“If and when the judge asks for my input, I will stress how fundamental it is to pay attention to his prior behavior. In my opinion, Mr. Brennan has already proven he can’t be trusted to be unsupervised in the community.”
“I’d like to request that you submit that opinion to the court without them needing to fuckin’ ask for your opinion. My old lady is one of his victims. She deserves to feel safe while you work on putting this bastard behind bars.”
“Alleged victim,” he clarifies. “And I understand your concerns. But the judge will make a determination based on the information presented. That’s how the system works.”
“At least point out that he has a history of escalation,” I reply evenly. “He was implicated in the disappearance of his girlfriend and in his desperation to avoid consequences, he broke into Emily’s home and terrorized her. There was nothing fuckingallegedabout it. If I hadn’t intervened, you could very well have two missing persons cases on your hands. That’s a pattern of criminal behavior, not coincidence.”
He exhales and leans back in his chair. “I’ll draft out a response and send it over for the judge to review. But that’s all I can do at this point.”
Emily speaks up, her voice carrying an element of fear. “Are you aware that when he broke into my house, he intentionally destroyed every piece of tech I could have used to call for help? That he roughed up my cat and threatened to kill him if I didn’t do what he said.” Glancing at the picture of his family sitting on his desk, she asks, “Is that someone you want running around the community with charges pending? I was a total stranger. If he can target me, he can target anyone.”
I watch the PA’s expression shift slightly. Something that looks an awful lot like fear flashes across his face. “For now, his house arrest is still in place. If that changes, I’ll alert you the moment I know.”
“And then what?” I ask.
“We continue to trial with both cases,” he replies grimly.
That’s clearly a dismissal. We didn’t get the door slammed in our faces, but we didn’t get many assurances either.
Emily is quiet but composed for the most part. “Thank you for your time this morning, Mr. Braun.”
I stand before I say something I might regret and follow Emily out without another word. This whole situation is fucked up beyond belief. And I’m not sure I trust Braun to do anything he said.
The system didn’t fail us today. It’s simply not set up to fully protect victims in the first place. Not when they’re so busy protecting the rights of the accused.
Outside the building, there is still a chill in the air. I take a breath in and let it out slowly, before I turn to her.
“That was a rough conversation. Are you okay, darlin’?” I ask, trying to stifle my anger.
Emily is holding herself together but she’s honest about her feelings. “The whole situation made me sick to my stomach.”
“We probably need to get some food in you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I reach out and draw her into the circle of my arms, standing right there on the sidewalk. “I know it’s not, but we need to sit down and talk about this shit. You need to eat in order to keep your strength up, so let’s kill two birds with one stone.”
She gives me a brief hug and then steps back. “Alright. After smelling that fresh coffee in the courthouse I could really use a cup. Maybe some toast would go down well as well.”
I take us to my favorite diner, on the far side of town. I order heaping helpings of everything good and a couple of coffees.
Emily tosses me an indulgent smile. “It feels like you ordered one of everything on the menu. You must be starving.”
“I am, but it’s for both of us,” I tell her.
Shifting the conversation back to the case as the waitress pours our coffee, she asks, “Do you really think they’re going to let him off of house arrest?”
I take a sip before answering. “Yeah, I do. It seems like the prosecuting attorney has already given up because he knows the judge is in Brennan’s pocket.”
“Jesus, do you really think that’s true?”
“I’d like to think judges can’t be bought but I’ve seen it happen too many times to cling to that fuckin’ delusion.”
I hate that she has to know how easily justice can get diverted when money, connections, and power come into play.
“I’m not telling you that to be an ass. I think you need to have reasonable expectations. If you go into this thinking that justice will prevail and it doesn’t, it can be a lot more traumatic.”
“Yeah, I get that,” she says. Then she huffs out an exasperated breath. “It’s just really frustrating to think he might do to someone else what he did to me.”
