Beautiful Bounty (The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros. Book 1)

by Nightingale, MJ

  Three days of this, and she already had the routine down. She reached for the milk and felt the moisture on the container. Again, she realized it wouldn’t be very cold. The guards never seemed to be in a hurry to deliver meals. The hot stuff was cold, the cold stuff warm. Delish!

  She opened the cardboard container and took a long swallow trying to choke it down. Her stomach needed something, and though not as active as she usually was she found her energy sapping. One more look at the oatmeal, and she knew she couldn’t do it. The milk was already curdling in her stomach. She pushed it away, and reached for the toast and jam. Peeling off the cover on the small plastic packet, she stuck her finger into the gooey contents, and spread the strawberry jelly-like substance across the surface of the barely toasted bread. No knives in jail, not even plastic.

  Her hearing was today, thank goodness. Then she’d be out of here. Out, and ready to fight to prove her innocence. The first day she had been in complete shock and denial. The second day, she’d been a mess, an emotional basket case. But after her visit with her mom, her gumption and fight returned and last night she began putting the pieces of the puzzle together. She was ready to fight.

  Seeing her mom had helped. Tremendously. Her mom was a beacon of strength, had always been. She told her not to worry about bail and a lawyer. She was already on it.

  How could she not worry about those things? Her mom didn’t have that kind of money. But, she was glad for the reassurance anyway, and despite the tell-tale signs, her mom’s red rimmed eyes, the twisting of her wedding band around her finger, Ronnie knew she was worried but trying not to show it.

  Ronnie hated putting any kind of hurt and stress on her mother. Not just the worry, and the fear, but now the economic burden of trying to prove her daughter’s innocence. She’d pay back every penny, she swore to her.

  “Baby, you’re my daughter. My heart. I would do anything for you, you know that.” Her mom reached out putting her palm on the glass partition separating them. Ronnie touched the surface of the glass as well, hating that her hand shook as she placed her palm against the cool surface.

  She had never been in this kind of predicament before, and disappointing her mother was the worst thing of all. Her mom had worked hard, put her dreams on hold, and lived only for Ronnie for twenty years. She was supposed to be making her mom proud that all her hard work had not been in vain.

  Choking back the sob that threatened to come out of her throat, she asked, she had to, “Mom, you believe me, don’t you?”

  “Baby, Veronica, of course I believe you. I have more faith in you than in anything else in my life.” Lou looked into her daughter’s frightened eyes, and wanted more than anything to pull her daughter into her arms, rock her, and chase away the nightmare she was going through. But this wasn’t one of her childhood nightmares that could so easily be chased away with soft soothing words. This was real, and she was terrified for her daughter.

  “Thank-you Mom,” Ronnie sniffed and pushed a blonde strand of hair out of her eyes. “I’ll pay you back for the lawyer, for the bail, everything, some day,”

  “Hey, none of that,” Lou chastised, wanting to build up her daughter’s courage. She knew she raised a strong girl, and she would need to be strong now. They both would.

  After Veronica had described the public defenders response to her, Lou knew getting a lawyer, a good one, was absolutely essential. She also had a person in mind. Her dear friend Ana’s brother-in-law. She had heard stories of his successes in the news. Surely, he would help her for a friend of the family, for his new sister-in-law. Not one to normally ask for favors, Lou would grovel for her daughter, on her knees, on broken glass or hot coals. Whatever it took. “I’ve got a great attorney in mind. Jay is working on the bail now. He went to talk to a bondsman this morning.”

  “Thank-you,” Veronica muttered again, hanging her head in shame. She knew this was critical. The public defender she had been assigned was a total loser in her opinion. He hadn’t asked if she was innocent, probably wouldn’t have even believed her. He had been stiff and formal and quite detached in the brief meeting this morning. In fact, he’d seemed bored and hadn’t even made eye contact.

  A lawyer who believed her was critical. She swore that whatever it took, she would pay her mom back, every last cent, for the bail money too. She had no idea how much a thing like this would cost, but she was determined to do it.

  Ronnie heard the clang of metal and it broke through her thoughts. She knew someone would be coming to pick up her tray soon, and perhaps take her to the showers. She popped the last bit of dry toast into her mouth. She was wrong about the shower. The guard who came to take her tray, left with a brief parting shot. “Hearing in ten minutes, someone will come get you.”

  ***

  Exactly ten minutes later, a new guard entered the corridor and approached her cell. “Veronica Louise Sears?” she asked, checking her paperwork in front of her.

  “Yes,” Ronnie confirmed, and the door slid open at the deputy’s nod to the man on the other side of the corridor through the glass window.

  “Turn,” the female deputy commanded, and Ronnie automatically turned and put her hands behind her back. The woman placed cuffs on her, and holding them loosely steered her out of the cell. As she was led down the corridor, a few other inmates in the county holding facility called after, “Good luck, Blondie,” and “They gonna throw the book at you, drug dealer!” Inside Ronnie cringed, but she didn’t look back, and she held her head high, as high as her five foot four frame could be in prison issued tennis shoes. She was hoping this would be the last time she ever saw a jail cell, yet fearing it wouldn’t because she might not be able to make the bail. She knew real prisons from what she saw on the news and they were definitely worse than this.

  After she was led out of the wing she was in, her thoughts once again turned to her predicament. Just how in hell had she gotten into this horrifying nightmare in the first place? Gary, she thought as her eyes narrowed suspiciously. The Sheriff’s deputy turned her down another corridor and down a flight of stairs that took her to an underground passageway out of the county lock up. They passed several more guards who examined the paperwork without a word and let them pass. Signs and arrows indicated they were going to the Courthouse across the street.

  Just a week ago she was laughing on a beach in Jamaica with her friends, and her boyfriend, Gary. Ex-boyfriend Gary, she reminded herself. God, she had misjudged him! Her mother indicated he hadn’t called though she tried several times to reach him. Ronnie told her mother her suspicions of his possible involvement and Lou’s shock had turned to anger. His family was powerful, and she knew her daughter’s innocence would be even more difficult to prove. They both expressed those feelings, but Lou once again reminded her daughter that this is a fight they would endure to the finish.

  Ronnie never should have gotten back together with him after their last break up. He had begun to bore her, and proved on more than one occasion that he was the spoiled rich kid who expected things to be handed to him on a silver platter. He fooled her at first though. But she had come back to school last year, lonely, still smarting over the “Nikko” affair that had tarnished her summer.

  Gary, for all his faults, was tall, handsome, and athletic. He was Gary the hockey player who shared her interests and her love of the great outdoors. In the beginning anyway. As time went on, he turned into boring Gary, lazy Gary, help me study for finals, let me borrow your notes Gary, and spent more and more of his time playing video games and smoking pot Gary. But for their final year after the break up, he cleaned up his act a bit, needing to graduate he promised to focus on his studies and do better. He had a full schedule of courses he needed to pass. Hell, he wouldn’t even be graduating from University in a week if it weren’t for her help.

  Then another thought occurred to her. Hell! Would she, she wondered for the first time. Surely, she would still get her diploma, all her course work was done, and she aced her exams! She ha
dn’t done three years of schooling, and two summers worth of work, so she could graduate early for nothing, had she?

  Oh God, she hadn’t even thought about that until now. Would she get her Degree in Forrest and Environmental Sciences? Would she be employable as a forest or park ranger? The dry toast she had eaten threatened to come back up as she trailed behind the deputy Sheriff.

  Gary! It all came down to him. Her anger rose, and she stiffened her spine as her rubber soles slapped at the parquet floors. What the fuck had he done! Smuggled pot, cocaine, and heroine on a cruise ship. What an idiot! And, the fuck-tard had stashed it in her belongings, her scuba gear! She was so level headed, planned everything out, and excelled in school, and outdoor activities. She prided herself on excelling, making the right choices. Dumping Gary the first time had been the right choice. Taking him back because he said he’d changed wasn’t. Now, she was paying the price.

  Graduation was just a week away. She’d obviously be missing it, but her god dammed diploma. She wanted that. She wanted her life back. Her future. Her head was swimming.

  The Tampa Bay deputy, who escorted her out of her cell, suddenly stopped and she felt a slight tug on her restraints. Ronnie felt her release the cuffs, and then she turned her around and indicated to Ronnie to put her hands in front. The deputy then reapplied them there. She wasn’t the least bit friendly about it either. And Veronica, Ronnie to her friends, couldn’t blame her. She probably saw all kinds of losers and criminals if her job was escorting people from the county lock-up over to the Courthouse every day.

  Ronnie didn’t even try to engage her in conversation, let alone voice her innocence. She blew a stray pink streak of hair off her face. Hell, she never regretted her highlights until now, but she was rethinking them for sure. Her dirty blond hair, layered, and a bit messy and disheveled from her lack of grooming supplies in jail must look a fright! Added to that was the tangle of knots she had been unable to remove without a comb. Her pink streak would surely impress the judge, she thought miserably! Gad, she might fit the image of a drug dealer, supplier, mule, whatever, she thought, as lead filled her stomach. The charges against her, as told to her by the court appointed attorney, were numerous.

  Deputy Morrison indicated with a tap on her shoulder that Ronnie needed to turn left at the end of the corridor. They were in some back entryway into the Courtrooms now. Ronnie could see the small plaques above the door indicating the numbered courtrooms, and a white board next to each door showed what hearings were being held. Ronnie made the turn the deputy told her to take, and one other orange jumpsuit clad prisoner sat on a bench outside the last door. This must be it, Ronnie thought, and knew she was right when she saw her name on the board.

  “Take a seat. They’ll call when they are ready for you.” The deputy’s voice was dull as dirt as she leaned against the wall next to another officer who apparently was with the other prisoner.

  Ronnie sat next to the other female prisoner who just nodded at her, said nothing, and looked down at her shoes waiting for her own name to be called. Mere seconds later, Ronnie was startled by the squawking metallic box above her that she hadn’t noticed earlier. It announced that prisoner Wanda Jones should be brought into the Courtroom.

  The officer opened the door, and Wanda walked right in and turned to the right without being prompted. Hmm, Ronnie thought, Wanda had been here before it seemed.

  An honor roll student with numerous awards for academic excellence, Ronnie was graduating a year early. She put the time in, taking extra classes, and doing extra field work. In just a week, she should be getting her Bachelors from the University of Maine. But no, instead she was attending a hearing to decide her future, probably would be unable to leave the state of Florida, and would be left to find a way to prove her innocence without anyone to corroborate or back up her story.

  Ronnie waited, and then thought of the interviews she had lined up for the summer. She’d have to cancel them, and say what? Sorry, I’m standing trial for drug smuggling. What was this fiasco going to do to those chances? Her life, just a week ago, was full of possibilities. And now this, she thought dismally. She shook her head to force those negative thoughts out of her mind. Focus on the hearing. One day at a time. Breathe. Justice will be served. That’s all she could hope for right now. Still, Gary came to her mind. He was the key. He’d have his time, she thought ruefully, brown eyes narrowing.

  Her court appointed attorney had not given her much hope. He basically advised she confess, and throw herself on the mercy of the Court. New frigging lawyer, had been her foremost thought, screaming like a freight train in her brain. Luckily, her mother had been able to send her a message this morning that they hired the guy she had in mind; he was out of town, but would be flying in from New York. The message stated he couldn’t be there for the hearing, to plead not guilty to all charges, and he would meet with her tomorrow at her mom’s house after she made bail. Be stoic, not weepy; be polite, the message ended. It was crumpled in her hand in the pocket of her jumpsuit. Stoic. Polite. She kept repeating those words as the internal clock in her mind ticked away the seconds of her life.

  When the court appointed attorney was told by her this morning that she wouldn’t need his services after the hearing, that her new attorney would be meeting her the next day once she made bail, he just laughed. “Bail! Huh, good luck with that!” His scoffing mumbled remark was made as he snapped his briefcase shut, and his metal chair scraped against the concrete floor. Jail sounds were harsh, and everything echoed.

  She felt as if the weight of all that concrete was pressing down upon her, that and the thoughts of facing jail time, long jail time, if her court appointed attorney’s comments were accurate. He told her she could be looking at ten to twenty years for the amount of drugs hidden in her scuba gear.

  Ugh, her thoughts returned to Gary. What had Gary been thinking? Drugs. She had no idea. She, who was usually so perceptive. A lot of drugs! What the hell could he have wanted with all those drugs?

  And she knew it was him too. He had given himself away when the cops at the Tampa Bay Port Authority had come for her. Their friends, who accompanied them on this trip, had disembarked earlier from the cruise ship. They were leaving directly for the airport, while she and Gary had been going to stay with her mom for a few days, and then drive to Maine together for her graduation.

  They had been in a large room, waiting for their luggage, when the police approached. Several of the passengers remarked on such a great number of officers all together and she heard the crowd begin to speculate. When she turned to look for Gary, she didn’t see him immediately. When she turned back to the police they were already upon her.

  “Veronica Louise Sears?” one officer inquired.

  “Yes,” she answered tremulously. She looked around for Gary again and saw him off in the distance, approaching the exit doors with his suitcase. He looked at her and shook his head, his eyes boring into her. She turned back to the police “My boyfriend . . .” she pointed.

  “Is not our concern,” the officer stated and turned her away from him. “You are under arrest for smuggling drugs into the United States of America.” And that’s when she knew it was Gary, and he left her holding the proverbial bag. But why had he done that, her mind screamed.

  “Won’t be much longer,” the deputy muttered looking at her watch. Ronnie was brought out of her thoughts. “These things are pretty quick,” she added.

  Informative, wasn’t she, Ronnie thought sarcastically. The long walk had been done in complete silence and now she wanted to be chatty. Stoic. Polite. The note tight in her hand, damp from perspiration. Ronnie wondered why the deputy gave her that information and gave her a perplexed look. She hadn’t expressed any signs of sympathy before.

  “I could tell you’re a first timer; you look nervous, and you keep looking at everything like it’s the first time you’ve seen it.” Hmm, she might be light duty, but the cop had good instinct and was on her toes. Ronnie nodded, letting
the cop know her assumption was correct, smiled demurely and swallowed the lump in her throat at the first sign of empathy she had been given be anyone other than her mother since this nightmare started.

  Her hand fisted the note. God, she was nervous. She had no idea what to expect next. The internal clock was ticking. Her mom’s last words to her yesterday replayed in her head. “Just a hearing, baby. We’ll figure everything out once you’re home.” Ronnie shook her head. Her poor mother, what she must be going through. She never wanted to disappoint her, ever again. Her mother sacrificed so much for her, and now this.

  She looked up at the deputy who was still watching her. “How much longer do you think?” Ronnie asked nervously.

  “Maybe five minutes. Hearings don’t take long.” Just as she finished saying that, the door opened and Wanda was back.

  “No bail?” asked Deputy Morrison.

  “Not today,” the other deputy replied while Wanda remained silent. “Judge Hitchcock seems a bit grumpy today; Wanda ain’t got that kind of money. Ain’t that right, Wanda?” she stated as she pulled her along.

  “10 G’s for car theft. He’s crazy!” Wanda responded. “It was my boyfriend; I didn’t even steal the damn car.”

  “Well, it was your second time around,” her guard chastised.

  “Yeah, I know, but I ain’t no drug smuggler for god sakes,” she laughed, smirking at Ronnie. Ronnie clamped her mouth shut. Her breakfast almost came up. “Let’s get you back to your cell now. They’ll be coming around for showers soon.”