Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
CASSIE
“ S o, you have to be able to create projects they can understand. This assignment is for kindergarteners. Some of these ideas are a little too advanced.” I chuckled as did they. “Now, let’s look at the snowman suggestion from Missy. It’s perfect. Only a little glue involved. The kids can make their snowmen however they choose to. So let that be your guide for your future lesson plans.”
I looked around the class to find they were very attentive to me. They usually were, and that was what gave me joy. It let me know that I had a gift to capture people’s attention when they were learning. God had given me the ability to explain things in a way that the smallest child could understand.
I went to my desk as they examined Missy’s lesson plans. This week had been hell on wheels emotionally. Mesani had called Kendrall on Wednesday saying that Jacob needed to count his days. Kendrall knew better than to make threats over the phone, thankfully. However, I was sure once he could track Mesani down, he would be telling him a piece of his mind… or worse.
I was just so fucking drained. I looked at my picture almost every day. Kendrall had allowed me to make one of the bedrooms a place of solitude for me. I put the picture in there and added a couch, recliner, and coffee table to the room. I also took my desk in there. I spent a lot of time in his arms as well.
Kendrall had taken me shopping Tuesday when I got off work. I was happy that he’d done so, but I insisted on ordering most of my clothes from SHEIN. I was not about to spend a ton of money in the department stores around here. He shook his head and said I was being cheap, but I didn’t care. I only purchased under garments, makeup, and shoes at the stores.
I couldn’t believe Mesani would fuck up my stuff like that. He was a bitch for real for that. I was glad Jacob had come along with Uncle Storm to help out, because the last thing I wanted was Kendrall to get disqualified from the competition for this foolishness. Mesani would have called the cops on him, for sure.
As the class of young women tackled their assignment, there was a knock on my door. I frowned slightly, because I rarely had visitors to my classroom. The door was unlocked, so when the dean of the college of education walked in, my eyebrows lifted. However, when two cops walked in behind her, I knew exactly what this was. Mesani had filed charges. It was the weekend, and I could possibly spend it in jail.
I stood from my seat as Mrs. Fuller said, “Miss Daniels, they need to speak with you. I’ll take over your class from here.”
I nodded and walked over to the officers. While I thought they would just escort me out, since I was going willingly, that muthafucka turned me around and said, “Put your hands behind your back.”
He cuffed me in front of my class while the other officer read my rights. I was so fucking embarrassed. They would be walking me around the university in handcuffs. While everything in me wanted to lower my head and cry, I held my head high like that shit didn’t bother me in the least. They could kiss my entire ass. They could have easily parked in front of the building I was in, but they literally paraded me for everyone to see until we got to the main entrance.
By the time we got there, I saw Kendrall parking. He was supposed to be meeting me for lunch. We’d agreed that we would do this every Friday, since I didn’t have class for my PhD. He quickly ran to me. I said, “You know what this is. Please go to my classroom and get my things.”
“I got it. I’m gon’ get you out of there, baby. Okay? I’m right behind y’all.”
He took off running toward where we’d come from as they continued to lead me to their squad car. A scowl formed on my lips, and I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. “You know, this shit was unnecessary. Y’all acting like I killed somebody.”
“Ma’am, apparently, you don’t understand the severity of these charges. You’re being charged with attempted murder. Mesani Spain is in ICU. A neighbor reported seeing you there Monday afternoon. Mesani named you when he regained consciousness Tuesday evening.”
I swallowed hard as he put his hand on my head to assist me inside the car. Mesani was full of shit. Wasn’t nobody trying to kill his ass. If I wanted him dead, Uncle Storm could have just shot his ass. I knew to wait on a lawyer now. The officer was right. I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying when he read my rights.
By the time we were pulling off, I saw Kendrall running back to his car. While I wanted to cry, no tears would fall. I could imagine I was already fired. I would take an assault charge, but there was no way I would plead guilty to attempted murder.
“You look way too prissy to be in here. What they arrest you for, girl?”
I side-eyed the lady next to me and slowly shook my head. They arrested me at work, so I had on a business suit and heels. My hair was pulled up in a bun, and my face had a light beat on it. After taking a deep breath, I said, “They’re charging me with attempted murder… bullshit.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Damn! What’chu do? Poison his food?”
She fell out laughing like the shit was funny. So to shut her ass up, I said, “I beat his ass.”
“Bitch, you lying!”
“You wanna find out?” I asked as I stood.
She waved her hands. “My bad, lil mama. Calm down, boo. I’m just fucking wit’chu. How they tryna charge you with attempted murder, though?”
“That’s what I have to find out, because that should be an assault charge at the most. He knows good and got damn well what happened. He’s being a bitch about some shit he caused.”
When I heard a guard approaching, I zipped my lips. I didn’t need shit I said to be used against me. It was bad enough I was telling this crackhead in here all my business. I was just so angry. “Miss Daniels? Your attorney is here to see you.”
I nodded and walked over to the door for her to let me out of this cage. I’d never been to jail, and I could now say that I never wanted to come back. I’d only been in here an hour. It was early enough where I could still possibly see a judge today and not have to stay here over the weekend. Attempted murder my ass.
Mesani didn’t know Jacob’s name, but if he mentioned someone was with me, I was sure they would try to get that information out of me. As I followed the guard down a hallway, I could feel my nerves getting the best of me. I was trembling, and the goosebumps had made their presence known. When we entered the room, there was a woman standing there with long flowing hair. She was so beautiful.
“Hello, I’m Sidney Taylor. The Hendersons called for me to come and rescue you from this foolishness. Have a seat, honey.”
I’d heard of her through commercials on TV. Hopefully, she was as good as she looked and sounded. She seemed like she was going to be about her business, which was getting me off and out of here.
Once she sat across from me, she stared at me then extended her hands across the table. I grabbed them as she said, “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m going to get you out of here. These charges are full of shit. Okay, baby?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
She released my hands and opened a folder on the table. “These charges say you threw a vase at him, but this was about eight or nine months ago, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What led to that?”
“I walked in on him fucking somebody else in our home. Sorry.”
I felt so comfortable with her that my filter had fallen completely off. Professionalism went out the window when she said the charges were full of shit.
“You don’t have to apologize. I know this is frustrating. I see you’re a professor at Lamar and you’re currently enrolled in a doctorate program as well. You aren’t the typical woman who would get arrested.”
“No. And they paraded me all over campus in cuffs.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “They did what?”
“They cuffed me right there in front of my students and walked me all over campus, instead of parking right in front of the building I was in. They are the police and could have gotten access to that parking lot. Students were stopping to watch. They ruined my reputation that quickly. I mean, I’m sure once this hits the news, my reputation would get ruined, but?—”
“That’s not acceptable. This is an allegation. They have no solid proof of what you did. Only his word saying it was you. Now what happened this last time? You don’t even look like you can knock somebody out. Well… let me stop right there, because looks can be deceiving.”
She chuckled. “My sister is about your size, and I’ve witnessed her knocking a woman out. But that was a woman, not a man.”
I looked around and closed my eyes. “Let me take it,” I said softly. “It wasn’t me, but they were there to help me get my things out of the house. When we got there, Mesani had destroyed all my clothes, and my makeup was floating in water. All of my personal shit was damaged… except my pictures.”
She made notes as I talked, telling her how he disrespected me verbally and how the men that were with me came to my rescue. “Jacob hit him twice. I kicked him in his balls. Anger was flowing through me so damn strong, because how dare he. After trying to work through what I’d seen, I realized I couldn’t do it. He was angry that I was leaving him. That’s why he filed those charges. And not only did I leave him, but I left with Kendrall Henderson, the man I cheated with after he cheated.”
She took a deep breath and exhaled hard. “Basically, he’s a scorned lover. Men can never take the shit they dish out. You’re supposed to get over them cheating, but when the tables turn, you’re everything but a child of God. This ain’t no attempted murder charge. Not in the least bit.”
I took a deep breath. Thank God. Although I knew that, I was glad she was seeing it too. She asked me questions about Jacob, but I didn’t want him to take the heat for this. It was because of me that he was even there… all of them. Kendrall and Uncle Storm could get in trouble for witnessing it and doing nothing about it. I was surprised Mesani didn’t say a man was there. Hopefully, his memory had glitched about that shit.
Mrs. Taylor continued looking over the paperwork. As she did, her eyebrows lifted again. Great. “You won’t be able to take it. It says here there was a man there and that he assaulted him.”
“Well, at least it isn’t attempted murder,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“So, I am going to have to get with Jacob. Is he a Henderson?”
“He is, but I’m not sure if Henderson is his last name. But he is definitely Kendrall’s cousin. He hit him so Kendrall wouldn’t. He said KJ had too much going for himself to be getting in trouble.”
I brought my hands to my face. This shit was all my fault. The way it escalated was my fault too. I should have left Mesani’s ass when I caught him cheating, but I was too in love and worried about his fucking future. I felt guilty for disabling him the way I did by hitting him with that vase. Finally, the tears came. Jacob was going to have a charge because of me.
My life was one thing, but it was never my intent to fuck up nobody else’s. I was so glad Daddy couldn’t come with us. He was out of town at a meeting for his trucking business. He would have been in trouble, too, because he wouldn’t have let Jacob have all the ‘fun.’ Mesani would have had a reason to file attempted murder, because Daddy would have beat him within an inch of his life had he heard the way he talked to me.
“Lift your head up, baby. Everything will be fine. There won’t be an attempted murder charge. I promise. I can’t promise that you and Jacob won’t get assault charges though. You don’t have a record, so I’m sure you will be able to go home. We see the judge in thirty minutes, so let’s head that way.”
Thank God. I stood as we waited for a guard to escort us to the courtroom. Mrs. Taylor lightly rubbed my back. “I’ve seen worse, baby. No one’s future is destroyed. Okay? This bump in the road was all caused by Mesani. After I tell the judge everything you told me, I’m pretty sure he’ll let you go home.”
I nodded. I felt so bad for Jacob. They were going to arrest him, and he’d have to go through this too. I wished I could avoid telling them altogether. I stopped in the hallway to create a little distance between us and the guard, then said in a soft voice, “Missus Taylor? Maybe I can make it seem like his memory is off. He has documented memory loss.”
“You sure you want to do that? You will get two assault charges, and the one with the vase could be a felony assault charge.”
“Yes, I know. This is all my fault. Jacob was only trying to protect me and Kendrall. I’m going to get in trouble regardless, but he doesn’t have to. I was moving. So there were a lot of men there. He won’t be credible when I finish.”
She rubbed my back again. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
I took a deep breath and continued following the guard to the courtroom. When we walked in, I saw my baby sitting there. As I walked to my seat, I gave him a soft smile to ease his worry. His forehead had wrinkle lines and his lips were tucked into his mouth. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that me being here was eating him alive.
We sat in the chairs, and I turned to him and mouthed, I love you . He did the same and blew me a kiss. I looked over to his left and saw my parents, Ebony, and Evan, along with Mr. Kenny, Uncle Storm, and Jacob. All these people were here to support me, but I felt horrible because I’d created a mess. I didn’t handle things well at all.
Mrs. Taylor was ready to tear into this case. I could tell by the way her leg was bouncing. The DA stood and painted me out to be a menace to society, a woman who couldn’t control her temper and had anger issues. He even went on to talk about my family issues and how I didn’t have a relationship with my biological mother or father, and that was why I, basically, had no home training.
Mrs. Taylor was livid. Her lips were tightly pursed. It looked like she was going to spit venom at any moment. When the judge finally gave her the floor, she stood like she was off to the races.
“First of all, let’s set the record straight. Miss Daniels grew up in a loving home with two parents. Their biological relationship makes no difference. She’s a professor at Lamar University, where police officers cuffed and paraded her around campus at the word of someone else, when she was willing to go with them. Seems like they were already assessing her as guilty before a trial.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned to the DA with a scowl on her face. “She has just as much education as you do, so don’t berate her like she’s a second-class citizen.” Turning back to the judge, she continued. “Miss Daniels had worked a long week of overtime while attending classes to obtain her PhD. When she got home, she found her fiancé, Mister Spain, having sex with another woman.”
She glanced at me, and I swore I saw a smirk on her lips. “Yeah, I’m sure he didn’t tell that part. My client was enraged and overcome with emotion. If she wanted to kill him in that moment, Mister Spain would be dead. His back was to my client and, clearly, he was engrossed in his activities, because he didn’t even realize she was standing there, watching him destroy what they’d built together.”
She slowly shook her head as if she was placing herself in my shoes. “What can be more hurtful? And to actually walk in on the betrayal? That’s a beast in itself. Thankfully, all he got was a concussion. The reason things escalated to his current issues is because he didn’t follow the doctor’s orders. That is why he had to get on disability. Did Miss Daniels actions have something to do with it? Yes. But so did his.”
She walked toward me and stared at me for a moment. I assumed she was thinking about how she would word what we’d discussed. She turned back to the judge. “As far as the second charge, he claims there was a man there. There were plenty of men there, because Miss Daniels was moving her things out of the home they shared. Mister Spain tore all of her clothing and destroyed a lot of her personal belongings. Again, he probably didn’t share that information either.”
She shook her head again, and I could tell she was doing her best to restrain herself. “None of this happened to me, Your Honor, but I’m having a hard time controlling my anger. Imagine how Cassie felt. Do we even know that Mister Spain is thinking clearly? He has a problem with his short-term memory. Cassie is not denying that she ‘assaulted’ Mister Spain,” she said, putting emphasis on the word assaulted.
“She was not trying to kill him. Again, if she wanted to kill him, she had every opportunity to do so while he was… occupied and exposed.”
She walked away and came and sat with me while the judge looked to be reading notes and writing a few. The DA looked pissed. Mrs. Taylor was amazing. She grabbed my trembling hand, gave it a squeeze, and smiled at me. I glanced back at Kendrall, and he smiled too.
Finally, the judge spoke. “There are no police reports to back this claim. Had Miss Daniels not accepted guilt and told the truth, we wouldn’t know if she did anything or not. While we know someone assaulted him, the only proof we have is that she was there moving her things that day. This is not an attempted murder case. If Mister Spain wanted better results, he should have called the police and filed a report.”
I could feel excitement flooding my being as the judge looked at me. “Miss Daniels, I admire your strength and your honesty. For that, if you can find evidence to prove what your attorney said happened, I will throw it out. Now for the second charge. Being that no weapons were recovered, I have to assume you did this with your hands. Am I correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor. And my foot.”
A slight smirk appeared on his lips. “I honestly don’t think you have anger issues. Like Mrs. Taylor said, finding all your personal belongings destroyed, simply because he’s upset about you leaving him, could set anyone off. I’m going to order community service for that. Forty hours should be sufficient. I’m sorry for all this, Miss Daniels, because I can assume that this has caused you to possibly lose your job.”
I lowered my head slightly, because I was sure of it too. Thankfully, though, I wouldn’t have to drop out of school and lose my scholarship for a misdemeanor charge. Had he charged me with the felony when I threw the vase, I would have lost all funding. If I wanted to continue the doctorate program, I would have had to pay out of pocket.
“Missus Taylor, have that evidence to me by next week. If there isn’t any evidence, I won’t have a choice but to charge her for the first charge as well, simply because she was honest and admitted her guilt. I would hate to put a felony charge on your record, Miss Daniels.”
I gave him a tight smile and nodded. “Yes, Your Honor. Thank you,” Mrs. Taylor said.
“Well, that’s all. We’re adjourned, and Miss Daniels, you’re free to go.”
Mrs. Taylor hugged me tightly. “Honesty will always be rewarded. Your blessings have to be on the way, baby.”
“I already have them,” I said while I stared at Kendrall heading our way.
Mrs. Taylor smiled as Kendrall lifted me from my feet. “Thank God, baby.”
“Yes, thank God.”
When he lowered me, Jacob was standing there with a slight smile. He leaned in and hugged me. “So you took all the heat. I’m man enough to accept what I did. You would be free to work. I work for my family. I’ll always be straight.”
“I couldn’t let you do that. It was my fucked-up situation that caused that. Thank you, Jacob.”
“Thank you. ”
The people for the next case entered the courtroom, so I grabbed my daddy’s hand and headed out. However, I didn’t miss the mean mugs traded from Jacob and Uncle Storm to the woman I was in holding with.