The Unlucky Five {1}

26 The End

"Emercyn, would you please come to the stand."

Emercyn felt her heart stop. She knew this was coming, she knew she would have to testify. Agent Cooper sat her down and explained how this would all work.

"Sit there and just look pretty," He said jokingly. "You're pretty mind will do the job for you."

She was more than prepared for this but when she let go of Aiden's hand and made her way over to the stand, she felt as if she would be sick.

He watched her every move, his eyes never left her body. Not even once. Cooper warned her about that. He told her he would intimidate her, he would try to get into her head. She felt his eyes burning holes into her head as she sat down. She ignored the horrible feeling he gave her and focused her attention on Agent Cooper, who was smiling brightly at her. She smiled back as she smoothed out the end of her black dress, waiting for whatever questions they were going to ask.

"I promise you, we'll keep it light on you," Judge Pierce said with a smile. "You and you're friends met Agent Cooper at the hospital, why did you want to look through your father's files anyways."

Em took a deep breath, "Well, I had the idea of looking into them because of my encounter with the man. I knew of Matthew because of the funeral and seeing him at Fairmount but I never thought it was him until we looked through Adam's room. His name tag from the uniform I saw him in was under Adam's pillow. We went back to my house and looked through his files when we found a girl named Katherine Crawford. She died not too long before my dad so we went to look at it."

"And what did you find?" Judge asked.

"She died in a car crash," She said simply. She wanted to add the 'She died because of Matthew' part but she knew it wasn't her place.

"How often did you meet with Agent Cooper?"

"Often," She replied truthfully. "We always kept in touch and when Matthew broke into my house, Sheriff Davis and Agent Cooper were the ones who came."

"Did you see a change in Adam?"

"God, yeah," Em sighed. "Not just his physical change but a personality change. He became rude, mean, he was always on edge."

"So you're telling me he went to Matthew to scare you?" Judge asked. For a moment, she panicked. He didn't seem like he believed her, she had been afraid of this. She took a deep breath and pushed away her fears. With sudden confidence, she defended herself.

"I know this all sounds crazy," She began. "But I'm not making this up."

"I know, I have my issues. When this whole thing started I believed it had something to do with it but that's when I realized that he knew it too. Adam knew of my mental problems and he took advantage of it. He also knew I would have gone to my brother and my best friends for help. He had this whole plan and I don't know why he chose Matthew but he did. Both of them have ruined a portion of my life, especially Matthew."

"But Emercyn," Judge began. "I can't sit here and accuse a man of something that big with little evidence. To me, this just sounds like teenage drama that blew out of proportion."

A silence fell over the courtroom again. Emercyn was angry, extremely angry. She had to control herself. She sat there with her head hanging low, taking deep breaths hoping she wouldn't blow. She looked over at Matthew to see he was already staring at her. That wicked, eerie smile plastered on his face.

"Teenage drama?" She asked, her eyes never leaving Matthew's. "Was my father's death a teenage drama? Was Katherine Crawford's death a teenage drama?"

He flinched for that one and Emercyn knew he would before he had the chance to. Judge Pierce sighed loudly from his seat.

"Your father died from suicide, Katherine died from a freak accident," Judge sighed as he spoke lowly.

"Murdered," She said. "Both were murdered."

Matthew flinched so hard that time he nearly kicked the damn table over. His lawyer even moved to the side, thinking he would be kicked in the process. Now, all eyes were on Matthew. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Matthew, what do you have to say about this?" Judge asked. Em's stomach turned. She knew Matthew would lie, she knew he would make up something. Judge Pierce would believe the cold-blooded serial killer over her.

"Not. Guilty," He spoke. His eyes met hers again and it reminded her of the night they locked eyes in her house. They were full of amusement, he knew what he was doing and he was very good at it.

"Cooper, anything else?" Judge asked. He sighed as if he was bored with this. It made Em even angrier. Her life was in the hands of this man and he didn't even care.

"Actually, yes," Cooper said as he stood up and grabbed three pieces of folded paper and a blank full sheet. Em knew what that meant and it relieved all her stress. Judge had to believe them with that kind of evidence.

"Matthew, will you please write your name?" Cooper asked as he handed him the pen and placed the paper in front of him. He gave him a funny look but he listened.

"This is Mark Rose's suicide note and these two notes are the ones Em received from the an at Andy's," Cooper said as he handed over the three notes and the paper with Matthew's name on it.

"Similiar handwriting," Judge shrugged as he set the notes down.

"Similiar?" Cooper asked in shocked. "Judge, that is the same writing! Same exact writing!"

"Cooper, you need to calm-"

"Judge, with all due respect you are not taking this serious," Cooper said as he paced the courtroom.

"Cooper," He said. "I know it's been rough, losing your friend, the family problems. I know but to me, this sounds nothing more than teenage drama. I'm not saying that Matthew is not guilty because he is but I do not believe this man is a serial killer."

Agent Cooper's pacing stopped. He looked at Judge with a pleading face but he didn't take back his words. Cooper slowly made his way back over to the table, defeated.

"I sentence Adam Banks to six months of juvenile detention and Matthew Crawford to two years in federal prison for the harassment of Emercyn Rose," Judge boomed out to the courtroom. As he went to hit the gavel, Em stood up. Everyone's attention turned towards her.

"Before you hit that thing and make this official, I have one last thing to say," Em said as she stood up and walked over to in front of Judge. She didn't wait for a response, she just talked.

"In two short years, he will be back on the streets. I know you don't believe us but trust me you will. Who knows, I may be the next victim? Maybe, someone, I love? Maybe it'll be someone you love? When you finally realized the monster that man is I hope you're afraid just like how I was, how my friends were, how my family was. I know he will pick right back up where he left off and I know he will come back. And he won't leave until he gets what he wants."

Emercyn strutted over to the table where Matthew sat and slammed her hands down in front of him. She shouted her final three words at him, "Burn in hell."