"I'm sorry, Mr. Simon. Your wife's pregnancy isn't a good enough excuse. You are expected to go through the selection process like everyone else."
A.J. seethed at the clerk's obstinate face. "I'm asking only to postpone my service, I can't concentrate on something like this knowing my wife could go into labor any time."
"Ordinarily that could be arranged, sir. But you have asked out of service too many times. You may, of course, speak to the judge at the beginning of the trial. The circumstances may make a difference at that time." At that A.J. wanted to protest further, but a familiar voice stopped him.
"Mr. Simon?"
He turned around, then forced a smile on his face. "Your Honor."
Judge Mason stood before him, gravely observing him. "Is there a problem?"
A.J. swallowed hard, but stood his ground. "Yes, sir. I've been selected for jury duty, but my wife is due to have our child during the time I'm scheduled. All I'm asking is to postpone service until after the baby is born."
There was a moment of silence, then the older man spoke.
"If you are selected for the jury, it can be arranged for you to leave when your wife goes into labor. Make sure you leave emergency numbers with her and her doctor. I'm sorry, Mr. Simon, but the courts need people of your caliber to serve."
"Thank you, sir." A.J. managed to respond politely, then nodded at both the clerk and the jurist as he left the room.
Standing outside, Rick saw the disappointment in his brother's posture even before he came outside.
"A.J., what happened?" he asked, then he grew angry as A.J. related the attitude of the clerk then Judge Mason's statement.
"Damn it, A.J., it's not fair. We'll just have to hope you don't get picked, or that Linda has the baby before you're called." Rick blustered. "I don't mind closing the office for the baby, but that's not right!"
Surprisingly, A.J. smiled.
"Rick, thanks for getting so worked up, but…, I'm going to have to figure out how to handle this if I'm forced into a jury. Thank God sis is working with Linda, that's one thing I won't have to worry about. I'm going to have to have you on hand just in case…"
"Listen, if you mean getting her to the hospital and making sure she and the kids are taken care of, don't worry. Let's just concentrate on you and Linda and the baby." Rick added, putting an arm around his little brother.
Over the next week, Rick did his best to reassure both A.J. and Linda that everything was going to be all right. As the date for A.J. to report to the Grand Jury room approached, Laurie tried to relieve her sister-in-law's anxiety.
The day before jury selection started, Laurie was directing Linda through her exercises at the Cultural Center.
"Okay, sis, pretend it's time for really hard contractions, then ….make like a puffer fish." Laurie took in two deep breaths, then puffed along with her friend.
"Mama, what are you doing?" Ceci was staring at her mother and aunt from the doorway.
Linda frowned. "Honey, you're supposed to be taking a nap in the care room, where's Miss Sophie?"
The little girl looked downcast, shifting from one foot to the other.
"I woke up, and she was gone. I told Robin I'd find you." She sniffed.
Both women looked at each other, knowing this was not a normal situation.
"You're a good girl, Ceci. Come on, we'll go find her." Laurie helped Linda up, then Ceci took her mother's hand as they retraced her steps to the child care room.
Laurie gasped as she saw the young Navajo girl who was in charge of the children, being shaken by a dark-haired man in the middle of the corridor. "What do you mean, you won't go with me?" he yelled.
"Linda, take Ceci and get the Chief." She whispered, then called out, "What do you think you're doing?"
Startled, the man turned, and Laurie recognized him as Lance, a former student in one of her classes.
"Mrs. Simon, I…."
"Save it, Lance." Laurie was angered by the dark marks on Sophie's arm. "Sophie, please go back to the day care room. I want to have a word with your friend."
Jerking her arm loose, the young girl disappeared around the corner as an embarrassed expression crossed the student's face.
"Ma'am, it's not what you think. I just lost my temper with…" he began, only for Laurie to hold up her hand.
"There is and never will be any excuse for what I just saw." She told him tersely. "What right do you have to grab another person and shake them like that?"
"Mrs. Simon, I'm sorry. When Soph told me she wouldn't leave work early to go out with me, after I changed my work schedule and all…" Lance replied defensively, then was silent as Laurie shook her head.
"Then you walk away. You do not put your hands on another's person or abuse them because they aren't doing what you want." Laurie felt herself shaking, and took a deep breath.
Footsteps sounded down the hall, then a stern Chief Joseph appeared.
"Light, I understand Sophie was upset by this young man." Laurie smiled with relief at the sight of the older man.
"Yes Chief, I think he needs to hear from you about his mistake. I'll leave you two to talk." She answered gratefully, then left the Chief to handle the situation.
As she came into the center's children's room, Laurie saw Ceci and Robin happily showing their mother a picture they had drawn. Not wanting to spoil their mood, she made herself calm down.
"You two are so talented, wait until your daddy sees this." Linda smiled, then hugged her children as Laurie added, "I think that art work will make the refrigerator hall of fame."
"Oh, no, Auntie." Ceci shook her head gravely. "This is for Daddy's office, he told Mommy he wanted something nice to look at after looking at Uncle Rick all day."
As the two women tried not to laugh, Chief Joseph put his head in the doorway. "Linda, A.J. is on the phone."
"Thank you, Chief." The younger woman sighed, then accepted a hand up as Laurie said "I'll get our artists ready to go, sis."
As Laurie led her niece and nephew out to the lobby, Linda met them at the door, a forced smile on her face. "I'll have to pass on lunch, sis. A.J. wants me to meet him at home."
Guessing that something was up, Laurie nodded. "Okay, let me take you home, Linda. Rick can bring your car back tomorrow."
On the drive back to Phoenix, Linda waited until both children fell asleep, then quietly told Laurie, "A.J.'s upset, he was selected for a big murder case. When he said it would be a hardship to serve, both the prosecutor and the defense refused to dismiss him. He feels so bad, sis. I know he did his best to get out of it."
"I'm sorry, honey. That is just not right, but I guess not enough people want to serve on these cases, so the courts don't want to let go guys like A.J., who'll really want to do a good job." She responded sympathetically. "I don't think Rick's too happy about A.J. being singled out, though."
"That's it! A.J., I'm going to speak to Mason's office. Mandatory or no mandatory, if you don't want to do this, they shouldn't be able to make you!"
A.J. gave his ranting brother a half-smile as he watched him pace the office floor. "Calm down, Rick. I did get them to let me out if Linda goes into labor. I already spoke with her, she's okay with it."
Rick stopped in mid-stride, then let out a deep breath…."A.J…."
"Thanks for getting so worked up for me, but it won't help to keep getting upset. I just wish Allen hadn't been so honest about all the things that could go wrong, with Linda's age and all." A.J. felt rather then saw Rick's hand on his shoulder.
"Linda's going to be fine, little brother. we'll all see to that. Now let's get you home, otherwise you'll have a worried wife who'll be after me!"
A.J. laughed in spite of himself. "Now that would be worth the price of admission!"
"All rise."
A.J. stood with the rest of the panel as Judge Mason came out to the bench. The jurist scanned the two rows of jurors, then nodded.
"Be seated."
Stiffeling a grin, Rick sat down in his place with the spectators. He'd had a hunch his fellow Marine would be presiding, but what was his interest in the case besides making sure competent people were on the jury?
Halfway through the morning, A.J. realized something was wrong.
The prosecutor had made his case against the defendant, Tony Gibbs, who was accused of beating to death a man who had assaulted his sister. Everything pointed to his guilt, even his nervousness on being interviewed. He admitted to the police that he had slugged the dead man, then claimed to have passed out.
A.J. just couldn't put his finger on it: was it his attorney, an ex-football player and local star named Donald Harmon, whose focus seemed to be more on explaining the client's actions then proving his innocence? A.J. listened closely as the attorney cross-examined a witness who had testified how many drinks the accused had before stumbling home. He seemed to be nonchalant about the line of questioning, as if just biding his time.
Maybe it was the defendant's sister, Katherine Gibbs, on the stand as a hostile witness for the prosecution.
"Ms. Gibbs, what happened between you and the deceased.?"
At that moment A.J. caught what almost seemed to be a sign from the defense attorney to the witness, who then started sniffing into a handkerchief.
"Jerrod and I had been seeing each other for a while, and he was nice enough, except when he drank. He'd come over to have dinner, but I could tell he'd had a couple of drinks. I told him I didn't want him around me like that, so he started to go, then he, he, .."
The woman broke down, sobbing into her handkerchief.
Judge Mason waited a moment, then calmly asked, "Ms. Gibbs, can you control yourself long enough to continue, or do we need to have a break."
The witness raised her head in astonishment, evidently expecting sympathy, then cleared her throat.
"No, your Honor."
"Good. Please answer the question." The jurist sat back, as Katherine Gibbs stole a look at the defense attorney before continuing.
"Jerrod went towards the door, then when I turned to go upstairs, he came at me and grabbed me, kissing and putting his arms around me. I yelled at him to stop, then he hit me. That's when Tony, " she nodded at her brother, "came running in. He saw Jerrod, then me, then he shouted, "What did you do to her?"
"Then what happened?"
"Jerrod laughed at him, said I was spoiled and I needed a real man to put me in my place. Then he hit me again, and Tony …grabbed him. I fell to the floor, then when I looked up Jerrod had Tony in a headlock, so I screamed for him to stop, then I got up and ran to the phone. I…heard the sound of fists, then something hitting the floor, loud. I came back into the room, and …Jerrod was on the floor, dead."
At that the sound of sobbing erupted in the gallery, and Judge Mason immediately gaveled for quiet.
"Order, balliff, please see that Mrs. Wright is escorted out."
The judge then turned to the jury.
"We need to take a break, ladies and gentlemen, so you are excused until 2pm this afternoon. Lunch will be provided in the break room, also there are payphones for your convenience."
As his fellow jurors exited the courtroom, Rick fell into step with his brother.
"So, what do you think?" A.J. looked at him, then shook his head.
"Something's not right, I don't believe Jarrod Wright's death was accidental."
Rick sighed. "Me, too. But we can't do much about it, with you on the panel and all. What I will do is poke around, then if I see something, we'll bring it to the Judge."
"In the meantime, " A.J. smiled at his big brother. "Let's have lunch, I smell one of Robin's subs!"
Rick produced a bag from behind his back. "You're getting good, little brother." He laughed.