38. Do It For Dad
38
DO IT FOR DAD
“Y ou didn’t have to come with me,” Justine said almost three weeks later when she walked into Bond Law with Garrett at her side.
Roark had called her, not Karly, wanting her to come into the office. That they needed her to know what was going on before they passed what they found to the DA and the detectives in Fort Wayne.
That meant something big and she had to do it when Jordan could be on the call since her sister couldn’t fly in.
“There was no way you were coming alone,” he said. “You know as well as I do that something big is going to be told to you. Otherwise, he would have just said they found nothing.”
She hated it took so long, but as Roark said, the files were archived and only the last six months were readily viewable, Karly had to get help accessing older files and that meant sourcing it out. She knew the DA and police weren’t rushing for that right now.
“I know,” she said, looking at him as they passed through security and walked to the elevator.
“How does Jordan feel about it?” he asked.
“She never says much. She’s always been more about the facts and that is what I hope we get today.”
“I just want you to have closure,” he said, threading their fingers together.
She squeezed his hand. “Me too, but I don’t know that can happen. Maybe there is something bad here regarding my father. If they found that Elise reacted in self-defense they will still have to provide that information to the police.” She turned her head to look at him. “I don’t want it to be that. I really don’t. But I also knew going in this was going to open a can of worms.”
“Let’s not get too worked up,” he said. The elevator stopped on their floor and they got out.
Garrett moved to the side while she walked to the front desk. “Justine Keller to meet with Roark French and Karly Paterson.”
“I’ll let them know you’re here,” the woman said.
She didn’t even have a chance to sit down before Roark was buzzed and they were told to go to his office.
“Glad you could come in so quickly,” Roark said. “We were able to go through the tapes faster than we thought once we had full access to view them and were gathering as much as we could.”
She nodded her head. “I appreciate this. I hope it’s good news.”
Roark smiled, but it was a sad one and her heart sank. “We’ll talk when Karly gets here. She’s on a call and just finishing up. Why don’t we get your sister on video while we wait.”
She took a deep breath to try to calm the pounding in her body. It wasn’t going to come.
Her eyes were starting to itch, her stomach was moving faster than a gymnast at the Olympics and she felt as if her head might spin off.
She reached for the chair and Garrett was right behind her, helping her in it. He’d walked over and got her a bottle of water on the side table.
“Sorry I’m late,” Karly said, coming into the room.
“We are just getting Jordan on video now and set up to share the screen with her,” Roark said.
Which meant they were going to see what was on the video. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Her sister’s face popped up and Jordan said, “Justine, you’re looking white. Are you okay?”
Garrett turned to look at her face. “Take several deep breaths. Close your eyes, breathe in deeply, and exhale out slowly. Do it again.” She listened to his calming voice as she did and felt like an idiot.
She opened her eyes. “I’m okay. Just nerves and the unknown.”
“I know,” Roark said. “And we are sorry. I will tell you, what we found is going to be hard for you to see and you can tell us you don’t want to, but we are giving you the option. I have a call scheduled with the DA and detective on your father’s case in thirty minutes.”
“We wanted you to both know what was found first,” Karly said.
“I appreciate that,” she said. “I don’t want to be blindsided. But can you tell us before you show us? I might not want to see it.”
“You’re going to watch it,” Jordan said firmly. “I don’t care how hard it is, you need to see it like me. We need to know and not worry we aren’t getting the full truth. You know this. No running or avoiding. Do it for Dad.”
Justine blinked her eyes a few times and some tears started to fall.
“I’ll do it,” she said. “But I want to know what we are going to see.”
“You’re going to watch your father get justice,” Roark said, reaching his hand over. “But it’s going to be very hard for you to see. If you plan on going to the trial you need to be prepared.”
“We’ll both be there,” Jordan said.
“Then you should be fully aware,” Karly said. “But there may not be a trial after this.”
“You have her on video shooting my father?” she asked.
“We do,” Roark said. “Sound and video. Many more recordings of fights too. I’ll let Karly explain about the cameras first.”
“There were four cameras hidden in your father’s house. The kitchen, the dining room that looked into the living room, and then the living room looking toward your father’s office. The last one was a sunroom. From the history that we could find, we believe it had to do with your stepmother’s drinking.”
“The camera locations?” Jordan asked.
“Yes,” Karly said. “From what we can gather, there were a lot of conversations from the tapes going back over a year. You can hear fights about her drinking. That she was sneaking it when he wasn’t around, hiding it in other drinks. There are several fights where Elise has been physically abusive to your father and he never once fought back. He walked away.”
Justine nodded her head. “He’d be embarrassed for people to know he was subjected to that.”
“But he wouldn’t give in and fight back,” Jordan said. “We know that and you know that. Even if you had your doubts.”
“I hated having doubts,” she said, sniffling.
Garrett grabbed the tissues on the table and moved them toward her. “It’s only natural to have them and the strongest people do at different times in their life. Never think otherwise.”
“Thank you for that,” she said. “I’m ready. I think we need to get this over with.”
“First,” Karly said. “Did you know your father had a gun in his office?”
“No,” she said. “That came as a shock to me and to find out that it was registered to him more so.”
Which she knew was part of Elise’s defense. That her father had this planned all along.
Maybe it was her father who had it planned for his defense more than anything.
No one would know the reasons now.
“Can you see the screen?” Karly asked after she hit a few buttons to share what they were going to watch.
“I can,” Jordan said.
“I wish I was there with you, Jordan,” Justine said.
She had Garrett next to her, but her sister was alone.
She closed her eyes and took two deep breaths.
“Let us know when you’re ready,” Karly said. “It’s graphic and we can stop at any point.”
“Don’t stop it,” Jordan said. “I want to see it. I need to. Justine can leave the room if she changes her mind.”
“I won’t,” she said. She turned to Garrett. “Don’t let me leave. Please. I need to do this.”
“I’ll be right here,” he said, reaching to hold her hand.
Karly hit the button and they watched Elise in the kitchen with a bottle of what looked like vodka that she was pouring into her coffee, then hiding the bottle way in the back of a cabinet where no one would think to look.
Then Elise went about cooking dinner as if she wasn’t secretly getting drunk.
Karly paused it. “I fast-forwarded to spare you, but she’d been drinking for hours at this point.”
Justine snorted. “She doesn’t even look drunk.”
“No,” Roark said. “She obviously has a high tolerance of it.”
Her father walked into the kitchen after Karly fast-forwarded the video of Elise cooking for ten minutes.
She felt the tear roll down her cheek when her father’s voice was heard. “What’s for dinner?”
“What I feel like cooking on the budget you give me for food,” Elise said sarcastically.
Her father shook his head, didn’t say a word, and walked out of the room.
The video was paused. “He went up the stairs,” Karly said, “then returned fifteen minutes later.”
They watched Elise take the bottle out of her hiding spot and then drink it straight before she put more in her coffee.
Her father came in changed into jeans and a T-shirt and gathered plates to get down.
“Why are you keeping money from me?” Elise asked.
“I’m not,” her father said.
“I tried to use my credit card and it was declined,” Elise argued and slapped her hand on the counter.
“Because you hit your credit limit,” her father said calmly. “I got notification of that today.”
Elise shoved her father. “I’m trying to buy gifts for Christmas. Do you know how embarrassing it is for me to have that happen?”
Her father moved a few steps back. “You have a five thousand dollar limit and I pay it off every month. That’s on you to be at your limit. No one needs that much spent on them at the holidays.”
Elise shoved her father again.
“It was a gift for you.”
Her father turned. “I don’t need or want anything other than my wife to get some help. You’re going to drink yourself to death. Do you think I don’t know you’re drunk right now? What is it? Wine? Vodka? I’ve stopped looking for your stash because it’s never going to end.”
Elise threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her father picked up the coffee cup, took a sip, and then dumped it. “Don’t lie to me. You think I’m a fool and I’m not.”
Elise punched her father in the chest, but he didn’t flinch. Then she went to scratch him and her father caught her wrists. “Leave me alone,” Elise said.
“I should,” her father said. “Just leave in general. I only want to help you.”
“I don’t need your help,” Elise said, swinging her arms and hitting her father haphazardly.
Her father wrapped Elise up in his arms. “Cut it out,” her father said. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Justine felt as if she was going to throw up watching this. She never had any idea how bad it was and wished she had.
“You’re the one that is going to get hurt,” Elise shouted. “I hate you. I hate the control you’ve got on my life. I hate you think you own me.”
Her father let go and moved several feet away. “No one is keeping you here,” her father said calmly. “But you won’t go because you like the life you’ve got.”
Elise snarled and moved toward the pot that had hot water and vegetables in it, she picked it up and threw it at her father across the kitchen.
Justine gasped and jumped back in the chair.
It was as if her father saw that coming and moved away, then left the kitchen.
Karly paused the video. “Do you want me to continue? He’s going to his office.”
“Yes,” Jordan said. “I need to see the rest.”
Justine could only nod her head yes. She was dreading the rest, but Jordan was right and she needed to know what was there.
The camera switched over to see her father walk into his office, then out of sight, Elise going after him, the same thing, out of sight.
They could hear arguing and yelling, her father saying, “What are you doing? Put that down.”
Then her father backed out of the office and into the living room. Almost right in front of the camera as if he knew this would be caught on film.
“How does it feel to have no choice?” Elise said. “This is how I feel being married to you. That you control it all. That you don’t let me have what I want.”
“You’re drunk and you don’t know what you’re doing,” her father said.
“I don’t know why you have this gun. I found it a few months ago when I was looking for the password to your accounts. Are you afraid of your wife?” Elise asked, almost taunting him and waving it around.
“Put the gun down,” her father said.
Elise pointed the gun at herself and cried. “What is wrong with me? Why don’t you love me like you used to? Why don’t you shower me with gifts anymore?”
“Elise. I love you. Even when I hate you like this, I still love you. You need help.”
“I don’t need help,” Elise shouted and pointed the gun back to her father, her hand shaking this time.
Her father started to slowly move closer with his hand out. “Just give it to me,” her father said. “You need to sleep it off.”
Her father was close enough that he lunged for the gun to get it and the two of them were fighting over it. Her father managed to get it away and she held her breath while Elise screamed, “You’re a fucking coward!”
Her father walked away toward his office and she realized the fatal mistake was him turning his back. Her lower lip started to tremble and she was terrified she was going to start choking on her grief.
Elise attacked her father from behind, knocked him down, got the gun, and then fired, hitting her father in the chest.
Justine pushed her chair back to get up and escape but saw Elise drop the gun and rush to her father’s aide.
The damage was done and Justine was running out of the office trying not to throw up.