51. Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Chapter 51
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Sierra Escondida Police Department—Two weeks later
W earing her dress uniform, Tig loaded the prisoner into the police car’s back seat and drove from the jail to the council chambers for the trial, Zeke riding shotgun—literally, since the gun sat between his knees. She could have walked Callistus across the quad and past the parking lot, but why take the chance? Though his small Poway community hadn’t intervened so far, an ambush wasn’t unheard of.
She pulled into the space at the curb reserved for her. As planned, Jayden stood on the sidewalk near the prisoner’s door, waiting for her to unlock it.
Callistus gave a heavy sigh and stared through the grate separating the back from the front seats. “Why don’t you just execute me and get it over with?”
“We don’t do things that way here. You’ll have a trial first.”
“Yes, a tribunal of Sierra Escondida politicians. How fair.”
“I was in the room when Christine offered to represent you and explained your rights, including the option of a jury trial. You told her to ‘get the fuck out.’”
“Hah. A woman attorney who is a Hill resident? You think that’s any fairer than your stacked tribunal?”
“You could have hired your own attorney. And it’s not too late to ask for a jury. I don’t think it’ll go any better for you, but that’s on you.”
“Counsel for a kangaroo court? Why waste the energy?”
Tig swung open her door and got out, looking over the roof at Jayden and Zeke. “He’s been mouthing off. Probably not a threat, but I’ll take him out on my side.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they replied in unison.
She steadied the prisoner, ensuring he didn’t hit his head when he stood, and walked him to the building. Callistus shuffled along, the shackles restricting his gait. He’d declined the offer of a suit and tie. The red and white striped jumpsuit he’d chosen to wear was standard jail issue, and the bright, reflective colors made it difficult to hide in the vineyards if he escaped.
Not to mention the GPS tracker strapped to his ankle.
Jayden led the way into the council chambers, throwing open one of the double doors leading inside so she and Callistus could pass, Zeke marching at her back. Expensive maple hardwood lined the room’s walls, and matching pew-like benches provided seats for the community members, both vampires and their mortal mates. Petar’s children, along with Janey, sat in the first row, but his clientele filled the rows behind them. They were particularly rabid over the loss of their bookie, and quite eager to see justice done.
The room grew quiet. Tig’s dress oxfords clacked against the tiled floor as she guided Callistus down the center aisle to the defendant’s table in front of the raised dais. A half-circle arc of more light blond hardwood faced the audience and created the continuous desk with a vanity panel for the five council members. The mayor ruled from the center position, and she caught his gaze and nodded—her sign to him there’d been no problem with the prisoner.
Rolf looked like crap. From what she’d heard over the past two weeks, the cancer was killing Karen faster than expected. The weight of impending loss hung on him like a shroud. His shoulders slumped, and his blue eyes were dull and glassy. She gave it a fifty-fifty chance he was up to chairing the tribunal.
Part of her wished they could delay the trial until Rolf was in better emotional shape, but vampire justice was swift and sure. The system had evolved because keeping a vampire captive for years was difficult—escaping from confinement was too easy, no matter how much silver they used when making a jail cell—so justice couldn’t be delayed. Some communities, like New York, had built special cells deep underground. But most of the others couldn’t afford the cost of constructing the special cells or care for the prisoners.
It allowed only one option for dealing with capital crimes.
The last few loud steps brought Tig to the front of the room, and she sat Callistus at the defense table. She left his leg manacles on, fastening the chain to an eyebolt affixed in the floor, and took the handcuff off one hand, threading it through the eyebolt screwed into the table and locking it with a click . A pad of paper and pen waited for him. The chains were loose enough that he could use his dominant hand to write, could stand and turn to question witnesses, but couldn’t leave the table to do any mischief.
She signaled Zeke to guard him, then strode over to Marcus and leaned in close. “He’s making noise about a kangaroo court. You may want to offer him a jury. There are enough community members here to draw from to create a random selection.”
The town attorney shuffled through his notes, ticking something with his pen. “Thank you. Will do.”
Normally, Tig would position herself at the back of the hall by the exit doors. But for this hearing, she stood at the end of the defense table with Zeke, and signaled Jayden to wait by the exit. She didn’t trust Callistus to behave, despite his defeated demeanor.
A few raps of the gavel and Rolf called the meeting to order, Liza led the flag salute, and then everyone settled into their seats. “Our first item on the agenda tonight is a trial,” Rolf announced, reading from his laptop’s screen. “The people accuse Callistus Tedder of murdering Petar Petrov and other crimes. Town attorney Marcus Collings will act as prosecutor. The defendant is self-represented. The town council will hear the matter sitting as a tribunal—”
“Mr. Mayor,” Marcus interrupted, “the defendant should be offered the option of a jury trial.”
Rolf cocked a pale eyebrow and swept his bangs back. “Mr. Tedder, you are charged with the murder of Petar Petrov, conspiracy to commit same, resisting arrest, attempted murder of a police officer, and you are also charged with conspiracy to disclose the existence of vampires to the mortal world, all in violation of the treaty you signed. How do you plead?”
Callistus shook his mop of curly white-blond hair. “Fuck off.”
“We’ll enter a plea of ‘not guilty’ for the defendant. Do you want a trial by jury?”
“No.” He pounded his fist on the table. “Why would I? None of you would understand. Not one of you in this entire community. You’ve lost what it means to be a vampire!”
Rolf banged the gavel. “Mr. Tedder—”
Callistus spoke over him. “You violated the treaty. You stole Anna away from me. This would never have happened but for your violation of the vampire code we’ve lived by for thousands of years—no one comes between a bonded child and her maker.”
Rolf banged the gavel harder, making a sharper sound. “Mr. Tedder, I will not ask again. Trial by jury, or trial by tribunal? Choose.”
Callistus spat on the ground. “I refuse to make a devil’s bargain.”
“Then the tribunal it is. Mr. Town Attorney, please present your case.”
Marcus gave an opening statement, walking the tribunal through the evidence Tig’s team had gathered, turning the crime into a coherent story. When Callistus’s turn came, he refused to speak, but reserved his right to make a statement when the prosecutor finished his case.
Marcus then called Tig to the podium in the center aisle, the one the audience used during public comment at council meetings. They didn’t have a witness stand. She flipped on the microphone, and the town clerk swore her in. With Marcus’s help, she took them through all the evidence she’d gathered. The curly white-blond hair on Petar’s hotel sheets, the matching V-DNA from Callistus, the cell phone records, the break-in at the casino, and tracing the thief back to Callistus and Gabriel.
“Chief Anderson, what was Gabriel’s role in Petar’s murder?”
“We don’t precisely know. Callistus blood-bonded Gabriel, and based on both the CSLI data and an eyewitness, Callistus took him along to Petar’s murder—probably to stand guard while he slept during the day either before or after killing Petar.”
“Could Gabriel have been the one to restrain Petar in his sleep?”
“It’s possible.”
“Yet the town didn’t charge him. Why did you only recommend bringing charges against Callistus?”
“We have evidence that Gabriel accompanied Callistus, but no proof Gabriel did so under his own free will. We have witnesses to the fact Callistus was controlling and abusive of the mortals he bonded with, and because of the blood bond, we lack evidence Gabriel assisted of his own free will. We also have witness statements that he was coerced into participating in the cover-up. Callistus threatened to kill Gabriel to obtain his compliance.”
“I see. Could Gabriel have been the leader, with Callistus as a willing accomplice?”
“Again, it’s possible, but that still leaves Callistus guilty of murder. If the council wants to bring charges against Gabriel after hearing all the evidence, they are free to do so.”
Rolf sat back, a look of consideration on his face. “What is the alternative action to the council charging him?”
“If the council doesn’t formally charge him, I’d recommend wiping Gabriel’s memory and turning him loose.” Tig rubbed her chin. “Unless Anna wants to try to woo him back. But she seems lukewarm to the idea.”
A smattering of laughter ran through the audience. Tig tried hard not to smirk.
Then, under questioning, Tig recounted how the Mordida Gazette reporter wrote a series of articles designed to expose the Hill for harboring vampires. “Kaitlyn told me Callistus ordered her to—”
Callistus jumped from his chair, the chains rattling as he moved. It was his first reaction since Tig began. “Objection. She can’t come in here and tell you what Kaitlyn told her—you have to bring Kaitlyn to testify.”
Tig frowned. After refusing to participate, why that objection? Did he have something up his sleeve, some way to control Kaitlyn to his advantage?
Rolf tapped the gavel. “You’re not supposed to make a speaking objection. What you’re supposed to say is ‘Objection, hearsay,’ and then I’ll rule. This time I’ll allow it.” Rolf glowered at Marcus. “Next time, we’re hiring an attorney, even if the defendant doesn’t want one.”
Tig grimaced. Marcus was the one who argued that they couldn’t force an attorney on Callistus if the accused didn’t want the help, even though in mortal courts judges would assign an attorney to assist a defendant appearing in pro per .
Rolf polled the other four tribunal members. “Objection granted. Marcus, if you want to get that into the record, have Kaitlyn testify.”
“Understood. Police Chief Anderson, how did Callistus learn that Petar would be performing magic at Henry Bautista’s wedding?”
“He asked his brother, Fyodor, about Anna’s whereabouts, and during their phone conversation, Fyodor mentioned Petar would perform.” Out of the corner of her eye, Tig glimpsed Callistus, who didn’t object to the hearsay, so she kept going. “Petar had mentioned it to Fyodor. I have Fyodor’s signed affidavit, and we can get him on videoconference if Callistus insists.”
Callistus grunted. “Why bother?”
Rolf tapped the gavel. “If you change your mind, speak up before the presentation of evidence ends.”
Marcus turned back to Tig. “When you went to arrest Callistus, what happened?”
She described the arrest and Callistus’s knife attack on Jayden, and the room grew still. Callistus was lucky this wasn’t a jury trial. Everyone on the Hill liked Jayden, and the attempted murder of a police officer would only sway them to the prosecutor’s side.
Marcus finished his direct exam, and Callistus refused to cross-examine her. Relieved to be done, Tig left the podium.
There was no reason to call Zeke, Liza, or Jayden to the stand, but Marcus called Cerissa, who testified how the V-DNA in the curly white-blond hair found at the scene matched the DNA swab of Callistus’s mouth. Callistus harrumphed and snarled throughout her testimony. Did he really think he could intimidate the witness? It didn’t work, and Cerissa focused on Marcus’s questions and explained the V-DNA science, with charts and simplified diagrams. It was an impressive presentation, given how tired Cerissa looked, with bags under her eyes and leaning against the podium to support herself.
Rolf wasn’t the only one suffering from the weight of Karen’s decline.