The judge read my petition aloud and asked Cody to explain himself.He didn’t say a word.One of his lawyers, a middle-aged man with a Jell-O jaw and bad hair plugs, answered every question.
Finally, Judge Petersen asked, “Are you unable to speak for yourself, Mr.Mahone?Because I’m not asking for legal mumbo jumbo.What I want to hear is your side of the story.”
The lumpy lawyer nodded, and Cody smiled and broke into a deluge of charismatic chatter about who his parents were and how upstanding his family had always been in the Wyoming community, but none of it explained or confirmed anything.I wasn’t surprised about that; like, had I really expected him to tell the truth?
“So then,” Judge Petersen inquired, “how do you explain Ms.Harlowe’s complaints that you’ve been paying her uninvited visits, that you broke into her home and threw a brick through her window, you’re stalking her, and that your behavior is escalating to the point she feels unsafe?”
“Wasn’t me,” Cody said.“I’m not the only man she’s dated.In fact, her current flavor of the month is waitin’ outside as we speak.Who’s to say that guy isn’t the one causin’ her troubles?He looks like a low life to me.Maybe he threw the brick through her window.”
“Excuse me.”Abey, dressed in her sheriff uniform and badge, had been standing at attention silently behind everyone with her hands folded together behind her back, but now she interrupted and stepped forward.The judge nodded at her to continue.
“Deputy Sheriff Abey Lee of Wisper, Wyoming, for the record.My brother, Dixon Lee, is the man outside.He’s a friend to Ms.Harlowe, and he’s been there to help her clean up after Mr.Mahone’svisits.I can assure the court that he was not the individual who broke into Ms.Harlowe’s residence when she wasn’t home, and he didn’t throw the brick through her window because he was a guest at her residence when it happened.He identified Mr.Mahone last Sunday evening after the incident when my deputy showed him a picture of Mr.Mahone.”
The judge turned her head slowly, looking at Cody pointedly.
He shrugged indifferently.“Like I said, wasn’t me.I just have one of those faces.Everybody thinks they remember me.”
God, the audacity of this man!Lying right to a judge’s face?
Cody’s mama had been listening closely.I thought her ears perked up when Cody mentioned Dixon, but she never tried to utter a word.Her face looked like it had been superglued into a disapproving expression, until Judge Petersen asked Cody to provide proof of where he was last Sunday night.
“At home,” he said easily.“Sundays are for family at the Mahone household.”
Cody’s mama’s face fell, like she knew her son was lying, but still she said nothing, until the judge addressed her directly.
“Can you corroborate your son’s whereabouts this past Sunday night, Mrs.Mahone?”
Deadpan and with no more life on her face than a corpse’s, she replied, “Of course I can.”
The judge saw through Mrs.Mahone’s lie, though, and all the contempt she seemed to have for the entire situation.So, much to her and Cody’s lawyers’ dismay, Judge Petersen issued me the order of protection.
“If you, Cody Dennis Mahone, knowingly come within three-hundred feet of Ms.Harlowe, you will be arrested.Which means, if you see her, turn around and walk away.You may not commit any further acts of stalking.Stay away from Ms.Harlowe’s home, her place of business, or any other location you are aware that she frequents.Do not intimidate, threaten, or otherwise interfere with Ms.Harlowe, her family or household members, or her friends.
“You may not contact Ms.Harlowe, her family or household members or her friends through telephone calls, mail, e-mail, texting, social media, or any other form of communication.”
She paused, her eyebrows raising slightly, but then asked, “Have I made myself clear?Do you understand the conditions and restrictions of the protection order?”
The dead-eye stare Cody focused on Judge Petersen made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but she wasn’t intimidated in the least.
“Mr.Mahone, I need a verbal response to my question.”
“Yes,ma’am,” Cody seethed.“Heard you loud and clear.”
“Good.Then we’re done here for today.”
Cody pushed back from his table and stood before the judge had even finished speaking.His lawyers followed him out of the courtroom, but his mama lingered for a few seconds.She looked at me like she wanted to say something, but then she shook her head and walked away.
Mama and Gran crowded around me, hugging me and soothing my anxiety about being near Cody again.Abey shook the judge’s hand.They spoke in hushed tones across the room, but as Gran tried to squeeze the breath right out of my lungs, I thought I heard Judge Petersen say something to the effect of, “I may get flack for this, but it was worth it.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Dixon
A manwho resembled Cody Mahone in stature—and there was something in his eyes—stood by a black Escalade, smoking Camels.Who the fuck still smoked Camels nowadays?I knew they were Camels because the smell wafted on the lazy summer breeze right to my nose, and flashbacks of my old man hit me like some kind of horror-movie montage.They were the same brand Noah Lee had smoked most of his life.
The guy watched me while I sat in my car waiting for AJ to finish inside, and when I got out to stretch and pace, he smirked and flicked a cigarette butt at my car.
My guess was that he was Cody’s brother or possibly a cousin or something, but he was failing at intimidating me.I’d met plenty of guys like him over the years—the lowest man on the family totem pole, who they really only relied on for muscle.His opinion didn’t matter to the higher ups.Kind of like mine.
