Secrets Among the Cedars (Intertwined Book 2) (22 page)

“I wish you could stay too, but I think it’s best that you get on the road before it gets too late. I don’t like the thought of you traveling back by yourself after dark. Some of the roads are a bit too desolate, and you’ve already had your share of trouble this trip.”

“I know. I know.” She twisted the toe of her sandal into the concrete.

“I’m going to be in Perkins County this week, remember?”

Kathryn nodded.

Phil leaned over to kiss Kathryn, but before his lips met hers, something ricocheted with a ping off the weather station, and the men on the end of the pier threw themselves to the ground.

Kathryn screamed, and Phil covered her with his body and blocked her from the source of the attack.

Her breath caught in her throat. "What was that?" Another ping sounded, this time on the pier railing, and Kathryn screamed again. "Gunfire?"

"Get down!" Phil hunkered down, dragging Kathryn with him, and they crept over to the side railing.

Kathryn gripped Phil’s shirt. Someone was shooting at them from an undetermined location, and their lives could end at any moment.

"We can make it into the bathroom if we stay low and close to the railing."

"Who would shoot at us, Phil?"

"I told you my family had long arms." Phil held tight to Kathryn's arm and guided her into the men's bathroom.

Kathryn's heart fluttered in her throat, and by the looks of Phil, his heart had left its home too. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm going to call the chief." Phil pulled his phone from his pocket and held up his index finger. "Chief, hey, it's Phil Tag. I'm in the men's restroom on the pier with Assistant D.A. Kathryn Bellamy from Perkins County. Yeah. No, we're not here because we want to be. Someone is shooting at us. Yep, that's what I said. No, my gun is at the house. I need help." Phil listened for a few seconds and squeezed Kathryn's shoulder.

Kathryn didn't have much courage left. Would she ever truly be safe when she and Phil were together?

"Thanks, Chief." Phil ended the call and returned the phone to his pocket. "The chief said for us to stay in here. He'll be here in a few minutes."

"Comforting." Kathryn leaned against the wall. She didn't care if her sarcasm showed itself.

"I'm going to pop my head out and see if whoever was shooting at us is gone."

Kathryn sprung away from the wall and grabbed Phil's arm. "Oh no you're not! You're not leaving me for one second."

"But—"

"No. No buts. You're staying right here."

"Okay, okay." Phil embraced her. "We're going to be all right."

"Knock, knock."

Kathryn jumped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Phil, it's the chief." The door inched open.

When Phil's face broke out into a smile, Kathryn let her shoulders relax and her hand fall away from her mouth.

"Chief, I've never been so happy to see you." Phil reached out his hand to the chief. "Did you see who was shooting at us?"

"Yeah, Sam from the grocery store. He was over there on the outside patio of the vacant pub on the corner. My deputies arrested him."

Kathryn gasped and threw her hands to her chest. “Sam? But why?”

“He apparently had to finish what Phil’s cousins weren’t able to.” The chief shook his head.

"I knew something was off with that guy when I met him at the store. He wouldn’t look me in the eye and told me to mind my business. I knew he had to know something. I guess he didn’t like that I said I was going to subpoena him to testify in court.” Kathryn shivered.

“He was just cleaning up, Kathryn. That’s the way my family works.” Phil groaned. “I’m just glad he missed.”

“Me too." She scowled.

The Chief lit a cigarette and shook his head. "You sure did stir up a lot of trouble by your visit here, Ms. Bellamy."

"No, I came to make sure trouble got taken care of. Had that gun not been hidden here in the first place, your sweet little town could have stayed nice and quiet."

The chief grinned. “Well, I think we’ve gotten all the rats flushed out now. Maybe the peace will resume around here.”

Phil took Kathryn into his arms and laughed. "This is the first time I've ever said this, I'm sure, but I am glad my cousins stirred up this trouble, or I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Tag." Kathryn wrapped her hand in the crook of Phil's arm and accompanied him out of the restroom and off the pier to her car.

Chapter Twenty-four

Perkins County Government Building, Courtroom Three

Kathryn stepped through the hinged gates at the divider and made it to the prosecutor's table at 9:02 a.m. She smiled and placed her briefcase on the table. Then Judge Peterson cleared his throat and stared at her over the top of his bifocals, which were pushed down to the end of his nose.
His spiky gray eyebrows looked like fuzzy caterpillars...angry caterpillars. Her smile faded.

"Thank you, Ms. Bellamy, for joining us this morning. I know you're still in vacation mode, but we've got work to do today." The courtroom fell silent as his voice boomed from the microphone.

Now why did he have to announce to the whole courtroom that she'd been on vacation? Some things were meant to be kept private. Besides, it had hardly been a vacation. If only he knew that she’d had to fight for her life down in Cedar Key, maybe he wouldn’t be so tough on her.

She pulled her files from her briefcase.
"Please forgive my tardiness, sir. I was delayed in the hallway by a defense attorney for an upcoming trial." She shuffled her papers with trembling hands.

Judge Peterson crinkled his brow. "Well, all right."

"I have something I'd like to put on the record before we get started, if you don't mind."

He scratched his head. "All right. Make it quick."

The United States Superior Court seal hung on the wall behind the judge. The eagle spread across it symbolized everything Kathryn's life had been based upon—justice, strength, and courage—until her life-changing visit to Cedar Key. "Judge, while I was away, I received a menacing phone call and a threatening note. Someone also slashed my tires and shot at me."

Judge Peterson tapped his pencil on the bench. "Someone shot at you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see. Is this person being prosecuted?”

“Yes, sir. He’s awaiting trial.”

“All right. So you think someone else tried to harm you by slashing your tires?" He studied a file in front of him and yawned.

She grumbled under her breath. "Your Honor, I don’t think. I know."

"Do you know for certain that the tires were slashed?"

"Yes, I took pictures, and I asked the repair facility to keep them on hand for evidence. I could've been killed while driving with slashed tires." In comparison to being shot at, the slashed tires didn’t seem to be that much of a threat, but still worthy of mentioning to the judge.

He leaned forward and studied her face with amiable eyes. Was that a hint of compassion? "I'm sorry that happened to you, Ms. Bellamy. I wasn't aware of these incidents."

She dipped her head. It was hard to believe that he hadn’t heard of the incidents since they’d been in the news, but perhaps he kept away from the media reports to stay unbiased. "Thank you. We believe the incidents occurred as a result of my prosecution of Louie Ezzo, Judge. His nephews are the suspects."

The judge folded his arms across his chest. "Well, you don't know that they did it."

Kathryn raised her hands
and nodded once at the man who looked like a barn owl
. "Well, no, sir. But—but it stands to reason that it was one of them since the threats occurred in Cedar Key, and they were there at the same time I was. Drew Ezzo shot at the plane I was in as it was taking off on my way here to bring the gun."

The judge sat up straight, looked over the bench and directly into her eyes. "Now Ms. Bellamy, this is a court of law, and you know we depend on evidence and not speculation in establishing one's guilt. That will have to be proven in their trial. You don’t know that the person who slashed your tires isn’t the same person who shot at you."

She tilted her head toward the ceiling and rubbed her forehead, hoping to squeeze out the encroaching pain. Unfortunately, the judge was right. Sam could have slashed her tires. Sam could have left the threatening note and made the phone calls too. "Yes, sir."

The judge unwrapped a piece of candy and poked it into his mouth. "What about the note and phone call?" After she informed the judge of the situation, his face pinched up tight. Now he looked like a hedgehog. Now he seemed truly concerned. "I find this quite disconcerting. Did you deliver the card to a detective?"

"Yes, sir. And I—"

"Your Honor, may I speak?"

"Yes, Mr. Stewart." The judge rocked in his leather chair.

Kathryn turned to face Jamey Stewart, defense attorney for half of the county's worst criminals, who stood behind the divider. The smug look on his tanned face, white circles around his eyes from his sunglasses, told her what he wanted to say before another word came out of his mouth.

He cleared his throat, scratched his blond lamb chop sideburns and then adjusted his glasses.
"While it's very unfortunate that these things happened to A.D.A. Bellamy," he scowled at her, "we have jury selection and multiple cases to get through this morning. Each of these incidents Ms. Bellamy speaks of will have their day in court, but today is not that day. Can we move on?"

Judge Peterson looked at his files, glanced around the courtroom and then directed his gaze at Kathryn. "Ms. Bellamy, I'm sure everything'll be taken care of. Let's get to jury selection."

Kathryn closed her eyes and sighed. That was all the empathy she was going to get today. And all Jamey Stewart cared about was getting to the golf course. She gathered her strength to keep from crying and released the breath she'd been unknowingly holding. "May we take a five-minute recess before we start jury selection, Judge?"

After jury selection and a brief lunch break with Phil, Kathryn returned to the courtroom for a revocation and then part one of the Ezzo trial. This was her shining moment. Her chance to prove to everyone including herself that she was good at her job. She could finally show Phil how strong she was.

"Judge, before we get to the Ezzo case, I’ve got a revocation we need to address. This is on Michael Foster; case number 10-CR-98354. Mr. Foster is here in the courtroom." She pointed at Mr. Foster with her pen.

"Hey, Judge." The shackled defendant in the county's orange jumpsuit nodded.

"Hello, Michael. How's your daddy?"

"He's good. Sittin’ in the back, sir." He motioned to the back of the courtroom with his head.

The judged looked up and waved. "Oh, I see him back there. Howdy, Judd."

"Hey, Judge."

Kathryn rolled her eyes at the absurd situation. Friends one moment, judge and defendant the next. Phil must think they are all podunk rednecks. "Judge, if I may? Mr. Foster has violated the terms and conditions of the Sex Offender Registry and violated the laws of the State of Georgia. We're asking the Court to revoke his First Offender status and to resentence him up to the maximum of ten years because of his original offense and because he has thumbed his nose at the Sheriff's office, at the Sex Offender Registry, and at the Court. He is not abiding by the conditions that he was placed under."

The judge sighed. "All right. Thank you, Ms. Bellamy.” He looked around the courtroom. "The issue before the court is a petition for adjudication of guilt and imposition of sentence in a first offender case. The original sentence back in December of 2010 was for two counts of sexual battery. And the sentence was ten years; five on each one, consecutive. The defendant was allowed to plead under the
Alford versus North Carolina
case, in which he has to affirm that there is a substantial likelihood he would be convicted if tried before a jury in the case. And secondly, that it's in his best interest to go ahead and plead. And the Court allowed him to do so. Then he was given the privilege of pleading under the First Offender Act, and that was explained to him during the hearing as to what that meant."

"Yes, sir," Mr. Tompkins, the defense attorney agreed.

Kathryn studied the case file and nodded. "Correct, Judge." How someone could take such a sentence so lightly was beyond Kathryn’s understanding. This man had literally thrown his freedom out the window.

"The issue before the Court today is whether the State has proven that the defendant has violated his probation by not registering properly under the Sex Offender Registration Act and also did he commit the offense of rape, which he is charged with in another indictment on another case. Now over the last three days of testimony, the evidence has been gleaming, I guess you could say. There have been conflicts in the evidence, and there've been some people who have testified one way and some people have testified the other. It's been downright chaotic, I think. Don't you think, Ms. Bellamy?"

She laughed. "Yes, sir. People are sworn to tell the truth, but in this case they have not always done that."

Judge Peterson smacked his lips and in a rare moment of camaraderie, he winked at her. "Right. Well, as far as the evidence on the failure to register as a sexual offender goes, there are at least three different addresses that the defendant has moved to from one time or another and not reported the change. I am going to find that the State has proven beyond a preponderance of the evidence that he failed to report.”

Kathryn’s heart swelled. Although this had not been her case three years ago nor had she been in the courtroom for the testimonies over the last three days, it had fallen in her lap as soon as she’d returned home from Cedar Key, and she didn’t mind claiming this victory.

“I'll also find that the second allegation, which is that the defendant committed the offense of rape, has been proven. And because of that, I'm going to revoke his First Offender status. I'm going to substitute therein a plea of guilty. I'm going to adjudicate the defendant guilty of the original charges of sexual battery, two counts, and resentence him to five years on count one and five years on count two. They are to be served consecutively. I believe he would be entitled to credit for the time that he's already served on probation. It would be up to the Department of Corrections to determine that. Do you have anything you'd like to say, Mr. Foster?"

"No, sir, Judge. Just look after my daddy and mama for me."

"Will do. I hope you do a whole lot of straightening up while you're in custody. I'll remand the defendant into the custody of the Sheriff."

Mr. and Mrs. Foster stumbled to the courtroom door leaning on each other, and the deputy removed the defendant out the side door. And as simple as that, someone’s son was taken away, and his parents were left to grieve what could have been. Kathryn’s victory was someone else’s loss, but it couldn’t be helped. She wasn’t responsible for Foster’s disregard for the law, and she had no time to feel empathy for them either.

Kathryn straightened her suit jacket and collected her nerves. This was the big moment where she and Phil would come up against each other in this court of law. Would their budding romance be able to withstand the harsh reality of being on opposing sides of this case?

“Your honor, we are now before the court on case number 15-CR-99843-F, the State of Georgia versus Louie Alexander Ezzo. He is charged with four counts of solicitation of murder against Stephen Diggs and Tommy Jones of Perkins County, Georgia, and Bobby Esposito and Manny La Duca of Long Island, New York, that on April 25, 2014, he ordered the murder of the aforementioned victims. Today, we're addressing the Perkins County cases, and he'll face the other charges back in New York." Kathryn closed the file and stepped away from the desk.

"Initially, Your Honor, Mr. Ezzo was charged with four counts of murder, but once the murder weapon was located, a .22 caliber pistol, Mr. Ezzo's fingerprints were not on it. The fingerprints of one of his nephew's were on the weapon instead. That would be Barney Ezzo. At his trial, the State will have to prove whether or not he actually pulled the trigger or if his fingerprints were on the gun only because he hid it in the well in Cedar Key. Louie Ezzo’s other nephew, Drew Ezzo, has been charged with aiding in these crimes. It's the state's recommendation that Mr. Louie Ezzo be sentenced to twenty years in the State Penitentiary without a possibility of parole and that he pay a $20,000 fine."

"All right. Proceed."

Kathryn turned to Ezzo with Phil sitting beside him then back to the judge.
"Judge,
Mr. Ezzo has chosen not to testify in his defense, so we will call our first witness. We'll call—"

Phil stood from the leather swivel armchair behind the defendant's table. "Excuse me, your honor. May I interject here?"

The judge looked over the top of his glasses. "Yes, Mr. Tagliaferro. What would you like to add?"

Kathryn lowered herself into her chair. She hadn't planned on Phil interrupting her examination of her first witness, accused shooter Sam Ricci from the grocery store. She turned her chair to face him. She hadn't planned it, but this was a great opportunity for her to examine him and his
cordovan leather shoes and brown plaid skinny suit,
his full beard returned and his retro glasses resting on his face again. She sighed and forced herself to concentrate on the case.

"Your Honor, my client, Louie Ezzo, would like to change his plea."

Kathryn scooted to the edge of her chair and pushed her hair out of her eyes. He was changing his plea? He was going to plead guilty instead of not guilty? Her heart began to race. Her palms moistened. Her throat went dry.