“What? I?”
“Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in a court of law.”
“What are you talking about?”
He produces a bag of pills and powders that I’ve never seen before and passes them to the officer behind him. I feel panic like I’ve never felt it before.
“Where did you find that?” I shriek.
“In your gym bag.”
The only gym bag in my car belongs to Kace. I know he smokes, but I’ve never seen him with anything like these.
I don’t think he’d be careless enough to leave these in my car anyway. Did he mess up? Is he selling? I don’t know what the hell to think, as I’m being stuffed into the back of the police car and escorted off to the police station.
36
Kace
“Kace!”
Who the hell is that and where’s the fire?
I make my way to the front of the clinic. The voice sounds female, but it’s not Janey. It’s not Doctor Harding or Suzanna either.
When I get to the hallway, I see a flurry of maroon and gold hair. Cori.
“Hey. Everything alright?”
Cori’s answer doesn’t come in words. As soon as I’m within reach her hand comes flying forward, stinging the side of my face like a thousand fire ants. To say that I’m shocked would be putting it lightly.
“What the fuck?”
“She vouched for you,” Cori bellows. “She swore for you. She disrespected our dad for you and this is how you repay her?”
Everything inside me is immediately on edge.
“What happened? Where’s Janey?”
“She got arrested for possession of your crap.”
“Possession? Of what? I don’t have anything that...”
“Really? Fentanyl? Heroin? None of those are things to be charged for?”
She raises her hand to hit me again, but I catch it mid-air. “Whatever you think you found, it’s not mine.”
“Sure. Whatever. You need to get the hell down to the police station and claim your bag and then tell the police that the drugs aren’t hers. You need to get my baby sister out of jail, do you understand me?”
“Jail. What the hell?”
I look up and Mr. White Mercedes is standing in the doorway sneering at me. “I told Mr. Bradshaw to get rid of you. I knew it was only a matter of time before you would get her into trouble. I knew you were no good the day I met you.” The scorn on his face would ordinarily lead me to violence, except this time he’s actually right and I deserve it.
Shit.
I mentally kick myself as I climb into Cori’s car and she speeds to the police station, swearing at me the entire time.
Janey must hate me. How the hell did this happen? I don’t even handle products. I’ve never been trusted to sell products, so how the hell did they end up in my bag?
That doesn’t make any sense.
Did the cops plant drugs on Janey?
That’s highly unlikely.
As for the gym bag - I’ve been using the same one for weeks and I’ve never once seen any trace of drugs in it, let alone the mix that Cori’s talking about. And unless the bag is by my side, it’s in Janey’s car. How the fuck would anyone be able to plant anything on me?
Fentanyl and Heroin?
That’s Da’Costa specific so even if it were possible, I don’t imagine it’s Lucas. Not unless Gabe gave him the drugs to plant on me, but where would he have found my bag?
Janey’s car is a fortress so I know he couldn’t have broken in.
What am I overlooking?
“Are you even listening to me?” Cori asks and I glance over at her.
“No. I’m trying to figure out who’s trying to frame your sister.”
“Janey has no enemies”
Ah shit.
“No. She doesn’t, but I do. My brother pulled down on me right after your dad kicked me out. I thought he would be more direct than this, so he didn’t even cross my mind.”
Well played, brother.
We pull into the precinct and enter the building in a rush. It doesn’t take long before we spot Mr. Bradshaw, fuming and yelling at everybody in sight. When he spots me, his focus changes and he starts charging towards me immediately.
“I told you to stay away from her.”
Cori steps in between us. “I’m pissed off too, but you can’t help Janey if you get locked up.”
If daggers were made from eyes, I’d be bludgeoned to death from across the room. This man hates me without question, and I deserve it.
“Excuse me,” I walk up to the guard on duty and explain the situation to her.
“So, it’s your bag?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“What was it doing in Miss Bradshaw’s car?”
“I didn’t want to take it in with me to work.”
“Why didn’t you leave the bag at home?”
I did.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Could you go ahead and release Janey?” Mr. Bradshaw cuts in and asks the only question I have.
“Well when bail is set, we can right go ahead and do that.”
“He’s confessing to the charge.”
“That does not exonerate Miss Bradshaw or negate her involvement in either the act of possession or the intention to distribute.”
“She had nothing to do with any of this,” I try to explain, but she’s not accepting my confession as sufficient grounds to release Janey and it’s starting to look like she’ll have to be here for a little while until bail has been granted.
This move feels far too calculated for Cain and, without Josh, that only leaves one other person, but that only throws a bigger wrench into everything.
Cain was right about one thing.
Everything around me is starting to fall apart and I have no fucking clue where to begin picking up the pieces.
37
Janey
If Kensington had a little brother, this holding cell would be it.
There’s a roach putting in some serious mileage across the floor and a whole line of ants going up and down a nearby wall. The lady across from me has the most dreadful cough and I think the one beside me might be dead.
I’ve seen a lot of movies where people get taken away to prison and I don’t remember seeing any of these special effects.
Dad should be here by now. As the minutes roll by, I find myself becoming more anxious about everything. I’m pretty sure my father is going to kill Kace when he finds him - if Cori doesn’t do it first. I’m afraid of the accomplice charges that are bound to arise even if Kace confesses.
The lady stretched out on the bed beside me turns and I jump up and head over to the bars. There’s a guard scrolling through Facebook, sitting outside the cell. I wonder briefly if I could ask her to hand me my cell.
I take a deep breath and I’m grateful that, at the very least, the air is breathable, if only that woman would stop coughing.
How long have I been in here now?
I scan the outer cell for a clock, but I don’t see one anywhere and I’m really starting to worry that I’ll be in here all day. I can tell that the sun is still out so it’s still daytime, which is good. The last thing I want is to have to bunk next to dead and loudly ailing over there.
“Honey si’ down. Ain’t nobody coming to see you.” Loudly ailing calls out to me and I turn to her and give her a weak smile.
“Do you have the flu?” I ask politely.
“Nah. I’ve had this cough for a long while now. Gotten used to it.”
“Oh.”
I really need to get out of here. I need a shower and a vaccine or something.
There’s a loud and slightly wet sounding emission from the other side of the room and I cover my face with my blouse and try my best not to throw up in my mouth.
Whoever said jail wasn’t a good deterrent from a life of crime has clearly never met these two. I’m pretty determined to stay on the straight and narrow for the rest of my life at t
his point.
My mind anxiously finds its way back to Kace. I don’t want him to wind up in a place like this. Aren’t the male cells generally worse than the female ones?
What could be worse than this?
I’m pretty sure he’s worried about me too and I just wish I could talk to him to find out what exactly is going on. I know my dad and I know despite my flare up he’ll get me out of this one way or another, but Kace literally has no one. Who will fight for him besides me? There’s nobody who cares enough to get him out of a situation like this, though I’m quite sure the line waiting to get him into this mess is pretty long. I know everyone is already assuming that he’s guilty, but I know he isn’t and… fuck, I just need to see him.
I crouch down and sit on my sweater by the bars, waiting to see someone and trying to stay out of the line of fire of farts and possible projectile.
I need to figure out how this happened. That bag was always in my car or in my room or with him. I’ve seen him go through it several times and I remember dumping it out to do laundry at one point. There has never been so much as a cigarette inside, let alone a massive ass bag of heroine.
I close my eyes and start to meditate in the cell, blocking out everything and trying to pull all the events of the last few days together. From what he’s told me, the possible suspects are Lucas and his cronies, and his brothers.
It’s actually a pretty short list.
For some reason, I really don’t think it’s Lucas and I don’t know that he’s been around any of his brothers since they kicked him out so how...wait…
“Janey Bradshaw?” I hear the guard call out my name and my eyes fly open.
“Yes?” I scramble to my feet, following a heavy jingle of keys.
Dad enters the holding area just as my cell gate opens.
Oh thank God!
I’m so happy to see him. I run out and wrap my hands around him and he hugs me back tightly.
“I was able to get the charges dropped,” he says, and I beam up at him.
“Really? How?”
I know he’s a great lawyer, but I didn’t know he was this amazing.
“Friend of a friend in the PPO.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. Also, your friend confessed so the charges were transferred to him and -”
“He’s innocent, dad.”
“Janey,” he sighs. I know he’s had a rough day, but Kace has had a rough life and I will not let his brothers win. Not without some kind of a fight.
“He’s innocent dad, I’m telling you.”
“Janey, you saw the drugs. How can you seriously say he’s innocent? Are you seriously that naive?”
I step back, offended, but I say nothing. We’re just on the road to mending and I don’t want to tip the bucket over, but I know what I know.
“I’m not naive. I’m just properly informed. More informed than you are.”
“Well it’s out of our hands now. He’s in lock up and they’ll process him accordingly.”
They have him in lock up?
I glance over my shoulder at the two ladies and cringe at just the thought of what his cell looks like.
“I want to see him.”
“That’s not allowed.”
“Dad. Please.”
He sighs frustratedly and after what feels like forever, he nods.
38
Janey
I can barely stand still as the guard opens the gate to allow me into the holding area. What’s happening right now doesn’t just feel surreal, it feels downright impossible.
I run ahead of dad who is lagging behind me. He’s not at all okay with me seeing Kace, but after our heart to heart earlier he knows he can’t put his foot down on this one. There are things he doesn’t know just as much as there are things he wants to protect me from; right now, he’s doing the only protecting he can. Being here with me, while I fight through this new battle life has thrown at me. Even if that battle involves the person he thinks he needs to protect me from. I’ll change his mind on that, though. Soon enough, he’ll realize that Kace is not the enemy here.
“Kace?!”
“Janey?” He walks up to the bars and I’m relieved to see him, but that lasts for a second as I scan his cell.
There are five guys inside and there’s barely any sitting room. Someone threw up on the floor and I can smell it even from here.
“Janey, I’m so sorry-”
“I’m getting you out of here,” I cut him off.
He shakes his head, the sorrow in his eyes so deep I feel like I’m drowning. “Janey,” he whispers. “I got you locked up. What more proof do you need that I’m bad for you? You should go be with your family. Forget about me.”
“No,” I say, my voice matter-of- fact.
“You’re insanely stubborn. Do you know that?”
“I also know that you’re innocent. I know that your brother did this. You told me he’d come after me to hurt you and…”
“What?” Dad explodes and I glance over at him.
“I told you, dad...I’m more informed than you are.” My response is quiet, but dad hears it loud and clear.
Across the room, I can practically feel him stewing. But as I turn my attention back to Kace, he keeps his thoughts to himself. We’ll have a lot to discuss later. As though today and yesterday didn’t hand us more turmoil than we needed in this lifetime.
“Kace,” I say, “why are you confessing and you know it’s not yours? Why not fight it?”
“Janey, what’s always been my number one concern?”
I feel my eyes welling up with tears as my bottom lip starts to tremble.
“Hmm?” he asks softly.
I sniffle as the tears start to streak my cheek and land on my heaving chest. “That I’m safe.”
“But who is going to keep you safe, Kace?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s already too late for that.”
He shifts a small smile onto his face. “You should go home, Janey Bradshaw.”
“Please tell them it’s not yours.”
“Nobody will listen to somebody like me. Cain knew that when he did this. I think that’s the message he wanted to send across. I chose you over them and they just needed to remind me of who I am.” He sighs. “And he knew I’d do anything to get you out of this mess.”
“Well he didn’t count on one thing,” I whisper.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to do the same for you. We have a few months before graduation and you’re going to be there.”
He smiles. Finally. A real smile.
“Time to go, Janey,” dad calls after me and I sigh.
I look back, but I don’t move. “It’s okay,” Kace assures me. He’s wrong, of course. None of this is okay.
Squeezing my hand, Kace shifts a smile onto his lips. There’s nothing convincing about it and the sadness in his eyes agree. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more hopelessness in anyone’s eyes. If I wasn’t determined before, I know now, that I’ll get him out of this mess if it’s the last damn thing I do.
Kace is nothing like his brothers. He has promise and they have an expiration date. They don’t get to decide what he does or who he becomes.
He chose to have a future.
He chose to dream again.
He chose me.
And I am not going to sit down and just watch as things crumble around him.
The drive back home is awkwardly quiet. My father doesn’t know what to say, and I’m at as much of a loss for words as he is. Whether or not his offer for Kace to stay with us is still on the table, I’m not sure. What I do know, however, is that now is unfortunately not the time to worry about that. As long as Kace is in jail, we won’t have to worry about that.
I sigh deeply and keep my head pointed out the window. Only a few moments ago, I felt like I had my freedom taken from me. If I’m this relieved to be out of the stink house, I can only imagine the kind of claustrophobia th
at will overwhelm Kace in the next few minutes…seconds…hours. Hell, who knows how long it’ll be before we’re able to get him out. All is not lost, however. My father, who I’m hoping is up for convincing, knows the law like the back of his hands. If there’s anyone who is equipped to fight for Kace, it’s him.
My phone rings, breaking me away from my thoughts. I look at the screen, disappointed that it’s not Kace, though I’m not sure why I thought it would be possible for him to pick up a phone and call at his will.
“Cori,” I say, pressing the phone against my ear.
“Oh my god, you’re okay? Where are you? Are you safe? Hungry? Do you need me to get you anything?” She’s a rambling mess, completely and wholly overprotected like the mother hen she’s about to become.
“I’m fine. No, I’m not hungry, but I am militant.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. I can’t believe he would do something like that!”
“He didn’t.”
“He confessed, Janey.”
“He confessed to get me out, Cori. That’s it.”
She sighs, the way dad does when he knows he’s walking against a far too stable wall. “Look… I know you love him and whatever, but-”
“Listen,” I cut her off because I’m tired of everybody misjudging him and I can’t stand another second of it. I get it, first impressions mean a heck of a lot and Kace – by no fault of his own – is making the opposite of a good impression. “He’s innocent, okay. With everything I’ve told you, you don’t think I know him well enough by now?”
“People can surprise you.”
“True. But if you think about it, you’ll see that it was a setup. How did they even know to check my car? It’s not like somebody pulled me over. They got a report that I was in possession of drugs. Not a report that Kace was in possession of drugs. Me. Janey Bradshaw. The cop called me by name, Cori. You were there. You heard it. He came there for me. I’m telling you that Kace didn’t do this.”
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