Page 73 of Shadow of Justice
George Luke sat on the bench outside the courtroom when I arrived at eight the next morning. Still as a statue, his eyes cut through me. Claudia Luke hadn’t come. Neither had Erin. Only George sat vigil for the entire week.
“Good morning, Mr. Luke,” I said, just as I had every morning. And just as he had every morning, he gave me a cold stare and said nothing.
My witness, Deena Landon, sat on the opposite bench. Her husband, Doug, had his arm around her. I turned from George Luke and walked over to the Landons.
“How was your drive?” I asked.
“Fine,” Deena said. “I just want to get this over with.”
“I understand. You’ll be first up. And there’s nothing to worry about. Promise.”
Doug Landon stared at me with about as much contempt as George Luke had. The specter of Jamie Simmons. These people didn’t seem to realize I was on their side. In George’s case, Jamie had been poisoning that family’s mind for over two decades. For the Landons, they saw Jamie Simmons clearly and I was the one forcing them back into his world.
Steeling myself for the onslaught I knew would come on the other side of those double doors, I made my way into the courtroom.
A moment later, Jamie Simmons was brought in from a side door. He seemed jovial, smiling and laughing with Bennett Cutler as the deputies led him in. He held his wrists out as they uncuffed him. I gathered my notes at the table and waited for Judge Saul to take the bench. The courtroom doors opened behind me. I looked over my shoulder. Gus came in and took a seat against the back wall. He didn’t look my way. I was getting damn tired of everyone seeing me as their enemy.
“All rise!”
Judge Saul took the bench. Then the jury filed in.
“Ms. Brent?” the judge said.
“The state calls Deena Landon,” I said in a loud, clear voice. I chanced a look at Jamie Simmons. He kept his posture rigid, his face neutral. Deena walked up the aisle and climbed into the witness box.
She was petite, not quite five feet tall. She had dark hair, maybe dyed now, but she bore a casual resemblance to Ellie Luke. I hoped the jury noticed.
Deena took her oath and stared straight at me. She hadn’t once looked at Jamie, but she trembled a bit as she adjusted the microphone.
“Ms. Landon,” I started. “Will you explain how you’re acquainted with Jamie Simmons?”
“I’m not,” she said. “Not anymore. But Jamie and I dated a long time ago.”
“How long ago?”
“I want to say we met twenty-five years ago. We were both students at Washtenaw Community College. I was nineteen. He was twenty or twenty-one.”
“How did your relationship start?”
“We just had a couple of classes together. One was a human sexuality course. It was a small class. Only like twelve students. Jamie was the only male in it. We did a group project together so we ended up spending a lot of time one on one. The other members of the group didn’t really pull their weight so it was Jamie and me doing the bulk of the work. He was nice. I thought he was funny. And cute. Toward the end of that term, I asked him out.”
“You asked him out?”
“Yes. Well, it was more, my roommates were having a party. We lived in an off-campus apartment. I invited Jamie to come. He did. That night, we just hit it off. Everything grew from there.”
“You began dating?”
“Yes. I can’t remember now exactly how that all played out. Like if we went out the next night or the next weekend. But heading into that winter break, we saw each other a few times. Then, moving into the next semester, we were exclusive.”
“By that you mean …”
“I mean we weren’t dating other people. At least not as far as I know. At least not as far as I was concerned.”
“Jamie was your boyfriend? You considered him that way?”
“Yes.”
“How would you describe your relationship at that time?”
