It Started As a Deal

Chapter 38: Surprise Twist

"It hurt because it mattered" ~ John Green

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"If you're not feeling up to being here, I can take you back to the hotel so you don't have to sit and listen to this anymore," Jessica told me handing over a burger and some fries from her to-go bag.  "I don't want to put you in more emotional distress."  She sat down next to me on the bench I was resting at outside.  Her brows furrowed, and she chewed on her fingernails.  "I just want you to be happy again."

"It'll be a very long time before that happens again," I say taking a bite of my burger.  My hands begin to twitch and a chuckle escapes me.  "This is the first time in a long while that I've craved a cigarette."

"That's because you're under a lot of stress.  How long has it been since you last had one?" she asked rummaging around in her purse for her phone which had vibrated.

"Oh I don't even remember honestly.  But then again my brain's been all kinds of fucked up lately."  I continue to eat my lunch looking at my sister after she became silent from looking at her phone.  "What's wrong?"

"Mom's been brought into the police station for questioning," she mumbles out running a hand through her hair, "For what I don't know, but she threw a fit and kicked a police officer."

"I'm not surprised that either of those things happened knowing her.  The only thing surprising is that she managed to stay out this long," I spit out no longer wanting to continue eating.  Every time we talk about her my mood goes down further.

"Imogen. . . I know you don't like her, but think about Josh and Millie," Jessica says rubbing my shoulders to try and calm me down.

"I am; they'll be better off without her around them.  I rather them be raised by us than her because it would make their life much easier," I retort shrugging her arm off and dropping my head in my hands.  "Can this day just be over with?"

"The court is resuming now," the bailiff tells us as everybody begins to refill the court room.  He steps aside to let us through into the lobby and then the court room.  The doors close after the last few stragglers walk in, and the trial resumes causing my heart rate to spike up again.  My hands begin to sweat, and I rub them on the bottom of my seat causing a woman next to me to send a glare my way.

"Before we begin," the judge says, "it appears that Mr. Blackburn has entered a plea deal with the prosecution during our recess.  The information he is exchanging for dropping some prison time regards his father's serial killer case."  At his words, multiple gasps and exclamations run through the crowd, and Emery faints on the other side of the room.  While people were attending to her, my mouth hung open in shock, and I tried to make eye contact with Hunter as he went back to the witness stand.

"I understand that from what you briefly told us that one of your father's helpers gave you some information on how your father was able to obtain the girls he killed," the prosecutor explains oblivious to the crowd's uproar.  "That is correct isn't it?"

"Yes sir," Hunter says.  He only said two words, yet the crowd went wild.  He didn't explain what he knew yet.

"Please elaborate to the court what it is that you know," the prosecutor orders him once the court room quiets down. 

"As you already know from my father's case, he didn't exactly start to kill the girls immediately.  He also told them that he paid their parents money and that they were going to be part of an experiment.  Part of that statement is true:  he did pay people to take these girls.  He paid other people in the area to watch them before taking them away.  Those people watched the girls for weeks learning their daily routines and studying their mannerisms.  This was something that was also revealed during the case, but that's not the only way he got these girls.  He paid off some of their parents and told them what he was going to do to their daughters!" he exclaimed silencing the court.  Nobody said anything for a solid two minutes.  It was so quite that you could hear a pin drop and then echo.  Everybody started looking at each other with flabbergasted expressions on their faces.  We all looked like fish out of water.

The court room only jumped back into action when the court reporter began typing again.  Her hands began flying across her keyboard to type what she had heard.  I guess that she was just too shocked to type, but the questioning began again as if a spell had been broken.

"So you're saying that parents knew what their children would go through and accepted his money?" the prosecutor asked leaning against the bench running a hand over his beard.  "Are you positive?"

"Yes I'm sure; when I talked to one of my dad's old friends recently, he told me that his brother, who was a guard for my father, confided in him," Hunter explains.

"And you didn't bring this to the police's attention because?"

"Like I said, I had only just found out.  He told me this three days before I was arrested, so I wasn't really in the best position to tell the police."

"Do you know why these parents would agree to do such a thing and not just call the police themselves?" Baldy asked him walking up to the witness stand to stand face-to-face with Hunter.

"My father's friend told me that it wasn't a lot of parents he did this with, and they fell under two categories.  The first was that they were living under false identities to escape the police and had arrest warrants while the second was parents that were involved with illegal activities such as drug dealing and needed to pay off people," Hunter says using his hands to draw out a diagram on the counter in front of him to show the two groups.

"And do you by any chance know any of these people's names or where they live?" asked Baldy pressing his hands down on the counter and leaning in closer to Hunter.

"You would have to ask him if he knows names or knows other people who do because I only know one name," Hunter says bringing his hands into his lap and lowering his head.

"And who is the parent you know that agreed to this?"

"But here's the think," Hunter starts off, "my father would look into these people and go find them to try blackmailing them, but this woman actually sought him out to beg him for money and to take one of her daughters."

"What is this woman's name?"

"Jane Baker, Imogen's mother!" Hunter cries out.  "I took her and asked her to marry me so that I could protect her from that monster!"

I watch then as tears fall from his face as he crumples down in the witness stand and then lets out a strangled noise.  Jessica's arms are around me, but I throw them off of me and move towards the exit.  I trip on my way there and fall to the ground and spill my lunch on the floor.  There were garbage cans on the other side of the doors that I was trying to reach.  I could hear people rushing towards me, but I rolled over on my back looking up at the ceiling lights before my vision faded to black.

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