Free Alibi II by Teri Woods

attention. He reached in his jacket pocket and looked at the number of his office. He went over to the pay phone and called Sandra, his secretary.
    “They’re ready,” she said, hearing his hello.
    “The verdict’s in on the Somerset case already?”
    “That’s what they called and said,” she said, a slight hint of aggravation in her voice.
    “Great.” He hung up the phone, went back over to the tiny newsstand inside the courthouse, placed fifty cents on the counter for his cup of coffee, and headed back upstairs.
    It had only been thirty-five minutes that the jury had deliberated. The case didn’t need a group of rocket scientists to conjure up a verdict, DeSimone had made sure of that. He had done his job, and Zone; well, let’s just say that in DeSimone’s opinion, Zone had put all his eggs in one basket, a stripper named Daisy Mae Fothergill, and thought he had an ace in the hole, but he was terribly wrong. DeSimone flipped the tables on the courtroom, fed the jury what they needed to hear so they could give him what he wanted—a not guilty verdict—and that’s exactly what had happened.
    “Have you reached a verdict?” asked Judge Means, peering over the frame of his reading glasses as he questioned the foreman responsible for reading the verdict to the courtroom.
    “Yes we have, Your Honor,” said the colored man now standing, reading a three-by-five index card in his hand. “On the charge of murder in the first degree of Lance Robertson, we find the defendant not guilty. On the charge of manslaughter, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty.” The foreman then sat down as the courtroom began to buzz with the finding.
    “Sentencing will take place in two weeks, counsel, you’ll be notified of a date, court is adjourned!” The judge banged his gavel, rose from his chair, and walked off the stand, through a door, and into the back offices.
    “Yes!” exclaimed DeSimone as he hugged Nard. “This is great, just great. I told you, you’d be okay. Do you fucking believe it, even with the girl turning state and testifiying against you, we still won!” DeSimone was so elated he couldn’t help but hug Nard again. Nard, on the other hand, didn’t seem too happy.
    “What, kid, ain’t you happy?”
    “Manslaughter? They still found me guilty,” he said, feeling as if all was lost.
    “Yeah, but, kid, trust me, the district attorney’s office charged you with murder one. You beat a murder one charge, we got it down to manslaughter and aggravated assault, what’s wrong with you? Nard you still have your life.” DeSimone didn’t care if he sat for the next couple of years, as far as he was concerned, the case was a win. Nard wouldn’t be spending the rest of his life locked behind bars. Instead, he’d spend three, maybe five years tops in a state correctional facility. DeSimone didn’t understand why he wasn’t happy. “You got the best deal you could’ve gotten, kid, the absolute best.”
    Behind him, Nard could hear his girlfriend and his mother. He turned around and smiled at Beverly, who couldn’t hold back tears of joy.
    “You coming home, baby,” said Donna, waving her fist in the air as she hugged Beverly, who felt faint at the sound of the words.
    His girlfriend, Crystal, hugged their baby, Dayanna, smiling and waving the baby’s hand at him.
    Wink and his family silently rose from the back of the courtroom, making their way out the double wooded doors and into the corridor. Wink turned around and looked at Nard’s family hugging one another and jumping for joy. It ain’t over, nigga, you’ll see, an eye for an eye, motherfucker.
    Lester Giles’s wife, Euretha, followed behind them. The verdict didn’t affect her as did the loss or better yet, gain, of Lester. However, she followed it through like she was supposed to; after all, Lester was her husband.
    Lucille Davis exited the courtroom not far behind. She couldn’t move as fast as some of the other people, but she slowly