Seventeenth Dawn

15) Court

I walk into the courtroom wearing the blue tie Casey picked out, now seventeen years old, with Detective Hussler on one side and Casey limping on the other.

I sit up on the stand in front of the masses of townspeople intrigued by the whole occurrence, and I share my story. I talk about Benny and the blood thinner and the starvation. I talk about how Jake murdered not only Benny, but also Officer Benson when I made my presence known. I explained how Jake only admitted to two kidnappings before me: Rick and Benny. I explained that the others, which I only recently found out about, must have been the work of someone else.

Finally, the most important piece. I face the crowd with a solemn expression. "Agent Jasper Baxter swooped in to save me when my kidnapper turned on me with a knife. Baxter shot him twice. I got in Baxter's car, thinking the FBI would be safe, and soon realized he wasn't really FBI." I explain how we were driving the wrong way and how I questioned it. "He said he couldn't tell me 'who', only that there were others above him that wanted the mess cleaned up. I don't know if the other deaths are necessarily connected, but I do know that the kidnapping and murder of Rick Mayern and Benjamin Duran and my own kidnapping and attempted murder were part of a big conspiracy. It's a group, not the acts of a single man. Agent Baxter hinted at this. No, he didn't flat-out say there's a group of killers banding together, but he spoke of others. And his own involvement proves that it was more than just Jake, anyways."

I also briefly mention the possibility of Casey's parents' disappearance being connected, but that is met with much more incredulity from the prosecution and gathered crowd.

I step down from the stand to allow Detective Hussler to address the court. He shares his own theories.

The hearing adjourns at four o' click on a cold Friday in October. The judge didn't buy the story, but it appears that Detective Hussler is still allowed to look into it himself. Everyone seemed to think it was all fabricated or not enough evidence.

I agree, to some extent.

Casey hugs me, anyways. "Thank you for trying. Maybe it wasn't the outcome we hoped for, but I appreciate you doing that."

I toss a lopsided smile her way. "How do you want to spend the rest of the day?"

"You mean before I have to go back on the heavy-duty pain medication for the evening and will become a zombie?"

"Exactly."

She shrugs. "Watch a movie? I don't really care. I just want to be with you." She glances over my shoulder. "Hold on one sec." she brushes past me and walks up to Detective Hussler. I try not to listen in, but my brain is hard-wired to pick up on her voice. "Thank you. I appreciate everything you've done for me. And for Daniel. I know you have to head back to the city soon, but don't be shy. You'll always be welcome in Belleridge." She gives him a hug then, too overwhelmed by emotion for a mere handshake.

She meets my eyes and walks back to me. "Okay. Let's go."