Chapter 107

The two days leading up to the sentencing, I was keeping busy. I had my work and I got the contract for my bakery and met with Seymour to have him look it over. Then, we booked a meeting with Anya to sign the papers the day after the sentencing. I looked at my original plans I had sketched on my iPad and the calculations I had done. I changed some things around and started calling handymen to find someone to help with the renovation. On the morning of the sentence, Wictor and Anthony waited for me downstairs as usual and we walked to the court and took our seats. Tim had asked me if I wanted to make a victim statement. I had said no. None of the crimes Simon had been accused, and found guilty of had been against me. I had decided how I would handle his crimes against me, I had chosen how to punish him on my own, with some help from Hunter. I was satisfied with being a bystander this time. I sat in court and listened to the victims that spoke. Mostly women who had been trafficked from their homes, sometimes from different parts of the world, and forced to work at Simon’s club. Their stories had me in tears. A part of me was ashamed that I had been married to a person like him. When the victims had spoken, it was the judges’ turn. The judge that had been neutral during the trial now showed how disgusted he was with Simon and Mr Steel. He spoke about Mr Steel’s tactic to blame everything on an obviously innocent person and a victim. It was nice to hear, but to be fair to Mr Steel, with the evidence presented. He had no real other way to defend his client. I didn’t like the man, but I did see the predicament he had been in. I could hear the sobs coming from Simon’s mother. After the judge had done his speech, he started to list the sentences. I had been less nervous for this part. I had done the maths and I knew that even if the judge only gave him one year for each of the verdicts and he chose to run them consecutively, he would end up with twenty-eight years in prison. As the judge listed his sentences, I could see it would end up with a lot more. I tried to add them all in my head, but lost count somewhere along the line. When the judge was done, I had no idea how much time Simon would end up serving, but judging by the compact silence, it was a lot of years. Seymour nudged me and as I turned to him he held up his phone, he had been smart enough to use his calculator. It showed seventy-three.

“The sentences will run consecutively and you will be eligible for parole after half of the total time has been served,” the judge told Simon. Simon was looking pale and behind him, his mother wailed and was being supported by her husband. My head spun. Even if Simon was released as soon as he had the possibility for parole, he would be serving thirty-six years. He would be over sixty years old.

“You can’t do this to my baby! It’s all her fault!” Mandy screamed at the judge and pointed at me.

“You need to calm down. This is my court and I will not allow outbursts like this. Calm down or I will hold you in contempt,” the judge told her.

“I think this is my favourite day ever,” Wictor whispered to me. He looked like he wished he had brought popcorn to the show.

“My baby! He is innocent. You can’t put my baby in jail!” Mandy continued wailing and I had the enormous pleasure of watching her husband trying to drag her from court.

“I think I agree with you,” I whispered back. “I wished I had a recording of this so I could play it on days I feel down.” Wictor giggled quietly. I looked as the deputy put cuffs on Simon and led him away. I also saw the angry glare the woman, who I assumed was his new girlfriend, gave me. It amused me that he thought I was to blame for all of this. I wasn’t used to people giving me so much power. But I would take it. The judge closed the trial and we all stood up. I saw the look on Hunter’s face and it dampened my enjoyment of the moment. Our eyes met for a moment, but I chose to let him be alone with Jason. For once I felt like I couldn’t be of help to him, our interests were too far apart on this one. We walked out of the courtroom and were heading outside when I heard someone calling my name. I turned to see a middle aged woman walking in my direction. It took me a moment to recognise her. She had been one of the jurors.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I’m sorry to bother you. I don’t know if you recognise me,” the woman said.

“I do, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember your name,” I told her.

“Oh that’s okay, I don’t think anyone has mentioned it after the selection was done,” she said. “I just wanted to let you know that we all knew from the start that you had nothing to do with that horrible business. It wasn’t hard to see that the horrible man, Mr Steel, was reaching for straws and we all were very upset at the way he treated you on the witness stand. Not to mention the audacity to call that wicked man to testify against you. If we could have, we would have tossed Mr Steel in with his clients,” she continued. I smiled at her.

“Thank you. That means a lot,” I said. She gave me a smile and then waved as she walked away. “That was nice of her,” I told Wictor, Anthony, and Seymour.

“It was,” they all agreed. Seymour had to run back to work and I let the other two go as well. They had taken so much time off that I feared they would all lose their jobs because of me. I headed home and sprawled out on the couch. Cuddles came and sat on my stomach and watched me. I scratched him behind his ear and he curled up into a little ball and we spent an hour just enjoying life. While I ate lunch I emailed Mr Smith to let him know the trial was over and that I had found a location for my business. Later in the afternoon I got a reply to my email. Mr Smith congratulated me and asked if we could have a face to face meeting, to draw out a plan on how to move forward. I accepted the meeting invitation sent by his assistant for next Monday.

The following day I walked into Anya’s office. We signed the papers; I transferred a good chunk of the money I had in my savings account to the former owner, and I got the keys in my hand. I was all alone as I got a taxi to my new property. It felt right to be by myself as I used the keys for the first time and walked inside. The air was a little stale and I opened the small window over the sink in the kitchen. I walked out into the shop and took down the two big ‘For Sale’ signs taped in the windows. Not any longer, I thought as I folded them up. I walked around the place, making plans. In the small hallway in the back, there was a narrow staircase leading upstairs. I hadn’t inspected it when Wictor and I had been here, but I knew it was a small apartment the former owner had used for storage space. I headed up and saw a small room crammed with old clutter and boxes. I opened a few and saw what looked like decorations for different seasons. I would have to look at those closer to see if I could use any of it. A lot of the things were junk, and I needed to get rid of them. The apartment wasn’t big. It was just one room, decent size, with a small kitchenette along one wall. The ceiling was slanted towards the front of the building and two windows were set into the slanted ceiling. There was a small bathroom with room for a toilet, a sink and a shower, and nothing else. I had no idea what to use the space for. I was comfortable in my apartment. I could use it for storage, but it was a lovely little place and I felt bad for not using it. I would have to think about it. While I did that, it wouldn’t hurt to give the place a little new paint and some nice wallpaper. I walked back downstairs and headed out on the promenade. I found a little coffee shop not far from the bakery that had salads to go. I bought one and a big coffee and a big ice tea and I walked back to my place. I sat on one of the counters in the kitchen and ate my lunch. I checked my emails on the phone and a couple of contractors had got back to me with offers. I looked through them. Two of them seemed reasonable and could start within a week or two. I tried to google the two companies, but didn’t find that much. An idea popped into my head. I hesitated, wondering if it would be taking advantage of a friend. But then I decided to go for it. I sent a message to Jason.

Me: Could I ask you for a favour? I will pay you in cheesecake, your choice of flavour.

J: Who do you want killed? Anyone except Hunter and I’m game.

I laughed.

Me: No one needs to die. I’m looking into hiring contractors and I’m having difficulty doing a decent background check on my top candidates. Then I remembered I know someone who is really good at that sort of thing.

J: Why do you need contractors?

Me: I just signed the contract to my very own bakery, or at least the building. I need the contractors to make it into my bakery.

J: Congratulations! This is huge. I will send you the information to the contractors we always use, and make sure they will expect your call. Let me know what days they will be working and I will come around to install a security system.

Me: That is sweet of you, but I don’t know if a complete overhaul of the security system is in the budget, I was thinking more of changing the locks.

J: It’s a gift from our company to your company. A ‘welcome to the party’ thing. Don’t argue.

Me: Thank you. Let me know when you want to collect the cheesecake.

J: How about I stop by on Monday and look at the place so I know what you will need? I can collect it then. Lemon if that is okay.

Me: I will have one ready.

I sent him the address, and we decided he would come by after work. He sent me the contact information to the contractors and told me he had let their boss know to expect my call.