Chapter 3
THREE
When Walker barged into his brother’s apartment the next day, he went right to the stove to smell the scents in the air. He gave Pilar a kiss on her cheek. “Thank god you’re cooking; Roan doesn’t know how to use spices.”
“Nice to see you, too.” His normally calm and relaxed brother gave him a single finger salute from the couch. “You’re welcome NOT to have dessert. I made it.”
Walker picked up a baby carrot from the tray on the counter and dipped it in the container with the slightly pink sauce. “Let me guess. Ranch with spice mixed in.”
Pilar tipped her head toward Roan and Walker looked over at his brother who was now smiling ear-to-ear.
“You?”
He shrugged but looked more than pleased with himself. “Sriracha and Ranch Dressing. It’s cool and spicy.”
Walker grinned right back at him. “Just like your soon-to-be-wife.” Walker winked when Pilar looked at him. “Right, baby?”
Pilar sighed and gestured to the veggie tray. “Take that into the living room and sit down with your brother so I don’t have to separate the two of you later.”
“Separate us?” Walker did his best to look affronted as he picked up the tray. “Why?”
“I could just see the two of you turning back into toddlers and wrestling over something.”
Shaking his head and laughing, Walker moved into the living room area and gave his brother’s leg a little nudge to move it out of the way. “Did you hear that, older brother?” He set the tray down. “Your gorgeous woman is afraid I’ll beat you up later and mess up your pretty face for the wedding.”
“Walker!” Pilar was laughing as she spoke. “I said no such thing.”
He flopped down beside Roan and gave his brother a pointed look. “Maybe she just wants to see us wrestling on the floor. Or maybe she wants to join in?”
Roan’s head turned toward him with an open challenge in his eyes. “You can stop it now.”
Walker put his hands up in the air. “You know I’m just joking.”
Roan rolled his eyes and turned back to the TV. “Joke silently. In your head.”
Lifting the remote, Roan shifted to a playlist in YouTube and hit play.
The screen was filled with the WCCN logo for a hot second and then Walker was face-to-face with Kennedy Heart.
“Bro-”
“This is Kennedy Heart coming to you from Carson Parks. This area of small homes and modest walkups is picking up the pieces today after the crime spree that happened yesterday. In the wee hours of the morning, a number of CCPD squads came into the area and knocked down doors looking for suspects in the robberies.
“By the count of concerned neighbors in this area, nearly twenty men and older teens were taken out of their homes by the officers.
“Requests for information on their loved ones by the families of the men arrested in this sweep have not been answered. WCCN’s calls to the District Attorney’s office have been unanswered as well.”
Walker sagged back against the cushions. “That’s going to be fun dealing with at work.”
Roan turned to look at him. “Is what she saying right? They just pulled a bunch of men out of their houses and dragged them down to the station? Did they even have warrants?”
Walker turned slightly on the cushions. “I’m glad you said ‘they’ and didn’t include me in that question. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Kennedy isn’t a reporter that I would expect lies from.”
Pilar closed the oven in the kitchen and looked over the counter. “This is a whole new topic for her, isn’t it?”
Walker swiveled around to look at the other officer, noting how relaxed she looked with her hair down around her shoulders instead of the low bun she wore on duty. “Topic?”
“The riots.” Pilar nodded at the screen as she walked around the counter to bring a platter into the TV room. “She’s more of the personal interest stories. The feel-good stuff.”
Walker nodded. “Mostly. But she shouldn’t have been there to get that story. I caught her just inside the barricade and kicked her out. Did you know she was in there alone?”
Pilar set the platter down and he caught a look that she gave Roan as Roan got up to head into the kitchen.
Pilar wasn’t all that happy with him.
Well, she should get in line.
“What do you mean you kicked her out?”
Walker sucked in a breath and explained. “She was alone with a camera and a tripod. I thought she normally went around with a cameraman. And even if she was with him, I would have still sent her packing. She had no business being in that area, no matter what her job is.”
Roan came back into the room and nodded at his fiancée. “Good to know he dug in deep with both hands, right?”
Pilar straightened up and put her hand on his chest to lean in for a kiss. “At least we’ll know why he disappeared.”
Walker glared at them both, which they ignored. “Seriously, Roan? You mean to say you’d be okay if Pilar was in there with just a camera and a press pass,” he huffed, “like that would protect her!”
Roan put napkins and cutlery in front of each of their three spaces on the long couch. “Not with a camera and a press pass. If she’s wearing the appropriate riot gear for the situation then it is what it is. I’ve already learned what it was like trying to treat her like she wasn’t who she is.
“And I almost lost her. Pilar knows her job. She’s crazy good at it.”
Walker tried to ignore the heated look that Pilar sent his brother.
Gross.
“But Kennedy Heart isn’t a police officer, Walker. She’s a reporter and if she hasn’t been in dangerous situations like what was happening downtown, she would someday. She’s smart,” Roan leveled a curious look in his direction, “or are you saying she was actually being reckless.”
Pilar came back with a pitcher of iced tea and poured some for each of them before setting the pitcher down on a large coaster “I can’t believe that she would have been reckless.”
Walker turned on her. “Do you all remember what happened when Kate was in trouble? What she did in that bar?”
Pilar’s expression told him that she remembered and enjoyed the thought.
Roan looked a little blank at first.
Pilar smiled and gave her fiancé a wink. “Remember? The sting operation at the bar?”
“Ah! Yeah, I remember that. She was definitely in danger that night.”
Walker grumbled under his breath. “We had a bunch of guys in there that night. She had protection.”
Pilar looked at Roan and then dropped her gaze to the platter as she chose what to eat from the platter.
Walker turned and saw Roan’s bland expression directed at him. “What?”
“Walker?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re my brother and I love you, but you should stop talking now before I let Pilar drop you to the floor.”
“Really?” He turned to look at Pilar and all she did was raise a brow and stared back at him. “She’s not like you. She’s… she’s… soft.”
Roan dropped his head into his hands. “Just stop.”
“And she’s really…” Walker was searching for the right words to explain. “She’s really fem- uh, girlie.”
Roan sighed loudly. “She’s going to punch you in the throat if you keep going.”
“Kennedy? How would she know?”
Something hit him in the temple and Walker turned to see what it was. A Kings Hawaiian roll came to a stop near Pilar’s bare foot.
“Did you just hit me with a roll?”
She gave him a sweet smile. “Better that than my fist. Hmm?” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Since I’m certainly not soft or… girlie?”
Walker rolled his eyes and exhaled. “Of course you are, but you could kick the ass of anyone who crossed you. Kennedy… can’t.”
Roan tapped him on the shoulder and waited until Walker looked him in the eyes.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Can’t I get upset over people doing stupid things without you two thinking I’ve got a problem?”
He swore he heard a breath from Pilar, but it was Roan who spoke.
“The last word I’d use to describe Kennedy Heart is stupid.”
“I wasn’t saying she’s dumb, I’m just saying that she wasn’t seeing the kind of danger she’s in. With her head focused on the story, anything could have happened to her. At least with a cameraman-”
“I swear on all that is Holy, if you say that she’d be safer with a man-”
“Or a camerawoman, there would at least be a second set of eyes to watch out for her.”
The room was silent when he stopped talking and Roan was looking at him as if he’d never seen Walker this way before.
“I just have one question for you before we start eating.”
Walker turned to look back at Pilar, a hopeful lift of his eyebrows the only change on his face. “Yeah?”
“How long have you been attracted to Kennedy?”
Kennedy was dealing with some struggles at work.
The BIG HONCHO, as John liked to call him, Mister Rhames, had sent her an email about her YouTube channel saying that she was causing some trouble with her recent stories. He wanted her to pass their story idea through a producer first before ‘wasting time’ on a story that she’d have to take down.
Just like her story on Carson Parks.
Mister Rhames had the story removed from YouTube and then when the other news stations saw Center City residents complaining about it, they’d posted the video as part of their own broadcasting channels with commentary on why WCCN had seen fit to bury the video.
Now, she was in a lot more trouble because as Patty had put it, “Mister Rhames doesn’t like to be out-of-the-loop.”
Well, it wasn’t like she had gone out of her way to cause trouble.
She’d believed in the story.
She’d seen footage from cell phones about the raid at the houses.
One of the men who’d been hauled into the police vans had a pregnant wife at home with two other children. The stress of his arrest was weighing heavily on the young mother and Kennedy was doing everything she could to help find out where he was and what exactly was going on.
“Hey,” Serena Campos, a super-smart Civil Rights attorney nudged Kennedy with her elbow, “look alive. Here comes the DA.”
Kennedy almost shot to her feet like a rocket, but the pain in her back held her back a little.
Beside her, Serena got to her feet in a graceful way and took a step forward toward the District Attorney. “District Attorney Wielding. I don’t know if you remember me from the Women in Law Luncheon at-”
“You know damn well that I remember you, Serena. Don’t tell me you’re playing games now.”
“No, ma’am. I just wanted to-”
The district attorney raised an imperious brow.
“I’ve been hired by a young mother of three who is looking for information on why her husband was taken out of their house the other night. Jessica’s two toddlers are crying for their daddy-”
“I thought you said there were three kids.”
Kennedy kept her calm and focused on the facts. “She’s nine months pregnant with their third, ma’am.”
The District Attorney looked at her. “You’re that reporter, Heart something.”
“Kennedy Heart, ma’am. I-”
“I get it. So you say that this man-”
“And nearly twenty more.”
Kennedy felt Serena’s hand touch her arm.
“Sorry.” Kennedy felt awful for butting in, but she didn’t think that they’d have much time to get out the salient facts to the District Attorney. She was very much in demand and had a packed schedule of cases.
She looked thoughtful. “So twenty men were arrested? In one place?”
Serena nodded. “Carson Parks.”
“That’s the development by the Interstate?”
Kennedy drew in a full breath. “Yes, ma’am.”
“What did the arrest warrants say?”
Serena and Kennedy looked at each other. Serena answered this time. “I’ve been asking to see the warrant for my client, ma’am, and so far, I haven’t been able to see one.”
A finely shaped brow lifted at that. “You haven’t seen one? Are you suggesting that there wasn’t a valid arrest warrant?”
Serena shook her head vehemently. “No, ma’am. I’m sure that there is one. Especially if a number of men from one specific housing area were taken out of their homes in the early morning hours and piled into a couple of CCPD transport vehicles. I can’t imagine that someone would think to do that without proper authorization.”
That same finely shaped brow lowered slowly. “You know that I’m a big mystery reader.”
Serena nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Kennedy let out her breath silently. Serena had told her that the two had met in a bookstore as Serena was looking for the romance section that they had buried in the back of the store and the District Attorney was scouring the shelves in the Mystery Section for something she hadn’t read yet.
Their conversation hadn’t lasted long, but ever since that day the District Attorney had always stopped to talk to her at the bookstore or in the street.
“Do you have a list of the men and-”
Kennedy rubbed her palms against her pants. It was tough not holding a microphone in her hand or her cellphone to record, but Serena had made it absolutely clear that there would be no recording if they managed to catch the District Attorney in the halls.
Kennedy had agreed readily. This meeting was all about putting the right information in the hands of the one person who could find out where these men had gone or where they were being held.
The District Attorney took the neatly printed list and looked it over.
She smiled softly and the change in her expression made her look almost… real. Normal. Like someone she wouldn’t mind going dancing with instead of a woman who had been elected to one of the highest profile positions in City Government.
When the District Attorney looked up from the paper, she met Kennedy’s eyes for a brief moment before she turned to look at Serena.
The District Attorney waved the paper in the air as if she wanted to make sure all eyes were on the paper. “I want to find out about this, too. I think I would have heard about a whole slew of warrants signed for people in one area.”
She turned her head a little to the side and looked at Serena again. “Did your client’s family say anything about what the police said while they were taking him into custody? What the charges were?”
Serena looked at Kennedy and Kennedy lifted up her phone to check her notes. “The only thing that they could hear was that it had something to do with events that happened downtown.”
The District Attorney nodded slowly. “The thefts and vandalism?”
Kennedy nodded. “I asked his wife about that. She was at an urgent care clinic during most of that time and her husband was at home with the children.”
She saw the moment of hesitation in the District Attorney’s face and rushed to smooth things over. “She FaceTimed with him at home. And his mother stopped by with food for the family. There have to be records that can prove that he was home.”
The District Attorney's lips pressed into a thin, pale pink line as she turned to look at Serena. “And the rest?”
Serena met her eyes and shook her head. “I’m only the attorney of record for my client, but I left representation agreements with the families of the other men. I could, at this minute, be presenting approximately twenty-one clients in a habeas corpus case.”
Kennedy knew what Serena was saying. It was a phrase she’d looked up earlier in the day when everything had started coming to a head.
Habeas Corpus was something like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, but instead of ‘Show me the money!’ It was ‘Show me the body!
By filing such a case, Serena could try to force the police and the prison system to bring those men to a court and explain why they were being held and/or arrested.
For the men’s families it would be a relief to know where they were and how they were doing. As their attorney, Serena would find out valuable information of why they were taken from their families.
“Do any of the family members know names of the police involved. Badge numbers? Car numbers?”
Serena gave the District Attorney a half-wince. “No car numbers. They were put into plain white vans and in the dark, no one could see the license plate numbers. We don’t have access at the moment to CCTV.”
That gorgeous blonde eyebrow rose up again. “I can ask for that footage. Email me the date and approximate times that the police showed up and left.”
Kennedy could see the spark in Serena’s eyes and knew that this was good.
Very good.
“Now all that’s left is to ask when you’ll have the writ drafted and-”
Serena reached into her leather portfolio bag and handed a set of papers to the District Attorney. “That copy is for you. I have a copy I can take down to the Court Clerk.”
“I see.” The District Attorney had a smile that looked a little wicked. “Head over to the Court Clerk and ask when they can squeeze you into a hearing tomorrow morning. Unless,” DA Wielding gave Serena a curious look, “unless you need more time to gather the information for the hearing.”
Serena gestured to the papers and shook her head decisively. “I’ll be ready tomorrow.”
The District Attorney nodded. “Tell the clerk, if she has any questions, to call me. And let her know that I’ll be there for the hearing as well. That should light a fire under her ass.”
Kennedy had to clap her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Serena nodded and managed a low-key smile. “I’m headed there right now, ma’am.”
“Good.” The District Attorney looked at Kennedy. “You’re the one who does all those sweet, human interest stories on WCCN, right?”
Kennedy tried to hold back her normal smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
DA Wielding’s smile broadened. “I saw your piece on this case. Glad to see you tackling harder subject matter.”
Serena’s eyes opened wider, and she stared at the DA along with Kennedy.
“You knew?”
The DA shrugged. “I heard about the video while my driver was bringing me into the court from my office. I bet you were the one who contacted Miss Campos here.”
Serena and Kennedy nodded.
“You two,” the DA wagged a finger at them, “I bet you two could cause a lot of trouble around here.”
Kennedy looked at her friend for a moment and then back at the DA. “I’m not trying to cause trouble.”
The DA nodded. “Just because you don’t mean to, doesn’t mean that it can’t happen nonetheless.” She nodded. “Keep doing what you’re doing, both the human interest stuff and whatever this was, too. I like the way you work, Kennedy Heart.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
A security guard cleared his throat and Kennedy looked in his direction.
“He’s telling me that my driver is downstairs waiting for me so I can go back to my office. I’ll see you both tomorrow at the hearing.”
The District Attorney moved down the hall and stopped short. When she turned back around, she looked straight at Kennedy.
“Make sure you get in your request to bring a camera into the hearing.” She gestured at Serena. “I’m sure Miss Campos would be happy to help you with that request form as I believe she would welcome press at that hearing.”
Serena nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m always happy to help.”
District Attorney Valerie Wielding winked at them and walked off to the elevator with a swagger to her step.
Kennedy turned to look at Serena. “Holy cow! Did you know that was going to happen?”
Serena looked back at her with an elated grin on her face. “Not exactly, but I know that she’s a stickler for rules in court. She knows that any irregularities in the detention or arrest of a suspect can poison a court case. She wants to make sure that whatever happened to allow that many suspects to be taken into custody should have a viable warrant that I could see as the representative of my client.”
“You mean clients.”
Serena shrugged. “They might decide to go with another attorney.”
Kennedy shook her head. “Doubt it. I bet that by the time you get down to the Court Clerk’s office, you’ll have a text from the others saying that they want you to represent their loved ones.”
Serena didn’t look so sure, but she did wave Kennedy along to come with her. “You might as well come with me to the Court Clerk’s office, Kennedy.”
“Me?” Kennedy moved to follow her and caught up quickly. “You’re okay with me coming along?”
“Of course.” Serena pushed the down button on the elevator control panel. “Don’t you want to cover the story from start to finish? Think of what this kind of story could do to help people who don’t know their rights?”
Kennedy thought about all of those other videos on YouTube where people spouted out all kinds of crazy ‘knowledge’ about their civil rights.
“Yeah. I want to cover this.”
The elevator doors opened and when they saw that it was empty, both women walked through the open doorway and into the elevator car.
As the doors closed, Kennedy looked at Serena with a bright smile on her face and in her eyes. “She was right, you know.”
Serena thought about it for a minute. “About you and me being trouble?”
“Causing trouble.” Kennedy nodded. “But what you’re doing is the best kind of trouble, Serena. You’re going to be helping people.”
Serena reached out and laid her hand on Kennedy’s shoulder. “You are too, Kennedy. This is the good fight. I’m glad you’re helping me.”
Kennedy swallowed hard and turned to look at the door in front of her.
This was different.
She loved doing her normal pieces on people in the community, but she felt a special kind of thrill in her belly. She could make a difference in someone’s life instead of just reporting about it.
That was a new feeling for her.
And she liked it.
A lot.