“I will,” I said. “And I’ll see you in a few hours at the hearing.”
With that, she hung up the phone, the sound of prison life in the background. I slowly placed the phone back on the base and rubbed my face, leaning my elbows on the desk. Anderson walked back in and sat down in the chair, patting me hard on the back. I took a deep breath and went back to work, trying to figure out how to get through all of this in one piece. There was no way I was going to let Josie spend one second longer than she needed to in that place, and I knew that her safety would be in question as well. I had been in the business long enough to know what kind of women ended up in those prisons, and they were the same kind that would eat Josie up and spit her back o
ut. She wasn’t built for jail, and she definitely wouldn’t end up being one of those girls that hardened up and made it through. I was already worried about her, and she was only in the city jail, not prison.
We kept working until it was time to go to the hearing, passing out assignments to the team and adding things to our defense. This was going to be a seriously tricky case, and although I had full confidence in our abilities, I knew there was no room for mistakes. One wrong move and Josie would spend the rest of her life beyond bars.
I just couldn’t let that happen.
Chapter 20
Josie
I walked forward through the doors at the back of the courtroom and across the floor. My hands were cuffed at the wrists, and they had put chains around my ankles, forcing me to shuffle along in my laceless shoes. The sheriff deputy escorting me tried to be gentle, but his hands were big, and my arms were already raw from all the people pushing and pulling me around. My teeth chattered in my mouth, even though the courthouse was considerably warmer than the cell I had been staying in. I had to grasp my hands together to keep the cuff chains from rattling since my hands were trembling. I was absolutely terrified of what was going to happen, and I was more than embarrassed to be walking into a courtroom to be tried for something that I would never have thought to do. I was not a murderer, but all of those people were going to see me that way, and that was so shameful.
I looked across the courtroom, and my eyes stopped when they met Blaine’s. My cheeks blushed at the fact that he was seeing me like this. I never thought my boyfriend would have to watch me walk across a courtroom in an orange jumpsuit, my hands and ankles shackled together, and my face bare from the lack of hygiene facilities. However, as I walked to the side, awaiting the judge, he smiled one of his big, charming smiles in my direction. Immediately, I felt my body relax a bit, and some of the tension released from the knot in my stomach.
Beyond just the fact that Blaine was seeing me this way, I was completely ashamed at the thought of so many people standing by, hearing the egregious charges pending against me. I knew that I was innocent, but they didn’t, and I couldn’t even start to think about how they would look at me from that day on. Even if I somehow got out of the charges, people would question my character for the rest of my life. I may have been down some rough roads, but this was the worst, and I just wanted it to be over.
I was ushered over to the table next to Blaine as the judge entered and took a seat. Everyone else took a seat after him, and the hearing began. The judge looked through the file for several minutes before looking up at me. He seemed to be surprised by the way I looked.
“Will the prosecution repeat the charges, please?” he asked.
“Yes, your honor,” the prosecutor said, standing up. “The charges against the accused, Josephine Gray are murder in the first degree.”
He continued to read off the rest of the charges, but I barely heard them after the murder charge. This whole situation still felt like a bad dream, and my head felt dazed and uncertain.
“And how does the defendant plead?” the judge asked.
“Not guilty, your honor,” I said into the microphone with a confident nod from Blaine.
The judge wrote something down in his notes, and I looked over as the court reporter typed away. There was a slight whisper from the crowd behind me, and I tried to ignore it. It was difficult, considering what they were saying was not shining a positive light on me. To the left was the victim’s family, and I could feel their cold stares in the back of my head. If only they could see into my memory, they would know that I didn’t kill their family member. I wasn’t sure if pleading “not guilty” was the right thing to do or not. On one hand, if I pled guilty, it would possibly save my father from further harm, but on the other hand, I would go to prison for life, and the real killer would still be out there somewhere, ready to kill again. Paulie was not joking around with me, and I knew that this was going to bite me in the ass, but I was left with very few options. Besides, there was no way that Blaine was going to allow me to plead guilty.
“Your honor,” the prosecutor said. “The state asks that the defendant be reprimanded into custody.”
That meant that they wanted me to stay in jail until the trial was over. The trial could last a year or more, depending on the defense and how fast the court moved things through. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to survive in jail for that long. Someone would eventually mess with me. I was like a fresh piece of meat, and I wasn’t tough enough to stand up for myself. Some of those girls were used to the system and had no fear of getting in trouble. I clenched my fist and tears began to fill my eyes. Blaine patted my hands and stood up, closing his jacket.
“Your honor,” he said. “We are very much against leaving her in that jail cell. My client has never been charged with so much as a parking ticket in her entire life. She has strong ties to the community as a teacher and volunteer, and she has a father who solely depends on her for support. She is in no way a flight risk.”
“Yes, a father that is still missing,” the judge said, looking down at his papers.
I stood next to Blaine, waiting for the judge to make his decision. I could feel my heart beating so fast, I was afraid I was going to pass out, right then and there. I needed to get out of that cell, I needed to find my father, and I needed to help Blaine prove my innocence. There was nothing I could do to help myself from behind those bars, and I was too fearful for my safety to venture out into the common areas. My home was where I belonged, and it was where I needed to be.
“I am setting bail at one million dollars,” the judge said, hitting his gavel on the plate on his desk. “Defendant will remain in the custody of the State of Florida until the bail has been paid or the trial has concluded.”
There was a rush of voices behind me, and I could tell people were not happy that the judge set a bail for me. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. What kind of school teacher had a million dollars sitting around for a rainy day? I looked at Blaine, and he smiled as if this were a win. Tears flooded my eyes as Blaine walked with me while the deputy escorted me from the building. I didn’t even know what to say, and I couldn’t help but let the tears flow down my face. My heart was racing out of control, and I couldn’t collect my thoughts enough to speak. I was completely and totally freaking out, and I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. As soon as the room started to spin, I reached out for Blaine, who caught me and sat me down in a chair. He looked me in the face and forced eye contact with me.
“Hey,” he said. “Take a deep breath. Deep breath.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. “I can’t afford that.”
“Relax,” he said. “I’ll take care of the bail. It’s no big deal.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” he said, rubbing my hand. “I just need you to stay strong. We are working really hard to get you out of all of this. I will explain everything as soon as I can pick you up.”
I shook my head and stood back up, looking him in the eyes as the sheriff escorted me back to the jail and locked me in my cell. I took a deep breath, realizing that I was going to be out of that place really soon, and once free, I would do everything in my power to not come back.