, whom he had recently made a generous contribution to, and they just needed him to sign some papers saying they could use the money he donated as they saw fit. He was to tell Hank that because of new tax laws if they didn't have these signed papers they were very limited as to what the money could be used for. He was told by June that she would give him medication in the morning that made his vision blurry and he would take his word for it and not read them. They put a fake front page on, with the organization's name in big letters at the top and that's all he would look at.

  After the papers were signed she was to send him an additional $20,000 and once she collected from the new will she would send him an additional $25,000. He said she gave him the initial $5,000, but he never saw another dime of the $45,000 he felt he was owed. Going to jail for taking a $5,000 bribe was one thing, but he was not going to go to prison for taking a $50,000 bribe without even getting the money!

  Besides, he was upset that he got caught to begin with. That was all June's fault, so if he was going down, so was she. She had a new boyfriend and told him how she'd gotten Hank to sign everything over to her. When they had an argument and she kicked him out of her condo a year later he was upset. When the police came to question him, he was more than willing to tell them what he knew.

  Matt blamed his getting caught directly on June for telling the boyfriend, so when they arrested him, he, too, was more than willing to tell them what he knew.

  The police were able to go back to June's bank records and found a $5,000 withdrawal from her meager savings account the day before Matt's visit to see Hank. This was viewed as just one more piece of evidence against June and Matt was willing to testify against her in a trial.

  The prosecutor called a couple weeks later. They wanted to talk to Sam about her thoughts on a plea deal. Trevor agreed to take her to Amarillo so they could speak in person. Sam wanted Trevor with her and the prosecutor agreed, after hearing of their relationship. So arrangements were made and two days later they were in Amarillo.

  They stayed at a Holiday Inn close to the courthouse. They were to meet with the prosecutor the next morning, but it was 2:00 and they had the rest of the day yet. Trevor asked, "Honey, would you like to show me the ranch where you grew up? We can drive by if you'd like to see it." When she didn't answer right away he said, "If you don't want to, that's fine. But I know you and I know you're curious. I know you're in a much better place with your father and all your memories now and if you want to see it we can go there. If you're not ready yet, that's fine."

  She looked at him and said, "I am curious. For so long I tried to put all the memories out of my mind, but now I find myself trying to remember the things I was trying to forget."

  He laughed and said, "Would you like to drive by it? We don't have to stop if you're not ready, but we could drive by if you want."

  She hesitated a bit too long and he knew something was bothering her. She looked up at him and said, "I've learned now to come to you with my problems or mixed up feelings."

  "Thank you. Is it a problem or a mixed up feeling you have right now?"

  "I don't know," she said, throwing her hands up as if in surrender. "You said I'm in a much better place with Dad and my memories and you're right, I am. But I could be in a little better place."

  "What do you mean?"

  "There's still the nagging thought at the back of my head, she's denying it all. What if she's not lying?"

  Trevor was surprised to hear her say that. "Honey, should we go over all the evidence again?"

  "No. I know it all; I've gone over it in my head lots of times. I just don't know how to get rid of that niggling thought in the back of my mind. What if we go drive out there just to look at it and all I see is her saying it's all lies?"

  He sat down in the chair, pulling her down onto his lap, thinking. Finally, he said, "Honey, for right now let's not go out there. Let me think about that a bit. I didn't know you were having these thoughts."

  "I don't want to have them. It's like they're haunting me or something. I try to push them out of my mind, but then they pop up again. I don't know how to get rid of them."

  "Let me give it some thought. In the meantime, how about showing me around town a bit? We don't have horses to go riding, but we could go walking. Or if there's somewhere you'd like to go that's further out we can drive, or get a cab."

  "Let's just go walking downtown. That sounds like fun." They spent the next three hours walking hand in hand through downtown Amarillo, stopping at a couple shops to look around, but mostly window shopping and talking.

  "What would you like to see happen to June?" Trevor knew she'd been thinking about it and figured they may as well talk about it.

  She snorted, a very unladylike noise he'd never heard her make before and said, "I'd like to see her go to prison. As far as I'm concerned, she killed Dad."

  "I agree, Honey, but remember what Clay said, that the prosecutor can't prove the medicine actually killed him."

  "But it can cause heart attacks, which is what he died of," she argued.

  "I know, Honey and I think that's what happened. But they can't prove that because the medicine doesn't always cause a heart attack and people have heart attacks all the time without being on that medicine."

  She sighed and said, "I know. But it just doesn't seem right that she should get away with it."

  "I know. But she won't be getting away with it completely."

  "Just mostly," Sam grumbled.

  Trevor decided this conversation could wait until after they'd talked to the prosecutor tomorrow and changed the subject.

  The meeting the next day with the prosecutor was very informative. They learned that she'd hired and fired three attorneys because they all were suggesting she go for a plea deal, but she refused. She said she didn't want to spend a big chunk of her life in prison.

  The judge had now frozen her assets, so she was no longe
r able to hire a high-priced attorney. She'd been assigned one, who also suggested they had a lot of evidence against her and she should seriously consider any plea agreement they offered.

  She said the only way she would agree to anything was if it was no more than five years in prison, even though her attorneys had all said she was looking at anywhere from eight years to life in prison. They all had said their guess was much closer to the life because there was just too much evidence against her. She was adamant, though; five years was the most she would agree to under any circumstances.

  Ms. Andrews said, "I don't know how you feel about it, but five years in prison is not very long."

  Sam quickly said, "No, it's not. She killed my father."

  Trevor tried to calm her. "Honey, we talked about this. Ms. Andrews can't prove that."

  "But the jury would believe it if they heard all the evidence. I know they would," Sam insisted.

  Trevor looked to Ms. Andrews for help. She offered, "I'm torn here. I tend to agree that they would, as well, Sam, but the way the law reads we would have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. If you read that definition, jurors could easily believe it probably caused his death, but not feel they could send someone to prison for life on just a probably. And I have to admit they would be right."

  "So what do you think you could get convictions on and how much time would she get for it?"

  "Well, I think we could get her for taking her sister's medicine, which is a controlled substance and for giving it to your father. I also think we can prove she bribed Matt Kline and together they misled your father. I think the judge would also feel she was responsible for his death and even if she wasn't found guilty of that, he would take that into consideration when sentencing her on these convictions I do feel we'd get and he would probably give her more than the minimum sentence on each charge because of it. I think that would probably mean a sentence of around 12 to 15 years, give or take."

  Trevor asked, "So are you saying we should go to trial?"

  Ms. Andrews said, "Well, there's more to consider here than that and I think you and Sam should consider this carefully."

  Sam looked confused. "What's that?"

  "According to our laws, if she confesses, pleads guilty, the remainder of the money from the sale of the ranch and her condo would go to you towards restitution."

  Trevor asked, "And if she doesn't plead guilty?"

  "Then we'll have to have a trial, but her being found guilty will only be step one. Sam, you would also have to file a civil suit against her, proving to a jury that she stole the inheritance you should have received. Assuming the jury agrees with you, then you would get her assets that have been frozen. As busy as the courts are right now that could take up to five years, because you can't file the civil suit until the criminal suit is over and you have the guilty verdicts. If something goes wrong in the criminal suit you could have problems recovering what should be yours."

  Sam said, "She already took what was important to me. The money doesn't mean as much. I want to see her pay."

  Ms. Andrews sympathized with Sam. "I understand, Sam. I can tell how much your father meant to you."

  Trevor watched as Sam got a blank look on her face momentarily before nodding in agreement. That momentary blank look worried him.

  They talked a bit more and Ms. Andrews excused herself to take a phone call. When she came back she said the judge in June's case asked if they could meet with him and Ms. Andrews the next morning. He'd like to meet Sam and talk with her a bit while she was still in town. Trevor quickly agreed, thinking he'd like to meet the judge, as well. They all agreed to do some thinking and meet the next morning in Ms. Andrews' office and go to the courthouse together.

  Trevor did a lot of thinking, but mostly about Sam. Her confession earlier about the niggling bit of doubt in her mind worried him. He fell asleep thinking about the vulnerable little lady sleeping in the adjoining room.

  The next morning when they met with the judge Trevor had come up with an idea. Whether it was feasible or not he didn't know, but he wanted to at least bring it up to the judge and Ms. Andrews.

  When they walked into the judge's chambers the next morning a man who looked too young to be a judge stood and held his hand out to Sam and Trevor. "I'm Judge Nelson," he said, shaking hands with both of them. "Ms. Simmerly, I'm so sorry about what has apparently happened to your father. I had the pleasure of meeting your father one time, but I have had several occasions to hear about his generosity. He was a wonderful man that's been missed by a lot of people."

  "Thank you," Sam said sincerely, her eyes welling up. "Please call me Sam."

  Trevor hugged her shoulders and nodded his thanks to the judge. "And I'm Trevor."

  Judge Nelson nodded at both of them. He turned to Sam and said, "Sam, I understand you'd like to see your stepmother spend time in prison and I agree. Where do we stand on that, Ms. Andrews?"

  "Well, my understanding is she will not plead to anything that involves more than five years in prison."

  The judge asked, "So she's willing to go to trial?"

  Ms. Andrews said, "She appears to be. Her attorney, Mr. Johnson, says he's told her the odds are against her and if she's found guilty she'll be spending much more time than five years in prison, but she insists she will not plead if there's more than five years involved."

  Judge Nelson shook his head. "That seems too light. Sam or Trevor, any thoughts?"

  Trevor spoke up. "I had a thought. I'm not sure what anyone, including Sam, thinks, but let me throw it out there for your consideration."

  The judge said, "I'll listen to any ideas anyone has. Go ahead."

  Trevor started in, "Well, if we were to agree to the five years ––"

  Sam broke in, "Trevor, that's not enough time."

  "Hear me out, Sam, before you object. If we agreed to the five years, could it actually be longer, but all would be suspended except for five years? That way she would only serve the five years, but would then be on probation for a period of time. My understanding is that people often have trouble following all the rules of probation and end up back in prison. Am I right about that?"

  Judge Nelson smiled a bit as he said, "You are right there, Trevor. Go on."

  "Well, if she gets out of prison and has no money and no condo, she's going to have to find a job; right?"

  Again Judge Nelson smiled as he said, "Yes, she will be working. I usually make that a condition of probation. Even if it's a minimum wage job or flipping hamburgers somewhere, they have to find a job and work. We have employers who will hire probationers if they can't find anything else. They're not good paying jobs and they're certainly not glamorous, but they are jobs. I give them time to find something on their own, but if they can't, they take one of these."

  Trevor looked at Sam and said, "Sam, that may not be in prison, but she would be paying for what she'd done."

  Sam reluctantly agreed, "Yes, I guess it would be."

  Trevor said, "And I imagine she would be ordered to pay restitution?"

  Judge Nelson nodded. "Absolutely. Even if she has a low paying job she still has to pay a small bit every month. I do that because it's a monthly reminder to them and if they're not making much money to live on but they're still required to pay a portion of it to the victim each month it really gets the point across."

  Picking up on Trevor's train of thought, he looked at Sam. "So again, Sam, she will be paying every month when she's eating a can of soup and has to write out a check to you."

  Sam was following what they were saying and nodded. "She'd hate that, especially writing the check out to me. She hated me, for some reason."

  Judge Nelson said, "Only because you had what she wanted; your dad's love and the security his money offered."

  Sam said, "I guess."

  Trevor asked, "So, if she has to work, quite possibly in a low paying job that she's not happy with and she has to pay Sam back each month, will there be other rules for her probation?"
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  Ms. Andrews offered, "Oh, yes. She'll have to go see her probation officer regularly and will be subject to random drug tests. There will be a list of rules she'll have to abide by."

  "So if she doesn't follow the rules, what happens?" Trevor was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted Sam to hear.

  Judge Nelson offered, "Then I send her back to prison."

  Trevor suggested, "With no plea bargaining this time; right? You say she goes back and she goes back?"

  "Absolutely."

  Trevor looked between the judge and Ms. Andrews as he asked, "So what would you say the chances are of her following all the rules and not being sent back to prison?"

  Ms. Andrews said, "The stats show it's about 50/50."

  Judge Nelson thought a bit before saying, "I think it would be more likely in her case that she be sent back at least once."

  Trevor smiled and said, "That was my thought, too. She wants to be in control. She wants to tell you and Ms. Andrews what she will and will not accept. I question someone like that being able to listen to rules and regulations that are given to them."

  Judge Nelson agreed. "That's the type of person that generally struggles with probation. You're absolutely right, Trevor. I can easily see her going back to prison at least once."

  All three of them turned to look at Sam, who said, "That's something to consider, isn't it?"

  The judge offered, "When people are sent back it's a very depressing thing for them because they know what they're going back to."

  Trevor watched Sam's reaction and was still a bit concerned. "I have one major concern in this whole thing, Judge," he said.

  "What's that?"

  "I'm concerned about Sam. She knows all the evidence Ms. Andrews has against June, but as long as she's still insisting she's innocent, Sam's having trouble getting rid of a last little bit of doubt that keeps hanging on. If Ms. Andrews offers her a plea and she takes it, will she have to admit what happened? She can't plead no contest or something like that, can she?"