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Fifteen Years Ago
“Mama, I’m scared.”
“So am I, son. Put it out of your head.”
“I can’t.”
“You can do anything you put a mind to. That’s the way the Good Lord made us.”
“I don’t want to get hurt.”
“I would never let no one hurt you.”
“I don’t want you hurt neither.”
“Don’t you worry. Mama got a plan for all that. You wait and see. Mama got a plan.”
Ruby slid the steel-gray handgun into her beach bag purse, so grateful, so sure this would be the solution. For the first time in so long, she saw a way out. Day One of a better chapter in her so-far bitter life.
She felt a tear snaking down her cheek, but she wiped it away before the boy could see. “Do you remember your name?”
The young boy scrunched up his eyes. “Of course. I’m four fingers old.”
“I mean your new name.”
“Aw, that.”
“Do you remember?”
“Yeah.”
“And where you’re from? And your mama’s new name? And why we’re traveling?”
“I wanna go home.”
“We can’t, son. Not now, not ever. Ain’t safe for us.”
“Are we safe now?”
Here? In a forty-year-old Ford Pinto that barely started, barely ran? Safe when the most powerful person she had ever known hunted them? She didn’t know what the word safe meant any more. “Stay close to your mama, Jayme. Mama gonna take care of you.”
She felt him scoot a little closer. Good. “Mama, are we almost there?”
“Almost, baby boy. We’re like Moses. Mostways to the Promised Land, standing outside the gate, hopin’ someone will let us in.”
“I’m hungry.”
“I am too, but we gotta keep movin’. There’s people lookin’ for us and we don’t want to give them a chance to drag us back where we come from.”
She slowed for a stop sign. The car choked, shuddered violently, then died.
She swore under her breath, hoping the boy didn’t notice. She had no time for this now. She turned the key in the ignition.
Nothing happened.
She tried it again. Barely even a churning sound. She let up, not wanting to flood it. She made herself count to thirty before she tried again.
Nothing. This sorry excuse for a car wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“Come on.” She tugged her boy’s arm and together they slid out on the passenger side.
“Mama, I need my bag.”
“We’ll come back for it later.”
“It has all my things. My Power Rangers and my poem book and—”
“We’ll come back for it later.” She yanked hard on his arm. “You be a big boy, Jayme. You be the man Mama needs you to be. We can’t be sittin’ still. We got to move.”
She felt her heart pounding in her chest. Her pulse raced. She had never felt so afraid in her entire life. Please, dear Lord, just give me a chance.
She looked both ways down the street. Her car had stalled in the worst possible place, one of the dirtiest parts of downtown St Petersburg. Mostly industrial, with a few taco stands and massage parlors and other places she had no intention of entering. Southside Imports had a big warehouse to the left. Gossips said that was a front for drug-runners, but she didn’t know one way or the other. Best to stay away. She needed someplace they could hide till she found another way out of town.
She couldn’t afford the Tradewinds or one of those rich white-people places in the tourist district. But there were some motels nearby where they could hole up. They needed to get off the street, and they needed to do it fast.
He was looking for her. And she knew what he would do if he found her.
“Come on.” She jerked Jayme forward, not permitting any resistance.
They had barely walked a hundred feet when she heard tires squeal. A car barreled down the road, coming straight toward them.
Was that him? Or someone working for him? So soon?
Nowhere to hide, and no way the driver could miss them. Maybe she shouldn’t have worn this bright yellow dress, but it was the only one she had. He didn’t let her go out much. And shopping-never. What did she need clothes for? All she needed to do was take them off, far as he was concerned. She didn’t have any business attracting attention, not from anyone else. Only him.
The car slowed as it came near...
Then moved on. She felt the air rush out of her lungs. It wasn’t him. Not him and not anybody working for him. They were safe. A little longer.
But that wouldn’t last.
“Mama! You’re bleeding!”
She looked down, just above her waist on the right side. Sure enough, blood stained her dress from the inside out. Damn yellow, anyway. It didn’t hide anything. Looked like he’d hurt her worse than she’d realized. Not that it mattered. He could cut off her head and she would keep moving forward. Jayme didn’t have no one, not one soul in the world he could trust but her. His uncle cared, sure, but he was weak. Like she’d been. But no longer. Now she was gonna do what she should have done a long time ago.
“It’s nothing, darling. Just cut myself. Don’t worry yourself none over it.”
In the distance, she spotted a Motel 6 sign. That would do. She could afford it, just, with the money she’d stolen from his wallet. Hole up a little while, then once the heat was off, get out. Get out of Florida. Go someplace her boy could be the man he deserved to be, safe from the ugliness and pain she’d endured for so long. Just a few days and—
Another car careened around the corner behind them.
And she recognized it.
“It’s Derrick. Run, boy. Run.” She squeezed his hand and together the two raced down the asphalt, but she knew she was holding Jayme back. Her feet didn’t move the way they once did.
The car sped around them, then jackknifed directly in front, blocking their path.
A second later, a mangy-looking man, covered in tattoos and wearing a torn tank top, crawled out of the driver’s seat. “Where you goin’ in such a rush, Ruby?”
She stood her ground, took in a deep breath, and faked courage she did not feel. “Don’t you mess with me, Derrick. We’re leaving.”
“I know someone who doesn’t think that’s such a good idea. Especially not with the boy.”
“He’s my boy. I’m the one that makes the decisions ‘bout where he goes and what he does.”
“Well now, there’s a strong difference of opinion on that point.”
“We’re gonna walk down this street, Derrick. We’re gonna walk down this street and you ain’t gonna do nothin’ to stop us.”
Derrick pulled a baseball bat out of the front seat of his car. “I’m afraid I am, Ruby. Don’t want to. But I got no choice about it.”
“We all got a choice, Derrick. You’re making a choice right now. A poor one.”
He walked closer to her, swaggering and swinging the bat. “You two just get in the car peaceful-like and we won’t have any problems. You know you can’t get away with this. Make it easy on yourself.”
Jayme stepped forward. “You stay away from my mama!”
Derrick grinned. “Well now, what have we got here? A little hero?”
Ruby’s jaw tightened. “He’s got more courage than you ever thought about having.”
“Courage can be a dangerous thing.” Derrick moved closer, staring into her eyes. “You want your boy hurt? Hurt bad?”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.” Before she knew what happened, he reared back his hand and hit her hard across the face, knocking her to her knees.
She fell, braced herself, rubbed the side of her cheek. Felt like he’d knocked a tooth loose.
Jayme ran forward and kicked him. Derrick knocked the boy to the ground with a single swat.
“You’re just making this unpleasant, Ruby. You’re both gonna end up beat and bleeding. And you’re still goin’ back with me.”
“Maybe not.” She knew there was only one thing she could do. And if she hesitated, he might talk her out of it.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the gun.
Derrick raised his hands. “Whoa. Hold on there. Where’d you get that, Ruby?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Now don’t do anything you’ll regret later.”
“I won’t regret it. I should’ve done this months ago.” She pulled the trigger.
Derrick looked stunned, but he did not fall.
She shot him again.
Derrick crumpled to the pavement.
She put the gun back in the bag and did her best to remain calm. She took Jayme’s hand. “We need to get off the street.”
Someone must’ve heard the shots. She had to disappear before the cops arrived.
Two minutes later she was at the registration desk for the Motel 6. The clerk looked at her funny when she offered him cash, but he took it. Apparently he hadn’t heard about the gunshots down the road yet.
“Just you and the boy?”
“Just us.”
The man was obviously suspicious, but he didn’t say a word. He slid the key across the counter with two dingy brown towels.
Two minutes later, they were in their room. Ruby sat on the edge of the bed. Tears covered her face.
It was like a waterfall, pent up for so long, then finally released. Her whole body shook. She had been through so much. And there still was so much left to do.
“It’s okay, Mama. It’s okay.” The boy wrapped his arms around her ample frame. “We made it. We’re safe now.”
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. Her throat was choked and dry. But she knew they weren’t safe. She had bought them a little time, but he would send someone else after them. Or the police would find them. They would never make it out of town.
There was only one way she could save her boy now. Only one way to save them both.
She walked to her bag and slowly withdrew the gun.
“Mama, what are you doing?”
She raised the gun, her hand trembling. “What I have to do.”
“No, Mama! No!”
Tears streamed from her eyes. “I don’t wanna do it. Don’t you see that? But I have to. We’ve run out of choices.”
“You said everyone has a choice.”
She nodded, wiped her nose, gun hand swinging wildly. “I just got the one now, boy. So I’m taking it.” She tried to concentrate, tried to stiffen her arm and focus her aim.
“Mama, don’t point that thing at me.”
“Don’t you see? It’s the only way. The only way left.”
“Mama!” Jayme cried, shaking, terrified.
“Goodbye, son.”
“Mama, no!”
She raised the gun to the side of her head and fired.
Present Day
Dan knew the paramount goal in any trial, and especially a bench trial, was eliciting the judge’s sympathy. That was crucial—and exceptionally challenging in the present case, when his client was an alcoholic homeless man with 174 priors. The first time he read that on the rap sheet, he thought it must be a typo—but it wasn’t. Henry Bates had 174 prior arrests. This time he’d been brought in for the usual misdemeanor—disturbing the peace—but also a felony—resisting arrest. Judge La Costa made it clear he’d had enough, and if the defendant were found guilty, it would not be just another night in jail. Henry would get a lengthy prison stay. One Dan knew he probably wouldn’t survive.
To people on the outside, it might look like this was a minor case. But Dan knew the stakes were as high as they got.
The prosecutor assigned to the case was a young man named Brad Phelan, barely out of law school. He’d hoped his friend Jazlyn Prentice would be assigned the case, but these days she only handled major felonies. The sole witness for the prosecution was the arresting officer, James Voight, equally young.
Dan knew Henry needed help he would never get inside a prison. These people just wanted him out of the way. They were a bunch of bullies, albeit bullies with the official sanction of the US law enforcement system.
Dan hated bullies. He’d spent most of his life fighting them.
Today would be no exception.
Read the rest when Trial by Blood is released on November 26, 2019