Page 86 of Justice Delayed

Livingston blew out a breath as the elevator doors dinged open. “It definitely does.” He stepped into the car after Brogan maneuvered Melender and himself inside. “I’ll call the Commonwealth’s attorney’s office as soon as we reach the lobby. She’s not gonna be happy about what’s been uncovered, especially with her re-election campaign receiving substantial contributions from Thompson Energy.”

Brogan had a million other questions but didn’t voice any of them in the short elevator ride. Fallon would know how to cover this scoop ahead of their competition once they got permission. While part of him itched to get in front of a computer and start pounding out the story while the recording was fresh in his mind, his concern about Melender overrode his reporter’s instincts. In the lobby, Livingston gave them a distracted goodbye, his attention fixated on his own cell phone.

By his side, Melender straightened, pulling away from his embrace. “What’s going to happen now?”

“I’m not sure. Livingston’s calling the Commonwealth’s attorney.” Brogan studied her washed-out features. There was a haunted look in her blue eyes that shimmered with tears. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

“What time is it?” Her eyes widened. “I have to go to work.

Brogan glanced at his phone. “It’s 4:50.”

Melender’s startled expression relaxed. “I have a little time before my shift starts.” She gazed over his shoulder. “It sounded like Jared found Jesse not breathing in his crib with the bunny on his face.”

“That’s what I heard too.” Brogan again placed his arm around her shoulders and gently moved her toward the revolving door. “It appears the Thompsons covered up whatever happened and left you to take the blame.” He wedged both of them into one of the door’s slots and pushed on the glass to exit the building.

Outside, Melender halted, turning her face up to the afternoon sun. “What do you think happened to Jesse?”

“I think…” Brogan, his arm still around her, glanced at the trickle of people moving past them from the building toward the parking lot. “Let’s get in the car first.”

Melender opened her mouth, but instead of speaking, nodded. He removed his arm from her shoulders to access his pocket for the car fob, ready to chirp open the doors as they approached the SUV.

He snapped his seat belt into place and tried to organize his thoughts. No matter which scenario that came to mind, all pointed to the Thompsons hiding the truth of what happened to Jesse and deliberately allowing Melender to take the blame. The injustice of it made his blood burn hotter than asphalt pavement under the 90-degree sun.

“You asked what I thought happened to Jesse.” He drew in a deep breath. “I think there was a terrible accident and Jesse died. And rather than face what happened, the Thompsons choose to cover up his death and shift the blame to you.”

“Brogan, you believe in God.”

“Um, yes.” He’d fallen away from his faith in his pursuit of journalistic fame, but his very public fall had ripped the scales from his eyes and exposed the sin in his heart. Repentance had started with a return to reading the Scriptures on a daily basis and humbling his heart before his Savior. Now he wouldn’t change those lean years when he struggled to find work in his field with a Pulitzer because of how God had worked in his life and heart to draw him ever closer to Jesus.

“Then you know that all things work for the good of those who love God.”

His anger rebelled against her words even as his heart agreed. Brogan reached across and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m familiar with the verse. Romans 8:28.”

She placed her hand over his and brought it back to cradle her cheek, leaning her head into his hand. Her eyes never left his. “Brogan, I believe with all my heart God graciously put me in circumstances designed to strengthen my faith.”

Brogan shook his head, his hand falling away from her face. She spoke the truth, but the peace in her eyes sliced into his very soul. She had been through so much more than him, and yet her faith had flourished, while his still struggled at times.

Melender held up her finger, silencing him any protest he might have formed. “It was for my good and His eternal glory that I went to prison for a crime I didn’t commit. That didn’t mean I gave up trying to find justice in this world. It meant I didn’t despair when justice didn’t come.”

She smiled, and his heart thumped double time in his chest at the determination in her eyes. “No.” He couldn’t be reading her thoughts correctly. His gut clenched. “You can’t, that’s not right.”

“Yes, I can. I’ve lived with this my whole adult life, and it hasn’t crushed me yet. But the truth will devastate my family.” She sat back and clicked her seat belt into place.

“They tried to destroy you.” He wouldn’t let Melender give up, not when they were so close to exonerating her. “They wanted you to rot in prison and are probably behind the apartment break-in and attacks against you.”

“That doesn’t matter. My actions aren’t predicated on the actions of others.”

His frustration spilled over. “Fancy words aren’t going to change the fact they deliberately sent you to prison to cover up a crime.”

She turned back to face him. “But from the recording, you can tell it was an accident. Jesse died because of a mistake.”

He had to make her understand. He couldn’t let her throw away the rest of her life because of some noble thought of saving her family by not pressing for her conviction to be overturned. If she did, she would also be throwing away any chance they had of a future, and he very much wanted to explore the possibility with her. “I’ll grant you Jesse’s death might have been an accident, but what happened after that most certainly was not.”

“What if Jillian inadvertently killed him while playing peek-a-boo with the blue bunny?”

The question hit Brogan in the gut, pulverizing his ire into bits.

“She was barely three years old. She had no idea what she was doing.” Melender’s voice dropped to a whisper, her hands clenched on her lap as she stared straight ahead. “If this comes out, how could Jillian live with the knowledge that she accidentally killed her baby brother?”

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