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I stood next to Blaine, waiting for the judge to make his decision. I could feel my heart beating so fast, I was afraid I was going to pass out, right then and there. I needed to get out of that cell, I needed to find my father, and I needed to help Blaine prove my innocence. There was nothing I could do to help myself from behind those bars, and I was too fearful for my safety to venture out into the common areas. My home was where I belonged, and it was where I needed to be.
“I am setting bail at one million dollars,” the judge said, hitting his gavel on the plate on his desk. “Defendant will remain in the custody of the State of Florida until the bail has been paid or the trial has concluded.”
There was a rush of voices behind me, and I could tell people were not happy that the judge set a bail for me. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. What kind of school teacher had a million dollars sitting around for a rainy day? I looked at Blaine, and he smiled as if this were a win. Tears flooded my eyes as Blaine walked with me while the deputy escorted me from the building. I didn’t even know what to say, and I couldn’t help but let the tears flow down my face. My heart was racing out of control, and I couldn’t collect my thoughts enough to speak. I was completely and totally freaking out, and I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. As soon as the room started to spin, I reached out for Blaine, who caught me and sat me down in a chair. He looked me in the face and forced eye contact with me.
“Hey,” he said. “Take a deep breath. Deep breath.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. “I can’t afford that.”
“Relax,” he said. “I’ll take care of the bail. It’s no big deal.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” he said, rubbing my hand. “I just need you to stay strong. We are working really hard to get you out of all of this. I will explain everything as soon as I can pick you up.”
I shook my head and stood back up, looking him in the eyes as the sheriff escorted me back to the jail and locked me in my cell. I took a deep breath, realizing that I was going to be out of that place really soon, and once free, I would do everything in my power to not come back.
I sat there and stared at the clock on the wall, continuously telling myself that it would be any minute. However, as dinner arrived and a tray was passed through the cell door, I started to worry that I had been forgotten. But that wasn’t possible. Blaine would never just forget me in here. He believed in my innocence, and I was sure that the first thing he did was post bail. I pushed around the mashed potatoes on my plate, hungry but wanting to wait until I got home to eat. However, as the hours passed and the lights flashed as our ten-minute warning, I realized that there was no way I was getting out of there that night. The courts were all closed at that point, and they would only release prisoners during working hours. I was going to be forced to spend another night in the cold, steel cell.
Right before the close of the night, when we all ended up lying in our bunks and staring at the ceiling, the door buzzed, and a new prisoner was brought in. At first, I kept my eyes to myself, learning very quickly that if you wanted to stay under the radar, you needed to mind your own business. I shook my head, thinking about it and realizing I never imagined that I would need to know how to survive in jail. I heard all the other girls cheering and chanting her name. As soon as the name echoed through my mind, I started to panic. It was Harry, and apparently, she was a bit of a celebrity in these parts, her nickname being Harry the Hammer. I looked through the bars of the holding cell next to me and saw her standing there, smiling and glaring over at me.
I looked down quickly, realizing that she was probably there for me. I had pled not guilty, and there was no way they hadn’t found out about that. I looked at the two other girls in my cell that had been added since the morning. At first, I didn’t mind the company, but now, with the way they were looking at me, I realized it was a huge mistake. Harry walked over to the bars and leaned into them, an angry smile on her face. She motioned for me to come over to her, but I shook my head and backed up. Harry glanced up at the other two girls, and I jumped, realizing they were with her. Before I could scream, the two girls grabbed me by the arms and dragged me toward Harry. She reached her large, strong arm through the bars and grabbed me by the collar of my jumpsuit, pulling me h
ard into the steel. Her breath was rancid, and her mouth was just inches from my face.
“What do you want?” I kept my tears back and tried to sound confident. “Leave me alone.”
“Sweet, sweet, Josie,” she mocked as the other girls laughed. “You done fucked up real good.”
“Let me go,” I yelled loudly, squirming to get free.
Harry strengthened her grip on my shirt and slammed me forward into the bars. My face hit the steel, and I could feel a small trickle of blood come from my lip. I slowly raised my eyes to Harry, no longer angry, but instead, pissed as hell. She chuckled at my anger and leaned in as close as she could.
“You made a serious mistake pleading not guilty,” she whispered. “Obviously, dear old daddy doesn’t mean much to you. If you want him to stay alive, then you better fix this and fix it fast.”
She let go of my jumpsuit and walked backward, laughing as she sat down on her cot and stared at me. The other girls had gathered against their own steel bars, watching the confrontation. I wiped my lips on the back of my sleeve and looked at the other girls. They smirked and walked back to their cots. Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep that night, and I was looking forward to seeing the guard’s face first thing in the morning.
Chapter 21
Blaine
The anger flowing through my chest at that moment was unlike anything I had experienced before. My hands were balled up tightly, and I stood there, tapping my foot and breathing heavily. I couldn’t figure out how a court system could survive the way this one operated. I had left court right after the bail hearing and gone to the bank to get a certified check. I knew I couldn’t just run my credit card for a million dollars. When I got back, they made me jump through hoops to post the bail, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t seem to want a million dollars. By the time they had figured out that they had completely screwed the pooch on their end, it was too late to get Josie out of the cell. For security reasons, they had very specific hours that inmates could be released. That meant she had to spend another night in her cell.
When I arrived, bright and early, the next morning, it took them a bit to get through the paperwork. I knew she was sitting back there, wondering if I had forgotten about her, and it really irritated me that they wouldn’t let me back to talk to her. Finally, after about two hours, they escorted Josie to the front and took her cuffs off, allowing her to change back into her clothes. I could tell she was ready to go, and I noticed that she had a busted lip. We rushed from the building and headed toward the car, and she was moving so fast, I was having a hard time keeping up with her. When we sat down, she let out a deep breath.
“You need to come stay with me,” I insisted. “You will be safest there.”
“You don’t understand,” she said frantically. “My father is freaking missing. He is not only important to my life, but he is my alibi to murder. I have to go home right now. I have to get my father and take him to a safe place.”
“I really don’t think that is a good idea,” I said, shaking my head.
“Don’t you get it?” she asked angrily. “My father’s life is in danger. There are people out there, threatening to kill him. He is not safe right now.”
“Who? Who is threatening to kill him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Please, just get me to my house so I can make sure to keep my father safe. He has a problem, and that problem takes over his entire mind. He can’t see danger when it is two feet in front of his face. Gambling is all he thinks about, so I need to make sure he stays safe.”
I sat at the stop sign leading out of the correctional facility, not wanting to take her to her house. She had been through enough already, and going back there was a recipe for disaster. Who knew what we would find when we got there? It could be a trap by whoever was doing this to her, and I wasn’t going to sit by and let her take herself out to protect the man I knew had something to do with all of this. I sighed and put on my blinker, knowing that if I didn’t take her, she would find a way. I felt better being there with her, instead of letting her go alone.
