Author's Note: We're nearing the end of our tale, folks! However, plenty more excitement will ensue, so stay tuned…I plan to keep each and every one of you on the edge of your seats until the very last word. ;] Thank you so very much for the wonderful reviews! I hate to sound cheesy but your kind words really mean a lot to me. Enjoy!
"This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Everyone turned their attention to the flustered little witch at the entrance. She was bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. It was obvious she had been running.
"Please…just hold on…" she rasped, waving the sack of green stuff in the air. "I can prove it wasn't Lock! Just please tell me there's still time."
"Too late, half-pint, it's over," Anastasia snickered from the far corner.
"How 'bout you just shut up for once, Shark Bait."
Anastasia's eyes widened to the size of tennis balls, and within them danced a flame of hostility. Her scaly lips emitted a vicious snarl.
"I'm not scared," Shock stated defiantly. "You know why? 'Cause I've got your dice in a vice, sister."
"You dirty little street rat!" Anastasia rose from her seat and advanced threateningly towards Shock, only to be successfully restrained by both Stephen Wolfe and Mr. Hyde.
Up on the stage, Jack stood grasping the edges of his podium, skull cocked to one side in confusion. He glanced over at the Mayor, who was observing the spectacle before him looking equally bemused. What beef could Shock and Anastasia possibly have with each other? Jack didn't know that they had ever even spoken. Maybe Shock stole the tip jar from Scarebucks one day so Anastasia spit in her drink…?
Jack's silent train of thought was interrupted by several loud thwacks of the Mayor's gavel. "Order, order!" the cone-shaped official called once again into the hall.
Once everybody had returned their attention back to the council, he bellowed, "I ask once again that all beings not requested to testify remain silent until the court is dismissed. Now, before we do anything hasty, Miss Dionowitch, would you care to explain your objection?"
"Yes, yes I would," replied Shock as she scurried through the center isle and hopped up onto the stage. She took a moment to compose herself before turning around to face the crowd. Taking a deep breath, she firmly declared, "I call Anastasia Finn to the stand!"
"What?" the sea demon cried incredulously.
"You heard me!"
"Nice try, but the trial's already over and the guilty party affirmed. You're too late."
Shock merely smirked. "You got about ten seconds to get your scaly ass up here."
"Is she allowed to speak to me that way?" Anastasia demanded.
Sucking in his cheeks, the Mayor beckoned her with his fingers. "Miss Finn, please come forward."
Suddenly looking extremely self-conscious, the Undersea Gal reluctantly stood up and headed towards the front of the room. The townsfolk stared at her as she walked but she paid them no attention; the entire time her piercing yellow eyes were fixed firmly on Shock, swirling with spite and resentment.
"Please have a seat," instructed the Mayor. He motioned to the small wooden stool at the foot of his podium.
Albeit grudgingly, Anastasia did as she was told.
The Mayor cued Jack, and the Pumpkin King straightened up, clearing his throat. "Miss Dionowitch," he spoke nervously, "Would you mind starting out with what brought you here today? I mean…to the board of prosecution?"
Shock nodded eagerly, and then held up the baggy so it was in plain view of the jury. "Inside this bag," she began, "is forty dollars worth of bud."
Jack mentally rolled his eyes, though he resisted interrupting the young witch. He just hoped that she wasn't only here to brag about her latest score.
"However," Shock continued, "the other day Lock and I discovered that it not only contains your most common strain of marijuana, but also a small amount of micro-ground Deadly Nightshade."
A wind of gasps swept through the crowd. The citizens murmured anxiously amongst themselves while Shock grinned self-righteously, turning the baggy over in her palm.
Suddenly Moe, the youngest of the Hanging Tree's hanging men called out, "Wait! What does that have to do with this trial?"
"Don't you see?" Shock insisted. "This is the same Deadly Nightshade that was used to taint Dr. Finklestein's glass of wine!"
Moe covered his face sheepishly. "I knew that…" he whimpered. The Hanging Tree reached up and patted his shoulder.
"Anyways, I think it's important to point out that I didn't purchase this forty-sack from my usual dealer," said Shock.
"And who is your usual dealer?" asked Jack suspiciously.
"Billy. But that's beside the point."
"Gee, thanks a lot!" shouted Billy from the second row.
Shock ignored him. "As I was saying, I actually purchased this weed from the grower herself…who happens to be none other than Anastasia Finn."
Gasps erupted once again from the audience and everyone stared at Anastasia in disbelief. Jack too was flabbergasted, and his jaw fell open so quickly it almost came unhinged. Anastasia was a weed grower? Anastasia Finn? The competent Scarebucks barista? The wannabe enchantress, the bane of Jack's undead existence?
"You have no proof!" Anastasia shouted back defensively. "Besides, even if I did give you that weed – and I'm not saying that I did – how does that make me the murderer? There are a lot of places that grow Deadly Nightshade in this town."
Shock's smug expression remained. "I thought someone might inquire that," she replied. "So I brought this." She reached into her coat pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper. She opened it up, carefully smoothing the creases, and sauntered over to Jack's podium where the skeleton was watching her uneasily. She laid it out before him and pointed to the first names on what appeared to be a list.
Jack peered down at the sheet of paper and scrutinized the text beneath her tiny finger. Helgamine and Zeldaborne, it read. He glanced over his shoulder at the two witch sisters standing behind him, then down at the paper, and then finally back at Shock. She was smiling up at him confidently.
"I'll just give you a minute to put it together," she said.
Jack's brow furrowed. Although he realized that Helgamine and Zeldaborne were the two prime witnesses of the crime, not to mention they had nearly been shot by Shock herself just a couple of days ago, he didn't understand what this piece of paper had to do with any of that.
"I'm sorry," he replied awkwardly after several moments. "You'll have to elaborate a little further."
Shock snatched the list off of Jack's desk and returned to center-stage, holding it up in front of the audience. "This piece of paper," she explained, "is a list of names that Anastasia gave to me the same day I bought the weed from her. And if you look carefully you'll notice that it contains the name of every female resident in Halloween Town, excluding her own."
Anastasia's face turned stark white. Her blazing eyes narrowed, and she glared at Shock menacingly. "How dare you…" she snarled.
"Ha!" Shock shouted triumphantly. "So you admit it?"
The Undersea Gal crossed her arms over her chest protectively. "I admit to nothing. I just can't believe I trusted you."
"I'm one of Boogie's Boys – er, girl. You should have known better than to put all of your eggs in my basket."
"What?"
Shock took a moment and laid a finger to her lips. "No, I'm sticking with that; that makes sense!"
Skull throbbing in both frustration and perplexity, Jack slammed his fist down on his desk and demanded, "Will you please just get to the punch line already, Shock? All anybody wants to know is how you figure all of this evidence points to Anastasia. Not to say that it isn't obvious that she's done something wrong, but please; once and for all, just tell us: why, out of all of the monsters in this town, do you accuse Anastasia of murdering Dr. Finklestein?"
The sly grin returned to Shock's face and she chuckled darkly, the shadow of her witch's hat obscuring her eyes. "First I should probably let you know that she tried to recruit me as her undercover hit-man. She said it was my job to rid the town of all females so she could finally get next to Jack and become queen of Halloween."
Again, the crowd gasped.
"Is that why you almost shot us with a crossbow?" asked Zeldaborne.
"Indeed," Shock said simply.
Jack contemplated her puzzling claims for a moment. A rather large part of him wanted to believe the young witch, mostly because that would let Sally off the hook for sure, but something still wasn't adding up. "So why would Anastasia murder Dr. Finklestein?" he finally asked. "He's not a female."
Shock spun around and stared the culprit straight in the eye. "I think it's safe to assume that Anastasia put the Deadly Nightshade in the Doctor's drink at the party in order to prevent him from creating any more females."
Anastasia jumped to her feet, bursting at the seams with rage. "You idiot, the drink was supposed to be for her!" She was pointing at an alarmed-looking ghoul in the front row with a patchwork dress and stitches covering her body. It was Sally.
Jack's jaw fell open once again in utter disbelief. Anastasia meant to kill Sally at the party! But Sally must have left her drink with Dr. Finklestein before she could take a sip…Jack then noticed that his dumbfounded expression was paralleled by nearly everyone in the audience, least of all his ex-lover.
After several agonizing moments of silence, the Mayor finally coughed and murmured, "I guess…I'll take that as a confession. Anastasia Finn, you have pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Dr. Finklestein, and therefore I sentence you to…" He paused and looked at Jack. "To…?"
Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, Jack continued, "…To three days in prison until the council has decided your punishment. Your final sentencing shall be declared Tuesday morning before noon. Until then…may you stew in the dungeons, you sick, twisted mollusk."
With that, Behemoth and Boris grabbed Anastasia by the arms and clamped two metal shackles over her wrists. Spitting and snarling like a rabid beast, the Undersea Gal struggled fiercely against the guards' clutches as they began dragging her across the stage towards the back door.
"You haven't seen the last of me, Shock!" she shrieked. "You will pay for what you did to me today, mark my words! You good-for-nothing chain-smoking big-nosed brat!"
"Bye-bye, now!" Shock waved impertinently as Boris and Behemoth pulled the seething killer though the back door, shutting it tightly behind them.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment. Jack and the rest of the citizens were speechless; it was Shock who brushed her hands together victoriously and then spoke, "I'm glad that's settled. Perhaps we could release the ghouls chained to the ceiling right about now?"
Lars, who stood over by the witch sisters, glanced nervously at Jack for a signal of approval. Startled out of his daze, Jack hurriedly nodded and snapped his fingers in the direction of Lock and Sally. Tentatively Lars approached the two defendants, withdrew his key and released them from their public imprisonment.
Lock's hands dropped to his sides and he massaged his wrists tenderly. "Thank God," he said with an added sigh of relief. "I was starting to lose feeling in my fingertips."
All of a sudden, the crowd burst into cheers and applause, causing Shock and the council members to jump slightly. Immediately Shock bounded over to her liberated playmate and embraced him, much to Jack's surprise.
"We did it, Lug Head!" the little witch exclaimed.
"You're damn right, we did!" Lock cried in exultance.
Somewhat hesitantly, Jack approached the two demon children and bent down to shake Shock's tiny hand. She responded pleasantly with a curt nod, as if to say 'don't mention it.'
"Really, Shock, I want to thank you," said Jack. "If it wasn't for you, well…let's just say it would have been an innocent dragged to his or her doom through that back door."
"Yeah, yeah," replied Shock bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck. "But you'd be mistaken if you think that I've crossed over to the good side just because I wanted to get back at that sea bitch for what she did. I'm still the best Goddamn prankster this town has ever seen, and I don't plan on giving up that title any time soon."
Chuckling softly, Jack stood up straight and brushed off his suit. "I didn't expect that you would."
"Just don't let your guard down, Bone Boy. I'm no Sally Finklestein." She winked at him before scampering after Lock into the exuberant crowd.
Jack's nonexistent heart skipped a beat. Sally! He glanced around the room frantically, searching for the angelic, blue-skinned face of his ex-lover…
At last he spotted her center-stage, gazing forlornly out into the sea of celebrating citizens. Her hands were folded delicately over her thigh; she looked distant, aloof, and fragile. Slowly and carefully Jack approached her, and finally he mustered up the courage to call out her name. "Sally…!"
The ragdoll turned her head in Jack's direction and she noticed him gazing at her expectantly. But she didn't smile, she didn't even blink. She just walked away.