“Whatever you say,” she said, but her voice seemed a little less flippant than it had a moment before. “But I can’t guarantee that you’ll have a private place for your doc to take a look at him.”
“I’m sure you’ll work something out,” I said. “Have a nice day. Oh, and make sure that appointment is no later than ten a.m..”
I hung up the phone and then threw it onto my mattress. I wanted to scream, but the neighbors would probably call the cops, and I didn’t want to give the judge an opportunity to send one of his corrupt officers to my apartment.
It was already too hot for me to go for a run, but I needed to let off some steam. I had no doubt that the wiry guard I’d seen with Camilo in my last visit would have struck the teen if he thought he was being disrespected, and the other guards were probably no different. I was tempted to go see him now and demand to see my client, but I told myself to wait until we could bring him good news.
A text came in from the Everson Juvenile Detention Center with the confirmation for my appointment with Camilo at nine a.m. the next day, and I let out a sigh of relief. The facility would’ve tried to put off my visit if Camilo had actually been injured, especially with my promise to bring a physician, but he couldn’t be too bad if they didn’t try to call and push back my visit. On the other hand, they had an entire day to clean up their mess, or inflict other injuries on my client, so I wouldn’t feel better until I was at the center’s door.
I looked around my apartment, but it was still clean, and so I didn’t have much that could help me release some of my pent up anger. I debated a visit to my mother, but my ama could always tell when something was bothering me, and I wouldn’t be able to tell her anything about my current situation.
Instead, I stripped out of my dirty clothes from the night before, set my alarm for four p.m., and climbed back into bed. I wouldn’t sleep that late, but it had been a rough few days, and the extra sleep might be exactly what I needed to help me control my emotions.
It felt like there was sand in my eyes as my alarm went off, my head was heavy with the fog of sleep, and I looked around my apartment as I tried to remember where I was. I dismissed the blaring alarm then scooted out of bed as I shook my head and tried to wake myself up.
The remnants of slumber began to fade away, but I still stumbled on my area rug as I trudged into the bathroom. I turned on a cold shower and then hopped in to let the icy water rush over me, and I sucked in a breath as I woke up the rest of the way.
I washed my hair, styled it, and then ran a razor over the stubble that had started to grow back in before I strolled back into the only real room of my studio apartment in search of my glasses. I’d put them on the side table, but they were dirty when I slipped them on my face, and I had to search the drawer of the nightstand for the lens wipes that I kept there.
Once I could actually see, I meandered over to the closet in search of something to wear. I didn’t have much closet space, I wouldn’t even be able to fit into it if someone broke in and I needed to hide, but I’d managed to squeeze five suits inside. I searched for the pure black, since it would give me an edge of mystery and danger, and I paired it with a dark-red button up and black tie.
It was almost time to meet Alvaro downstairs, so I put on my socks and black dress shoes, and then I looked into the mirror to make sure that I had achieved my goal of looking intimidating. I wasn’t as terrifying as Alvaro or Osvaldo, but I did look a bit more sinister than I did when I wore my usual gray suit.
I grabbed my briefcase, cell phone, wallet, and keys, and then I headed out to meet the second in command outside of my apartment building. I chose to take the elevator instead of the stairs so that I didn’t start to sweat, and soon I was strolling through the lobby toward the street.
“You look sharp,” Alvaro said from the black SUV that was parked next to my ancient blue Honda.
His almost black eyes swept over me as he nodded his head in approval. The movement made the bottom of his wavy brown hair bounce around his shoulders, and his dimples flashed for a second as he smiled.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I pulled open the front passenger door. “I thought I would take a page from your book and wear mostly black.”
“I wear black so that you can’t see the blood,” the tall man said in his soft voice as I buckled in.
“Oh,” I muttered while I tried to hide the pulse of fear that shot through me. “That makes sense.”
I waved at our beefy driver as I sat back in my seat and looked forward. I thought I heard the choking sound that I’d identified as Alvaro’s laughter, and I rolled my eyes at myself for having been scared. I knew that he hadn’t been joking about why he wore black, but I wasn’t in danger at the moment, and if I was going to work
