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"Yes, on the beach with me," answered Abby. "We camped
out on the beach. You can ask my parents."
"Was Jake with you ALL night?" pressed Sheriff Peterson, grieved to have
to question people that he had known for a lifetime.
"No, he wasn't," admitted Abby. "But, he was in his tent, before he
came to mine."
"What time was that?" asked the Sheriff.
"I... I don't know," stammered Abby, trying desperately to remember. "Neither
of us had a wrist watch or clock."
Just then, Abby heard someone shouting in front of the house. Everyone ran outside
to find Deputy Casey taking Jake into custody.
"Assume the position!" barked Deputy Casey, as Jake spread his hands on
the hood of the sheriff's squad car.
"Cuff him and read him his rights," ordered Sheriff Peterson with a heavy
heart.
"NO!" Abby gasped in horror.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used
against you in a court of law..." the words sounded like a dull drone in Jake's
ears. Numbly, he searched the faces surrounding him, until he found Abby's frightened
blue eyes staring back at him. As the Deputy continued, Jake gazed longingly at Abby,
trying to memorize every feature of her face by heart. "Do you understand these
rights as I have explained them to you?" finished Deputy Casey.
"Yes," mumbled Jake, as Sheriff Peterson helped the handcuffed young man
into the back of the squad car.
"Where are you taking him?" cried Abby, frantically trying to maintain
eye contact with Jake as he sat motionless in the back seat of the squad car.
"Abby," replied the Sheriff plainly, "unless he's cleared of these
charges, Jake's going to be sent back to the Watertown State Penitentiary."
He gravely looked at Abby's terrified face. "I'm sorry, but I must take
him into custody. What I'm about to tell you, I tell you as a friend-- not as a Sheriff.
Get a lawyer," he advised her. "Jake's going to need the best one you can
find."
"The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence
His soul hateth... for the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; His countenance doth
behold the upright."
~ Psalm 11:5, 7 ~
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer
adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
~ Hebrews 13:3 ~
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