Chapter 23

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The courtroom was packed. Not only was this case a high shot one but was also fought by the best district attorney, Mr. Liam Morgan. The media was in a frenzy because my mother had sneakily let out the rumor that the case would be wrapped up in a day - today. No one except the people related to the case were permitted inside the courtroom, especially the media was prohibited and ordered to be kept on a tight leash but right outside the gates all guards were having a hard time preventing the crazy reporters from fighting their way in.

The three of us sat on the third bench. Colton on my right side and Josh on the left. We had asked mom politely if we could attend this court session and she had said a flat capital NO until Josh grew annoyed and said it was because of us that she found a major clue and swore he would dive under a car if she didn't allow. Of course, no one believed him for a second but mom finally agreed just so he would shut the hell up, although I think she was secretly pleased that her children were attending her case and actually taking interest in it. Usually, we didn't even care about her cases.

We were ordered to maintain silence and discipline as soon as we entered the courtroom. The atmosphere was so sullen and severe that we had no problem heading the command.

The jury seats were filled with around 12 people, all different ages and they talked in whispers, occasionally glancing at the suspects.

I scanned the benches ahead. On the first bench to the left sat Jake Douglas with Victoria Ponte beside him. And a woman who was silently sniffling in her handkerchief, she could only be Anita Barrett. Victoria acted like she was soothing her but as soon as Anita wasn't looking, her face turned into a scowl like she'd be anywhere but near a weeping lady. Adjacent to them on the right bench were Layla Gordon- the ex-girlfriend, Liana Mills-step sister, her friend - Gracia, and another man who seemed like a private investigator with his suit and strict stance.

Behind them was Abel McKenzie alongside a man in his late thirties with a stiffly ironed black suit, a French beard, and a harsh look on his face. "Who's he?"

Colton followed my gaze. "He is Abel's butler, his alibi, Asher. He follows Abel everywhere and anywhere. Loyal as a dog that man is."

"So he could have lied about Abel being out?" I whispered back.

Colton simply shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and just as I shifted my eyes from Asher, he turned to glance at his watch. Even from here, I could see it was an expensive gold watch. Do butlers get to dress like that? But then again Abel himself loved to deck himself up, even now, for a court session he had three gold chains and a gold stud and over five rings in all fingers. It shouldn't be a surprise his butler has a gold watch, the money he gets is probably why he works there.

Next to the butler was a man in his twenties, wiping sweat from the forehead repeatedly. I wondered why he was so nervous. "Who is he?"

Colton shrugged. "No idea. Never seen him. Doesn't fit in the rich league."

My eyes glided over his plain white shirt and a cheap black pair of pants paired up with an old pair of shoes that even had a tiny hole at the toe. Who was he? And why was he here?

Natalie Acker, the main attraction of this case was nowhere to be seen.

At the front were two tables, the left was occupied by my mom and her first assistant, Tracy. Rodrigo sat on another chair with a blank face, barely glancing at his weeping wife. Mom was flipping through pages, her attention solely on them. On the right Liam Morgan was placidly arranging his files on the table, discretely trying to see what my mother was so intently reading about. It was no new fact that Liam hated my mom, it also didn't help that mom had dated Liam briefly before realizing he was an obnoxious jerk and dumping him right in the court. Since then he had sworn to humiliate my mother and even succeeded a few times. But my mom was no kitten, she was a full-grown cat and clawed at him every chance she got, leaving scratches as proof, figuratively, of course, I think.

A man next to the judge's table stood up suddenly. "We are gathered here for the trial of Rodrigo Barrett charged with the murder of his partner Nick Mills." Everyone stood up. "Court is now in session. Honorable judge Maxim T. Corbin presiding."

The judge was old, old enough to have judged plenty of cases. He had a strict yet kind face. One we could trust to not flow in the rivers of money.

"Please be seated." His voice was strong and authority rolled over him.

We sat down.

Liam stood up. "Good Morning Your Honor. We have already placed our case. Every clue points out that the defendant, Rodrigo Barrett murdered his 'apparent' dear friend and co-partner, the decedent, Nick Mills because of his anger towards him. He politely called Nick Mills to have a dinner with his family with the clear intention of murdering him at the latest chance he got. He got his chance when he went with a completely intoxicated Nick Mills to his house with the façade of helping him. Rodrigo Barrett then pulled out his .32 pistol and shot his innocuous friend right at the center of his forehead, instantly killing him. I simply want the ladies and gentlemen of the jury to believe in the proof I have laid out – means, motive, and opportunity, proving the defendant, the billionaire Rodrigo Barrett is indeed a cold-blooded murderer and must be given the severest punishment." He bowed and sat down with a smug smile.

The judge turned to mom. "Has the defense got any claims to protect its client and conflict with the proof laid out by the defense?"

My mom got up. "Yes, your Honor. We recently had a new break." She lifted the white napkin off her table. Underneath was the pink teddy bear, the same one I and Colton had found drugs, along with two more soft toys.

"Are you starting a nursery Diana?" Liam's tone was scornful.

Mom smiled sweetly, too sweetly. "If those children can grow up to be people like you then never." She turned to the judge. "We just found about this evidence last night your Honor. I even called the attorney to inform but he was busy." Mom sent a challenging look to Liam who swallowed his words.

The judge hid a smile. "You may proceed."

She bowed. "I call my witness, Natalie Acker, ex of Raul Aita."

Liam instantly stood up. "I object Your Honor. The defense is calling the suspect of a totally another case into this one."

"If it weren't related I wouldn't call the witness Your Honor. And Raul Aita was a suspect in this case until he was also murdered. I don't think this is a coincidence."

"Objection overruled."

Liam scowled but sat down, probably regretting being where wherever he was. I wondered how mom knew where he was.

Natalie Acker was dressed in a long formal gown and had a brooding expression on her face. My fingers crossed hoping she didn't give us away. She took the oath.

"What do you do Natalie Acker?" Mom started her questioning, although I had a feeling it was practiced before.

"I am a sophisticated stripper. I work at the NexGen club." Natalie's tone was monotonous.

"Define sophisticated stripper."

Colton sighed beside me. "Finally." I lightly hit his arm, a small smile on my face.

"I have experience in strip dancing. The customers are rich and my clients are respected. Sex with the clients is forbidden unless of course, I give my consent. I only do pole dancing and never strip entirely naked. Under the club rules that is the synopsis of a sophisticated stripper."

Mom nodded. "Are you acquainted with the defendant, Rodrigo Barrett?"

Natalie shifted her eyes to an anxious Rodrigo. "I don't think so. If you are indirectly asking if I had sex with him then no, I remember all of them."

A few chuckled even my mom shook her head. This was clearly not in the script. "Have you ever talked to him? Seen him?"

"No."

"Did you know the decedent, Nick Mills?"

Natalie nodded. "Yes, I did."

"How?"

"He was Raul's neighbor, he used to come over."

"And had he come over during the month he died?"

"No. Raul and Nick fought. He stopped coming a few months back."

Mom pressed her lips. "Could you be precise over the number of months?"

"Five, I think."

"Do you know what they fought about?"

Liam seemed bored with the conversation, he was flipping through his files.

"No. I don't know."

Mom turned to the teddy bear in a transparent bag. "Have you ever seen this?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Raul said he bought it for his niece when we were in Germany."

"How did it come to you?"

"Raul had given it to me because his baggage was full."

"Do you know what was found inside?"

"Yes, drugs."

A gasp filled the courtroom. Liam's file shut in a hurry and his sole attention was on the two ladies talking. Even the jury had leaned ahead, not wanting to miss any further words.

Mom had a self-satisfied smile. "How did you find them?"

"After Raul's death, I packed up all his stuff to throw away. I don't like soft toys so I packed that too. There is a large bin near my building. I put the box in it and walked away."

"Then?"

"I had just taken a few steps when I heard a scream and turned back to see the guy trembling and staring at the box. I ran to him and saw the teddy was torn and white packets spilled around it. I immediately called the police."

"Is that man present here?"

Natalie scanned the crowd, briefly landing on me and Colton. Her expression didn't change but I knew she wanted to kill us with bare hands for bringing her into this mess. She finally pointed at the guy next to the butler. The one who didn't fit in the rich league. "He was."

Liam stood up. "I feel like we are discussing the case of Raul Aita. I don't see any connection between the drugs found and Nick's death."

"I have a point, Your Honor, I promise. But it needs us to understand the basics first."

The judge nodded. "Okay but I give you five minutes. Objection overruled."

Both lawyers bowed. Liam sitting with a sullen face and mom turned to Natalie. "Is this the first soft toy?"

"No, he brings them all the time for his niece. Every place we go."

"Have you ever been with him when he picks up these toys?"

Natalie frowned. "No, he always picks them up while returning from a personal meeting."

Mom turned to the jury. "Point to be noted, nobody knows from where these are picked up." She turned back to Natalie. "Have you seen them anywhere else?"

Natalie slowly nodded. "At Nick's place."

Another gasp circled the courtroom.

"How?"

"Raul was out of sugar, I ran up to Nick's to get him some. Nick was just unpacking from his trip to Greece. He had a big fish soft toy."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"Yes, he said it is for his cousin."

Mom turned to the judge. "Nick has no small cousin, Your Honor. All his cousins are over twenty and I doubt they would like to play with a Nemo soft toy."

A few people softly chuckled and I was smiling, shaking my head.

Mom picked another soft toy from the table. It was a fat creamy stuffy cat. She held it up. "Do you recognize this?"

Natalie nodded. "Yes, I have seen this at Nick's place."

"Did it happen to be near the window?"

"Objection Your Honor." Liam cut it. "The question is leading and suggestive."

"Objection sustained."

Mom sighed. "Where did you see this?"

"Near the window."

Mom sent a haughty smile to Liam. "We have the photos that were taken on the day of Nick Mill's murder. This photo-" she picked up a photo from her table and sent it to the judge. "-clearly shows that this cat was indeed near the window. We didn't think much of it until we got this break. I sent this cat and any more soft toys found at Nick Mill's place to the forensics. The reports are on your desk, You Honor. There are traces of illegal drugs like heroin, opium, cocaine, amphetamine, and even methamphetamine." She paused.

"This clearly indicates a drug racket. The decedent, Nick Mills wasn't murdered by my client, the defendant Rodrigo Barrett. He was murdered due to ulterior motives, something which endangered a major drug racket of which Nick Mills and Raul Aita both were a part of."

"But this is just a speculation, Your Honor." Liam interrupted. "I have placed facts which indicate Rodrigo Barrett was definitely a murderer. This drug racket isn't related to this case. It is a completely different case under different objectives."

"Yes but the speculation of this drug racket, increases the number of suspects who would benefit from murdering Nick Mills." Mom snapped at Liam. "And especially since there is no eye-witness who would place my client as Nick's murderer, I do not see any good in sentencing an innocent man while the true murderer roams freely. This drug racket is now a major part of this case."

"I come to an agreement with the defense." Judge Morgan spoke a tone of finality. "If a drug racket is at large, we must expose it. Rodrigo Barrett might be innocent and the court will not sentence an innocent man. Does the defense has any more questions to ask the witness?"

Mom bowed. "No Your Honor. I wish to call another witness."

"I would like to cross-examine this witness, Natalie Acker." Liam demanded.

A flash of fear crossed Natalie's eyes. Everyone knew Liam was ruthless. The judge nodded. "Go ahead."

Liam smirked at mom who rolled her eyes, sitting down on her chair. Liam walked casually towards Natalie. "It is unfortunate I didn't know about this or I would have come with a solid counter case." He grinned. "Natalie Acker how are your eyes."

"Objection Your Honor." Mom cut in. "I don't see how the witness's eyes hold any significance here."

"If it were invalid I wouldn't have asked the question, Your Honor. I don't intend to waste the time of the court. I have a point." Liam retorted.

"Then make it." Judge stated.

Liam nodded. "Care to answer the question now? I rephrase it, do you have an eye number?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"How did you see that cat?" Liam pointed at the cat, mom was holding it a few minutes back. "When you were at Nick Mill's house or from the window?"

"When I was at Nick's place." Natalie answered.

"When was that?"

"Around a week before he died."

"But I thought Raul and Nick had a fight and weren't talking."

Natalie opened her mouth to reply but mom interrupted her. "You don't have to answer that. It was a statement, not a question." Natalie snapped her mouth shut.

Liam gritted his teeth. "Raul and Nick had a fight?"

"Yes."

"Then how did you go to Nick's place and why?"

"They became friends a month back, not close but enough to say hi and bye. Raul was out and didn't have the keys so I went to Nick's place to wait for him. At that time I noticed the cat sitting on the window sill."

"Then you asked for whom it was?"

"Yes."

Liam seemed resigned. "You may go now."

Mom stood up with a smile. Natalie stepped back with relief and Liam sat down with melancholy.

"I call upon Jake's alibi, Victoria Ponte." Mom said.

Victoria seemed shocked but gulped and got up.

"You do jewelry business?"

"Yes."

Liam stepped up. "I think we have already established that."

Mom ignored him. "So you travel a lot? Where did you recently?"

"Italy."

Mom smirked, tilting her face. "Your passport says otherwise. It says you went to Russia, the same week when Nick Mill's was there. Any reason?"

Victoria coughed nervously. "Really? I didn't know. I must have forgotten."

Mom raised an eyebrow. "Did you also not know that you two stayed in the same hotel and your rooms were adjacent?"

"No." Victoria squeaked out.

"More than a few witnesses place you there along with the decedent, Nick Mills. You have taken an oath. Lying in the court is considered a crime too." Mom informed.

Victoria sighed, her fat lips trembling. "I know. We went there together."

"That was your last trip?"

"Yes."

"When was it?"

"Two weeks before Nick died. It was his last trip too."

"Did you know about him exporting drugs?"

"NO!!" Victoria shrieked in horror.

Mom ignored her scream. "Of course you did. You do it too."

"Objection Your Honor." Liam barked. "This is forcing the witness to admit something that isn't true based on no proof."

"I do have proof." Mom calmly replied. She picked up a bottle. "This is a jewelry cleaner. We picked it up from Victoria Ponte's shop. Since she does jewelry business it is no surprise she has this but there isn't the cleaning material in it." Mom tilted the bottle and a spot of white fell on the paper. "This is cocaine."

Oh's and Ah's rang in the courtroom. Everyone seemed to have leaned ahead to catch a glimpse of the cocaine spot.

Mom turned to Victoria whose lips were trembling even more now. She looked like she was about to cry. "So you still deny having a hand in this?"

A choke left Victoria's mouth, her restrain finally falling. "No! Raul, Nick, and I did drug smuggling. We were familiar with the customs so they didn't check a lot on us. We went to places differently, no one was given the same place at the same time. But Nick and Raul landed up at the same place in China. Nick wanted to steal Raul's goods for an extra money but Raul found out and they had a fight."

Mom nodded. "How did you and Nick get the same place?"

"Nick forced me to come. He said his life was in danger and he was going to quit all this."

"So you got scared of him exposing you and this scandal and murdered him?"

"What? No! I didn't do anything of that sort." Victoria immediately denied it.

"Then who did?"

Victoria shrugged, accepting the tissue mom gave her. "I don't know but I think Raul did. I had accidentally let it slip that Nick was going to leave. Raul got furious and scared, he said he would see to it Nick no longer leaves or exposes us. After two days they found Nick, dead."

"So you got scared?"

Victoria Ponte nodded. "Yes. I even asked Raul if he did it."

"And what did he say?"

Victoria didn't reply for a few seconds, she took a deep breath, clutching the crumpled tissue like it could make her disappear. "He admitted."

Everyone seemed to have inhaled and exhaled at the same time. The judge was sitting with a blank face but his eyes scanned Victoria for signs of dishonesty. The jury was writing and softly whispering in ears. Liam was shell shocked, his jaw down to the Pacific Ocean.

Mom had a huge victory grin plastered on her face and an 'I beat you, bitch' look on her face as she looked at Liam. "Do you remember the exact words?"

"I went to Raul's house after I started suspecting him. He denied it at first and we had a huge fight then in his anger he said, 'Don't make me shoot you just like I shot Nick.' I got terrified and ran out then he caught me and threatened to expose me off if I told anyone. He even said he would kill my mother who's in Alaska." Victoria was in hysterics now.

"So you decided to murder Raul Aita?"

"I object Your Honor." Liam finally found something to object to. "The question is not only inculpating without any evidence but also holds no stability in this case. Raul Aita's murder is a completely different murder case with different trials and lawyers. I would advise the defense to bring evidence and then give that to a respective lawyer."

"I believe the attorney has a point." Judge Morgan said. "We have established that Nick Mills was murdered by Raul Aita based on the evidence Victoria Ponte gave us. Anything else leading to Raul Aita's murder shall be judged in another courtroom."

Mom bowed slowly. "The defense then rests Your Honor."

Judge straightened his back. "In the case of Nick Mills murder, it is thereby proven that Raul Aita was the murderer who has been murdered. The defendant, Rodrigo Barrett is innocent and free to go. This case is closed. Under these circumstances, the court shall hold Victoria Ponte for further questioning."

A murmur of words followed as all got up.

"Why can't they just find Raul Aita's murderer now too?" Josh complained.

"Because his cousin was also arrested yesterday for his murder so that becomes a completely different case. It's sad that Victoria will be a suspect there too." Colton said in a low voice.

"Yeah." I said, glancing at her, she was being escorted by a female police to another courtroom. Her face was a disaster, her makeup seemed to be flowing all over her face.

Mom walked towards us and I engulfed her in a hug. "Congrats mom."

She hugged back but there was a frown on her face.

"What's up mom?" Josh inquired. "Shouldn't you be dancing on the table and flicking that prick Liam off?"

Mom finally smiled. "Yeah but something doesn't add up. There's a piece missing. If Raul killed Nick, then who killed Raul and why?"

I sighed. "Come on Mom. You won! Don't stress over it now. Let's go for lunch."

"Are you ever not hungry?" Colton snorted.

"Yeah, when I look at shit a.k.a your face." I retorted.

Colton narrowed his eyes at me, starting to speak but mom cut in. "Okay enough let's go now."

We bundled outside and I stopped. "Um, I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?"

"To make space for more water." I grumbled, running in the direction of the washroom.

I sighed as I felt the yellow water leave my body. Ah, the pleasure of releasing.

Finally flushing I got out and there standing, putting lipstick on her red lips was Natalie Acker. I cleared my throat awkwardly and Natalie glanced at me through the mirror, sent a glare, and then went back to ignoring me.

I washed my hands and just stood there, biting my lip as I thought of words to speak. Natalie side glanced at me with irritation. "What?"

"I uh just wanted to thank you, you know for helping us out there."

She grunted. "Get out."

Twisting my lips I opened the door to go. So much for thanking me. "I don't think Raul killed Nick. He may be a drug smuggler but he wasn't a killer."

My hand froze on the handle and I almost turned back to see if she was serious but then another woman neared the washroom so I got out. My mind whirring with her words. If Raul Aita didn't murder Nick Mills then who did?

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