I didn’t know what had happened to my wife. Let me tell
you, this was police brutality and torture at its finest. I screamed at the
cops, ‘where is my wife? What have you done with her?’ They just looked at me
oddly, and asked if I wanted to be stunned again. Once they got to the station,
they booked me and jailed me. When my friend paid the bail, he told me that my wife
was okay.”
“Did the whole thing come to trial?”
“It did. I asked my other neighbors if I
could have them tell my lawyer about the dog incident and the danger her animal
posed. I wanted to tape record their conversations with my attorney, Jim
Donaldson. They knew the kind of people we were and they said yes. While I
listened to these conversations on the other line I couldn’t believe what my
ears were hearing. MY lawyer. The lawyer who I
was PAYING . This man betrayed me. He was defending
the police, saying that this incident probably happened because I had a
Doberman pinscher, and the Westie could smell the dog on my wife.”
Oh my gosh, all this fuss over a West
Highland terrier? They were like little toys. He claimed that a Westie brutally
attacked an adult? I wasn’t even sure that was physically possible. You could
put them in your pocket. Focus, Annie, focus! I told myself.
“Soon after that incident, I had gone to
the coffee shop. As I went back to my car, a cop confronted me and asked if I
could produce any ownership papers for the car. I couldn’t. He told me the car
had been reported as stolen. His partner came out of nowhere and knocked me in
the head with his flashlight. Again, they dragged me into jail. This time, they
brought me up on charges of Grand Theft Auto. They were accusing me stealing MY OWN CAR ! Needless to say, I was outraged!”
“What did you do?”
“What could we do? I was becoming afraid
for my life. To make matters worse, my lawyer, Jim Donaldson, seemed to be in
on the set up. He tried to convince me to stop recording my conversations with
him. He told me that through these recordings, the police were claiming I had
gone off the deep-end, and that the recordings actually would hurt me in
court.”
“And the court case did happen, right?”
“Yes, while the two other cases were
pending, they sent me to Joliet State Prison on other trumped-up charges.”
And then I asked the magical question.
When in doubt of any kind, always ask this question: Why?
I phrased it thusly: “Why do you think
all of this is happening to you and your family?” I did not expect what
happened next. Especially when he had sounded so cheerful at the beginning of
the interview.
“Are you in on this? Who sent you?” he
hissed into the phone. “Unless you tell me who is putting you up to these
questions, I will find you.” I tried to stifle a shiver. No luck.
With that, he hung up the phone. I sat
in stunned silence for a few minutes, wondering what to do.
Chapter
7
I TRIED TO CALL HARRY ON
HIS cell phone. No answer. I
didn’t want to leave a message. What would I even say at this point? Besides,
Harry was already on his way. Since talking to Lizzy and Janie, I had a growing
suspicion Harry knew way more about Marcos and this project than he had shared
with me. I wondered what was really going on and how deeply Harry was involved.
I also wondered if Marcos was completely sane. He seemed a little insane to me.
I had relatives who were a little insane and Marcos trumped their behavior in
spades. Deep breaths. I looked at the clock and was shocked back into reality. I
had only 20 minutes to get ready before I needed to meet Harry downstairs. As I
hopped in the shower, I could hear thunder and lightning outside. Great,
atmosphere. Just what I needed.
By the time I got out of the shower and
dressed, the storm raged full blast. Lightning electrified the sky outside the
window. I dressed in my jade sweater and a pair of black pants and beat the
buzzer by ten minutes. As I tousled my curls, and put on make-up,
you, this was police brutality and torture at its finest. I screamed at the
cops, ‘where is my wife? What have you done with her?’ They just looked at me
oddly, and asked if I wanted to be stunned again. Once they got to the station,
they booked me and jailed me. When my friend paid the bail, he told me that my wife
was okay.”
“Did the whole thing come to trial?”
“It did. I asked my other neighbors if I
could have them tell my lawyer about the dog incident and the danger her animal
posed. I wanted to tape record their conversations with my attorney, Jim
Donaldson. They knew the kind of people we were and they said yes. While I
listened to these conversations on the other line I couldn’t believe what my
ears were hearing. MY lawyer. The lawyer who I
was PAYING . This man betrayed me. He was defending
the police, saying that this incident probably happened because I had a
Doberman pinscher, and the Westie could smell the dog on my wife.”
Oh my gosh, all this fuss over a West
Highland terrier? They were like little toys. He claimed that a Westie brutally
attacked an adult? I wasn’t even sure that was physically possible. You could
put them in your pocket. Focus, Annie, focus! I told myself.
“Soon after that incident, I had gone to
the coffee shop. As I went back to my car, a cop confronted me and asked if I
could produce any ownership papers for the car. I couldn’t. He told me the car
had been reported as stolen. His partner came out of nowhere and knocked me in
the head with his flashlight. Again, they dragged me into jail. This time, they
brought me up on charges of Grand Theft Auto. They were accusing me stealing MY OWN CAR ! Needless to say, I was outraged!”
“What did you do?”
“What could we do? I was becoming afraid
for my life. To make matters worse, my lawyer, Jim Donaldson, seemed to be in
on the set up. He tried to convince me to stop recording my conversations with
him. He told me that through these recordings, the police were claiming I had
gone off the deep-end, and that the recordings actually would hurt me in
court.”
“And the court case did happen, right?”
“Yes, while the two other cases were
pending, they sent me to Joliet State Prison on other trumped-up charges.”
And then I asked the magical question.
When in doubt of any kind, always ask this question: Why?
I phrased it thusly: “Why do you think
all of this is happening to you and your family?” I did not expect what
happened next. Especially when he had sounded so cheerful at the beginning of
the interview.
“Are you in on this? Who sent you?” he
hissed into the phone. “Unless you tell me who is putting you up to these
questions, I will find you.” I tried to stifle a shiver. No luck.
With that, he hung up the phone. I sat
in stunned silence for a few minutes, wondering what to do.
Chapter
7
I TRIED TO CALL HARRY ON
HIS cell phone. No answer. I
didn’t want to leave a message. What would I even say at this point? Besides,
Harry was already on his way. Since talking to Lizzy and Janie, I had a growing
suspicion Harry knew way more about Marcos and this project than he had shared
with me. I wondered what was really going on and how deeply Harry was involved.
I also wondered if Marcos was completely sane. He seemed a little insane to me.
I had relatives who were a little insane and Marcos trumped their behavior in
spades. Deep breaths. I looked at the clock and was shocked back into reality. I
had only 20 minutes to get ready before I needed to meet Harry downstairs. As I
hopped in the shower, I could hear thunder and lightning outside. Great,
atmosphere. Just what I needed.
By the time I got out of the shower and
dressed, the storm raged full blast. Lightning electrified the sky outside the
window. I dressed in my jade sweater and a pair of black pants and beat the
buzzer by ten minutes. As I tousled my curls, and put on make-up,
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