Chapter 9
The courtroom was packed, and she thought it was all for her mother.
When the judge said he was going to hear several cases today, he also told them that he wanted no shenanigans either.
He wanted things to be orderly and quiet so that he could get out of here at a good time.
She didn’t see how that was going to happen when there was so much noise in the room, now you could barely hear him talking.
But she didn’t know what was going to happen today, so she let him rule the room.
Her mother was fifth in line to be seen, and she was glad she’d gotten there early to be able to see her in action.
The first judgment didn’t go as planned.
Even she could see that. The man who had been brought from the jailhouse decided that he didn’t want his day in court today, as his wife and children weren’t present.
The judge, Judge Jim Markus, said he didn’t care about his family and told them to go forward.
He wanted his family there to say he’d been a good man, but had slipped up when he’d gotten drunk and beat the shit out of his wife and two of his kids.
He was remanded over to a jury trial, and he’d spend his time in jail waiting for a date that could be agreed upon.
Of course, that didn’t go over very well, and it took a good half hour to get everyone to settle down again.
“I’m going to be an easy trial, your excellency.
I just want out of jail so that I can spend some time with my daughter and her new husband.
” Her mother had stood up when the room was getting settled down.
“I don’t have any drunken things on my docket, nor do I want any special treatment.
I just want to be released. I think I’ve been a model captive, and I want out now. ”
“We have an order to things and I won’t have you messing things up for me.
” He picked up a file, and before he could read whatever was on it, her mother appealed again to be released.
“Everyone in here wants to be released. I’m not in the mood to just give a sweeping release of people just because they have a daughter who just got married.
Sit down and shut up until I call your name. ”
“It’s Linda Williams. I’m sure that you have it right there in front of you. If not, the man behind you who’s hovering can find it for you.” Mother paused and smiled. “I just found out that my daughter is married to a vampire and that she can tell me who’s going to win the races at the racetrack.”
The room went silent. Even the bailiff behind the judge stopped in mid-sentence to whatever he was saying to the judge. Everyone turned and looked at her mother, and she just kept staring at the judge and smiling. He asked her what she’d said.
“My daughter. She has this special magic that allows her to see when the ponies come in to win, and I’ve won a lot of money from her.
Her husband, that man over there beside her, is a vampire.
I saw him with his fangs. He came to see me in jail just last night.
” Everyone turned to look where she was pointing, and she stood up.
There wasn’t any way that she was going to be blackmailed into doing what her mother wanted now that she’d exposed her to everyone.
“See her? She’s not too terribly pretty, but she does have that magic.
I’m assuming that’s why the vampire married her, so that he could have the money that belongs to me.
She owes me for me bringing her into this world.
If not, then I’m going to kill her and that husband of hers.
Just why he’s out in the sunlight now is a mystery to me, but he said he was old. ”
“You want us to believe that your daughter is married to a vampire? And that she has magic, too, that knows the winning horse when there are races?” Mother nodded and said that what she was saying was true.
“I see. You really believe this. There is no such thing as magic, and there certainly isn’t anything like vampires around.
Unless you mean an attorney. I was one once, so I know what I’m talking about.
” He laughed a little, and it fell on deaf ears.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I won’t have my courtroom disrupted because you have a burr up your bottom.
And I won’t have you threatening anyone while I’m up on this seat.
You’ll sit down and be quiet, or so help me I’ll send you back to jail where you’ll stay. ”
“I know for a fact that he’s a vampire. He told me so.
You have to record the things that go on in a jail cell, so have them bring it up and tell them to read it to you.
Or you could put it on one of those big-screen televisions.
I don’t care. I just know what he told me.
” She looked at her then. “See? I will get what I want, and you’re going to suffer from it.
I don’t care if the whole world knows what you can do and wants some of it from you.
I’m going to get what I want, or I’ll kill you. It’s as simple as that.”
“Nothing is as simple as that.” Judge Markus banged his gavel down on the small wooden board and said he wanted order in his room.
She thought that the room was waiting for something else to flow from her mother’s mouth that would qualify her to be sent away.
“I’m not through with you yet, and you’ll sit down and shut up.
Think very hard about what you’re saying, Ms. Williams, or you’ll be sent back to jail, where you’ll hear about your judgment later.
I told you that I wanted nothing like this to happen in my courtroom today, and I demand that you sit down and shut your trap. ”
Mother finally sat down, but she had the strangest smile on her face.
It would have scared her a little had she not known that her mother was going to be tried for being insane.
Who went around spouting about vampires and magic when they had no proof at all of it?
She was going to end up in the loony bin if it was the last thing that she did.
The next three verdicts went without incident.
They were given a fine to pay and time served on their judgment.
The fourth one was a little more complicated in that several witnesses testified that he’d been doing whatever he’d been doing when he’d been arrested.
She had tuned them out and was thinking about her mother.
Tabby had never realized just how selfish her mother was until recently.
She knew that she wanted things that were out of her reach all the time, but she never put it to anything but her having nothing as a child.
But then she’d never known any of her grandparents, and for all she knew, they’d given her everything that she wanted and more.
What little she knew of her mother’s childhood was more than likely lies that she’d made up to make herself the victim.
And she was good at making herself out to be that.
Everything was about her, and if it wasn’t, she’d make it so that it was just to get the attention that she supposed she deserved.
When her mother’s name was said, she turned to look at the judge.
He wasn’t happy, it seemed, and she couldn’t begin to fathom why.
Something must have happened, like her mother had set him off again.
She hoped that he would throw the book at her for her sentencing, and she’d be thrilled beyond words to have her out of her hair.
“It says here that you were only visited by your daughter yesterday, yet you claim that a vampire, Mr. Smith, came to visit you and told you that he was a vampire. Is that what you’re telling me?” She said that he wasn’t able to be recorded because of what he was. “I see. He told you this, did he?”
“No. He didn’t have to. I’ve read enough books about his kind to know that they can’t see their reflections, nor can they be recorded. Also, they’re afraid of garlic.” He asked why they were afraid of garlic. “I don’t know, that’s just what the books said.”
“More than one is there. Tell me, what’s the name of the book so that I can see for myself what it says.” She told him two books, and they both sounded like romance books. Apparently, the judge thought so as well. “Are those romance books? Books of fiction, I might add.”
“Everyone knows that they have an insider view on the shifters of the world. There are those as well. I’ve hired one to kill my daughter.
Well, he was supposed to bring her to me, but all he managed to do was get himself killed.
He was a bear shifter, and I heard that his bruin had him killed for his help in helping me bring my daughter to me.
” He just stared at her. If she didn’t know for a fact that she was telling the truth, Tabby might well think she was nuts as well.
“It’s all in the books that I was telling you about.
All you need to do is pick up one with a handsome guy on the front of the cover, and you’ll get all the information you need about them.
Especially vampires. That’s all they seem to want to write about.
I personally think that all shifters are sexier than a vampire. All those sharp teeth and all.”
“I don’t care what you think is sexier, Ms. Williams. We’re here to determine if you’re fit enough to stand trial.
It started out with you being in jail for threatening your daughter, but I think we’ve gone well beyond that, don’t you think?
” She asked him if he was making fun of her.
“I do believe that I am. No one but you seems to believe that there are shifters in the world, much less vampires that are afraid of garlic. You never did answer me about why they’re afraid of the thing either. ”