Page 14 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

He walked away, and my mama rubbed my back in a soothing manner as I took a deep breath. I had to calm down because I didn’t want anything I saw inside to set me off. I would be on a rampage and become reckless with the words I spoke. Just as I thought about it, the media van pulled up. I rolled my eyes as Jeff returned with his drill.

“Who summoned them?” he asked.

“Good question. I’m more than sure they probably came here yesterday looking for me.”

“They did, but I figured they would let it rest today since you weren’t here.”

I nodded as I watched him use his drill to remove the screws he’d used to put up the wood. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and when I saw Genesis’s number, I smiled slightly. I opened the message to read what she had to say.Good morning, handsome. We’re boarding. I want to see you as soon as I arrive in Beaumont. Is that possible?

Absolutely. Have a safe flight.

She sent back a kissy face emoji. Dinner was somewhat weird. Her brother was staring at me nearly half the time we were at STK Steakhouse. I didn’t know what his deal was. It seemed to catch Genesis off guard too. She kept asking him ifhe was okay. He’d only nod. Once he finally had a couple of drinks in him, he calmed down. Other than that, dinner had gone well. Our mothers seemed to have become fast friends and had promised to meet up for lunch occasionally. I couldn’t keep my hands to myself the entire time, and our mothers definitely noticed.

I didn’t want Genesis out of my sight. When she went to the restroom, I stared in that direction nearly the entire time she was gone. The woman had me losing it already. She’d shown me that I’d been subconsciously craving someone like her too. If I weren’t, there was no way I would have attached myself to her so quickly. My mama talked about her the entire flight.

I was too busy scoping out passengers, feeling paranoid because of the text I’d gotten. This ordeal should have made me want to ask to be recused from the case, but instead, it was making me want it even more. I was that much hungrier to uncover the corruption and who was involved. Being a detective would have been so much more beneficial at this point.

“Judge Patrick? Hi. I’m Thomas Schultz from Channel 6 News. Can we have a moment of your time?”

I glanced at Jeff to see he was about to be done taking the board off the door. “Yes, but it has to be quick. I have a lot to assess.”

He nodded at the camera man and responded, “Yes, sir.”

Once the cameraman was ready, he did his lil spiel about where he was and why, then turned to me. “Judge Patrick, this had to be a shock. You were in NYC speaking on behalf of everyone who’d lost someone in the nine-eleven terrorist attack on our country and paying tribute to those who lost their lives, while someone was here at your residence doing the opposite. They were destroying hope in humanity. Did you know about this before getting back to town?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“I can imagine you felt shocked, but what was your initial response to the news?”

“I was quiet for a moment, because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

“Is there anything you want to say, if the person who did this is watching?”

“Everything that’s done in the dark comes to light. You won’t be able to hide forever.”

I nodded at him, letting him know that was all I had to say as I noticed a couple of cars of cops arriving. He cut the cameraman and said, “Thank you for your time, Judge Patrick. I hope this gets resolved quickly.”

I nodded, indicating my thanks, then made my way to the porch where Jeff had gotten the doorway cleared. I rolled my eyes when I saw the door hanging from the hinges. That irritated me. Most likely, they had gone through the window. Them tearing up the door served no purpose, other than to piss me off. It was so unnecessary. I waited for the police to meet us on the porch before going inside.

They all greeted me with head nods and handshakes then we went inside. I wanted to have a fit the minute we walked in. Shit was strewn all over the house. Papers were everywhere, and most of them looked torn in half. I took a deep breath, trying to contain my anger. My body was trembling because I was just that angry. This wasn’t random. It was extremely personal, and by the looks of it, this person couldn’t stand me for whatever reason.

“Kyrie, this is a mess. You won’t be able to stay here.”

I didn’t respond to my mother because I couldn’t say what I really wanted to say in front of the cops that were here. I walked over to my desk and called one of the cops over to me. “My computer and laptop are both gone.”

He started a report and had me give him details about both items. Once he was done with that, I had him write down the television. There were two files gone that were on my desk. I wasn’t sure if they had been taken or if they were amongst the destroyed papers all over the place. Walking throughout the house, we took note of everything else that was missing. I truly believed that they only took the other things to cover up the specific things they were actually there for.

I felt like the computers and files were what they were after. Everything else was just collateral damage. I just wanted this all to be done so I could move on with my life. If this continued, I would probably have a nervous breakdown simply from trying to contain my outrage. Whoever was doing this was either trying to protect Darlene or to keep others from being implicated in her trial.

After going through the house and making note of everything that was missing, he left. The other cops were simply walking around. I supposed they were looking for clues that they may have missed yesterday. I was doing my own investigation though. This, again, only propelled me forward. There must have been a lot of incriminating evidence that would implicate the involvement of some pretty powerful people for them to be going out of their way to protect themselves.

Once everyone had left, I called my insurance company so they could send an adjuster. They’d smashed my cabinets. It looked like they’d taken a sledgehammer and just went to work. Broken glass was all over the place, and food was poured out on the floor. This was someone acting out their hatred toward me. I hoped whenever they found them, they didn’t come through my courtroom.

Who was I kidding? They would never have me presiding over a casethatclose to home. I wouldn’t be able to focus on the trial. I would end up getting arrested for strangling the hell outof them. However, if they were to allow something like that, I’d bury their asses under the jail. By the time they got out, there would be flying cars.

My mama came over to me and asked, “Son, what are you going to do?”

“Once the insurance adjuster lets me know when he can come, I’m gonna pack a bag and stay with you tonight, as you suggested. As you can see, this is personal. I have to meet with the detectives to possibly answer some questions they have. They don’t have any leads yet. I’m also going to call the security company to get cameras put inside the house. They sprayed something on the cameras outside.”

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