Letters From Cages

I slowly walked down the somewhat familiar hallway of the prison, my hands lying firmly by my side as the guard’s leg kept hitting the keys laying against it. I almost told him how annoying it was, but instead kept my mouth shut as he reached in front of me to open the door.

“Miss, you know that you’re late for visitation, so you only have an hour left,” The guard told me and I simply nodded and walked through the open door. I turned to see a line of chairs with women and men sitting uncomfortably in them with their hands pressed against glasses and large telephones attached to their ears. Their hands clutched the telephones as if they were the jaws of life, the only thing connecting them to the person on the other side of glass.

I walked forward, wishing that I was able to visit Carter the more personal way I had done before, but because of his violent outrage, the prison revoked that opportunity. I finally saw Carter’s face in the corner of my eye and sped up my steps. I sat down on the chair opposite of him and just looked at him. His hair was disheveled and his blue eyes now held a sense of vacancy, like nothing was even there. He picked up the telephone and I took a deep breath before doing the same.

“God, I miss you,” was the first thing he said. His hand pressed against the glass and I swallowed hard. I closed my eyes, thinking about the times when we would lay in his bed and put our hands against one another’s. Now look where we are now. Separated.

“I miss you too,” I replied softly. My eyes averted to the telephone attached to my cheek, and I felt stupid. This whole situation was stupid. I took a deep breath and decided to cut to the immediate chase. “Carter… I’ve found out something that could possibly help you.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, his hand still pressed against the glass as if he was truly touching me.

“Ada… I, I found out that Jerry rented a truck the night of Daniel Cody’s murder, a truck primarily used to load and unload things.”

I stopped for a second, wondering why I didn’t want to tell Carter about Adam, but then I thought of how Carter felt about him during high school, and then knew exactly why.

“I know,” Carter replied.

“What?” I asked, leaning forward. “What do you mean you know?”

Carter shook his head, his eyes lowered. “You don’t think that I know that he did it, Gwen? I’ve told you.”

“You told me he did it when you were already in jail, Carter, why didn’t you tell me when you got arrested? Why didn’t you tell the court!”

A woman to the left of me looked over, her flaming red hair pulled back with a scrunchie with her painted pink lips pressed together.

“Miss, please, I’m trying to speak to my husband,” She said before whipping her head back around. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Carter.

“I couldn’t do that, Gwen,” Carter said in a low voice.

“You couldn’t do what? Prove your innocence?” I asked. “This makes no sense. This honestly doesn’t make sense.”

“It would make sense if you were in my position at the time,” Carter replied sternly.
“Well explain your position, Carter!” I said through clenched teeth.

“Miss!” The woman hissed. I ignored her and looked straight forward.

“I was trying to protect you,” Carter replied. He finally took his hand off the glass and ran it through his dark hair. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his strong chin was pointed down towards the desk.

I clutched the phone tighter in my hands. “You keep saying that, that you were trying to protect me. From what, Carter? Or better, from who? Jerry? Charlie? Marco? Who?”

“Jerry,” Carter said in a low voice.

“I don’t get it,” I said softly.

“What don’t you get?” Carter spat while sitting up in his seat. “He killed Daniel, framed me, and told me he’d kill you too if I ever told the truth.”

“I-“

“Oh don’t start with the ‘I could have protected myself’ shit,” Carter said. “We both know what would have happened. And I couldn’t let that happen to you, so I took the fall.”

“Why would you do something like that?” I said, my eyes were stinging, tears threatening to fall. It was my turn to reach for the glass. Carter reached forward and aligned his hand with mine.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Carter replied, his eyes now watering. He coughed, lowered his head and looked up at me. “I would never let anyone lay a hand on you. I’d go to prison for three lifetimes before anyone tried to hurt you. I did this for you.”

“I’m not worth that,” I said, wiping wet tears from my cheeks. “I’m not worth that.”

“Are you kidding?” Carter asked. “You’re worth every single day here.”

My shoulders shook, and then it was as if I lost all control before I leaned forward on my elbows and began to sob. Carter clutched the glass and I felt like such a horrible person right then and there. Here he was, sitting in jail because of me, because he was trying to protect me. And I doubted him.

“I’m going to get him caught,” I finally said, my voice cracking. “He isn’t going to get away with this. I’m going to get enough evidence to throw him in here and you out.”

“Gwenith, don’t you dare,” Carter said, his voice deep and stern. “Damnit, I didn’t get put in here for you to just go out and put yourself in danger.”

“I can’t just sit at home every day knowing that he’s walking around all proud of himself, probably sipping coffee smugly at a some damn Starbucks!” I yelled.

“Miss!”

“Oh shut up!” I said to the woman. Her eyebrows raised almost up to her hairline.

“Oh that’s it,” She said while signaling for a guard.

“I’m just leaving anyways,” I spat and turned to Carter, who had a hint of amusement in his eyes, mainly because yelling at a complete stranger, would never be something I’d do. I paused and wrapped my fingers tighter against the telephone. “You may protest forever, but I’m going to do what it takes to get you out of here, whether you like it or not.”

I then hung up the telephone, and got up out of my seat. The fiery haired woman scoffed and I fought the urge not to punch her in the face before exiting the rectangular room, through the lobby of the jail, and out into the real world. The world where I wasn’t going to be afraid anymore. The world where I was going to save Carter, just like he saved me.

“So I think we need to gather a bit more information before we head over to the police,” I said, pacing my room later on that afternoon. The whole drive home from the prison was excruciating, and all I wanted to do was find Jerry and give him a piece of my mind, which probably would have resulted in him giving me a piece of his mind, which probably wouldn’t have been too good.

“And what could that be?” Adam asked. He lifted his legs in the air as he laid on his back on my bed. I stopped pacing to glance at him before stepping forward to pace again.

“I think we need to find out just who lives at 2487 Filmot Glen.”

Adam didn’t say a word, instead he got up off of my bed and grabbed his car keys. I followed him outside of my room and through the hallway to my front door. Adam grabbed the handle and swung it open, and we both jumped backward when we saw Piper Nguyen standing there with her hand balled into a fist, looking as if she was about to knock. A smile spread on her face when she saw us.

“Hi!” She said perkily. I put my hand on my chest, trying to calm myself down. “Oh, sorry for scaring you, I just wanted to come by to see how you were doing. I see you two are together again.” She then looked at me with her eyebrows raised and I instinctively took a step away from Adam.

“That’s nice of you to come, but we were actually just about to leave,” I said. Piper tilted her head to her side, causing her straight-across-the-forehead bangs to go along with it. Her hair seemed even longer, how down to her mid stomach in front of her ripped T-shirt.

“Oh, where are you guys headed? Can I come with?”

I looked at Adam pleadingly and he just rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Well, we were just, going to go somewhere important, that’s all,” He said, stammering over his words. Smooth, Adam.

“Well would it be cool if I tagged along?” Piper asked, glancing back and forth between both of us. “I just haven’t seen you in a long time, Gwenith, I thought we could catch up. Unless you two want to be alone.”

“No, it’s okay, you can come,” I said. Adam sharply turned his head and gave me a look, but I dismissed it and walked through the doorway. “We’re taking Adam’s car.”

“Great!” Piper chirped and followed me. Adam stood where he was before closing the door behind us and joining us on our walk to his car. Once we got inside, Piper sat up in the back seat and pulled her long hair back into a pony tail. “So are we off on another one of your guys’ adventures like Tier Forest?” She asked with a laugh. Adam and I both tensed and Piper just smiled. I didn’t ever remember her being this… persistent.

“Uh… we just wanted to try to figure some things out,” Adam said while pulling out of the driveway. We both didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t take Piper to Filmot Glen and not explain why we were going.

“To figure out what exactly happened the night Daniel Cody was murdered?” Piper asked. Adam slammed on his breaks, causing all of us to jolt forward in the car. Piper let out a laugh. “Sorry! I was just wondering. I mean, why else would you guys be in Tier Forest together that one day? That’s where Daniel’s body was found. I don’t think either of you would be back there if there wasn't a reason.”

Well, it turns out Piper was smarter than we thought.

“It’s okay,” Piper spoke again. “I know what you guys are doing… and I want to help. Call me curious, but the reports of what supposedly happened that night on the news didn’t really do me justice. I’d like to find out for myself as well.”

I turned to Adam and he looked back at me, with his eyes widened. I shrugged and he tilted his mouth to the side before looking in his mirror to pull back onto the road.

“Alright, well, I guess extra help could be good,” I said quietly, fidgeting with the hem of my blouse.

Piper leaned back in her seat. “Well, good, because I'm here to help.”

As I went into further explanation of the information Adam and I had gathered so far to Piper, we finally pulled into Filmot Glen and then in front of 2487. I took a deep breath and sat back in my seat, looking to see any activity in the house.

“Is the house you saw that Jerry guy going into?” Piper asked. I nodded and she bit her lip, thinking. “You know what’s weird, is that I never even knew this street existed and I’ve lived here all of my life,” She added.

Suddenly a man stepped out of the front door and I leaned forward in my seat, looking. He put a hat on his head and I immediately knew who he was. He was the man I saw Annabelle talking to in the alley behind the coffeeshop the day I decided to follow her. He had thick, long dreadlocks falling from his hat, and he wore a button up shirt with baggy jeans, a gold chain hanging in a U against a pocket. He adjusted a nice looking ring on his finger and I quietly rolled down my window.

“Gwenith, what are you doing?” Adam asked. I hushed him and took out a small digital camera I got for Christmas a few years back and stuffed in my purse months ago. I turned it on and snapped almost every movement the man made. I zoomed in and got a picture of the ring on his finger. It looked more expensive than his house.

All of a sudden, a gate opened at the side of the house and I swallowed when I saw Annabelle walk out from it. She adjusted her leather jacket, pulling it closer to her. When she saw the man, she smiled and he handed her the ring on his finger along with a small bag he pulled out of his pocket. It was made out of cloth so I couldn’t see what was inside. She did a small curtsey and laughed before walking over to the passenger side door of the truck in the driveway. I kept taking pictures of every movement they made until they both got in the car and backed out. Adam, Piper and I quickly sunk down in our seats as they drove off and then jumped right back up.

“Did you see the expensive jewelry he was wearing?” I asked Adam. He nodded. “He handed her that bag. It could have been jewelry. Maybe we could match it up to the jewelry that was missing after Daniel disappeared. Whoever that man is, he knows Jerry, and he could have been in on it.”

Piper and Adam nodded as Adam turned back on his car and we headed back to my house. Once we got inside, and saying an awkward hello to my father and my grandmother, we walked over to the computer that I never used on my desk and looked up anything related to stolen jewelry heists in our town. Mostly all searches went to the Daniel Cody case. but one caught our eye, an article named “Man Omitted of All Charges of Jewelry Fraud”.

I clicked on the link and found a familiar, hawk nosed face staring right back at me. The article said that in 1994, the man, Nigel Crow (a fitting name, I thought) was omitted of all jewelry thieving and fraud charges because there wasn't enough evidence to convict him in the case. The police reluctantly let him go. Crow has been living as a positive citizen in our town ever since. I looked over at Adam and he put his hand over his mouth. We knew we were getting somewhere.

“Listen, it’s getting kind of late,” Piper said while sitting at my desk chair. “How about first thing in the morning we go to the police, we should probably get a night to think about just exactly what we’re going to say to them.”

“I actually agree,” Adam replied. “I’ll be here first thing in the morning and we’ll figure everything out.” I nodded and him and Piper said their goodbyes before leaving my room and out of the house. I sat back in my chair and smiled, we were one step closer to freeing Carter. If any jewelry either of them were wearing matched the jewelry that was stolen from the Cody’s, we could get them arrested or at least spur some sort of investigation. They always said they never found the jewelry that was stolen from the safe at Daniel's house.

I grabbed the camera from my purse and laid in gently on my dresser. I slowly leaned back, and before I knew it, was fast asleep, knowing that tomorrow could change the course of Carter's existence.

The police station was loud, phones were ringing off of the hook as Adam, Piper and I walked through the busyness and to the front desk.

“Hi, we’d like to speak to a police officer, please,” I said. The woman behind the desk nodded and was about to speak before I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Miss Gwenith Hewlett, I didn’t expect to see you here, what a pleasant surprise. I thought you were staying out of trouble.”

We all turned to see the police officer who had almost arrested Adam and just a few nights ago standing with his hands on his belt. His shiny nametag read Walter Kreankali. The buttons of his shirt looked like they were about to pop open from the pressure of his round stomach. He looked me dead in the eye, his eyebrows raised.

“Hi, sir,” I said with my head down. It would be just our luck that we would get him out of all the police officers in the station. Kreankali led us back to his office and I told him every single thing I knew. Jerry, Annabelle, Nigel Crow, the junkyard, almost everything. When I was finished he just looked at me skeptically.

“It seems to me that you just have a lot of loose evidence that you gathered by mere coincidence and minor stalking,” He said and added a complete non-endearing laugh that came out more like a snort. I frowned.

“We have pictures, sir,” I retorted. I reached in my bag and handed him my digital camera. His eyebrows raised. “They were wearing expensive jewelry, and it could have been some of the jewelry that was stolen from the Cody’s residence.” As I explained, Kreankali turned on the camera and then an another unexpected snort escaped his lips.

“Is this some sort of joke?” He asked and handed me back the digital camera.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked. “We have pictures!”

Kreankali leaned back in his seat. “There are no pictures on that camera. Kids, coming in here, wasting my time."

“What?” I asked and turned the camera on. The screen lit up, saying “No Media Found”. I stepped back, feeling completely dumbfounded.

The pictures were gone.