Rescue Nova

Return to the Enchanted Forest

On the Wednesday of Leila's third week in jail, she got some good news - her public defender was here to meet her. Leila hurried to the door of the pod and was taken by a corrections officer to a room where she could be alone with her new lawyer. When he saw Leila come in, a suited gentleman rose to greet her.

"Good morning, Miss Faye. I'm your attorney, Todd Adler." He put out his hand for shaking.

Leila took his hand. "Nice to meet you. Call me Leila."

"And you can call me Todd."

After the corrections officer left them alone, Todd and Leila sat down at a table in the room. Todd opened up his briefcase and retrieved a laptop that he then used to pull up the information he had on Leila.

"I'll start with the good news," he began. "You're not going to have to wait until indictment to go to court. We have a hearing next week. Not for indictment, though. This is for bail."

"But I was already denied bail."

"I know, but I think your attorney could have prevented that. So that's what I'll be doing next Monday. If things go our way, you'll be released that day."

Leila was afraid to get her hopes up. "Is there any real chance of that happening? What could you do that Liam didn't?"

"I arranged for this case to be heard by another judge. The one you saw was about the only one in the district who would deny a defendant like you bail. It's ridiculous. You have no criminal history. It was not a violent crime. The victim died of a stroke that you didn't cause. You have no ties outside of this community. There's no sane reason to hold you."

"You can just request another judge?"

"Under the right circumstances. The judge you had is already facing a lot of scrutiny for denying bail, among other things. He didn't want another complaint filed against him, so I convinced him to recuse himself."

I guess Liam was right, Leila thought happily. A public defender is already handling this case better.

•••••••••••••••

Nova, still out of headspace, got some pleasant news that Wednesday morning, too. Kimberly told her during breakfast.

"I have a surprise for you. I'll be home with you today. We had a bad thunderstorm last night that caused a power pole to fall on one of the buildings at the school. It didn't cause much damage, but our school will be closed until tomorrow while they remove the pole."

Nova smiled. Since she'd been out of headspace since the night of the book fair last Friday, she'd been home alone every day while Kimberly was at work this week. So she was looking forward to having someone keep her company today.

"Is there anything special you'd like to do?" Kimberly asked.

"No, not that I can think of. What about you?"

"Well, with things as tight as they are financially with Leila not working, there's not much we can do out of the house. What about a day spent home watching our favorite shows and movies? We can take turns picking."

Nova liked that idea.

•••••••••••••••

Halfway through the first movie, Nova's unpredictable headspace returned.

"Mama? I'm little again."

Kimberly smiled. This was the first time her daughter called her Mama in headspace. "Are you? In that case, I have a surprise for you. I've been waiting for you to regress to give it to you. Wait here."