Von was in the SUV waiting all that time. He was strumming his fingers on the steering wheel he was so nervous. What was taking so long? Why wasn’t Hawk coming out with his sister by now? He looked at his watch again. It had been three hours. He had every mind to go into that police station and give all those racist crackers a piece of his mind!
But Hawk saw how amped-up Von was and had already ordered him to remain in his SUV. He would handle it, he made clear. But damn. What was taking so long???
But just as Von leaned his head back against the headrest, with his neat braids piling around his handsome face, he saw those doors to the Brackenridge Police Department open, and then he saw Hawk, with his arm around Janita’s waist, walking out.
“Thank you, Jesus!” Von cried out in joy. He removed his seatbelt and was about to hop out.
But then he saw his sister’s face. Those hours in jail had taken a toll on her already. She was leaned against Hawk as if he was her legs, and Hawk had placed his large suit coat over her small shoulders as if she couldn’t stop trembling. She looked petrified to Von.
He stayed where he was. He’d never seen his sister look so small and vulnerable before.
Hawk opened the back passenger door and he and Janita got inside. Von was turned around looking at his sister, but he was too scared to ask what happened.
Although Janita wanted to smile to reassure her brother, she couldn’t pull it off. That time locked up in that jail cell had broken her down. She’d worked her whole life to avoid ever being anybody’s statistic, but with nothing more than a false accusation it happened to her. Her name was a part of a police report. Even though none of the allegations were true, they were written down somewhere. And what if she didn’t have Hawk? She’d still be in that jail until her trial, which could take up to two years or more! It was a horrifying situation.
Von stopped looking to his sister for answers. It was obvious she was in no condition to speak. He looked to Hawk.
“She’s out. All charges dropped,” he said.
Von was shocked. “All chargesdropped?” Von could not have hoped for more. “But how? Donnally said he had her fingerprints.”
“After I promised to drop a hundred grand in his lap, he miraculously couldn’t seem to find that bit of evidence anymore,” said a disgusted Hawk. “The bastard.”
“Then why did you pay him off?” Von asked. He hated Donnally with a passion.
But Hawk only pulled Janita closer against him. “Would you prefer I get her out on bail and let her take her chances with what will undoubtedly be an all-white jury in this town? Or do I pay that fat bastard, clear her record, and take her home?”
Von had newfound respect for Hawk. He was willing to give up a hundred thousand dollars for his sister? He had all respect for Hawk. “Thanks man,” he said.
Hawk nodded.
“Where to?”
“Take me home,” Janita managed to say. She didn’t think she’d get to say that word for years when she was still sitting in that cell.
But Von looked at Hawk. Somehow he felt Hawk knew what was best for his sister.
“You heard her,” Hawk said. “Take her home.”
Von smiled. “Yes sir,” he said and drove them away.
But when they arrived at the home Janita and Von were raised in, and the two of them, along with Hawk, got out and went inside, Janita headed straight for the bathroom. She had to get that stench of jail off of her and Von didn’t blame her.
But what he found remarkable, after raiding her frig and then walking down the hall to check on her, was while she was closed up in her bedroom undressing, Hawk was down on his knees in the tiny bathroom in the hallway running her bath water. This rich dude with servants at his beck and call, was serving his sister. It was amazing to Von.
But he didn’t linger. He went back up front with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, laid on the sofa, turned on the TV, and relaxed. Nita was in good hands. That was all that mattered to him.
In the back, in her bedroom, Janita had removed every piece of her clothing and stuffed them in her dirty clothes basket. Then she peeped out her bedroom door, saw that the coast was clear of her brother, and then made her way across the hall into the bathroom. Trying to play modest and pretend that Hawk hadn’t already seen her completely naked and in every other conceivable way, was too much work. She was just too drained.
But when she saw him down on his knees making sure her bath oil was distributed properly and the water had the right temperature, she was touched. She almost broke down and cried she was so touched. She’d never had anyone do for her what Hawk had done for her. One hundred grand he was willing to pay that crooked chief just for her freedom? Ordinarily, she would have objected. She believed in living the best moral life she could live. But she was fighting a system that would breakher and she knew it. She was damn near broke after just hours incarcerated. How on earth was she going to survive potentially years in prison?
She hated to admit it, but she agreed with the bribe.
Although Hawk was instantaneously aroused when he turned around and saw her naked body, he was even more concerned about her when he looked into her eyes. She looked so lost, and so broken, and so alone. He quickly got off his knees and hurried to her. As soon as he pulled her into his arms, she broke completely down and began sobbing uncontrollably.
When Von heard his sister’s wailing, he jumped up from that sofa and ran down the hall. But Hawk slammed the bathroom door shut when he heard Von’s footsteps.
He began banging on that door. “Sis, are you alright?” he yelled out.
