Summoned Again?

It was the longest trial I had ever personally witnessed. I had made a mistake in my timing and we had showed up early to get good seats, not realizing that we would have to sit through everything that was presented in the case against Diane's husband. As per my previous prediction, Diane's husband claimed to be an upstanding citizen during the opening statement and all of his previous crimes were submitted as evidence immediately. It took several hours to have the jury introduced to that evidence.

Oh, boy... the evidence. Nat had to cover Crystal's ears for a lot of it and I covered her eyes when appropriate. Luckily, she got bored fairly quickly with just having to sit there and she wasn't allowed to move around and play. She was currently tucked tightly into my side and sound asleep, which was a relief for everyone. When they took a break for a quick lunch, Crystal stayed asleep and I handed Susan and Nat some energy bars and Nat went to get us drinks.

After half an hour, the trial was back on and three more hours of sheer boredom passed by before they came to Diane's part in the whole thing. I had no idea what her life had been like before I met her and she had already become estranged from her husband. It sure was enlightening and not in a good way. There was a reason most people didn't offer their life history when you met them and Diane had lots and lots of reasons.

When Diane was escorted into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit, she looked like she had aged ten years. I was sure it was only because of the harsh lighting until she saw me. She smiled her normal happy smile and her eyes had crows feet and her mouth had stress lines at the corners. She was a lot thinner than she had been the last time I had seen her, too. I thought that was odd, considering she was pregnant.

She had a small baby bump that I could see, only the jumpsuit wasn't tight and the bump could be a lot bigger for all I knew. I wouldn't know how far along she was until I asked her... and I wasn't going to ask, because I didn't want to know.

Diane was brought over to sit behind the prosecutor and Mr. Loughlin was there, too. Unlike me, he enjoyed the courtroom and anything that went on there was interesting to him. She whispered to him for several minutes, then he half-stood and whispered to the prosecutor.

He nodded and stood up. “Your honor, I'd like to request a short recess. My next witness would like a few minutes to compose herself before testifying.”

The judge gave him a bit of a glare as if he knew he was lying.

The prosecutor smiled. “She wants to visit with her young daughter for a few minutes, at your convenience.”

The judge scanned the crowd and saw me sitting there with a well dressed Crystal tucked under my arm and he smiled, too. “All right.” He tapped his gavel. “I'm declaring a bathroom break.”

“Thank god!” Someone exclaimed and a few people laughed.

“Apparently, it was needed.” The judge said and fought off a smile. “Court will resume in ten minutes.”

Everyone except me stood as he stood up and left the bench.

“Crystal, wake up sweetie.” I whispered and moved my arm.

“Unn.” Crystal buried her face into my suit coat.

“Mommy's here to see you.” I said and she stirred. “Here she comes. Look.”

Crystal blinked her eyes and rubbed them with her tiny hands, then Diane plucked her out from my side and hugged her.

“My beautiful little girl.” Diane said and cried. “I missed you so much!”

Of course, that set off Crystal and she started crying, too. The two of them held each other and cried for nearly five minutes, then Diane realized she was wasting her precious time and calmed herself down and calmed Crystal down.

“How are you? Are you eating well? What about school?” Diane asked and Crystal looked confused.

“She's fine, she's eating a balanced diet with good and nutritious food, and she passed school with high marks. She's a very smart little girl.” Nat said.

Diane caught her breath and looked at her. “Wh-who are you?” She asked and looked at me, as if I had wronged her somehow.

“I'm Crystal's nanny and one of her friends.” Nat said. “The four of us are having a great time with Crystal.”

“F-four?” Diane asked, shocked.

“I'm his girlfriend now.” Susan said from my other side.

“Susan? What...” Diane looked at me and the expression on her face was indiscernible.

“I'd like to say it's a long story; but, it's not.” I said. “We had a little teddy bear party for Crystal and her friends from school...”

“What friends?” Diane asked, concern in her voice.

“I have lots and lots of friends now!” Crystal said, then she rattled off a dozen or so names that Diane hadn't heard of before. She had even snuck in Teddy's name and Diane completely missed it.

“She has lots of friends.” I said. “Anyway, about the party. Nat invited my sister Jenny over to help and Susan came with her.”

Diane stood there and waited for several moments before she spoke. “Is that it?”

“I told you it wasn't a long story.” I smiled. “Crystal, how many sleepovers have you had?”

“Eighteen!” Crystal gushed. “They're so much fun! First we would watch movies and then...”

Diane looked surprised as Crystal told her everything that happened at her sleepovers. They were something that Diane had never let her daughter do before and she wasn't sure what to do with the information that Crystal had so much fun.

“It's almost time.” Mr. Loughlin said.

“Yes, I...” Diane hugged Crystal tightly. “Mommy has to go talk to the judge for a while, okay? Try not to listen, okay?”

“Kay.” Crystal said and reached for me.

Diane reluctantly handed her to me and Crystal grabbed onto me like a monkey and rested her head on my shoulder. “I'll see you soon.”

I raised my eyebrows at her and she didn't correct her lie.

“All rise.” The bailiff said and we all stood as the judge entered the courtroom.

Diane went back over to her seat and we all sat down. After a short recap for the jury, Diane was called to the stand and started singing like a canary, as the old saying goes. Her husband's face became darker red with each crime she corroborated and he eventually snapped and stood to try and lunge over the table he sat behind with his defense attorney.

“I'm going to fucking kill you, bitch!” He yelled as he rolled over the table. The bailiff had seen him move threateningly and dashed over and tackled him to the floor. Soon, two other officers were added to the pile and Diane's husband was handcuffed and sat back behind the table, with a guard close by.

“Such an upstanding citizen.” Someone in the audience commented.

“Order.” The judge tapped his gavel. “The jury will disregard that comment from the gallery.”

We all saw that the comment was only the verbalization of what the jury thought on their own.

“I can't lie about everything anymore.” Diane said, her voice sad and she wiped at her eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“I rest with this witness.” The prosecutor said.

The defense attorney stood. “Is it true that you cut a deal to testify against your husband?”

“Yes.” Diane said.

“What did they give you? A slap on the wrist?”

“Objection. Argumentative.” The prosecutor said.

“Sustained.” The judge said. “Be more careful with your wording.”

“Sorry, your honor.” The defense attorney said and looked at Diane. “Can you disclose the leniency of the deal that the DA has given you?”

Diane looked at Mr. Loughlin and he nodded. “It took a while for my lawyer to plead my sentence down.” She said with a sigh. “I'm only getting ten years for everything, with most of the sentences running concurrently.”

The entire courtroom was completely silent and I could tell that they were all shocked that she was testifying with a deal like that.

“I'm eligible for parole in only six years, with the chance that good behavior can drop it to five.” Diane said.

The prosecutor stood. “Or less, depending on the outcome of the trial. It's all conditional.” He offered, to make it sound much better, then he sat again. We all knew why he said that, too. It was to show that depending on the verdict and the sentence, Diane would serve less time.

The defense attorney knew he was fighting a losing battle and fought on anyway. He questioned Diane about everything and she was completely honest and didn't hide anything or hedged her words. She spoke clearly and concisely, admitted to some pretty bad things, and she would occasionally look over at me to make sure that Crystal had fallen asleep and stayed that way.

This went on for two hours and since Diane was the last witness, both lawyers rested their cases when she was done testifying. There were no witnesses for the defense.

“We will adjourn for supper and the jury will deliberate afterwards. This court will resume session when they reach a verdict.” The judge said and we all stood. Diane was taken into the back and couldn't come with us to eat. Susan, Nat, Crystal and I left the court building and went to a nice little place not far away and ate a quick meal. None of us were really hungry and just picked at the food.

We went back to the courthouse when Mr. Loughlin called me on my recharged cell phone half an hour later. The jury had deliberated while eating instead of waiting until afterwards, which was a first for the prosecutor, and we all piled into the courtroom to hear what their decision was going to be.

“We the jury, find the defendant guilty of all charges.” The foreman of the jury said.

The only person disappointed by the verdict was Diane's husband. He cursed, freaked out, and tried to fight as much as possible, even handcuffed like he was. It didn't last long and he was subdued again and sat down with his ankles cuffed this time.

“I'm tempted to delay the sentencing, just to make you suffer and wonder what it is that you're going to get.” The judge said. “I've only met a few truly deplorable people in this line of work and I have to say that you're pretty close to being right up there with the worst of them.”

Diane's husband mumbled something through the piece of duct tape over his mouth.

“The jury recommended the maximum sentence available, and I have to agree with them. Having someone like you out on the streets is not something that will let me sleep at night, so I'm going to take your wife's plea deal into consideration.” The judge said.

A few people looked at him in confusion, myself included. I wasn't sure where he was going with that reasoning.

“She was open and honest about everything and she accepted her sentences without fuss and with class. Unlike her, you denied everything and even blamed her for a lot of it, and that's not right. So, the sentences for your crimes will not run concurrently like hers. They will run consecutively, end to end, until you serve the proper time you need to for everything you've done.” The judge said. “After a bit of math on my secretary's part, I hereby sentence you to 110 years, with the chance of parole after 60 with good behavior.”

We all remained completely silent, because the man had been sentenced to life in prison without actually being sentenced to life in prison. Diane's husband was dragged out of the courtroom, because he couldn't walk with handcuffed ankles, and he looked utterly defeated. Now he was gone from our lives and I couldn't have been happier about the verdict.

“I think it was him threatening Diane that cinched it.” Nat said to me. “It's too bad they couldn't charge him with that, too.”

“What's a few more years on top of all that?” I asked with a smile and stood up. “Crystal, I think we might get a few minutes with Diane to say goodbye. Would you like that?”

Crystal shrugged and held onto me.

“Nat?” I asked.

“It might make it easier if there's a bit of closure.” Nat said, wisely.

I nodded and we went over to Mr. Loughlin. I whispered to him and he nodded. He spoke to the DA and Diane was brought out to see us. After a brief tear filled goodbye, Diane was taken away as well.

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