Chapter 22
“Your Honor,” Jason Black said as he jumped to his feet and buttoned his suit jacket.
“The question has been asked and answered several times. No matter how many times opposing counsel words the same question, I don’t think the witness will be answering differently.
I’m calling badgering the witness.” Jason looked over at the table with several lawyers, then back at the judge.
“Do we need to take a break so they can clean out their ears?”
Myrna rubbed her face to hide her smirk when the judge snorted, then firmed his face.
They were on the third day of the trial against the Godwin’s for the theft of the automotive parts from Myrna’s past employer.
For the entire time of the trial, Myrna has been on the witness stand answering questions from the Godwin’s’ lawyers.
For the last hour, the same questions had been asked and answered.
It was like they hadn’t heard her answer, or chose to ignore it.
“Move along, Counselor,” the judge said. “As Mr. Black said, the question has been asked and answered.
“No further questions.”
“Mr. Black, do you have questions for this witness?”
“Not at this time, but I reserved the right to call Ms. Trenton back to the stand if necessary.”
“Duly noted.” The judge nodded, made notes on his pad of paper, and looked at the other table. “Call your next witness.”
The witness was called, and the trial went on for another two days, each time Jason had to interrupt him to either ask what the point of the questioning was, or that they were badgering the witness.
Myrna realized the other lawyer only did it when he didn’t get the answer he thought he should have.
The answer that would make his clients look like the good guys instead of the bad ones they actually were.
When the question hadn't been answered as he hoped it would.
By the end of the sixth day, the judge called the trial for the weekend. However, Myrna and Pedro hadn’t been allowed to return to New Double. Instead, they had taken a hotel room close to the courthouse. The trial had been moved to Denver, and they didn’t know how long it would take.
“Jesus,” Myrna said as she entered the hotel room, walked over to the bed, and flopped back on it, signing heavily.
She closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, and looked at Pedro when she felt the bed dip beside her.
She only opened one eye and shook her head.
“Are all lawyers as stupid as the ones representing the Godwin’s? ”
Pedro smirked. “Probably not, but I’ve noticed a pattern with them.”
“What’s that?”
“You are not the only witness they badger. It’s like when they don’t get the answer they want, they reword the question hoping to get the answer they want.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not going to happen. The truth is the truth, no matter how many ways they ask the question. I don’t lie, and I won’t for them.”
“I agree.” He wrapped his arm around her and brought her closer to him. They remained silent for a long time, then he looked at her with a grin. “Room service, restaurant in the lobby, or go out somewhere?”
“What are you interested in eating? I’m not very hungry.”
“Not now, but what about in a couple of hours. Court stopped at three, it’s only going on four.” He pulled his phone, accessed something, and turned it to show her. “Do you want to take in a movie? This is the one we both wanted to see. It starts today, and they have a showing at seven.”
“Can we still get tickets for it?” She perked up, and grinned when in less than five minutes, he showed her the QR code with their tickets. “Thank you, I’m going to shower the courtroom off me, change, then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Do you need someone to wash your back?” Pedro asked sheepishly and jumped to his feet when she winked at him.
They took their time with the shower, making love, and getting dressed afterward.
Because the movie theater was only a few blocks away, they opted to walk, and saw a restaurant they wanted to check out on the way back to the hotel.
The rest of the night they relaxed as they watched the movie, ate a leisurely meal, and talked more.
By the time they returned to the hotel room, they were relaxed when they climbed into bed, she looked at him with a look that made him pause.
“What?”
“I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“You think? Because I know I’m in love with you.”
They fell into each other's arms, and made love well into the night.
When court resumed, it was time for the DA and Jason Black to start with their witnesses.
When they called Myrna to the stand, the DA didn’t pussyfoot around.
He asked his questions with precision, listening to Myrna and the other witnesses he called to the stand.
By the end of the second day, the judge was ready to send the jury out to deliberate and Myrna was glad for that.
“What now?” Myrna asked as they stood in the hallway after the jury left, and the judge dismissed the rest of the court.
“We wait,” Ilsa said with a heavy sigh. She reached out and placed her hand gently on Myrna’s forearm. “It could take hours, or days, it depends on what they think.”
“What do we do?”
“Stay close to your hotel room.” She looked at Daniel, the DA, and Jason.
At their nods, she turned back to Pedro and Myrna.
“When the jury has reached their decision, they will contact the judge, and his clerk will call Daniel, who will reach out to us to tell us to come back here to hear the verdict.” She looked at her watch and shook her head.
“I don’t know if we will hear anything tonight, because it’s already close to five o’clock. ”
“Will the jury spend the entire night in deliberations?” Myrna asked.
“No clue, but they might be sequestered for the night.”
“Which means?”
“That no one on the jury will be able to go home, watch the news on their phones, or read a newspaper.”
They started toward the front of the courthouse, and when they were outside on the sidewalk, Myrna looked around and quietly asked a question, “I know I seem to ask this all the time, but what happens after the verdict comes in?”
“Then we go to the next step.”
“Which is?”
“We take Officer Mosher to court for her part in everything.”
“What about Mark? Will you try him?”
“Yes, the next step is to try Gus for horse theft, then we’ll tie Office Mosher to that. When that verdict comes in, then we’ll move onto the trial for Mark, and again, Mosher will be tied to that case also.”
“Can she be convicted from different trials?”
“Yes, the way I’m laying it out, she can be. If I had lumped all the charges against her in one trial, the severity of the charges would have been lost. By tying her to Gus, then Mark, separately, that proves what a bad person she is.”
“Wow, okay, I have one more question, then I think I’m done for now.”
“What’s that?”
“What happened to Marie Powers?”
“She won’t be tried, but she was given community service. She was also a key witness in this case and with her full cooperation, no trial, but she did receive the community service.”
Ilsa shook her head and looked at Myrna. “She fully cooperated with Daniel’s office, and didn’t shrink from answering questions. She lost her job, but she won’t be tried. Oh, and she will receive community service for her crimes. She didn’t get off Scott free.”
“Silly question,” Pedro said quietly. “Not that it’s any of my business, but does she have a ding on her record?”
“What do you mean?” Ilsa asked.
“I mean does she have a felony on her record, and will she have trouble finding a job in the future?”
“Oh, no, we kept it off her record. She was young and impressionable when Godwin roped her into his schemes. Once she does her community service, she should be able to get on with her life.” Daniel looked at them and smirked. “I’m not totally heartless. Her information was invaluable.”
“Okay, I understand.” Both Pedro and Myrna said at the same time. Daniel left them then, and the four of them made their way to their hotel. In the room, Myrna and Pedro sat on the bed, lost in their own thoughts, and then finally looked at each other.
“When this is over, remind me to never leave New Double again,” Myrna said as she lay back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.
“Yeah, I think getting groceries once a month is good enough for me to leave the ranch.” They lay there for several minutes before getting up, and this time, they decided to head down to the restaurant in the hotel.
Three days later, Ilsa knocked on their door, and Pedro answered it.
“The jury is back,” she said, and watched as they scrambled to get their feet dressed.
They took the elevator down, and had to wait for Jason to join them.
She looked at them with a grin. “Jason was in the shower when the call came.” They shared a chuckle as the elevator opened, and Jason stepped off.
He looked at them sheepishly as he paused and finished tying his tie.
He picked up his briefcase, and nodded. Together they walked out of the hotel, and made their way to the courthouse.
It was just before nine in the morning when the judge looked at the jury and asked for the verdict.
Ilsa turned and looked at Myrna and Pedro. “No matter what the verdict is, do not, I repeat, do not show any reaction.”
“Got it.” Myrna whispered and reached out and took Pedro’s hand. Thirty minutes later, she sat there in stunned silence as she watched the Godwin’s being led away by the bailiffs. They had received guilty verdicts on all the charges against them. Their sentence hearing would be in a week.
Daniel turned to them and grinned. “Now, I go back to my office and bring up the charges of horse theft against Gus. You can go back to wherever your home is, it might take a couple of months to get on the docket.”
“Thank god,” Myrna said. “Not that it will take that long, but I want to go home. I know I don’t have a right to ask this, but can I only come back for the day of questioning?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.” Within two hours Myrna and Pedro were on the road heading back to New Double.
Six months later, Myrna stood in the courtroom in total shock.
They had gone through the trial of Gus stealing Sally, Officer Mosher’s part in it, and then finally the trial against both Mosher and Mark for murder, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud, because in the course of the trials, they realized that Mark and Avery had also been in on the theft of the automotive parts.
“Are you okay?” Pedro asked quietly.
“Yes, it’s over, it’s finally over.”
“Yeah,” he said with a grin and gathered her in his arms. They waited until the courtroom emptied, except for Jason and Ilsa, and then sighed in relief.
They looked up when the door behind the judge’s chambers opened, and the judge stepped out.
“What’s going on?” Myrna asked.
Pedro took both her hands in his, and looked at her intently. “Myrna, I’m not a fancy guy, what you see is what you get. I’m hardworking, honorable, and deeply in love with you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” Myrna didn’t care that he didn’t have a ring.
“How about now?” he asked as he turned to the judge.
“Really?”
“Yes, when we leave and head back to the ranch, I want to be your husband.”
“Yes,” she said with tears streaming down her face.
Fifteen minutes later, the judge pronounced them husband and wife, and they both wore gleaming plain gold bands.
“Let’s go home,” Pedro said with a grin, and he took her hand in his as they walked out of the courthouse, into the sunset, and headed home.