I'm not really sure why I'm so anxious. I've had plenty of cases before, brought down plenty of criminals… but this was my first time against a rogue. Well, technically, she wasn't a rogue. She'd only been to Arkham once, and that was because she was too unstable to be trialed. Still, this was very important. If I was able to convict her for the true criminal that she was, instead of letting her be sent to Arkham like all the other costumed crazies, it would really help me in the running for district attorney.
That's right, I, Rebecca D. Albright, at the age of thirty, am in the running to become Gotham's newest district attorney. The voting is in four months, but people have already gotten a head start in campaigning. I'm not one for posters and ads and fundraising dinners that required you to flash a cheesy insincere smile. I wasn't exactly a social person, but I got the job done. I got results. And if I won today, everyone else would see that.
As soon as I entered the courtroom, my cane clanking on the marble floor with each step, I could feel the unrelenting gaze of everyone on me. But what else was new? I was used to the ogling by this point. What caught my attention were the almond eyes of the defendant staring straight at me. It was normal for them to glare at me with contempt or even flash an overconfident smirk. But this woman, she looked at me in… wonder, as if she couldn't believe we were there, facing one another. She seemed familiar, and for a moment, I thought she was going to say something, but then she just smiled politely and looked away.
It must be a ploy, a dirty trick to confuse me enough to let my guard down. I wasn't about to let that work on me. This was a crucial step in my career.
Right on time, the judge walked into the courtroom, silencing any needless chatter. Judge Williams was a very punctual woman who had a no-nonsense attitude about her. She believed in doing things fast and efficiently, without any screw-ups. That certainly won't bode well for the defendant, who had a record of both disruptive and unprofessional behavior from her time in Arkham. Staring down at the woman with distaste written on her sour face, she began the hearing.
"Evangelina Rosario Torrez, you are accused of executing an escape from Arkham, as well as causing a riot, destroying a wall in the western part of the asylum, and assaulting several doctors and guards. How do you plead?"
"Your honor," Evangelina's lawyer, Charles Bradford, a cocky man that shamelessly defended some of Gotham's worst felons, spoke up, "We plead not guilty by reason of insanity."
"Very well, present your case."
"We'd like to ask Dr. Joan Leland to the stand." The doctor walked to the witness stand calmly, obviously having done this before.
"Dr. Leland," Charles started, waving his hand half-heartedly, as if this was a trivial matter not important enough for his full attention. "My client was a patient at Arkham Asylum after her first trial, where she was, in fact, deemed "unstable" and therefore unable to stand before a jury, correct?"
The woman did her best to convey a neutral expression, but anyone paying attention could tell she was choosing her words carefully, "Yes, but at the time we weren't certain of-"
"But she was mentally unstable, correct?" Bradford interrupted her.
She sighed, "Yes, she was." Without another word, he left Dr. Leland at the stand to go sit beside Evangelina, waiting for me to question the doctor. To say that he was a pain in the side of all the ADAs of the city would be an understatement. I bit my lip and built up the nerve to go up against the smug snake of an attorney.
I stood in front of the witness to ask, "Dr. Leland, you treated Miss Torrez for the time that she was in Arkham before she escaped. In that time, what would you say is your diagnosis of her?"
"Eva has borderline personality disorder. She has moments where she idealizes those around her, as she did her parents, and times where she demonizes them, which is what led her to kill her first victim. She is unstable in regards to her self-image, and it leads to periods of disassociation, which is why she was unfit to be trialed by jury."
"What normally causes this?" I found myself asking. I had done some research of mental disorders before, so I have heard of borderline personality disorder, but I never investigated it thoroughly.
"Genetics can play a role, just like with many other disorders, and while I do believe that was part of it…" She paused for a moment, "I also suspect that it developed from an abusive and hostile childhood environment."
"How so?"
"Well, Eva has shown to very defensive about her parents; she never acknowledged their negative actions. They were known for their ownership of a motel that harbored criminals, leading many to believe that they were a part of Gotham's underground. That alone would be enough to traumatize a young child, but their negligence-"
"They weren't abusive!" A voice cried out from behind us. Eva had risen from her seat, visibly shaking with rage, and struggling to get out of her metal handcuffs.
"My parents loved me. They did everything for me. They died for me!" The woman yelled, crying for the honor of her family.
"It's you, you people didn't understand them, that's why you killed them. You sent your dirty cops to murder my family!"
"Quiet down Miss Torrez or I will hold you for contempt of court," Judge Williams did not back down to Evangelina's fury, standing solid, she started down the ranting woman.
"Do I look like I give a damn? You're all murders! Liars!" All through this I stood, incredulous that that slime ball of a lawyer could let her do this. Some people would do anything to win a case.
"You see your honor; my client is obviously not in any state of sanity!" He shouted above Eva's death threats. Just went she was about to attack the judge, two burly men grabbed her, forcing her into a straitjacket. Still, she resisted, screaming the most psychotic, broken wail that a person could.
"That's it! Miss Torrez you will be sent back to Arkham."
I groaned. That had to have been the shortest trial I've ever had, and certainly the most embarrassing. Then again, it probably wasn't wise of me to bring up the personal issues of a mad woman. This wasn't going to help me in winning district attorney that was for sure.
I sat on the bench outside the courtroom doors, still thinking about how it all went wrong. If I had just kept the focused on her actions rather than her mental state, I might have won. The fact that the entire escape had to have been planned, that she had an accomplice, that she had no history of psychological trauma before her first murder… I could kick myself.
"Don't beat yourself up about it Albright," I heard someone call to out me. Looking up, I saw Evangelina being dragged out of the courtroom by the two guards who had restrained her before. Once they passed me, she craned her neck back to look at me with a triumphant smirk, no trace of the madness that she had been filled with just a few moments ago.
"This worked out for everyone. After all, it's just one case, right?"
I wasn't about to respond, I've had enough contact with psychos to last me a lifetime.
"Alice is fine by the way. I thought you'd like to know."
"Wait, what?" I tried to stop her guards, but when they kept moving, I settled for falling into step with them. Alice, my secretary, had been missing for over a month. What could this woman possibly know about her?
"Alice, she's okay, I know you worry." The grin on her face was starting to make my blood boil.
"What do you know about Alice? Where is she? What did you do to her?" I didn't even bother to keep the desperation out of my voice. I've been worried for weeks about what could have happened to Alice.
It's true that she and I hadn't been incredibly close, to be honest, I barely talked to her outside of work, but I was protective of her. She'd gone through the same thing I did, only, she didn't put it behind her like I had. I just…didn't want to think of what this monster could do to her.
"Have a little more faith in your past employees boss," she said with a voice that reminded me of… Caroline.
"You… No." No, no, that couldn't be true. This, this criminal couldn't have been my other secretary, I couldn't have hired a…
We had finally gotten to the steps outside the courthouse. I couldn't keep up with the pace they were making down the stairs unless I wanted my knees to fold right from under me.
"Wait," I cried. One last attempt to get an answer.
"Bye, Ms. Albright," she flashed me another wicked grin from the bottom of the stairs before being placed inside of the black armored van that read "Arkham Asylum" on the side.
How could I… I let Alice… I felt so ashamed. I just let Alice, that poor lost woman, get captured by a known killer. And I told Caroline, Evangelina, I told her about what happened to me, and she… she knows him.
(Update Jan. 4, 2018) Looking back on my old fanfictions, I realize how much I really missed writing. I hope to have these revised and edited before posting any new chapters, just to get a hang of the style I had been using. If a chapter has a proper title, I have edited it.