Secrets Exposed

Tawana Horton

Secrets Exposed

My name is Layla Santana, and I work as Judge Kelly’s assistant in Atlanta Georgia. At the age of twenty-one I was living with my granny Pete striving to just make ends meet. I had seen a ton of corruption as my time serving as an assistant to the judge. My ultimate dream was to pursue law school, and become an attorney, but those were just dreams. My granny, and I could barely afford the two bedroom apartment we were renting let alone afford college, and law school. So you see working so closely with the judge , and coming in contact with lawyers was the closest thing for me. I had been with the judge for about four years, and had learned his routine. I had also learned of the abundance amount of corruption, lies, and deceit that came with the judges’, and attorneys involved in the judicial system. Over the years I had watched them schedule swingers meetings through encrypted emails. I had witnessed lawyers sleeping with judges in order for their cases to go in their favor. The most shocking, yet disgusting thing I discovered was that the police, and judges’ would together target certain urban areas to harass. See there was a plan that I would eventually discover after scrolling through the judges’ email that I was assisting. The urban areas though weren’t the cleanest, were the most profitable. However, most businesses in the area were owned by black people. There were encrypted emails, and secret conversations between judges’ and the police on how the target harassment should be handled. Things had to be handled a certain way in order to keep the public, and business owners unaware that the area was actually being intentionally targeted. Though this kind of harassment wasn’t new to the black community, nor these thriving businesses it was the fact that they couldn’t prove that they were being targeted. Most times police would show up, and demand licenses, fake noise complaints, or simply just state that the businesses were becoming a safe place for drug trafficking. Oftentimes planting drugs on many owners that would ultimately cause the owners arrest, and the permanent closing of their business.

My secrets, everything that I had read, or witnessed I kept in a little black book given to me by my father before he was sent to prison ten years prior. He knew I loved to write, and said that “Just like a little black dress, every real woman has a little black book.” I kept that in my mind at all times. I often wondered why Judge Kelly had grown so comfortable with me having access to so much important, yet damaging information. It came to me that after four years he had gotten comfortable with me as an assistant, a little too comfortable. He had been a judge for about forty years, and felt untouchable. He had many connections with powerful people, and above all he had money; a lot of it. Unknewnost to him though, the little black book he saw me carry every day for the past four years wasn’t a diary. It was the very thing that was going to ultimately bring his demise. The latest target suspect was a man I grew up with named Berry Caine. A local dope boy who had turned legit, and opened six successful businesses in the known target area for the judges’ and police officers. Berry had gotten himself an attorney, Attorney Noah Lynn. He was a middle aged white attorney married to a black woman. He was also an outcast. He was never included in the target area emails. The judges’ and attorneys

knew that Lynn would love the opportunity to take everyone in the city down. I had discovered that the police officers had planted drugs in the back of one of Berry’s businesses. I saw Berry leaving the office with his attorney one early morning, and he greeted me with the biggest hug, and smile. He invited me to dinner where he explained how he had changed his life around, and was pouring positive things into the community. I so hurt learning he was now facing felony drug charges. He wasn’t defeated though. He was still amazingly still in good spirits. I went home after our meeting, to see my grandmother had left an envelope from an organization in which I had applied for a scholarship. I had applied so long ago I was sure it was only them telling me I had been denied, and thank me for applying. I was so shocked. I had won the full scholarship to a college of my choice. My entire degree would be paid for in full. My school was in New York, the big city. I put my two week notice in to Judge Kelly, and after going through my computer to make sure no emails had been forwarded, nor saved. He wished me well, and gave me a measly gift card to an office supply store. “You, and that diary do well in the Big Apple!” he said. I smiled, clenching my little black book, and headed toward the exit. Before leaving the building I stopped in the office of attorney Noah, and handed him a folder with every incriminating email I had, along with notes from me on how to decipher the code words to make sense of some of the emails. It took him a minute to figure out what he was reading before his mouth hit the ground. I didn’t give him time to respond before rushing to the front door.

Two weeks later I was fully packed, and my granny was getting ready to take me to the airport. I was ready for a new life. My granny was sad, but college, along with law school was going to help us to never struggle again. I got a loud knock at the door, and was honestly scared. I knew me giving attorney Noah all that information was very dangerous. I had given up such critical information on some of the most powerful men in Atlanta. I didn’t know what to expect. I did know that I didn’t want any harm to come to my granny as a result of my actions. I looked through the peephole, and a familiar smile looked up at the hole. It was Berry. I opened the door, and was again greeted by his huge hug, and big smile. “Damn shawty, you bouncing? You didn’t tell anyone huh?” he said laughing. I was shocked and surprised. I figured it was best to keep a low profile after exposing the emails for my safety. “You know how it goes.” I responded looking down. Berry grabbed my hand and put a heavy black duffle bag inside of it. I never noticed he was even carrying anything. “I saw my attorney Noah today Layla. He didn’t say how but he did say that you’re the reason all charges have been dropped against me, and the reason a ton of people are about to be released.” he said. He grabbed my chin as I was still looking at the ground and lifted my head up. He hugged me so tight as I held the duffle bag in my hand. He then turned and walked away. I closed my granny’s door, and unzipped the bag. There was a note on top that read “He said I owe no fees because of a friend. The twenty bands he wanted initially to represent me goes to you shawty. I pray this serves as motivation. Technically you just represented your first client. We won. Good luck in that cold ass city shawty!” -B. I pulled back a flap and saw twenty thousand dollars in cash, and began to cry, and thank God. “Granny! Pack your clothes. You’re coming with me!”