Victim's Advocate: Angie Bartoni Case Flie # 12 (Angie Bartoni Case Files)

by Marshall Huffman

  “What is this about? Money? We don’t keep much here at the house,” Edgewood told him.

  “Money? No, I don’t want your money Judge Horton Edgewood the Third,” he said.

  “You know who I am?”

  “Oh yes, I know who you are.”

  “You listen to me young man. You need to stop right this instant. You are…”

  “Shut your mouth judge. This is my courtroom. I am the judge here not you so just keep your mouth shut until I tell you that you can talk. One more outburst from you and I will hold you in contempt.”

  “Are your crazy? You can’t get away with this?”

  The man pulled the hammer back on the gun and stuck the muzzle on the temple of Mrs. Edgewood.

  “Want to bet your wife’s life on it?” he replied.

  “Look, just tell me what you want,” the Judge said.

  “What I want? What I want, Judge Horton Edgewood, is justice for the people you have wronged. What we are going to do is review some of your cases, right here with you and your wife. I want you to explain how you come up with your decisions.”

  “What?”

  “I want to know how one person goes free while another gets sent to prison for a lesser crime. I want you to explain to me how that process works,” he told the judge.

  “This is crazy,” Edgewood said.

  “Crazy or not, that is what we are going to do.”

  ***

  “Hey Bartoni, I have someone on the line that says they need to talk to you.”

  “Did they say who?”

  “Yeah. Your sister.”

  “What? Kalie is on the line?”

  “That’s what she said her name was.”

  “Geez. Okay, put her through.”

  “Hello, Angie?”

  “Kalie, is it really you?”

  “Hi Angie. Been a long time I guess.”

  “Uh yeah. Almost twenty years but who is counting,” I replied trying to get my mind around talking to my sister after all this time.

  We haven’t spoken since she caused the divorce of me and my husband almost twenty years ago. I happened to come home early and there she was in bed with my husband of less than six months.

  “So what can I do for you?” I asked, shaking that mental picture out of my head.

  “I just wanted to talk to you. I don’t want things to be this way any longer.”

  “Kalie, I appreciate you saying that but I have forgotten about that a long time ago. I don’t think about you or William. You did what you did and that’s just the way life is sometimes.”

  “Angie I need to explain what happened.”

  “Kalie, I don’t care. Listen to me carefully. I do not want to hear about why it happened. I simply do not care enough to talk about it. That was twenty years ago. I have moved on. Look Kalie, I’m really busy right now. I have a hot case and I need to get back to work. I just don’t have the time to rehash the past,” I told her.

  “Angie, I have cancer. I have only a short time to live. I need to get this off my chest.”

  “Kalie, I am really sorry to hear that, honestly I am. I wish there was something I could do to help but bringing up what happened twenty years ago isn’t going to change anything. I hope you have enjoyed the last twenty years with William. You probably lasted a lot longer than we would have anyway so no hard feelings.”

  “William left me three years ago when he found I had cancer,” Kalie said.

  I didn’t really know what to say. What could I say? What I was thinking is that I was surprised he didn’t bail a lot sooner. I am not trying to be cruel but honestly just talking about what happened wasn’t going to change a single thing. I am a realist. It happened, my life moved on, and now Kalie wants forgiveness.

  “Look Kalie, I don’t hold you responsible for what happened, not entirely. It takes two and honestly there is nothing you can say that I want to hear about that day. I forgive you for your part in the affair. It happened twenty years ago and it just isn’t worth dredging up at this point. You own me nothing.”

  “I would like for you come see me before…”

  “Kalie, that isn’t going to happen. Sorry, but I am not coming to California to see you, especially if you are in the advanced stages of cancer. Let’s just say goodbye now and I hope you have as good a remaining time on earth as possible.”

  “I still love you Angie.”

  “I know. Family love never stops. Goodbye Kalie. I hope you go painlessly,” I said and hung up.

  Don’t say it. You think I am a real poop. What should I have done? Broke down crying? Dropped what I was doing and rush out to California and pretend all was right with the world? That may have been what some people would have done but that is simply not me. The truth is I have put that chapter of my life behind me and I want it to remain that way. Reopening old wounds would accomplish nothing.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Horton, I don’t understand. Some of what you said makes no sense to me,” Katheryn said, looking at the judge.

  “There is a lot more to it. It isn’t all as cut and dried as he is making it out to be,” Horton replied.

  “But Horton…”

  “Stop Katheryn. You know nothing about the law or how it works.”

  “And you sit there in your fancy robes determining who goes to prison and who doesn’t. You are a hypocrite. It isn’t about the law as you put it. It is about your power to control lives. You make me sick. I’m going to make it easy for you judge. You explain this case to me so I understand it and I’ll leave and let you go on with your lives. If not…well let’s just say it is a case involving the death penalty.”

  He looked at the man with a mixture of horror and disbelief. Obviously he was crazy. He knew he needed to find a way to defuse the situation but didn’t know what to do. He would have to use all of his skill to get Katheryn and himself out of this situation. He wished his hand wasn’t trembling when he took the thick folder out of the gunman’s hand.

  He glanced at the top of the folder. The State of Indiana vs. James Ingham. He looked at the man holding the gun and immediately knew who he was dealing with. He had seen the same man day after day sitting in the courtroom while the case progressed. He remembered that his expression seldom changed during the entire three weeks of the trial. The only time he showed any real emotion was during the sentencing portion of the trial. He remembered the man glaring at him and standing up and walking out of the courtroom.

  “You were at the trial,” Horton said.

  “Every single day. Brandie Wilcox was my niece and James Wilcox was my friend. He is dead you know. He committed suicide after the trial because he felt that he had let his wife down. He felt that the not only he had failed but the system had failed. You killed him as much as anything.”

  “That’s not true. I had nothing to do with it. I did what I thought was best. It was the first offense for the felon. I had to look at all the facts.”

  “And eight years for raping, beating her, and slitting her throat. Leaving her to bleed out; is what you call justice? He would be eligible for parole in less than six years counting time served. My niece will never have a life and you think that the six years he will serve will make up for that? You arrogant fool. Nothing will change what he did to her. Now her husband is dead as well and you sit on you throne acting like you did the right thing. Explain this to me so I understand it. Explain it to your wife so she understands how six years is going to replace what my family lost,” he shouted at the judge.

  “I’m sorry for your niece but it was his first offense. What good would it have done to send him away for twenty-five years?”

  “Because he was twenty-five at the time. In six years he will be thirty-one. Plenty of time to get out and do it again to someone else. If you had given him twenty-five without parole he would have been fifty. You stupid egotistical ass, all you did was put him out of action for a few years.”

  “Six years in prison can change a person. He
isn’t likely to ever want to go back,” the judge said.

  “That is the best you can do? That is your answer? Well guess what Judge Horton Edgewood III I find you in contempt for being a human without compassion for the victims of crime. I find you guilty of harboring criminals and being more concerned about them and their rights than those who were subject to their behavior. I find you guilty of not understanding the consequences of your actions and having a disregard for the welfare of the surviving members of the victim. I further find you guilty of arrogance and egotism. You are hereby sentenced to a life of suffering and pain.”

  “Please don’t do this.”

  “You know, that is exactly what I said to myself when you passed sentence on James Ingham. I remember saying, this isn’t right. Please don’t do this. My niece was worth more than an eight year prison sentence for being beaten, raped, and left to die. I kept hoping you would see how stupid you were but it didn’t help. In the end all you did was pound your little gavel and think you were so damn important. The life of my niece and her husband meant nothing to you. I doubt you gave it another thought as you pranced out of the courtroom like you were a King.”

  “It wasn’t like that. I saw an opportunity to turn a life around. It was a risk I was willing to take,” the judge replied.

  “Then you made a miscalculation,” he said and shot the judge in the stomach.

  Katheryn screamed as the judge was knocked backwards from the force of the bullet slicing through his body and out his back. He didn’t make a sound as he lay there, stunned, looking up at the man standing over him.

  “Now judge, I know this is going to be a little painful but I want you to know that it is part of your sentence,” he said as he dragged Katheryn over so the judge could see her face.

  “She is innocent of any wrongdoing so why should she have to suffer? I asked myself that about my brother-in-law. Why should he have to suffer for something totally out of his control? No matter how long I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a reasonable answer. Now, because of you, your poor wife, is going to have to suffer the same fate,” he said and pulled Katheryn back out of his view.

  “Please. Please don’t,” he groaned, trying to lift his arm.

  “Sorry. Did you say something judge?” the man asked.

  “Please, I’m begging you not to hurt her. She had nothing to do with the case.”

  “Neither did my brother-in-law, but that didn’t really matter did it? He suffered so much he couldn’t live with himself for failing to protect her. He suffered so much he took his own life.”

  “Please. I’m begging you,” he said.

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you one break. I won’t make you watch what happens. I’ll take Katheryn in the next room so you won’t have to see what I intend to do to her,”

  “No…please don’t do this. Kill me if you want but please, leave Katheryn out of it. She had nothing to do with any of this.”

  “I understand how you feel. Life isn’t fair, is it? I felt much the same when I walked out of the courtroom. It just wasn’t fair but what could I do about it? Sometimes is just is what it is,” he said and started dragging Katheryn to the next room.

  Judge Edgewood tried to roll over on his side but the pain was too great and he was losing the feeling in his legs. He knew he had lost a lot of blood and unless he got help soon he would die while the mad man had Katheryn in the other room doing who knows what to her. He struggled to drag himself toward his briefcase. He had his cell phone inside and if he could just get to it he could call for help. He has halfway across the room when the heard a scream then a muffled gun shot.

  This was crazy. He was all set to go on vacation and now this intrusion into his life. Why involve Katheryn? She had nothing to with his professional life. Two feet appeared and he struggled to look up at the man.

  “Sorry, but you know how it is judge. You don’t always agree with the verdict but it just isn’t in your hands. That’s the way I felt when I walked out of the courthouse that cold day in January. Now, if you should happen to live through all of this, I would expect you to think carefully before you are so soft on criminals again,” he said and walked out of the house leaving the judge on the floor in a collecting pile of blood.

  ***

  “Bartoni, Roberts, 114 Pasadena Place. Judge Edgewood has been shot. Get over there. Other units are on the scene,” McGregor said.

  “We’re rolling. You want to notify the FBI or should we.”

  “Just get going. I’ll take care of the FBI,” he said.

  Dan and I grabbed our vests and guns and headed to the squad car. Dan drove and we went full bore, sirens and lights flashing. We had a couple of close calls. People just don’t get it. When the sirens and lights are flashing; it means to get out of the way. It took us twenty-six minutes to get to 114 Pasadena Place.

  It is definitely in the high rent district. All the houses are a million plus. I guessed that Judge Edgewood’s was considerably more from just looking at it.

  “Pretty high on the hog for a judge,” Dan said.

  “Maybe the wife had money?”

  “Or he is on the take.”

  “Now don’t be like that. Try to look for the good in people,” I said and almost swallowed my tongue.

  “Yeah, I should be more like you…not,” Dan said.

  I chose to ignore his sarcasm. Actually I just couldn’t think of something smart to reply. Half the city’s police force were already there. Cars were blocking every street and side street. The curious had already gathered in force and were watching the comings and goings.

  We worked our way through the crowds and as I looked back I saw the first of the news trucks starting to arrive. It was going to be a full blown circus. We flashed our badges and worked our way to the house. The front door was standing open and two officers were checking everyone that wanted access to the place. We produced our badges and asked the usual questions.

  Who called it in? Who responded first? Who was in the house? Those kinds of things help us to establish how many people have managed to trample the crime scene.

  So far it wasn’t too bad. The EMT and responding officers were the only ones that had been inside so far. Dan and I did our usual routine; stepped inside and just stood there taking it all in. We get a lot of information from the first impression. I checked the door and it hadn’t been forced or jimmied. That meant he had either found another way in or was let in. No struggle took place in the foyer so it wasn’t a shove your way in job.

  We made our way back to the dining room where EMTs were working on who I presumed to be Judge Edgewood. He didn’t look very good to me. A lot of blood had soaked into the carpet as they were working on him.

  I heard someone say “Stay with us. Stay with us.”

  “Doesn’t look good,” Dan pronounced.

  “Let’s check out the rest of the place,” I said and we started a room by room search.

  It was in the upstairs master bedroom walk in closet that I found Mrs. Edgewood, bound and gagged. I yelled for Dan and started untying her. She was unconscious and looked pale. Her breathing was shallow and irregular. Dan came running and I told him to get the EMTs up here fast. I hauled her out of the closet and got her on the bed. She didn’t look much better than the judge. I did a quick check but didn’t find a gunshot wound. She did have a nasty gash on her right temple but other than that I couldn’t see anything wrong with her.

  I was just about ready to try to get her to come around when the EMTs came rushing in and pushed me out of the way. I could hear them talking in that doctor language they make up to keep us mortals from knowing what is going on. Pretty soon they had a gurney upstairs and were whisking her away.

  “Well at least we have two credible witnesses,” Dan said after they were both put into ambulances and taken to the hospital.

  “Assuming either one of them lives.”

  “I guess there is that.”

  “Oops. Looks like the F
BI arrived,” I said as I saw them making their way up the sidewalk.

  “I feel safer already,” Dan replied.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  We were all in the conference room. The captain was eyeballing another jelly filled donut and struggling to not reach for it, fighting the perpetual diet his wife has him on. The donut won out and he grabbed it before anyone else could. Match point to the captain.

  “And you know this how?” Agent Conroy asked.

  “A couple of things. Judge Edgewood is one of the easiest judges on crime in the entire district. I’ll bet you a dollar that if you asked every policeman in the city who is their least liked judge it would be Edgewood. Second, he was selected. This wasn’t a random act. Our guy was inside the house waiting for Edgewood. He didn’t take anything or assault the judge’s wife. He didn’t kill him outright either. This was meant to hurt Edgewood in more ways than one. It is a matter of revenge. What we know now is that we have two witnesses that should be able to point us in the right direction for a change,” I told her.

  “I understand what you are saying but until we talk to the judge or Mrs. Edgewood, this is all conjecture. We have no real proof. We found nothing at the scene that pointed to any individual.”

  “That’s true, but it is consistent with what we are seeing as the emerging pattern,” I said.

  “We haven’t had time to establish a pattern yet from my perspective,” Conroy replied.

  “Okay. While you are trying to establish that pattern, he is deciding on his next victim. You go right ahead and do what it is you do and Dan and I will just go about our business,” I said and walked out of the room.

  Dan followed me out a few minutes later.

  “That could have gone better,” he said.

  “Don’t you start.”

  “I’m not. I’m just saying.”

  “I know what you are saying Dan. I get it. She bugs the snot out of me with her attitude. The answer to this crime is in those files we found. There were sixteen files. We need to go through each one of them and see if anything pops out. Obviously they have something to do with all of this,” I told him.