Chapter 11 #2
He doesn’t ask how she’s doing. He opens the file, skims it as we drop down into the two chairs in front of his desk.
His name plate says Richard Braun. He comes across as a worker bee, overworked, undercompensated for all that he does and most important of all, detached from the cases he’s been tasked with prosecuting. That worries me.
While he’s skimming the file, I tell him, “We heard from the grapevine that you’re thinking of taking him off house arrest.”
Glancing up, he clarifies, “I’m not thinking of doing anything of the sort.
However, his defense attorney has filed a motion requesting just that.
They’re attempting to show a material change in circumstances since the first hearing, proving that he poses less risk to the community than initially thought. ”
Emily stammers, “But he broke into my house, destroyed all my electronic equipment, and terrified me.”
“I’m aware,” he murmurs, glancing back down at the file.
Before I can jerk a knot in his stupid ass, he flips a few pages and explains, “Here it is. They’ve presented an affidavit to the judge that includes a full psychological workup stating that he poses very little danger to the community and has been participating in therapy twice a week to deal with the stress of being unjustly accused of involvement in his girlfriend’s disappearance. ”
“I think you already know that’s fuckin’ bullshit, right? You can pay a doctor to say anything you want.”
“That’s debatable, but the judge has seventy-two hours to review the request,” he states calmly.
I lean forward and ask, “And exactly what do you plan to do about this?”
“If and when the judge asks for my input, I will stress how fundamental it is to pay attention to his prior behavior. In my opinion, Mr. Brennan has already proven he can’t be trusted to be unsupervised in the community.”
“I’d like to request that you submit that opinion to the court without them needing to fuckin’ ask for your opinion. My old lady is one of his victims. She deserves to feel safe while you work on putting this bastard behind bars.”
“Alleged victim,” he clarifies. “And I understand your concerns. But the judge will make a determination based on the information presented. That’s how the system works.”
“At least point out that he has a history of escalation,” I reply evenly.
“He was implicated in the disappearance of his girlfriend and in his desperation to avoid consequences, he broke into Emily’s home and terrorized her.
There was nothing fucking alleged about it.
If I hadn’t intervened, you could very well have two missing persons cases on your hands.
That’s a pattern of criminal behavior, not coincidence. ”
He exhales and leans back in his chair. “I’ll draft out a response and send it over for the judge to review. But that’s all I can do at this point.”
Emily speaks up, her voice carrying an element of fear.
“Are you aware that when he broke into my house, he intentionally destroyed every piece of tech I could have used to call for help? That he roughed up my cat and threatened to kill him if I didn’t do what he said.
” Glancing at the picture of his family sitting on his desk, she asks, “Is that someone you want running around the community with charges pending? I was a total stranger. If he can target me, he can target anyone.”
I watch the PA’s expression shift slightly. Something that looks an awful lot like fear flashes across his face. “For now, his house arrest is still in place. If that changes, I’ll alert you the moment I know.”
“And then what?” I ask.
“We continue to trial with both cases,” he replies grimly.
That’s clearly a dismissal. We didn’t get the door slammed in our faces, but we didn’t get many assurances either.
Emily is quiet but composed for the most part. “Thank you for your time this morning, Mr. Braun.”
I stand before I say something I might regret and follow Emily out without another word. This whole situation is fucked up beyond belief. And I’m not sure I trust Braun to do anything he said.
The system didn’t fail us today. It’s simply not set up to fully protect victims in the first place. Not when they’re so busy protecting the rights of the accused.
Outside the building, there is still a chill in the air. I take a breath in and let it out slowly, before I turn to her.
“That was a rough conversation. Are you okay, darlin’?” I ask, trying to stifle my anger.
Emily is holding herself together but she’s honest about her feelings. “The whole situation made me sick to my stomach.”
“We probably need to get some food in you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I reach out and draw her into the circle of my arms, standing right there on the sidewalk. “I know it’s not, but we need to sit down and talk about this shit. You need to eat in order to keep your strength up, so let’s kill two birds with one stone.”
She gives me a brief hug and then steps back. “Alright. After smelling that fresh coffee in the courthouse I could really use a cup. Maybe some toast would go down well as well.”
I take us to my favorite diner, on the far side of town. I order heaping helpings of everything good and a couple of coffees.
Emily tosses me an indulgent smile. “It feels like you ordered one of everything on the menu. You must be starving.”
“I am, but it’s for both of us,” I tell her.
Shifting the conversation back to the case as the waitress pours our coffee, she asks, “Do you really think they’re going to let him off of house arrest?”
I take a sip before answering. “Yeah, I do. It seems like the prosecuting attorney has already given up because he knows the judge is in Brennan’s pocket.”
“Jesus, do you really think that’s true?”
“I’d like to think judges can’t be bought but I’ve seen it happen too many times to cling to that fuckin’ delusion.”
I hate that she has to know how easily justice can get diverted when money, connections, and power come into play.
“I’m not telling you that to be an ass. I think you need to have reasonable expectations. If you go into this thinking that justice will prevail and it doesn’t, it can be a lot more traumatic.”
“Yeah, I get that,” she says. Then she huffs out an exasperated breath. “It’s just really frustrating to think he might do to someone else what he did to me.”
“Yeah,” I tell her quietly. “That part worries me as well. That asshole was too opportunistic.”
“He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The way he knocked on my door, looking panicked and scared, and then shoved past me when I cracked the door was shocking.”
“I think they call that social engineering,” I tell her. “When people use your empathy and social conventions to get you to lower your guard so they can take advantage.”
Her eyes fly open. “That’s exactly what he did.” Pausing to take a drink of her coffee, she gazes at me for a brief moment, then she lowers her cup. “Do you want to know what keeps me up at night?”
I nod, barely able to breathe. She’s sharing something deep and personal with me right now. And that means she trusts me enough to let me get close to her.
“I think about how quickly he realized that Frisky was important to me and then used that against me. One thought keeps circling around in my head. What if he did that to a single mother, you know, broke into her house and held her baby hostage like he did with Frisky. He’d have total control over her. That scares the shit out of me.”
Reaching over, I take her hand in mine and give it a little squeeze. “We’re not gonna let that happen, sweetness. Trust me on that. We’re already eyes on with the bastard.”
She freezes and just stares at me for a long hard moment. “What are you saying? That you hacked into his home security feed?”
I lower my voice, “Striker hacked his security feeds, we put a drone in the sky over his house, and we have a couple of brothers scouting around the perimeter of his property makin’ sure he doesn’t breach his bail conditions.”
Her mouth falls open and her expression is stunned. I lift one hand to push her chin up, playfully closing her mouth. She immediately swats my hand away. “You sexy bastard, why didn’t you tell me you did that? It would have saved me a lot of worry.”
I’m tickled that she thinks I’m sexy. Of course, I know that I am, but it’s always nice to hear it from the woman I’ve been obsessed with for years.
Plus, my sweet little Emily doesn’t usually talk like that.
I get a twisted little thrill that she’s changing a little bit as she gets acclimated to my world.
I’m dirtying her up just a tad, buffing off some of her innocence.
I don’t know why that makes my dick twitch with interest. Maybe I’m a sick twisted fuck after all.
“By and large, we don’t talk to our old ladies about club business,” I explain. “I made an exception because you said it was keeping you up at night.”
“That’s really sweet,” she says, her expression softening.
I don’t do well with talking about emotions.
So, I glance away, admitting, “I’m sorry, I should have told you.
I don’t like knowing you’re scared or worried about that asshole.
He’s nobody, just some one-off stranger who got to you when we weren’t expecting it.
That won’t ever happen again. Trust me on that, Em. ”
She nods, clearly emotional. “I do trust you, Onyx. I just don’t want you to get overconfident. Brennan has just the kind of devious criminal mind to bring a gun to a knife fight, if you know what I mean.”
I reach back, unsnap my cut and pull the right side back. Lifting my chin, I say, “I’m like a fuckin’ Boy Scout. I’m always ready for anything.”
Her eyes land on my gun and she just shakes her head. “How in the hell did you manage to get into the courthouse with a concealed weapon?”
“Cedar Falls is the very definition of a small town. They don’t have metal detectors or much in the way of security. No one has ever done anything out of pocket here, so they’re not about throwing money at problems they don’t even have.”
Her eyes flash up to mine. “Aren’t there rules against carrying concealed weapons in places like that?”
My old lady is the voice of reason. I can see that she needs a little more innocence buffed off, so I shrug. “I have a concealed carry permit and balls enough to carry where most people wouldn’t dare.”
“That’s not a very smart thing to do,” she shoots back. “Do you know what would happen if you got caught with that in the damn courthouse?”
“Yeah, I might have to rely upon the same judge Brennan is using to avoid consequences.”
“That’s not funny, Onyx.” Her disapproving look tells me she doesn’t appreciate my sense of humor. Before I can apologize, the server begins bringing out our food.