Both Sides Now

By Bob Gabbert

Bob Gabbert e-Books

http://www.bobgabbert.com

Publisher: Smashwords, Inc.

ISBN: 9781311542014

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 by Bob Gabbert

All rights reserved, except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher.

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e-Book Edition: October 2015

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

About the Book

Emma is the daughter of a prostitute, and she probably would be lost in that world if Bill Dalton, a policeman, and his wife, Joyce, didn’t adopt her and give her a loving family. There is only one problem with the adoption; Bill has to frame her mother for murder and send her away to prison.

Joyce Dalton dies of cancer when Emma is young. Medical Bills force she and Bill to live a hand-to-mouth existence. As Emma approaches high school graduation, he realizes that public records connecting her to her past could end any chance of her becoming the doctor that she hopes to become.

Using his position as Deputy Chief of Police, Dalton destroys all public records about Emma’s past, and when he is found out, he is fired from the police force, leaving him with no pay, no retirement, and no medical coverage. He can’t even find a job with his reputation, but he’s too ashamed to tell Emma the cause of their even more meager life.

Emma, a teenager, doesn’t understand why they are so poor. They have many arguments about money, and by the time, Emma enters collage on an academy scholarship, she and her dad are hardly speaking. She hates her clothes and everything about her life.

Jill, Emma’s college roommate, is a member of the ultra-rich Hamptons crowd, and she seduces Emma into thinking that the only important thing in life is money and getting more of it. Emma is ready to believe it. She switches her major from medicine to law, so she can be more like Jill, and one day become rich.

After law school, Emma becomes a very successful and highly paid attorney representing those who ignore the law or skirt it to their own advantage. She is on the path that will allow her to become a member of Jill’s world.

With her mind clouded by dreams of the world that Jill represents, fate steps in. She loses everything and must learn what is truly important.

Table of Contents

Title Page

About the Book

Chapter 1

Chapter 5

Chapter 10

Chapter 15

Chapter 20

Chapter 25

Chapter 30

Chapter 34

Acknowledgement

About the Author

Other Novels by the Author

Chapter One

All cars in the vicinity of the Thunderbird Motel on Henderson Street. We have a reported gunshot, second floor room 223, next to the stairs. That’s all we have at the moment. Approach with caution.

Bill Dalton was less than two blocks from the motel on his way home. He picked up his mike. Dispatch, this is the Deputy Chief, I’ll take the call. Send backup.

It’s usually best to go in with sirens blasting to scare off the person with the gun, but for some reason—call it fate—Dalton turned into the parking lot with his siren silent and his rotating beacons off.

A man was peeking around the corner of the office looking in the direction of the stairs to the second floor. Did you call in the shooting? asked Dalton, still in uniform.

Yes. I’m the night manager. I think it came from 223. Here’s a pass key, he said, handing Dalton a magnetic card.

Did you hear anything else?

No, it’s been quiet since I heard the shot. It only happened a few minutes ago.

Who’s in that room?

I think it’s a hooker with a john.

Okay, you stay here. Keep people away. Another police car should be here shortly.

Dalton went quickly and quietly up the stairs to the door of room 223 with his service revolver drawn. He tried to look through the drapes, but the only thing he could tell for sure was that the lights were on. As he started to the door trying to decide if he should break in, he heard a child whimpering. Oh, God. He’s got a hostage!

He stood to the side of the door to avoid gunshots that might come through it, and knocked loudly. This is the police! Open up!

He heard the door being unlocked. Adrenalin shot his pulse rate through the roof. The door opened a crack. He saw nothing but light until he looked down. A little girl was holding a very big and heavy 357 Magnum pistol down at her side with the barrel pointing at the floor. Dalton grabbed the gun out of her hand and pushed the door open ready to fire.

Daisy Mae Whittier, a known prostitute, was lying nude and unconscious on the floor next to the bed. A nude man lay next to her with a very big hole in his chest. His blood was everywhere.

It was only then that Dalton looked more closely at the girl. It was Daisy Mae’s 10-year-old daughter, Sarah Jane, and she was also nude. Her pretty little face was expressionless. There were blood splatters all over her, and blood was dripping from her hands.

A pain swept down over Dalton like a black hood being lowered, because he had arrested Daisy Mae enough to know why the child was there.

He grabbed Sarah Jane’s dress from a chair. He covered her eyes with his hand, and took her to the bathroom. Sarah Jane, go in there. Wash your face and hands and put your dress on.

Dalton shut the bathroom door and took in the crime scene. He checked Daisy Mae’s pulse—she was still breathing. Bruises on her face had already begun to swell. He checked the man’s pulse, but there was no need. The man was clearly dead.

Dalton took the gun Sarah Jane had been holding and he wiped it off with a bed sheet. He put it in Daisy Mae’s hand and squeezed her hand around the pistol grip. You’re not going to abuse that little girl anymore, he said, with a calm and deadly voice. He pulled out his service revolver and was about to put an end to Daisy Mae when he heard Sarah Jane open the bathroom door.

He quickly put his service revolver away and went to the child. He picked her up and covered her face with his hand and carried her out to the car.

Halfway down the stairs, another police car arrived. I’m getting this child to safety, said Dalton. There’s a hooker with a gun in 223. She killed her john.

As the two policemen advanced up the stairs with their service revolvers drawn, Dalton secretly hoped they would have to shoot Daisy Mae. His concern for the child was such that he didn’t consider the danger Daisy Mae might pose to the officers. Dalton put Sarah Jane on the front seat of his car and drove away. She didn’t say a word; just watched him with a stoic face.

Do you remember me from last time? he asked. She nodded. "I’m going to take you where you’ll be safe and no one will ever hurt you again." Her expression didn’t change. He could see in her eyes that she had heard that before.

Daisy Mae Whittier was a common sight around the police station, having been arrested many times for prostitution with at least four of those arrests by Dalton.

He didn’t know she had a daughter until he arrested her about a year ago and found Sarah Jane with her. I couldn’t find a babysitter, she claimed, I’ve got to make a living, don’t I? Dalton believed her at the time. He took Sarah Jane to Children’s Services, and thought it odd that they knew her by name. Two days later, when Daisy Mae was back on the street, Children’s Service gave Sarah Jane back to her.

It was less than a month later that Dalton responded to a loud-music complaint in a trailer park near the railroad tracks. As he approached, he recognized Daisy Mae’s trailer, and thought it would be another simple arrest for prostitution.

The door was unlocked, so he went in. Daisy Mae was dancing in her underwear with two nude men. Dalton recognized one of the men as a prominent citizen of Vacaville. It was only then that he saw a third man on the sofa on top of a tiny girl—it was Sarah Jane.

Fury and rage hit Dalton like a sledgehammer. He pulled out his nightstick and started beating the man on Sarah Jane. When he saw the man’s face and recognized him as a policeman, he beat the man even harder and broke the man’s arm in at least two places. Someone—probably Daisy Mae—hit him over the head with a flower vase and he crumpled to the floor.

He was out for only a few seconds, but it was enough time for the men to get away. He arrested Daisy Mae for prostitution and child endangerment. He took her to jail, and then took Sarah Jane to Children’s Services. "Her mother is selling her for sex. Do not give her back to her mother."

We don’t have the budget to keep her very long, said the night person.

Put her in foster care. Just don’t give her back to her mother.

Since Dalton had recognized the policeman and the prominent citizen, he wasn’t concerned about them getting away. He thought he could arrest them the next day and they would give up the third man. It didn’t work out that way.

The policeman left the state that night without even getting medical attention for his broken arm; at least not at a hospital. Dalton didn’t learn this until he got to his office the next morning and found the Police Commissioner waiting for him. The policeman left the state, and we don’t know who the other men were. If we go after the man you say was there, his lawyers will sue us for defamation of character, and since it’s only your word against his, we can’t win this, Bill. It will only cause a big scandal just as we’re trying to increase the police budget.

"Commissioner, they were—"

"I want you to drop the case. We have other, more important considerations to worry about. Besides, you’ve arrested Daisy Mae, and the little girl is safe. Isn’t that really what’s important?"

Dalton protested, but there was nothing he could do.

Daisy Mae received four days in jail rather than the usual two days, and when she was released, Children’s Services gave Sarah Jane back to her. Both of them disappeared, and Dalton thought it was no longer his problem—until the shooting in the motel.

Dalton looked at Sarah Jane sitting next to the door of his cruiser. His daughter would have been just about her age now. Louise died when she was one year old. It left a hole in his heart that nothing was ever able to fill. It affected his wife, Joyce, even more. Dalton wanted to have another child right away, but Joyce was afraid of losing it. By the time she was ready to try again, it was too late. She had developed ovarian cancer. The cancer was in remission, but she could no longer have children.

When he took Sarah Jane into the house, Joyce was watching TV. Dinner’s in the oven, she said, without looking away from the TV.

Joyce, give this little girl a bath and don’t ask any questions, please.

Joyce turned around and looked with alarm at the little girl. When she came closer, she could see the splatters of blood on the little girl’s face and arms. "What happened?" she asked with a startled expression.

I’ll tell you all about it, after she’s been cleaned up.

Dalton got a call from the station. It was the watch captain. Pretty bad mess, Deputy Chief. Why did you leave that woman with a gun in her hand?

Did you have to shoot her? asked Dalton, hoping.

No. We have her in the custody ward at the hospital. She’s been beaten pretty badly. She was unconscious when our guys got there.

Did they ID the john? asked Dalton.

Not yet. The Chief’s pretty pissed that you left the scene.

I had to get the child to safety.

That’s what I told him, but he’s still pissed. Are you coming in?

No. I was off duty at the time. I’ll fill out my report in the morning. The watch captain tried to say something else, but Dalton turned his radio off.

He went into the kitchen and took his dinner out of the oven and sat down to eat. Joyce came in. What’s going on, Bill?

Where is Sarah Jane?

I put her to bed in Louise’s room. She said she wasn’t hungry. She had blood all over her. What’s going on?

There was a shooting at the Thunderbird Motel. He shook his head trying to push the images away. Her mother is a hooker. He looked sadly at Joyce. Her mother forces her to… you know. I think the john must have been beating on her mother and she shot him.

"Good, Lord! What are you going do with her?"

I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t have it all worked out yet, so bear with me. I’m going to make sure her mother goes to prison, so the little girl is going to need a family to look after her.

Not us, Bill. We can’t take care of a juvenile delinquent.

"She’s 10 years old, Joyce. She’s not a delinquent. Her mother forces her to do those things, but she will become a delinquent if she’s put into the system. You know that. Why can’t we be her foster parents? It would almost be like having Louise back—they’re the same age."

No, I can’t do it, Bill. You know what the doctor said. The cancer could come back.

I might get killed tomorrow in a car accident, Joyce. We can’t stop living life just because something bad might happen. To me, this is like God is giving us a second chance to be parents. She needs us as much as we need her. At least give it a chance.

Sarah Jane must have had a nightmare, because she screamed in her sleep. Joyce reacted without thinking. By the time Dalton went into the bedroom, Joyce was holding Sarah Jane and talking to her softly while she stroked her hair. Joyce looked up at Dalton with tears in her eyes. She nodded. Okay, let’s do it. She kissed Sarah Jane on the forehead while the child slept.

Dalton consulted a lawyer to find out how they could become foster parents to Sarah Jane. Under the circumstances, Children’s Services was more than happy to expedite the matter.

The first thing they did as parents was to put Sarah Jane into therapy. After a few weeks, the doctor told them, She’s blocked it out. When we encounter something too terrible to deal with, our brain isolates it and blocks it out until we’re capable of dealing with it. Sometimes with children, they never consciously remember what happened again. All Sarah Jane remembers about that night is that her mother went away and she hasn’t returned. She feels abandoned.

We’re trying to give her a good home. She seems happy, said Dalton.

You’re doing the right things, but it will take time. It may take a lot of time, before she comes to think of you as parents, especially you, Bill. You have to remember, she’s never had a father. She only knows men through those horrible experiences.

Will she ever get over that? Joyce asked.

All I can tell you is that the odds are against her. Maybe she will be the exception. Tragic events like this frequently start to come out in nightmares or bedwetting—

"Bedwetting, said Dalton. What has that got to do with what happened?"

The doctor smiled. Children frequently ask for help by wetting the bed. They don’t know that’s what they’re doing, but it is. Dalton frowned. Bill, I know what I’m talking about. Just bring her in if she starts wetting the bed or having nightmares.

Do you think she’s ready for school? asked Joyce.

Yes, definitely. She’s a very bright little girl.

The Daltons put Sarah Jane in school. She hadn’t been to a regular school in a couple of years and even then her attendance was sporadic. School officials thought she would be slow or possibly even retarded, so they put her in the second grade. But she reads all the time, protested Joyce.

Maybe she’s just looking at the pictures, said the school official.

There aren’t any pictures in Jane Austen, said Dalton, but they were not convinced.

Two weeks later, they put Sarah Jane in the third grade, and one month after that she was put in the fourth grade where she belonged. She’s a very bright little girl, said the same school official. She’s behind on a few classes, but she’s catching up very quickly.

At first, Sarah Jane asked about her mother almost every day. It seemed to be more curiosity than love or a need to be with her. Dalton told her that Daisy Mae had asked them to keep her while she went to another state to find work.

When will she come back and get me? asked Sarah Jane, with big tears in her eyes.

We don’t know for sure. Dalton wondered about it himself, because Daisy Mae’s trial was set for the following month.

Sarah Jane ran away a couple of times. The first time it took them two days to find her. She was living under a trailer in the little town of Elmira a few miles from Vacaville. It was where she was born. Apparently she thought her mother would look for her there. To survive, she ate food scraps that people threw out for the dogs. She was scruffy and dirty from living under the trailer.

Dalton held her tightly in his arms as he carried her back to the car. Joyce was crying with relief. She thought she had lost another child. She took Sarah Jane and hugged her tightly. "Please, don’t ever run away, Sarah Jane. It breaks my heart. You’re our child now. We wouldn’t want to live without you."

The next time she ran away, they went to Elmira and they were waiting near the trailer when she showed up. When she saw them waiting for her, her face broke into a huge grin and she came running. She never ran away again after that.

Chapter Two

Daisy Mae was charged with second-degree murder, prostitution, reckless endangerment of a child, and other lesser charges. Dalton knew the reckless endangerment charge would require Sarah Jane to testify or at least be named in the trial. He fought to get that charge dropped, and it was dropped without explanation.

He discussed his testimony with the prosecutor, and told him he didn’t want to even mention Sarah Jane’s name. He was surprised when the prosecutor agreed. What Dalton didn’t know was that powerful people in the community also didn’t want the child’s name mentioned for very different reasons.

Even the defense attorney, appointed by the city to defend Daisy Mae, knew the mention of Sarah Jane would be toxic to his case. If her name came up, the defense would have to explain why the child was there in the first place and it would go even harder on his client.

The prosecutor told Dalton that as the first officer on the scene his testimony would be crucial, but with Sarah Jane living with him, his credibility could be challenged by the defense. It was suggested the child be put in Children’s Services if only temporarily, but Dalton refused.

The day the trial began, Dalton told Joyce, Don’t let Sarah Jane see the paper or hear the news. If you watch TV, make sure it’s not something local. I don’t want her hearing anything about her mother and the trial.

I was thinking it might be a good day to have a picnic down by the river, said Joyce.

Good idea. I talked to a lawyer the other day about adopting Sarah Jane. He said the only way we could do it would be have her mother sign a release. The lawyer thinks if we give Daisy Mae a few thousand dollars, she will sign her daughter away.

Isn’t that illegal? asked Joyce.

It is, but no one seems to object. It’s as if the whole town wants to get rid of Daisy Mae as much as we do.

So, we may be able to actually adopt her?

That’s what I’m hoping. The lawyer thinks it will be best to wait and see if she’s sent to prison. He thinks she would be more amenable to letting Sarah Jane go if she’s in prison.

When will we know?

I would guess a week or two. It depends on how long the trial lasts. Hopefully, there won’t be an appeal.

Joyce put her hand over her eyes. I’m afraid to even hope that we can actually adopt her.

Dalton took the stand. I responded to the shooting call at the Thunderbird Motel, room 223. I opened the door with the passkey the night manager gave me. I had my service revolver drawn. It was clear immediately that the prostitute had shot her john—

Objection—states facts not in evidence and draws conclusions not based on facts, protested the defense attorney.

The judge asked Dalton, In your capacity as Deputy Chief of Police, have you ever arrested the defendant before?

Yes, Your Honor. Several times.

On what charge?

Prostitution, Your Honor.

"Your Honor," protested the defense attorney.

Objection overruled. Sit down. You may continue, Mr Prosecutor.

It was at that moment Dalton realized important people