I hate courts.

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Disclaimer: I will be doing this court scene in general a wee bit different to how I usually do chapters, for I'm not sure how else to do it. With that, on with the case.
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We were now in the United Stated District Court for the District of Columbia. The Costello's were sitting with their lawyer and Micheal, while we sat with the prosecution and Maggie's parents. Sadly the court began, which meant I was going to be bored for however long this was going to last. And with that Levitt began his opening argument.
"We will show that Mary Costello lured Maggie Schilling into her home with the promise of drugs."

Meredith:

"She was not held against her will. She was, in fact, orchestrating the plot to extort money from her own parents from whom she was estranged."

Levitt:

"They bound her for weeks, the pain growing and to keep her quiet, they pumped her full of drugs."

Meredith:

"Her death was the result of a self-administered overdose."

Levitt:

"After killing their captive and ruining their chances of collecting a ransom, the Costello's stuff Miss Schilling's body into the refrigerator."

Meredith:

"Knowing they could be accused of kidnapping and murder, my clients panicked and disposed of her body. While their behavior might be ill-advised, they are neither kidnappers nor murderers."

First person on our bone team was one Seeley Booth. Hopefully time will fly through this whole thing.
"Pharmaceutical samples of hydromorphone were found in the Costello's belongings. The lot numbers match those that were in Dr. Barragan's office. When I went to the Costello's kitchen, I saw the marks from the old refrigerator on the floor. It was like these marks, they screamed at me, 'These people, they did it.'." He told as I was able to get a pen and notepad so I could draw.
"Objection!" Meredith exclaimed as he stood up.
'Why stand up? Your just gonna have to sit back down.'
"Sustained. Just the facts, Agent Booth." The judge told but I could tell Seeley didn't really look sorry for what he did.
"I'm sorry. It's just that the receipt for the new refrigerator was dated two days after the negotiations broke off with the kidnappers. I mean, you figure it out." He told making Meredith stand again but Seeley beat him to the punch. "I know. I'm sorry."
Next was Meredith and his cross-examination for Seeley. Safe to say, I still wanted to punch them.
"Any evidence Maggie Schilling wasn't a willing participant in sexual activity involving those cuffs and other paraphernalia?" He asked Seeley.
"Well, winding up in the fridge kinda tells me that she really wasn't that into it." Seeley told making the Jury laugh.
'Smooth Seeley.'
"Your Honor?"
"No direct evidence." Seeley told since Meredith was gonna be a pain in his ass.
"Any evidence my clients forced Miss Schilling to take that narcotic?"
"I'll leave those answers for the experts." He told before giving Temperance a nod.
'I'm not looking forward to this.'

Next was Jack. Though it seemed confusing why we both were on the stand when we did the same thing, it's due to the fact that I knew slightly more then him. Though that will be revealed in my statement.
"Sciarids, also known as dark-winged fungus knats, went through several life cycles. Also present were Acaridae and Anoetidae, but the most interesting find was not a bug at all, but was common bread mold. All this data led to the same conclusion: Maggie Schilling was in that refrigerator between 10 and 12 months." He told
'Why couldn't I have not been able to come here.'

"Even though we already had medical records and dental records from which to identify Maggie Schilling, I was also asked to do a sketch based on the architecture of her skull. That's sort of what I do." Angie told as she held the sketch she did for Maggie up for the jury to see. "Turned out pretty accurate, if I do say so myself."
'I hate courts.'
I felt my hand be grabbed making me look to see Zack was holding it and gave it a small squeeze, like he was telling me it's ok.
'It's going to be ok.'
"She was a pretty girl. That's why I drew her smiling. It--- it just seemed right. I'm really sorry for what happened to her, and I hope my work helps you."

Now it was my turn.
"Can you please state your name and what you do?" Levitt asked
"Certainly. My name is Ashley Harper and I am a
Forensic Entomologist, Botanist, Mineralogist and weapons expert at the Jeffersonian."
"Are you an intern or full time?"
"Full time. I have four doctorates."
"Impressive for such a young age. 24 right?"
"Yep."
"So what did you do?"
"From knowledge that I held, I worked to get the label cleaned to find who the fridge belonged to. I used phosphoric acid to clean them since the label was extremely rusted once I was able to clean the remains off. From there I did a reverse research and found the shop that sold that fridge. From there I went with Agent Booth to find out who brought that fridge, to which we discovered who it was. It was the
Costello's who brought it."
"And it's said you helped work out the drugs. Is that correct?"
"It is. I have a vast knowledge on drugs and what they do, but I'll try and not bore the lovely jury too much with my knowledge."
"What did you help work out?"
"Well Agent Booth came to the lab that I work in, and asked me if what her doctor said was correct information or not. I explained that since she was a drug addict, she would not have been given what was  used to kill her if he had been a sound doctor. From there we went to interview mrs Costello."
"Thank you Dr. Harper. That's all for now." He told before walking back to his seat and Meredith stood up and walked towards me.
"It's said you take drugs. We're you on any while working this case?" Meredith asked making me clench my jaw.
'That son of a bitch. They want to throw out all the evidence I worked on. Jokes on them though.'
"I take folic acid which is prescribed by my doctor. It's to help me not die if I get sick, due to something I inherited from my father." I told as I took the bottle out of my pocket and handed it to the judge.
'Jesus Christ they are cunts.'
"Everyone is to ignore that last question. For it had nothing to do with the case." They told before giving the bottle back to me.
"Your known as the weapons expert am I correct? I just want it to be clarified."
"Yes you are."
"But you worked out that it was drugs that killed her and that it was fatal."
"Yes."
"How?"
"I grew up seeing people in different states with drugs. Some were users, some where dealers, some had used but stopped and many more. I know the different effects drugs can cause to one person...."
"Because your mother was on any?" They asked cutting me off.
"My mother never used drugs, unless they're were the ones that the doctors told her to use. She was a doctor so I grew up knowing how much each drug will take to kill you with an overdose. Because she was teaching me in case I ever wanted to be a doctor."
"You said she was?"
"She's retired."
"I suggest moving along and start asking questions about the case and not on her." The judge told
"Yes your honour." He told before turning back to me. "Is it possible to accidentally take an overdose?"
"Yes it is possible. The body gets used to one level of dose after awhile, so you need to up it and up it to get the high. But the amount that was in her that causes her death was too much for it to be a gradual increase with the amount of time they kept her like that. Especially when she had never taken it before joining your clients."
'Checkmate fucker.'

'Come on Doc. You can do this.'
"The gelatinous puddle was decomposed tissue from which our labs extracted and analyzed liver and kidney samples by mass spectrometer." She told and I saw the Jury looked bored. "The hydromorphone level in her liver was 8.4 and 6.6 in her kidney. Death occurs at 7.7 and 5.2, respectively."
'This is not great for us.'
"And the reason they would be giving the victim this narcotic?" Levitt asked
"Short-term periosteal reaction on the right proximal lateral humerus was consistent with a bound individual."
I looked towards Michael to see he knew what was happening with Temperance speech.
"So to rephrase---" Levitt told making Temperance cut in.
"And the placement of wrist restraints coupled with her hyperparathyroidism would account for the stress fractures on the distal anterior surface of both the radii and the ulni."
"Her bones broke because she was struggling to free herself." He stated to help clarify what the jury heard.
"Yeah, I believe I just said that."
I slid down my seat slightly and used my left hand to rub my temples trying to think of anything to help save us.
'We are so screwed.'
"Thank you, Doctor. That'll be all for now. I'd like to more for a recess with the right to recall the witness, Your Honor." Levitt asked making the judge look less-than-thrilled about this.
"Okay. We'll meet back here in 30 minutes." She told before hanging her gavel
"She can't connect. Those killers are gonna walk." Deaver told Seeley as we all got up.
'I'm gonna punch someone.'

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