Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Avery Jane
Wisper’s courthouse wasn’t even a mile from my cottage
It was more an honorary courthouse used for traffic and parking ticket disputes and occasional squabbles between farmers, so Deputy Roxi suggested that I should turn in my paperwork at the Teton County Circuit Courthouse in Jackson instead because it would ensure faster results.
Dixon insisted on driving me Tuesday morning after I’d had a chance to fill out the forms and get copies of the police reports, so I sat in his El Camino, gazing out my window and sipping the London Fog he picked up for me from Coffee Shot.
I’d never told him my favorite drink, but somehow, he knew.
“I’m sorry about the car. I know it’s a hunk of junk.”
“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to fidget. The cuticle around my thumb had just stopped bleeding. “I know you’ll fix it up and make it nice again.”
“Yeah, although, I was thinkin’ eventually I might like to buy somethin’ that’s a little safer in winter, in case, y’know, I’m drivin’ Stu somewhere.”
“Good idea.”
“My boss offered me the use of one of the center’s trucks, but I wouldn’t feel right drivin’ it outside of work hours.” He looked at me. “Are you nervous? How do you feel about what we’re doin’ today?”
“I’m nervous, yes.” Halfheartedly, I shrugged. “I don’t think it’s gonna help the situation, but I know it’s a step I need to take.”
“Why wouldn’t it help?” Dixon asked, sipping his own decaf London Fog, though I had a feeling it was a little too sweet for him because his face scrunched up into a grimace every time he took a drink.
“Just ’cause Cody has money. His family has money. They’re pretty well known around here. For all I know, the judge who presides over the temporary protection order hearing might even know them. Then all we’ve done is wasted our time and your gas.”
And possibly enraged an already pissed-off control freak.
“It’s not a waste, AJ. Just filin’ the papers and showin’ up proves somethin’ to authorities.
I’ve known a few guys who had protection orders against them, and if they cared about their lives at all or their freedom, they were scared of ’em.
Cody won’t wanna spend time in a jail cell, and if his parents are as affluent as you say, then they won’t want that either. It’d be an embarrassment.”
“True. Hopefully that’s enough to stop him.”
Dixon nodded as he pulled into the parking lot behind the courthouse and parked. “I haven’t been to Jackson in a long time. The last time I was here…”
His voice trailed off into silence, so I asked, “The last time you were here, what?”
“It’s nothin’. A guy I used to know died.”
“He died? Dixon, that’s not nothin’.”
Looking out his window, he rushed through an explanation.
“He was high. He broke into a jewelry store after hours. He’d just gotten out of jail on bond, and he wanted to get one of those fancy rodeo buckles for his brother.
” He waved his hand in the air, wiping away the sad memory of his friend.
“It’s a long story. Anyway, he got caught that night.
He had a gun and fired at the sheriff. The sheriff fired back, and Ty died. ”
His hand on his thigh clenched tightly into a fist, so tightly that I thought his knuckles might snap. Dixon sharing with me calmed my nerves. Every time I thought he couldn’t be any more vulnerable, he proved me wrong.
Reaching to cover his hand with mine, I squeezed gently. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, but then he shifted in his seat and took a deep breath, clearing the memory completely from his mind. “You ready then?”
“As I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”
Dropping off the protection order packet took less than five minutes.
The statements from Dixon’s sister and Deputy Roxi were enough to give the judge cause to grant me a temporary order. I got lucky with a female judge, and she called me into her chambers to ask one question: “Do you know who you’re filing a restraining order against?”
Of course I knew, but what she meant was did I understand the implications of accusing a Mahone of wrongdoing? I did understand. And I knew it might come back to bite me in the ass, but I also knew my life was more important than my store or my house.
As soon as I entered the courthouse, the gravity of my surroundings made it clear to me that I couldn’t downplay Cody’s behavior anymore. Too many women had crossed the same threshold I had, and some of them weren’t alive anymore to tell their tales.
If for no other reason than those women and their families, I needed to stand my ground, to fight fire with fire, and hope that justice would prevail. But there were lots of other reasons too. Mama and Gran were the most important. How long until Cody decided to hurt them to get to me?
Our safety was the most important thing, so I chose to move forward.
The judge read over my paperwork with focused interest, and I thought I discerned a little bit of satisfaction in her expression.
Maybe she knew what dicks the Mahones could be.
I had no clue if Cody had ever had a restraining order issued against him before, but this wasn’t the first time the Mahone name had come up in a court of law.
Of that, I was sure. They had lawyers on their payroll for all kinds of things.
I’d always had the feeling that they weren’t exactly law-abiding people, but of course I knew nothing about that and couldn’t prove anything.
Now all I could do was wait for my petition to be processed.
The judge told her clerk to schedule the hearing for seventy-two hours, to give them time to notify Cody, because he would be required to be present for her ruling.
If he didn’t show, the judge might grant the order of protection by default.
But I knew he’d be there, with probably no less than three lawyers to represent him, but the only representation I’d have would be little ol’ me, myself, and I.
There was no way I could afford a lawyer.
And there was no way for me to be sure about what would happen next, but I had to believe the law and truth would be on my side.
Dixon had talked to his sister, who said she’d stand up for me in court.
But even if Abey hadn’t offered, I wouldn’t be alone because Mama and Gran promised to go with me too.
Dixon said he’d be there but that he wouldn’t go into the courtroom because he thought that his history and his rap sheet could hurt my petition.
So, Friday morning, I hung a “Sorry, we’re closed” sign in the front window of the shop, and we all headed to Jackson.
Dixon rode with Abey in her cruiser, and I rode with Mama and Gran.
When we met in the parking lot, he took hold of my hand and accompanied us to the entrance.
Before the rest of us walked through the doors, he placed a chaste kiss on my cheek and said, “You got this.”
Mama clucked her tongue in disproval, but quietly. I knew she worried about me, and she hadn’t really had the time to get to know Dixon again, but I also knew that when she did, she’d change her tune.
I felt confident about the entire situation… until we entered the courtroom and I saw Cody with four lawyers and his mother in tow.
It was all just a show for the judge, but I didn’t think she was too impressed, because the first words she said after she sat and opened a file folder with my petition inside were, “I think one lawyer would have been sufficient.”
Cody looked more than confident he’d get out of this. He smirked across the aisle at me while his lawyers sized me up, whispering to one another.
The judge read my petition aloud and asked Cody to explain himself. He didn’t say a word. One of his lawyers, a middle-aged man with a Jell-O jaw and bad hair plugs, answered every question.
Finally, Judge Petersen asked, “Are you unable to speak for yourself, Mr. Mahone? Because I’m not asking for legal mumbo jumbo. What I want to hear is your side of the story.”
The lumpy lawyer nodded, and Cody smiled and broke into a deluge of charismatic chatter about who his parents were and how upstanding his family had always been in the Wyoming community, but none of it explained or confirmed anything.
I wasn’t surprised about that; like, had I really expected him to tell the truth?
“So then,” Judge Petersen inquired, “how do you explain Ms. Harlowe’s complaints that you’ve been paying her uninvited visits, that you broke into her home and threw a brick through her window, you’re stalking her, and that your behavior is escalating to the point she feels unsafe?”
“Wasn’t me,” Cody said. “I’m not the only man she’s dated. In fact, her current flavor of the month is waitin’ outside as we speak. Who’s to say that guy isn’t the one causin’ her troubles? He looks like a low life to me. Maybe he threw the brick through her window.”
“Excuse me.” Abey, dressed in her sheriff uniform and badge, had been standing at attention silently behind everyone with her hands folded together behind her back, but now she interrupted and stepped forward. The judge nodded at her to continue.
“Deputy Sheriff Abey Lee of Wisper, Wyoming, for the record. My brother, Dixon Lee, is the man outside. He’s a friend to Ms. Harlowe, and he’s been there to help her clean up after Mr. Mahone’s visits.
I can assure the court that he was not the individual who broke into Ms. Harlowe’s residence when she wasn’t home, and he didn’t throw the brick through her window because he was a guest at her residence when it happened.
He identified Mr. Mahone last Sunday evening after the incident when my deputy showed him a picture of Mr. Mahone. ”
The judge turned her head slowly, looking at Cody pointedly.
He shrugged indifferently. “Like I said, wasn’t me. I just have one of those faces. Everybody thinks they remember me.”
God, the audacity of this man! Lying right to a judge’s face?
Cody’s mama had been listening closely. I thought her ears perked up when Cody mentioned Dixon, but she never tried to utter a word. Her face looked like it had been superglued into a disapproving expression, until Judge Petersen asked Cody to provide proof of where he was last Sunday night.
“At home,” he said easily. “Sundays are for family at the Mahone household.”
Cody’s mama’s face fell, like she knew her son was lying, but still she said nothing, until the judge addressed her directly.
“Can you corroborate your son’s whereabouts this past Sunday night, Mrs. Mahone?”
Deadpan and with no more life on her face than a corpse’s, she replied, “Of course I can.”
The judge saw through Mrs. Mahone’s lie, though, and all the contempt she seemed to have for the entire situation. So, much to her and Cody’s lawyers’ dismay, Judge Petersen issued me the order of protection.
“If you, Cody Dennis Mahone, knowingly come within three-hundred feet of Ms. Harlowe, you will be arrested. Which means, if you see her, turn around and walk away. You may not commit any further acts of stalking. Stay away from Ms. Harlowe’s home, her place of business, or any other location you are aware that she frequents.
Do not intimidate, threaten, or otherwise interfere with Ms. Harlowe, her family or household members, or her friends.
“You may not contact Ms. Harlowe, her family or household members or her friends through telephone calls, mail, e-mail, texting, social media, or any other form of communication.”
She paused, her eyebrows raising slightly, but then asked, “Have I made myself clear? Do you understand the conditions and restrictions of the protection order?”
The dead-eye stare Cody focused on Judge Petersen made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but she wasn’t intimidated in the least.
“Mr. Mahone, I need a verbal response to my question.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cody seethed. “Heard you loud and clear.”
“Good. Then we’re done here for today.”
Cody pushed back from his table and stood before the judge had even finished speaking. His lawyers followed him out of the courtroom, but his mama lingered for a few seconds. She looked at me like she wanted to say something, but then she shook her head and walked away.
Mama and Gran crowded around me, hugging me and soothing my anxiety about being near Cody again.
Abey shook the judge’s hand. They spoke in hushed tones across the room, but as Gran tried to squeeze the breath right out of my lungs, I thought I heard Judge Petersen say something to the effect of, “I may get flack for this, but it was worth it.”