The Loverboy

by Miel Vermeulen

  had challenged the statement based on that it had been

  incomplete. That was not a valid reason to have it excluded and

  the fact that the statement had been in Spanish was also not a solid ground for exclusion. However the statement had been their

  clever way of interrogating her and she had not been able to

  understand Spanish at the time of the interrogation which meant

  that if even a single word of Spanish was spoken or written

  during the interrogation they should have offered her an

  interpreter which they had not. Therefore the interrogation had

  been illegal and since the statement had been a product of that

  interrogation it should be excluded. Nicandro smiled in

  bewilderment. This was brilliant.

  Part two: He would need to setup a test on the packaging

  the drugs had been in. If they checked for fingerprints they

  would find that hers were on the box but not anywhere on the

  inside of the packaging. The bag that had been in the box would

  produce no such prints. This was not going to declare her

  innocence she realized but it would make her story more viable.

  “How are we going to pay for that?” he had asked and she

  pulled out a large pile of bills and said that this should cover

  it.

  “When was she going to cease to surprise her?” He thought.

  And finally part 3: Part 3 was going to be the hardest of

  all. They would prove that there had been a relationship between

  her and Jake and that he had plotted to set her up. Nicandro frowned at her and said “He won"t admit that, we

  tried.”

  “I need you to set it up that I can call him. Make sure the

  call won"t show up on the caller-ID and we will record the

  conversation. I"ll tell him I got released early and need to

  talk to him about the money. He will get mad about it I am sure

  and tell me it"s gone or that I won"t see a penny of it.

  Something like that and it will establish the relationship” she

  told him.

  He nodded, “That could work.”

  “Then you need to check the flights that we flew on and the

  ticket and hotel transactions” she said, “That will confirm the

  relationship and his efforts to cover it up.”

  “But they did that” he said, “And the tickets were

  purchased with separate credit cards and you sitting next to

  each other had just been a coincidence.”

  She nodded and said “Correct, but we were seated next to

  each other on both flights in. That is a pretty big coincidence.

  Then if you check the transactions for the hotel and the flights

  that were made on separate credit cards I would bet they were

  made within five minutes of each other. Finally you will

  probably see that all bookings were made from a computer with the same IP address. I think all those coincidences together

  will make a pretty strong case.”

  He agreed but told her that she was probably still going to

  be convicted if she got the appeal. She had brought the drugs

  and that in itself was punishable. She agreed and said that she

  knew that and that being a gullible dumb American was not going

  to set her free but she didn"t think she would get sentenced to

  twenty five years again if they could prove that her crime had

  been one of stupidity rather than greed.

  Nicandro agreed and promised to start making arrangements.

  On the next visit he had the results from the finger print tests

  and her prints had not been found anywhere but on the outside of

  the package. Part 1 and 2 were completed. The credit card

  company and airline had been resistant and would not release the

  records of the transactions but he had the call to Jake set up

  for next week. She told him that if the call would go well they

  could use that to get a judge to order the credit card company

  and the airline to release their records.

  The next week they sat down with the phone and recorder

  ready. She was nervous and prayed she would be able to stay

  calm. She had learned to hate him for everything he had done to

  her and for doing even worse to many other girls. She swallowed

  away a lump in her throat as she dialed Jake"s number and there was no answer. She tried again and still no answer then on the

  third attempt, it was answered. She heard his voice and had to

  work hard not to immediately start screaming at him.

  “Hello?” he said.

  She paused and said “Hi Jake.”

  It was quiet on the other side of the line for a few

  seconds.

  “Kim?” he asked and Nicandro"s face lit up.

  That right there was already enough.

  “Yes” she answered, “I just got out and need some money to

  get back to the United States.”

  It was quiet on the other end of the line again as he

  realized his mistake.

  “I don"t know you, leave me alone” he quickly tried to

  cover up and the line went dead.

  She looked at Nicandro and he nodded, “I think it"s enough”

  he said and smiled.

  She tried to smile back but the anger raging in her after

  hearing Jake"s voice prevented it. Nicandro went back to work

  and because the credit company and airline were based in the United States it took a little while before the records were

  released, a month later they arrived. Nicandro came over

  immediately to the prison with the good news. On both flights

  Jake and Kim had been seated together and the credit card

  records showed that the tickets were booked online four minutes

  and thirty-five seconds after each other. The hotel rooms had

  been booked three minutes and twenty-eight seconds after each

  other and all transactions had been done from the same IP

  address and thus the same computer. Nicandro promised to file

  the appeal the next morning and did so but this time with the new facts in it.

  Chapter 26:

  Two months later Nicandro came over unannounced and not on

  his usual schedule and said he had some great news. The appeal

  had been approved and they would go back to court in March. That

  was still six months away but she could live with that. She

  should pursue a legal career he joked but really meant it. She

  smiled and for the rest of the week she could not be happier.

  She knew she wasn"t going to be set free but if they would

  just bring it down to the original ten years then she could be

  out four years after the appeal. Time went fast and Nicandro

  prepared for the appeal like he had never prepared for anything.

  Kim was happy with his efforts and did as much as she could. She

  kept helping the other prisoners with their legal issues and

  even helped Marcella Nunez, the daughter of the cartel leader,

  to get a hearing set up. Marcella had a no visitation order. She

  could not receive any visitors because of the position of her

  father in one of the more notorious drug cartels. Kim had

  arranged a hearing to quash the order based on the fact that she

  was being punished for her father"s crimes. Marcella had offered her gratitude but Kim had stayed away from her as much as

  possible, still it was good to be on Marcella"s good side.

  In n
o time her twentieth birthday came and went and she was

  ready to go to court. The day of the first hearing she was led

  to the bus again with fifteen other inmates. This time she knew

  over half of them and most of those she had assisted with their

  legal problems. She welcomed the bus rides now. It had been two

  years since she had been outside of the prison walls and even

  though she was still confined, it gave her a small sense of

  freedom. It was even cool to see how things looked outside the

  prison. The bad neighborhood they passed through in the

  beginning looked wonderful compared to life in prison. Three

  years ago it hadn"t seemed so nice. They arrived at the

  courthouse and to her disappointment she found out that there

  had been some scheduling issues and her case had been postponed

  to next week. She complained about it but in the end she didn"t

  mind that much. Another bus ride she thought.

  The next week things went better as her case was the first

  one of the morning and they presented all the documentation that

  they based their appeal on. Kim felt much better as she was able

  to follow along. Twice she tried to speak but was shushed by the

  judge and quickly she found out that the lawyers were the only

  ones to speak so she just relayed everything through Nicandro. The prosecutor objected heavily to the new found facts and

  the request to exclude the statement but the judge gave it merit

  and decided that a new trial was in order. The trial would start

  two weeks from now. Nicandro congratulated her and she was

  returned to the holding cells.

  On the first day of the new trial they managed to get the

  statement excluded, which was a major victory. Now she could

  write a new statement to be placed into the file. The new

  statement would be the whole story. She would not be claiming

  innocence but ignorance. She would leave nothing out and it

  would be a lot more favorable than the old statement. The next

  week the new statement was taken into evidence and next they

  started to show how she had been played by Jake. She presented

  the ticket and hotel bookings and along with his statement for

  not knowing her it made for a good argument. They presented the

  results of the forensics on the box and its content and as the

  hearing passed the judge started to look less and less stern

  when he gazed upon her.

  They had had five hearings in total when both sides claimed

  to have presented their cases. The judge excused them and he

  would consider all the documentation and come back with a

  verdict next week. On the bus ride back to prison she felt

  content. She finally felt as if she had gotten a fair trial and while she knew she was still going to be in prison next week

  after the verdict, at least everything would have been said that

  needed to be said and the judge would make his sentencing based

  on all the details rather than a small part of them. According

  to American law she could have hoped for a not guilty verdict

  but not in this environment.

  The next week she got up and had breakfast. After breakfast

  she was led to the bus again and there were only nine others

  this time, the least she had ever seen. One of them was Marcella

  and Kim prayed she would not be chained to her. Sure they were

  on good terms but Kim decided the best way to keep it that way

  was to spend as little time together as possible. The less time

  they spent together the less time she had to say or do the wrong

  thing and piss Marcella off.

  Marcella was not known for being a forgiving soul and she

  had a very short fuse so it seemed best to stay out of the blast

  zone of Marcella"s explosive personality. To her relief her bus

  partner was a young woman barely eighteen years of age and as

  uncomfortable as a nun in a sex shop. She tried to make the poor

  girl more comfortable and it had worked to some extent but Kim

  had been a little preoccupied. For the second time she would

  have her life in the balance. The first time she lost big. This

  time she had nothing to lose and could only improve. One thing that she noticed was that there was a lot of

  activity on the road in the beginning of the drive. There were

  several people on the street and they were all men. Usually it

  didn"t get busy on the streets until closer to the court house.

  But she focused on her case and every now and then she tried to

  comfort the girl sitting next to her.

  In the holding cells she sat down and soon Nicandro came to

  see how she was doing. She admitted she was nervous but

  cautiously optimistic.

  “It can"t get any worse than it is” she said with a smile.

  Nicandro nodded and smiled back. The hearing was just after

  lunch and the judge announced he had made his decision. She

  stood nervously waiting for what would come. For a little bit

  she was afraid she would get another twenty minute lecture on

  Americans corrupting his beloved country. But when he addressed

  her there was no sign of the harshness of last time. He almost

  seemed apologetic as he spoke.

  “I have reviewed all the documents and have come to the

  conclusion that a crime was still committed. There has been an

  attempt to smuggle two pounds of cocaine across our border into

  the United States. There have also been some new facts that were

  introduced but none of them clearly exonerating the defendant and the narcotics were in the defendant"s possession. Based upon

  the Mexican law I have no choice but to find the defendant

  guilty of the attempt to smuggle narcotics”, he said solemnly.

  Then he paused. Kim had expected this part but now was the

  part that she had been fearing and anticipating at the same

  time. She had a hard time keeping herself together.

  The judge continued “However the new facts have shown that

  there are valid reasons to question the level of the defendant"s

  intent or involvement. So I am ruling that the sentence be

  reduced to the minimum sentence allowed for this crime which is

  ten years in prison.”

  Kim couldn"t believe her ears and tears started welling up

  in her eyes. Nicandro hugged her and she felt this weight fall

  from her shoulders. The judge seemed pleased with the reaction.

  She turned to him and stammered a thank you.

  “You will also be eligible for parole after two-thirds of

  your sentence has been served. I am looking forward to seeing

  you in three years Miss Brown” the judge said with a reassuring smile.

  Chapter 27:

  The news of the verdict had already reached the cell block

  in the basement and the other women cheered as she came down.

  Even Marcella seemed genuinely happy for her. This made her feel

  good and she spent the rest of the day dreaming about the day

  she would leave the prison. It would be at least three more

  years but she would still be young enough to make something of

  her life and she could go and see her mom and sister again.

  At the end of the day they were taken out two at a time

  again and transported to the bus. She was chained to Ma
rcella

  this time. She thought about it for a second but she was in such

  a good mood that she could handle being chained to her for an

  hour or so. Hell, she didn"t care what they did this time. The

  first thirty minutes of the ride were quiet and uneventful but

  she noticed Marcella looking around the whole time. She looked

  around too and five minutes later she noticed they were being

  followed by a dark blue beat up Chevy van. They had reached the edge of the city and were heading into

  the less crowded part of town. Five more minutes passed and she

  noticed a truck broken down on the right lane of the road and

  four or five guys working to change the tire of it. The bus

  slowed down and as it moved over to pass the truck safely

  another truck appeared from a side street and blocked the other

  lane. The van stopped right behind and the bus was trapped. The

  guards reacted in surprise and the driver quickly radioed

  someone about the situation. The men that had been changing the

  tires pulled large assault rifles out from behind the tire of

  the truck where they had been hidden and covered their faces.

  The guns were pointed at the bus and the guard refused to open

  the door. A loud chain of noise erupted and glass and blood flew

  everywhere as one of the men shot the guard. The guard slumped

  to the ground in a heap. He was dead. There was no way he could

  have survived that.

  Then the man pointed the gun at the driver through the

  window who quickly opened the door and let the men in and the

  man that had unloaded his gun on the guard walked in first. Then

  he paused as he stood over the guard and Kim could hear a soft

  gurgling noise coming from the guard as he was gasping for a

  breath. The man aimed his gun again and squeezed off a few more

  rounds with no sign of emotion whatsoever and the gurgling sounds stopped immediately. The prisoners all dove behind the

  bench to avoid being shot. Kim tried to duck too but Marcella

  stood up and since they were chained together Kim went up with

  her.

  “Sandro, over here” Marcella yelled excitedly.

  The man looked at her in recognition and nodded. Then he

  pointed his gun at the driver and ordered him to open the caged

  part of the bus where the prisoners sat. The driver complied and