Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

5. Joseph's fate

Joseph sat on his side of the bed for a moment holding Graces engagement ring in his hand, twisting it under the natural sunlight that bled into the room from the large floor to ceiling windows in front of him watching as the large yellow diamond sparkled. He'd never been nervous about anything in his life but he could admit Grace had the capabilities of making his stomach get nervous butterflies as a grown man.

He'd been thinking about this moment since he told her 'I love you' but didn't think it would come so soon. Joseph spent the whole night before as Grace slept peacefully in his arms reciting to himself in his head what he was going to say to her and how he was going to ask her to marry him. Joseph kept playing over in his head how she was going to react, and who she was going to call to share the news with first. Most men probably got those nervous second thoughts before popping the question but not Joseph. He was certain with every ounce of his being that this was what he wanted to do. Grace was his person.

Closing the lid to the ring box he took a deep breath before standing to his feet. Suddenly, Grace let out an ear piercing scream that echoed through out their 3,000 square foot condo. He tossed the ring back in his bed side table drawer before running to the bedroom door to find out what was wrong only to be met by the SWAT team with semi automatic rifles aimed right at his chest.

Joseph shot out of his sleep, sitting up in his bunk as his chest heaved up and down— his heart rate beating at an un-normally fast pace. He looked around his dark cell realizing it was just a dream, one of the worst days of his life in fact. He'd sweated a puddle into the thin mat they called 'mattresses'. Clenching his jaw, he threw his legs over the side of his bunk letting them hang.

" Combs!" Joseph frowned looking up seeing a C.O. running his baton along the rusted steel bars of his cell in an attempt to get his attention like a child tapping on the glass of a fish tank except the loud clanking sound only pissed him off more. The C.O. held a smug look on his face seeing Joseph's expression of agitation. He was one of the very few correctional officers that held no fear for Joseph and didn't fall for his mind games. They'd gotten into it a few times over the past couple years and had come to the realization that neither one of them would back down from each other so they kept it cordial for the most part aside from days like this when he fucked with Joseph for no reason.

Joseph tried not to let it bother him though because he knew the C.O. only felt power over him because Joseph was caged up like a savage animal— if they were on the streets it would be a different story. " You got court in an hour, let's go," He said, unlocking the cell door.

" I've known Joseph all of his life, since he was a little boy," Ms. Candy said, averting her tear filled eyes from Rick to where Joseph sat with a small smile. Today he wore a navy blue Giorgio Armani suit with a crimson red tie and his BVLGARI cuff links. It was day two of the trial where friends and family would speak on Joseph's character in front of the whole court in a last ditch effort to persuade the jury of his innocence before they go back to deliberate and decide his fate. Joseph wasn't all smiles for the cameras today— being scolded by Rico yesterday combined with the dream he'd just had had him deep in thought. Joseph didn't take it in a bad way though, more coming from a place of good and concern. He knew Rico cared or else he wouldn't have said anything.

Joseph didn't know much about Rico's life except for the fact that he'd been locked up now for twenty-seven years on multiple racketeering charges. He never called anyone on the phone, received mail, or ever had anyone come visit him. Joseph was the only person that Rico spoke to and that was when Rico actually felt like speaking, most days he just kept to himself with a good book in his hands. Rico did take a particular interest in hearing stories of Grace though when Joseph was going through his broken hearted stage where every other sentence that came out of his mouth somehow related back to her.

It was just easier for Joseph to put up this front as if he didn't care about going home but he did. He missed his family and he missed his freedom but it was simpler to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and not deal with them. Rico was right though, Joseph was being given an opportunity that not many people get. He had one of the top defense attorneys in the state and the case built against him was weaker than a twig, all he had to do was play his cards right. Joseph would be a fool to let that slip between his fingers.

Rick had built most of his defense based around Unique's known gang affiliation in New York painting him as the true bad guy that had gotten into deep water with an unknown force that essentially wiped out his whole family as a repercussion— and Joseph unfortunately got wrapped into it due to his DNA being found under Unique's nails from them 'playing basketball together' that day.

Joseph undoubtedly wouldn't even be in this mess today if he would've never took his mask off. He knew better but he let the passion he had for the situation interfere with his better judgment. Joseph wanted Unique to see his face when he snuffed his and his families lives from them, it was that personal. That was how Joseph had gotten that long scratch on the side of his face that Grace had pointed out while they were eating dinner together.

" Joseph always looks out for his people, he's the type that would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. A few years ago he wrote me a $10,000 check to donate towards my Thanksgiving drive and I was able to provide almost 300 families with full dinners on Thanksgiving and he did the same thing on Christmas gifting all the children in the neighborhood with new bikes and toys," Ms. Candy recounted.

" Thank you Ms. Peterson," Rick said as she got off the stand. The whole court room had spent the last three hours listening to impact statements on Joseph's character from a bunch of people Rick managed to find and compile from throughout his life. One thing about Joseph though, as much bad as he'd done not one person truly had a negative thing to say about him. None of these people owed Joseph anything, nor did they have to be there. They all came because they had genuine and true stories to tell on his behalf.

The court took a recess as the jury deliberated. Rick got a pizza ordered as they sat in an empty conference room but Joseph could hardly eat because all he could think about was the fact that his life's fate would be decided by the end of the day at the hands of twelve strangers.

" Eat up kid," Rick said, grabbing a slice of the cheese pizza.

Joseph watched Rick demolish the slice of pizza silently from where he sat across the table from him. Rick had worked closely with Joseph for the past four years and never knew him to show much emotion or let anything bother him but right now his feelings were seeping through his hard exterior and Rick could tell Joseph was stressing about the verdict. Joseph was young, only 31 years old and had so much more life to live. You only get one life and he didn't want to spend the rest of it locked up like an animal, he'd already lost 10 years in total to the system— that was a third of his life.

Joseph turned around in his seat just in time to watch Dre and a few members of his crew come into the court room and take their respective seats behind him as everyone began to file back in from the brief recess. The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Dre gave Joseph an assuring head nod before he faced back forward in his seat watching a member of the jury take center stage in the court room to read the verdict. Joseph took a deep breath, standing up out of his seat. The sound of camera shudders began to go off at the gesture he'd just made— whatever the verdict was, Joseph wasn't going to let anyone see him sweat.

This was the moment everyone had been waiting for for four years— to watch the man the media had demonized be sent away to live the rest of his days locked away in a cage like the animal they portrayed him to be.

" We the jury find Joseph Combs not guilty on all charges due to insufficient evidence,"