He smiled and pulled my head onto his chest. When he pressed a kiss to the top of my head, I felt that everything would be all right.
God, how I loved that man.
I could barely breathe asI looked at that son-of-a-bitch sitting on the other side of the courtroom looking smug. There wasn’t anything good about him. He didn’t look as if he had any remorse for what he had done.
“And on the day of the murder, when the victim stopped in your coffee shop, did she seem agitated as if there was a lot on her mind, hostile as—” the prosecution asked.
“Objection! That calls for the witness to testify to the victim’s state of mind, Your Honor. Ms. Temple is not an expert witness in the field of psychology, to the court’s knowledge.”
“Sustained. Please stick to the facts, Mr. Grant. Your witness cannot testify to the victim’s state of mind at the time, but shecan speak on her appearance or conversations held,” the judge ordered.
I knew that no one would be capable of testifying to her state of mind except for me. I had spoken with her the day of her murder. I was the one person who Lena confided in about what she was feeling, what she wanted, and what was going on between her husband and her.
The prosecutor would call me to the stand to shed light on some of the conversations we held while riding around. It was no secret to anyone that Lena and I were close as partners. Just as sure as I was that the prosecutor would call me to the stand, I was equally sure that the defense would have questions for me.
My stomach tumbled every time I considered that. I had no idea what he knew or what he had uncovered. I only wished I was privy to the final conversation that Paul and Lena had on her last day. I wished that I knew what she told him.
Lena could be a firecracker when she became pissed. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if she had said some things to purposely hurt him, if he was being cruel to her. Although she had been extremely protective of our relationship, knowing that she was leaving him for good, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she had thrown it in his face.
That would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Paul. That would have been the one thing, paired with knowledge of our unborn child, that would have sent him spiraling over that edge he loved dancing on.
Her husband came across as a meek and mild-mannered type of man to most people, but I knew that he could be a brute when they were behind closed doors. I had visited their home on a few occasions, and I had caught a glimpse of his behavior up close and personal. He had tried to hide it, but there were some things that you just couldn’t hide, especially from a man like me, whose nature was to uncover the truth.
I continued listening to the testimony given by the coffee shop employees. The building she lived in was above the coffee shop, and Lena had stopped in there twice the day of her murder, as was her habit. When the prosecutor presented text messages exchanged between her and Paul, I wanted to weep. The prosecution had been able to confirm that the time the text messages were sent matched the time that Lena was shown on camera during her first visit at the coffee shop.
The text messages were shown on a monitor for the room to see. We also were able to see the video feed in the coffee shop and see her reaction to the text messages as they came through. The judge stated at the beginning that he refused to make a mockery of this trial or trivialize Lena’s life, but I hated seeing her life wide open like this for everyone to see.
He stated that as she had sworn to protect and to serve her community while she was living, and now that she was gone, he would protect her legacy. That made my heart glad.
I glanced at Joanna Jones sitting beside me. Lena’s mom was the picture of elegance and grace as she held her head high and listened to testimony. I knew that Lena always said her mother didn’t care for Paul nor did she trust him, but she was always gracious to the man.
She was a woman who had great faith and believed in loving her enemies and praying for those who persecuted her. I wasn’t sure that my faith was as strong as hers, because the only thing that I wanted to do was crush my enemy and snatch the breath out of his lungs by squeezing his neck and breaking all seven cervical vertebrae.
I wanted to feel that last gush of hot breath expelled from his lungs while he looked into my eyes. I wanted him to know that he was taking his last breath, and that he would be dying while he looked into my eyes. He would be dying for killing Lena and my unborn child.
My sisters and brothers in blue packed the courthouse. Today was the first day of the trial. Some were pressed against the back walls along the courtroom, but I sat up front beside Mrs. Jones. She must have felt the negative energy emanating from me, because she didn’t speak a word. She simply reached out her hand and patted mine.
I turned my hand over, and she locked her fingers with mine and squeezed them. Not once did her posture or facial expression change. She maintained her same calm demeanor that she held all day.
I was thankful that I didn’t have to work a shift today. I had gotten special permission to get a day off that I wasn’t supposed to have initially. Now that I was working in the cybercrimes department, I didn’t have the same perks of first-come PTO as I did when I was still in patrol. I was the low man on the totem pole, so my requests came second to everyone else’s.
My former supervisor had spoken to my new one and informed him what was going on. I had been granted the next few days off, and for that, I was thankful. I would be at the courthouse before the day began and the first one in the seats in the front row. I would watch as Paul Ward was marched into the courtroom shackled, and I would make sure that he saw me before he saw anyone else.
“Hey, baby. You’re home,”Sevyn greeted me, looking over her shoulder as I stepped into my house.
I headed straight into the kitchen, wrapped my arms around my woman’s waist, and kissed her.
“How was your day, babe?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“It was great. I connected with a couple of people who will be instrumental in giving me contracts for those training workshops I wanted to host. But enough about me. How are you holding up? How did the trial go today? Did they call you to the stand to testify?”
“No. Not yet. I’m not looking forward to it. It’s hard enough watching her family go through having to watch this three-ring circus, let alone adding to their pain by talking about what a great partner and friend she was.”
“Don’t worry about it, baby. I’m sure that no matter what, the jury will find him guilty of murdering your partner.”
She stared at me with empathetic eyes. I had told her a while back that my partner had been murdered, but she had no idea that she was murdered the same night that she lost her husband, or that I had been involved with her. She had no idea that the woman I had been crying over and grieving was my former partner.
“I hope so, baby. You should have seen her mother. That woman is to be admired. She carried herself with so much elegance and grace. I think that she’s already extended mercy to the man, even though I don’t believe that he’s deserving of it.”
