Tides of Truth [02] Higher Hope Read online

  HIGHER HOPE

  OTHER BOOKS BY ROBERT WHITLOW

  Deeper Water

  Mountain Top

  Jimmy

  Life Everlasting

  Life Support

  The Sacrifice

  The Trial

  The List

  © 2009 by Robert Whitlow

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson, Inc. books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved; the New King James Version. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; and the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Whitlow, Robert, 1954–

  Higher hope / Robert Whitlow.

  p. cm. — (A tides of truth novel)

  ISBN 978-1-59554-449-0 (pbk.)

  1. Women lawyers—Fiction. 2. Trials (Libel)—Fiction. 3. Savannah (Ga.)—Fiction.

  I. Title.

  PS3573.H49837H54 2009

  813'.54—dc22

  2009003618

  Printed in the United States of America

  09 10 11 12 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

  Contents

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  Acknowledgments

  Reading Group Guide Questions

  To those who believe hope is possible.

  May it become substance in your life.

  Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.

  —ROMANS 4:18

  Prologue

  THE AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM THRASHED SAVANNAH WITH wet whips, the raindrops falling in waves that raced across the ground. Dark clouds spawned thin streaks of lightning that reached out with flashing fingers to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. One bolt struck the mast of a sailing yacht bobbing at anchor in a marina and destroyed the boat’s electronic navigation system before blowing an exit hole in the ship’s side that caused water to seep into the forward cabin. Vacationers on the beach and golfers on the greens ran for shelter. Shoppers at grocery stores backed up at the exits with their carts full. Residents of the city turned off air conditioners as the temperature dropped twenty degrees in ten minutes. Everyone sought cover to wait out the storm.

  Everyone, that is, except one.

  Ramona Dabney didn’t budge from the blue rocker on the narrow front porch of her house. The porch was only six feet wide and completely open at the sides. No railing or screen provided decoration or protection. Three wooden steps led down to the scraggly yard. The porch roof shielded against only gentle showers and noonday sun and held no hope of protecting the small area from the approaching storm. Dabney rocked vigorously and glared at the darkening sky.

  Storms made her angry.

  The first large drops of rain cried out in insult and accusation as they splattered against the hot ground. Within minutes the drops merged into a waterfall that needed no river as its source. More lightning crackled. A car, its wipers vainly trying to clear the windshield, drove slowly down the street as water spilled out of the storm drains. While local gardeners gave thanks for the moisture, wet wind soaked the porch and the woman on it. Dabney rose to her feet.

  It was time to confront the storm.

  She moved to the top of the steps. A wave of rain ran across the ground and drenched her. She slowly maneuvered her overweight body down the steps to the ground. Her gray hair was plastered to her head, and the raindrops stung as they hit her skin. She walked to a spot about halfway between the house and the street and stopped. Tilting her head back with her eyes closed, she let the anger within build until it was stronger than the liquid bullets pounding against her. She raised her hands in the air and cried out in a voice that cracked from frequent use.

  “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

  Another wave of rain rushed across the yard and doused her. Distant thunder at the edge of the storm mocked her. She kept her hands in the air, refusing to budge. She cried out again.

  “Stop!”

  Dabney held firm, remaining in the front yard with her hands in the air. A police vehicle containing two officers slowed in front of the house. The driver, a seasoned detective, turned to his younger partner.

  “Do you see that? It’s been a while since I came by here during a thunderstorm.”

  The younger officer leaned across the seat and looked out the window.

  “What is she doing? She’s got to be soaked to the bone.”

  “Telling the storm to stop.”

  The younger officer grunted, “Somebody should tell her the clouds aren’t listening.”

  1

  PUTTING MY HAND ON THE BRASS DOORKNOB, I GLANCED AT MY watch before opening the door. Zach and I wouldn’t get to Powell Station before dark unless we left Savannah within the hour. Mama and Daddy shouldn’t see the young lawyer’s light brown ponytail for the first time after sunset.

  On the wall of the conference room hung a massive painting of the Savannah waterfront before the Civil War. At the end of the shiny table sat Joe Carpenter, the managing partner of Braddock, Appleby, and Carpenter. To his left was Myra Dean, a litigation paralegal. Across the table was a man I’d never met.

  “Tami,” Mr. Carpenter said, “this is Mr. Jason Paulding.”

  Paulding, a balding, stocky man in his early forties, wore an open-collared shirt with a steel beam embroidered on the front. His round head would be the perfect resting place for a hard hat.

  “Any projects you have to finish before the end of the day?” Mr. Carpenter asked me.

  “No, sir, but—”

  “Good,” the tall, gray-haired lawyer continued. “As soon as Jason started going over his problem, I knew this was a case for you. You know something about fanatic religious groups, don’t you?”

  “No, sir, except what I read in the paper. I’ve never been to the Middle East.”

  Mr. Carpenter smiled slightly. “I don’t mean terrorists. I’m talking about the lunatic fringe of the church, fundamentalists who don’t know where religion stops and tolerance begins.” The lawyer turned toward Paulding. “Tami is one of the sharpest summer law clerks we’ve ever had at the firm. She goes to church every time the doors open, but her beliefs make her tougher, not softer. The
re’s no ‘turn the other cheek’ in her version of the Bible. A week ago she stared me down in a criminal matter when I challenged her judgment.”

  His assessment of my conduct in State v. Jones made me wince.

  “Mr. Carpenter, that’s not quite accurate—”

  “Don’t argue with me, now,” the senior partner said, cutting me off. “Save your ammunition for Ramona Dabney, the dime-store preacher who claims Mr. Paulding is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler.”

  “It’s worse than that,” Paulding said, “and I want it stopped. I offered the church twice the appraised value for its property. All I got back was a bunch of harassing phone calls to people all over town.”

  “Jason and his staff have done some of the homework for us,” Mr. Carpenter said, sliding a sheet of paper across the table. “This is a list of people contacted by Dabney.”

  “She even organized a protest outside our corporate office.”

  “Myra, copy this list for Tami, divide the names, and interview all of them. There may be more. Get affidavits or recorded statements from those willing to sign one, then provide a summary to me.”

  “What are we asking them?” I asked.

  “Everything you can think of,” Mr. Carpenter said. “Don’t let anyone try to tell you what they think is important; find out for yourself. Persistence is one of your strengths. Use it.”

  Mr. Carpenter’s mind could race ahead so fast it was difficult to see more than a cloud of dust in the distance. If patient, I hoped a fuller explanation of my task would emerge when he came back into view. I pushed my long brown hair behind my ears.

  “When do you want the summaries and affidavits?” Myra asked.

  My stomach turned over. A twenty-three-year-old summer clerk wasn’t supposed to work overtime, but Mr. Carpenter had started treating me more and more like a junior associate.

  “In the next few weeks.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “Why wait?” Paulding asked indignantly. “With what I’ve told you and prepared in advance, don’t you have enough to file suit?”

  “Our representation is similar to your company building a shop-ping center. We follow a carefully laid-out plan to make sure we’re thorough.”

  “I don’t want a fancy lawsuit that takes three years,” Paulding said, his voice rising. “Last week this woman wrote my wife a letter accusing me of all kinds of stuff. I know how lawyers drag things out. If you’re not going to do anything, I’ll find a cheaper lawyer who will. I want a court order putting a stop to this. And I want it now!”

  “No you don’t,” Mr. Carpenter replied calmly. “It’s good for you and your business if Ms. Dabney continues.”

  “What?” Paulding burst out, the veins in his neck bulging. “That’s crazy. Are you an idiot?”

  Stretching my long fingers, I put my pen on the table, certain Paulding was about to be ushered out of the office. Mr. Carpenter had plenty of business; he didn’t need to put up with abuse from a prospective client.

  “Who referred you to me?” Mr. Carpenter asked calmly.

  Paulding rubbed the top of his head. “Frank Newsome.”

  “Did he accuse me of wasting time by churning his file to make a big fee?”

  “No.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “That you saved his company when he thought he was going to lose everything.”

  “How is his business doing now?”

  “Fine. He does a lot of subcontracting work for us. The Dabney woman went to see him with one of her crazy visions. He ordered her out of his office and told me to call you.”

  Mr. Carpenter pointed at me. “Ms. Taylor can work on your file for a fraction of my hourly rate. Does that sound like I’m trying to take advantage of you?”

  “No, but it doesn’t make sense that you want this preacher woman running her mouth all over town. If this keeps up, she’s going to hurt our business. She already has.”

  “Good, good, that’s even better,” Mr. Carpenter replied, holding up his hand before Paulding could explode again. “Hear me out. How much profit did you expect to make from the development your company was going to build on the site that included the church?”

  “I gave up on that deal. The church parcel was in the middle of the entire tract. Without it, the project wouldn’t work.”

  “Was it a good opportunity?”

  “Yeah, one of the best ever.”

  “So, what did you hope to clear?”

  Paulding scratched his chin. “At least a million and a half after costs, maybe more. The anchor tenants were already lined up.”

  “Would you still like the deal to go through?”

  “Sure. We were counting on it so much that I passed on another great opportunity. The whole thing left us losing money for the quarter, probably for the year.”

  Mr. Carpenter picked up a sheet of paper. “According to the copy of the deed in your file, the property is owned by Ramona Dabney, individually, not the church.”

  “That’s what my real-estate lawyer told me.”

  “Tami, what do you think about that arrangement? An individual owning the property where a church is located?”

  “Most church property is owned by trustees selected by the congregation or held by a denomination.”

  “That’s the way it is at my church,” Mr. Carpenter said. “Not so at the Southside Church. God’s green acres on Gillespie Street are controlled by Reverend Dabney.”

  Mr. Carpenter’s sarcastic tone made me uneasy. All ministers deserved at least token respect.

  The older lawyer continued. “Jason, would you be happy if I could get an injunction ordering Dabney to stop defaming you and set her up so that if she violates the order, a judge would hold her in contempt and put her in jail?”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  Mr. Carpenter turned to me. “Tami, is obtaining an injunction difficult when there haven’t been threats of physical violence?”

  “Yes, sir. It would be a prior restraint against free speech.”

  Paulding cut in. “She’s told people that I’m one of the biggest sinners in Savannah.”

  “Which is up to the Almighty, not her,” Mr. Carpenter answered dryly. “Seeking an injunction can be part of our claim. I also recommend a civil suit against Dabney, seeking damages for libel and slander—libel for what she’s written, slander for what she’s said. Some of her statements are so bad there’s no need to prove a negative economic impact on your business to state a claim, but it always helps to show a jury that malicious words cost dollars. When that happens, the case moves beyond hurt feelings and creates an opportunity for a significant money judgment against her.”

  “Which is a waste of your time and my money,” Paulding grunted. “Dabney drives a beat-up car and lives beside the church in a house the fire department should burn down for practice. I want the injunction. A money judgment would be worthless.”

  “No, sir.” Mr. Carpenter rubbed his neatly trimmed goatee. “You’re wrong. A civil judgment is exactly what you need. Because Dabney owns the church property individually, it’s not protected by a nonprofit denomination or board of trustees. If you have a judgment against her, you can levy on the church and house to satisfy what’s owed.”

  “Yes,” Myra muttered, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

  “How much is the property worth as raw land without the buildings?” Mr. Carpenter asked Paulding.

  “Standing alone or as part of our larger tract?”

  “Alone.”

  “Not much.” Paulding shrugged. “The buildings don’t add value since they’d have to be torn down before something commercial could be built. Maybe fifty thousand. I offered her seventy-five thou-sand the day she ordered me off her front porch.”

  “What are the chances Dabney can afford to hire a good lawyer to stop us from getting what we want?”

  “I see where you’re going.” Paulding nodded. “I tried to get her to talk to a lawyer. She told
me she doesn’t believe in them.”

  “Let’s hope that’s a conviction, not a preference.” Mr. Carpenter turned to Myra and me. “Your job is to find evidence that will convince a jury to award a judgment large enough to blow up Ramona Dabney’s pulpit.”

  “Yes, sir,” Myra said.

  My mouth was dry. Most American churches had wandered far from God’s plan, but a broad view of religious freedom allowed my family and me to practice our beliefs. Declaration of war against a church, even one as misguided as this one, made me nervous.

  “Perhaps Reverend Dabney just feels threatened and lashed out,” I offered. “If we let her know someone understands her concerns, it could lead to common ground for negotiation.”

  “The only ground I’m interested in is the dirt where the church sits,” Paulding said.

  “Tami, your sympathy is misplaced,” Mr. Carpenter said. “The First Amendment doesn’t protect every kind of speech. This Dabney woman has crossed the line and should be held accountable. When I take her deposition, I’ll throw in a few questions to uncover her latent psyche and satisfy your curiosity. In the meantime, I want you to keep your eye on the main goals—to put a cork in her mouth and find a way to pry her grip from that property.”

  Mr. Carpenter stood, signaling the end of the meeting. Myra joined me in the hallway. Mr. Carpenter escorted Paulding toward the reception area.

  After Mr. Carpenter was out of earshot, Myra spoke in a low voice. “I’ve worked with Joe for fifteen years. Never criticize his theory of a case in front of a client. If he didn’t like you, he would have kicked you out of the meeting. Save your questions for later after we conduct our investigation.”

  “How did I criticize him?”

  “By suggesting negotiation when he wants to file suit.”

  “But what if the facts don’t support his theory? Won’t the client get upset?”

  “No. Once a businessman like Paulding believes we’re going to do everything we can for him, it’s not too hard to suggest a different approach later on. Getting over the initial trust hurdle is the hard part. All Paulding cares about is finding a lawyer as passionate about his problem as he is. When you say negotiate, he hears defeat. Joe read him perfectly. You saw how he turned the meeting.”