Page 30 of Make Me Forget

“I got it. I’m gon’ get you out of there, baby. Okay? I’m right behind y’all.”

He took off running toward where we’d come from as they continued to lead me to their squad car. A scowl formed on my lips, and I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. “You know, this shit was unnecessary. Y’all acting like I killed somebody.”

“Ma’am, apparently, you don’t understand the severity of these charges. You’re being charged with attempted murder. Mesani Spain is in ICU. A neighbor reported seeing you there Monday afternoon. Mesani named you when he regained consciousness Tuesday evening.”

I swallowed hard as he put his hand on my head to assist me inside the car. Mesani was full of shit. Wasn’t nobody trying to kill his ass. If I wanted him dead, Uncle Storm could have just shot his ass. I knew to wait on a lawyer now. The officer was right. I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying when he read my rights.

By the time we were pulling off, I saw Kendrall running back to his car. While I wanted to cry, no tears would fall. I could imagine I was already fired. I would take an assault charge, but there was no way I would plead guilty to attempted murder.

“You look way too prissy to be in here. What they arrest you for, girl?”

I side-eyed the lady next to me and slowly shook my head. They arrested me at work, so I had on a business suit and heels. My hair was pulled up in a bun, and my face had a light beat on it. After taking a deep breath, I said, “They’re charging me with attempted murder… bullshit.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Damn! What’chu do? Poison his food?”

She fell out laughing like the shit was funny. So to shut her ass up, I said, “I beat his ass.”

“Bitch, you lying!”

“You wanna find out?” I asked as I stood.

She waved her hands. “My bad, lil mama. Calm down, boo. I’m just fucking wit’chu. How they tryna charge you with attempted murder, though?”

“That’s what I have to find out, because that should be an assault charge at the most. He knows good and got damn well what happened. He’s being a bitch about some shit he caused.”

When I heard a guard approaching, I zipped my lips. I didn’t need shit I said to be used against me. It was bad enough I was telling this crackhead in here all my business. I was just so angry. “Miss Daniels? Your attorney is here to see you.”

I nodded and walked over to the door for her to let me out of this cage. I’d never been to jail, and I could now say that I never wanted to come back. I’d only been in here an hour. It was early enough where I could still possibly see a judge today and not have to stay here over the weekend. Attempted murder my ass.

Mesani didn’t know Jacob’s name, but if he mentioned someone was with me, I was sure they would try to get that information out of me. As I followed the guard down a hallway, I could feel my nerves getting the best of me. I was trembling, and the goosebumps had made their presence known. When we entered the room, there was a woman standing there with long flowing hair. She was so beautiful.

“Hello, I’m Sidney Taylor. The Hendersons called for me to come and rescue you from this foolishness. Have a seat, honey.”

I’d heard of her through commercials on TV. Hopefully, she was as good as she looked and sounded. She seemed like she was going to be about her business, which was getting me off and out of here.

Once she sat across from me, she stared at me then extended her hands across the table. I grabbed them as she said, “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m going to get you out of here. These charges are full of shit. Okay, baby?”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

She released my hands and opened a folder on the table. “These charges say you threw a vase at him, but this was about eight or nine months ago, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What led to that?”

“I walked in on him fucking somebody else in our home. Sorry.”

I felt so comfortable with her that my filter had fallen completely off. Professionalism went out the window when she said the charges were full of shit.

“You don’t have to apologize. I know this is frustrating. I see you’re a professor at Lamar and you’re currently enrolled in a doctorate program as well. You aren’t the typical woman who would get arrested.”

“No. And they paraded me all over campus in cuffs.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “They did what?”

“They cuffed me right there in front of my students and walked me all over campus, instead of parking right in front of the building I was in. They are the police and could have gotten access to that parking lot. Students were stopping to watch. They ruined my reputation that quickly. I mean, I’m sure once this hits the news, my reputation would get ruined, but?—”

“That’s not acceptable. This is an allegation. They have no solid proof of what you did. Only his word saying it was you. Now what happened this last time? You don’t even look like you can knock somebody out. Well… let me stop right there, because looks can be deceiving.”

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