"We met for breakfast not too long after I found out. Big breakfast. Stacks of pancakes, eggs, and all kinds of fancy jams. He thought somehow that would make it okay that he was emailing another woman while married to me. I remember staring at the butter knife I used to spread my fancy jam, and for half a second I wondered what the side of his neck would look like with the butter knife in it. Fancy jams dripping down the side of his fat, email, cheating neck. I was so mad."
Miranda stared at her lawyer as she recounted what happened at that fateful breakfast. She stared at the floor as she did so. Something about this lawyer made her nervous. From the moment he walked in with his perfectly pressed suit, tie that he kept adjusting, and his cheap cologne. His presence felt overwhelming. He made it a point to keep eye contact with her. Normally Miranda would see this as a challenge but here in jail, she wasn't going to test anyone including her lawyer. Which she didn't hire. Callie hired him.
"And you stabbed him" Her lawyer asked
"Did I" She looked at him.
She hadn't admitted to stabbing him. She hadn't given them a motive for her to stab him. But it was clear she did it. Well clear to everyone but her. She was still in denial. It was a butter knife. You can't stab someone with a butter knife, right? And anyway she's a surgeon she helps people she doesn't hurt them. Even Tucker Jones wasn't worth her medical license and more importantly her freedom.
"Miranda I am here to help. I can't help if you aren't honest with me" He sighed and adjusted his tie again. She wondered why he kept doing that.
"Benjamin was it" She leaned on the table "I stand accused of stabbing my ex-husband with a damn butter knife"
"Which I didn't even know was possible" He looked at the photos "But his injury isn't that bad so we're lucky"
"Get a black woman mad enough anything is possible" She shrugged "How can you help me anyway"
"A plea deal" He smiled "This is your first offense. I did some talking and here's what we got. So because you used a butter knife it didn't cause significant damage to Tucker. He just had to be patched up in the ER. The prosecution is giving you the option to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge 4th-degree assault, maybe slight jail time, pay a fine, take domestic violence courses, and you cannot have any contact with Tucker. This plea goes out the window by the end of the week and they're going for 2nd-degree assault and a lengthy jail stay.
"I have to plead guilty to domestic violence and take courses" She crossed her arms "after going to jail"
"Do you have a better idea" He asked her
"Not guilty"
"But you are guilty"
"Says who"
"Says the witnesses, the victim, the evidence. He says you tried to kill him" Ben sighed
"I am a surgeon. I know all major arteries and veins"
"So you're saying if you wanted him dead" Ben filled in the blanks
"I'm not saying anything" She put her hands up "but no one tried to kill that man"
"Please Miranda work with me"
"No jail time"
"You put a knife in a man's neck at breakfast. You think you can just go home after that. Now 2nd-degree assault carries a max of 10 years. You gambling with that"
"I just want to get back to my son. And continue being a surgeon"
"Respectfully you should have thought about that before you put a knife in a man's neck"
"Not just a man. The man I married. The man I vowed to love for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Just to find out he was emailing another woman. He had it coming"
