I got a collect call from Kelz one night. She had been arrested for prostitution and was being held at the Wackenhut detention facility in the Otay Mesa area. The problem was that Brod didn't know. She needed me to go tell him. "No, I don't want to go talk to him." "You have to. He has no idea where I am and you're the only person I get a hold of to deliver the message."
She told me where I could find him. It was at the apartment of a friend. It was a building behind a main house. There was a gate there. I was supposed to reach over the gate and pull the string attached to a bell to get someone's attention. The first time I went, no one was home. I came back a couple of hours later. The friend was there and came out of his apartment. I told him I was looking for Brod. He opened the gate and let me come in. Brod was in his apartment. I'm certain he was wondering why I was there.
Even though I felt like I had entered a lion's den, I tried hard to keep my cool and explain what was going on. I explained that Kelz had been arrested. He started discussing the situation with his friend and I somehow became involved in the conversation, like I somehow knew how the legal process worked or something like that. After everything that could be discussed was discussed, I decided to go on my way, Brod thanked me for coming by and letting him know what was going on.
Kelz called me collect again and I told her I got a hold of Brod. She was grateful. She then told me I should come visit her at Wackenhut. She said I could come anytime. That didn't make sense to me, but she insisted that she could have visitors anytime day or night. I called the facility and the woman who answered the phone said yes, there was visitation allowed at all hours, but she asked me if I was an attorney. I said no and she told me that civilian visitation was limited to 90 minutes in the morning and 90 minutes in the afternoon. I would have to come down there and fill out some forms before I would get to visit with Kelz.
I drove down the next day at the start of the visiting hours. There were so many forms I had to fill out, including an approval for a criminal background check. After filling it out, I had to wait about 30 minutes for them to process everything. I was then instructed to walk over to the building that housed the visiting area, go up the stairs and wait for the door to open. I was told not to knock on the door. I had to just stand there and wait.
After about ten minutes, the door opened. I walked inside and found a scene I had seen countless times in movies and TV. There was a holding area with several windows and phones connected to the wall. Kelz was on the other side of one of the windows. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit. I picked up the phone and started talking to her.
We didn't really talk about anything meaningful. I tried to make her laugh, but it was apparent she didn't like me seeing her like that. She started getting upset and went to bang on the door to be taken out. A recording then came on the phone instructing me to leave. A guard came in and let her out of the prisoner side of the visiting area. I left.
Kelz continued to call me collect from the facility over the next couple of days while she was waiting to be arraigned. She didn't know what was going to happen. I told her that Brod said she probably didn't have much to worry about because this was her first offense in San Diego. I asked her if she wanted me to come visit her again, but she said no.
She was eventually arraigned. I guess she took a plea deal and wasn't fined or sentenced to any jailtime. She called me to come pick her up in Downtown San Diego. She was going to be put on a light rail train, but didn't know what time. Somehow, I knew it would be the final train. I showed up at the station where she said she was going to be. She was there with other women who had just been released. I remember one guy came up and gave his girlfriend a big hug before they got into the car.
Kelz just wanted me to drive her over to the lion's den. Brod was glad to see her, and thanked me for picking her up.
Kelz hoped she wouldn't get caught again. But as you know there's going to be a Part 2, that certainly wasn't going to be avoided.
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