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“Devastated. The authorities questioned me. You know, tried to do the old, jealous business partner, better off with him gone routine. But I’ve got myself the best attorney money could buy. Then they started barking up another tree,” he said proudly.
“What happened to their little threesome?”
“Don’t know. One day he just stopped talking about her. When I asked him about Aisha, he said the two of them just vanished. Funny thing it was a day or two before he was murdered, Otis said he saw the two of them, and they had their hooks in some other guy.”
“How much time passed before he saw her again?” Garrett asked.
“’Bout four years.”
“Did you tell the police about him seeing her?”
“Sure I did, but I know they didn’t believe me. They just thought I was trying to throw them off the trail with some mystery woman and her friend, who’s name I couldn’t tell them. After they gave up on me, I heard they was looking for her, but she was long gone by that time.”
As soon as Garrett left the dealership, he called Marcus. He felt that with all the information they’d gathered on the dead swindler, it would be enough for reasonable doubt.
“So, what did we find out in Houston?” Marcus asked.
“You’ll never ever believe this one. I mean, I think for the very first time since we started this investigation, we may actually be coming up with something’s that helps our client.”
“That’s good news, Garrett. What you got?” Marcus asked; his voice trapped in his throat.
As Marcus listened to what Garret had to say, he couldn’t have been more relieved to discover that there was really an out for Panthea. In that split second, he again thought about the passion they shared. He thought about how no other woman had made him feel the way she had. Since learning Abril had been working with a partner, there was no doubt in Marcus’s mind that there could’ve been a dispute. Abril and her partner could’ve disagreed about their next target, about how to split the money they were taking from men and things could’ve gotten ugly. Yes! Marcus figured, Yes! This was just the hope he needed.
“Get this,” Garrett continued. “Dawson swears Abril or Aisha or whatever her name is and her partner took Otis Grimes for a serious ride. By the time they were done with him, not only was the bank account a bit lighter, but he even thought ol’ Otis may have been in love.”
“What did he tell you about her partner? What’s her name? Did he ever see her? The two of them together maybe?”
Marcus hung on to hope. Another name to feed to police would make things so much better for him and Panthea. He would handle her divorce from Scott personally, and then they could be together all the time.
“Well, that’s the thing. He had never met or even saw her. Dawson only heard stories about what Otis would report back. The only name he had was Cutie.”
“Cutie?” Marcus fell back into his seat. His blood started draining from his face. “What do you mean Cutie?”
“Here’s the thing,” Garrett continued. “He only knows her by the nickname, but he says she has a tattoo of a naked woman with large wings—”
“On her left cheek?” Marcus finished the sentence for him as he sank farther into his leather chair. His head began to spin and his mouth went dry.
“Don’t tell me you know all about Cutie,” Garrett joked.
But all Marcus could do was think of the many times he slammed himself into Panthea and grabbed her hips, smiling at himself as he focused on the tattoo etched into her skin with none other than the name “Cutie” written in neat, cursive script beneath it.
He never heard another word that slipped from Garrett’s mouth.
31
While Paxson made his closing arguments, Marcus sat next to Panthea and wondered how he would handle his closing. It really wasn't a question that needed answering. He was her lawyer first, her lover second. He would make his argument the same way he had planned to. The fact that Panthea was guilty shouldn't and didn't make a bit of difference. He had defended hundreds of people who he knew were guilty, and it didn't matter one bit to Marcus.
The difference this time was that Marcus was in love with Panthea. It changed everything. Everything for them. How could he ever trust her? Panthea never told him, and he never asked whether she’d done it or not. He had allowed his personal feelings for her to get in front of him. But if she could keep that from him, what else has she and would she keep from him?
When it came time for Marcus to make closing arguments, he did it the way he had planned, it wasn’t easy to keep both his personal feelings and his knowledge that she was guilty from getting in his way.
“She didn’t do it,” were the first words he used to begin his closing. The very same words he opened with. Only now, he knew they were a lie. As he continued, it was as if he stood outside of himself, listening and objecting to all of the inconsistencies and flat out lies that he knew he was telling. Every so often Marcus would look at Panthea and wonder was he just doing his job or was he fighting to keep the woman he loved from spending the rest of her life in jail. The answer was both.
That night after the jury got the case; Marcus broke his own rule and took Panthea out for dinner. Over dinner, he asked Panthea to tell him the truth about her
and Aisha Kaufman.
“What do you mean?” Panthea said quickly and looked away. She knew that she had to tell him the truth now, but she was in love with Marcus and feared where the truth would lead them. She took a deep breath then spat it out. “Aisha and I grew up together, best friends since first grade.” Panthea laughed a little. “Marcus please, you have to understand. I was a different person back then. We were young, and we were wide open. Gaming men for money was what we did back then. At first it was nothing big time, but then Aisha met Otis and everything changed. It was like we had made it big time, because everybody Otis knew had money. I’m not talking about nigga rich either. Those white boys were paid and didn’t mind giving it to two pretty young black girls.”
