247. Drastic Measures

Warning: language

Bridgeport, present day...

Winston was a completely different person when he questioned Cameron first thing Wednesday morning.

The nice, caring lawyer who'd handled the Clarkes and the police officers with kid gloves just two weeks earlier was gone and in his place stood a malicious Rottweiler whose sole purpose was to nail the Frosts.

His line of questioning started off simple enough, just general questions about Cameron, what he did for a living and how long he'd been in Bridgeport.

Thanks to all the hours Cameron had put in with Jessica preparing for the trial, he delivered a stellar opener.

Things heated up quickly though when Winston jumped straight to Appaloosa Plains.

"Is it true that on the night in question, you and the accused had an altercation with the deceased?"

"Yes it is," Cameron replied, a small muscle twitched in his jaw. The mere mention of Appaloosa Plains was enough to send him in a blind rage. He took long steady breaths, and mentally counted to twenty, willing himself to calm down.

Feeling more like himself again, he focused his attention back to the sea of faces swirling in front of him. He tried to smile at Leigh sitting beside Krisis in the first row directly behind the defense table. She'd grown very thin and withdrawn over the past few weeks, Krisis' cheating scandal had really done number on her-

"Mr. Walters?" Winston glared at him as he waited expectantly for something.

"I'm sorry, please repeat the question," Cameron blinked at the prosecutor, thinking how much he disliked the man's voice

"Is it true that during the altercation Mr. Summers threatened to kill the deceased?"

Cameron played with his tie. Thinking. He honestly couldn't remember what any of them had said that night. All he remembered was his rage, and his deep, primal desire to end Joshua’s life. If it wasn't for Katie stepping in when she did, and the lodge staff calling in the cops, Cameron knew he would have very well killed him.

"Mr. Walters?"

"I can't say," he replied after a short burst of tense silence. He felt anxious suddenly, as he scanned the faces once more. Michaela’s was missing. She was outside the courtroom, waiting her turn.  He didn't have to be a lawyer to know that putting her on the stand was one giant mistake waiting to happen, his girlfriend did not handle pressure very well.

"You can't say or you won't say?"

"I don't know what Mr. Summers said. I can't remember!" Cameron pinched the bridge of his nose as he stared at the clock above the door, realizing for the first time how much he hated courtrooms, they reeked of sweat and fear and desperation, of deep regrets and blind hopes.

"Did you threaten to kill Joshua?"

"I don't remember!"

"Did you like Joshua?"

"No!"

"Why not, why didn't you like him? The Frosts liked him, they took him in, gave him a job on your band's tour and paid for his education. So what's there not to like about him?"

"He was obsessed with Michaela!"

"So you were jealous of him?"

"Jealous of the prick?" Cameron snorted. It was the most ridiculous thing he’d heard that morning.

"Yes, you were jealous of him, you saw him as competition, and when you caught your girlfriend making out with him, you lost it!"

"They were not making out! Joshua attacked her and he almost raped her. Do you have any idea what your idea of ‘making out’ did to her?"

"So you wanted him dead?"

"Yes! That son of a bitch deserved to die!" Cameron blurted out without thinking.

The moment he said the words, he wanted take them back. J.D., shrunk hopelessly in his seat beside his lawyer. And Jessica looked just about ready to kill everyone in the room. Weeks of preparation, hours of coaching him had come down to this.

"I mean-" Cameron tried to backtrack, but Winston had gotten all he'd wanted from him.

"Nothing further your Worship," he said to Judge Rosenberg before he turned back to his table.

Jessica opted out of a cross-examination. Anything Cameron said now would look like a badly prepared PR campaign to save J.D.

When they reconvened after a ten minute recess, Winston called Katie next.

Since she wasn't too close to the whole saga she managed to maintain some objectivity as she went over details of their night in Appaloosa Plains.

"So why did you call the cops?"

"I was afraid?"

"Was your life in danger at any point?"

"No."

"But you called the cops because you were afraid? Why? What were you afraid of?"

"I was worried that things would go too far. People would get hurt."

"By people you mean Joshua?"

"No, I mean everyone in the room. Emotions were running high and none of us were thinking clearly. We needed some sort of order and we were all too far gone to be reasonable, so the cops were called in."

"Did you fear for Joshua's life?"

Katie fell silent, thinking about how she should phrase her response. Winston, sensed her hesitation and he pounced on her like a predator ready to attack its prey, and he wouldn't let go until she caved.

"Ms. Callaghan, need I remind you that you are under oath?"

"Yes," Katie took a long deep breath and closed her eyes, she was pretty convinced she'd just sealed J.D.'s fate somehow.

“Yes I should remind you you’re under oath, or yes you were afraid for Joshua’s life? Which one is it?”

“I was afraid for Joshua’s life!” Katie admitted, and Winston rewarded her with one of his famous brilliant smiles.

"The last time you saw Joshua was at the holding cells?"

"Yes!"

"And less than 24 hours after the incident he was found dead!"

"Yes. But-"

"No further questions!"

This time Jessica jumped at the chance to cross-examine. Katie wasn't very close to JD, so anything she said wouldn't come across as biased.

"How long have you known Mr. Summers?"

"Almost ten years."

"In what capacity?"

Katie explained she was a song writer for his band.

"So would you say you've worked closely with him and you know his family?"

"Yes."

"In all the years that you've known him, was Mr. Summers ever in trouble with the law?"

"No-"

"Were there any charges ever brought against him for his altercation with the deceased?"

"Not that I'm aware of!"

"So it's safe to say then that Mr. Summers is an upstanding citizen who has a high regard for the law?"

"I guess!"

"Yes or no, Ms. Callaghan would do just fine!"

"Objection your honor, council is leading the witness!" Winston barked from behind the prosecution's table.

Jessica smiled sheepishly at the judge and withdrew her statement. "Nothing further your honor!" She said as she turned back to her client.

"Can I say something, your honor?" Katie asked.

Jessica turned around so fast she thought she'd get whiplash. She stared at Katie with wide-eye horror. She was going off-script, this was not part of their rehearsal.

"Your honor-" Jessica tried to avert the mini crisis, but judge Rosenberg waved her off.

"I'll allow it."

Utter silence engulfed the courtroom as everyone zoomed in on Katie.

"I have known Mr. Summers for a long time now, and in that time he's always treated everyone around him with the utmost care and respect. He loves his family and his children, and there is nothing he wouldn't do for them!" She stopped as soon as she realized what she'd done. For the second time that morning, the hope in J.D.'s eyes was extinguished.

"I mean he's protective of his children," Katie dug his grave deeper, and there was nothing Jessica could do, the judge had allowed her to speak freely. 

At the prosecution's table, Winston looked very pleased with this sudden turnabout. Sure, Katie's heart was in the right place, but her glowing review of J.D. could be interpreted in many ways.

"What I mean is, Mr. Summers is a good man—" Katie ended off feebly.

"Thank you, Ms. Callaghan, you may step down."

An hour long recess was called. As soon as the judge and the prosecution filed out of the room and the doors closed, the gloves were off.

"What were you thinking? Why would you do something so stupid?" Jessica screamed at Katie, who in turn cowered in her corner.

"I was trying to help."

"And in the process you tanked our entire defense. Which part of don't volunteer more than you've been asked, don't say anything ambiguous, and stick to yes or no answers did you not understand?" Jessica yelled, eyeballing Katie, getting up in her face. She'd never really liked humans, she found them highly unpredictable and overly emotional, and Katie had done nothing to disprove her theory. 

"I'm sorry," Katie cried over and over.

"I don't need your fucking sorry!" Jessica hissed.

Krisis stepped in just as she was about to strike Katie across the face.

"Back up!" Krisis warned her coldly.

"No! You need to get her out of my sight!" She spat in Katie's direction.

"Nobody is going anywhere. You need to calm the fuck down!" Krisis growled at her. He didn't need this shit, not now, not when they were so close to the end.

He felt strangely disappointed as he watched Leigh leave the room with a tearful Katie. He had hoped to spend the hour long break with her. They'd barely talked since he moved back home after J.D.’s arrest. They slept in the same bed, shared the same space, but they were like strangers tiptoeing around each other. He believed her when she said she forgave him, but he knew she couldn't forget. He saw it in her eyes, the silent accusations, the thousand questions, the self-doubts. He'd ruined them, destroyed the very best thing to ever happen to him, and he was so afraid he would never be able redeem himself and win her back.

Jessica's phone rang then, and she left the room to answer it. 

"I fucked up didn't I?" Cameron murmured from his seat in the second row on the prosecutions's side. JD and Krimsyn, sat in the same row on, but on the opposite end of the aisle. They'd never looked so further apart and isolated from each other.

"It's done now," Krimsyn replied in a quiet tone. She looked suspiciously calm and it worried Krisis.

He took her hand and led her to the corner of the room.

"Are you okay?" He asked, giving her a hug.

"I've been better, but I'm good. It's almost over," she patted his hand and smiled, but Krisis noticed it didn't reach her eyes. 

"You would tell me if something's wrong right?" He asked, searching her face. Krimsyn only nodded her head before she rejoined J.D.

Jessica walked in a minute later, and Krisis tried to tell her about Krimsyn.

"I'm worried about her. She's too calm, too relaxed!"

"Why is that a bad thing?” Jessica asked as she organized her files, their lunch break was almost over.

"I know her, she's up to something."

"I don't get paid to hold your sister's hand, so you need make sure she stays put!"

With that Jessica left the room again to freshen up, and ten minutes later, the judge was ready to resume.

Winston called, Michaela, his final witness for the day. He was brutal with her right off the bat. He accused her of turning Joshua and having an affair with him. When she got bored with him she tossed him aside for Cameron, and when he wouldn't go away she tried to pay him off and when that didn't work she ran to daddy dearest to get rid of him.

Michaela flat out denied the accusations. Yes she'd turned Joshua but it was an accident. She knew he liked her, but she was always clear with him about her feelings for Cameron. There was no relationship whatsoever. No payoffs. No bribes.

"I put it to you, that you lured the deceased into your room and proceeded to seduce him and when Mr. Walters returned sooner than you'd expected you then cried rape because you didn't want him to know you'd been cheating on him all along?"

"No, that's not true," Michaela shook her head.

She was very close to crying now. So to keep herself from falling to pieces, she glanced at her parents, they always managed to keep her together. But not today, not from up here.  Her father, as dashing as he was in his Armani suit, looked defeated as he stared back at her with a look of sympathy and sorrow in his eyes. Krimsyn, directly behind him, looked as bewildered as Michaela felt.

"Were you in love with the deceased?" Winston carried on, not giving Michaela a chance to collect herself.

"No!"

Did you like him?"

"No!"

"Then why did you change him, why would you subject him to this life?” The last part of his question was said with such contempt Michaela recoiled from him.

"It was an accident! I was in blood lust, I didn't know what I was doing!" Michaela finally cracked under the pressure and cried in her hands.

For a little while only the sounds of her sniffles, the rustling of papers as lawyers on both sides looked for some last minute miracle in the thousands of pages in front of them, and the court's stenographer as she merrily typed away at the court transcripts, filled the room.

The judge silently passed a box of tissues to Michaela. She took a handful, dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose before she glanced at her parents once more. Both Krimsyn and J.D. smiled their encouragement. She was doing so well. But Michaela knew it was all a lie. She should never have taken the stand.

"You didn't like the deceased, you were not in love with him, so is it safe to say you hated him?" Winston was back in full swing, the two minutes he'd given Michaela to recover had been more than generous.

Michaela stared straight ahead in stony silence.

"Ms. Frost-Summers, you are under oath, answer the question please!"Judge Rosenberg sounded irritable as he scratched his eyes; it had been a long day, in fact it had been a long trial.

For a case based solely on circumstantial evidence, the judge was perplexed at how far it had gone. He had been ready to dismiss all charges against J.D when Amman came forward. but at the last minute, right after the shit with MorcuCorp hit the fan, he'd received explicit instructions from higher up to try the case to the end and deliver nothing less than a guilty verdict.

"I didn't hate him!" Michaela replied at last.

"How did you feel about him then?" Winston barked at her, inching closer and closer, invading her personal space.

"I was indifferent towards him, okay?" Michaela yelled back forcing Winston to retreat.

"Even after the alleged rape you were indifferent? I'm sorry if someone tried to rape me I'm pretty sure I'd feel something more than just indifference!"

"Objection your honor!" Jessica jumped from her chair then and glared at Winston. "Council is badgering the witness!"

Winston put up his hands apologetically and slowly moved away from the witness stand.

"Were you sad at all when you learned Mr. Clarke had been brutally murdered?"

Again Michaela refused to say anything and the judge had to compel her to talk.

"No!"

"You were happy Mr. Clarke's dead? So you hated him, and you wanted him dead! Your father, with his endless supply of money had the means to get rid of him! We've all heard from Ms. Callaghan-" Winston didn't get to finish his performance. 

Krimsyn, who'd kept it together for the entire duration of the trial, finally unravalled. She couldn't bear to see Michaela being humiliated any longer.

"Leave her alone! Just stop, this is not her fault. She did nothing wrong! That boy was a predator and he deserved everything he got!" She screamed at Winston.

Startled gasps resonated throughout the room as everyone started talking all at once.

Judge Rosenberg ordered Krimsyn to be removed from the room and held in contempt before he dismissed the court for the day. The trial would resume the next morning.

Long after most of his staff had left for the night, Thornton was still in his office, going over the day's court transcripts, it was customary for the V.I.A to receive daily reports from the Department of Justice whenever one of their own was on trial.

The phone on his desk rang. He turned on the speakerphone. It was Celina. “Jessica Rubin’s here to see you, Sir.”

“Let her in,” Thornton replied. And moments later, Jessica walked in.

She looked like she’d just been through a brutal round in the ring as she dropped her lithe form on the couch.

"What do you think?" Thornton asked, gazing out of the window at the city lights coming to life one by one.

From his vantage point he could see the penthouse, deathly silent and cold like a morgue, all life had moved to Krisis' and Leigh's home for the time being, until this nightmare of a trial was over.

"I don’t think it matters what I think!" Jessica snapped as she pranced to the bar and mixed herself a drink. She offered one to Thornton but he declined, he was in no mood to drink, now more than ever he needed to be of sound mind.

Jessica resumed her seat and she was about to light a cigarette when she caught the warning look from Thornton, he couldn't stand the smell of cigarettes.

"I thought you quit?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at her, and she in turn frowned darkly at him.

"I did, until this morning!"

"What happened?"

"Your human happened that's what. And then your daughter had to go and lose her cool. I was very specific in my instructions, we ran through this a million times!" Jessica hissed in between gulps from her drink.

"Do you think we can win this?" Thornton turned and stared at her, unfazed by her outburst.

"After today, I don't know what to think, Will. I hope we can, but you know after your shit with MorcuCorp this has become more than just a witch hunt. And you read the transcripts."

"I did. But I want to hear it from you. As his lawyer, do you think he'll walk?"

It took a long time for Jessica to reply and when she did Thornton wished he hadn't asked.

"Yes, we'll win!" Jessica murmured, her voice lilting just a little. It was always a tell of hers, whenever she was lying.

"Thank you!" Thornton dismissed her. She stuck around though for a little while and finished off her drink.

As soon as she left, Thornton rang for his driver. And ten minutes later, he was at Krisis and Leigh’s place. He spent over an hour there, talking to Krisis. 

Angry words were exchanged, fears and doubts were shared, but eventually they both came to an agreement as they made the hardest decision either of them had ever had to make…

Thornton's last stop for the night was the West Wind Motel. 

Cruz, getting ready to head out to the hospital to visit his sister, was surprised to see him. "Mr. Thornton, what can I do for you?" He asked as they shook hands.

"I've come to collect," Thornton replied as he closed the door behind him...

AN: As always, thank you Ozzy for all your help with cleaning up the shots and general proofing of the updates.