I'll Stand by You (9 page)

One by one, they looked away.

“Take a seat here,” Butterman said, indicating chairs on the other side of the room and then glancing at his watch. “We still have a couple of minutes.”

Johnny sat down, and as he did, Marshall took the chair beside him. As soon as Johnny sat, he eased Beep into his lap, seating him with his back against Johnny’s chest. He felt Beep flinch and knew he’d seen the boys, and at the same time, the parents were getting their first look at Beep, as well.

“Dear God,” Mrs. Sharp said and then clapped a hand over her mouth as Coach Sharp stared in disbelief.

Carl Buckley’s lips went slack, and then he glanced down at his son, as if seeing him for the first time as a person capable of doing something that horrific.

Mrs. Rankin moaned and then covered her face.

They had all agreed on one lawyer to represent them, because the boys had been equally charged, and now he sat staring at the boy across the room and knew the best they could hope for was leniency from the judge.

P. Nutt Butterman was in his element. He’d seen the panic on Brooks Pine’s face as he’d faced his attackers. He was sorry as hell the kid had been hurt in such a vile manner, but he was more than satisfied to see how scared the others were now.

“I want to go home,” Beep whispered.

Johnny patted his leg. “I know, buddy. So do I, but we have to be here for a while, okay?”

Beep’s voice was soft, but it carried. Every mother in that room heard the fear in his voice and was horrified that a child of theirs was the cause.

A secretary opened the door to the judge’s chambers and then stood aside.

“Judge Brothers is ready for you,” she said.

When they stood, Beep hung back with Marshall and whispered in his ear, “Don’t let them hurt me, okay?”

Marshall’s voice took on the tone of a holy vow. “I promise, Beep.”

But for Johnny, rage swept through him so fast it made him shake. He made no attempt to temper his voice. “No one’s gonna touch you, buddy. I promise.”

Butterman was shocked. He’d been so focused on the actual physical injuries Brooks Pine suffered that he hadn’t realized the depths of the emotional impact, as well. He put a hand on Beep’s shoulder.

“And I’m going to help your brother keep that promise.”

Beep looked up. In his eyes, these men were giants in stature, way bigger than the boys who hurt him. It was a reassuring sight.

They were the last to enter and took the remaining empty seats as Judge Brothers came in and sat down behind his desk.

Johnny eyed the man closely. He saw manicured fingernails and the collar of a silk shirt beneath the robes and his heart sank. The man’s appearance spoke money. Would their lack of social standing be the undoing of any justice for Beep?

Only time would tell.

Chapter 6

Judge Brothers had read all the files, seen the video interviews, and knew to the last stitch what injuries Brooks Pine had suffered. He also knew the parents of the perpetrators were considered upstanding citizens of Blessings, but in his eyes, their progeny did not get a free pass because of their parents’ reputations.

He could see the four boys had been coached to be on their best behavior. They were sitting upright, hands in their laps and appropriately penitent expressions on their face.

And then there was Brooks Pine. Smallest kid in the room by far and looked like he’d been run over. And he was scared. Judge Brothers had seen plenty of scared kids in his courtroom during his career, and it was clear this boy was the victim, not the perpetrator.

“Good afternoon,” Brothers said as he began. “Just to be clear, this is not an opportunity for lawyers to plead their cases because guilt has already been recognized and admitted. As I adjudicate sentencing, I don’t want to hear a parent speak out in argument or a lawyer interrupt what I have to say. Do we understand each other?”

While everyone else nodded, Beep shrunk back against Johnny, trying to make himself as small as possible, and then closed his eyes. The judge’s voice was loud and sounded angry. He wanted to go home.

Judge Brothers saw that the boy was frightened, but his job wasn’t about making friends. It was about meting out justice.

“I want to call attention to something very obvious to me before I go on. I want Lewis Buckley, Kevin Sharp, and Bobby Jay and Billy Ray Rankin to please rise and come stand at the front of my desk.”

The boys glanced at their parents and then did as they’d been told.

“Now will Brooks Pine please join them?”

Brooks sighed so loud it almost sounded like a groan, but he stood up without hesitation and walked two steps forward. There was less than a foot of space between him and Lewis Buckley, and the obvious difference in their sizes was immediate.

“Now, boys, will you please turn around and face the room.”

All five boys turned.

“Parents, I want you to take a good look. If there were any lingering notions you were harboring regarding this child’s participation in the beating your sons gave him, I hope you have the good sense to let them go. Brooks, you may sit back down.”

Beep pressed a hand against his belly as he walked back.

The four boys were still facing the room.

“All of four of you turn and face the bench.”

The boys hesitated, looking around the room for a bench. Their lawyer had to whisper for them to turn and face the judge before they complied.

“I’ve read your statements,” Judge Brothers said. “But I want to hear it for myself.” He looked straight at Lewis. “Lewis Buckley, what prompted you to attack Brooks Pine?”

Lewis stuck his hands in his pockets and started to slouch.

“Stand up straight. Take your hands out of your pockets and answer me!” the judge snapped.

Lewis blanched. That demanding tone of voice sounded too much like his father’s voice to ignore. He quickly obeyed.

“Beep had ringworms. He’s white trash, and we didn’t want him near us.”

Brothers frowned. “According to the evidence, that statement is false. Brooks Pine had no such disease. In fact, he was a perfectly healthy child until you attacked him.”

“Well, we thought he had ringworm,” Lewis said.

“And so for that you attacked him?”

“I just pushed him away,” Lewis said.

“Did you kick him while he was down?” Brothers asked.

Lewis shrugged and looked away.

“I won’t tell you again. When I ask you a question, I want an answer, not a shrug. Did you kick him while he was down?” Brothers snapped.

“I guess,” Lewis muttered.

Judge Brothers looked at the next boy. “State your name.”

“Kevin Sharp, sir.”

“What part did you take in this attack?”

“I guess I kicked him some too.”

“Did he do anything to you?”

Kevin shook his head.

“I can’t hear you either. Speak up,” Brothers said.

Kevin shuddered. “No, he didn’t do anything to any of us.”

“And yet you deemed it necessary to hurt him. You did know you were hurting him, didn’t you?”

“I guess I didn’t think about it,” Kevin muttered.

“Was Brooks Pine bleeding?”

“Yes, sir,” Kevin said.

“Was he crying?”

Kevin’s chin dropped against his chest. “Yes.”

Judge Brothers looked past Kevin to the twins. “State your names.”

“Billy Ray Rankin.”

“Bobby Jay Rankin.”

“You are twins, right?”

“Yes, sir,” they echoed.

“Was Brooks Pine asking anyone to stop hurting him?”

“I guess,” Billy Ray said.

“Yes,” Bobby Jay said.

“Why didn’t any of you stop?” Brothers asked.

The boys all looked at Lewis and then at the judge.

“Lewis is the leader. Lewis didn’t stop, so we didn’t stop,” Kevin said.

Carl Buckley’s stomach roiled. At the moment, he didn’t much like his son.

The judge eyed Lewis again. “So you’re the leader?”

Lewis nodded and then remembered the judge wanted answers. “I guess.”

“What do you think makes a leader?” Judge Brothers asked.

Lewis smirked. “My daddy says leaders get what they want out of life.”

The judge’s frown deepened. “Is that so? So what did you think you were going to get for harming another person as you did Brooks Pine?”

Lewis didn’t hesitate. “Show him his place. White trash always needs to be shown their place.”

Carl Buckley felt ill. He’d said those very words without a notion of how they would be used.

Judge Brothers glanced at the banker, then lifted a hand. “I’ve heard enough. This meeting was to rule on the crimes of assault and battery for which you four boys were arrested. If I did what should be done, you would all four be sent to the state reformatory for youthful offenders. However…”

The hair stood up on the back of Johnny’s neck when he heard the judge beginning to hedge.

Here
it
comes. He’s going to let them off.

The judge continued. “I think you boys need a ‘come to Jesus’ moment of your own. You scared that little boy within an inch of his life, and then you nearly ended it with your callous and vicious behavior. The first part of your sentencing is that you will be sent to the state prison this Saturday on a bus with other juvenile offenders such as yourselves who’ve been ordered to go through the Scared Straight program. You’re going to get an up-front and personal look at what it’s like to live behind bars with killers and criminals of all kinds.”

Johnny exhaled with relief as the four boys burst into tears.

Mrs. Buckley moaned and covered her face while her husband shifted nervously in his seat. It wasn’t going to look good for the bank president’s son to be in such a program, but he knew better than to say so.

Sally Rankin wouldn’t even look at her twins. She knew they were bawling because she’d seen their shoulders shaking, but her heart was fixed on the little boy in Johnny Pine’s arms.

Coach Sharp was pale and shaken. His wife was staring at a spot on the wall above the judge’s desk. She’d mentally clocked out of this meeting the moment she’d seen Brooks Pine.

Judge Brothers continued. “After you return to Blessings, you will report every Saturday for the next twelve months to Officer Pittman at the police station, at which time he will give you community service duties to perform. You may not participate in any family activities on that day. You will work at whatever Officer Pittman sets you to do and nothing else, and you will not be late. You will not be excused for any reason or for any holiday that happens to fall on a Saturday. Consider yourselves on parole. If you mess up in any way, if you so much as look cross-eyed at Brooks Pine again, or for that matter any other kid in Blessings, I will make it my personal quest to see all four of you incarcerated until you have reached the age of sixteen years. Do I make myself clear?”

The boys were nodding and sobbing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear an answer,” Judge Brothers snapped.

“Yes, sir,” they said in perfect unison.

“Take your seats,” he said.

They shuffled back to their seats, their steps dragging, their chins on their chest in abject despair.

Judge Brothers looked straight at Brooks.

“There are quite a few people who were interviewed regarding your behavior, young man, and not a one of them had a single bad thing to say about you. They did say you were very smart, in fact, accelerated in learning for your age. They said you were kind. They said you were friendly. A couple of teachers said you talked too much, but don’t feel bad. That’s what they used to say about me when I was your age.”

Beep was listening intently. He’d already figured out the guys were in big trouble, which made him really nervous. He hadn’t understood the bit about what would happen to them if they did something bad again and was certain they would take it out on him.

Judge Brothers wrapped up the hearing with one last word to Johnny Pine.

“Mr. Pine, I understand you have taken on quite a task in raising your younger brothers, and I want to tell you that it seems you are doing a fine job instilling your young men with some common sense and courtesy. I hope you are satisfied with my sentencing. I’d hate to see you enact a bit of your own revenge for what has happened, because even while I would certainly understand your reason, I wouldn’t want you standing before me and in trouble with the law. Your brothers need you.”

Johnny looked the judge squarely in the eye.

“I am satisfied, Your Honor, and truthfully, there isn’t anything I could do that would make up for what they did. By their actions, they have forever changed the child he was, and I won’t forget it and neither will he.” Then he looked at the parents. “Having money doesn’t make you good people and where you live doesn’t make you right. Don’t paint us with our father’s sins.”

Peanut Butterman resisted the urge to gloat. He liked being on the winning side in a courtroom, but this time it was more than about who won. It didn’t always happen, but this time justice was served.

When they left the judge’s office, the halls had somehow been cleared of curiosity seekers. Johnny stopped, then thrust out his hand.

“Mr. Butterman, we can’t thank you enough. I know your presence in this mess was crucial to this outcome, and we are grateful.”

Peanut clasped Johnny’s hand and shook it vigorously.

“It was my pleasure,” he said. “And just so you know, I admire your guts. If you ever need a lawyer, I’m your man.”

“I thank you for the offer, but I hope that day never comes.”

Peanut laughed. “All my clients say the very same thing.” And then he glanced up the hallway. “Where did you park?” he asked.

“At the backside of the courthouse,” Johnny said.

“Follow me. I’ll show you another way out.”

Johnny followed Butterman through the back halls of the courthouse, carrying Beep in his arms, with Marshall matching him step for step. Butterman bid them good-bye at a side door.

When they started toward the car, the sun was still shining. The two squirrels had disappeared up into the branches of the massive oak, and the bees and hummingbirds were still dive-bombing the blooming azalea bushes.