One Summer

60

The kids were scrubbed and dressed in their best clothes. Jack and Sammy had bought jackets and dress slacks for the courtroom appearance. Jenna was dressed in a black skirt and jacket, heels and hose. Liam had taken time off work to join them for moral support. He and Mikki sat holding hands in the front row.

The courtroom was surprisingly small, and Jack felt immediately claustrophobic as he stepped inside. And it was very quiet. Jack didn’t like such quiet. He had sensed it on the battlefield many times. It usually heralded an ambush.

The judge was not on the bench yet, but the uniformed bailiff was standing ready. Bonnie’s lawyer was already seated at his table. Jack jerked when he saw Bonnie and Fred sitting behind him. Fred was studying his hands, while Bonnie was actively engaged in discussion with her lawyer, and also with another man in a suit. Other than that, the courtroom was empty.

As Jack looked at the young man, he suddenly remembered where he’d seen him before. In a car with Bonnie parked on the streets of Channing.

Jenna walked over and spoke with the bailiff for a minute or so before approaching Bonnie’s lawyer. They went off to a corner to speak in private, while Bonnie stayed sitting and talking to the other man, who was showing her something on a laptop computer.

Jack watched as Bonnie’s lawyer handed Jenna a packet of documents. She frowned and asked him something, but he shook his head. She said something else to him that Jack couldn’t hear, but it made the other man turn red and scowl. She whipped around and marched back over to Jack. She sat down and pulled her chair closer to him and the kids.

At that moment, Sammy walked in with Charles Pinckney. Pinckney greeted Jack, Jenna, and the kids. Then he eyed Bonnie. He surprised Jack by walking over to her.

“Fred,” he said. “How are you?”

Fred O’Toole looked up and seemed surprised to see Pinckney standing there. He took the other man’s extended hand. “Fine, Charles, you?”

“I’ve been better, actually, but thank you for asking.” He turned to Bonnie, who was gazing steadily at him. “Hello, Bonnie.”

She nodded curtly. “Charles.”

“Let’s just be thankful Lizzie and Cee aren’t alive to see this god-awful spectacle,” he said in a tight voice.

Bonnie looked like she had been slapped. But Charles had already turned away.

Jenna held up the stack of documents and whispered to Jack. “Opposing counsel just now gave me these documents. I asked him if he would not contest an extension on the hearing date, but he refused.”

“What’s in those documents?” Jack asked.

“I haven’t had a chance to read them, but I’ve glanced at a few pages. Your mother-in-law apparently has had a private detective follow you this summer.” She pointed to the other man holding the laptop. “That guy.”

“What?” said a shocked Jack.

“That is, like, totally insane,” added Mikki.

Jack gazed nervously at him. “What’s he got on the laptop?”

“Apparently some video they intend to show the judge.”

“Video? Of what?”

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t think they could do stuff like this,” said Sammy. “Surprise the other side with crap.”

“Normally they can’t. But this is family court. The rules are different. Everything is supposed to be done with the best interests of the children in mind. That sometimes trumps official procedures. And they’re alleging that the children are in an unsafe and even dangerous environment.”

“That’s poppycock,” said Charles.

“And we’ll show it,” promised Jenna. She had previously gone over with them the questions she would ask and what questions to expect the other side to throw at them.

A moment later, the bailiff announced the entrance of the judge. He turned out to be a small, thin, balding man, with thick spectacles, named Leroy Grubbs.

They rose on his entrance and then took their seats. The case was called, and Bonnie’s lawyer, Bob Paterson, rose. But Jenna cut him off and asked the court for an extension, citing the late delivery of crucial documents. This was denied by Grubbs almost before Jenna finished speaking.

Paterson made his opening statement.

“Fine. Call your witnesses,” said Grubbs.

The lawyer said, “Bonnie O’Toole.”