Chapter 18 #2
Calm. Down. Right. Now.
Someone barged into the room and approached the judge, interrupting John’s line of questioning. I looked to Linda to see if she knew what was going on, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were also on the judge. The room fell deathly silent. I tried to listen but could only hear muffled voices.
What’s happening?
“We’re going to take another break,” the judge said, sighing. “Mr Bee and Mrs Rake, approach.”
John and Linda walked over. My eyes flashed between them and Cole.
Walter, Linda’s colleague, came over to me and gestured towards the exit. “Follow me, please, Oakley.”
“But why? What’s going on?”
“Please,” he repeated.
I stepped down and followed him into the break room, growing to hate it in here.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. We’ll just have to wait for Linda. Can I get you something? Tea or coffee? Water?”
“No, thank you,” I replied, my mind reeling.
Why would they have stopped? Dad must have been getting off. Had some fake evidence been found—something that backed up Dad’s crap?
It wouldn’t have surprised me. He was so well liked and respected. Everyone believed him and looked up to him.
I sank into the worn chair and put my hands on my head.
A stray tear rolled down my cheek, and I angrily wiped it away.
This would all be for nothing.
I was so stupid.
‘No one will believe you over me.’
No.
He might get off the charge related to me, but there was evidence of him abusing other girls. Evidence of him and the other people in the paedophile ring, and evidence of him having images of little girls on his computer.
At this point, I’d take him going to jail for any reason. Did it really matter if he wasn’t found guilty of the charge related to me?
Yes.
It did matter. Of course, it did.
I closed my eyes and tried to think of something, anything, else. My heart thumped harder, like it did at the start of a panic attack.
Not here, not now.
I focused on what I’d learnt in therapy, closing my eyes and going through my breathing exercises.
Time slowly ticked by as I waited for news. No one else came in, only Walter going back and forth, so I assumed everyone was still in the public gallery or were not allowed to come in.
But I had managed to pull myself together.
Walter left again to find out what was going on, but all he knew was that Linda and John were no longer in the courtroom.
The door opened, and Linda walked in. It had been almost forty minutes of clock watching and crippling anxiety.
“I’m sorry I was gone for so long,” she said.
I was unable to stand, so I looked up at her wide eyed. “He’s getting off, isn’t he?”
“No.”
“No? You’re sure?”
“My team hadn’t stopped looking. Forensic tech experts have been working around the clock and they’ve managed to uncover folder on his laptop. There was a lot of encrypted files but this one… this one they managed to get to. They found it, Oakley, and brought it straight here.”
I coughed and cleared my throat. Clenching my hands over and over, I asked a question I already knew the answer to. “What folder?”
She placed her hand over mine. “The pictures of you.”
I nodded, my eyes welling with tears and stomach threatening to lose my breakfast.
He had them.
He still had them.
I pressed the palm of my hand against the nausea. “R-right… Um… So, what does that mean?”
“It means your side is proven to be true, and your father is exposed as a liar.”
I felt tears leak over my lids and roll down my cheeks.
Shuddering, I asked, “What happens now?”
“The public gallery has been closed. The jury will be shown the photographs and then the trial will be wrapped up. I see no reason to call your father back to the stand. The pictures speak for themselves, and John’s not calling for him to take the stand again.
The new evidence will only make things worse for him if he tried giving his side. ”
“Do I have to go back in there?”
She shook her head. “It seems unlikely that his defence will call you back in now that this evidence has come to light. I’ve got to go back, but Walter will take you to your family.”
“Linda,” I said, standing.
“Yes?”
“Thank you for not giving up.”
Her warm smile could’ve melted icecaps. “Thank you for not giving up.”
Cole spotted me first as I walked into the corridor in a complete, overwhelmed daze.
“Hey, we just heard,” he said, running to me.
I sobbed and fell into him.
His arms were like stone as he wrapped me in a hug. I wished I could stay there, hiding against his chest. I just wanted to disappear.
The photos were real.
I knew that, obviously, but now so would the world.
“How are you doing, honey?” Mum asked, rubbing my back. Her face was so pale she didn’t look alive.
“Don’t know,” I muttered.
“Okay, I’ve just spoken to… God, I don’t know who,” David said. “Linda and John are about to do the closing statements, then the Jury will deliberate.”
“Do you want to go home, Oakley?” Mum asked.
“No, can we get a drink and stay here? I want to wait.”
She nodded. “We can, but it could be a long time. Overnight, even.”
“Just for now, then. If they’re no closer in an hour or two, I’ll leave.”
David and Jenna went on a coffee run to Costa, and we all waited in the court… in silence. No one was particularly chatty.
I could tell their thoughts kept going back to what’d been found.
Jasper sat scowling, jiggling his foot the way Mum did when she was stressed.
Cole held my hand, running his thumb over mine. It was doing what he intended, I was as calm as I could be.
Our table was littered with takeaway coffee cups and wrappers from snacks. I was too anxious to eat, but I’d drank two hot chocolates and a bottle of water. Thankfully there was a bathroom nearby.
I checked the time on my phone again.
“You know what they say about a watched clock?” Cole said, lifting a brow.
“How long have we been waiting?”
“Nearly three hours. Do you want to go?”
“No, but you can. I wouldn’t mind.”
He tilted his head, looking at me like I was simple. “On what planet do you think I’d be doing that?”
“All right,” I replied, bumping his arm. “I was being polite.”
He was fiercely protective and would never leave me here.
“Linda said the jury were close, what, an hour ago?”
“Yeah, babe, but I think there’s paperwork. Try not to stress.”
It wasn’t just a case of ticking a guilty box, I understood that. Though, it should be. The waiting was excruciating.
“She’s here,” Cole said, tipping his chin in the direction of Linda.
She walked towards us with long strides. “The jury has reached their decision,” she said.
Mum jumped to her feet. “Already?”
Linda nodded once. “If you all want to make your way back.”
I stood up and was about to follow Linda when Mum pulled me into a hug. “It’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, it will,” I replied.
For the first time, I truly believed it would be.
Stepping into the public gallery, I found seats with my family, sitting between Mum and Jasper. Cole the other side of my brother.
“Have the ladies and gentlemen of the jury reached their decision?” the judge asked, her voice all business.
A tall lady with long grey hair and bright red lipstick stood up. “Yes, we have, Your Honour.”
I wiped my palms on my thighs.
Please.
“On the charge of administering a substance with intent to commit sexual offences, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
Air left my lungs in a rush.
“On the charge of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
“On the charge of controlling a child prostitute or a child involved in pornography, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
“On the charge of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
“On the charge of possession of indecent photographs of children, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
“On the charge of abuse of position of trust, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
“On the charge of sexual assault on a child, how do you find the defendant?”
“Guilty.”
A sob erupted in front of me, and in front I saw a woman fell against a man, who I assumed was her husband. She must have been one of the women my father had abused.
We’d done it.
Guilty on all charges.
The jury believed us. They believed me.