Page 140 of Rah

“I am going to try my best to get you bail, but to be honest, it’s not looking good, Rah.” My attorney, Brian, shook his head as he stared at papers he was shuffling through. “I think the best thing for you is to plead guilty in hopes that they will offer you a deal.”

I glowered at my attorney from across the table. “I’m paying you all this money and that’s the best you got?”

Once I got a phone call last night, I had to call Felicia. In case I was granted bail, I needed her to get to my stash and bail me out. I hadn’t talked to her since I moved out. I didn’t want to ask her for her help because it would only make her think she had a chance to get back with me, but I didn’t have anybody else to call.

I had killed all my friends, I was too ornery to call my parents, and none of my other bitches were an option.

“I’m sorry, Rahzan,” Brian said, still shaking his damn head. “But they have good evidence against you. Text messages indicate that you were with Lavell and Nell the night they gotkilled. All three of your cell phones were pinging off the same towers at the time of the murder. Your car was seen on a camera two blocks away from the murder scene after shots were heard–”

“Okay, okay, motherfucka!” I smacked my hand on the table in the interview room, causing a loud crashing sound. The officer outside of the door looked inside, but Brian shook his head, telling him that everything was fine.

But everything wasnotfine. I had been so greedy that I got sloppy.

“Another murder charge is pending against you once the DNA comes back on the Carlos Santiago case,” Brian went on. “They have Moses’ DNA. They think it will match that of the unknown person’s blood left on the scene. Will it?”

I just stared at him.

He blew his breath, frustrated. “Look, Rah, if you want me to be able to defend you, I need some answers.

“It will help your case tremendously if you give the prosecution something to work with. You can possibly get a good deal if Moses was the one behind all of this. Was he?”

AALIYAH

“In the case of Lavell Mitchell and Nell Lee, how do you plead?”

When Rah replied, “Not Guilty,” I just shook my head.

This motherfucker was something else. I couldn’t believe his audacity. As his attorney and the prosecutor started to argue over whether he should be granted bail, I started to pray. If Rah was denied bail, I could start living again. I wouldn’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. I could see my mother again. I wouldn’t have to be worried every time Fabe wasn’t in my eyesight because I knew that he was going to beat Rah at his own game by killing him first.

I went to Rah’s bail hearing because I needed to see the fall of the man who’d turned my life into a nightmare with my own eyes. It wasn’t about closure; it was about confirmation. I wanted to see the monster finally face something he couldn’t manipulate or charm his way out of.

Sitting in that courtroom, watching him in that orange jumpsuit with shackles on his wrists, I didn’t feel pity. I feltpeace. I wanted to witness the moment the same system he used to destroy women finally cornered him.

I came to see proof that karma was real.

Fabe had come with me. He was sitting beside me, holding my hand. We were sitting in the back of the courtroom. I couldn’t believe it when Fabe’s father had called, telling him that Rah had been arrested. It was like sweet music to my ears. I wasn’t even surprised that they had arrested him for Lavell and Nell’s murders. If that motherfucker could kill his own best friend in cold blood, everybody else was free game.

I looked on as they argued back and forth. I couldn’t believe that Rah’s lawyer could even find a justification that Rah should be free to be amongst normal people. He needed to be locked in a cage for the rest of his life because he was a fucking animal.

“Your Honor, the defendant is also a suspect in the murder of Carlos Santiago…”

I gasped lightly and snapped my head towards Fabe, whose eyes were bucked with surprise as well.

“Taking into consideration the fact that he is the suspect in three murders, he should not be–”

“Two murders, Your Honor. Two. This trial is for two murders and the matter of bail should be based on that alone, not a murder charge that has not been given yet.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“Oh my God,” I leaned towards Fabe and whispered. “I wonder how they know.”

“This shit is wild,” was all Fabe said as he looked on.

I could see Rah’s father in the front, sitting behind Rah and holding his mother, who was cowering in his arms. I could also see Felicia. I had studied that picture that she sent me for solong that I would be able to point her out anywhere. She had the nerve to be sitting there proudly.

“The defense is right, the pending charges have nothing to do with this trial so let’s focus on these charges,” the judge stated. “Which are harsh. The defendant is on trial for killing two people. He is an obvious danger to society. Bail is denied.”

As he banged his gavel, I sighed so deeply with relief that it could be heard around me. I stood and caught eyes with Rah as they led him out of the courtroom, shackled like the animal he was. But I quickly looked away and allowed Fabe to usher me out of the courtroom with his hand on the small of my back.