Chapter 33: Gwen - Hunter or Hunted

A Few Weeks Later

The Hearing

The letter Simone got in the mail said her hearing would start at 11:30 A.M. The clock on the wall now read 1:22 P.M.

We’d sat in the hall outside the courtroom for the last three hours, watching the other hearings wrap up. Five minutes ago, Simone’s lawyer, Kathy Allen, spoke with a man in a suit at the end of the hall, and he instructed us to go inside.

Angela already sat at the table on the left. Another man in a suit sat beside her. Mid-forties, attractive, clean-cut. From the looks of it, a better attorney than I’d thought Angela could afford.

Simone and Kathy sat at the table on the right. I sat in the first row behind her, close enough that I could reach out and give her shoulder a squeeze if she needed it. When the lull of Angela speaking and laughing with her attorney stretched on a minute or two too long, I noticed Simone’s breath picking up. Her hands, folded on top of the mahogany table, began trembling.

She needed the squeeze.

She jumped at my touch, but when she looked at me, her posture eased the slightest bit. I shaped my lips in an O and exhaled slowly. She did the same, tension melting with each breath. I managed a smile, just as a hand tapped my left shoulder.

Simone’s panic returned as we both looked that way.

Edwards.

He wore his uniform and a sweet smile. With a nod at Kathy, he said, “She figured it was best I was here. Just in case we need another testimony.”

“And we shouldn’t,” Kathy said to Simone, voice low. “This is cut and dry. That woman has nothing on you.”

Simone only nodded.

A voice from somewhere I couldn’t discern bounced off the domed ceiling overhead. “All rise for the honorable Judge Walker presiding.”

Already on my feet, I didn’t need to.

Simone and Kathy did, however. So did Angela and her lawyer.

Angela kept her gaze ahead. I think we were all grateful for that.

As the judge told us to be seated, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The judge and lawyers spoke some legal jargon that didn’t register as I glanced down at it.

Sebastian

It’s coming along

Followed by a picture.

Four walls, insulated and painted sparkling white. The concrete floor he’d poured last week now had a shimmering layer of white over top, speckled with little flecks of gray and black.

White, because it made clean up easier.

He had today off. We spent most days off together, working on the house. Since I wasn’t there to help, he decided to tackle an easier job today.

Finishing the barn turned garage.

We were almost ready.

I texted back.

It sure is! That looks amazing, baby.

“Is that up at the house?” Edwards whispered.

I nodded. “Garage is just about finished now.”

“The whole thing’ll be badass when it’s done. I better get invited to the housewarming party.”

If we weren’t in a courtroom, I’d laugh. “You know you will be. But thanks. And thanks for this.”

A tight-lipped nod in response.

“...Your honor, my client requests the temporary Order of Protection you awarded to be continued indefinitely,” Kathy said. “Angela Burke has assaulted my client in the past, and⁠—”

“Objection, Your Honor.” Angela’s attorney stood. “There is no record of any such assault in the evidence.”

“Sustained,” Judge Walker said. “New evidence should’ve been included in discovery, counsel.”

“Of course,” Kathy said. “Angela has harassed my client on multiple occasions, all occurrences of which were stated in discovery. On one such occasion, she arrived at a family party my client was attending with her daughter and friends. Ms. Burke arrived and grabbed my client’s daughter by her forearm. She left noticeable marks on the child.”

“Do we have any photos from the event?”

“We do, Your Honor.” Kathy approached the bench with a sheet of paper. “These marks appeared in seconds. My client did not know that Ms. Burke was present at the gathering. She let herself in, approached the eight-year-old girl, and grabbed her. If she hadn’t screamed for help, Ms. Burke could have kidnapped⁠—”

“Objection,” Angela’s attorney said. “Conjecture, Your Honor. All my client did was hold the girl’s hand. She did not hurt the girl, and she had no intention of taking her. On the topic of kidnapping, though, Ms. Burke had not seen her granddaughter in nearly five years because the defendant violated a custody order when she left my client’s son.”

Glancing down at the papers before her, the judge arched a brow at Kathy. “Is that true, counsel?”

“No, ma’am,” Kathy said. “My client had shared custody with Ms. Burke’s son when she left the state. She fled through a domestic violence network. My law firm filed a motion for my client to attain emergency custody of the child, Junie Hall. She was awarded full custody when Ms. Burke’s son, David Burke, failed to appear. We have that documentation as well.”

“Where is David Burke?” the judge asked.

“Excellent question, Your Honor,” Angela’s attorney said. “No one knows. He’s been missing since October.”

“After fleeing police in Wyoming.” Kathy shot him a look. “Where he is a lead suspect in a murder investigation. Black Pines Police believe he ran after assaulting my client.” She approached the judge again with another sheet of paper. “It’s all documented, Your Honor.”

The judge rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. “Does the child have an established relationship with Ms. Burke?”

“No, she does not. Junie has little to no memory of her grandmother,” Kathy said. “The only clear memory she has now is this woman interrupting a party she was attending with friends from school. Not only did she grab my client’s daughter and leave those marks on her wrist, she also screamed profanities and threats. In the audience, we have two witnesses of the event, one of whom is an officer with the Black Pines Police Department. Ms. Burke only left the party after Officer Malachi Edwards threatened to arrest her for disrupting the peace and public intoxication.”

Had Edwards been so descriptive that night? Not from what I recalled. But I saw what Kathy was doing, and I respected it.

“No charges were pressed following that incident,” Angela’s lawyer said.

“That incident rewarded my client the Order of Protection,” Kathy said. “Your Honor, Angela Burke may not have been the person who abused my client for half her adult life, but she did raise the person who did.”

“Objection,” Angela’s lawyer said again. “Relevance.”

“I would argue that the defense is perfectly relevant in that statement,” Judge Walker said. “Your client is arguing for access to her granddaughter and former daughter-in-law after years of physical abuse from her son. Some of which landed the defendant in the hospital. Five years passed before she cared to look for her granddaughter, conveniently timed just after her son’s disappearance.”

“Your Honor,” Angela’s lawyer began, “my client had no knowledge of this emergency petition for custody five years ago. If she had, she would have been present, right alongside her son⁠—”

“The son who didn’t show up to court,” the judge said, shuffling some papers around. “When I look at the photos of this child’s wrist, I see intent. This was not a quick hold of her hand. Her fingernails left scrapes on the child’s arm. Considering the harassment at both Ms. Hall’s home, place of work, and public gatherings, as well as this quote from Ms. Angela Burke at the time of the incident in question, stating, ‘she’s gonna pay for what she did,’ the court finds sufficient cause to continue the Order of Protection for one year. With credible threat to the petitioner established, any petition for visitation is dismissed without prejudice.”

And she smacked the gavel.

Teary-eyed, Simone cupped a hand over her mouth.

The judge said some other stuff that didn’t register. I caught mention of “appeal,” but I was too busy rushing to my feet to hug Simone to care.

Crying, wiping at tears, she stood as well. Over the wooden partition between us, she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed with all her might.

Was this real? Had the system actually done the right thing? Did it really help for once?

Then Angela and I made eye contact over Simone’s shoulder. Her glare could cut through diamond.

And that’s when it sunk in.

Of course a woman won this suit. Because it was already girl against girl. The system only worked if we were fighting each other.

If David were here, he would’ve gotten visitation. After all, he’d never hit Junie. Sold her to a drug dealer once, but there was no evidence of it, so Angela’s attorney would’ve yelled, “Relevance.”

A woman’s black eye and busted lip meant far less to a courtroom than scratches on a child’s arm.

Good thing we didn’t have to worry about that.