by Honey
“I hear your predictions, Ms. King. But will your brother say in a court of law, under oath, that he believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were insane at the time you ordered a hit on him?”
Jay leaned back confidently in her chair and stuck out her chest. “I know he will. Trust me. He’ll say it, or some family secrets will be leaked to the media.”
“And what is it that you think Mrs. Venus Morris will say?”
“Oh, V will say I’ve had mental issues for a long time. And she’ll admit that her pregnancy and our breakup contributed to it. We’ve got history. There’s a little secret that Mrs. Morris wouldn’t want to come out in court. You can count on her to be very cooperative.”
Mr. Rice scribbled something on his legal pad. “Is Reverend King aware that he’ll be asked to delve into his criminal past? When he shared it with me, I got the distinct feeling he didn’t like to talk about your mother’s murder or his incarceration. He said he had come forward only to help you.”
“Well, damn it, he better get ready to help me again.”
“Ms. King,” Mr. Rice said, removing his glasses from his eyes, “I want you to understand that even if these witnesses say exactly what you believe they will, we are still at a disadvantage. The State has a real strong case against you. As your lead attorney, I must advise you that a plea bargain is the best way to end this. You’re facing felony charges. I can work out a deal with Mr. Lugar wherein you’ll be looking at seven years, but you’ll serve only five at the most. But if we go to trial and lose, you’ll be sentenced to twelve to fifteen years. And believe me, you will serve twelve to fifteen years.”
“I’ll take the gamble.”
After Jay’s attorney left, the wheels inside her head began to turn. She could only imagine the look on Zach’s face once he learned she had been using his ass. He would have a choice to make. He’d have to go along with her scheme in order to protect his precious Nahima, or he’d be responsible for the exposure of her true parentage. Venus and Wallace were about to catch hell too. But they would cooperate to cover their asses.
* * *
“What is it, Zachary? Who was that man?” Jill tried to peer over his shoulder to read the papers he’d just removed from a big brown envelope.
Zach closed the front door and brushed past her. Jill followed him into the den, with Zachary Junior in her arms. Something was terribly wrong. Since yesterday, when Wallace had called to say he was coming to Atlanta early next week, Zach had been on edge. He hadn’t shared anything with her about the private conversation with his father, but she could tell from his facial expressions and mannerisms that things weren’t quite right. Nothing was normal in their family now that Zach had committed himself to becoming Jay’s superhero. Jill was about to take a seat on the sofa next to her husband when the doorbell rang for the second time in five minutes.
“I’ll get it.” She hurried to the door and opened it. Venus stood on the stoop, with bloodshot eyes, holding a brown envelope identical to the one that had just been delivered to Zach. “Come in, Venus. Oh my goodness, you seem upset. Zach is in the den. Come with me.”
Jill became very worried and wanted to scream. Something was going on, and she had no idea what it was. She left Venus and Zach alone in the den so they could have a private discussion about the papers in the mysterious envelopes. Jill sat at the bottom of the steps, quietly rocking Zachary Junior to sleep. Venus was visibly shaken and had clearly been crying before she arrived. She was still crying now as she spoke to Zach. Jill decided to go upstairs and wait for her husband to come and tell her what was going on.
* * *
Zach was surprised to find Jill asleep in their bed when he finally came upstairs a few hours later. He had gone to the nursery first to look for her so they could talk. “Jill, wake up, baby. I need to say some things to you.” He sat on the side of the bed, close to her.
“What’s the matter, Zachary?” Jill sat up and searched his face. “Tell me what is wrong.”
“You were right. Every warning you gave me about Jay was on point. She was using me.”
“What do those papers say?”
“It’s a witness-profile summary. Jay wants me to alter my testimony on her behalf so it won’t be so damaging. She gave her defense team some information she wants me to say to help her. It’s some bullshit I won’t feel comfortable saying.”
“What exactly are you talking about, Zachary?”
“Jay wants everyone to know she’s Nahima’s biological mother, and that Nahima’s birth caused her to suffer from depression. She wants to drag Venus and me into court to confess that crap in front of all those damn strangers! And what she wants to do to my father is unforgivable after all he’s done for her crazy, ungrateful ass! Jay expects Daddy to take total responsibility for her state of mind because he accidentally killed our mother. Why would she want him to rehash that nightmare?”
“Don’t do it, Zachary. You, Papa King, and Venus need to be strong and refuse to do what Jay is asking. Where I come from, we call what she’s doing blackmail.”
“Jay is smarter than that. She didn’t issue a direct threat to any of us, and neither did her attorneys. The information was mentioned in the narrative summaries we each received as a warning. All our family’s secrets are gonna come out in court somehow. Whether we testify or not, Jay’s defense team will use the information in any way possible to help her. It’s a no-win situation for our family, especially for Nahima. All her life we’ve protected her, and now it’s gonna come down to this.”
“God will protect Nahima. Do not worry about her at this time. You, your father, and Venus need to hire an attorney to represent you. Let him advise you of your options. A good attorney can guide you in the right direction.” Jill hugged Zach tight, trying to take away some of his pain.
“Aren’t you gonna say it?”
“What am I supposed to say, Zachary?”
He leaned back in her embrace to look into her eyes. “Say it. ‘I told you so.’”
Jill shook her head and kissed him tenderly on the lips. “I will not say that, but you should always listen to the woman who loves and respects you. I would never tell you anything wrong.”
Chapter Forty-nine
Christmas and New Year’s Day passed without much fanfare. Zach and Jill spent most of their first holiday season together as husband and wife in the comfort of their home with their son. They celebrated Christmas Eve at Aunt Jackie’s house, surrounded by uncles, aunts, and cousins, laughing and talking over a traditional holiday meal. Not a soul mentioned Jay or the upcoming trial. Everyone focused on good times and hoped for better days in the New Year. The atmosphere was peaceful, relaxing, and full of cheer.
But Jay experienced a staggering loneliness in the confines of her jail cell. For the first time in her life, she was forced to face her demons. Every person whom she’d ever loved was no longer a part of her life. They had all left her behind to build new lives with new lovers, leaving her all alone. Jay felt the throb of being abandoned by her family, with Zach leading the way and Aunt Jackie trailing right behind him. Mr. Rice had informed her a few days before Christmas that he had not spoken to Wallace in weeks, although he’d been making every effort to reach him.
The therapist Jay had been seeing three times a week since her release from the hospital had given her an assignment. She’d asked Jay to take inventory of her character flaws and entertain the possibility that she had pushed away certain family members and loved ones. That advice had fallen on deaf ears. Jay had been playing the victim for so long that it was impossible for her to view herself in any other way. In her mind, it was now her against the world in the fight of her life to avoid a prison. Come hell or high water, she planned to stick to her claim that Zach and Jill’s betrayal had driven her insane, to the point that she’d ordered a hit on him. And she hoped God, the judge, and the jury would have mercy on her.
* * *
Zach, Wallace, and Venus sat in a row of id
entical scroll-back chairs and watched Kirk Orowitz review their subpoenas and witness-profile summaries. He strummed his fingertips on top of his cherrywood desk as he flipped through the stacks of papers. It was Zach’s first time meeting the young Jewish attorney, and he liked him already. Venus and Charles had assured him and his father that Kirk was just the man to help them kick Jay’s ass once and for all.
“Well, well, well, Ms. King and her legal team think they’re pretty damn smart, do they?” Kirk shuffled the documents into a neat stack and pushed them to the right-side corner of his desk. “I happen to think I’m a hell of a lot smarter. You see, girlfriend failed to mention to Mr. Rice that there is a restraining order in place forbidding her from having contact with Mrs. Morris. That includes even through a third party. That subpoena is invalid. Honey, you ain’t even gotta show up for the big dance.”
Venus smiled and looked at Zach and then Wallace. “So how do we keep them from mentioning anything about Nahima being Jay’s biological child?”
Kirk snapped his fingers and gave Venus a big smile. The brilliant diamonds in his pinkie ring sparkled under the overhead light. “I’ve got a combination of things working for us on that one. Let me break it down for y’all. For starters, Nahima is off-limits because she’s covered under that same restraining order. Then we have the closed-records law and the medical confidentiality act. Thank God for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Hallelujah!” Kirk threw both his hands in the air. “The DA will not let Mr. Rice and his posse go there. Know what I’m sayin’?”
“How will all that protect Nahima?” Zach asked.
“Ms. King has done a poor job keeping her dream team up to speed. She has no records whatsoever to prove that Nahima Lawson is her biological child. They simply don’t exist. She could probably get her hands on her own medical records to prove that she had some eggs extracted from her girlie parts, but then what? The other half of the process is under Mrs. Morris’s medical records. And bam! In your face! HIPAA forbids them from going there.”
“What if Jayla’s attorney petitions the court for a DNA test to be done on my granddaughter?” Wallace asked.
Kirk popped his lips and put on a somber face. “It ain’t gonna happen, Papa, and I’ll tell you why. This is a criminal case, not an episode of The Maury Povich Show! Who gives a damn about DNA? Mr. Lugar will argue that it has no relevancy whatsoever to the criminal proceedings. How can a child you abandoned five years ago and refused to keep in contact with cause you mental anguish? Honey, please!” Kirk waved his hand. “I have the transcripts from the case that settled the custody issue when Nahima was an itty-bitty baby. Ms. King was MIA. She threw up deuces and bounced.”
“Yeah, she did, and she never asked to see Nahima again. Jay’s been in Atlanta over a year now, and she’s seen that little girl only one time. And it was by mistake at my house one morning. She went completely off on me for having my niece in my house.”
“Don’t worry, my good people. None of this crap will make it inside the courtroom. I’ll confer with Mr. Lugar and his crew, and we’ll eighty-six all of it during pretrial motions.” Kirk shot Wallace a forlorn look. “Unfortunately for you, Papa, you’ll probably have to take the stand. I don’t see any way around it. You see, the information you provided voluntarily to Mr. Rice on your daughter’s behalf is considered a confession. He can call upon you to repeat it before the jury. You’re not guilty of doing anything wrong, sir. You paid your debt to society a long time ago. I think you’re a wonderful father to have come to Ms. King’s rescue the way you did. I don’t think she deserved it, but we can’t change that now.”
“I don’t regret telling Mr. Rice about my past. It’s accessible by public records anyway. He could’ve easily researched my case and learned some things. What I offered him was insight into how my crime affected my daughter. If I have to repeat it in court, I will.”
Kirk smiled at the trio sitting across from him. Then his blue eyes settled directly on Zach. “You, my brother, will be hit hardest of all. You’re the victim in this disaster, but they’ll try to villainize you. Yeah, man, they’re gonna make every attempt to force you into confessing that you pushed your sister into the cuckoo’s nest. It sounds whack, but it’s a fact, Zach.”
“I don’t give a damn. So long as Nahima comes out of this crap unscathed, I don’t care. But you better believe me when I say that I’m not gonna take responsibility for Jay’s actions. I’ll tell the truth. Yes, I betrayed her by having an affair with Jill behind her back. I hurt her deeply, humiliated her even, but I did not deserve to die. I tried to make things right between us, but Jay wasn’t interested. She wanted my blood.”
“And since then he’s reached out to her. He’s been visiting her in jail and sending her money.” Wallace patted Zach’s shoulder. “Tell him, son. Your marriage was on the rocks because you tried to support Jayla.”
“I initiated contact with my sister after she tried to take her own life. We talked at least once a week after that, until she pulled her latest stunt. My marriage did suffer because of it, but Jill and I are back on track now.”
“All of this will show how vindictive and manipulative Ms. King is. It’ll poke holes all up and through her little psycho act. Don’t worry about a thing, my good people, because Kirk O has got y’all. Mrs. Morris, you’re free to leave, darling. I’ll be in touch. King and King will have to hang with me a little while longer, so I can school them on a few things about the witness stand.”
* * *
Attorney Rice had sent Paul Ford, one of his young associates, over to the jail to update Jay on her case. The last time he had met with her personally, they’d ended up in a shouting match. Her already weak insanity claim was now on life support, and Mr. Rice was pushing her to cop a plea deal. But Jay was hell bent on going the distance. Out of the group of witnesses she’d handpicked to testify in her defense, only one stood a chance of scoring any points on her behalf, and that was her father. And even his testimony alone wouldn’t be enough. Jay’s entire legal team had warned her that Zach and Fudge were going to be almost impossible to trip up during cross-examination, because their hands were basically clean. Mr. Rice had expressed his concern that a jury would not be impressed with him badgering the murder target on the stand, but Jay totally disagreed. She wanted him to twist her brother’s neck until he accepted some responsibility for driving her insane.
Mr. Ford didn’t have any good news to report to Jay on his visit one week before her trial. And she was pissed off with him, Mr. Rice, and her entire defense team.
“Let me get this straight. Y’all ain’t gonna cross-examine Zach?”
Mr. Ford shook his head and flipped nonchalantly through the case file. “We will, but not the way you want us to.”
“Why can’t y’all ask Zach about his trip to Jamaica to visit me and Jill? Make him tell you how he seduced her in our penthouse while I was working like slave! When we moved here and were living in his house, Zach and Jill were having sex behind my back but were smiling in my face. That’s enough to drive anyone crazy. My brother came into our bedroom one night while we were making love, and stopped us because he said we were too loud. He’s a freak! Zach betrayed me, and it messed with my head. What he and Jill did to me is unforgivable! They drove me crazy!”
“Ms. King, there is an in-depth psychological evaluation of you that says you are indeed sane. A psychiatrist with over thirty years of expertise in criminal behavior is going to testify on behalf of the State that you are no more crazy than I am. His report supports the theory that you are a conniving, manipulative, self-absorbed criminal who carefully orchestrated murder for hire on your brother. How the hell do you suppose we get around that, Ms. King? And why didn’t you tell us that you stole five thousand dollars from the Seven Seas? Didn’t you think that would come to light at some point?”
Jay had forgotten about the money she’d borrowed from her job. She hadn’t expected them to discover it until their next
audit in March. By then, she had planned to have paid it back. “I don’t recall taking money from the Seven Seas,” she said point-blank. She crossed her legs and glared at Mr. Ford.
“Well, we have evidence that you took five thousand dollars from a special event’s account. No one else could have done it besides you. Here is a copy of the transaction slip from when you transferred the money from the account to another one, right before it was reported missing by the accounting department.” Mr. Ford held the paper out to Jay.
She folded her arms across her chest and looked away. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Mr. Ford shook his head and released a breath. “Have it your way, but you’re digging a hole so deep that you’re going to need a crane to pull yourself out. We will lose this case, and it’s going to be your fault. I suggest you enter a plea before it’s too late.”
“I suggest that you, Mr. Rice, and the whole damn team do your fucking job and get me off!”
Chapter Fifty
Zach frowned. “I’m not sure how I feel about Aunt Jackie going to court this morning. I suppose she should be there. She did raise Jay and me. I consider her to be our mother, and I’ve always treated her with the utmost respect. Jay, on the other hand, would get mad at her for any little thing and would go weeks without speaking to her. She hasn’t been in contact with Aunt Jackie since the day she found out you were pregnant. Jay called her and cursed her out for not telling her we were expecting. That was the last time they spoke to one another.”
“Maybe your aunt wants to show Jay her support regardless of their estranged relationship,” Jill responded. “She loves your sister very much, despite the fact that Jay is very wicked. You can love a person but hate their behaviors. Don’t you think that’s possible?”