CHAPTER SEVEN
It was pouring rain by the time he left the restaurant. JJ sat in his car as he thought about the night. No endorsement yet. The judge wanted in return for that endorsement more than he was willing to give. But he told him he would think about it: the nature of the business he was in. But he also thought about his sister and nephew. They met their fate in a restaurant. Not the one there in Jacksonville, but a restaurant in Scottsdale he never ventured into again. He thought he was over that part of it. That his grief was well contained now. But seeing Artie behave the way he was behaving with every pretty lady in sight angered him on some level. And got him remembering again. And missing them again. But that was all a waste of time, anyway, and he knew it. They were gone. End of discussion.
He pressed the Start button, his wipers automatically began swiping the rain away, and he placed his car in Drive. Artie stayed back, as a beautiful waitress caught his eye, but JJ had a full docket tomorrow, not to mention his administrative duties, and wasn’t about to hang around picking up some chick. He took off.
But when he pulled up to the second red light beyond the restaurant, something caught his eye on the bus stop bench. The bus stop had a covering that supposedly protected riders from the elements, but it did a sorry job of protection. It wasn’t unusual to see some homeless person on those benches trying to stay dry or warm or cool, whatever the element might be. But when he realized that it was that same young lady that had spoke to him in the restaurant, the one whose sentence he reduced, he frowned. What on earth was she doing out there? And at this time of night!
For some reason that made no sense whatsoever, it infuriated him. And without thinking, he pressed down his passenger side window and yelled out at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Tish, who was hurdled up on that bench with her backpack in front of her, heard the voice, but it was dark and the rain was coming down in sheets so loudly that she wasn’t sure who it was that was yelling at her.
“Did you hear me?” JJ yelled again. “What are you doing?”
When she leaned over and saw that it was the judge, she was confused. Why was he so angry at her, and why was he even bothering to say anything at all to her? He ignored her in that restaurant. Why wasn’t he ignoring her now?
When she just stared at him like some lost puppy, and when he noticed some guy lurking further down, looking at her as if he was waiting for him to leave, JJ knew there was no way he could leave her out there like that.
But he never got involved. That was his motto of life. If it wasn’t anything that concerned his courtroom: stay out of it. But she seemed to have no clue how vulnerable she was in a place like that, and how much more vulnerable she was going to be when the traffic slowed later that night and there was no one around but the creeps and freaks. “Get in!” he yelled at her like it was an order.
Tish wasn’t sure if he had said be in or begin or something equally unclear, so she yelled back at him. “What did you say?”
The car behind him began to blow its horn: the light had turned green. “I said get in!” JJ said more loudly and more forcefully and pressed the window back up to prevent more rain from getting into his expensive car.
And Tish, hearing him loud and clear that time, didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her backpack and got her wet self in on the front passenger seat of his fancy Mercedes. He barely gave her a chance to close the door before he was speeding through the green light.
He glanced down at how wet she was just from running from that bench to his car. And another thought occurred to him: she was a convicted criminal. And she was in his car. But that thought quickly left his mind. She drove a robbery suspect away from the scene as the owner was shooting at them. That suspect was killed by the cops. That didn’t mean she was innocent. But it did mean she had to pay for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and his sentence, he felt, gave her an equitable punishment. But he never believed she was some heartless criminal. “Where to?” he asked her. In the moonlight, he thought, she looked angelic.
“What do you mean?” she asked him.
She looked lost, too, which meant his patience with her was going to quickly wear thin. “Where do you live?”
“I don’t . . . I mean I lost my room because I couldn’t pay for it. And the shelter’s full.”
“The what’s full?”
“The homeless shelter. It’s full.”
It was only then did JJ realize what was happening right before his very eyes. She wasn’t hanging on that bench until the weather broke, or just to be reckless. And suddenly his tone softened. “You’re homeless?” He asked with a degree of incredulity in his voice that he could not suppress.
It was the one thing Tish never wanted to admit. But it was true. She had no home, not even a floor to lay her head. She was homeless. “Yes, sir.”
JJ was equal parts stunned and upset. How could somebody like her, who was nowhere near the bad guys that showed up in his courtroom every day, become worse off out of jail than she was in jail? And all thanks to him! “Are there family or friends where I can drop you off?”
Tish shook her head. “No, sir.”
“Nobody?”
“No, sir. I would have kept the room I had at the boarding house, but I couldn’t find a job. Nobody would hire me. I even went to the labor pool, but they said I needed a car. And I lost all that when I was arrested ten months ago.”
Ten months ago. Right around the same time JJ lost his sister and his nephew, she was losing her freedom. And everything she had worked for. Was that why he felt a connection to her? It made no sense, but a connection of some kind was there.
JJ kept glancing at her as he drove. And he was torn. He figured he had two options available to him that amounted to two roads to take. He could either take her to some hotel or motel and pay the bill for a week or two, or he could take her home with him. The second option seemed preposterous on its face. Why on earth would he take her home with him? That would be insanity. He didn’t know this woman from a hill of beans. A motel was the only logical answer. And JJ was logical if he was anything.
“What were you doing at that restaurant?” he asked her.
“Looking for a job.”
“Did they give you one?”
She shook her head. “No, sir.” Then she scrunched up her face. “Nobody will hire me. I could violate my probation if I don’t find work. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She said this and looked at him, hoping he’d get the hint. But he didn’t. Probably, she knew, because he didn’t want to. Which shouldn’t have surprised her one bit. Why should some bougie guy like him care that she couldn’t even do probation right? She said nothing else after that.
When he pulled up in the parking lot of the next motel in sight, one of those weekly rental motels, the rains had stopped and he could hear her stomach growl so loud that it felt painful. And he could see the shame wash over her face as she quickly grabbed her backpack and began getting out of his car. She was homeless. That was hurtful enough. She wasn’t going to lose all of her dignity.
He wanted to ask her when was the last time she ate, but that would only pull him deeper into her drama. Something he had no intention of allowing. He, instead, went into the motel’s lobby, with her following him, and paid for a room for two weeks. Although he had to put his name on the room, he put her name on it, too, so that the motel wouldn’t be able to claim she had no right to be there and could kick her out and rent it to somebody else: all the while pocketing what he paid for the room. A place like that? He wouldn’t put it pass them.
Tish could see the few people in the lobby looking at them. They saw that fancy S-class they stepped out of and were leaping to all kinds of conclusions. But she didn’t care. If he thought for a second that a condition of him getting her that room would mean she had to sleep with him in it, she was going right back to that bench.
But when they stepped back outside under the awning, he handed her the receipt and the key to the room. “It’s yours for two weeks,” he said. “Hopefully that will be enough time to get you back on your feet.”
It wasn’t, and Tish knew it wasn’t. Two months hadn’t been enough time. She knew two weeks wouldn’t be. But she wasn’t going to push it. She was grateful that he gave her that much. Two weeks with a place to stay and shower was like a dream come true for her at that point. She’d worry about the rest of it tomorrow. “Thank you so much,” she said to him.
The way she said it made JJ linger. And hesitate. He looked around at the surroundings. Weren’t exactly the nicest part of town. And he wasn’t all that sure if he could leave her there.
He knew he had to. But he couldn’t stop staring at her and at her devastated eyes. She seemed so alone in this world. So discarded. But what was that his business? He had his own problems. “I’ve got a long day tomorrow, so I’d better go. Take care of yourself,” he said to her heartfelt.
She smiled a smile that didn’t reach any other part of her body. “Thank you, I will.”
And that was that. He was not the type of person that was involved in mankind and wasn’t about to start. He got into his Mercedes and drove off. He did what he could. It wasn’t his problem anymore.
But when he looked through his rearview mirror as he drove toward the end of the parking lot, he saw her turn to head toward her motel room. But just as she turned to leave, she seemed to stagger. Then the next thing he knew she had dropped her backpack and slumped down to the ground. JJ’s heart fell with her. What happened? He immediately hit on brakes and began backing back up so fast he almost hit a post.
When he got back to the front of the motel, two guys had already run out from the lobby. One of the guys, he noticed, was brushing his hand against her breast, pretending to help her. JJ jumped out of his car and immediately pushed the guy out of the way. “Get away from her!” he yelled at the younger man. Then he knelt down to Tish. She was unconscious. He pulled her into his arms. And with his free hand he pulled out his phone.
“911. What is your emergency?”
“This is Judge JJ Brant. I need an ambulance at the,” he had to look up at the marquee out in front, “Beverly Belle motel on Union. A young lady has fallen and passed out.”
When he said that he was a judge, both younger men backed up. They undoubtedly had warrants, JJ supposed, as they both began to scatter. JJ held Tish and waited on the ambulance. And he was angry at himself for forgetting that she probably hadn’t eaten in days. But his selfish ass didn’t even think to give her a dime more than that room. And he was angry at himself for leaving her there, too, among an obvious criminal element. What was he thinking?
He was thinking she wasn’t his responsibility. That was what he was thinking. But how wrong he was, he thought, as he looked down at her angelic face. And he knew it wasn’t so much anger that was beating his butt and driving his angst. It wasn’t those two young opportunists that were so quick to want to “help” either. It was guilt.