Protective Arms (Completed)

51. Responses Mirror

Brit and I stand no sooner than recess is called. I want to check on Athena and them, that is the only thing on my mind. Everything in me is screaming to hold her close. Seems as though Brit is on the same wavelength.

That gets stopped when Gills steps in our way.

"Excuse me." I say and go to step around him, but he steps back in front of me.

"We need to go over when you two take the stand. Right now between the three victims we have a shoe in, I think the jury is buying it all."

"They are not some pawns for you to use. Yes, we all want Dason to be behind bars at the least for life, but those women are human beings with feelings." I barely keep my voice level, but my anger is seeping out with how he talks about them.

"That is not what I meant and you know it Gatlin." Gills sighs. "Look, I know that is now your wife in there but right now we have to keep our heads in the game to get this sentencing."

"Now when you go in there just remember not to use any of the womens first names. That won't help our side because his lawyer can claim evidence was placed and not his on some crap. Just fuel your emotions to finishing this trial up."

"His lawyer doesn't seem like much other than running circles around the girls." Brit huffs.

"If it didn't go his way he stopped talking and part of the time he sits there looking like he rather be somewhere else." I add in.

See we can still be Detectives and notice things around us while worried about the ladies. It hurts to bite that little phrase back to Gills.

Gaperal comes over to where we are and stands by us.

"The ladies are hanging in. That little show in there has bothered them, but they are leaning each other for support. Poor Molly though having to go through this after so many years too." Gaperal sighs, giving Gills a pointed look.

"As a victim she had to be here and I have no guilt for going through the files Gatlin had to get her information. It was needed to put this fucker down." Gills seethes.

I shake my head. "Thank you Gaperal for checking on them, since we got detained to go over more of the trial."

I open the door and see the ladies have not moved an inch from their spots in the last five minutes. Damn Gills for taking up the entire time we had to where I couldn't talk to them myself.

"Order is called back to session." The Officer speaks out.

Dason is brought back out and Gills grabs a huge box out from under his table.

"Next to the stand is Detective Zack Gatlin."

We go through the motions before I sit here waiting for someone to tell me to start.

Gills stands and start popping off evidence left and right. The entire time I am just saying 'yes' or 'that is correct'. I feel like a yo-yo but there is not much for Gills to ask me until the time of the shooting where he had Athena hostage. Even then there isn't much since it was all caught on camera.

"What was your role in everything that has happened? As I take it you was not a Detective at the time when Ms. Sunastance had been the victim." The lawyer stands after Gills sat back down.

"No, I was not at the time. I came into the case when Mrs. Greg came in after filing a police report and Officer Gaperal made a connection and it was brought to me as many of the other cases I have solved."

"How many cases have you been on Detective?"

"Over the course of a few years? Easily over a hundred."

"So you would say you are experienced?"

"As experienced as any other Detective. No case is going to be the exact same. Not even if you were to have copy cats."

"Then how do you know the my client is not just that a copy cat?"

"Because everything is to identical to the exact wording. No copy cat could do that, because every suspect will have their own sign they will put there."

"You met my client before all of this happened, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct. It was a very brief meeting in a resturant during dinner with my sister and friends."

"Did you suspect him then?"

"I found it odd that when he came up the whole conversation actually stopped and didn't flow the same. At the time I had brushed it off, because he was portraying to be Bethany's boyfriend, along with him answering small things I had asked."

"Alright, let's move onto the time during which you had found that book in an abadoned house. Have you ever seen Mr. Sturps handwriting to claim it is his?"

"May I see the book? With having it here I can show you physically how it was connected to him, along with some more evidence." I throw a question back at him and at least this way the jury will have to see what the proof too.

I get the book handed to me and open the cover. "Right here is his name printed along with date of birth. The other evidence is this piece of paper where he wrote out simple words while trying to act like he had a mental illness after being arrested. The hand writing is once again identical. Thus drawing our conclusion to the charges he has been brought upon. Because as evidence shows he already had wrote out that he is guilty."

I try not to feel smug while throwing all that up.

"So you don't believe and just go to state he is of no mental illness possibly?"

"That is correct. The station had doctors come in and examine him. Along with how he has acted and spoke this is no actions of a guy who has any form of mental illness."

I am let off the stand and they call up Brit and Gaperal, who's responses mirror my own. We have been in this court room for several hours now and they have asked us all to the stand. It is moving much faster than any normal trial would have gone, but there is so much evidence and there is not a case really here to fight against.

A/N---
Hey Hey Guys!!!

Things moved quick for the guys part in the trial.

Was it clever for Zack to throw things back in the lawyers face instead of getting run around questions to try and spin his own words?