Hakeem and Walid

I left the room with the kidnapping suspect and walked to the opposite side of the hallway to meet with the parent. The eight year-old boy only had a father now since the mother was killed as part of the abduction.

As I entered the room, I saw the father, Hakeem, sitting at the empty table. His hands were gripping the chair seat and he did not acknowledge my presence. I deal with these parents all the time so I wasn’t affected by this.

“Mr. Fayez, it is nice to see you again.” I used my most pleasant office voice.

He still didn’t look up. “Mr. Fayez, we’ve completed our search.”

Now he looked at me, eyes wide and pleading, but still said nothing.

“We’ve completed our search because we’ve found your son.”

Hakeem stood up, knocking the chair against the wall behind him.

“Let me see my son!” Hakeem bellowed.

“Yes, in just one minute after we…”

“NOW!”

“Alright, we can arrange that,” I said, my tone even. “Let me get him.”

I pressed the button on my comm unit. “Bring in Walid.”

In the seconds that it took to bring the boy from the other room, I stood beside Hakeem waiting. He was shaking.

Detective Brinden brought the boy to the door, who peeked through the window at his father. Hakeem shrieked and seized the door handle but it was locked from the outside. Brinden opened the door and the boy and his father embraced, sobbing. Brinden looked at me with a smile.

I put my hand on the father’s back and rubbed him. He took no notice as his son burrowed further into his chest. Protocol suggests that we do not break these situations up, we should let them go as long as they need to. You have to remember that there is a lot of emotion tied up in parent-child relationships. It’s not trivial.

Once they extracted from one another, I sat them down to talk.

“Mr. Fayez, we’ll need you to sign a few things before you go.”

Hakeem had tears streaming down his face.

“Detective MacKenzie, I thank you. I thank you for everything you’ve done. And I’m sorry for everything I said about you. You are not a stupid bitch.”

“Mr. Fayez, it’s okay. Situations like these get very heated and we often lose our cool. I didn’t take offense.”

“Thank you Detective. Just know that I’m very sorry. How did you find Walid?”

“We gave the kidnappers a location for a meeting to exchange the money for Walid and then we set a trap for them, which they fell for. They're powerful but they aren't smart.”

“Did they do anything to you, Walid?” Hakeem held both sides of the young boy’s head. The boy looked at his shoes.

“What did they do? Detective, do you know what they did to Walid?”

“We did a physical exam of Walid before you came in. It came up clean.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, we didn’t find any external or internal bruising. It doesn’t seem like he was beaten or abused in any way.”

“Oh, thank Allah. Boy, are you okay? Do you feel okay?”

“I’m okay, daddy. I am embarrassed that I made you worry.”

“It’s not your fault, Walid. You were just playing in the park. I should have been watching you more closely. You’re just a boy.” Hakeem began crying again and hugged his son.

I finished the paperwork with the father as he sat beside his son. Then I released them. We held the kidnappers and charged them. They await trial. The whole thing was perpetrated by a white supremacist group based here in the city. It seems like most of their leadership was involved in this particular crime so this might turn into a really big show.

*************************

It did turn into a big show. The group had a lot of money and they put it to use by hiring really expensive lawyers. A lot of people think that the law is something rigid and tangible. But a good lawyer can bend the law and turn it inside out with his words. Colors merge. Bad becomes good. Illegal becomes legal.

Our department fought to get a court date for the abductors. It took months. For some reason, somebody was trying to delay this whole thing. Finally, we got our court date. Three of the group were on trial and Walid was supposed to testify. Hakeem said the boy was ready but I wasn’t sure. Putting an eight year-old boy on that stand usually didn’t pan out. The judge hadn’t ordered Walid to testify but the prosecutors thought it would be the best course of action.

The day came and I sat on the hard wooden bench in the observation gallery. There were dozens of others here too. The media had been talking up this trial as an exposition of this mysterious group. The judge began the proceeding and called Walid to the stand. The white supremacists talked among themselves as Walid came up the aisle and climbed into the witness stand.

Walid looked small sitting there. He was tiny, even for an eight year-old. The prosecutor asked him about the abduction and Walid answered clearly and simply, the best formula for any witness. Then the defense attorney started his questioning.

“Walid, do you know what type of group the Americans for Greatness is?”

“Yes sir. It is a white supremacist group.”

The people in the courtroom whispered and gasped. Everyone in the state knew it was true but most people didn’t say it out loud.

“White supremacist? How do you feel about that?” The defense lawyer pushed his face towards Walid’s.

“Bad.”

“Bad? Bad enough to make up a story about them kidnapping you?”

The courtroom erupted and the judge banged his gavel. “Order!”

The prosecutor yelled “Objection!” to which the judge replied “Sustained.”

“Withdrawn, your honor,” the defense attorney said. “Do you sometimes make up stories?” he asked Walid.

“Where are you going with this?” the judge asked, irritated.

“I’m establishing the credibility of this witness.”

“Continue,” the judge sighed.

Walid had done it. He maintained his cool and answered the questions from both attorneys the best way he could have. He was eight but he rocked that witness stand like an adult. Most adults would have done worse.

As the trial wrapped up, we felt confident. The jurors were sequestered for only three hours before they emerged. The group members were convicted. Sentencing would be later, but I knew I had done my job. The defense couldn’t find anything in the apprehension of the group members that could get them off the hook, so down they went.

It felt good. It felt even better when Hakeem looked back at me while hugging Walid and gave me a thumbs up.