The Finale (13 page)

“Nothing can keep our communities safe from this tyrant except a life sentence. The only people who can make that happen are you, the people of the jury. Don't put another young girl in danger. Put him away for the rest of his life. He was caught over his victim's dead body, rummaging through her purse, looking for money. He drove this woman's skull against a brick wall so hard and so violently, her brain hemorrhaged, which ultimately led to her death. How cold-blooded is that? So the prosecution asks of you—no, we beg of you—the jury to sentence this man to a lifetime in prison. Render a guilty verdict and bring justice back to the community. I rest my case.”

The prosecuting attorney turned and walked back to his seat, a smug grin on his face. He knew he'd just delivered a closing argument that would cripple the defense and win the trial.

Ray looked back at Lisa and her swollen belly and felt an agonizing pain in his heart. He might spend the rest of his life in jail for a crime he didn't commit. He felt tears well up in his eyes as he mouthed the words, “I love you,” to Lisa.

Lisa looked into Ray's eyes and began to cry. She knew that the chances were slim for him to get off. She gripped the bench she was sitting on.
Please, God, let them find him not guilty. Please . . . I need him,
she prayed as the jury deliberated in a private room.

Half an hour later, the jury returned to the courtroom with the verdict. An overweight old white man stood up and looked into Raymond's eyes and said, “We, the jury, find the defendant, Raymond J. Parks, guilty of murder in the second degree and guilty of strong-armed robbery.”

Lisa screamed when the verdict was pronounced.

Ray dropped his head as the guards came over to escort him out of the courtroom. He looked at his attorney. “That's it? You said you could beat this case. I'm innocent, man. I'm innocent.”

His attorney looked at him, shrugged his shoulders, and gave a sly smile. “We'll file an appeal.”

Ray knew that his chances of winning the appeal would be just as slim as his chances of winning the trial. He looked at Lisa as they carried him out of the courtroom. “I love you,” he mouthed again as the guards handcuffed him.

Lisa felt so much pain in her heart. She just stood there and watched her only love leave her life. Helpless, she didn't know what to do. Ray was going to prison, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.

She was so distraught, she couldn't control herself. She felt her dress become soaked and thought she had peed on herself. She felt liquid run down her leg and then realized it wasn't urine. Her water had broken. “I'm going into labor,” she screamed to Ray just as the guards took him from her sight.

Her mother told her to sit down and then called a guard over for help.

 

 

Later that evening, Tasha Parks was born. It was the worst day of Lisa's life. The love of her life had been convicted of murder, and ironically, their child was born on the same day.

Lisa was depressed for months and cried herself to sleep every night with her newborn baby in her arms. Ray left behind a house and some money in the bank, so she supported herself and her daughter with that.

Lisa visited Ray as soon as they let her. He had grown a beard and walked to the table where a thick glass window separated them. She picked up the phone, and so did Ray. Ray did not have the same look in his eye that he used to have. The sparkle had diminished. Lisa desperately looked, trying to find a piece of the man she had fallen in love with, but it wasn't there. He had changed. There was no warm feeling in his eyes anymore, only coldness.

“How are you?” she asked, trying to be supportive.

Ray shook his head and smiled. “Don't worry about me. Just make sure you take care of our child. Lisa, I'm gon' be in here for a long time. I love you, and I want you to always remember that. I'll love you to the day I die.”

Lisa noticed his hopeless vibe. It seemed as if he were telling her good-bye forever. “You're coming home, baby. Your lawyer is gon' file an appeal, and you're coming home.”

Ray had to stop himself from becoming emotional. “That appeal is bullshit, baby. They are going to find me guilty, just like they did this time. That's even if the judge grants an appeal. Just remember, I love you, and don't let my baby girl grow up not knowing that I love her too.”

Lisa looked at their daughter and then at Ray. “Tasha and I need you, Ray. You're all we got. We need you.” She put her hand on the glass.

A single tear streamed down Ray's face. “
Tasha
? That's my baby girl's name? Make sure you tell her I love her. Every day, make sure that she knows that.” He arose from his seat, kissed his fingers, and pressed them against the glass. He then began to walk out.

Lisa gripped the phone tightly and banged it against the glass, “No!” she screamed. “Ray, I love you! I love you!”

Ray walked back over to the glass and picked up the phone. “I love you, Lisa, but don't come here again. I don't want you or my daughter to see me in here. You deserve more. I love you.” With those words, he headed to the cage that would be his home for the rest of his life.

 

 

A few weeks later, Lisa was breast-feeding Tasha when she received a phone call. She felt the floor spinning as she tried to understand the news from the other end. When she was sure she'd heard what the voice said, she dropped the phone and fell to her knees, her baby in the other arm. “No!” she screamed as she cried. Tasha was startled by her mother's roar and began to cry too.

Ray had been stabbed fifteen times in the chest by an fellow inmate.

Lisa sank into a deep depression and moved back home with her mother after Ray's death. She would go for weeks at a time without talking to anyone or even bathing. She often blamed herself for Ray's death, believing he wouldn't have stormed out of the house if she hadn't confronted him that night.
He would have stayed home with me,
she often thought to herself.

Lisa, looking for the same love that Ray had shown her, began to let men manipulate her into doing what they pleased. Any man who dressed nice and approached her had a chance. It became a problem when her mother grew tired of caring for Tasha while Lisa ran the streets.

 

 

Four years after Ray's death, another death was about to hit Lisa: her mother's.

When Lisa's mother died, she finally felt the burden of being a mother. Tasha had grown so attached to her grandmother, she even thought she was her mother, calling her Mama
,
and Lisa by her first name.

Lisa met a man by the name of Glenn, a pimp in the neighborhood. He was in no way as successful as Ray, but Lisa was drawn to him. In some way, he reminded her of Ray.

Glenn introduced Lisa to weed. She liked the way it made her feel and began to smoke it so much, it didn't get her high anymore.

Then he introduced her to cocaine, telling her, “It makes you feel good.” Lisa used to snort a little cocaine with Glenn, but that quickly grew old. Eventually she needed a new high, and Glenn provided that too. And so it was that she got hooked on heroin.