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After a few minutes a harried man staring at papers in one hand approached. “Who is Abigail Dixon?”
Instead of speaking, she raised one hand up halfway. He didn’t see her, forcing him to glance away from his papers and actually look at her. He frowned and went back to studying the documents. “Guilty or not guilty?”
“I beg your pardon?”
He huffed. “Your plea. What’s it going to be?”
“Who are you?”
She thought he was about to roll his eyes but caught himself. “I’m your court-appointed attorney for this arraignment hearing.”
“Not guilty.”
He studied the papers again. “Grand theft auto is a serious charge.”
“And yet I didn’t steal a car.”
Before he said anything else, the court was called to order for the Honorable Judge Benjamin J. Warren. Everyone in court stood up, and the judge entered, quickly seating himself. Abby still didn’t see anyone she recognized, but even on her tiptoes, she couldn’t see past the partition next to her.
The other two women were called first, one on a public intoxication charge, the other had allegedly been caught with some drugs hidden in a place she didn’t want to think about.
When her turn came, she was led to stand behind a table opposite of the prosecution. Abby recognized the prosecutor as a friend of the bank manager who hated her.
The charge against her was read out loud in legalese.
The judge asked her the same question her court appointed lawyer had. “How do you plead?”
“Not guilty,” she said in a loud, clear, and succinct voice.
“The people on bail?” the judge asked.
The prosecutor stood. “Your Honor, the charge is very serious. The defendant has no ties to the community beyond the job she’s been suspended from, which is awaiting the outcome of this matter. We’re asking for half a million dollars.”
“What?” Abby asked in a shocked and unfortunately very loud tone. The judge turned his gaze on her and frowned.
Her assigned lawyer literally hissed, then whispered a loud “Hush.” Turning back to the judge, she could see his face was contrite. Abby wanted to beat everyone over the head and try to knock some sense into their brains.
She whispered loudly in the direction of his ear, “I will not hush. That’s a ludicrous amount and you know it.”
“Your Honor,” her public defender said beseechingly. “That amount seems a bit excessive and the car was recovered in fairly good condition.”
She wanted to argue and say, “Fairly good condition? It was in perfect condition.” However, she decided it would be best to keep quiet in this moment.
“I agree. Five hundred thousand is too much. Bail is set at two hundred thousand dollars. We’ll put the court date down for exactly two weeks from today.” The date was called out, and the judge banged the gavel as if it was a done deal. She supposed it was. He was the judge. He determined her fate. Her fate sucked. Two hundred thousand dollars might as well be a million. She didn’t have enough to cover it. She didn’t expect Zane and Cooper would want to bail her out at quadruple the rate he’d quoted her.
The lump in her throat dropped into the acid roiling around in her stomach. She’d better learn to love being surrounded by bars. Her new home for the next two weeks would come with that limited view. She didn’t even want to think about what happened after the two week lock up.
The vague thought that her rent was due tomorrow made its way into her mind as another useless piece of information. She wondered how long her landlord would wait before tossing all her belongings onto the street. A week? Ten days? More? Less? Certainly not two weeks.
Yesterday had been payday. At least she hoped they’d put the money in her account. But stuck in jail, likely no one cared whether she paid her bills or not. This whole ordeal was completely unfair on so many levels.
Abby hung her head as she was summarily shuffled back out of the court and moved to the Miser Sheriff’s Office by way of an underground tunnel connecting it to the courthouse building. She could do the math.
In order to get bail she’d have to produce ten percent of the amount which was twenty thousand dollars. Even if she liquidated everything she owned it wouldn’t be enough or even close to enough.
