Penultimate chapter….
So I'm feeling really rubbish and poorly so I think you should all be nice to me and review this chapter with lots of love….
Xx

Cue the clichés.

"Ms Marcus," Judge Fyres repeated sternly. "Would you like to call any other witnesses?"

Melanie opened her mouth to speak just as a loud bang from the back of the room made her jump. She opened her eyes and turned around to see a tall brunet, dressed in jeans and a wife beater vest. He had a leather jacket and dark glasses and a smirk splayed right across his face.

"I do hope we didn't miss the party," Brian said, arrogantly striding forward a few steps. The courtroom exploded into muttered conversations, none more than the four friends sat in the front row.

"Oh my god," Justin almost cried. "He's back!" And Ted, Emmett and Deb just looked at each other in amazement.

"What the fuck does he think he'd going to achieve coming here?" Debbie asked angrily. "He's better off in Madagascar."

But Ted just leant over and whispered in Justin's ear, "I told you he'd come back."

Brian just revelled in the disruption he was causing, his eyes scouring the room quickly until he picked out his friends. He gave them a little wave and a smile like this was actually funny, like he hadn't abandoned them for over a week. Justin was a mix of emotions. He couldn't work out whether he hated or loved Brian more.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise from the front of the room meant everyone's attention was back with the Judge.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked angrily.

"Permit me to introduce myself," Brian started politely but the judge just cut him off sharply.

"I know who you are Mr Kinney. And I will not have my courtroom turned into a farce. Guards," she turned to the two men at the door, "please arrest Mr Kinney with contempt of court."

"Woah, woah, woah," Brian said, dodging the guards in a weird dance. "First," he smiled smugly. "I have a little gift for Ms Marcus." He took a few steps backwards so that he was out in the corridor but still in full view of everyone in the room. He appeared to be talking to someone just out of view.

"Well come on," he was saying. "It's rude to keep an audience waiting."

Debbie gasped suddenly. Emmett looked around and said, "he hasn't?"

But he had, because right then, a mop of longish greasy hair appeared around the door followed by a long skinny body. Hunter. Brian had fucking found him and brought him here.

Melanie just stared at the scruffy looking kid and turned to Justin. "Is that him?" she asked. Justin just nodded.

She beamed and turned back to the judge. "I have another witness," she announced proudly. "I'd like to call James Montgomery to the stand."

Brian watched as Hunter looked around nervously. He was hunched over and looked like a terrified mouse.

"Hey," Brian said under his breath so that only Hunter could hear. "You'll be okay," he promised. "No one will let anything happen to you. Get up there."

Hunter nodded slowly and began to take a few tentative steps towards the front of the room. As the kid reached the stand, Brian heard someone coughing somewhat embarrassedly in his ear. He turned to see one of the courtroom guards. He frowned for a second, not really sure what the man wanted and then he remembered.

"Oh, right," he sighed and held out his arms straight in front of him and the guard slapped on the handcuffs. "Kinky," Brian muttered and the guard blushed furiously. Shit, Brian smirked. The guy had a fucking crush on him. Well, he hadn't been expecting that but he supposed that what people say about everyone loving a badboy was true. He just hoped the case still went for Justin. He tried to pick him out of the crowd but he'd been somewhat obscured by Debbie's hair and now he was being pushed into a seat at the back with a guard either side of him. It would have been hot if he hadn't just risked fucking everything to give this kid a chance to say his bit.

"Don't fuck it up, Hunter," he muttered under his breath. And the kid clearly got the message because he was perfect. He told everyone in the courtroom exactly what happened. He'd even brought a picture of Rikert in the hustler bar that had been on the corkboard behind the bar. He explained how he'd followed Kemp and Rikert out of the bar. He told them how he waited outside the house all night until he saw Rikert taking a suitcase from the house late at night.

"This suitcase?" Melanie asked, glad she finally got to use her piece of most incriminating evidence. She pointed to a brown suitcase with blue straps that Horvath suddenly revealed from under a sheet by his side. Debbie knew she'd seen it somewhere before and then she remembered. It was in the attic. She remembered it because it had seemed out of place. Rikert and Stockwell must have been hiding it there along with everything else they hadn't wanted anyone to find. They certainly looked shocked to see it now.

"Yeah," Hunter nodded, looking stunned at revealing of the suitcase. "That's the one."

Melanie then opened the suitcase to reveal dark red stain inside to everyone in the room. "This blood," she said calmly, "was an exact match of that done in the original autopsy of Jason Kemp immediately after he was found in the dumpster."

Someone from the defending bench swore loudly but everyone ignored it, they were just staring at Melanie who was finally smiling. Hunter had seen it all and not only that, he'd described the suitcase before it had been shown to anyone in the room. His story was solid, everything added up. Finally, she felt like she might actually win this case.

"Good work Hunter," she patted his hand reassuringly and declared she'd finished questioning. Dawes got up and walked towards Hunter. He looked a little disheveled now, not quite as confident as he had before, not quite as sure of winning. The smirk that had been permanently warping his face before had completely disappeared. In fact, he looked like he wasn't even sure how he was going to begin to deal with this witness.

He tugged nervously on his tie and gulped a little before taking a long drink of water.

"James Montgomery," he started nervously, "you say you worked as a hustler and this was where you met Jason Kemp?"

"That's right."

"Tell me, Mr Montgomery, why should this jury believe your word over that of a respectable cop?"

"Er, maybe because I'm telling the truth," Hunter scorned, rolling his eyes and acting altogether like a teenager.

"Mr Montgomery," the judge warned, "will you please answer the questions sensibly."

"Sorry miss," the kid apologized and looked back to Dawes. "They should believe me 'cause it's the truth."

"Are you're sure you weren't mistaken, perhaps followed the wrong person back to the wrong house?"

"54 Elm Street, Pittsburgh" he rattled off Rikert's address immediately and then seeing the stunned faces of everyone in the courtroom he explained, "you don't stand outside a house all night waiting for your buddy and not learn the address."

Dawes look stunned. He simply had nowhere to go. The kid had already explained to Ms Marcus that he'd had no links to Kinney until the man had picked him up to bring him here. He picked Rikert out immediately as being the man he'd seen leave with Kemp that night. He'd followed them back to an address he'd been able to recite and he'd seen Rikert leave with a suitcase that had been discovered with Kemp's blood in it. He was lost. There was no possible way round this but they'd come too far for his client to plead guilty. So he just stared at the boy, who looked back seeming, if anything, quite bored of the situation.

"Mr Dawes," Judge Fyres voice rang authoritatively through the courtroom, "do you have any further questions?"

Oh well, he thought. This was his last shot at helping Rikert out.

"You made a statement about a week ago Mr Montgomery, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"But you decided to retract it. Why would you do that? Is it perhaps because it's lies? Perhaps this group of people," he pointed to where Emmett, Justin and the rest were sat, "tried to blackmail you or force you into lying in front of a courtroom? Perhaps you said you'd do it because you've had a bad time with the cops before?"

"No," Hunter began but Dawes wasn't finished on his rampage of fabrication.

"You tried to run away but Mr Kinney," Dawes looked to the back of the room where Brian was still in cuffs pinned between two guards, one of whom kept feeling up his thigh. "Mr Kinney stopped you and threatened you making you come back today and testify. Is that right?"

"Objection Your Honour," Melanie said, for what felt like the millionth time today. "Leading the witness. Mr Dawes is putting words in James's mouth."

"Objection sustained," Judge Fyres agreed. "Mr Dawes, do you have a question for James?"

"My question," Dawes said, pulling at his shirt collar because he had a horrible feeling that whatever answer this kid gave to this question would not be the one he needed, "is; why did you originally decide not testify?"

"Because I saw what you did to Jason," Hunter's eyes prickled with anger and tears. "I didn't want to end up the next body in a dumpster."

Dawes seemed to actually shrink right before their eyes. Justin thought he looked like someone had taken the air out of him but he wasn't really paying attention, he was just craning his neck trying to spot Brian. Unfortunately, a tall man with greyish hair had managed to sit himself right in the way and Justin felt like he was undergoing a slow form of torture. Knowing Brian was so close and not being able to touch him or even see him was worse than any punishment he'd ever received. He sighed and turned back to the front, just in time for Dawes to say dejectedly,

"no more questions Your Honour."

::

Melanie had called Rikert back up to the witness stand and was now working him over like a pro.

"I understand," she was saying, she sounded genuinely sympathetically, lulling him into a false sense of security. "You get lonely, you go out to a bar where all the pretty young boys hang out and you pay them for their services. There's nothing wrong with that, except it's illegal and most of the boys are underage but let's say, you only have sexual intercourse with the ones who are above the age of consent. Jason Kemp, he was eighteen or nineteen so you're perfectly safe. You take him back to your place and then what happened?"

"I was at Jim's that night," Rikert insisted. "I was playing Poker."

"Yeah, he was playing Poker alright," Emmett muttered. "Poke-a boy in the ass."

Justin laughed out loud earning himself a furious glare from Melanie as the judge reminded Rikert that he was under oath.

"We all know you weren't at Chief Stockwell's that night," Melanie said carefully. "Mr Montgomery saw you go into that bar pick up Jason Kemp and take him home. What happened when you got inside the house?"

"I was playing Poker at Jim's," Rikert repeated but the sweat was beginning to drip from his forehead. He looked flustered and anxious and completely guilty.

"Okay," Melanie suggested. "I'll tell you what I think happened, and you tell me if I get anything wrong." She looked at Rikert who just stared back unblinking. He was fidgeting and awkward, he couldn't look at anybody he just kept staring at inanimate objects maybe because they couldn't look into his eyes and know he was lying.

"I think you took him back to your place," Melanie said steadily, "and once you were inside he realized you were a cop. I think he was desperate for money and tried to blackmail you. Maybe he threatened to go to the police?" She noted the man's face had gone bright red in anger. His fists were clenched. "Maybe he just threatened to go to the press? How would the people of Pittsburgh feel if one of their highest ranked officers was paying to have sexual intercourse on a regular basis with underage boys? Kemp thought he'd get some money out of you so you killed him. Am I right, Mr Rikert?"

"You don't understand," the man suddenly exploded. "He was going to ruin everything I'd worked so hard for."

The whole courtroom seemed to gasp at the same time and Emmett tutted a little, "don't they get tired of doing that?" He asked.

"Emmett," Ted chuckled under his breath, "he as good as confessed."

"Wait …" Emmett paused and shot Ted a big grin. "You mean we've won?"

"We've won!"

"WOO HOO!" Emmett yelled and then everyone in the silent room was looking at him. "Sorry," he said and then under his breath he repeated "woo hoo."

::

The jury had barely left the room before they were back to deliver their verdict of 'guilty' to the world. Melanie and Horvath shook hands. Emmett and Ted hugged but Justin was set on one thing and one thing only. He pushed his way to the back of the room and that was when he was bumped into by one of the guards dragging Brian towards the front of the court to a holding cell.

"What the hell?" Justin asked, chasing the guard. "He didn't do anything."

"Sorry kid, he's under arrest. My hands are tied."

"Mine are handcuffed," Brian quipped. "How are you Sunshine?" he asked as casually as though they'd met on the street and not as thought he was being dragged back into a cell. Justin didn't have time to answer because the two guards had already taken him into a room out the back.

"Being dragged, handcuffed to the backroom by two hunky guards," Emmett commented with a smile. "Brian Kinney's one lucky bastard," he sighed.

"Emmett," Justin cried. He was almost in tears, he couldn't believe it. They'd won, they'd fucking won. But he just felt like he'd lost all over again. "This isn't a joke. He can't go back to prison now. He can't."

"He knew it was a possibility," Emmett said solemnly. "He risked that so that we could win the case. So that you, Ted and I would stay out of prison."

"So now he has to go back in?" Justin felt the first tear slide down his face. "What are they going to charge him with?"

"Probably every crime he's done since he was fourteen," the older man said, putting his arm around Justin as the younger man really began to cry. Justin tried to push back the tears but he could feel them burning his eyes and clogging his throat. Until he felt another hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Horvath.

"Don't worry kid," the cop smiled. "I'll go see what I can do" and with that he followed the guards through the door.

Justin watched the door close and could do nothing but wait anxiously staring at it for a moment or two before Melanie came over and touching him lightly on the back.

"We have to go outside now," she explained. "They need the room, come on."