A Course of Passion

38: Ignorance is not Bliss

Fin and Dodds have no luck reaching Pastor Eldon at his church. After a few phone calls are made, we learn the Bakers and Pastor Eldon are at the court house. An officer quickly escorts us inside. Olivia and Sonny start to run to stop the horrific act that's about to take place. Sonny stops when he realizes I can't keep up, "go, go! I'm right behind you!" I assure him, pushing him forward with my arms.

I get into the small towns courtroom just as Sonny is telling everyone what we we doing there, "we have criminal evidence against pastor Eldon."

"Well, it will have to wait. Lane and I are getting married." The Pastor says, as it it's the most normal thing in the world to marry a young girl.

"Married? She's 13." I spit out from the back of the room.

"She turned 14 today." He clarifies to me, "it's perfectly legal. I have the approval of judge Barnes and both of her parents."

Mrs. Baker says to us, "Pastor Eldon has stepped forward to help us. He's willing to provide for Lane and her baby. He'll make a wonderful son-in-law."

"You gave consent for this marriage?" Olivia asks with disdain and shock.

"Yes, of course she did." She says back.

"As did I." Mr. Baker confirms, "we're protecting our daughter. Lane is just a girl. It'll be in name only. He'll be like a father to her."

"Is that what the pastor told you?" Sonny asks her, staring at he Pastor with disgust.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. This is a private ceremony." Pastor Eldon tries again to get us to leave.

I pipe in again, "in a public place."

"Is someone going to fill me in?" The judge asks.

Pastor Eldon tries to move things forward, "you can continue with the ceremony, Elias." He goes and takes Lane's hands in his own.

"We are handling this, officers." Mrs. Baker calmly states, "Graham will get the help he needs, and pastor Eldon will give Lane's baby a name."

"And that's fitting, since he's the father." Sonny spits out, "pretty good, pastor, huh? You figured you married Lane, it would be pretty hard for us to prosecute you for statutory rape."

"Judge?" Pastor Eldon looks to the older man. The man ushers himself along with Lane to the side. The Pastor says to us, "it's legal. She's legal. You have no standing here."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Mrs. baker questions us.

I say to her, as calmly as I can, "no doubt that your son Graham has problems, but he is not the father of Lane's baby or Summer's baby."

She tries to lie some more, "no, no, Summer never had a baby."

"Mrs. Baker, please." Olivia stops her, "you're still maintaining that you're Tate's mother? We tested his DNA. There is no Baker paternal match. So you either cheated on your husband..."

"Excuse me? Oh.. I would never." Mrs. Baker gasps with shock at Olivia's accusations.

"Okay, I would advise you both to stop talking here." Pastor Eldon tells the two of them. Then turns back to us, "if you did obtain Tate's DNA, it was without consent or a warrant. It's inadmissible."

Sonny steps up, getting closer into the Pastors face, "hey, you know what's a bad sign? You making a legal argument right now."

"I don't understand what's going on." Mrs. Baker comments out confused.

"Judge, have officer Tramwell remove these people from the building. They have no jurisdiction." The Pastor tries again to get us to leave.

"Another legal argument." Sonny comments for all to hear.

"All right, but before I go, I think I have to tell you that we did test the pastor's DNA legally. He is Tate's biological father, and we believe that he is the biological father of Lane's baby." Olivia tells the bakers out flatly.

"No, no, that can't be." Mrs. Baker stutters through her words.

Pastor Eldon turns to the parents, "Pam, Frank, look, they are lying to you."

"DNA doesn't lie, pastor." I spit back quickly.

"Frank, you told me Graham confessed." Mrs Baker looks to her husband.

He looks to her, "I did, just not to me." His eyes then move back to the Pastor.

"Did pastor Eldon tell you that Graham confessed? You tried to pin this on the boy? You ought to be ashamed of yourself." Sonny gets even closer into Eldon's face, clearly pissed as hell.

"No, no, no, look, that is not what's happening here." He tries to get out of this. "Okay, look, you two know me and you trust me."

Mrs. Baker rushes towards her toward Lane, "sweetheart, tell me the truth. Whatever it is, it's okay."

The girls cries but squeaks our, "he loves me. It's God's plan for us."

"What did you do to my daughter?" Mrs. Baker holds her close and yells towards the Pastor.

He sort of chuckles, "I'm marrying her, Pam. I'm... I'm marrying... we're gonna be husband and wife. A Godly marriage. The baby will be born in wedlock..."

"She is just a child!" She yells back at him, "and summer..."

"Frank, get ahold of your wife here, please." Eldon tries to get him to step in. When Frank tries, she pushes him off, "you do not say no to him. He is your husband. Your patriarch." The pastor accuses her.

"You lied to us. You made us think it was our son. Why?" She begs to know.

"Because he knew that you would do anything to protect Graham." Olivia says to her.

"I'll testify. About Tate. About everything." Pam baker says to us.

"No, no, no. Look, look, they have no case. They told the whole world that Tate was their baby. They don't want their fans to find out that they lied." Pastor Eldon goes off on his tangent and ideas. He turns towards the young girl, "and Lane, well, Lane, you..."

I step in between him and her, growling towards him, "you need to stop talking to her."

Mrs. Baker holds her daughter in her arms, "honey, sweetheart, Lane, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I should have protected you."

"I'm sorry, mama." She cries back, "he told me that's what people in love do."

"She'll tell the truth." Pam says to us, "and so will summer. And so will I. I don't care about the damn show and neither does Frank. We want him put away."

The officer who walked us in moves to arrest him and Sonny reads him his rights, "Pastor Eldon, you are under arrest for the statutory rape of summer Baker."

Olivia I adds on to it, "and for the statutory rape of Lane Baker. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say..."

He spits out, "I know my rights. None of this will hold up in court." As we start to leave he calls back to the girl, "I love you, Lane.

Sonny gets inches from his face and utters under his break, "you really are a piece of crap." The Pastor just looks at him with a sly grin as we walk him outside.