Page 88 of Rah

“Is it another woman?”

Even though another woman did have my attention, Jackiewas so full of herself that she couldn’t possibly comprehend a man not wanting her for any other reason.

“What would that matter if we aren’t in a relationship? Get over yourself, baby.”

“Fuck you, Fabil!” she spat as she turned on the heels of her red bottoms. As she stormed towards her car, I admired her body and beauty for the last time.

I managed to get out, “Have a good day, Jackie,” with a taunting chuckle, just before she slammed the door of her Benz truck.

SOLAE

“Hewhat?”

I blew a heavy breath, irritated that this white dude was looking at me like I was making things up. “He robbed the bank that I used to work at,” I said again. “Well, he wasn’t there, but he had something to do with it. I swear. I recognized one of his friends. I think he was one of the gunmen.”

He laughed me off. “Youthink?”

Sitting next to me on the bench that I was cuffed to, my public defender continued to look at me questionably, like I was just some dumb nigger pulling lies out of my ass just to get out of jail.

“I’m telling you, it was him.”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

I was trying to keep my voice down because other women I had been locked up with over the holiday were also back there with me, waiting for their bail hearing. “Because after the robbery, he suddenly had all of this money. Where else would he get it from?”

“Banks should have marked bills or something. Do you know if he still has the money and where it is?”

“Urgh,” I groaned as I remembered I had burned all the evidence.

I sat back and rested my head against the wall. “It’s...The money is gone.”

“Where did he spend it at? Did he give it to someone? Maybe we can trace it.”

“No, I...” I cringed, feeling foolish. “I burned it.”

It was embarrassing the way he looked at me as if I was a joke.

“He had pissed me off. I burned it up to get back at him, before realizing where the money had come from.”

“Then you have no proof that he did it,” he said, nearly laughing.

“It was him. I know it was.”

“But you already told the police that you didn’t recognize the perpetrators. You can’t use this information to help your case.” He started to collect his things, stuffing his notepad and pen in the pocket of his suit jacket. “They won’t work with you simply because you have a hunch. Besides, telling them that you burned his money out of anger further proves his statement of you having a temper. Sorry.”

I sucked my teeth and sat back against the bench again.

“Sit tight,” he told me. “They should be calling your case up soon.”

As he stood up to leave, I was more than disappointed. I was sure that if I could convince the prosecutor that Rah had something to do with that robbery, I could turn him in, in hopes for leniency in my own trial.

My stomach was in knots, as it had been all day. All that was running through my mind was what if I was denied bailand had to fight this case behind bars. The possibility of not being able to be there for my kids sickened me. The possibility that Rah would be the only parent around to raise them, horrified me.

Twenty minutes later, I was being led into the courtroom. The bailiff had cuffed both my hands together, so it was embarrassing as they led me out, reading the charges against me. I fought hard to see if my parents, kids, or Kahlani were in the crowd amongst attorneys, family members, and friends of the defendants. But the bailiff had turned me around to stand before the judge, alongside my public defender, before I could make out their faces in the crowd. I fought hard not to cry as the public defender started to plea my case for being let out on bail. But I lost that fight as the prosecutor started to paint me as some monster that couldn’t be trusted in the streets. No one batted an eye at my tears or consoled me. I felt so alone, so I just closed my eyes and prayed.

“Oh, God,” left my voice in a tired but relieved breath.

Another twenty minutes later, I was rushing out of that fucking courthouse. I had been granted bail, thank God. And since someone had bailed me out, I knew that someone had to be there waiting for me. It was cold as hell, and I had the same clothes on that I had been arrested in, with no coat on, but I didn’t care. At the moment, I didn’t feel the frigid, January, twenty-five-degree winds. All I could feel was the joy in my heart that I had been allowed out on bail.