CHAPTER TEN
Vince noticed a complete change in Ricki as soon they arrived in the small town he’d never stepped foot in before.
Her small body seemed to draw up, as if she was getting smaller right before his very eyes, and her face looked like a combination of adject sadness, bitterness, and pain.
Pain was overriding the other two. But all three were prevalent.
After giving her a chance to regroup, he asked for directions. She was able to direct him to the courthouse, which was easily the largest building in the small downtown, with its huge white columns and bank-looking, colonial-style front facade.
He pulled into the parking lot, found a spot near the back, and parked. When he looked over at Ricki, she was staring up at the large building in front of them. Now it was fear and a sense of dread that appeared to be overriding all those other emotions on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her in a sensitive tone he didn’t realize he was using.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been inside that place.”
“Didn’t you say you were from Brooklyn?” he wanted to ask. “How can a New Yorker be intimidated by some nothing courthouse in some nothing town like this?
But he didn’t ask those questions. Because it wasn’t about intimidation. It was about fear. Something in that town scared the living daylights out of her once upon a time. He just didn’t know what it was.
But as she continued to wait in his car, and when he looked at the clock on his dashboard and saw that it was nearing four pm, he knew something had to give. Although he had zero interest in what he was about to suggest, he felt compelled to ask it anyway. “Want me to go in with you?”
He expected her to yell hell no in no uncertain terms. But when she looked away from the courthouse and into his eyes, he could see that she wanted more than anything for him to go with her. It stunned him.
That was why, instead of forcing her to admit her need, he began unbuckling his seatbelt. “Let’s go,” he said and got out of the car.
Ricki was so relieved she didn’t have to face those people again all by herself that she quickly began unbuckling her seatbelt. When she went to open the door, Vince was opening it for her. Another thing she was not accustomed to.
They walked slowly across the parking lot up to the courthouse entrance.
But when Ricki got to that entrance, she stopped abruptly in place, causing Vince to bump into her butt.
A bump that actually aroused him. But when he looked at her, ready to tell her to take her ass on, he realized she was frozen in place.
His plan was to place his hand on her lower back, to give her support, but when he touched her, he kept going. He slid his arm around her waist and kept it there. It was a move that was just the feeling of comfort Ricki needed to keep going. And she entered that courthouse.
After walking through the metal detector, the guard asked which courtroom. “Seven,” Ricki said, and he pointed to the appropriate elevator.
They stepped onto the elevator with several other people getting onboard too, with many appearing to be lawyers or other professionals.
But when they kept staring at Ricki as if she didn’t belong in their pristine courthouse, Vince not only placed his arm around her waist again, but he pulled her body close against his.
They looked at him when he pulled her closer, as if he was daring them to say something, and he could tell a couple of them desperately wanted to.
But they just gave him that traitor look and looked away.
“Assholes,” he said beneath his breath.
Ricki, shocked, looked up at him. He scolded her no end for her potty mouth, when he had one too?
She managed to smile. Hypocrisy never ceased to amaze her.
But the fact that he was holding her, and kept her close against him, superseded any amazements.
She needed him in that moment. She needed him.
Courtroom seven was on the second floor and they were able to secure a seat in the gallery. They were seated for only a few seconds when the prisoners, all in wrist and ankle shackles and orange jumpsuits, came marching in.
When she saw her sister marching in, her heart dropped. And she leaned against Vince. “That’s my sister,” she said.
Vince placed his arm over her shoulder when she leaned against him. He didn’t have to ask her which one, because the resemblance to Ricki was too obvious. A petite young woman, she looked so young! Was she a juvenile? He leaned into Ricki. “Geez. She look like a baby. How old is she?”
“Nineteen,” Ricki said. “I’m ten years older than her.”
That made Ricki twenty-nine, while he was forty. Which made him inwardly shake his head. What was he doing there? They literally had zero in common. Zero!
“All rise,” the bailiff said and the entire courtroom rose to their feet when the judge made his way to the bench. And the proceedings began.
Ricki’s sister’s case was near the last on the docket. It was almost seven p.m. when they got around to her case.
“Erica Richardson,” the clerk called out, and the youngster made her way, with her Public Defender, to the front of the judge’s desk.
“Good evening, Miss Richardson,” the judge said as he appeared to be reviewing her case file.
Erica looked at her attorney. Her attorney whispered in her ear. “Good evening, Judge,” Erica then said.
“Did your Public Defender explain to you, young lady, that this is an arraignment?”
“A bond hearing you mean?” asked Erica.
“Bond, or no bond, will be set during this arraignment, yes.”
“Then yeah, she told me.”
“Did she tell you that you have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Dr. Harvey Proctor?”
“I didn’t do it, Judge.”
The Public Defender whispered in Erica’s ear again. “I mean, yes sir,” Erica then said.
“How do you plead, young lady?”
Erica needed no coaching for that. “Not guilty, Judge.”
“So entered,” said the judge. Then the judge looked over at the prosecutor, a tall black woman, as she stood on the other side of the public defender. “What says the State, Miss McDonald?”
“This woman brutally murdered and tortured one of the most popular and well-known physicians in all of Milton, Your Honor,” said the prosecutor. “An icon in the black community, he is gravely missed by all. On top of that, she’s a convicted prostitute.”
“Your Honor, I object,” the public defender said. “What does that have to do with anything?”
But Vince, hearing this information for the first time, was taken aback. That young girl a prostitute?
But the prosecutor wasn’t finished. “In addition to that, Your Honor, she’s also a convicted drug addict.”
“I object again! Your Honor, what does any of that have to do with this case?” asked the public defender.
An addict too? Vince knew it didn’t look good for her.
“What amount does the State recommends, Miss McDonald?” the judge asked.
“We would love to recommend no bail.”
“No way,” said the judge.
“We understand that, Your Honor. But given her prior convictions for crimes and how she’s been nothing but a menace to society for who knows how long, and given the heinous nature of this crime, we strongly recommend bail of no less than a million dollars, sir.”
Ricki was floored. “A million dollars?” she whispered to Vince. “They can’t do that, can they?”
“They can,” said Vince. Although he doubted if that would happen as even the onlookers in the gallery with no ties to that particular case were audibly aghast at the prosecutor’s bail suggestion.
The judge had to bang his gavel. “Order in this courtroom,” he said with bite in his voice. “I said order!”
And the courtroom came back into order.
The judge then reviewed the case file more closely. “What say you, Mr. McAfee?”
The public defender was eager to speak. “The State’s suggestion is outrageous, Your Honor.”
“I didn’t ask you for a summary of the State’s argument. I need to know your argument.”
“Miss Richardson is very young, sir. She’s only nineteen. She vehemently proclaims her innocence, and we honestly believe, when the evidence is presented, that she will be totally exonerated.”
The judge looked at the public defender. “I’m going to rule with or without your recommendation. Get on with it.”
The PD got on with it. “Because she is not a flight risk, Your Honor, and because she has never been a danger to her community despite the little dig the prosecutor threw in there, we believe she should be released on her own recognizance and no bail amount should be set.”
“Not gonna happen,” said the judge.
“Then we recommend ten thousand dollars, Your Honor.”
Even that amount was out of Ricki’s reach, but at least it was far more sensible.
The judge deliberated within himself. Then he began writing in the record. “This case will be placed on the docket for trial at a later date after I have concluded the entire docket for today. Bail will be set at four-hundred thousand.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” the prosecutor said.
“Next!” said the judge as he closed the case file.
Ricki watched as Erica was led out of the courtroom through a side door. She was able to look out into the gallery and see her sister. She smiled at her and waved with her shackled wrists. Ricki waved back. It was heartbreaking to her.
“Let’s wait in the hall,” Vince said to Ricki when Erica disappeared behind that side door.
They got up and went out into the hall.
“What does four-hundred-thousand dollars mean?” she asked Vince. “She doesn’t have to pay all of that, right?”
“It has to be paid in full if she expects to get out of jail until her trial date, yes,” said Vince. “The laws are changing, but they haven’t changed yet.”
“But I thought you could pay some of it to get out on bail,” said Ricki.
“If you can’t pay the full cash amount, then you can get a surety bond.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s when you hire a bail bondsman to put up the bond on your sister’s behalf. But you have to pay a non-refundable fee of ten percent.”
Ricki frowned. “But ten percent of four-hundred thousand dollars is forty-thousand dollars.”
“That’s correct.”
“I don’t have forty dollars. Let alone forty thousand dollars.”
Vince looked at Ricki. She looked so defeated. “What were you thinking was going to happen when you came all this way, Rasheda?”
“I was hoping the charges would be dropped,” she said. “Or, if not, they would let her get out on her own signature.”
Vince studied Ricki. She was street savvy as hell, but where the rubber met the road she was as innocent as a lamb. “No. It doesn’t quite work that way when we’re talking a homicide.”
Ricki looked as if she was going to just fall to pieces. “Why don’t you sit down?” he suggested. But just as he was suggesting it, Ricki saw McAfee, her sister’s public defender, come out of the courtroom.
She hurried over to him. “I’m Erica’s sister,” she said quickly.
“You’re Ricki?”
“Yes sir.”
He looked around. Then he gathered her further down the hall, away from any listening ears. Vince went too.
“And you are?” he asked him.
Vince didn’t quite know what to say. “I’m with her sister,” was the best he could come up with.
“He’s with me,” Ricki confirmed. “Now about my sister? They won’t drop the charges?”
“Oh no. No way. She’s going to trial. Or plead out.”
“Can I see her?”
“Not tonight. But I’ll put you on the list for tomorrow at eleven.”
“Tomorrow?”
“At the soonest, yes.”
Ricki was disappointed. “Okay.”
“What I need you to do for your sister, however,” McAfee said, “is to get your family members to get on board with her defense. I haven’t been able to get them to so much as give her a character reference for the trial.”
“What can I do about that?”
That sounded like an odd question to Vince.
“You can ask them, beg them if you have to, to help your sister,” said McAfee.
“How does it look for her sister?” Vince asked.
McAfee exhaled. “Bad,” he said. “Real bad. She’s gonna need a miracle. Or an attorney that doesn’t have fifty other cases on his caseload and have an investigation budget. I’ve got to run.” Then he looked at Ricki. “I’ll put you on her visitor list,” he added, and left.
“Come on,” Vince said to a distraught Ricki, and they left that courtroom and that courthouse altogether. It was a sobering experience for both of them.
But when they made it to his car, Ricki still seemed stunned. “Where to?” he asked her.
Ricki looked at him. They were standing at the front passenger door. She had no clue where to.
“Want me to drop you off at your parents’ home?” Vince asked her.
“My parents?”
“Yes.”
It was an impossibility. “No, they don’t. . . They won’t . . .No.” Then she looked at Vince again. He had to be tired of her and all her drama. “But I’ve taken up too much of your time as it is,” she said. “You don’t have to hang around any longer. I’ll figure something out.”
“You’ll figure it out?” Vince had irritation in his voice. “With nine bucks to your name, you’ll figure it out? Where are you going to sleep until tomorrow if you can’t stay with your family, Rasheda?”
“I told you I’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah sure.” He opened his front passenger car door with a swift open. “Get in!”
Ricki looked around. It was already dark outside. Who was she kidding? She got into his car.