Tom had a lot of time to think while behind bars. I was sure he may have suspected me of framing him, but he never questioned me about it.
Maybe it was because I was adamant that he was home that night – me being his strong alibi.
Or maybe it was that he knew that I was behind it, but he didn’t want to upset me in any way by accusing me of it, for fear that I would change my story as to his whereabouts that night.
I felt really powerful to know that I held Tom’s fate in my hand. Who wouldn’t?
When questioned by Ian about Tom’s whereabouts, I was adamant that Tom was with me.
After Tom was denied bail, slowly my story began to fall apart.
When the prosecution questioned me, I bit my nails, turned red in the face, and looked towards the left of the ceiling – imparting hope that Tom was lying about his whereabouts and alibi, and that maybe I was too.
Even with the detectives, I wouldn’t make eye-contact, and ensured I looked flustered. So much so that a female detective took me aside.
“I know how hard this must be for you considering your history – the abuse you suffered under him, but here is your chance to do the right thing.” Blah! Blah! Blah! She reminded me so much of Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order, I wanted to call her Detective Benson.
I nodded, fought back tears and said, “I thought he was with me, Detective, but now I’m so confused.”
Closer to the trial, I drip-fed the detectives crucial information they could use against Tom.
“Okay, so was there any bad blood between the two of them that you knew of?”
“Well, I heard them argue over the phone a few days earlier – something about Kobus calling me while he was in the hospital.”
I knew that it would be a matter of time before they found out that I had visited Kobus in the hospital. Lanita would probably tell them that Kobus didn’t want Tom to know that he was calling me.
They exchanged excited glances.
“Did he call you while he was in the hospital?”
“Yes. Said he had something to tell me but, he never got a chance to talk to me as his machine went off and the nurses told me to leave. I hate hospitals, so I left.”
“Do you have any idea what it was about?”
I nodded. “He once mentioned something about Tom cheating on me, and maybe now that they had a fall out, Kobus wanted to tell me all about it. Rat on Tom. I dunno…”
“Fall out, eh?”
“Yes.”
“And how did you feel about Tom’s affair?”
“I don’t really believe that he did. Tom would never cheat on me. He loved me. But if he did, it was in the past. I saw someone, Tom saw someone – it’s over. Time to move on. Tom and I are together now. We’re looking ahead, moving on. ”
They stared blankly at me.
“So, do you think Tom found out that Kobus had called you?”
“I don’t know. He may have.” I shrugged.
Happy with my damning answers, the detective and her partner went on their merry way.
I returned to the kitchen to finish my baking. I was making a fudge chocolate cake. Or was it chocolate fudge cake? Cakes can be so confusing at times.
****
With Tom out of the house, Warren and I were really relaxed and very comfortable in our luxury surroundings. We had plasma televisions in just about every room, a hot tub, satellite TV, luxury beds, a solar-heated pool, and a state-of-the-art kitchen, among other things – how could we not be comfortable?
“Mom, is daddy coming back?” Warren asked.
“Why, hon, do you want him to?”
He shook his head slowly.
“Why? I thought things were cool with you both.”
“It was, but he’s scary. And I don’t like to dress up all the time. My clothes are scratchy, Mom.”
“Would you prefer if he never came back?”
He nodded.
I gave him a hug, wishing that such a little boy didn’t have to feel such fear of his own father.
As for Bear, I missed him so much, I ached for him.
How I wished I could have had him around to share all this luxury and comfort with me. After all, he was now my soul mate. Remember, he surrendered his life savings to me not so long ago. Was willing to forfeit his dreams to help me get Warren back.
One more week, then we would meet at Soong’s house. I could hardly wait.
When we finally saw each other, we hugged and kissed and spent all our time in each other’s arms.
“Come stay with me,” I said.
“Nope. But you can come stay with me.”
“C’mon, Bear. Just one night. I need you. This is my house now, not Tom’s. And besides, I’m selling the house soon.” He eventually spent a night with me. Then another, and another.
Bear and I invited Soong and Mike regularly for drinks, dinner, and to join us in the hot tub. Together we shared a lot of laughs and good times.
I made a decision that as soon as the trial was over, I was going to give Soong some money for her business.
Also, I was going to make a hefty donation to Fatima’s support group so that they could continue to help women in need.
****
“Can I help you?” I asked the small Asian man decked out in ninja gear standing on my doorstep, looking irate.
He balked at the sight of me, then waved a yellow envelope at me. “I need payment, and Mr. Botha, he is not answering his phone, and I’ve done all the work and –”
“What’s this all about?”
“I’m a private investigator and I’ve done all –”
“Private investigator?” My ears pricked. This must be the guy who was following me!
“Okay,” I said, eager to get rid of him, “but Mr. Botha is away indefinitely.”
“What? What are you saying? I’m not getting paid?”
“How much does he owe you?”
He hesitated then said, “Seven thousand dollars.”
I started to shut the door on him.
“Okay, two thousand dollars, then!”
I eyed the man, then the bulging yellow envelope in his hand. “Fine. Let me take a look, and if it’s worth it, I will cut you a check right now.”
He handed me the envelope.
I tore it open and went through it. As I did, I turned ashen and gripped the table to steady myself.
I had expected stuff on me, my whereabouts, but inside was a full report on Bear. Photos, information about his real name, the schools he attended, his place of work, who he reported to, his bank account details, his car – the most in-depth report I had ever seen.
It scared me that Tom had this kind of information on Bear. What was he planning to do with it?
What scared me even more was the dossier on Amy – photos of her at school, at ballet classes, on a jungle-gym, in the supermarket with a young woman who I assumed was Amy’s mother, the car the woman drove, their house.
“See?” Ninja said.
Trying to keep a poker-face, I nodded, then went on to hand him a check.
The moment he left, I called Bear and told him about the envelope. He didn’t care that Tom had information on him, but he was horrified by the news of Amy’s surveillance.
Tom was after Bear in a huge way, it seemed. My bet was that he had planned to do something creatively horrific to Bear. It was a damn good thing he was behind bars.
****
I had been waiting for this day since Kobus confirmed that Tom had killed my baby, so when I was called to the witness stand, I was ready.
Ian Saunders, Tom’s attorney, questioned me first, and of course, I was fluent with my answers.
When the prosecution questioned me, to Tom’s horror, I was ditzy and melted like ice cream in the sun.
“No, I can’t be certain that Tom was with me all night, you’re right. But like, I think he was.” My eyes shifted to the left of the ceiling. “I’m like…fifty percent sure? I think...?”
“Mrs. Botha, may I remind you that there is a strong penalty for perjury?”
My bottom lip began to tremble as he shoveled more questions at me.
“Yes, Tom gave me a bag of clothes and asked me to get rid of it. Said that he got fish bait on them and that they smelled, something like that. So I threw the bag away.”
“No, I’ve never seen Tom fish before, but maybe he took up fishing when...when I wasn’t looking…?”
“Yes, Tom and Kobus did argue sometimes. But it was nothing, I assure you.”
Finally, “Yes…Tom, he did instruct me to tell police that he was with me all night. But it wasn’t like he was forcing me to. He just asked me to. Nicely.”
“Arenaaaa!” Tom screamed. “What the hell is WRONG WITH YOU?”
“I’m so sorry, Tom,” I said. “I told them what you told me to.”
“Contain your client,” the judge yelled to Ian Saunders.
“They will send me to jail for perjury, honey. I’m so sorry, but I have to tell the truth, sweetheart.”
“You lying bitch! You’re such a liar! I don’t believe it!”
I sobbed into my lacy white handkerchief as he hurled abuse at me. Well, it was Kleenex actually, but I pretended that it was a white, lacy handkerchief, like I’d seen them use in the western movies.
“He’s not a bad man,” I sniffed to the jury, “he…he just has a temper, that’s all.”
“Shaddup! Shaddup! SHADDUP!” Tom screamed as the bailiffs dragged him out of court. “I will get you, Arena. I will kill you, I promise!”
With tears in my eyes, I went on to give my damning testimony.
Ian Saunders glared at me before he cross-examined me. That was okay – I planned to give him a hug later on, which would bridge troubled waters between him and me.
“You paint a picture of your husband being a violent man, yet you went back to him?”
I took my time in answering. “He had a temper and it was scary, yes, but he told me that he would change, and he did change. I’ve been with him for almost a month and he never hit me or hit my son once, never threatened to put my son out at night in the dark, never threatened to kill me, except now, never screamed at me once in the last thirty days, which was amazing. Except today, when he threatened to kill me.” I looked at the jury. “He really has changed.”
I knew exactly how I sounded (Bear had schooled me on how to answer and what kind of questions I could face), and I bet Ian Saunders regretted cross-examining me. In fact, I bet he regretted putting me on the stand in the first place.
“No further questions!” Ian Saunders snapped, his lips a thin line.
The prosecution was not finished with me.
“Besides today, did your husband, at any other time, threaten to kill you?”
“Y…yes. But what does that have to do –”
“Yet you went back to him? In spite of all of –”
“I loved my husband in spite of everything, yes. We lost a child, and both of us were broken. It made sense for me to try and make it work. He’s an innocent –”
“So why did you lie about your husband’s whereabouts?”
“I didn’t lie when I made that initial statement. I thought it was correct. But after a while, I wasn’t so sure and…” I placed a palm on my forehead. “Look, I don’t want to go back to jail for perjury. I have a son who needs me. I need to tell the truth. Maybe my husband may not have been home during the time of the murder, but I am confident that he didn’t kill Kobus and that he will be found not guilty. Just because he’s got a temper, doesn’t mean he’s a bad man.”
Outside the courtroom, Ian Saunders took me aside. “Your testimony was extremely damaging to Tom’s case, Arena. Is there something I should know?”
I hesitated, then burst into tears. “Tom told me that he killed Kobus and that if I said anything, he’d kill me. I’m finding it really hard to live with Kobus’s murder on my conscience, Ian, and like–”
“He told you that he killed Kobus?”
“Yes, but I don’t believe he did. He’s not a murderer. And if you tell him I told you that, when he comes home, he’s going to beat the daylights out of me, Ian.”
“Oh, darling, somehow I don’t think he’s coming home anytime soon.”
“What do you mean, Ian?”
Ian sighed, shook his head, then started talking fast and furiously, and for a moment, I thought I was at an auction.
“The glove with his DNA on it, the old lady across the street confirming that a black Porsche was parked outside her house around the time of the murder, the murder weapon in Tom’s house, the phone calls Tom made around the time of the murder which puts him outside Kobus’s house, the cocaine with his fingerprints and Kobus’s on it, and now your testimony – your inability to alibi him.”
He took off his glasses and rubbed his sunken eyes.
“What can I do to help, Ian? Tell me, just tell me.”
“Pray,” he said before he walked away.
“On my knees?”
He gave a dismissive wave, but didn’t look back.
“Okay, then!”
Two weeks later, after only an hour of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict.
On the charge of first degree murder…drum roll please…guilty!
Tom’s head lolled, then he turned and shot me a murderous look. I deadpanned for a moment as I let victory wash over me, then started wailing. Loudly.
Tom was sentenced to thirty-three years for murdering Kobus. The cocaine charges added another thirteen years, to be served consecutively. Total…forty-six years, with parole only after thirty-five years. I could live with that.
They say revenge is sweet.
It’s not. It’s very sweet.
The injustice of it all – an innocent man behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
True, but let’s not forget how it all started – he was a sociopath, a psychopath who thought nothing of killing his own child. He was a child murderer, and he belonged in prison.
When I stepped out of court, I stood aside and closed my eyes.
I pictured my baby Sasha’s angelic face, her melodious gurgles, her smile that melted hearts, and a dry sob escaped me.
Sasha my baby, I did it. I avenged you, sweetheart. I will never forget you. You live on in my heart.
I drove home to Bear’s open arms and we hugged for a while before we cracked open a bottle of champagne.
“To baby Sasha,” he said in a solemn voice.
“To beautiful Sasha,” I said, then embraced my soul mate, who I was sure would take a grenade for me.
Warren was now safe.
Bear was now safe.
I was now safe.
“Let’s go tell Warren the good news,” I murmured. “That his daddy is never coming back.”
Bear chuckled. “I think you’re gonna make his day.”
“Never ever?” Warren asked, his eyes wide with anticipation.
“Never ever, sweetheart.”
“Not even for a visit?”
“Not even for a visit, baby.”
“You promise, Mom?”
“I do, Warren. I promise.”
Warren smiled, then looked at Bear. “You gonna be my dad?”
Bear smiled at me, then tossed Warren’s hair. “I’m almost sure I am.”
“Will I be able to call you Dad, like Amy does?”
Bear’s smile vanished and he swallowed hard. “Yes, champ. But you can call me that now, if you like. We can play pretend. And…it makes me feel good to have a son.” They hugged while I watched, my tears falling into my glass and mingling with my Cristal.