“It’s just not right,” Brian said through clenched teeth.
“No, it ain’t,” Cody said, not without sympathy. “But the fact is Garrett didn’t sign away custody, right? He may be a thieving, humping little scumbag, but he has the law on his side. And lots of luck finding a good lawyer who wants to take on a sitting judge. Particularly this sitting judge.”
Melissa sighed, sat back. Her eyes were rimmed with red. There was a set to her mouth that indicated she was fighting back tears. “It’s so unfair. We don’t deserve this. We did everything right. I’ll fight them to my last breath,” she said, almost spitting the words out. “I’ll do anything, say anything, to keep my daughter. If I need to act like I’m flirting with Garrett-I will.”
I winced.
“Somehow,” she said, “we’ve got to convince him to sign the papers. I can’t believe he has any interest at all in Angelina. He doesn’t want to be a father although I can’t figure out what his game is. Maybe he’s just using this situation to intimidate us.”
“Sounds like he likes you,” Brian said to her.
“We can’t confront him,” she said. “We’ve got to find a way to convince him to come around.”
“This is headed the same direction Julie Perala suggested,” I said.
She turned to me. “You can continue to be nice to him, can’t you? At least pretend you don’t hate him until we can figure out how to persuade him?”
“After what he did to night?” I asked, gesturing upstairs. “He’s not just calculating. He’s evil. I looked into his eyes and got chills.”
“That’ll play well in court,” Cody said, rolling his eyes. “Don’t you know there is no such thing as evil in this day and age? In our politically correct city? Man, you’ve got to get out more.”
Brian said to Cody, “Some of us call it tolerance and diversity, Cody. It’s thought of as progress.”
Cody blew out a stream of breath, said, “Progress, my ass.”
“Please,” Brian said, “let’s deal with the issue at hand, okay?”
“It’s not Garrett,” Melissa said, ignoring them. “It’s his father. If we could separate them, and I could just talk with Garrett…”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
She said, “Maybe if I talked with him or showed him how much care is required for an infant, it would scare him off. Maybe he needs to see some dirty diapers or throw-up on a bib and he’d realize he’s in way over his head even if his parents are actually raising her.”
“But he didn’t want to see her,” I said. “There’s a reason for that. You’re assuming he’s reasonable. I didn’t see any of that.”
“You think he’s evil,” Cody sneered.
“Garrett doesn’t want to confront the situation in real life,” she said. “He wants to avoid her. Maybe if he actually saw her…”
“I don’t know,” Brian said, shaking his head.
I agreed.
Melissa took a moment to look at each of us in turn. “Guys,” she said, “we need to think of Angelina’s best interests most of all here. If the worst possibly happens, she might end up with them. I’m not saying that should happen, but we can’t just dismiss the possibility out of hand. John Moreland seemed pretty determined to me. And if the worst comes about, I don’t want to poison Angelina’s relationship with them.”
There were several beats of silence. I was conflicted.
“You’re amazing,” Brian said to Melissa in a whisper.
She was. I was astonished she was mine.
But a cold fear worked its way through my insides. If the worst-possible scenario came true, if the Morelands somehow got Angelina, I knew it would destroy Melissa. And after all we’d gone through, it would destroy us.
“I won’t let it happen,” I said.
She looked at me and smiled sadly.
“I won’t,” I said.
“Jesus,” Cody said, standing, “I need another beer.”
“WHAT MORE DO WE KNOW about John Moreland?” Melissa asked rhetorically. “He’s the key.”
Cody shifted on the couch as if clearing the space around him before he spoke. Brian cut in.
“I’ve met him a few times. At society functions and charity events. I hate to say it, but he seems like an incredibly normal, nice guy. He’s best buddies with the mayor, and he’s really well connected to both U.S. senators, the attorney general, and even the president. What I’ve heard is he’s on a fast-track to something bigger. U.S. circuit, maybe higher. He just exudes competence and confidence, you know?”
Melissa shook her head. “We know.”
“He’s married to Kellie,” I said. “Garrett referred to Kellie as his stepmom. He said his real mother was dead.”
Brian sat back, screwed up his face. “I’ve seen Kellie. She’s a blond bombshell.”
“I wonder where the Sureños 13 connection comes in?” Cody said.
“Anyway,” Brian said, “I can start asking around in my circles. It’s amazing what you can find out about people at a higher level, you know? At cocktail parties and charity events. Get these people a few drinks in them, and all sorts of deep dark secrets start coming out. It’s no different than Helena, you guys-just bigger. Maybe I can find out that he’s not so perfect after all, and we’ll have a little ammunition to go after him.”
Melissa and I nodded, knowing Brian was an excellent gossip who could dish with anyone on earth. Attractive married women-like Melissa, come to think of it-seemed compelled to spill secrets to him because his delight in hearing them was reward in itself.
“Be careful you don’t ask the wrong people and have it come back on Jack and Melissa,” Cody said, “or me. I work for the city, and occassionally I have to testify in Judge Moreland’s court. I got to know him when he was a U.S. Attorney and I was working joint task forces.”
Cody had complained to me over the years that he was frequently assigned to multi-agency task forces involving the feds, state investigators, and the Denver Police Department. He had a problem with the bureaucracy, procedure, and territoriality of the FBI, and clashed with them. But because Cody was good at his job and didn’t care about making friends, he personally broke cases and let the feds take the credit as long as they left him alone. Cody had never played well with others.
“What’s he like in court?” I asked Cody. “He described himself as tough and fair. And obviously he has a thing about accountability if he’d put his family and ours through this.”
Cody nodded. “All judges describe themselves that way, so don’t put too much stock in it. But I’d say Judge Moreland loves being a judge, maybe too much. He’s a great judge to have if you’ve got a defendant he hates right out of the box because he’ll throw the book at him. We kind of know which way the decision is going to go right off the bat by the procedural moves Moreland makes to get to the outcome he wants to get to. If he thinks the defendant is a scumbag, he’ll make sure there’s federal prison time. If for some reason he thinks we’ve got the wrong guy, there’s nothing we can do to convince him otherwise.
“Judges are supposed to hear the arguments,” Cody continued, “research the law, and make a judgment based on the facts presented. Moreland does that, but he prejudges the case, and most of us think he holds himself above the law. That’s great if he agrees with us, but it sucks when he doesn’t. But most of the time he’s procop, and that’s all we care about.”
Cody said, “I’m testifying in his court tomorrow on the Coates case. You know, the Monster of Desolation Canyon. Maybe you ought to come to the courtroom and see the guy in action. Court’s in session at one.”
“Will I learn anything?” I asked.