There would be no more tears, no more fears. They were one, and would gather strength from each other to survive anything.

Chapter 31 Inquest

They both went to Louise Wilcox's house to pick up Alice. Louise was full of compliments about how well behaved little Alice was. She and Mary had played with Mary's dolls until bedtime and then she didn't hear a peep out of them the rest of the night.

There was a loud sound of footsteps on the stairs. Alice had heard her father's voice and came running down. "Momma! Daddy!" The Time Lord turned to see Alice running to him. He scooped her up in his arms and they both kissed her.

"There's my angel. Were you a good girl for us Alice?" "Oh yes Daddy. I'm so happy to see you and Momma. Are we going home now?" The Time Lord looked at Rose, "In a minute dearest. Why don't you go and play with Mary for a little while longer while we talk to Mrs. Wilcox. We'll call you when we're ready, ok?" "Ok daddy." The child ran to the stairway where Mary was standing.

Rose smiled at her little girl, apparently unaffected by last night, and then looked at Louise. "Thank you so much for helping us Louise." "Are you alright Rose?" Louise's concern was genuine and she gave Rose a hug.

"Quinn told me what happened. He even stayed late with us to be sure no one would bother Alice." The far away look in her eyes was very telling to Rose, and she made a note of it. "Quinn is a very protective sort of fellow isn't he?" Louise looked at Rose and blushed.

The Time Lord was totally out of the loop with this subtext and wondered what was going on, but decided to join in the conversation. "Tell Mary, I'm sorry she didn't get to stay at the dance. I'll make it up to her, I promise." "Oh no problem. She was delighted to have Alice here for a sleepover and it quite made up for it.

Please come in and have some coffee." He was about to object, as he was expected in town, but Rose stopped him. "Thank you Louise, we would love to." The conversation revolved around the kids and the house and the plans for the colony.

By the second cup he had to insist on going, making sure Rose didn't need him to stay. She smiled at him, wondering what had taken him so long. "Ok sweetie, I'll meet you for lunch about one." She continued her conversation with Louise before he had even stood up, making him feel as if he'd been dismissed. He smiled at his luck and left them to it.

Rose got the impression that Louise didn't have many visitors. She was a shy sort of person who took a while to warm up, making it seem as if she was unfriendly at first. Anyone who took the time to get her to talk, would find her a warm and intelligent woman who loved her daughter.

Rose tried to coax a little more out about her life on earth. "What made you come on this trip Louise?" She became sad as she remembered. "My husband was a brilliant architect, but he couldn't make a place for himself at home. He felt that here, he could design to his heart's content because everything needed building.

He would have loved this place and been able to show off his talent as never before. He died a few weeks after we left from a virus. Quinn was very kind to Mary and I after that. Keeping tabs on us during the voyage. He even helped us to get this place and found a job for me at school."

Rose could see there could be something between them, but they didn't see it themselves. Him, still grieving for his wife, and her, just widowed. It was just bad timing that's all. Something that could be fixed. Rose was going to see to it.

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The inquest was a week later. What was normally a matter for just the town council and the parties involved became nearly a circus. The council, Quinn, Rose and the Time Lord were on the dias to swear to the truth of their statements. There were at least 200 people crowded into the auditorium of the new courthouse.

Some were there as honest citizens who had learned of the death of one of their members and wanted to know more. Some were there because they expected to hear some scrap of gossip or sorted details on the strangers. Some were there as silent witnesses to justice.

The crowd could not be avoided because an inquest was a matter of public record by law. Rose had already gone to Quinn to make her statement, and it was entered into the official record. Next was Quinn's statement. Pete Henderson's arrest record, and a few of the witnesses to the happenings at the party had made statements as well. It all seemed cut and dried and Rose was glad it was going so smoothly. Until the widow dramatically stood up and came forward.

She was dressed in a black floor length dress and black veil. Her children also in black stood beside her. As she began to speak the crowd was completely silent.

"Is this what passes for justice on our new world? A man with a family is murdered and everyone just decides he deserved it?" President Sinclair stood to speak to her. "Madam, as the widow of the deceased you have a right to make a statement before judgement is made." He looked up at the crowd. "Indeed any of the public who have come and have relevant information has a right to speak. Please continue."

She was shaking with rage and advanced towards Rose. The Time Lord stood in her way and she stopped advancing. The woman screeched at the top of her lungs, "Who are you!? Why are you here!? Why are there no records of you at any university?"

She spoke to the crowd. "My brother is in civil service back home. He said there is no record of a Doctor John Smith in his thirties, being a university professor anywhere. Why is my husband dead in your home?"

Quinn stood up to answer her hoping to take the heat off John, "He's dead because I put a hole in him. Because he was a vicious, evil, malevolent, piece of worm ridden filth." Now it was he who spoke to the crowd. "Since his death I have heard more horror stories about your husband than I care to hear. Everyone being kept silent by the terror he imposed on his victims! Had I known half of what I've heard now, I would have pushed him out an airlock in space, despite the consequences."

She hissed at him like a snake as she spoke. "Yes, and we all know why you defend this woman don't we? Because you're in love with her. Because she reminds you of your wife and you want to bed her." Quinn lost control and strode forward to silence her.

The Time Lord stepped between them and shook his head. Quinn's eyes turned to stone and his fists were balled up at his sides. "It's not true John, I swear it." The President was about to stand and halt the proceedings but councilor Westville stopped him. He knew this was a boil that needed lancing.

The Time Lord turned to the widow to face her himself and be a buffer for Rose. She continued spitting poison "Oh, the long suffering husband. Did you walk in on them in the middle of something? It was Quinn who tore her clothes off wasn't it.

Was it really you, Dr Smith, who killed my husband?" The crowd gasped. "Was Pete going to blackmail you because he found out who you were?" Rose suddenly stood and shouted. "Enough!" She waited until the room was silent again. "Mr. President I agree with her right to make a statement, but not a lot of false accusations!"

The widow didn't stop. "Are we to take the word of a stranger no one here knows anything about, over mine?" Rose walked over to the woman and asked her husband and Quinn to sit down. Mrs. Henderson would not be silenced.

"Well, whore what do you have to say?" She looked at the woman with compassion, "You have been tortured all your married life. The eyes of the man who attacked me had experience in inflicting pain for his own amusement. You have been beaten and raped and humiliated in the most cruel and fowl ways imaginable. And when he was bored with you he went after your children.

Your son, he tried to make a copy of himself to justify the things he'd done and to watch what pain can do to a young soul. What was he doing to your little girl? You can look in her eyes and see so much pain and anger she acts out on other children to try to escape from it."

The woman was visibly trembling. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. You don't have to defend him anymore. He can't hurt you again because you know the truth."

"It's a lie!" She shouted "He never beat me."

Rose rushed her and removed her veil, leaving her face exposed and the record of the horrors she had endured for the sake of her children. Broken or fractured facial bones and nose, missing teeth, but worst of all were the scars of burns and knife wounds. She quickly covered her face with her hands.

"It's true!" A woman from the crowd stood up and came forward. "My name is Paula Stevenson. Six months before we landed I was coming home from a late shift when I passed an open closet door. I thought nothing of it until I walked past it and was struck in the head.

When I came to.." The woman struggled to get her story out. To tell it and be free. "...I was mostly naked, and he was on top of me. He had a knife and said if I screamed he would cut my throat." There were tears in her eyes, but her voice was hardened. "When he'd finished, he said if I ever told anyone he would kill my children in front of me. He left me this as proof of his word."

Chapter 32 Verdict