Praxis

Author's note: Kai was a supporting character in Lying by Omission. Here, I had him move from being a public defender to being a Crown prosecutor in another jurisdiction, which isn't an uncommon thing in the southern Ontario court system.

Content warning: mention of domestic abuse.

"Hey, new guy!"

Kai Te'kao knew he should have ignored the group of male prosecutors around the picnic table outside the courthouse his first week of work. God knows he didn't want to turn around, much less answer them. But he was, in fact, the new guy in the office and that came with the necessary evil of making an effort to socialise with his colleagues.

He thought he might accomplish that goal during small exchanges when court wasn't in session. At least in that scenario, he'd get his lunch times to himself and have a chance to suss out who he could and couldn't stand in the Crown's office.

"Come on, Australia," Gary Roebottom shouted again, prompting Kai to finally break his stride and redirect himself toward the outdoor eating idea on the south side of the courthouse building.

"It's New Zealand," he told them once he reached the table.

"Right," Gary said, moving over. "But all I know is that accent must get you laid with Canadian women."

Is that an appropriate thing to say at work? Kai wondered to himself, looking for reactions from the other male lawyers around the table. He found none, indicating Gary seemed to be the ringleader here. A little stunned but not knowing what else to do, he took a seat and vowed he'd only stay a few minutes before heading around the corner for a sandwich.

"Uh... I dunno, mate, I was at the Oakville courthouse for a couple of years and I just bought a place up in Caledon, so working out of Brampton seemed like it was an easier commute." He hoped Gary would take the hint and be a little less personal going forward.

"Aren't you from a tropical paradise?" another colleague asked to Kai's relief. "How'd you end up on this giant ice floe?"

"My grandmother's Canadian so I have dual citizenship. The cost of living in Aotearoa is astronomical and I know it's not a whole lot better here, but it's still better. So I came here for law school and go back now and then to visit family."

"You've been here since law school and you're still single?" Gary asked to Kai's irritation. "Tell me you're just playing the field, man."

He'd been told by former girlfriends the accent wasn't the only thing he had going for him. At 6'3" and 190 lbs with mocha skin and curly black hair, he knew his old flames especially loved the Maori tattoo that climbed up his left arm and sprawled over his shoulder. But none of this was anything he wanted to discuss with Gary of all people.

"You know, I'm not really comforta--"

"Holy hell, look at Jane's ass in that skirt, like it was suctioned in," Gary ogled a defense attorney who was a regular at the courthouse. Kai was stunned speechless and again looked around at the nonchalant faces around him, wondering what was wrong with the other men. "God, if I could motorboat that rack, I'd die a happy man."

What the actual fuck is this place? Kai marveled.

"Is this a common thing in Brampton?" he asked out loud. "Sexualising colleagues?"

"That's just Gary," another Crown replied, as all eyes at the table turned to him. "He's all talk but he doesn't mean anything by it."

"The fuck I don't," Gary smirked. "If I could be sure we'd never be on a case opposite each other, I'd be on her like a bitch in heat." When Kai looked away in open disgust, Gary playfully nudged him with his elbow.

"Come on man, I'm just trying to hedge my bets. You'd agree I'm one of the better-looking lawyers around here, right? I could probably score some T and A with her." Kai was done here.

"Yeah, she's alright," Kai said as he spotted an opportunity about 30 metres away from where they sat. He hadn't been in Brampton for long, but he'd been down to the filing office and met a few of the clerks there. He'd also learned who was related to whom.

"I think I'd rather prefer that one over there." He pointed at a blonde woman making her way across the courthouse lawn and kept talking before Gary could interject.

"Mate, I'd fuck her frontways, sideways and out the back door if she let me. That little slut isn't gonna be able to walk the next week, let alone the next morn--"

"Hey, lay off, man!" Gary protested. "You know that's Casey!"

"So? I can't fuck her tight little ass just because she's your sister? Seems I'd have a better chance since she already thinks I'm cute," Kai smirked, lowering his voice. "But on second thought, she's only out of college, isn't she? I bet that split beaver is just as tight."

"Geeeez, stop it man, you're disgusting!" Gary's tone rose.

"What? You don't want a guy for your sister who could make her come so hard she'd remember it on her deathbed?"

"Fuck you, asshole!"

"Oh, so when it's your sister, she's worthy of esteem? But when it's someone else's sister or daughter or--forget that, when it's someone else it's all good to talk about her like she's a blow-up doll?" The deafening silence around the table said it all.

"I didn't say all that to piss you off or be a creep; I said it because there isn't a way I can find any respect for you if you don't stop this shit," Kai spoke slowly and measuredly as he stood up. "And there isn't a way we can work together if I don't respect you.

"So either stop being a degenerate, or the next time we have this conversation I'm gonna be talking about fucking your mother sideways." Kai met Gary's defiant eyes with his own raised eyebrows before he sauntered off toward the sandwich shop.

***********

There has to be a better place to have lunch than here, Kai thought a few days later as he sat in his driver's seat with a veggie wrap, parked by the loading dock of the FreshMart. Why was it so hard to make friends as an adult, he wondered. Right, because I can't suffer jackasses.

He could have gone back to his office but then someone would have inevitably asked him to come out with them. There were only so many times he could use catching up on work as an excuse to not socialise.

Then again, the incident with Gary had probably made its rounds by now and the chances anyone would want to hang out with him were likely slim. He weighed whether he could have handled that situation differently, understanding it would have caused zero drama if he'd just excused himself and walked away. But where was the justice in that?

Gary was the type who relied on others to be overly polite and look the other way on his shitty behaviour, counting on the likelihood that few people wanted a confrontation. Kai was quietly satisfied he'd bet on the wrong horse this time.

Regardless, I have to either lower my standards for friends or be a loner forever, he considered as he took a bite out of his lunch.

This area was at least more pleasant than his windowless office, though. The loading dock of the FreshMart had a parkette with a daycare on one side and a busy suburban artery on the other. It was a quiet spot to think and watch cars go by.

Just as he was finishing up his wrap and glancing at the time, he looked up to see a pretty woman coming out of the daycare. Her black, corkscrew hair bounced around the dark umber skin of her face and neck, and she wore a fitted t-shirt and a short denim skirt with sandals.

Kai watched curiously as she rounded the corner of the daycare toward the supermarket loading dock, did a quick scan of the area, then hopped over to the open hatch of the truck that had just come in. It was unguarded, as the driver had already gone into the supermarket's office to present his freight papers.

The young woman reached in and grabbed the first huge box out the edge of the vehicle and scampered away toward the nearby parking lot, shoving the box into a small red sedan. She mostly balanced the bulky box against her athletic frame, which was probably around 5'9" and 145 lbs, Kai estimated.

Did she just swipe those goods? he thought to himself in disbelief. No, there has to be a better explanation, he figured, remembering that jumping to conclusions ruined lives every day, especially when leveled against Black women. But then again, I am a Crown...

His need for further observation drew him back to the same vantage point the next day, parked in the same spot with a foot-long sub. The infant formula truck pulled in at exactly 12:36, Kai noted, and the driver alit a couple of minutes later to take his shipping forms to be signed inside. But first, he opened his hatch.

This truck hadn't, however, pulled up against the FreshMart loading dock but instead parked in a spot due to its smaller size. Right on time, the woman from the daycare appeared, remotely unlocked her sedan, scurried to the truck and removed a large box, then locked it inside her car.

Thirty seconds flat, Kai thought, incredulous. Walking around the area after both she and the truck had left, he noticed the back of the daycare had a direct view of the loading dock. Then, a figure appeared in the window and stared straight at him, the same woman's coal eyes and round face shocking Kai into stopping dead in his tracks. Shit, she probably thinks I'm a pedo, he realised, mortified.

The formula truck didn't show up the next day, and neither did she. But when the same occurrence took place another few days later, Kai finally got out of his car.

"Hi there," he said, standing behind her just as she was locking her truck. The woman gasped and turned around, instantly recognising him from the day at the window.

"Stay away from me," she commanded, pushing her back up against the car.

"I'm not here to harm you," Kai said, recognising that he was an imposing figure at his height and weight. He put his hands up in front of him and took two steps back.

"Leave or I'll call the police," the woman ordered. Kai detected a lilting French accent in her husky voice.

"Oh, the police," he grinned at the convenient segue. "That's exactly who I thought about calling five days ago when I first saw you lift that box of formula." The surprise that flashed across the woman's face wasn't unexpected. "But I thought to come back and make sure that's actually what you were doing.

"That's all unnecessary, though," he continued, "seeing as how I'm a Crown attorney."

"No, you're not," she called him out. "You're not even from here with that thick Australian accent."

"There's no need for insults, lady. I'm from New Zealand."

"Well, bullshit that you're a prosecutor or you would have said something on Monday!" In response, Kai calmly took out his Law Society of Upper Canada card and showed it to her. Then he pulled out his courthouse ID. She remained silent.

"The only thing I don't have, Miss..."

"Gaelle. Gaelle Etienne," she filled in.

"... Miss Etienne, is your motive. You're going to be arrested and charged anyway so you might as well admit right now where your ring is." Gaelle scrunched her face in confusion and showed Kai the bare backs of her fingers.

"Don't play stupid, yeah?" he censured her, his voice now harsh. "Where's your HQ? The place you're taking the baby formula back to cut drugs with?"

"Drugs?! Are you crazy?"

"Again, don't play dumb with me. I've seen this several times before so you don't have to worry--the province doesn't want you. Lead us to your ring and I'll personally see to it your charges are minimised." There ensued a long silence, during which Gaelle stared blankly at Kai, partly planning an adequate response and partly drilling into his soul with her eyes.

"My ring." It was a flat statement but it somehow held a note of insolence with the way Gaelle sized up the audacious man before her. "I can't lead you to them right now, but I'll take you straight there when I finish work at five." He scoffed at how naïve she expected him to believe he was.

"What makes you think I won't hold you in custody until then?"

"You're dreaming if you think you're going to hold me in any capacity," Gaelle said with a wry grin when she noticed her adversary clench his jaw. "But come inside and I'll try to convince you I won't run." She led him to the office of the daycare, then pulled her employee file while he watched. After she handed it to him, she opened her purse and forked over her driver's license and car keys.

"I can't leave work until you come back to get me," she said. "And I guarantee that when I take you back to 'my ring,' you will not want to make me lose my job over this."

The logical part of Kai's brain was screaming at him to just call the police and handle this by the book. But the earnest way that Gaelle gazed at him while waiting for a response made him begrudgingly cave to his instinct.

"Five on the dot. Even if it's 5:01 I call the authorities." He turned away with Gaelle's documents tucked under his arm and was about to go when he felt her grip his free hand.

"Not so fast," she said, pointing to the office photocopier. "I'll need a copy of your license and Law Society card as well." Kai raised an eyebrow at her. "It's not every day a childcare worker sees a big man in a suit standing outside her workplace window," she reminded him. "I trust you about as much as you trust me."

He chuckled at the irony, then pulled out his wallet and copied the documents she asked for before leaving.

Kai's concentration was shot to hell for the rest of the afternoon, as he questioned himself every five seconds whether he'd made the right decision. If a mistake has to happen it's better for a hundred guilty people to go free than for even one innocent person to be wrongfully convicted, he told himself, feeling like he was reciting lines from law school texts all over again.

Shut up, man, you're 32! he admonished himself. You would have made a much different choice if she'd been a hulking biker type rather than looking like Keke Palmer.

Seeing as how it was a Friday afternoon, his courtroom's cases wrapped up well before 5 p.m. so he indulged himself in taking a look through Gaelle's employee file.

He saw that she was 29, had a degree in early childhood education from a Canadian college, and had immigrated to Canada from Haiti when she was in high school. Kai read her resume and her employee performance reviews over the last five years she'd worked there.

They're in such an important, in-demand job and they barely get paid above minimum wage? he was aghast looking at her hourly pay as a childcare worker. How do they expect these ladies to make ends meet? It occurred to him maybe that's why Gaelle had been stealing formula. Maybe she had a baby at home? Or maybe she's trying to supplement her cash by working as a fence.

He still didn't know whether Gaelle would be there when he headed back to the FreshMart parking lot, but she was waiting for him outside.

"I'm glad you came alone instead of with your armed friends." Her challenging words betrayed her coquettish smile. "You won't need the cops anyway. Shall we take your chariot or mine?"

Kai long ago stopped wondering if he'd be walking into a hailstorm of bullets by trusting this woman. By now he was simply intrigued. In response, he gestured to his car. She first had him pick up the box of formula from her vehicle and bring it along with them.

It was only a 10-minute drive even in rush-hour traffic, but Gaelle directed him down a few major streets and finally pulled into a nondescript driveway on a quiet suburban road. The houses looked to be at least 50 years old, and it was definitely not the newer part of town.

"394 Fox Avenue," she directed him before the last turn. "Bring the box. It'll shield you from all the gunfire." Kai asked himself for the millionth time why he was doing as she asked but easily lifted the box that she'd struggled with earlier in the day and followed her to the front door of the house.

Bracing himself after Gaelle lightly rapped on the door, he was surprised to see a diminutive, middle-aged Black woman open the screen.

"Gaelle, what is this?" she asked in alarm. "You know the rule is no men! He could be one of their--"

"Relax, Maman, he couldn't catch a woman with his mouth hanging open," Gaelle dismissed. Kai shot her an insulted glare, at which Gaelle's mother lost her tension in a hearty laugh.

"Well then, young man, put it down right here," she gestured to the front hallway. "If you're a friend, would you like some tea? We need to be quiet, though, I just got two babies to sleep."

Kai nodded, dumbfounded, feeling the same awful consternation he felt when he'd discovered there was a third page to a university exam, 10 minutes before the allotted time was up. Evelyne Etienne led him into the modest kitchen of a clean, split-level home that was much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside.

"Not everyone has started coming home for dinner yet but they will soon, so we'll have to make it a quick tea, Maman," Gaelle said, taking out a box cutter and moving formula tins into a kitchen cupboard as the tea boiled on the stove. "Gotta get this big guy outta here to not spook anyone."

Evelyne told Kai about how, years ago, she and Gaelle had gotten a late-night call from a neighbour desperate to escape after her husband had hit her and then turned to beat their son. They'd hidden the mother and child for a month before they were able to permanently move in with family in Manitoba.

"I guess our reputation spread because a friend of hers showed up on our doorstep about eight months later," Evelyne explained, setting down a tea cup with sugar and milk on the table before Kai. Since then I think we've sheltered..." she looked to Gaelle, who didn't look up as she crouched near a bottom cabinet.

"Twenty."

"...twenty families. We only have the space for three at a time and they contribute to groceries, but it still gets expensive."

"Especially when there are babies," Gaelle added, looking directly at Kai, whose face was stony. "Maman, can you believe there are people who actually use baby formula to mix in with drugs?" Evelyne almost snorted.

"That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard of!" she said. "If you have to increase your quantity, why not use flour or something much less expensive?"

"Sometimes it's the flavour," Kai offered, feeling like an absolute ass for assuming Gaelle was a cocaine mule. "Anything is fine as long as it'll pass a visual inspection--corn starch, icing sugar..." Evelyne looked over in surprise. "Or... so I've heard," he finished weakly.

"Tell me about yourself..." Evelyne asked, realising she'd talked non-stop since this handsome man walked into her house.

"Kai," he filled in. "In case you're wondering, I'm a criminal lawyer and that's how I know so much about drugs." After another 10 minutes or so, Gaelle made it clear it was time to go pick up her car as she glanced impatiently at the kitchen clock. She broke down the box that had held the formula and shoved it in the recycling bin outside, telling her mother she'd be back in 15 minutes.

"It's not lost on me that I still stole," she broached the elephant on the driveway in front of Kai's car. "And I know I stole a lot. You only saw me pinch a box each day you've been watching me, but I've been doing this for maybe a year or more.

"I take so little that it's easier for the store to write it off as damage instead of going through the headache of taking it up with the formula company." She shut the recycling bin and came within an inch of his nose, tilting her face up.

"And this is my full confession, so you're free to arrest me," she practically dared him, her voice low as she held up her wrists and smiled. "You got handcuffs on you?"