She slapped him.
It landed clumsily, not with the loud pop that a Bette Davis might have managed. And when he smiled at it, she turned and found herself running, stupidly, the heels of her shoes poking holes in the soft grass.
10
Charlene’s prayer tonight was not a song. It was a crying out.
This is our case, Lord. You’re not yanking it from me now, are you?
Four hundred thousand, of which Charlene would get over a third, was not pocket change. But this case was not about money. It couldn’t be.
It was dark outside her apartment, almost moonless. She had an indescribable feeling of evil hovering not just here, but over the whole country. And she had to do something about it.
She fell to her knees with her hands on the old sofa she’d nabbed at a yard sale while still a law student. Back then she’d been full of confidence. Now, with only the sound of crickets drifting in through the screened window, she felt confused and alone.
When she had gone into law, she thought she could make a difference in the world. Use the law to make the country a better place to live.
She had drifted away from her Christian roots by the time she’d enrolled at LaBlanc. It was not a prestigious school, but it allowed her to complete her degree at night. The curriculum was no-nonsense bar exam preparation. During the day she worked two jobs – as a waitress at Shoney’s and as a tutor for elementary students.
Stress was a constant companion. Charlene juggled tasks like a plate spinner, ever at risk for a crash. Then Ty Slayton came into her life.
He was a ruggedly handsome fireman. It was as if he had arrived at her own fire, the one raging in her life, and offered rescue. She fell for him like a collapsing roof.
When she got pregnant, the collapse was complete. Ty Slayton pressed her to get an abortion. That was his condition for continuing the relationship.
It was the turning point for Charlene. She knew she could not abort. She knew she carried life. And she knew God had created that life in her.
The very night Ty had given her his ultimatum, Charlene asked God to take her back. She felt no sense of his presence, but knew in her mind she had made a decision she would never back down on again.
When she miscarried two weeks later, she wondered if it was a punishment from God. Well then, so be it. She would make it up to him one day.
That day came when Charlene read in the paper about a local sixteen-year-old girl who had tried to commit suicide. Twice. The first time it was with a razor to her wrists. The second was an attempt to jump off a bridge into a rocky gorge. This girl, Sarah Mae Sherman, had been pulled back by a Christian minister right before she jumped. A miracle.
While reading the story, Charlene had an overwhelming sense of God’s leading. She prayed for an hour. And two days later Pastor Ray Neven had shown up in her office with Sarah Mae Sherman.
Now she wondered if she were being punished again. Sarah Mae’s case had been yanked from her. Why? What did God want from her?
He couldn’t want her to give up. He needed her. He needed this case. She was going to get it back.
Charlene grabbed the phone and called Aggie Sherman.
“It’s late,” Mrs. Sherman said.
“We can get more money,” Charlene said.
The silence on the other end of the line was heavy. Then Aggie Sherman said, “Well?”
“Never take the first offer. We keep going forward. Start the trial. There will be a bigger offer before the trial ends.” This was not a certainty, only likely. But it would get the trial going. That was the main thing.
“How much?” Aggie said.
“More than they’re offering now.”
“I don’t know.”
“Aggie,” Charlene said, “I’ve put my heart and soul into this case for you and Sarah Mae. I won’t let you down.”
Another long pause. “Get us the biggest settlement you can. Then take it.”
Yes, Charlene Moore sang in her thoughts. We’re going all the way.
11
Slowing down from a fast walk, Millie realized she had not been in this park for years. She’d done quite a bit of sightseeing when she’d first come to the Court. But very quickly her life had developed a routine that made simple excursions to monuments and tourist sites difficult.
She glanced back and did not see the senator. Had he been too drunk to follow?
Over the course of her judicial career, the one thing Millie Hollander had avoided was publicity. If a judge was making headlines, either through judicial opinion or personal transgression, she wasn’t doing her job.
She was angry at herself for allowing this to happen. She should not have let her guard down, even for a moment. She was not cut out to be with men in any romantic situation, nor they with her. She’d made that decision years ago, after Marty Winters. She should have stuck with that decision.
As she reached the sidewalk on the edge of the park, looking for the roof light that would indicate a taxi, she noticed a figure slowly making his way toward her, from the right.
He was dressed thickly, as if in several layers of clothes. His hair and face were caked with dirt. Even in the dim light she could tell that this was one of the city’s homeless.
She turned her back and started to walk slowly away from him. Her body buzzed with an adrenaline surge. Was this what it felt like to be mugged? She had been so long in an ivory tower, and suddenly she felt ashamed. Her judicial decisions affected people like this, all people, really. But how much did she know about what went on in their daily lives?
She glanced back and saw that the man, in a slow but steady shuffle, was following her.
Millie’s nerves crackled. She looked desperately to the street and saw a taxi coming her way. She put her arm up, more frantically than she wanted to, and waved stupidly at it. It passed by. She saw people sitting in the back. A man and a woman. They appeared to be laughing.
She turned. The homeless man was only a few feet away now. For one moment she could not move.
“You still have time,” the man said.
He took another step toward her, and she could barely make out his eyes. They were wild yet full of some crazy earnestness. Pleading almost.
“You still have time!” he shouted, jerking forward.
Fear engulfing her, Millie stumbled backward. Her shoe caught the edge of the
