Page 158 of Forgotten Prejudice

“Can you tell him something for me?” Shay-Lee asked, and I immediately agreed.

“Of course.”

“Tell him that I’m sorry it took me so long.”

I wanted to tell Shay-Lee that he had absolutely no reason to apologize, but I also knew it wasn’t my place.

“I’ll make sure to deliver your message,” I promised.

The hearing ended with Shay-Lee’s powerful testimony and evidence. I left immediately after, not wanting to give Ashton the chance to catch me. Before the second half of the day started, he’d said he wanted to know everything. And while it had gotten me excited and nervous at the same time, I knew that it had to wait. We were a mile away from the finish line, so close you could practically hear the crowd’s cheering and roaring. Therefore, distracting us from the case would be a critical mistake at this stage. One more day, that was all we needed to get through.

Quickly enough, the hours passed, and before I knew it, it was a new morning. The prosecution didn’t seem excited to be in court today, not that I could blame them. After Shay-Lee’s shocking testimony yesterday, they had clearly lost. The prosecution delivered their closing arguments, and so did I, and now it was time to wait. The ball was officially in the jury’s hands after the judge gave them their instructions. Now, they needed to deliberate as to whether Camilo was guilty or not, and that could take anywhere from a couple of minutes to several days.

When we were called back less than an hour later to hear their decision, I knew it was either a good sign or an utter disaster.

My heart rate increased as the jurors filed back into the courtroom, clearly having made their decision. Straightening up in my chair, I took a deep breath. Nerves kicked in my gut, and my leg bounced under the table.

The foreperson of the jury stood up, the decision in her hand. She cleared her throat before she began reading from the paper, word after word until she reached the reason we had all been waiting for with bated breath.

“Considering the evidence presented yesterday by the victim and the defense team, which shed new light on the case and made us doubt the prosecution’s claims, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty on all counts.”

Not guilty.

For many years, I had heard that verdict being said, and it always felt like an achievement. Nothing more than a validation of my good work. But right now, it felt so personal and raw that I could cry with joy. Unable to control myself, I placed my hands on Diesel’s back and shook him. At the same time, calls of joy erupted from his friends. I swear to God, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this kind of joy. But as I turned around and saw Ashton, tears of happiness in his eyes while he was looking at us, I actually did remember the last time I’d been this content.

I used to think I was a solo player. For years, I’d told myself the lie that a trial was a one-man show. It was a story I told myself to excuse how lonely I often felt. Even more so after Ashton was out of my life. But after long months of hard teamwork, I knew I wasn’t alone, and neither was Diesel, who was sitting right beside me, soon to be a free man.

After getting the attention of everyone in the court, the judge turned her focus to Diesel. “Young man, after the rather dramatic few days we’ve had, I’m inclined to believe that a great injustice has been done to you, and I would ask the police to reopen their investigation of the case. Now, then, without further ado, I hereby accept the jury’s decision and dismiss this case against Mr. Gómez and order the immediate release of the defendant.”

I couldn’t describe what happened next. There was simply too much joy to form it into words. But I would say that it felt like I could finally breathe again.

Ash

“It’s not like you to give others the spotlight,” I joked after finally finding Soren in the empty courtroom. I was so busy celebrating Diesel’s exculpation that at some point, I’d lost sight of Soren. And I wasn’t the only one. While his team spoke to the press outside the court, giving them the details of the successful case, Soren was nowhere to be found. That was, until I found him sitting on the same chair Diesel had occupied for the past few weeks.

Soren half turned to look at me, a small smile tinged on his lips. “Is that so?”

Walking down to the front of the court, I invited myself to sit beside him.

“Yes.”

He snorted. “I guess I’ve changed.”

I didn’t immediately speak and instead enjoyed the simple comfort of being next to him. Thousands of thoughts ran through my head, and finding the right question to start this conversation was almost impossible.

“We did it,” Soren said, saving me from finding a way to break the silence we’d fallen into.

“You did it,” I corrected him, my shoulder touching his. “Soren, I will never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done.”

He huffed, eyes focused on his hands that were placed flat on the desk. “Nothing to thank me for. I simply did my job.”

To gather his attention, I covered his hand with mine. “You did so much more.”

Biting back a smile, he nodded, and I withdrew my hand. After all, I still needed to keep those lines between us clear, even though they were getting blurrier by the minute.

“You know, it felt personal.” He turned to me. “When Diesel got acquitted, it felt like the judge talked directly to me. Your joy, the kids’.” He observed me, his silver eyes reminding me of the ocean after a rainstorm. “I don’t know, I’ve just never felt this attached to a case before.”

If I talked about seeing slight changes in him, now was one of those times. Excluding me, Soren was never one to show empathy with others, so this shift warmed my heart. “Well, those kids have the ability to do that. They’re capable of touching your soul.”