I don't know what The Other Boyfriend was thinking when he thought it would be a good idea to go into a crack house by himself. He called me and said he was going to pick the girl up on P St in Church Hill and I about had a fit. He bonded the girl out and took a check, which of course bounced and then she didn't show to her last court date. (People will do that sometimes when they are going to see some jail time. I've never figured out why, because it always causes a worse situation in the long run.) So, basically, he bonded this girl out "for free".
He had tracked the girl's government check down and knew she was going to need to get it, so he held it while waiting for her to show up. Now I would never normally suggest holding a check, but in this situation it worked out OK because she did call and she did end up signing it over. Of course, she did try to accuse him of forcing her to do it, but with my husband and I as witnesses, she didn't get that far with the claim. Or it could have been her cracked-up lazy eye that gave away she was lying. People don't lie so well when they are chemically impaired.
Aaron and I met up with him at an address in Richmond's Southside and drove over to the Lock-up to leave one car so we could travel together in one. We got to P St and saw a couple lookouts on the corner and hiding in a bush in the front yard. We knew we were getting ready to walk into a crack house, so we called the police for a little support. Now in situations of bail pieces, the police can't touch the person because they don't have an active warrant in the system. The bail piece acts as the bondsman's warrant because we are the authority deciding to arrest this person. We don't have to get permission from a judge and we really don't have to have a "good reason", but that doesn't mean we revoke bonds for pleasure either. In this person's case, we were completely justified and probably should have done it as soon as the check bounced.
We hung back several blocks to keep an eye on the front door while we waited for the police. We saw 4 cars pull up, with 2 cops each and met them outside the residence. The look outs scattered like cockroaches when the lights are turned on and we knocked on the door. The police hung out to make sure no one got hurt and The Other Boyfriend searched the house. Aaron was at the back door with an officer. We found her hiding in the bathroom as the other residents of the house claimed they "didn't know no Sally*" and hurriedly hide crack pipes under bedding. Suuuuuuure, they didn't know her, of coouuurse...why is it no one knows no one when the bail bondsmen come knocking on the door, but we're your best friend when they are locked up and crying about getting out? That's a question for the ages...maybe a question for another blog.
So, we got her in handcuffs and walked her out to the car. Said our thank you's to the officers and took Miss Sally* to Lock-up. She was a bit non responsive while she was being driven back to jail but quickly perked up when we walked her to the door. It was like a light bulb was turned on and she realized she was going back to jail. She had the same look my students used to have when they realized they learned something new even though they had been fighting it. It was almost like you could see her brain tell her conscious, "Oh yes, you are going back to jail now." The delay on it was unreal. It took about 30 minutes. I can't believe it didn't clue her in when the hand cuffs went on, I can't believe she didn't realize it when we fussed at her for not going to court, and I certainly can't believe she didn't understand it when she was strapped into the car on the way to jail. I don't know, maybe she got confused because we rode her in on the leather seats of a Mercedes. I can see how that would have been confusing.
*Names have been changed.
