Title: Blue-eyed Angel, 4/?
Author: Goddess Evie
Date: December 30, 2011
Category: JJHR, Angst
Summary: The lawyer shows up and has a legal discussion with Benton and Hadji while Race checks the news to see how the story is being told.
Disclaimer: I do not own JQ. I make no money off this story. I am only using the characters for my own unique story. I also do not own "Are you Ready?" by Creed but I do absolutely love the song. I merely use it to enhance my humble writing and pay a little homage to such talented musicians.
Author's Notes: Well, the lawyer finally shows up. I'm starting to regret the name I chose for him, but oh well, too late now. Other than that, don't have much to say except to remind that I'm doing my best to realistically show the legal process for something like this without making it boring so I am doing my research but I don't promise that everything I report via this fic is correct, and plus in order for the story to go the direction I need it to, I do exercise the right to take poetic liberties to achieve the end I have in mind.
Anyways, read, enjoy and review!
Chapter 4: Hey Mr. Hero, walking a thin fine line under the microscope of life.
Liam Fitzmichael arrived exactly when he said he would. He entered the room where Benton, Hadji and Jonny sat together with a solemn dignity that made a good first impression on Benton and Hadji, though they would reserve their full judgment until they saw the results of his efforts. Jonny made no reaction that he'd even noticed Mr. Fitzmichael had arrived.
After brief introductions, Mr. Fitzmichael got right to work.
"Tell me everything that happened."
Benton related what he knew, which he admitted wasn't much. "My associate Race can give you more information," Benton assured.
"We'll call him later. Tell me about Jonny. How old is he?"
Benton answered every question Mr. Fitzmichael asked about his son. During this time Hadji continued to whisper to Jonny, though Benton didn't doubt his elder son was taking in everything Benton and Mr. Fitzmichael discussed. Benton questioned some of the details Mr. Fitzmichael asked about, but he gave the lawyer the benefit of the doubt and answered everything truthfully.
Finally Mr. Fitzmichael sat back with a long measuring look at Jonny, who hadn't moved an inch. Benton could tell the man was in deep thought and waited patiently for him to come to some kind of conclusion.
"Although this case looks pretty cut and dry, there's possibilities for some pitfalls. I still don't feel like I have a good grasp on the events that led to Mr. Ellis' death."
Jonny jerked at those words but otherwise didn't move. Hadji glanced at Mr. Fitzmichael, who looked appropriately apologetic.
"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."
Hadji nodded and turned back to his brother.
"If there's anything else I can do to help expedite the process, please let me know."
"I really need to hear the story from Jonny and Jessie."
"I don't know how quickly that can happen. My son is not well. He hasn't spoken a word to anyone."
"And Jessie?"
"She's…fragile. She hasn't been able to bring herself to talk about what happened."
"But she is speaking?"
"Yes."
"You need to understand, Dr. Quest, that both myself and the prosecuting attorney are going to need to take testimony from these two. It's imperative we get them talking."
"We understand that, but this is not something we will be able to force out of them."
It was the first time Hadji entered the conversation, though he'd certainly been listening the whole time, and though Mr. Fitzmichael looked surprised, Benton showed with the look he aimed at the attorney that he stood behind Hadji's statement.
"Get them into therapy right away, Dr. Quest. I can have my office compile a list of the best."
"Please have it sent to my associate Race."
Benton provided Mr. Fitzmichael with the contact information, and Mr. Fitzmichael forwarded it to whatever assistant at his office with instructions via his phone.
"Let's focus on the bail hearing tomorrow. I can assure you whoever is assigned to prosecute will try to have bail privileges revoked since this is a murder case. However, due to Jonny's being a minor with no prior criminal record as well as the Quest family as a whole having a positive reputation in the community and taking into account that we'll be going with the self-defense plea, plus his obvious mental distress, we should be able to get the judge to agree to set bail, though he'll most likely set it pretty high to deter it being posted. If the judge does agree to bail, there'll very likely be some stipulations. Definitely a recommendation to get him help before the trial begins and possibly house arrest."
"I won't stand for it. Jonny has done nothing wrong. In fact, he saved Jessie's life."
"I understand that as I know you do, but we're dealing with murder here, which no one will take lightly. If we're going to go for the self-defense plea, we're going to have to prove that a crime was actually being committed that required Jonny to respond in the way he did. Self-defense law is very tight and if we can't prove that Jonny was acting to protect himself and Jessie, and that killing Zach Ellis was the only way to save them both, then we could be looking at manslaughter as the best case scenario and murder as the worst."
Benton and Hadji both watched Jonny after Mr. Fitzmichael's mentioning of Zach's death. Jonny's eyes had closed and his body became very tense so that he started to shake. Hadji soothed his brother and Benton turned on Mr. Fitzmichael with a danger in his periwinkle eyes.
"I apologize for mentioning the incident, Dr. Quest, I did not mean to further upset Jonny. But we can't keep skirting around what is the central and defining issue in this case. If a crime was being committed, then it strengthens our case, but if we can't prove that, then your son's actions are indefensible."
Hadji spoke again, displaying his talent for remaining calm and defraying heated situations. "What if what happened was accidental? Jonny never intended for events to play out as they did? The end result was pure happenstance and not anyone's intention in the least?"
"That is an interesting question and one we will definitely need to pursue. However, again, only Jessie and Jonny can tell what happened in that room, so until they are able to articulate the events that occurred today, I'll be investigating other avenues of defense and you need to get them professional help."
Benton rested his head in his hands and nodded. "Isn't the simple fact that Jonny and Jessie are so traumatized proof that they were victimized in some way?"
"Yes and no. You can be sure the prosecuting attorney will try to spin it to make them look bad. And even if we can logically show that Jonny and Jessie's outward signs of trauma were the result of some crime committed against one or both of them, we still have to convince the jury that the crime being committed was serious enough to warrant the actions your son allegedly took."
Mr. Fitzmichael patiently waited for Benton to wrap his mind around the information he'd received. He was a little shocked to see how quickly Benton processed the facts that had been covered and accepted the answers the lawyer had given. Then again, Dr. Benton Quest was world-famous with good reason.
"So, what do we do now, Mr. Fitzmichael?"
"We take this one step at a time, Dr. Quest. And the first step is getting through tomorrow's bail hearing. Now I know house arrest is not the best option, but it's better than Jonny being forced to remain in jail during the duration of his trial."
"That'll never do," Benton agreed softly. He watched his sons as he listened to Mr. Fitzmichael.
"We can use Jonny's obvious trauma and mental distress to argue for the need for him to be somewhere safe and where he'll have access to professional help. As I said before, your reputation in the town will be helpful, as there will be no reasonable doubt that you'd let Jonny skip a court date or try to take him out of the reach of the law."
"We want to cooperate fully. I'm not trying to get my son 'off the hook', I'm just trying to prove he did nothing wrong."
"And I will do my damnedest to prove that, Dr. Quest. This I promise."
"I did receive the email," Race assured Benton over the phone, "and I looked over the list and researched each one. I've already made appointments for Jonny and Jessie to see Dr. Goodwyn in a couple of days."
"Mr. Fitzmichael also asked that you and Jessie go to see him as soon as possible, though he is willing to wait until after Jessie has been to see a mental health professional."
"I'll call and make an appointment for the day after their visit with Dr. Goodwyn, then. Jessie could use a couple of days to get some distance from the event."
"Is being home helping her?"
"The events of what happened are still too fresh for anything to really be of any help," Race answered. "Mostly she wanders around. She'll pop in wherever I happen to be for a moment or two, but then she's gone again."
"We've got a long road ahead of us, old friend," Benton said softly.
"I know it, Benton. We'll get through it, though. We always do."
They ended the phone call. When Race looked up, Jessie stood in the doorway leaning against the frame.
"Was that Dr. Quest?"
"It was."
"How's…everything going down there."
"Benton and the boys just finished meeting with the lawyer."
Jessie nodded and studied her hands.
"Jonny still hasn't said anything, but he's with Hadji and his father."
"That's good. He needs Hadji."
"I, uh, I'm gonna check to see what's going around on the news, right now."
Race meant the statement as a warning. The last thing Jessie need was to be faced with everything that happened that day. Jessie looked around the rec room. Was it just last night that she'd fallen asleep on this very couch with Jonny and Hadji after staying up too late watching movies? It seemed like a lifetime ago that Race and Benton had found them passed out sprawled all over each other.
Jessie disappeared from the door way and Race waited until he could no longer hear her footsteps before addressing IRIS.
"Please compile all news footage from the last twenty four hours mentioning Jonathon Quest, Jessica Bannon, Race Bannon or Dr. Benton Quest."
IRIS chirped that she was working and a few moments later the TV sprang to life with the first of the news stories. Footage of Jonny handcuffed and being pushed into the back of a police cruiser played in the background while the news anchor told of an incident involving Jonathon Quest, son of Dr. Benton Quest and family friend Jessica Bannon. The reporter mentioned the few details that anyone had been able to deduce as well as the death of Zachary Ellis.
The story didn't have a bad spin, per se, but the news channel wasn't making any effort to try to show the family in a positive light. IRIS ended the footage and began to run the next clip. For thirty minutes Race watched reports and breaking news shorts about the incidents at Zach's house. He saw footage of Jonny pushed into the squad car from multiple angles; some of the news outlets had footage of Jessie sitting with a blanket in the back of an ambulance, though all of those clips lasted no longer than a few seconds. Many stories showed shots of the house from further back with the police cars and ambulances, yellow tape and officers working the crime scene. There was even footage of Zach's body being rolled out of the house on a stretcher with a sheet covering him. Benton's very forceful "No comment" from in front of the police station made quite a few news channels' stories.
Once IRIS exhausted the last of the footage, Race leaned back with his hands clasped behind his head and digested the various news reports he'd just watched. Most of them had only reported on Jonny's arrest and Zach's death. None of them had mentioned rape or abduction and all of the reporters had very little to say about Jessie's involvement. Like the first story he'd watched, the majority of the reports had been neutral, seldom had commented on the Quest family's contributions to the community or Benton's philanthropic nature, and one or two had spun what happened to be Jonny's fault, though in an indirect way.
Race sat up when he heard a sound from out in the hall; a sound he recognized instantly. Race's mouth tightened into a frown as he crossed the room and looked out into the hall. Jessie sat in a tight ball against the wall next to the entrance to the rec room. She sobbed uncontrollably into her knees. Had she sat and listened to all the news reports or had she just come back to see her father too early?
Race crouched down. "Jessie? What are you doing?"
"It's not fair. They don't know what happened."
"Nobody really does at this point," Race reminded gently.
"I do," Jessie looked at her father with hard eyes. "I know it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to-"
She couldn't say it. She let her head fall against the wall and looked at the ceiling as tears streaked down her cheeks.
"You shouldn't have been listening," Race told her.
"I just wanted to know what they were saying about him. He doesn't deserve any of it. They weren't there."
"I know, Ponchita. Neither of you deserved any of this."
Jessie wiped at her tears and took a deep breath, but she didn't unwrap herself from the ball she had her limbs pulled into.
"Are you sure you're not hungry? I know you haven't eaten all day."
"I can't eat."
"How about we go to bed then? Put this day behind us?"
Jessie finally stood, using the wall for support and Race rose with her and stepped back.
"You promise Jonny can come home tomorrow?"
"As long as the bail hearing goes well tomorrow. I won't lie to you Jessie. It's possible with the murder charge that we won't get bail at all, but the attorney Dr. Quest called is hopeful. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Jessie shook her head as she walked away from Race. "He shouldn't even be in jail."
Race didn't respond to the jab from his daughter as she jogged up the stairs to her room. He already knew he could say nothing to temper her anger. He could only hope that Jonny did indeed come home tomorrow and that having him back would lessen his daughter's ire.
Race lingered in the hall only long enough to set IRIS security system's to the highest possible levels-he knew the danger was gone, but he would sleep better that night-before he headed to bed himself.