Hard Row

She laughed and finished off the last of her salad.

“Gotta go. If you need any more data, Portland, just

give me a call. Good seeing both of you.”

I held the door for her, but more than that she would

not allow. Fortunately the courthouse is completely ac-

cessible and I knew that her van was equipped with full

hydraulics so that she could manage easily.

“What was all that about?” I asked when she was

gone.

Portland wiped a small dollop of mayo from her upper

lip and handed me a manila folder. “She brought me a

rough draft of the statistical analysis she’s doing on do-

mestic violence. Especially as it relates to threats made

and threats carried out.”

I leafed through the graphs and charts and row of

numbers that were meaningless to me.

“Bottom line?” Portland said grimly. “Once physical

violence accelerates, if the violent partner threatens to

kill the significant other, there’s damn little the authori-

ties can do to stop it. I plan to show these figures to Bo

and Dwight and see if they can’t prove her wrong in the

case of Karen Braswell.”

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C H A P T E R

11

If all farmers were true to principle with respect to the dis-

posal of their products, there would be less perversion of the

good and useful.

—Profitable Farming in the Southern States, 1890

% Friday night found Dwight and me heading in op-

posite directions. Uncle Ash had brought home a

mess of rainbow trout from the mountains and Aunt

Zell had invited us to supper, but the Canes were back

in Raleigh for a home game, so Dwight said he’d pick

Cal up and head on into town for a supper that was

something other than pizza.

“Did Portland talk to you about her client?” I asked.

It was my afternoon break and I had caught him still

at his desk, reading through reports.

“And that ex-husband who keeps harassing her? Yeah.

Like I told her though, there’s not much we can do if he

decides to punch her out, but at least Portland doesn’t

have to worry about him shooting her client. Judge

Parker sent over an order for us to search Braswell’s

place and confiscate any guns we found. We got a shot-

gun, a .22 rifle and a .9-millimeter automatic. It’s too

95

MARGARET MARON

bad though, that she and her mother can’t move to an-

other state before he gets out next week.”