“He will most likely be detained unless somehow his attorney can argue a logical reason for bail. We will submit for bail to be denied.”
“Will he be held in California or Washington for preliminaries?”
“He is here in Washington. The judge over the preliminary hearing will agree to extradite back to California.”
“Okay, so help me figure this out. Why can’t he be tried here if either way he is getting life? Washington has no capital punishment. It doesn’t make sense to send him back to California. I want him tried here in Washington. I want a guilty plea and he can face the California judge on his own case.”
“Sam..” my pop says, but I wave him off.
“How can you be okay with this, Pop?” I ask, looking my old man in the eye.
“Because it is the law. Our founding fathers made this great nation, and everyone deserves a fair trial,” The DA says, pissing me off more.
“A fair trial? Okay. What about the fairness to Kace and these other children?”
“The fairness is in justice being met.”
I am fuming and can’t think clearly. “I need time. I need to think about it,” I say. I know I will never agree to a plea. Never. That doesn’t mean he won’t meet his death.
Mya
I have been waiting on pins and needles for Sam to call me. It has been hours and I try to derail my worrisome thoughts with choreography, but gave up. I head to my house after shooting Sully a text.
ME: Hope all is well. I am done for the day and headed home. XOXO
He doesn’t respond immediately and I hit the grocery store on my way home to keep my mind occupied. About two hours go by with nothing, until he texts me back.
Sully: I will meet you there in a bit. I need to talk to Noah and Asa about my time off from the shop and then get with Deja to start planning a funeral.
Then, another one.
Sully: It will be later, but I am coming to you, Pet.
I feel warmth spread through my heart at his words thankful he isn’t pushing me away like he thought he would.
Me: Do whatever you need to do. I’m not going anywhere.
Sully
My dad’s words ring through my skull as I floor the gas and head to the back entrance of my shop.
“Whatever you think you are doing will end badly, son. Let the law handle this and accept the plea.”
“I just need to think, Pop. That’s all. You guys are asking a lot for me to sign off on him staying alive. And for what? The gruesome details he will enjoy reliving? I don’t know if I want those details pop.”
“Maybe not, but the more details, the harder to gain sympathy from a jury or a judge.”
“Why should it matter? The judge can’t reverse a plea deal if he pleads guilty,” I looked at him, pleading with him to be on Kace’s side, on mine. “Why should he live, Pop?”
“He shouldn’t, but better he spends his time miserable for the rest of his life.”
“He won’t be miserable. He will be protected like all offenders of his fucking nature. Protected, Pop, and that shit makes me mental.”
“Samuel, please don’t do something irrational.”
I want to reassure him. To tell him I was rational and would do the right thing. The problem was the right thing to me and the right thing to him, were two different things.
I shoot Noah and Asa a text to meet me in the water heater and utility room at the bottom of the back stairs. I sit in the small room and pull the string that flips the light on as I wait.
