My Lady
The landlord came in with a strange look, one I honed in on almost immediately but eventually dismissed it. He was an older looking man, somewhat overweight with a few tuffs of greying hair mixing in with a moustache. Though his eyes were wide, stark blue and while there was something about him I ignored it. The man took the stand, I nodded for the prosecution to continue.
"You are George Maxwell correct?" Peterson began in his usual, leading, dull tone. I didn't bother in reprimanding him for it,
"I am and I own the building where Miss Tate and her boyf... I suppose ex, boyfriend used to live." He spoke softly, almost sadly. Something Alice must have noted down, there something wrong with her; something very wrong, she looked panicked. Frantically looking for paper, muttering to others and in general not acting herself. Though I supposed I didn't know exactly what was normal for her, even now.
"Tell me how long did the defendant live in your building?" Peterson was still speaking while I was distracted but even he was looking at Alice cautiously, being aware of defence counsel was something of a necessity and she was acting erratically.
"A little over three years." Poor woman, I could see her in the dock looking down. Her eyes were firmly locked towards the floor, I couldn't imagine living with anyone who could abuse a person like her boyfriend did. Cases like these were hard, but they were even harder when you knew the facts that no one else did.
"Tell me what sort of tenants were they?" the older man shrugged and my conflicted attention was brought back to the man who was half sweating in the dock. I wondered just how long it would take for him to recite his statement, it was mostly just him mentioning how many people complained about cries and yelps. Yet no one called the police until the abuser was dead.
"They were quiet, kind and generally nice people, good tenants." Wait what? I picked up the man's statement, no it clearly said throughout that he had received many complaints about his tenants.
"That's not what it says in your statement." Peterson remarked looking thrown off, Alice for her part simply grimaced.
"I was wrong, I have a lot of tenants. I get confused easily with them, there was another couple who were troublesome."
"Who were they?" Peterson demanded getting agitated at this abrupt turn of events, this was the exact point in the last trial the jury had been tampered with, he was bound to be worried.
"I can't remember." He remembered very well during the last trial and I wondered just what the hell was going on here.
"With your leave My Lady I would like to treat this witness as hostile." Peterson turned to me and it was a good time to speak up, something was going on here and I did not like it one bit.
"Granted, Mr Maxwell you must be aware that lying to a court is not only contempt but brings with it charges of perjury. You are also under oath, prosecution may continue." I instructed before laying back to see just where this was going to go,
"Why have you changed your story?" Peterson asked that question with a certain force which reflected almost everyone's feelings of confusion and loss. I had no idea what was going on and Alice looked up at me sheepishly, as if she had been expecting it or was apologising for it.
"I get confused."
"Really so you go confused during your first meeting with the police, your first interview, when your statement was taken and when you came to court the first time?" this question came with venom and the witness must have felt it.
"Yes." He spoke softly, solemnly.
"Mr Maxwell in your statement you identify Miss Tate and the now deceased Nicholas Chadworth as I quote "troublesome tenants"." Peterson stated and I was on the verge of acting, this was getting to be a problem.
"I was confused." He said again and yet he knew not one person in that court actually believed him, not me, not the Jury and not even Alice.
"I'm going to interject for a moment here." I interrupted before looking down at the witness.
"Mr Maxwell I want you to be absolute truthful with me right now, has someone influenced you to change your story?" I asked and I noticed Alice jump to her feet.
"I dare you to object Miss Brandon." I warned and she sat down, I looked back towards the witness with an air of authority. He then broke from my gaze,
"No," he sighed, well there was nothing I could do and instead turned to the jury.
"My question was not an accusation, however if must be noted this witness has deviated from his original statement. You may decide why this is and take it consideration." I told them and the jurors all nodded in confirmation, I looked at the clock. It was nearly lunch.
"We're going to adjourn for lunch, I'm sure you both need time to readjust." I glared at Alice when speaking, I had no idea what role she played in this but I wanted to find out.
Jacob
I wondered if Bella had sent me on a wild goose chase, I mean she hadn't been happy about me protecting her. But she needed it! Having a bloodsucker in a room was something I wasn't ok with. Though I knew she had a good heart, she just wanted me to have some fun and sure London was an amazing place but I was here to help Bella not for a vacation.
"Listen here buddy..." I was on my way back to the court when I heard a voice, it was in an almost empty tunnel, I think it led towards a train station or under a road as it was tiled. Though it also was an entrance to some of the upstairs public galleries. Though this one was now empty, the public was in session for the rest of the court.
"Please don't hurt me." A man whimpered and then before I could find out what was going on; I took one long inhale. The smell, it was one of the bloodsuckers.
"Remember what you and your family need right now is the right verd..." I appeared in the mouth of the tiled tunnel and the bloodsucker vanished, leaving behind a smartly dressed old man. His grey hair was parted, his beard prickled and he was covered in sweat.
"Are you ok?" I asked helping him to his feet, the bloodsucker had pushed him up against a wall. He brushed himself down, it was a good thing I was around, those things normally kill first.
"Yeah, I came out here for a smoke; I knew I shouldn't but..." Wait why wouldn't he be able to smoke? Maybe the bloodsucker's words were not just random ones of assault. Indeed now the anger had worn off, everything was falling into place.
"Who are you if you don't mind me asking?" I asked frantically and I wondered what the posh looking Brit thought of the scruffy teen who had almost been in wolf form when he leapt in to help him.
"My name's Daniel, I'm a juror."
"In the Jane Tate trial?" I asked knowing the answer, the man nodded.
"Yes, wait I've seen you in the public gallery haven't I?" Oh no, so this man was not only a juror but he had just been attacked by a bloodsucker. That could only mean my research into bloodsuckers in the city was not a wild goose chase, one was trying to get to the jury.
"Yeah, I know the Judge. Do you know who that man was?" So someone was trying to get to him, Bella was not going to like this and she was going to have to do something about it. I supposed it would have to be a new trial with a new jury but it wasn't my area of expertise.
"No, he just appeared." The man was panicked and looking around for his assailant, a man who was now long gone and someone I was tempted to hunt down and rip to pieces. I let out a deep growl before I helped escort the man back towards the court.
Bella
"Miss Hale for the last time, if you apologise for the contempt you showed this court yesterday I will let you go. If not your going back to the cells or maybe the prison for another night. So are you going to purge your contempt or not?" I asked as Rosalie stood in a mostly empty courtroom. Dock officers and court staff were around but no one else. The blond haired woman was saying nothing.
"Look I have another trial to continue in five minutes so apologise or don't. If you don't you shall be held for another night, and if not tomorrow another. This will go on until I get bored and hand you over to another Judge to be formally sentenced, so make your choice." I sighed feeling like I was trying to get a brick wall to apologise.
"Fine take her back to the cells. " I commanded after a few moments of silence.
"Wait." she actually spoke and that got my attention, enough for me to pause her removal and gesture for her to continue. Rosalie looked at me with all the hate in the world,
"I am sorry for my contempt Lady Swan, it was wrong of me to appear as a witness in such circumstances. I'm sorry." She spat out the words and I smiled, I had actually gotten the narcissistic vampire to apologise.
"Thank God for that, let her go." I instructed and then with the usual rising ceremony the court was adjourned.
Alice
This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't be. There was no way this was going to happen, why hadn't they listened to me in the first place? No they instead opted for this, I just knew Rosalie would be championing every action against the court now. This was getting worse and worse,
"Tell me Mr Maxwell, when you said there was around twenty five complaints in one month alone, directed as the defendant was that confusion speaking?" Bella was glaring at me from the bench as Peterson fired question after question; trying to break down a man who wouldn't budge. I had no idea which one had gotten to him, was it Emmet, Edward or maybe even my idiot of an ex? How could this have happened! I needed to talk to Bella quickly, I needed to make it clear I had nothing to do with whatever the others were planning.
"Now I would like you to think about this last question and not get confused, how would you describe Mr Chadworth?" The witness began making mutterings about not liking him and how he was a dodgy person, without using the word abuser. Him changing his story meant he wouldn't be seen as a prosecution witness again, it was clear the others were trying to provoke a mistrial. Make sure we couldn't go on and with the two medical experts somehow both "dead" of illness then next trial would fall apart. It was not the way to do things, Jane would have to live with this for the rest of her life and a technicality wouldn't be enough.
"And how would you describe Miss Tate?" The next question made me realise just how little I knew about her, I didn't even know if she was innocent. Though I wanted to stand up for her, someone needed to after what Edward did to the poor girl. It just needed to be done legally, not backhand tactics and intimidation. Not when we didn't know exactly what happened, Edward was still refusing to talk about it.
"I would describe her as a gentle and harmless..." The witness never got to finish because a loud cry of the word no filled the courtroom. An elderly juror was on his feet.
"I'm not going to sit through this when I know better," he announced, what? What was going on now? A juror was getting involved.
"Sir please sit down you are not at..." Bella took too long to respond and the man ignored her, instead he addressed the witness.
"Sir, I fear you and I are in the same boat." Bella then stopped and waited for him to continue, the witness said nothing.
"What exactly is going on here?" Bella, with a regal look with her robes and wig, turned to the man who looked up and met her confused stare.
"Judge," the juror spoke politely and with a slight stammer "I was threatened outside of this court by a friend of the defendant." Oh God no, not again. Bella looked at him and then to me with shock horror, I buried my face in my hands. They hadn't done it again, they just couldn't have!
"And me," another juror, a younger woman, rose to her feet "A man came to my house a few days ago." I watched helplessly as six other jurors rose to their feet. All of whom slowly announced the fact they had been manipulated.
"Hand me the sketch drawing of the man who the original juror complained about, in the last trial." The court was suddenly in a daze as papers changed hands and Bella Swan looked down at me with a furious gaze. She then held up a picture of Jasper Cullen. I had hoped Bella would ignore that, she hadn't seen it yet; why would she? It was irrelevant and buried in the case file. It had taken five minutes for the usher to find that sketch, yet now it was being shown to the court.
"How many of you recognise this man?" Bella demanded looking at me. Slowly, each and every single member of the jury raised their hand.
