“Mr. Abrams, there is no need to be overly dramatic. You do realize this is only the arraignment, right?” replied the judge.
“Apologies, Your Honour, I admit that maybe I’m being a bit overdramatic at this point of the proceedings. I’m simply concerned about the prosecution’s extreme hostility in regards to the bail request. At the end of the day, it is a man’s life we are talking about here, and I want him to be treated fairly, in line with the provisions of the law,” Joe responded.
“We will have a thirty-minute recess, after which I will give my decision on the issue of bail. Court is now in recess,” said the judge.
I didn’t expect this; the judge actually needed time to think about whether or not to grant bail. Perhaps Joe knew what he was doing all along, perhaps he had his strategy planned out before the arraignment. Prior to the hearing, he told me that not all hope was lost, and that we might get lucky with bail. I couldn’t see how this had happened, considering how fierce the prosecution was.
The Vexa True D-i was powered down by one of the prison enforcers. Speaking through the intercom, the enforcer said it was okay for me to disengage from my Vexa positioning. Shortly after this, I had an incoming call on the prison’s comms device. The ID read Joseph Abrams.
“What’s up, Joe?”
“Dom, how are you holding up?”
“Not bad. You didn’t do too bad in there, you know. The prosecution hates you as much as they do me. Also, you forced the good judge to have to think about bail—nice work!”
“Ha-ha, that’s why you pay me the big bucks, good friend. Look Dom, we are not going down without a fight. I am going to pour my all into this trial.”
“Do I need to worry about anyone one else listening to our conversation over this comms line?”
“Nope, not at all—the calls aren’t recorded. That would be highly unconstitutional, the courts would be subject to all kinds of inquisitions, and a lot of old cases would get thrown out. So, even if they were listening, our conversation would be inadmissible evidence.”
“Good—Alex and Chris. How far have they gotten gathering jury info?”
“Nothing at this point. I’m afraid we don’t even know who these people are, and the court has them under watch twenty-four-seven. I’ll be honest with you, Dom, messing with the jury is not an option here.”
“What then?”
“Well, we will have to wait until the prosecution presents its evidence. Then we will know what we are up against and deal with it accordingly. Once I have all the information, I will be in a position to start preparing my argument.”
“Okay.”
“We just have to pray that bail is granted. This will give you an opportunity to meet with people, make the necessary plans, move some money around… You know, the opportunity to sort out all the things that need sorting out.”
“Okay.”
“I better start making my way back to the courtroom, we’ll talk later. Hang in there, Dom.”
“Thanks, speak to you soon, Joe.”
Joe was shrewd, but I could tell the case seemed to have him on edge a bit. Not sure if this was because of genuine friendship and loyalty, or if it was the possibility of his practice suffering a financial blow if I ended up spending the rest of my life in prison. Joe has done exceptionally well being on my payroll, and me behind bars wouldn’t be in his best interest.
I was worried about how things would transpire. I wasn’t sure how my family would cope if I had to do time. I wasn’t sure what would happen to the empire I had worked so hard to build. I had plausible reasons to completely lose my cool, but somehow, I was able to keep my nerves under control.
The buzzer sounded, alerting me that the Vexa was about to start transmitting—court recess was almost over. I sat back down in the Vexa chair. A few minutes later, the judge emerged from the side door that led to his chambers, and again everyone was asked to rise.
As the judge approached his desk, I couldn’t tell what was going to happen next, gauging by the look on his face alone. He looked as angry as he did before he left the room. After the good judge sat down, everyone else in the courtroom sat down as well. I also sat back down on my jailhouse throne. There was what felt like a million minutes of silence, and the tension was palpable. No one knew what the judge’s decision was going to be. Joe needed me out on bail, as this would make the trial a lot easier to manage. We would be able to talk more freely in private, and I would be able to attend meetings with key individuals to smooth things over and to make sure that business would continue to run efficiently.
The prosecution, on the other hand, wanted me to remain in custody for the duration of the trial for those same reasons. They didn’t want me to salvage any of my business relations. Denying me bail would also give them an upper hand in that I would not be able to make public appearances and influence members of the community to my advantage.
Even though they had a
