Molding Stone

In or Out

I had never been to court before. I had ridden to the court house on the back of Hap's bike with Kozik following behind us. We met with the club lawyer outside. He was a short, stern looking man, his hair receding and more gray than black. His thick framed glasses were half way down his nose and made him look more like an angry librarian than a bulldog defense attorney, but from the high end suit he wore I had to assume he was good at his job.

The lawyer had been looking down at a stack of files in his hand as we approached but looked up before we made it to the sidewalk. Just standing outside the building was making me anxious, the building was tall and imposing with massive ornate concrete steps that lead to large heavy looking ornate doors with the words 'Tacoma City Court House' in gold against the brick above the doors.

"Mr. Lowman." The lawyer greeted, sticking out his hand.

"Mr. Kozik, good to see you." He said and shook Kozik's hand as well before his eyes found me.

"And you are?" He asked, his eyes taken in every inch of me with judging eyes that made me want to fidget.

"Jade Banks." I said and held my hand out. He shook my hand gently, his eyes flicking to Happy and then Kozik before meeting my gaze again.

"George Rothman. Pleasure to meet you Miss. Banks." I could see it in his eyes, judgment and curiosity but he seemed to dismiss whatever he was thinking and turned his attention back to Happy.

"I just have a couple things that I wanted to go over with you Mr. Lowman before we went into the court room." Hap nodded and the lawyer began rambling about statistics and clarifying Happy's statement. All the legal jargon was making my head spin and my anxiousness grew as I started to understand less and less. My emotions must have been showing on my face since Kozik gently nudged me with his shoulder to get my attention.

When I looked up at Koz he looked concerned and nodded his head away from Hap and the attorney, taking a few steps away to put some distance between them and us.

"You alright?" He asked softly. I looked back at Hap and lawyer and shrugged.

"I feel like I'm going to puke." I whispered. Koz glanced toward Hap and Rothman before he leaned down.

"You need to get over it. You being worried makes it look like you think Hap's guilty of something. He needs you to be an actress right now. Straighten your back, dry your eyes and make your face a mask. This isn't going to be like you've seen on tv, there isn't going to be a jury, this isn't a trial." Kozik said sternly and I nodded. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I unwrapped my arms from around my stomach and pulled my shoulders back. I blinked back the tears that I hadn't realized had been threatening to spill and did my best to compose myself. I knew it worked as I watched Kozik's face. The sternness left his face and he smiled, patting me on the back before walking back to Hap and the lawyer.

This time I tuned out what they were talking about, not wanting to give my anxiety another foothold. I saw Hap's eyes flicker to me, I could see he was trying to figure out what Kozik and I had talked about. I gave a smile, a real smile as I thought about the way Hap had goofed around with Ace on the floor earlier this morning. Some of the tension left his shoulders and I felt grateful that Kozik had done what he had. I didn't need Hap stressing about me while he was the one going in front of the judge.

The lawyer finished what he wanted to go over and lead us into the courthouse. Hap walked with Rothman while Kozik stuck by my side. The four of us walked through security and took a seat on the benches outside of the courtroom. We sat for a while before an officer came out of the court room and took a role of everyone that had a case on the docket, after he let us all into the courtroom. The room was big with the large desk at the front of the room where the judge would sit and two tables with a couple chairs each sat in the middle part of the room. Behind the tables was an ornate wooden hip high barricade with two doors that resembled those you'd see at the entrance of a saloon in an old western. Behind the barricade there were several rows of benches on either side of an aisle way, Kozik caught my arm and pulled me toward the bench just inside the door while Hap walked with Rothman to a bench closer to the barricade.