Chapter 20
I could barely breathe as I looked at that son-of-a-bitch sitting on the other side of the courtroom looking smug. There wasn’t anything good about him. He didn’t look as if he had any remorse for what he had done.
“And on the day of the murder, when the victim stopped in your coffee shop, did she seem agitated as if there was a lot on her mind, hostile as—” the prosecution asked.
“Objection! That calls for the witness to testify to the victim’s state of mind, Your Honor. Ms. Temple is not an expert witness in the field of psychology, to the court’s knowledge.”
“Sustained. Please stick to the facts, Mr. Grant. Your witness cannot testify to the victim’s state of mind at the time, but she can speak on her appearance or conversations held,” the judge ordered.
I knew that no one would be capable of testifying to her state of mind except for me. I had spoken with her the day of her murder. I was the one person who Lena confided in about what she was feeling, what she wanted, and what was going on between her husband and her.
The prosecutor would call me to the stand to shed light on some of the conversations we held while riding around.
It was no secret to anyone that Lena and I were close as partners.
Just as sure as I was that the prosecutor would call me to the stand, I was equally sure that the defense would have questions for me.
My stomach tumbled every time I considered that. I had no idea what he knew or what he had uncovered. I only wished I was privy to the final conversation that Paul and Lena had on her last day. I wished that I knew what she told him.
Lena could be a firecracker when she became pissed.
It wouldn’t have been a surprise if she had said some things to purposely hurt him, if he was being cruel to her.
Although she had been extremely protective of our relationship, knowing that she was leaving him for good, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she had thrown it in his face.
That would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Paul. That would have been the one thing, paired with knowledge of our unborn child, that would have sent him spiraling over that edge he loved dancing on.
Her husband came across as a meek and mild-mannered type of man to most people, but I knew that he could be a brute when they were behind closed doors.
I had visited their home on a few occasions, and I had caught a glimpse of his behavior up close and personal.
He had tried to hide it, but there were some things that you just couldn’t hide, especially from a man like me, whose nature was to uncover the truth.
I continued listening to the testimony given by the coffee shop employees.
The building she lived in was above the coffee shop, and Lena had stopped in there twice the day of her murder, as was her habit.
When the prosecutor presented text messages exchanged between her and Paul, I wanted to weep.
The prosecution had been able to confirm that the time the text messages were sent matched the time that Lena was shown on camera during her first visit at the coffee shop.
The text messages were shown on a monitor for the room to see.
We also were able to see the video feed in the coffee shop and see her reaction to the text messages as they came through.
The judge stated at the beginning that he refused to make a mockery of this trial or trivialize Lena’s life, but I hated seeing her life wide open like this for everyone to see.
He stated that as she had sworn to protect and to serve her community while she was living, and now that she was gone, he would protect her legacy. That made my heart glad.
I glanced at Joanna Jones sitting beside me. Lena’s mom was the picture of elegance and grace as she held her head high and listened to testimony. I knew that Lena always said her mother didn’t care for Paul nor did she trust him, but she was always gracious to the man.
She was a woman who had great faith and believed in loving her enemies and praying for those who persecuted her.
I wasn’t sure that my faith was as strong as hers, because the only thing that I wanted to do was crush my enemy and snatch the breath out of his lungs by squeezing his neck and breaking all seven cervical vertebrae.
I wanted to feel that last gush of hot breath expelled from his lungs while he looked into my eyes. I wanted him to know that he was taking his last breath, and that he would be dying while he looked into my eyes. He would be dying for killing Lena and my unborn child.
My sisters and brothers in blue packed the courthouse.
Today was the first day of the trial. Some were pressed against the back walls along the courtroom, but I sat up front beside Mrs. Jones.
She must have felt the negative energy emanating from me, because she didn’t speak a word.
She simply reached out her hand and patted mine.
I turned my hand over, and she locked her fingers with mine and squeezed them. Not once did her posture or facial expression change. She maintained her same calm demeanor that she held all day.
I was thankful that I didn’t have to work a shift today.
I had gotten special permission to get a day off that I wasn’t supposed to have initially.
Now that I was working in the cybercrimes department, I didn’t have the same perks of first-come PTO as I did when I was still in patrol.
I was the low man on the totem pole, so my requests came second to everyone else’s.
My former supervisor had spoken to my new one and informed him what was going on.
I had been granted the next few days off, and for that, I was thankful.
I would be at the courthouse before the day began and the first one in the seats in the front row.
I would watch as Paul Ward was marched into the courtroom shackled, and I would make sure that he saw me before he saw anyone else.
“Hey, baby. You’re home,” Sevyn greeted me, looking over her shoulder as I stepped into my house.
I headed straight into the kitchen, wrapped my arms around my woman’s waist, and kissed her.
“How was your day, babe?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“It was great. I connected with a couple of people who will be instrumental in giving me contracts for those training workshops I wanted to host. But enough about me. How are you holding up? How did the trial go today? Did they call you to the stand to testify?”
“No. Not yet. I’m not looking forward to it. It’s hard enough watching her family go through having to watch this three-ring circus, let alone adding to their pain by talking about what a great partner and friend she was.”
“Don’t worry about it, baby. I’m sure that no matter what, the jury will find him guilty of murdering your partner.”
She stared at me with empathetic eyes. I had told her a while back that my partner had been murdered, but she had no idea that she was murdered the same night that she lost her husband, or that I had been involved with her.
She had no idea that the woman I had been crying over and grieving was my former partner.
“I hope so, baby. You should have seen her mother. That woman is to be admired. She carried herself with so much elegance and grace. I think that she’s already extended mercy to the man, even though I don’t believe that he’s deserving of it.”
“Baby, everyone is deserving of mercy. If they weren’t, why did Jesus die for our sins? We all deserve to be forgiven. The liar, the cheater, the murderer, the addict, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, you deserve to be forgiven.”
“It’s funny that you should say that, because you seem to have a hard time forgiving yourself for whatever role you played in your husband’s death.”
She turned away from me and scrubbed the counter extra hard. “I drove the car.”
“Come on, you can do better than that.”
She spun around and stared at me with her hands on her hips. “I’m serious.”
“Okay, maybe. But while Jesus may forgive Paul, I don’t.”
“That’s fine, baby. Maybe one day you will get there.”
“What smells so good in here?” I asked, changing the subject.
“I made you some chicken parmesan, angel hair pasta, and garlic bread. There’s an apple pie in the oven that will come out in twenty minutes, by the time we’re finished with our dinner, and there’s vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”
“That sounds good. Let me go get undressed.”
“You do that, sir.”
I removed my equipment and undressed. By the time that I headed back out into the dining room, wearing my basketball shorts and T-shirt, she had already set the table and had our food on the table with a bottle of wine.
“This smells so good. I’m starving.”
“You didn’t eat breakfast this morning before you left. Did you eat lunch?”
“Nah. I wasn’t hungry this morning, and as the trial went on, I wasn’t able to eat lunch. We recessed for lunch, but my stomach was too knotted up to think about eating. My head hurts now though.”
“Baby, even if you eat nothing but a banana or an apple, you have to eat something. You need to keep your energy up. Just take a banana in the morning, or maybe even a Kind bar. I have a better idea. I’ll get up early enough to make you a smoothie, at least, so that you can get your protein and vitamins for the day. ”
“Sounds good,” I replied.
I reached across the table and held her hand, and she said a small prayer over our meal and my state of mind. When we released hands, I dug into the meal while she talked. I half-listened to her, and the other half of my mind was turned to the day’s trial.
I wondered what tomorrow would bring, but more than anything, I couldn’t wait for the trial to be over. It was a grueling first day, and I couldn’t imagine that it would get any better. The thing I worried about most was Mrs. Jones’s state of mind as the trial progressed.
“That was delicious, baby. I’m stuffed. I think I’ll need to wait for a little while before I eat that ice cream and pie. You want to watch a movie?” I suggested.
“I was thinking that maybe I could help you relax.”
A slow smile crept on my lips. “I think I like the sound of that.”
She laughed and swatted at me. “I wasn’t talking about sex,” she replied as she gathered our dishes.
I grabbed the serving dishes and the glasses and followed her to the kitchen. We set everything in the dishwater to soak, because we would return later to place them in the dishwasher.
“Okay, what did you have in mind, if not my favorite pastime?”
She grabbed my hand and led me to my bedroom. “You haven’t been in your bathroom yet, have you?”
“No. I came in here and put my equipment away, put my uniform in the laundry bag, and changed into my evening clothes. What’s up?”
She smiled as she opened my bathroom door and winked at me. When she pointed at my tub, I saw that bubbles filled the tub.
“I thought you might like a relaxing bath this evening so that you could get your mind off things.”
“Is that water even still hot?”
“Yes. Remember when we were on the phone talking when you were on your way home?”
“Yeah.”
“I tracked your location and saw that you were five minutes out. I ran the water with all hot water at that time. You are good, baby. Test it out with your pinky.”
I looked at her and smirked. “I’m a G. I can handle anything.”
I slipped out of my slides and tugged my shirt off. After removing my shorts and underwear, I stuck a toe in the water and jumped back out. “Damn! That water’s hot, baby. You trying to peel my skin off? Scald me? See if my Johnson shrinks?”
She laughed so hard that tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.
“It really ain’t that funny,” I replied, though her mood was greatly improving mine. This was exactly what I needed to wrap up the end of a rough day, coming home to a loving woman who took care of my mental and spiritual needs.
I turned the cold water on while she continued to laugh at me. Once I had the temperature just right, I lifted her in my arms and jumped into the bathtub. Water splashed over the sides and all over the floor as she screamed, “Deuce!”
It was my turn to laugh, but she smacked me on the chest. “It’s not so funny now, is it?”
“You messed up my clothes and hair, Deuce.”
“So, straighten it back out in the morning. I love your hair no matter how you wear it,” I replied, nuzzling her neck.
“This is why you won’t be getting any nookie tonight.”
“You say that like it’s a punishment or something. You ain’t gotta give me no nookie. I want some pussy.”
She smacked my chest again. “You’re so nasty. I’m in this tub with my clothes on, Deuce. That was not my plan. I was supposed to help you relax and wash your body.”
“You can still do that. Just take your clothes off, baby. Wash my body with yours.”
“Nope. I’m sticking to my plan,” she replied, twisting around to straddle me with her clothes still on. She kissed me passionately and stared into my eyes. “I love you.”
“I know. But you still got your clothes on, woman.”
“Of course I do. I’m here to connect with you emotionally.”
“My emotions are out of wack because you’re in this tub talking about some nookie, and all I wanna see is that pussy.”
She burst out laughing. “On a serious note, would you like for me to accompany you tomorrow?”
I rested my head against the tile wall behind me and closed my eyes. “You know how to kill an arousal, don’t you?”
“There will be time for sex, Deuce. I’m checking on your mental health for real,” she replied in a serious tone.
I opened my eyes. I loved this woman. “Thank you for being here for me. But, no, I’ll be fine. There are too many negative emotions going on among the force, Lena’s family, and Paul’s family. I don’t want you in that environment.”
Deep inside, I was worried that the truth would come out about my affair, and I was worried what she would think of me.
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure, baby,” I answered, removing her clothes. I bathed her, and she bathed me. When I finished, I dried her off, carried her to my bed, and watched her fall asleep.
“Most High, I thank You for bringing Sevyn into my life. It may not have been the conventional way, but I know that I wouldn’t have met a treasure like her without Your hand in it.
I love her. Teach me how to be a good man for her and help me share the truth with her.
Forgive me for messing this one up, because I should’ve told her a long time ago. Amen.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her. My sleep was more peaceful than I expected it to be.