...As the late hour of 6:00pm was approaching the number of victims waiting in the hallway to be called to testify was dwindling I was getting a sinking feeling that I would have to come back. Nine women had been called to the stand and two of us remained. Joe Khan came out of the courtroom with his boss, the chief of the unit he worked for, and approached me. They brought me into one of those private rooms and relayed the bad news to me. The judge extended the court session as long as she could for the day and had to hold over the remainder of the preliminary hearing for Thursday. They only scheduled them on Tuesday and Thursday. I was promised to be put up on the stand first and they both apologized.
Needless to say I lost control of my emotions (yet again) and burst into tears. The anxiousness I had felt leading up to and all that had gone on that day had taken its tole on me. I was so ready to testify and had built up my courage but I never expected that the day wouldn't go as planned and there would be a chance I would have to come back. Now I had to wait some more and start the process of mentally and emotionally preparing again for Thursday. They did their best to console me and explained the motions filed earlier in the day delayed the start of court and the length of the time it took for each victim to testify they simply ran out of time in the courts day. I said I understood that it wasn't their fault and told them how ready I was and wanted to get it over with but I would be back Thursday morning and ready to go again. Of course now I'm thinking I took and entire day off from work and would now have to request more time off for the Thursday morning. Not to mention as a personal aside, Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays and I had plans to go to my brother's house to see my niece and nephew's costumes and steal some of their candy :-). I was clearly planning on getting out of there much sooner than I did. The entire day was a huge letdown for me on so many levels.
We finished up our conversation and discussed some final details. Joe then explained to me the press was outside the building waiting for a statement from the attorneys on both sides and he was going to have Detective O'Malley walk me back to my car which was parked in a garage a few blocks away. He was going to take me out a side entrance of the building and not to worry. He assured me from the distance they wouldn't see me or even realize who I was plus he was going out first to distract them with an interview (which he had to do anyway). I'm not going to lie, that scared me a bit but if you've ever seen Detective O'Malley you would know your safety was assured. We waited a few minutes after Joe left then made our way down the elevator, I retrieved my coat checked cell phone and walked out the side door. We stopped at the corner before crossing and I looked left toward the entrance to see the large group of reporters with their microphones, cameras and lights interviewing Joe. How surreal! The detective and I exchanged small talk on the way to my car. I thanked him, said good bye and drove home.
I called my brother to say I obviously wouldn't be stopping by as it was late and I was exhausted. Remember he didn't know yet so I told him I had worked late. I got home and called my mom to review the days events and also called my friend Renee to let her know real quick what had happened. I was exhausted and hungry, but not tired. My mind was racing and I was frustrated. I ate a little something, took a shower in hopes of washing some of the days events off me and got in bed to try to relax and watch TV. I stayed up for the news in order to see the report of the hearing and Joe's interview. I also got up early the next morning so I could stop at the Wawa before work and gather up all the papers that covered the story. I wanted to see how it was being reported and continued this thirst for the news throughout the entire trial process. I think it somehow made me feel better to read and see the sensational reporting of the monster they called the Match.com rapist...
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