“Yes, your honor. Marcus Douglas for the defense,” Marcus spoke up.
“The charge is murder in the first degree, how do you plea?”
“The defendant pleads not guilty, your honor.”
“Remand?” the judge asked, looking for recommendations from the prosecution on whether Panthea could be held in custody or granted bail.
“Your honor, the defendant has been accused of carrying out a particularly serious offence. We also have reasons to believe the defendant could leave the court's jurisdiction to avoid the trial and possible punishment. We recommend she be held without bail,” the prosecutor stated.
“Mr. Douglas?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, Mrs. Daniels is a respectable member of the community with no prior criminal record and is not likely to commit any further offences before the trial. Mrs. Daniels is neither a danger to herself or the community. I hope Your Honor will consider granting bail.”
“I see,” the judge paused and smiled. “Bail is set at five hundred thousand dollars, and I order that the defendant surrender her passport. Next case.”
Marcus turned to Panthea. “Your husband has already made arrangements with a bail bondsman. You shouldn’t be in for too much longer.”
“I understand,” Panthea said as the bailiff approached her.
“If you need anything call me tonight. If not, I’ll see you tomorrow at ten o'clock. We’ll get started then.”
“Okay,” Panthea told Marcus as she was led away in cuffs.
Marcus stood and watched Panthea until she was out of the courtroom. He placed his papers in the briefcase and prepared to leave for his office. “Mr. Douglas?” a male voice called.
Marcus turned around to see Scott Daniels standing behind him. “Yes, Mr. Daniels,” he answered with a bit of contempt. “What can I do for you?”
“I want to apologize for the way I acted yesterday at the jail. I didn’t know who you were,” Scott said.
“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Daniels. I’m sure you were under a lot of pressure,” Marcus said and started to walk away.
“One more thing, Mr. Douglas.”
Marcus stopped and turned. “What’s that?”
“When did my wife hire you?”
“She came to my office earlier this week on another matter.”
“Would you mind telling me what about?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I would. That would be a violation of attorney-client privilege. I am not at liberty to discuss that with you.”
“I know you can’t give me details, but I’m the one paying the bill. Could you at least tell me what it was about?”
“No sir, I’m afraid I can’t,” Marcus said and once again started to walk away, but this time Scott grabbed his arm. “Unless you want me to break that hand, I suggest you remove it.” Scott let go of his arm, and Marcus took a step toward him. “If you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you.”
On the way out of the courthouse, Marcus had to ask himself what was up with that? He had just threatened to kill a man just for touching him.
The reason was simple.
Marcus wanted his wife.
And that was enough of a reason for Marcus to dislike Scott. He tried not to be judgmental and let his personal feeling about cheating spouses get in his way, but he couldn’t. Marcus had caught his wife Randa in bed with another man. He thought about Panthea and wondered why any man would cheat on such a beautiful and oh so sexy woman. Marcus pulled out his cell phone and put in a call to Janise. He asked her to call Olivia so she could meet him in his office as soon as possible.
Panthea could hear the guard’s feet shuffling along the floor. But this time, she refused to allow her heart to soar with hope. She was certain this time would end just like all the rest. She’d hear them come, keys jingling and soon the door would slide open after he yelled to the gatekeeper, and then out someone other than her would stroll.
No, not this time, there was no way she’d allow herself to fall into that trap again. The truth was, each time she had before, the let down was more than she could bear. This time when she heard the feet stop at her cell door, she still refused to give hope a place in her heart.