Presumption of Guilt (23 page)

“What did she die of?” Jake asked.

“Cancer,” Jimmy said. “She had cancer.”

“I'm sorry, Jimmy. What kind of cancer?”

Jimmy thought for a moment. “Prostate cancer, I think it was.”

Jake's eyebrows shot up. “Prostate cancer, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” He almost smiled. “That's rare in women.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember much about her?”

“Sure. She was the greatest mom in the world. She made our lunches, and cooked these great suppers, and we'd all sit at the table and talk about our days. And we always had plenty to eat and warm beds to sleep in and clean clothes . . . and she loved us.”

Tears came to Jake's eyes. The memories were sweet, yet the boy thought his mother was dead. What if he found out that she was alive? What if they reintroduced him to her?

He looked at the boy, and saw the solemn, dreamy look that had passed over his face. “Do you ever miss her?”

Jimmy swallowed and shrugged. He couldn't seem to answer, so he only nodded. “Lisa misses her most,” he said. “She can't remember her too good. I tell her stories about her. Good stories, about all the things she used to do.”

Jake had heard enough from Nick to know that none of those stories were true. But maybe they could be, if they reintroduced the boy to his mother . . .

The thought wouldn't leave his mind, and after they landed, he left Jimmy alone and made a couple of phone calls—to Lynda first, and then to Nick.

Jake didn't mention his phone calls to Jimmy when they got back into the car. Instead, he told him that they were going to the hospital to check on Beth, and that Nick would meet them there. But as he drove, he prayed silently that he was doing the right thing.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

T
racy had been moved out of ICU, Jake learned when he got to the hospital and found Nick waiting for him. Nick spoke to Jimmy, then stepped aside with Jake. “Look, if he gets upset or anything . . .”

“He's out of there. No problem.”

“All right.”

They went back to where Jimmy waited, and Nick leaned down to Jimmy. “Jimmy, before we go see Beth, while you're here at the hospital, I think there's somebody here you might like to see.”

His eyes widened. “Lisa?”

“No, not Lisa. Someone else. A patient who's in here with pneumonia. I found her real sick the other day and brought her here.”

Jimmy hesitated. “I'm not too good with sick people.”

“It's okay. You don't have to do anything. You don't even have to say anything.”

“Then why am I going?”

The elevator doors opened, and Nick led him on. “You'll see.

Just wait.”

Jake was quiet as he followed Nick and Jimmy off the elevator.

They reached the open door, and Nick peered in. It was a semiprivate room, but the other bed was unoccupied. Tracy lay in bed, IVs still attached to her and an oxygen mask over her face.

Jake touched the back of Jimmy's neck, and followed Nick in.

As they came closer to the bed, Nick leaned over her. “Hi,” he said.

“How're you feeling?”

“Okay,” she said weakly.

He looked back at Jimmy, who stood awkwardly back. “Recognize her?”

Jimmy shook his head. “No. Do I know her?”

Nick shot a concerned look at Jake. “I have someone here I wanted you to see, Tracy,” he said.

Jimmy froze at the name. “No. Not her.” His mouth tightened, tears sprang to his eyes, and he began to back out of the room. “I don't want to see her.”

Tracy rose up slightly and saw her son. “Jimmy?”

“No!” he shouted, and the nurse came running. Jake grabbed him, but he shook free and fled from the room. Jake followed him out.

“Jimmy, wait!”

The boy ran to the elevators and began punching the down button, waiting for one to open. His face was crimson and covered with tears, and he turned his face away so Jake couldn't see. Jake squatted in front of him and held him by the shoulders. “Son, you don't have to go back in there. It was a bad idea, okay? We didn't know it would upset you. We thought you'd be happy. Will you forgive us?”

“So you proved I lied. You coulda just told me you knew!”

“I didn't know you lied, Jimmy. I thought you might really think she was dead.”

“I know what you're all up to. You're gonna take Lisa out of the home and give us back to her. And it'll be even worse than it was at the home.” His voice broke off, and he bent over, weeping, and covered his face with both hands. “I should have known.”

“Jimmy, nobody's giving you or Lisa back to your mom.”

“Lisa's better off where she is than with that sorry excuse for a mother in there!” Jimmy raged. “At least she has a chance where she is. I can take care of my sister better than
she
can. I was the one who did it, anyway, when we lived with her.”

“Jimmy, you've got to trust us.”

Jimmy's eyes flashed. “I don't believe anything you say. You're all a bunch of liars! You don't care who gets stuck with who, or what things are like there.”

“Jimmy, listen to me, please—”

“I'm not listening anymore,” he said. “Just let me go, and I'll handle things myself.”

The elevator doors came open, and Jake grabbed Jimmy's shoulder and followed him on.
What a terrible move,
he thought.
What a mistake.

“Look, son, you don't have to talk to me, but you do have to come with me. And you can just listen, okay?”

Jimmy didn't answer.

“We'll go for a ride. Maybe out to the beach.”

Jimmy didn't respond.

The doors opened on the first floor, and Jimmy darted off.Jake caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder. “This way, little buddy,” he said, and directed him to his car.

B
ack in Tracy's room, Nick tried to apologize to her, but the sight of her son had shaken her. She was crying and gasping for breath, and he wanted to kick himself for making such a stupid error in judgment.

“I'm sorry, Tracy,” he said. “I thought—I don't know what I thought. That it would help Jimmy to see you, I guess. To know that he still has a mother. That he's not all alone in the world.”

“I'm not his mother,” she wheezed. “The state took him away. He hates me, and I don't blame him, 'cause I hate myself.”

“Don't say that, Tracy,” Nick told her. “How can you hate someone God loves?”

“God doesn't love me,” she said. “Why would he love me?”

“Because he created you.”

“Yeah, and then I destroyed myself.”

“Not yet. It's not too late to turn around, Tracy. It's not too late to make your kids love you again, either.”

She turned her head to the side and wiped at her eyes. “You don't even know what you're talking about,” she said. “Just leave me alone.”

Nick started to protest, then thought better of it. “All right,”he said quietly. “Listen—if you decide you want to talk in the next hour or so, call me up in Beth Wright's room.”

She didn't answer, and he felt a deep self-loathing. He shouldn't have tried it. So stupid. Defeated, he walked out of the room.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

T
ony didn't even bother to sit down when they returned to Judge Wyatt's office. All he wanted was to snatch the warrant and run as fast as he could to SCCH so he could arrest Bill Brandon. “The evidence is overwhelming and conclusive, your honor,” he told Judge Wyatt. “We have an adult who was raised in the home who has given us a statement. We have a child who's been participating in Brandon's crime ring recently. We have the murder of Bill Brandon's sister, and we have two attempts on Beth Wright's life—including a package bomb that almost killed her, and we have the arson at the newspaper the night before the article exposing Brandon would have come out.”

Judge Wyatt adjusted his glasses and looked over the charges, a deep wrinkle clefting his forehead. He seemed to study it too hard, as if it required much thought, and Larry, who was sitting, shot Tony a disturbed look.

The judge started to get up, almost distractedly, as if he'd forgotten they were in the room. “I'll spend some time looking over these charges tonight,” he muttered. “I'll take all of it under advisement and get back to you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Larry sprang out of his chair. “Judge, tomorrow's too late. He's a killer, and he's trying to take out our main witness. She's in the hospital as we speak.”

“She'll be safe until tomorrow,” the judge said. “No idiot would attempt murder in as public a place as a hospital.”

“Give me a break!” Tony cried. “What is the deal here? You've stood in the way every step of this investigation!”

The judge banged his fist down. “It's my job to ensure that you do your job within the bounds of the law, so that my courtroom doesn't fill up with a bunch of lawyers who waste my time with technicalities and loopholes. I will not issue arrest warrants for every Tom, Dick, and Harry you
think
may have committed a crime!”

“Think? What does all this evidence spell, Judge? Witnesses, bodies—what do you want? You want him to come after you?

Would you give us an arrest warrant then?”

The judge's dagger eyes pierced Tony. “Get out of my office.Now, or I'll hold you in contempt!”

“We're not in court, Judge!”

The judge snatched up the phone. “I'm calling security.”

“No need,” Tony said, jerking the door open. “I get the picture.” Larry covered his face. This was going from bad to worse.

“We need this warrant,” he said, in a voice he hoped would appease. “There are children in danger, your honor. Every minute counts. Brandon knows we're bearing down on him, and he's going to get desperate. Please let us know the minute you decide to issue the warrant.”

“You'll hear from me.”

Larry followed Tony out, and Tony slammed the door behind them.

“Good going,” Larry said. “That ought to change his mood.”

“He's either senile or dirty,” Tony said. “He doesn't want us to arrest Brandon, and there's a reason. We're going to the prosecutor's office right now. We'll get the warrant from him.”

“Whoa—we can't just go over Wyatt's head without talking to the captain,” Larry said.

“Fine. Then let's do it.”

A
n hour later, they sat in Captain Sam Richter's office at the police station, watching him pace, clearly disturbed, as he processed the facts they had given him. “Did he say why the evidence wasn't sufficient?” he asked. “Did he tell you what he would need to give you the warrant?”

“No,” Tony said. “He's not interested in helping us on this, Captain. If we handed him videotapes of Brandon beating and maiming the kids, the man would still have to take it under advisement. Something stinks.”

“Yeah, I'd say so. But I don't like making enemies of our judges. There's got to be another way.”

“What, then?” Tony asked. “We need to get this guy locked up tonight!”

Sam sank into his chair and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “But if we go to the prosecutor, and it turns out that Judge Wyatt has just taken a conservative turn and isn't really doing anything wrong, we'll have made an enemy out of the person who's supposed to be our number-one ally in this game.”

“He's a judge because he's supposed to have good judgment,” Larry pointed out. “If he's lost that judgment, for whatever reason, then he needs to be removed from the bench.”

Sam opened a drawer and dug around, then came up with a roll of antacids. He broke the roll of tablets in half and put four into his mouth. As he chewed, he leaned forward on his desk, studying both men. “Here's what I want you to do. I want you to follow Judge Wyatt tonight. Just tail him and see what he does. If he's dirty, maybe you'll get evidence of that. Tomorrow, if he still hasn't issued the warrant, you can go to the prosecutor's office—I'll even go with you—and we'll try to get the warrant from them.”

“What about Brandon?” Larry asked. “Captain, he's a killer, and there are people that he needs dead.”

“You follow him, Larry. Watch every move he makes. Don't lose him for a second. In fact, we might be able to set up a stakeout in that hardware store across the street from the home.”

Larry shot Tony a frustrated look. “Captain, that may not be good enough.”

“It'll have to be,” Sam said. “I'm not willing to bring a judge down until I know for sure that I have an excellent reason. It sounds like somebody tipped Brandon off about the article, right after you showed it to Judge Wyatt. Maybe it was the judge.”

“I'd bet my life on it,” Tony said.

They went back to their car, then just sat there for a moment before Tony started the ignition. “How do you do it, Larry? How do you stay calm when the top of your head is about to blow off? This whole Christianity thing is new to me, I know, but I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I don't want to throw a man like Judge Wyatt against the wall and beat some sense into him.”

“It's not a sin to be angry, Tony. Christ got angry.”

“It wouldn't be so bad if I could trust that the work we do out here, on the streets, is going to count for something, that it was a partnership. We nab the bad guys, and the judges and courts put them away. Now the courts won't even let me nab the bad guys.”

“What do you think Brandon's next move will be?”

“Whatever he wants,” Tony said, throwing up his hands. “He can blow up the police station, for all Judge Wyatt cares. Get an automatic weapon and mow down every kid in his home. You think Wyatt would give us a warrant then?”

“He'd take it under advisement.”