her throat felt tight. She felt like she was on the verge of passing out. But then she looked over at the abusive nut job who had made her into this frail, weak woman, someone she hardly recognized, and she dug down deep inside for the strength to somehow stand up straighter, her head held high. She would have to walk right past him to get to the witness stand.
As she crossed the front of the courtroom toward the witness stand, everything seemed to happen all at once.
First she heard Dennis shout, “I warned you, bitch!” Then he stood up so fast, the chair he had been sitting in screeched across the floor and fell back with a loud thump. His hand grabbed for her, but she instinctively ducked out of the way, so that only his nails scratched her wrist.
She looked up, terrified but prepared to defend herself. Then she noticed a hand with long red fingernails wrapped around Dennis’s neck and his arm bent back in an unnatural way. When she was able to focus on who was restraining him, her mouth opened in a big O. Francesca, whom she had not noticed sitting in the row directly behind Dennis, had him in some sort of hold. In her beautiful gray suit, perfectly arranged hair, and flawless makeup, she didn’t even look as if she’d broken a sweat.
A big strong arm wrapped around Jessica’s waist and pulled her to the other side of the courtroom, away from Dennis. She assumed it was Jack, but all she could do was watch as the bailiffs converged to take hold of Dennis, handcuff him, and drag him away. Francesca brushed off her skirt, smoothed her hair, and then gave Jessica a wink. Jessica almost couldn’t believe her eyes.
The lights from the cameras were blinding. The noise from the spectators was making her dizzy. And the banging of the gavel as the judge shouted, “Order in the court!” echoed in her head, making her feel as if she was about to lose her senses.
Jack was talking to her and Chrissy was standing in front of her with a concerned look on her face, but Jessica was trembling and couldn’t hear a thing. It was as if she were in a tunnel of sound and light. The only thought in her mind was, Where the hell is Slade?
“Jess? Jessica?” It was Chrissy. “Go get her some water. Someone bring her water!” Chrissy was ordering. “And get her a blanket or sweater or something. She’s shaking.”
As if a mute button had suddenly been released, the vortex disappeared and the jumbled noises slowly began to make sense again. “Move away. Give her room. Jack! Get everyone to move away. Get the cameras out of her face!” Chrissy continued to bark out orders, and Jack and the other officers assisted in clearing out as many people as possible. The judge was also giving orders to the attorneys for both sides. It was complete and utter pandemonium.
“Slade,” she croaked, sounding like a stranger even to herself.
Chrissy placed a Styrofoam cup of cold water against her lips. With shaky hands Jessica sipped.
“Slade,” she repeated, more clearly this time.
Chrissy seemed to understand. She looked around, then asked Jack, “Where’s Slade?”
Jack shrugged. “Since he was supposed to testify later, I just assumed he was getting ready with the prosecutor or something.” Jack walked over to speak with one of the prosecutors.
“They’ve been calling him all morning. He didn’t show up,” Jack said worriedly as he came back over.
Jessica instantly saw on Chrissy’s face how concerned she was. And warning bells were going off in Jessica’s head too. There was no way in hell that Slade Martin would not testify. He was not a man who backed down. If he wasn’t here, it was because something had happened.
Just then the judge announced that, due to the circumstances, the defendant had agreed to a guilty plea, and therefore the trial was over. Next she addressed Jessica directly, telling her that she could follow one of the officers to the station to file a police report for the new charges.
She could leave? She could really leave now? Jessica pushed everyone aside and ran out the door.
She hadn’t even gotten to the courthouse steps before Chrissy, Jack, Francesca, Cain, and Travis burst out after her.
“Come on.” Jack grabbed her hand and led her and Chrissy to his police car. He turned on the siren and they headed off to find Slade.
“Are you okay? You