The Boy on the Porch - 5. More Charges, and Moving Day

Tuesday

Detective Taos requested Brendan be at Kathy’s second arraignment the next day. Brendan left Jill in charge at the motel and headed to the courthouse. After the case was called, the new charges against Kathy were read.

The judge indicated to the Assistant District Attorney, "You may proceed, Ms. Smart."

"Thank you, Your Honor. The accused has been charged with one count each of aggravated child molestation, statutory rape, aggravated sexual assault, enticing a child for indecent purposes, all on a minor child, two counts of cruelty to children and one count of unlawful imprisonment. These are in addition to the three counts of cruelty to children she was awarded bail on previously."

The judge turned to the defense attorney, "How does your client plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honor. If it pleases the court I would like to enter a motion to dismiss all these new charges."

"On what grounds, counselor?"

"The state has no proof any of these crimes were committed other than hearsay evidence."

"Ms. Smart?"

"The court has direct testimony from the two minor victims about these charges, properly recorded by their uncle Brendan Nelson, in accordance with the rules of evidence. Mr. Nelson is present this morning to testify to its authenticity if necessary."

"Defense has not been provided copies of this so called testimony."

"Nor are you entitled to it at this point in time. This is an arraignment, Mr. Blackstone. We are here to determine if there is sufficient cause for this case to go to trial, and whether bail is warranted. Discovery occurs after this hearing, in the case where a trial is warranted."

"The state has no problem playing a recording of this testimony at this juncture, Your Honor."

"Would you like to hear this testimony, Mr. Blackstone? I must caution you, it could prove to be very prejudicial to your client if it is played at this time, without a chance to review it yourself in private."

Kathy tugged on her lawyer’s sleeve, who requested, "One moment, Your Honor."

A quiet discussion between lawyer and client occurs.

"You can't let the judge hear this now, you can always make a motion to suppress at trial and he never hears it. I don't know what kind of lies my brother has coerced my children to tell about me."

"You risk not being released on bail, those are very serious charges."

"And if the judge hears a bunch of lies now? No. You cannot let them play it."

"Thank you for the delay, Your Honor. Defense does not wish to hear this testimony at this time."

"Fine. Ms. Smart, your opinion on bail?"

"Thank you, Your Honor. Two of these offenses are not bond-able in Georgia. Therefore, the state requests bail be denied."

"Mr. Blackstone?"

"The accused has no previous arrests. There is no physical proof that any of these crimes have occurred. She is innocent until proven guilty, Your Honor. We believe bail should be granted."

"Thank you, Mr. Blackstone, while the claim of presumed innocence is correct, Ms. Smart is also correct in stating bond is not available for the aggravated charges. Bail is denied. Bailiff, take the defendant into custody."

"One moment, Your Honor?"

"Yes, Ms. Smart?"

"The state requests access to the home be temporarily allowed to Brendan Nelson, the children's uncle, and temporary guardian."

"Granted. You will inform the sheriff's office when access is no longer required?"

"I will, Your Honor."

"Trial is set for Monday, October twenty-first. Case adjourned. Court will take a ninety minute break for lunch."

Ms. Smart nodded to Brendan, signaling that he could leave. When he got back to the motel, the kids wanted to know what the news was.

“It’s good news. Your mother was denied bail. Apparently, people accused of two of the charges aren’t allowed bail.”

“S-s-so, we d-don’t ha-ave to s-see her anym-more?”

“Nope. Well, not until the trial, you’ll all have to testify at one or both of their trials.”

“And we get to live with you forever?”

“That still remains to be decided, but even so, I’m sure it won’t be forever, Nick. You’ll move out at some point after you’re grown up,”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Steve, Jill, if you’d be kind enough to go next door, maybe watch TV for a while, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask Nick.”

“Sure.”

After they left, “What did I do?”

“I’m just curious about your travels last week, and why it took you two days to cross town before you got here.”

“You won’t be mad at me?”

“No.”

“Even if I was snooping where I shouldn’t have been?”

“No, after all that I’ve heard, pretty much anything would be justified by your leaving. Your parents didn’t kick you out though, did they?”

“Oh, they did that. I just didn’t leave right away. I wanted to have at least some idea where to go. I went into mom’s purse and looked at her address book. I saw your name and address, and because it had a drawing like you see on street signs like ‘do not enter,’ I figured you weren’t somebody my mother would ask about me. I memorized the address, but I really didn’t know exactly how to get there.

“I really did go around in circles a lot, and I even started out in the wrong direction. By Friday morning, I was hungry and tired, so I went into a little store and told the girl there I was lost and asked how could I get to your address. I said it was my house. She gave me a donut and told me how to get there, and drew me a map. I was already pretty close. But it still took a couple hours because the map wasn’t very good. I walked down a lot of wrong streets.”

“But you didn’t know I was your uncle?”

“No. Just someone I hoped mom would never call. I guess they never even tried looking for me. So, I’m glad they’re in jail.”

“Okay. Go ahead and watch some TV, I need to do some things on-line.”

“Okay.”

Brendan arranged for a truck to move his and the children’s bedroom sets, his living room furniture, kitchen table, and whatever else he needed boxed up. The house he was buying already had a sofa set in its family room. He’d move that into the living room there, and use his own in the family room. He’d have to move his office furniture too. ‘Crud, the job was getting bigger every minute,' he thought. He decided they needed to head back to the house after a stop to buy a boatload of boxes.

Back at the house with a pack each of small and medium boxes from U-Haul, he decided that since they'd probably be eating out for most if not all meals, he wouldn't need to keep the kitchen things available. He could always cook a meal or two in the basic kitchen in the motel. He put a few more changes of clothes into another suitcase, so the rest could be packed up. He put Jill to work in the kitchen, Steve was in charge of his clothing, and Nick would help him unplug everything to get it ready to move, except the TV and its assorted accessories, that is. It didn't all need to get done in one day, after eating whatever was available for lunch, they took their time, worked for a few hours, and left a little before dinner time. After a stop at the motel for showers, he took the kids to Longhorn for a nice dinner, as a reward for helping pack.

"I think I'm going to like living with you, Uncle Brendan."

"Why is that, Jill?"

"We hardly ever went out to eat, and when we did, it's pizza or fast food value meals."

"Considering your father using candles instead of having lights on, that doesn't surprise me."

"Th-they n-n-never sp-sp-spent m-more than they n-needed t-to on us."

"Well, in that case, order whatever you want. We can always bring things back to the motel for dessert if you get too full from the food. But don't get too used to eating out all the time. We'll do it once in a while when we get settled in the house, but we can't go overboard."

Jill and Steve ordered nicer cuts, Nick went with the Kids' Sirloin, which as far as the kid's meals went, was the highest priced. Brendan was happy they splurged. He didn't go all out himself, but went with the Parmesan Crusted Chicken and a Half-Rack of Baby Back Ribs, still far from the cheapest item. After finishing their dinners and getting four desserts to go, they headed back to the motel, put the desserts in the refrigerator for a while and relaxed after a busy day.

Wednesday was partially a repeat of the previous day, as far as packing went. Since he was limited in how long he'd have access to the kids' house, they spent their efforts packing up their bedrooms. Brendan was somewhat surprised at the small number of toys and games they each had, but after Jill's comment at dinner last night, he realized he shouldn't have been. Since the activity was mostly packing up clothes, and an extra set of sheets for each bed, they finished it all in one day. Each child brought another small box with more clothes and anything else they'd want for the next couple days back to the motel. Brendan decided to stop at a store and pick up something for dinner, just to ease the budget a bit. He also bought a few things for breakfasts and lunches. Thursday and Friday would be spent at his house, since he needed to get back to work.

He also received the rental agreement to sign, noticing that Rich had already paid for two weeks. He'd have to call and thank him. That reminded him about the request to go to a game, so he bought tickets for Friday night's game against the Phillies. He texted Greg to see if he wanted to come along and meet the rest of the family. Greg agreed.

Thursday saw the kids resuming the packing at Brendan's house while he was in his office working. When he broke for lunch, he was surprised at the progress they made. Very little was left to pack. Nick had been helping Jill in the kitchen, Steve finished packing Brendan's clothes and had started on the bathrooms. He gave them the afternoon off and let them watch movies on Amazon Prime, with the caveat that they be reasonably appropriate for Nick.

By the end of his workday on Friday, everything except his office was ready for the moving truck the next day. When the kids asked where they were eating, he told them it was a surprise. He stopped working at four, to leave plenty of time to get to the ballpark. Greg showed up at four-fifteen. When he told Rich they were coming, he complained about them buying their own tickets, but Brendan thought Rich was doing enough. Rich stepped up in another way, though. When they got to Truist Park, they were escorted to the Braves locker room for a tour. Obviously, the kids were thrilled. Jill was excited just looking at the players. They were still all dressed, but Brendan had to admit, they were, for the most part, a bunch of good-looking guys. The night ended well with a Braves six to four victory. Rich came in at the top of the ninth to get the save, setting the Phillies down with a strikeout and two harmless pop flies. Rich met them at the Center Field Market for ice cream after the game. They all congratulated him on his performance. Rich expected it when he was asked for autographs by almost everyone at the market, including his niece and nephews.

Saturday was a wake-up early day, they had to head to Brendan's house to meet the moving truck. The movers had everything else loaded on the truck just a few minutes after Brendan and the kids finished packing up his office. Excellent timing on their part. Then it was over to the Taft house to pick up everything from their two bedrooms. Only two because Steve and Nick had shared a room, which would no longer be necessary in the new house.

Ellen, the Real Estate agent, met them at the new house with the keys and a note from the owners. The owners were very happy a family was buying the house. That they were a broken family, to some extent, gave them joy to be helping out children that truly needed it. While the closing was to be three weeks from the upcoming Monday, to further help the children, they were waiving the rent for the final nine days. Brendan made sure he'd remember to thank them at the closing by adding a task on his cell phone calendar. Ellen also mentioned that the owners had the pool cleaned for them, knowing the kids may want to use it right away, with it being a holiday weekend. Brendan took a few minutes to give Ellen a little background on the family. Even with providing only minimal detail, she was amazed at how badly Abel and Kathy treated the children. Mid-morning, Greg arrived to help out.

Most of the rest of the day was spent directing the movers where to put things and emptying some boxes. The boxes from the bedrooms were labeled one through four, with Brendan’s office being five. The door to each bedroom was marked accordingly. Brendan decided to leave the larger room on the third floor empty for now, using the smallest bedroom on the second floor as his office. Brendan, Greg, and Steve moved the existing family room set off to the side in the living room while the movers were focused on the bedrooms. Brendan had minimal yard tools, so he put them in the garage. Brendan had several pizzas and sodas delivered, so everyone broke for lunch, which the movers appreciated. It was another busy day, but everything was in place, or at least the boxes were all in the right rooms by the time the movers left around three-thirty. Brendan gave the ADA a call, indicating they were done with the Taft house, and the sheriff could secure it.

Since the beds had all been stripped for the move, Brendan decided they'd stay one more night at the motel, rather than stay longer unpacking. They were all tired of moving things. Greg came along as well, just to be with Brendan. After the boys went to sleep, Brendan filled Greg in with some details about Jill and Steve's issues with their parents, the charges against his sister, and their plans for the immediate future. Brendan also invited Greg over to the house around mid-afternoon the next day, to swim and join them for dinner.

Sunday morning, they checked out of the motel. He didn't see any reason to spend the additional money when they had a perfectly good house to live in now; one that would accommodate all of them. So, they spent the bulk of Sunday unpacking. Brendan didn't have to set up his office right away, since Monday was Labor Day, and he didn't work. He focused on the living room, getting the TV and accessories set up, in case the kids needed a break. After that, he went into the kitchen and started arranging things there. The kids started in their bedrooms. He also sent Stephanie Lawson from CPS an email with the new address. He had set up mail forwarding yesterday, to start Tuesday. He still had to change addresses on all his on-line accounts, but that could wait. After a quick trip to Wendy's for lunch, they continued unpacking. About an hour later, still in the kitchen, he heard the television go on. Obviously, one or more of the kids needed a break. He didn't go out to check who it was right away; he didn't want to appear like a taskmaster, but he did so after emptying two more boxes.

"Wow! I was expecting one of you out here. You all decided to take a break?"

Jill replied, "Nope. We're all done."

"Great. I still have a few more boxes to take care of in the kitchen. After I'm done, we can all hit the pool."

"B-but, d-d-don't th-they c-c-close at si-iix?"

"Didn't any of you look in the backyard, when we visited, or yesterday?"

"What! We have a pool?"

"Well Nick, when it rains, there's a large puddle out back..."

"Not fair!!"

Jill explained their confusion, "We all saw the pool, but since it was on the other side of the fence, we thought it was the neighbor's behind us."

"You didn't let me fin..."

He didn't finish that time either. They all took off for the back door. Seconds later, they ran past him, heading up to their bedrooms to put on their bathing suits.

He yelled as they went upstairs, "Grab towels from the hall bath. The box is..." They were gone.

Two minutes later, they came running down, towels in hand, but before they could get out of earshot, Brendan spoke up, "Wait!"

They stopped. Brendan was impressed he didn't have to repeat himself. But they were trained to obey, more like tortured into it.

"No fooling around. Splashing, swimming, et cetera are okay, but no horsing around. We don't need any accidents. And Jill and Steve?"

They both said, "Yes."

"Watch Nick. I'll come out after I finish the kitchen and change."

As was common, Jill answered for the both of them, "We will."

He decided to finish the kitchen later, and started to go upstairs to change. He didn't get more than two steps up when he was stopped with his own targeted, 'Wait!' command.

"What happened? The puddle not big enough?"

"Ha ha, Uncle B-B-Brendan."

Jill answered, "The gate is still locked. Are you sure it's not the neighbor's?"

"Oh, shit. Let me go get the keys Ellen left us. Sorry. I should have realized they'd keep the gate locked. It really is ours."

Nick giggled at his slip of profanity. He grabbed the keychain off the kitchen counter, where he had left it, and handed it to Jill, "It's the one with the aqua key cover. I guess they used aqua because of the pool's color."

Finally heading upstairs, Brendan forgot he still had to make his bed, but that could wait. After changing into his bathing suit, he went into the bathroom to look for the box of towels, but it wasn't there. He thought, 'Where the hell did it go? They all had fresh towels.' He opened the linen closet and got the answer. One or more of them must have taken care of it. Then he wondered where all the empty boxes were. None were in their three bedrooms. Ah ha! They were thrown randomly in the spare bedroom. He'll have them take care of that mess themselves later. He went back to the bathroom, grabbed a towel, and headed downstairs and out back.

They all played in the pool for a couple hours, laughing and splashing. Greg arrived just a few minutes after they got into the pool. As six o'clock was approaching, Brendan thought it would be a good time to change for dinner.

"Okay, everybody out. Let's all go back upstairs and change for dinner."

"Wh-where are w-we g-g-g-going t-tonight?"

Even though the kitchen was set up, the refrigerator was empty, "We'll decide that after we all change."

Apparently, they already decided upstairs before they came back down,

"We want to go to Golden Corral."

"I don't get a choice?"

"Sure, Uncle Brendan, you pick something, we'll all vote again, and Golden Coral will win." Nick said, failing to hide a smile. Even Greg gave a little chuckle.

"Oh, I forgot a rule. I always get four votes."

"Uh-uh, W-w-we'll g-g-give you t-two, j-just b-because you're b-b-bigger." Steve couldn't hide his smile either.

Smiling he tossed his retort, "Brats. And your opinion on the voting, Jill?"

"Uh-uh, leave me out of it, that interaction was their idea."

They left for Golden Corral, Brendan didn't have a problem with it anyway. After another nice dinner, they hit Target, since it was closest, and picked up some items for breakfast. Brendan figured they'd go to Walmart in the morning. A. Because everyone was tired, and B. Because it was cheaper. Greg went home after they returned from Target.

Next Up - “Settling In, and an Oh No!”