I'll fight your fight

Nearly killed

"We would like to call Diana Carlos to the stand." Nico said.

"What?" Jema whispered to herself. Nico looked at her and smirked.

"Please tell your name for the record." Nico said as he stood up to approach Tots.

"Diana Carlos."

"Ms. Carlos, how did you know the defendant?"

"We are best friends. We used to attend the same school until she dropped out, second year."

"I see, and you would like to share your latest conversation with her?"

"Yeah." Tots looked at Deanna and Jema. "Uhm, two days before her arrest she went to me and she mentioned that she made a regretful decision."

"And you believe that the regretful decision that she was talking about has something to do with the Matthew Madayag murder?"

Tots looked at Deanna and Jema again. "Yes."

There were murmurs on the crowd and the jury.

**

"You skipped that on your story?" Bea asked Deanna.

"I didn't thought it would be relevant." She answered defensively.

"Now it's relevant, noh?"

"Bea, enough." Jema said as she saw Tots approaching.

"Jema." Tots started.

"Save it. You shouldn't be talking to us." She asked Bea and Deanna to walk away.

**

Once they got back to Caplan and Goulde, Jema's hands were on her head, elbows on her table.

Bea knocked and stepped inside her office. She put a bottle of beer in front of Jema and the latter got it and sipped.

"So?" Bea asked.

"I think she did it."

"Weeks before you were convinced she's innocent, now she's not? After she told her side of the story."

"That's just it. Her story's too good to be true. It looks like made up."

"I..."

The door opened and Alyssa talked. "You guys should see this."

Bea and Jema frowned and stepped on the conference room. There they found the remaining three looking at Dennise's laptop.

It was a footage of the warehouse were Deanna held Matthew hostage.

Bea and Jema looked at each other.

--

"We would like to call Ish Polvorosa to the stand." Jema said the following morning at the trial.

Ish walked up to the witness stand and took oath.

"Mr. Polvorosa, you were the previous owner of the Polvorosa garages, until it was closed 6 years due bankruptcy. Correct?"

"Yes."

"And 8 years ago, an employee got nearly killed on the site because of a faulty equipment."

"Correct."

"And you were sued, why?"

"We didn't have a CCTV system on the garage, and we defended that it was his fault."

"And what was your response to that?"

"The following day, I installed a CCTV system. We were acquitted on the case and covered the hospital charges."

"And the moment that you closed the garage for good, did you uninstalled the cameras?"

"No."

"It's still there?"

"Yes."

"It's still running?"

"Yeah, I believe so."

"Your honor, I would like to show a footage shows Deanna and Matthew on the same warehouse."

Jema played the video and Nico has wide eyes.

It shows Deanna and Matthew talking and then she pointed a gun on his head. Seconds later.... BAM.

There were shrieks on the audience.

"The official autopsy shows that the reason for Mr. Madayag's death was a gunshot from his left temple thru to the right." Jema pressed a button and stopped on the scene where Deanna was pointing to his forehead. "The defendant isn't pointing that way."

"How do we know this isn't edited?" Nico asked.

"We have found this on a private server of the manufacturer that stores the videos, encrypted, unless subpoenaed." Jema handed out a paper of authenticity and the subpoena that was used.

"I'll accept it." The judge said.

"This is a strong evidence that Deanna had nothing to do with the Madayag murder as she was pointing from the forehead, not from the temple." She looked at Nico. "The defense rests."

Nico sighed in defeat.

**

That night the four rookie lawyers wanted to celebrate for the win but Bea and Jema prevented them as they said that it wasn't finished until the jury haven't read the verdict, which is 3 days from that.

**

"What's with the long face?" Kyla asked as she approached Jema in the bar counter. "I heard about the strong evidence. You should be at least celebrating."

"I'm worried."

"With?"

"You know with."

"You think Maddie knows?"

"I just destroyed her best lawyer. She'll definitely dig up."

"Come on J. Of all the achievements that you achieved, of all the work, the recognition, one mistake shouldn't smudge all of that."

"That's just it. That mistake can bury me alive." She downed her cosmopolitan before continuing. "I shouldn't have covered up her murder."

--

"We, the jury found Ms. Ma. Deanna Izabelle Wong, not guilty..."

Applause and cheers roared from Deanna's side as the jury read their verdict.

"... for the murder of Matthew Madayag."

Instantly, Deanna hugged Jema and the latter just tapped her back as she was trying to compose herself and look professional, but deep down, she wanted to hug and carry her in circles with glee.

Deanna was crying for the whole time that the jury were reading her verdict.

Finally, after 5 long years. Deanna Wong is now a free person.