A few minutes later, two uniformed officers unlocked the back doors of the courtroom, and people started to fill the galley. I held onto the bars, frantically searching through the people entering. Carter! Thank God.
“Carter!” I raised my hand to wave, yanking up the arm of the person next to me I was still cuffed to, without warning.
He tried to come to me, but one of the guards stopped him from getting that close. “Don’t say anything. I got you a lawyer. She’ll take care of everything.”
I nodded, feeling the first sense of relief since this nightmare had started. Tears started to stream down my face, but I couldn’t even wipe them away without bothering the person next to me. So I just let them fall.
A little while later, court was called into session. A judge wearing an ankle-length, traditional, white Kandura robe with a red and white-checkered headdress draped over his head, took the bench. He spoke fast and furious in Arabic and rarely looked up.
So much was going on at once. The judge would be speaking to one person while two or three others were having side conversations in difference languages—some of which I wasn’t even sure what language they were speaking. I just kept looking back and forth between the front of the courtroom and Carter sitting in the back. It was the first time I saw Carter look anything other than his calm, laid back, confident self. That alone scared the shit out of me.
Eventually, an officer called my name. He uncuffed me from the chain of prisoners and led me into the hallway where a woman wearing a suit was waiting for me. She spoke perfect English, but with a thick Arabic accent. She was also stunningly beautiful.
“When the judge calls your name, I will speak for you. We’re going to plead not guilty. The arresting officer will not show up to give his testimony, and this will upset the judge.”
“What? How do you know the arresting officer will not show up and why do we want to upset the judge?”
She sighed as if I was annoying her. “Because the officer was told not to appear today. And this judge is a stickler for hearing testimony at the initial arraignment. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that it will annoy him so much that he’ll release you to prove a point.”
“What happens if things go in the other direction? What happens if the other fifty percent chance wins out?”
“Then you go to jail for a maximum of thirty days until such time the officer can be located and appear.”
“But…” Before I could object, an officer called my name.
“It’s our turn. Let’s go.”
“Wait…”
“No. We go in now.”
Everything that came next played out before me as if I was watching it from a distance. I was physically present in the courtroom, but my mind was floating somewhere above watching it all play out. I glanced back at Carter before standing next to my lawyer in the front of the court. He was sitting on the edge of his seat and looked as nervous as I felt.
The judge said a few things I didn’t understand, and then my lawyer responded in Arabic. I held my breath watching the judge as he grew angrier and angrier with each stream of words he barked. After a heated debate, the judge picked up his gavel and slammed it down angrily. I jumped from the sound.
“Come with me.” An officer took my elbow and began to lead me out of the courtroom.
“Wait. Wait…What happened?” I asked my lawyer. “What did the judge say?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re free to go. The officer will take you to collect your belongings now.”
CARTER WAS WAITING ON the front steps of the courthouse with my lawyer. My initial reaction was to run and throw my arms around him. But then I remembered that was how I got in trouble in the first place—being indecent in public.
“You okay?” His face was so full of concern.
“I think so.”
He turned to my lawyer. “I don’t know how to thank you, Serine.”
A sly grin crossed her face, and she nodded. “I’m sure you’ll think of something the next time our paths cross on a flight to America, Captain.” She turned to me. “Good luck with your sister. Try to keep her decent from now on.”
I stood with my mouth hanging open as she walked away. “Your sister?”
Carter attempted to explain. “We met a few times on flights. I thought the chances she would help me were better if…”
I put my hand up and stopped him. “I don’t even want to know.”
“I’m so sorry, Kendall. I should never have left you out there by yourself. I should have made you come with me, and this would never have happened.”
“It’s not your fault.”