assertion of self not quite as rewarding. She smiled at him, holding up her badge.
“Thanks for checking.” She could have knocked him over when she said that.
“In case anybody had any doubts about the security of our courthouse.” She leaned close to read his nameplate.
“O.T. Able,” she repeated, committing it to memory.
Now the deputy was dead. She was going to complain.
“Just doing my job,” he weakly said as the line got longer, winding around the world, the entire human race witnessing his destruction.
“You most certainly were,” Hammer agreed.
“And I’m going to make sure the sheriff knows how much he should appreciate you.”
The deputy realized the chief meant every word of it, and Able was suddenly taller and
slimmer. His khaki uniform fit perfectly. He was handsome and not nearly as old as he
had been when he was at the BP
pumping gas this morning and a carload of juveniles yelled, calling him Deputy Dawg, Hawaii Five-0, Tuna Breath, and other racial slurs. Deputy Octavius Able was ashamed
of himself for throwing his weight around with this woman chief. He never used to be
that way, and did not know what had happened to him over the years.
Chapter Twenty-one.
Hammer and West signed in at the Court Liaison Office and punched time cards. On the
second floor, they followed a long corridor crowded with people looking for a pay phone
or the bathroom. Some were sleeping on maple benches, or reading the Observer to see if
their cases might be mentioned. When West opened the door to 2107, her anxiety
increased.
The courtroom was packed with defendants waiting for punishment, and with cops whose
fault it was. Hammer led the way to the very front, sitting on the side for lawyers and
police. Assistant District Attorney Melvin Pond spotted the two powerful women
instantly and got excited. He had been waiting for them. This was his chance.
Fourth Circuit Judge Tyler Bovine, of the Twenty-fifth Prosecutorial District, had been
waiting, too, as had the media from far and near.
Batman and Robin, she. Judge Bovine, thought with intense pleasure as she departed
from her chambers. She’d see about that when she reigned on high in the long black robe
that covered her massive body of law.
West felt increasingly troubled for a number of reasons. She was worried about Brazil and afraid she’d never get out of here to check on him. Tyler Bovine, as was true of the
rest of the judicial herd, was a traveling judge. She resided on the other side of the
Catawba River, and despised Charlotte and all that was good about it, including its
citizens. The judge was confident that it was only a matter of time before Charlotte
annexed her home town of Gastonia, and all else Cornwallis had failed to seize.
“All rise for the judge.”
All got around to it, and Judge Bovine smiled to herself as she entered the courtroom and
spotted Hammer and West. The judge knew that the press had been tipped not to waste
their time hanging around here this day. Batman and Robin would be back on Monday.
Oh yes they would.
The judge sat and put on her glasses, looking important and godlike.
ADA Pond stared at the docket as if he had never seen one before this morning. He knew
he had a battle on his hands, but was determined he would prevail.
“The court calls the case of the State of North Carolina versus Johnny Martino,” he said with confidence he did not feel.
“I’m not ready to hear that now.” Judge Bovine sounded bored.
West nudged Hammer, who was thinking about Seth and not sure what she would do if
he died. It did not matter how much they fought or drove each other crazy or proved
irrefutably that men and women could not be soulmates or friends. Hammer had a tragic
look on her face, and ADA Pond took it as a slight to his knighthood and professional
future. He had failed this wonderful, heroic woman whose husband was shot and in the
hospital. Chief Hammer did not need to be sitting here with all these cretins. Judge