“I told you. She’s not going to talk. She’ll change her story. Now, whatever the bail is you take what you need and get the wheels of justice turning my way. Okay? Is that too fucking hard for you to figure out?”
“Joshua, I told you. You aren’t going anywhere. And cussing me out won’t change that. Look, I’ve always been honest with you. And right now I’m telling you that the chances of you getting out of this place are going to be slim. You are part of the Reid fortune. Whatever judge we get is going to look to make an example of you and a name for himself. Bail may not be an option. We just have to wait and see.
I felt my blood boiling. This wasn’t the kind of thing the Universe would do to me. Not me.
“And that is just what you’ve got going on in this country. Seems I was also informed that a certain companion of yours went missing in Canada.” Bernie looked at me like I was a kid who had chocolate all over my face but said I didn’t eat the cake. So what? Who cared about what happened to some whore in Canada?
“They’ll never find a body.” I said.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Josh. I am.” Bernie said, his eyes darting around quickly. “What I am going to tell you is that you need to relax. No more displays of strength in the holding cells. No more smartass comments to the guards. Just do as you’re told and it will help me do what I have to do to get you out.”
It was over six months ago that I had that conversation with Bernie. He was right. It was pretty amazing how easily people leaned your way with just a little shred of respect. Like cows with big, dumb eyes that followed along a metal maze calmly and content to just walk. They are skinned and sliced and hanging in a meat locker on a hook before they know what has happened.
Unfortunately, my brother had gotten to the jury at the trial. It was a speedy event with no cameras allowed. My brother made certain of that. They wanted me to take a deal. Thirteen years with the possibility of parole after five. I wouldn’t accept. The Universe doesn’t reward making deals with mere mortals.
So Bernie argued my case and made my brother and Miss Natasha Morgan look like the scheming parasites they are. But, the twelve peers in the box thought I was a bit over-the-top. I wasn’t allowed to take the stand. So I sat next to Bernie listening to each witness talking try and make me out to be some kind of monster.
Funny thing that Marty’s Secretary Denise didn’t have anything to say. Natasha didn’t have much to say either. Not after it came to light how much I had spent on her, where I had taken her, how she was now pregnant with my brother’s kid.
I have to admit, she robbed me of the opportunity to hear the sordid details of her relationship with my brother when I confronted her at her parent’s house. But Bernie, I have to say, did a magnificent job getting her to tear up. Her eyes darted back and forth from Bernie to the jury to me. Her cheeks burned with humiliation as she acknowledged being with my brother and I during the same time period. Not at the same time, mind you. But a few weeks did overlap. She fidgeted in her seat and stared daggers at Bernie who I think was having a good time himself. And when she had finished and stepped down from the stand our eyes locked and I gave her a quick wink. I lived on that memory of her shame for a couple of months once they placed me in my new living quarters.
The only fly in the ointment was Diamond. When she took the stand I have to admit I was in awe of her. She stared right at me. She didn’t flinch. She repeated the story of what had happened in beautiful detail and I relived it all with her as she spoke. For a second, just a sliver of time, less than a blink, I was almost certain I felt a spark between us. A mutual appreciation for what we were and that was predators that were on opposite sides of the morality line. Diamond would never admit to it but she was craving my blood just as I had been for Natasha and my brother. Somehow, she thinks that makes her better than me. But it didn’t. It made her my equal. She never did what I expected her to do. In fact, she always surprised me. Unpredictability is a rare quality in most women. Many nights I laid awake wondering how different things would have been if I had pursued Diamond instead of Natasha. There would be no doubt that I would have to pay her a visit once I was released.
I have to admit that prison isn’t really as bad as it is made out to be. Not for someone like me.
Statesville Penitentiary was a mid-level security prison. There were some real heavy hitters in here and quite a few offenders were transferred to maximum security prisons after a brief stay within these wall. But it was actually a very interesting place. Bernie was able to secure me a single cell. It was as small as you’d think it was but how much room did I need to plan for the future.
The complex was made up of four tiers of over one hundred cells on each tier. The bottom was for the petty criminals who had short stays. The numbers on the sides of their cells were colored with red paint. Above them were more serious crimes, pedophilia, armed robbery and that sort of thing. Their numbers were green. MY level, the third level was another step up in the pecking order. Our blue numbers indicated that we were considered a little more violent, a little more unpredictable but still no match for the fourth tier inmates who had killed or raped. Their numbers were in black. The structure was curved to form a circle and the guard tower was in the middle. It gave the guard a 360 degree view of the place. And when their shifts changed the elevator inside the guard tower took them a floor below the first tier so they rarely if ever walked in front of the cells.
We were allowed to leave our cells and walk back and forth along our tiers during the day. In case of a fire there were two sets of stairs that were restricted by double glass doors that could only be released by the guards in the tower. We were allowed outside when the weather was nice. There was a library, sort of, that had a couple books.
The administration that we all had to visit once a month for what they called communication development was through the double glass doors, down the stairs and across the long, smooth tiled floor out two other glass doors. A long, yellow hallway lead you to whatever office it was that wanted to see you. The therapy sessions were also down this way as was a very small chapel that could be easily changed to accommodate whatever religion needed the room at whatever time.
I preferred to keep to my cell and if anyone wanted to talk to me, which they did on occasion for a favor or to pay me back for something, they could just come to me.
I had money all the time so the other inmates were happy to do me a couple of favors. Sure there were a few who thought I was just some pretty boy who was being served up on a platter but they soon realized that wasn’t the case.
Just like in the real world, enough money will get you anything. I had better protection on the inside than I ever had on the outside. I also had a few writers in my service here. My fellow inmates couldn’t spell very well but when I showed them a picture of Natasha, well, they let their imaginations run wild and they wrote her lovely letters of what they’d do if they had a woman like her.
Nothing threatening. That kind of letter would be confiscated by the prison administration and then they’d lose some special privilege like watching television or access to the internet.
No, they were just simple letters to let her know she was sort of a celebrity within these walls. And I knew it had to drive my brother crazy to be getting mail from with the prison listed as the return address. It wasn’t like she was Santa Clause and getting sacks and sacks of mail. But every couple of weeks one might trickle through and make into her mailbox.
She will have had that baby by now. I wondered what it was. Secretly, I was hoping for a girl. Girls are so much easier to manipulate. But a boy can be persuaded, too, especially with the right incentive. Trust me. This plac
e is loaded with big, hairy, sweaty, tattooed little boys.
I found them all to be rather pitiful. Not because they were criminals but because so many of them were really sorry for what they had done. The problem was once you let them out of these brick walls and past the fence with the barbed wire along the top they were already planning their next crime whether they were aware of it or not. Once they got home what would they do? They’d eat a home cooked meal, they’d fuck their girlfriend or whatever woman was inevitably waiting for them, and then they were left with nothing but the glaring fact that they had a record, no money and nothing else to do.
But while they were in here they were sorry. They were sorry they robbed Barney’s Liquor store or the Piggly-Wiggly. They were sorry they set fire to Greater Second Baptist Church. They were sorry they raped that sixteen year-old when she was walking home from the bus stop. And, according to the file my prison assigned shrink had started to build about me I was sorry, too, deeply and profoundly sorry that I had caused pain to my family. How could I have done it? Please, Doc, help me understand my own selfish actions.
Deep down I knew what this really was. Prison wasn’t a punishment for me. The Universe had been so good to me that I realized this was just a test.
She wasn’t going to abandon her favorite son now. Not like my family had done. Not like Natasha had done. No. She was just testing me and I planned to excel.
My bank account had been frozen. You can thank Marty for that. Not until I was proven fit to reenter society would the funds be released and even then, according to Bernie, there was a good chance they were going to put me on some kind of strict allowance. Thankfully, Bernie had suggested many years ago setting up an alternative account. I did that. It wasn’t much, just a couple million. Rainy day money is what my dear old dad would call it.
I paid Bernie with that and kept a good number of close friends among the inmates and the guards very happy with a weekly allowance of their own. And all I asked of them was to help me be sorry for my actions.