Cascade (41 page)

When the Federal prosecutor began screaming at
the judge, Samantha leaned over to Aden to whisper:

“
The DA added that to the plea
last night. Did I tell you?”

Aden shook his head.

“
Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t
think it was any big deal. He called. I was surprised he wanted to
add it. I mean, at the time, I had no idea they wanted to add all
these charges. Anyway, it seemed to suit our purposes. Is it all
right with you?”

Aden nodded. Samantha smiled.

“
Now, we just have to get through
sentencing.”

Aden looked up as the District Attorney yelled
at the Federal Prosecutor:

“
You left this man on our streets!
Your callous lack of regard for the well being of the citizens’ of
Denver is unprecedented. You didn’t even bother to include the
Denver Police Department until it was too late. You created the
line Mr. Xavier. We are simply using your line to protect the
citizens of Denver.”

Bang, bang, bang sounded the judge’s
gavel.

“
That is enough!” the judge
yelled.

The courtroom became silent.

“
Your honor, I would like to
withdraw our request to dismiss the charges,” Samantha said. “We
are ready to proceed to sentencing.”

“
Usually, Mr. Norsen, there is an
additional hearing for sentencing. But given the nature of this
case, and at your attorney’s request, we will proceed.”

“
Your honor, may I have a moment
to consult with my client?” Samantha asked.

“
Go ahead,” the judge
said.

“
I’ve never heard of anything like
this,” Samantha whispered. “If he goes for the maximum, we can
easily appeal. But I worry that an appeal will leave you open to
all these other charges.”

She glanced over at the Federal
Prosecutor.

“
My guess is that they can’t
afford the negative publicity generated by leaving Sandy’s father
on the streets for so long. That’s why they wanted to add the
charges to your case. It’s a gamble but I bet the District Attorney
is attempting to mitigate his own publicity nightmare by shifting
the responsibility to the Feds.”

“
Will they charge me with all this
stuff?” Aden whispered.

“
They can,” Samantha said. “If
they were going to charge you in Federal Court, they wouldn’t try
to piggy back on this hearing. My guess is they don’t want the
publicity of a full blown trial. And we’d take it to a full blown
trial.”

Aden nodded.

“
If we move forward to sentencing,
you’ll have to go today,” Samantha said. “I can delay it, but you
run the risk of these other charges.”

“
Let’s get this over with,” Aden
said.

“
We’re ready for sentencing, your
honor,” Samantha said.

“
Thank you, Ms. Hargreaves,” Judge
Alberts said. “I have reviewed the plea bargain. I have spoken with
corrections. I have also reviewed Mr. Norsen’s file, as well as his
extensive background check. Mr. Norsen, do you understand the
charges against you?”

“
Yes, your honor.”

“
Do you understand the nature of
the sentencing? You have agreed to one year in jail and one year
probation.”

“
Yes, your honor.”

Aden bit his lip. This was the moment he’d
waited for. Would the judge change the sentencing? Would he go in
for life?

“
I sentence you to ninety full
days in jail with no possibility of good time reduction. After
you’ve served ninety days in jail, you will be remanded to
community corrections for the remainder of your two year
sentence.”

The judge banged his gavel and stood up. He
was out of the courtroom before anyone could say another word. In a
heartbeat, Aden was cuffed. He watched Sandy hold Noelle back when
she tried to run to him. Nash wouldn’t look at him. Without getting
a chance to say goodbye, Aden was led from the
courtroom.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday — 1:07 P.M.

“
So that’s that,” Sandy shrugged.
“My fairy tale ends with the prince going to jail.”

She was sitting on the couch in the apartment
at the Castle. Heather touched Sandy’s arm.

“
Oh honey, that can’t be it,” Jill
said. She was walking back and forth bouncing Heather’s newborn,
Mack, in her arms.

“
That’s what I said,” Tanesha
said.

“
According to his lawyer, he goes
to some place called DRDC, reception and diagnostics, off Havana.
He’ll be there a week or more for testing, and then he gets placed.
We won’t be able to see him until he’s placed,” Sandy said.
“Samantha said she’s seen it take months for people to get in
there. Then, they can spend at least a month there. This isn’t a
really busy time of year, so she thinks he’ll go through
fast.”

“
How are the kids?” Heather
asked.

“
Hysterical,” Sandy said. “Sam and
Delphie helped me get them back here. Anjelika was able to get them
to watch a movie downstairs. That’s where they are. They didn’t
want to leave me but Jill’s Mom knew how much I needed to see you
guys. Aden’s gone and I’m… I really needed to see you.”

“
We’re glad you called,” Jill
said.

”
Social Services is coming in a
couple of hours,” Sandy said

“
Do you think they’ll take the
kids?” Jill asked.

“
Sam says they’re doing a house
visit to make sure the kids are going to be all right here. He,
Delphie and I will be their guardians while Aden’s in jail. No one
wants to add them to the system.”

“
Wow, you’ve gone from a single
gal to a mother of two,” Tanesha said. “And one on the
way.”

“
Will you deliver my baby too?”
Sandy asked. Relieved to talk about something other then her messed
up life, Sandy shifted her attention to Tanesha.

“
Boy… That was fun,” Tanesha said.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since that happened.”

“
You did great,” Heather said. “I
couldn’t have done it without you. And look at me – no tearing,
everything’s really good. I was in the hospital for less than
twenty-four hours. You and Blane make a good team.”

“
Well, that’s what I was thinking
about,” Tanesha said. “You remember when I went away to
school?”

“
Morehouse,” Jill said. “I was so
jealous. I would have painted my skin black to get your
scholarships!”

“
You had Trevor,” Tanesha
said.

“
Don’t remind me.” Jill kissed
little Mack’s face. “You wouldn’t have liked Trevor,
Mack.”

“
What about school, Tanesha?”
Sandy asked.

“
I
missed you guys so much,” Tanesha said. “I counted the days until I
was home again. I felt like your lives were moving along and I was
standing still. But I couldn’t stop. I was the only person in my
family to
ever
get a chance to go to college. I
wasn’t going to fail all those generations of slaving and
subsistence farming and struggling to get me
here.

“
But I missed you guys,” Tanesha
said. “You know I’m supposed to go to medical school in the
fall?”

“
I know you’re going to medical
school in the fall,” Heather said.

“
Are you unsure about school?”
Sandy asked.

“
I was thinking I would hurry
through. You know, just get it done and become a GP or something
fast so I wouldn’t miss too much,” Tanesha said. “But after
yesterday? I want to deliver babies.”

Jill, Heather and Sandy gave a little
cheer.

“
But that means I’ll be in school
forever,” Tanesha said. “I won’t be available for confabs like this
one or to help out with kids or to go out for drinks or… It will be
like when I was exiled at Morehouse.”

“
We’re right here,” Jill
said.

She held Mack out to Tanesha. Tanesha picked
him up to cuddle.

“
We won’t let you drift too far,”
Jill said.

“
We don’t go out so much anymore,”
Sandy added.

“
You can’t get rid of us,” Heather
said. “I can’t wait until you open your new office. Dr.
Tanesha!”

“
We’ll call you Dr. T,” Jill
said.

“
We wouldn’t be your true friends
if we didn’t want you to be really happy,” Sandy said. “We want you
to do what makes you happy. We’ll still be here.”

“
There’s something else,” Tanesha
said. She looked over at Heather. “That Tres asked me
out.”

Heather flushed.

“
I know how much you like him,
Heather. I don’t need a man getting in between my besties. No man
is worth that.”

Jill and Sandy watched Heather.

“
What did you say?” Heather
asked.

“
I didn’t say anything,” Tanesha
said. “He called about an hour ago. Listen, I’m serious. If you
don’t want me to see that guy I won’t see him.”

“
I want to get all hysterical, you
know,” Heather said. “I want to say that I found him first. He’s
really cute. I think he likes me. How can he like you? Stuff like
that. But you know, I have really crappy taste in men. I can’t pick
a guy who’s good for me to save my life.”

“
You picked Blane,” Jill
said.

“
He picked me,” Heather smiled.
“My good taste was to pick the sperminator. Would you really not
date Tres if I said so?”

“
I would never accept another call
from him,” Tanesha said. “You come first.”

“
I feel that way about you too,”
Heather said. “And Jill and Sandy.”

Jill and Sandy nodded in agreement.

“
I have Blane and Mack,” Heather
said. “I have to believe that, if it’s meant to be, the right
person will come along for me when the time is right. I thought
that was Tres, but if he’s asking you out, he’s not the right
person for me. Anyway, right now, I need to focus on
Mack.”

“
He’s such a good baby,” Jill
said. “So mellow.”

“
Not like Katy!” Sandy laughed.
“Remember how active she was when she was this age?”

“
I do!” Heather and Tanesha said
at the same time.

“
She’s still that active,” Jill
laughed.

“
So you don’t mind if I go out
with Tres?” Tanesha said.

“
I don’t mind, Tanesha,” Heather
said. “Have fun.”

Heather stood to hug Tanesha. With Mack in her
arms, Tanesha walked into Heather’s hug. Jill put her arms around
the two and Sandy stood to hug them. With the tiny newborn at the
center, the four friends hugged each other.

“
Family of choice,” Sandy
whispered.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
Worth it

Wednesday evening

Aden spent most of the day waiting. After
the hearing, he had waited in a holding cell at the courthouse. It
wasn’t awful. It wasn’t even all unexpected. He’d simply forgotten
what it was like. He’d started the day as a President of a large
construction company. Everything he said or did was important.

Now, his time no longer mattered. What he
thought no longer mattered. What he said or did no longer mattered.
The only thing that mattered was his compliance and the passage of
time. Some hours later, he was taken to the main Denver Police
station.

The policemen who processed him couldn’t
have been more polite. Oddly, Aden was a bit of a celebrity.
Everyone knew he was the guy who beat up the pedophile and
embarrassed the DA. They didn’t make him change or do anything
humiliating. Instead, they put him in another large holding cell. A
tall Hispanic policeman told him that the DA wanted him moved to
DRDC, the diagnostic center, right away. People can wait months to
get into DRDC, but Aden would go today.

“
Out of sight, out of the
voter’s mind,” the police officer had laughed.

The other prisoners gave him wide berth. For
the first time in more than a decade, his senses were inundated
with the scent of unwashed human bodies, alcohol detoxing through
pores, industrial cleaners, filth and despair.

How had he ever been used to this life?

Why had this been so normal for him?

He tucked his emotions away. He would have
time enough to think about them later. Instead he tracked time
against his old life. He always called Sandy at twelve-thirty
during her lunch break. His heart squeezed with panic around three.
He’d forgotten to pick up Noelle from school. With a sigh, he
realized he wouldn’t pick her up today or any of the next ninety
days. Nash usually went to soccer practice at six o’clock.

What had been his regular, boring,
uneventful routine only a week ago seemed like a dream right
now.

As he waited, his mind jumped from one vague
worry to the next: what would happen to his car? Would Sandy dump
him? He would dump him. How stupid could he possibly be? He was the
dumbest man in the world. Why had he given his Blackberry to
Samantha? He could work now. Would his kids survive the next
months? Why hadn’t he prepared for this? God, poor Sandy was going
to have to deal with all his crap. And on and on.