suffering, it turned to the other people in my life. Poor Mundy, he would be devastated if heard of my situation—not to mention my parents down in San Diego when they picked up tomorrow’s papers and saw their daughter’s mugshot staring at them over a cup of herbal tea.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew was a change in the sound level and the rhythm of comings and goings on the jail floor. When I had arrived, it was more like a steady incoming stream of offenders, people in more or less the same situation as I was, but now it was the opposite: people were being led out of the cells one by one, and most of them didn’t return. Terrence had arranged for my single cell by calling in a favor with some head warden. My cell consisted of four bunks, a steel toilet, a steel hand basin, three concrete walls, and one wall made of steel bars, leading to the corridor. I received lunch around noon, and I asked the big black matron warden about the goings of my fellow jailbirds.
“Court hearings,” was all she muttered as she slammed a tray with indefinable content on the floor and left me again.
I didn’t even make an attempt to get out of the safe harbor of my jail bed. Sometime during the afternoon, which I had spent mostly dozing, another warden called my name, opened up my cell, and led me through a maze of steel doors and concrete corridors to a visitor’s room. He led me to a free table with a phone, and I looked at Terrence through the glass partition. He was dressed in another impeccable suit and a tasteful tie. He pointed at the earpiece, and I picked it up.
“How are you holding out?” his voice crackled from the receiver, his lips moving like in a badly synchronized foreign movie.
“Did you already spend my fees on another suit and tie?” I asked him.
He looked at me mildly. “At least you still have your humor. Did they treat you all right? Did you get that single cell as arranged?”
I nodded. “I am a little hungry because I skipped the local quality calories and could use a more suitable set of clothes than a ruined four-figure Armani party dress, but otherwise….” I let my voice trail.
“Okay, darling, hold out. The court hearing will start within a few hours. I am pretty sure that we will get you out on reasonable bail.”
“Are we good with the money?”
“As you remember, we have a special deposit for that, and together with a bail bond, we will manage everything up to five-hundred-thousand dollars. And if it goes higher than that, which I don’t think it will, we will find a way.”
“What will happen to me at court?”
“Nothing very exciting. The district attorney assigned to your case will open the session and give a brief summary of the facts of the people’s case against you. The judge will ask about our side of the story, and we will say, ‘No comment,’ and ask for bail. The rest will resemble flea market haggling over the amount, and eventually the judge will set bail, and you could be out in about two to three hours after that. Then the district attorney will prepare his case against you, and we will meet in a few months for court.”
“Can you find me anything better to wear, please? I want to make a good impression on the judge.”
Terrence smiled softly. “It is not the judge you have to fear in your stylish dress. It is the press. There are several media teams around the courthouse all day. They are not out to get only you, as some of your fellow party goers with drug problems are of interest to them, too. But your case will come almost last, so there won’t be much going on, and they surely will pick up your story for tonight’s late news and tomorrow’s paper editions.”
“Do they already know my name and everything?” I asked, a lump in my throat already.
“I don’t think so. There had been a statement around noon from the police about the stolen jewels, but your name wasn’t mentioned. The police had the courtesy
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew was a change in the sound level and the rhythm of comings and goings on the jail floor. When I had arrived, it was more like a steady incoming stream of offenders, people in more or less the same situation as I was, but now it was the opposite: people were being led out of the cells one by one, and most of them didn’t return. Terrence had arranged for my single cell by calling in a favor with some head warden. My cell consisted of four bunks, a steel toilet, a steel hand basin, three concrete walls, and one wall made of steel bars, leading to the corridor. I received lunch around noon, and I asked the big black matron warden about the goings of my fellow jailbirds.
“Court hearings,” was all she muttered as she slammed a tray with indefinable content on the floor and left me again.
I didn’t even make an attempt to get out of the safe harbor of my jail bed. Sometime during the afternoon, which I had spent mostly dozing, another warden called my name, opened up my cell, and led me through a maze of steel doors and concrete corridors to a visitor’s room. He led me to a free table with a phone, and I looked at Terrence through the glass partition. He was dressed in another impeccable suit and a tasteful tie. He pointed at the earpiece, and I picked it up.
“How are you holding out?” his voice crackled from the receiver, his lips moving like in a badly synchronized foreign movie.
“Did you already spend my fees on another suit and tie?” I asked him.
He looked at me mildly. “At least you still have your humor. Did they treat you all right? Did you get that single cell as arranged?”
I nodded. “I am a little hungry because I skipped the local quality calories and could use a more suitable set of clothes than a ruined four-figure Armani party dress, but otherwise….” I let my voice trail.
“Okay, darling, hold out. The court hearing will start within a few hours. I am pretty sure that we will get you out on reasonable bail.”
“Are we good with the money?”
“As you remember, we have a special deposit for that, and together with a bail bond, we will manage everything up to five-hundred-thousand dollars. And if it goes higher than that, which I don’t think it will, we will find a way.”
“What will happen to me at court?”
“Nothing very exciting. The district attorney assigned to your case will open the session and give a brief summary of the facts of the people’s case against you. The judge will ask about our side of the story, and we will say, ‘No comment,’ and ask for bail. The rest will resemble flea market haggling over the amount, and eventually the judge will set bail, and you could be out in about two to three hours after that. Then the district attorney will prepare his case against you, and we will meet in a few months for court.”
“Can you find me anything better to wear, please? I want to make a good impression on the judge.”
Terrence smiled softly. “It is not the judge you have to fear in your stylish dress. It is the press. There are several media teams around the courthouse all day. They are not out to get only you, as some of your fellow party goers with drug problems are of interest to them, too. But your case will come almost last, so there won’t be much going on, and they surely will pick up your story for tonight’s late news and tomorrow’s paper editions.”
“Do they already know my name and everything?” I asked, a lump in my throat already.
“I don’t think so. There had been a statement around noon from the police about the stolen jewels, but your name wasn’t mentioned. The police had the courtesy
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