Have you ever used your inner alarm clock? I had a 10th grade English teacher that taught her students all about it. At night when you are in bed and ready to go to sleep, see what time it is and then close your eyes and picture the time in your head. Then picture the time you want to wake up. Go over this a number of times in your head. You will wake up at the correct time. This doesn't just work at night when you are going to bed. You can also decide how long you want a nap to last. I have had the best 20 minute naps that way during my lunch break at work. I think Det. Lewis was using his inner alarm clock because he seemed to come awake at the correct time.
We walked to the real Witness room. It was noisy. The TV was on full blast along with the closed captioning; cops in uniform were there along with Shanel and a guy friend of hers sitting in the 2nd row from the front. Det. Lewis dropped me off saying he was going to find Ms. Shaffer. I sat in the 3rd row from the front behind Shanel. Det. Lewis also said hello to Shanel and spoke with her a few mintues. As they were talking , Shanel's guy friend got up and left. I went back to my book.
It wasn't but a few minutes and Det. Lewis and Ms. Shaffer, the ADA, walked in. Immediately they both walked up to Shanel where she was sitting. Ms. Shaffer was pretty upset as she had been verbally accosted by the murder victim's family as they are blaming Shanel for his death. Nothing like making a bad situation worse than it has to be. I found out later that Shanel's guy friend didn't help matters as he tried to defend Shanel's reputation against onslaught of verbal bashing. I guess it got kind of rough. The victim's family was saying that Shanel had been playing the two men against each other when in reality it had been over between Shanel and Travis for quite some time. The kicker to this is that Bob hadn't had any contact with his family for a very very long time. Now all of a sudden they show up and pretend to care.
Bottom line - the jury pick was still not completed.
Det. Lewis picked me up the next morning. It was now Wednesday - the day I finally testify. He and I got me signed in at the witness room. Before we walked to the courtroom, I needed to use the ladies room so Det. Lewis showed me where it was. He offered to hold my book for me - he is such a gentleman. I walked in to the two-stall bathroom and had to take the smaller one as the other was occupied. I did my business and left the stall and saw this sweet black lady probably around 70ish. She had on a suit and a pillbox hat. As we washed our hands we nodded and smiled to each other. You know, your typical bathroom protocol. I met Det. Lewis back in the hallway and we walked to the courtroom where the trial was in session. He peeked in the window to see who was on the stand and then herded me down the hall and around a corner to the nearest bench to wait my turn. I was at the bottom of a staircase and where one hall linked to another.
Det. Lewis was fidgety. He kept popping up, checking the status of the trial, and then sitting back down. He kept giving me the same advice that I should keep my eyes on Ms. Shaffer and that she will guide me through the questions. It will be a friendly repartee. Don't worry about the lawyer for the defense because if is she gets out of line Ms. Shaffer will object. Don't answer any question that has been objected to. Wait for the judges ruling. I told Det. Lewis all I could say was what I heard and saw. All I could testify about was my version of the truth. Since this was Det. Lewis' first murder trial as a Homicide Detective, I could understand why he was nervous.
As I waited alone on the bench, I noticed my surroundings. The courhouse was built in the early 1900s and is beautiful. It has sweeping staircases with polished wood banisters and marble walls. I could picture it way back when when it was new. A lot of pride, love, and skill went into this building. Those that built it worked very hard to make a majestic and lasting monument that even in this century is inspiring.
On one of Det. Lewis' trips back to the bench where I sat, he brought Shanel with him. She joined me on the bench and Det. Lewis took off saying he would be back. Now was my opportunity to talk to her.
