Betrayal - Fern Michaels [65]
“It’ll be okay, Kate. James, tell her it’s going to be okay. I’ll call you.” Those were Alex’s last words as he was taken away to jail. The reporters’ cameras clicked like tap shoes as Alex was carted away. This vision of Alex would burn into her brain forever. Till her death, she would retain this image of her husband’s last days as a free man.
Now she didn’t know what to do. She had nowhere to go, no one to lean on. Just herself. She fled the courtroom, not wanting to give that sorry excuse for an attorney an opportunity to fill her head with more lies. She’d hire another attorney. She’d get Roy Black. He was in Florida. A few year’s back he’d defended William Kennedy Smith on rape charges, and his client was found innocent. Yes, that’s what she would do. Tomorrow. She would do whatever she had to in order to get Alex out of jail.
Outside Kate realized she didn’t have her rental car, since they’d ridden to court with James.
She scanned the area in search of a pay phone. They always had taxi numbers scratched in the glass. She walked a block before she spied a phone booth. Since cell phones were becoming all the rage, phone booths were few and far between.
She dialed the number etched into the glass. Ten minutes later she was inside a Lincoln Town Car with the air conditioner set to blizzard. “Where to?”
Kate recited the address, then leaned against the cool leather seat. Now that she was out of sight of the media, she let the tears she’d reined in flow freely.
“You okay, lady?” the driver asked.
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Yes, just a bad day, thanks.”
“I have ’em all the time. Those snowbirds. When they arrive the traffic goes from bad to worse. I wish they’d stay up north, I tell ya.”
Before Kate replied, they were turning onto Hibiscus Lane. Thank God.
She took a twenty-dollar bill out of her wallet. “Thank you. Keep the change.”
“Anytime.”
Kate plopped down on the leather sofa in the great room. She knew she was in a state bordering on shock. One hundred and twenty years. It was barbaric. She would get in touch with Roy Black first thing in the morning. For now, she had to call the jail and find out when she could see Alex. She would be brave for him. Once they had a new attorney, Alex would come home where he belonged.
She found the telephone book in a drawer beside the kitchen sink. She dialed the number. It rang twenty-three times before someone answered. She wondered what the hell she’d do if this were an emergency.
“Collier County Sheriff’s Department, how may I direct your call?” the automated-sounding voice asked.
“What are the visiting hours at the jail?”
“Inmate’s name?”
God, Alex was an inmate now in every sense of the word.
“Alex Rocket.”
“Oh, yeah, the kiddie molester. Hang on.”
Kate wanted to strangle the girl with the telephone cord.
“He ain’t allowed any visitors.”
“What? That can’t be right.”
“Says he’s to be processed.”
“What does that mean?”
“Didn’t your lawyer explain the routine?”
Here we go again. “No, he did not. Why don’t you give it a shot?”
“Sure. But you can’t hold it against me if I ain’t exactly on the money.”
“Of course not,” Kate said flatly.
“First they’ll send him to a reception center. I would guess he’d go to Central Florida Reception Center in Orlando. Once they get an opening at his designated place of imprisonment, then he’ll be allowed visitors. Usually takes a few months to go through the process.”
“Is this customary?” Kate asked, knowing she’d be lucky to get an intelligent answer.
“Depends on the case. Your lawyer shoulda explained this to you, Mrs. Rocket.”
“Yes, thank you.” Kate hung up the phone. When she’d met James for the first time, something hadn’t felt right about him. She’d had doubts. Now she wished she had listened to her gut instinct. It hadn’t failed her yet, but she’d failed herself by not listening. More than anything, she had failed Alex.
Chapter 19
Roy Black explained over the telephone all