Witness To The Truth
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold. I keep telling you I don't own Hey Arnold, why do you not believe me?
Authors Note: I thought I had better explain how the next few chapters would be set out, this chapter is mainly for the prosecution. The next chapter will be for the defence. And you have to wait until the chapter after that when the jury delivers its verdict. But it isn't over there! No, not at all, do you really think the Mafia is going to just lie there and take it? Humph, not in this lifetime. Anyway I've said too much.
Chapter Eight
Like with all high profile cases the courtroom was packed, every seat was taken and people stood in the back eagerly watching, listening and of course smoking. The room was filling with smoke until a security guard forced the smoker to put it out or leave.
Helga paced nervously in an anteroom, her new found confidence was slowly dissipating and she was starting to feel nauseous, Arnold gave her a quick peck on the cheek on the cheek and then walked into the courtroom. It was show time.
The prosecutor, Mr Pritchard was a middle-aged man with a record longer than his arm for sending guilty people to prison greeted Arnold coolly, he had always believed that to show emotions would mean to show weakness. And if his opponent saw weakness he would know where to attack.
It had already been agreed that Arnold would answer questions concerning Helga's alleged death and then Phoebe would be called to answer questions. Phoebe's mother Reba was going to push her invalid daughter into the courtroom, although she didn't like the idea of people staring at her daughter she knew that Phoebe would never have allowed her name to be used in vain.
'All rise for the honourable Judge Samuel Jenson.' The clerk called, as one the crowd of onlookers rose and an elderly man with false teeth, a hearing aid and a hairpiece stepped out and sank into his chair with obvious relief.
Mr Pritchard stood up and raised his hand for silence,
'I am sure that many in fact all of you fine people know of the tragic death of Miss Helga Pataki, the key witness for the prosecution. Instead today we are going to rely on hearsay, something that usually holds no power in court, today though we have made an exception. I call my first witness, Detective Arnold...it seems his last name is smudged, well, just come out Detective.' Arnold nodded and stood up, outwardly calm he was quaking with fear on the inside. Moving into the witness box he placed a hand on the bible an swore to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Mr Pritchard stuck his hands in his pocket and smiling said,
'Are you Detective Arnold of the New York Police Department?' Arnold nodded,
'Yes sir I am.'
'What is your age?'
'Twenty-six sir?'
'How long have you worked in the Police Department?' There was a slight pause as Arnold tried to figure it out,
'About six years sir.' Nodding Mr Pritchard straightened his shoulders and said,
'Did you know Miss Helga Pataki?'
'Yes sir I did.'
'How?'
'We went to school together since we were three years old.'
'So you would also know Miss Phoebe Heyerdahl?' Arnold nodded sadly,
'Yes sir, she was Helga's best friend.' The silence that had filled the courtroom was broken with the news of his long-term acquaintance with the "deceased".
'So if Miss Heyerdahl was worried about Helga you would have taken that worry seriously?'
'Yes sir. I would.' Mr Pritchard moved to his table and picked a copy of the New York Times up, showing it to Arnold he asked,
'Miss Heyerdahl is quoted as saying, "I hadn't heard from Helga in a week, it was very unlike Helga not to contact me." Is it at all likely that she said that?' Shaking his head Arnold said,
'No sir, not at all.' There was confused whisperings amongst the defence lawyer and his clients,
'Why not?'
'You'll have to see for yourself.' This was Reba's cue to wheel Phoebe into the courtroom.
There was a gasp from the onlookers as Reba pushed Phoebe along the aisle of the court, a guard opened the gate and Phoebe was wheeled before the judge.
'Due to an accident eight years ago Phoebe has been left brain dead, while she is in no pain and quite obviously still alive she doesn't have the ability to form coherent sentences. Whoever was quoted as being so worried about Helga was not Phoebe Heyerdahl.' Mr Pritchard nodded and after a minute of silence said,
'Do you believe the body that was identified as Helga Pataki is indeed Helga Pataki?' Shaking his head Arnold said with a slight smile,
'No sir, not at all.'
'Why is that?' Grinning Arnold said,
'Because for the past week Helga has been under police protection in a safe house guarded by me and two other officers.' Whispering was heard in the courtroom and the Judge banged his gavel to regain order.
'Thank you Detective, you may step down.' Nodding Arnold stood up and sat down next to Reba who was at the prosecution table with Phoebe.
'For my next witness I call Helga Geraldine Pataki.' There were more startled whispers and gasps as the doors at the back of the court opened and Helga wearing a stunning midnight blue suit walked down to the front of the court. She stood in the witness box, swore the oath and her questioning began.
'Are you Helga Geraldine Pataki?' With a slightly strained smile Helga nodded,
'Yes, I am.'
'Do you have any proof that you are who you say you are?'
'Apart from being me for twenty-six years? I have a valid drivers license and a press pass with my name, date of birth and a photo.' Pulling them out of her purse she passed them to Mr Pritchard who examined them then passed them to the judge. A deathly silence fell as he put on a pair of reading glasses and examined both cards; finally he handed them back to Helga.
'I can confirm that the young lady standing there is Helga Pataki.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Thank you your honour.' Smiling Mr Pritchard stood for a minute looking at the jury who were staring at Helga with a mixture of awe and fear,
'Now Miss Pataki, your statement says you were at the museum and you quite clearly saw Louie Santoni and three other men break in.' Nodding Helga said calmly,
'Yes that's true.'
'Is the man you saw in the museum here today?' Nodding Helga pointed to the defence table where Big Louie and Marcus the Weasel sat with Louie's defence lawyer.
'It was the man in the charcoal grey suit.' Big Louie cursed loudly and the judge looked startled, finally he banged his gavel and said sternly,
'You shall have a chance to talk later, but for now stay quiet or I will have you up for contempt of court.' Louie nodded and glowered at Helga who shivered and focused back on Mr Pritchard,
'Can you tell me why you were at the museum the night in question?'
'I work for the New York Times, as an investigative reporter. Recently I have been doing an ongoing report on the major crime families in America; the Santoni family has been my latest target. I got a tip off that Big Louie himself would be taking part in a museum heist, he was going to steal The Spirit of the Nile, the largest Sapphire in Europe. I got into the museum using the disguise of a security guard and secretly filmed them as they stole the jewel. I was about to make my escape when I tripped and set off the alarm, luckily I managed to escape but left my now recovered press pass behind.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Which is why you had to be under police protection.' Smiling Helga nodded,
'Yes sir.' Frowning he asked,
'I know that Detective Arnold was one of your guards but what of the other two officers that the Detective spoke of? Who were they?' Looking at her hands Helga said sadly,
'Jim Pierson and Mike Stansfield.' Looking round the courtroom Mr Pritchard asked,
'And are they here today?' Shaking her head Helga felt tears prick her eyes,
'No, they aren't. Mike Stansfield also went under the alias Steel edge Joey, he was a member of the Santoni crime family, although not a relative he had been recruited by Big Louie after his divorce which I was led to believe to have been a very messy one. He was told to kill me, possibly there is a contract still out on me, of that I am not sure, but Mike failed to kill me but succeeded in killing Captain Alice Malone and Jim Pierson in his attempt to kill me. He also tried to kill Arnold and was indirectly responsible for the death of an old friend of both mine and Arnold, a guy known only as Brainy.'
'How was that?'
'Brainy found the body of Alice Malone, she was barely alive but she managed to warn Brainy that I was in danger. Brainy was immediately able to discount Arnold from the equation but was left with Jim and Mike, he came to warn Arnold, but Arnold shot him thinking he was a Mafia cleaner. He was still alive when we brought him inside the house; he warned Arnold then died from swallowing something that would kill him, probably a cyanide pill.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'I have no further questions, you may step down.' Nodding Helga stood up and walked across the room to sit next to Arnold, squeezing her hand Arnold said,
'You're doing great, just hang in there.' Smiling she glanced at Phoebe,
'I will, don't worry.'
There was a deathly silence as the onlookers waited for Mr Pritchard to all his next witness, finally he said,
'For my next witness I call Lieutenant Erica White.' A young female officer in a pristine uniform stood up and walked up to the witness box, her brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she had a gun in a holster. Obviously the court guards had been unable to take it off her. Helga suppressed a grin; Big Louie couldn't have posed any sort of a threat for her.
'Lieutenant. It says here you were the arresting officer.' Erica nodded an affirmative,
'That's right.'
'How did his arrest come about?' Erica smiled at Helga and said,
'Miss Pataki came into the station and showed us the tape she had made of the museum burglary, it quite clearly showed Louie Santoni as the head of the heist. It was simply a matter of getting a warrant and arresting him. There was more than enough evidence to prove his guilt.'
'Did it show anybody else with him?' Erica nodded,
'Two other people, one was wearing the Clinton mask, and has now been identified as Mike Stansfield, there was also Marcus the Weasel there, although we couldn't arrest him as we didn't have enough evidence.'
'Why not?'
'It was only circumstantial evidence that it was Marcus the Weasel, Big Louie called out "Careful Weasel." Quite a few times actually but he was never caught on tape. So we couldn't arrest him.' Marcus the Weasel laughed and Louie elbowed him in the ribs,
'Bailiffs, please take Mr Weasel and hold him in the lock up until he is needed.' The judge ordered, two guards walked up and grabbed the Weasel by the arms, as they dragged him past Helga he made a leap at Helga, a flick knife in his hand. Helga barely had time to scream before Arnold jumped up and knocked the Weasel to the ground, grabbing his arm he slammed it into a table leg knocking the knife out of his hand.
'Guards get Mr Weasel out of here and charge him with them attempted murder of Miss Pataki!' The judge roared; the Weasel was dragged from the court kicking and screaming Arnold stood up and wrapped his arms around Helga.
'Your honour I call we pause for an hour so that Miss Pataki may recover from her fright.' Mr Pritchard said calmly, although a hint of sympathy was heard in his voice, the judge nodded,
'Court adjourned until after dinner.' Standing up he walked into his waiting room and the jury stood up and dispersed back to the jury room, Helga was shaking violently and sobbing, Arnold kissed her on the forehead and standing up helped her walk along to the witness waiting room.
'Are you alright now?' He asked once Helga was sat down with a cup of coffee,
'Yes, I'm fine, thank you.' She said with a strained smile, sitting down next to her he sipped at his coffee slowly and then said,
'At least the Weasel will be sent to prison as well as Louie.' Helga nodded,
'Yes, at least something good came out of my attempted murder.' Arnold raised an eyebrow and she grinned,
'Why do people always want to kill me?' Grinning Arnold said cheerfully,
'I think it's your habit of having the heads of crime families arrested.' Helga rolled her eyes,
'No really? Ya think?' Laughing he smiled as Reba pushed Phoebe into the witness waiting area.
'Phoebe was brilliant Mrs Heyerdahl, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to help us.' Reba smiled,
'Well I couldn't let her name be used like that, when I saw that article I was just so mad, I knew straight away that you couldn't be dead, I am going to sue the writer of that article for libel.' Frowning Helga looked up,
'Who wrote it?' Reba frowned angrily,
'A journalist called Angela Lloyd, well when I find her I am going to make sure she pays, a lot.' Helga's eyes widened then they narrowed,
'Somebody used my pseudonym!' She hissed angrily,
'Wait until I get hold of whoever thinks they can use my pseudonym and get away with it, I will personally shove a copy of the New York Times right up their ass!' Reba looked shocked then she smirked,
'Take a number hon, I get first kick.' A bailiff knocked on the door and with a smile said,
'Court is due to commence in a few minutes.' Nodding Arnold glanced at the three women,
'Are we ready?' Reba and Helga nodded and Reba started to push Phoebe into the court,
'Hey Mrs Heyerdahl? Can I push Pheebs?' Helga asked almost nervously, Reba smiled and nodded,
'Of course you can hon.' Smiling Helga pushed Phoebe into court, Arnold walked with Reba,
'Have the doctors said anything about her and Gerald getting better?' Reba smiled,
'There was a lot of fluid around their brains, it's a miracle that they are even alive, but the doctors did a routine brain scan on Phoebe and it seems that the fluid is not putting as much pressure on her brain, in a few months she might be able to talk. And you know how far medical science is coming along, one day they might be able to operate and fix the problem, and I'll have my baby back.' Nodding Arnold smiled,
'I hope so.'
The court was still packed when Arnold, Helga and Reba sat down with Mr Pritchard, he sighed and turned to look at Helga,
'Marcus the Weasel will be sentenced with Big Louie, so it seems Miss Pataki you have killed two birds with one stone.' Nodding Helga said grimly,
'Not yet I haven't.'
'You will, I can guarantee that.' The clerk came out of the judges waiting room and addressed the onlookers,
'All rise for the honourable Judge Samuel Jenson.' Once again the judge walked out and Arnold noticed that he seemed to have undergone a miraculous transformation, he was walking faster and seemed more alert, obviously he hadn't had a court case so exciting in years. As the judge sat down he leant forwards and said,
'You will probably be wondering what is going to happen to Mr Weasel, during the brief adjournment I discussed with both the prosecutor and the defence lawyer about what we could do and we reached a unanimous agreement. He will be tried at today's trial.' A few people cheered then shut up when the judge glared at them, leaning forwards slightly Arnold glanced over at Big Louie who was sitting on a chair seething, his face was red and he was muttering something angrily to his lawyer, who was looking more and more petrified. The prosecution lawyer stood up when the judge gestured for him to continue,
'For my next witness I call Jacob Daniels.' A middle aged man wearing a security guard uniform stood up from the back of the court and walked forwards, as he climbed into the witness box he stumbled and knocked the bible off it's stand. A look of surprise and embarrassment crossed his face and picking the bible up he brushed it off and put it back on the stand.
'Poor guy must be nervous.' Helga whispered, Arnold nodded in sympathy, he knew how awful it was to give evidence.
'Now Mr Daniels, could you give us a brief clue about what your job entails?'
'I am a security guard at ze museum.' When he spoke Arnold realised that the man was French, which was probably the reason for the man's nervousness.
'I lock ze doors and make sure ze alarm system is in working order. I also have to go round ze building every hour to make sure zat no burglars try to burgle ze building.' Nodding Mr Pritchard asked,
'Were you at the museum on the night in question?' Jacob nodded,
'Yes, I was showing ze new security guard around and showing her ze string.' Mr Pritchard frowned and then asked,
'Do you mean showing her the ropes?' Jacob nodded,
'Yes, yes, I am sorry, my English is good but my metaphors is not so good.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'Now then, on the night in question did you see the men who broke into the building?' Jacob shook his head embarrassed,
'Alas no, I was checking ze room with ze sapphire in and somebody hit me in ze back of ze head. I was knocked out cold unfortunately.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Of course, you may step down.' Jacob nodded in relief and stepped down from the witness box, Helga frowned,
'I wondered what happened to him.'
'I would like to recall Miss Pataki if I may.' Mr Pritchard asked the judge who nodded, standing up Helga once again stood in the witness box,
'I must remind you that you are still under oath.' He reminded her, Helga nodded,
'Of course.'
'Now Miss Pataki, Mr Daniels has told us that he was knocked out cold, did you happen to see any of this?' Helga nodded,
'Yes I did see some of it, I saw Mr Daniels go into the room with a flashlight, then he fell forwards, I saw the Weasel running away. I can only assume that he was the person who knocked Mr Daniels out.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'Thank you, you may step down.' Gratefully Helga stood up and once again moved to sit next to Arnold, Mr Pritchard looked at the jury who were scribbling notes down and said,
'For my final witness I call Mortimer Greys.' Frowning Arnold glanced at Helga who shrugged,
'I don't know who he is.' She whispered,
'Neither do I.' Arnold whispered back. Mr Pritchard was now facing an elderly man wearing a black suit, his general appearance screamed either a pallbearer or the un-dead, and Arnold would have bet money on him being the latter.
'Mr Grey please state your occupation for the jury please?' Mr Grey nodded,
'Of course, I am to put it bluntly a dead collector. I am told of a person who has died and it is my job to make sure they reach the correct funeral home or in some cases the police morgue.' Helga shuddered and Arnold squeezed her hand,
'I know it's creepy, but somebody has to do it.' He said reasonably,
'Who would want to?'
'Mr Grey, you were the person sent to collect the bodies of Mike Stansfield and Jim Pierson were you not?' Mortimer nodded,
'Yes I was.'
'Can you tell us the general appearance of the bodies?' Mortimer frowned and said,
'Mr Pierson had a bullet wound in his neck, from the position of his body I think he was murdered in one room then dragged into the main room, he died instantly, the bullet severed the spinal cord. Mr Stansfield had one bullet wound in his stomach and two more in his chest, I am assuming that the bullet in his stomach hadn't killed him and whoever shot him was forced to shoot him again to make sure he was dead. Not that I blame whoever did it, a nasty piece of work Mr Stansfield was, very nasty, I saw quite a few of his victims, he was creative I'll give him that, but very sick in the head.' Mr Pritchard thought for a moment before saying,
'Okay you may step down, I have no further questions. Your honour that concludes my witnesses.' The judge nodded,
'Thank you, I think that it is time we adjourned for the night. The trial will resume tomorrow at ten a.m.' Banging his gavel down he stood up and walked off, Helga stood up and stretched, suddenly she looked up and excusing herself made her way over to Mortimer Grey.
'Excuse me Mr Grey, may I ask you something?' Mortimer nodded,
'Of course.' Helga smiled sheepishly,
'This is kind of a strange question but what made you want to collect dead bodies?' He grinned,
'It is always an ice breaker.' Laughing Helga thanked him and walked back to where Arnold and Reba were watching her curiously,
'What was that about?' Reba asked,
'I had to know why he did what he did.' Arnold frowned,
'What did he say?' Helga laughed,
'Apparently it's an ice breaker.' Arnold and Reba looked surprised then they said in unison,
'Oh.'
Okay that's it for now, the next chapter will be up as soon as possible.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold. I keep telling you I don't own Hey Arnold, why do you not believe me?
Authors Note: I thought I had better explain how the next few chapters would be set out, this chapter is mainly for the prosecution. The next chapter will be for the defence. And you have to wait until the chapter after that when the jury delivers its verdict. But it isn't over there! No, not at all, do you really think the Mafia is going to just lie there and take it? Humph, not in this lifetime. Anyway I've said too much.
Chapter Eight
Like with all high profile cases the courtroom was packed, every seat was taken and people stood in the back eagerly watching, listening and of course smoking. The room was filling with smoke until a security guard forced the smoker to put it out or leave.
Helga paced nervously in an anteroom, her new found confidence was slowly dissipating and she was starting to feel nauseous, Arnold gave her a quick peck on the cheek on the cheek and then walked into the courtroom. It was show time.
The prosecutor, Mr Pritchard was a middle-aged man with a record longer than his arm for sending guilty people to prison greeted Arnold coolly, he had always believed that to show emotions would mean to show weakness. And if his opponent saw weakness he would know where to attack.
It had already been agreed that Arnold would answer questions concerning Helga's alleged death and then Phoebe would be called to answer questions. Phoebe's mother Reba was going to push her invalid daughter into the courtroom, although she didn't like the idea of people staring at her daughter she knew that Phoebe would never have allowed her name to be used in vain.
'All rise for the honourable Judge Samuel Jenson.' The clerk called, as one the crowd of onlookers rose and an elderly man with false teeth, a hearing aid and a hairpiece stepped out and sank into his chair with obvious relief.
Mr Pritchard stood up and raised his hand for silence,
'I am sure that many in fact all of you fine people know of the tragic death of Miss Helga Pataki, the key witness for the prosecution. Instead today we are going to rely on hearsay, something that usually holds no power in court, today though we have made an exception. I call my first witness, Detective Arnold...it seems his last name is smudged, well, just come out Detective.' Arnold nodded and stood up, outwardly calm he was quaking with fear on the inside. Moving into the witness box he placed a hand on the bible an swore to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Mr Pritchard stuck his hands in his pocket and smiling said,
'Are you Detective Arnold of the New York Police Department?' Arnold nodded,
'Yes sir I am.'
'What is your age?'
'Twenty-six sir?'
'How long have you worked in the Police Department?' There was a slight pause as Arnold tried to figure it out,
'About six years sir.' Nodding Mr Pritchard straightened his shoulders and said,
'Did you know Miss Helga Pataki?'
'Yes sir I did.'
'How?'
'We went to school together since we were three years old.'
'So you would also know Miss Phoebe Heyerdahl?' Arnold nodded sadly,
'Yes sir, she was Helga's best friend.' The silence that had filled the courtroom was broken with the news of his long-term acquaintance with the "deceased".
'So if Miss Heyerdahl was worried about Helga you would have taken that worry seriously?'
'Yes sir. I would.' Mr Pritchard moved to his table and picked a copy of the New York Times up, showing it to Arnold he asked,
'Miss Heyerdahl is quoted as saying, "I hadn't heard from Helga in a week, it was very unlike Helga not to contact me." Is it at all likely that she said that?' Shaking his head Arnold said,
'No sir, not at all.' There was confused whisperings amongst the defence lawyer and his clients,
'Why not?'
'You'll have to see for yourself.' This was Reba's cue to wheel Phoebe into the courtroom.
There was a gasp from the onlookers as Reba pushed Phoebe along the aisle of the court, a guard opened the gate and Phoebe was wheeled before the judge.
'Due to an accident eight years ago Phoebe has been left brain dead, while she is in no pain and quite obviously still alive she doesn't have the ability to form coherent sentences. Whoever was quoted as being so worried about Helga was not Phoebe Heyerdahl.' Mr Pritchard nodded and after a minute of silence said,
'Do you believe the body that was identified as Helga Pataki is indeed Helga Pataki?' Shaking his head Arnold said with a slight smile,
'No sir, not at all.'
'Why is that?' Grinning Arnold said,
'Because for the past week Helga has been under police protection in a safe house guarded by me and two other officers.' Whispering was heard in the courtroom and the Judge banged his gavel to regain order.
'Thank you Detective, you may step down.' Nodding Arnold stood up and sat down next to Reba who was at the prosecution table with Phoebe.
'For my next witness I call Helga Geraldine Pataki.' There were more startled whispers and gasps as the doors at the back of the court opened and Helga wearing a stunning midnight blue suit walked down to the front of the court. She stood in the witness box, swore the oath and her questioning began.
'Are you Helga Geraldine Pataki?' With a slightly strained smile Helga nodded,
'Yes, I am.'
'Do you have any proof that you are who you say you are?'
'Apart from being me for twenty-six years? I have a valid drivers license and a press pass with my name, date of birth and a photo.' Pulling them out of her purse she passed them to Mr Pritchard who examined them then passed them to the judge. A deathly silence fell as he put on a pair of reading glasses and examined both cards; finally he handed them back to Helga.
'I can confirm that the young lady standing there is Helga Pataki.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Thank you your honour.' Smiling Mr Pritchard stood for a minute looking at the jury who were staring at Helga with a mixture of awe and fear,
'Now Miss Pataki, your statement says you were at the museum and you quite clearly saw Louie Santoni and three other men break in.' Nodding Helga said calmly,
'Yes that's true.'
'Is the man you saw in the museum here today?' Nodding Helga pointed to the defence table where Big Louie and Marcus the Weasel sat with Louie's defence lawyer.
'It was the man in the charcoal grey suit.' Big Louie cursed loudly and the judge looked startled, finally he banged his gavel and said sternly,
'You shall have a chance to talk later, but for now stay quiet or I will have you up for contempt of court.' Louie nodded and glowered at Helga who shivered and focused back on Mr Pritchard,
'Can you tell me why you were at the museum the night in question?'
'I work for the New York Times, as an investigative reporter. Recently I have been doing an ongoing report on the major crime families in America; the Santoni family has been my latest target. I got a tip off that Big Louie himself would be taking part in a museum heist, he was going to steal The Spirit of the Nile, the largest Sapphire in Europe. I got into the museum using the disguise of a security guard and secretly filmed them as they stole the jewel. I was about to make my escape when I tripped and set off the alarm, luckily I managed to escape but left my now recovered press pass behind.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Which is why you had to be under police protection.' Smiling Helga nodded,
'Yes sir.' Frowning he asked,
'I know that Detective Arnold was one of your guards but what of the other two officers that the Detective spoke of? Who were they?' Looking at her hands Helga said sadly,
'Jim Pierson and Mike Stansfield.' Looking round the courtroom Mr Pritchard asked,
'And are they here today?' Shaking her head Helga felt tears prick her eyes,
'No, they aren't. Mike Stansfield also went under the alias Steel edge Joey, he was a member of the Santoni crime family, although not a relative he had been recruited by Big Louie after his divorce which I was led to believe to have been a very messy one. He was told to kill me, possibly there is a contract still out on me, of that I am not sure, but Mike failed to kill me but succeeded in killing Captain Alice Malone and Jim Pierson in his attempt to kill me. He also tried to kill Arnold and was indirectly responsible for the death of an old friend of both mine and Arnold, a guy known only as Brainy.'
'How was that?'
'Brainy found the body of Alice Malone, she was barely alive but she managed to warn Brainy that I was in danger. Brainy was immediately able to discount Arnold from the equation but was left with Jim and Mike, he came to warn Arnold, but Arnold shot him thinking he was a Mafia cleaner. He was still alive when we brought him inside the house; he warned Arnold then died from swallowing something that would kill him, probably a cyanide pill.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'I have no further questions, you may step down.' Nodding Helga stood up and walked across the room to sit next to Arnold, squeezing her hand Arnold said,
'You're doing great, just hang in there.' Smiling she glanced at Phoebe,
'I will, don't worry.'
There was a deathly silence as the onlookers waited for Mr Pritchard to all his next witness, finally he said,
'For my next witness I call Lieutenant Erica White.' A young female officer in a pristine uniform stood up and walked up to the witness box, her brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she had a gun in a holster. Obviously the court guards had been unable to take it off her. Helga suppressed a grin; Big Louie couldn't have posed any sort of a threat for her.
'Lieutenant. It says here you were the arresting officer.' Erica nodded an affirmative,
'That's right.'
'How did his arrest come about?' Erica smiled at Helga and said,
'Miss Pataki came into the station and showed us the tape she had made of the museum burglary, it quite clearly showed Louie Santoni as the head of the heist. It was simply a matter of getting a warrant and arresting him. There was more than enough evidence to prove his guilt.'
'Did it show anybody else with him?' Erica nodded,
'Two other people, one was wearing the Clinton mask, and has now been identified as Mike Stansfield, there was also Marcus the Weasel there, although we couldn't arrest him as we didn't have enough evidence.'
'Why not?'
'It was only circumstantial evidence that it was Marcus the Weasel, Big Louie called out "Careful Weasel." Quite a few times actually but he was never caught on tape. So we couldn't arrest him.' Marcus the Weasel laughed and Louie elbowed him in the ribs,
'Bailiffs, please take Mr Weasel and hold him in the lock up until he is needed.' The judge ordered, two guards walked up and grabbed the Weasel by the arms, as they dragged him past Helga he made a leap at Helga, a flick knife in his hand. Helga barely had time to scream before Arnold jumped up and knocked the Weasel to the ground, grabbing his arm he slammed it into a table leg knocking the knife out of his hand.
'Guards get Mr Weasel out of here and charge him with them attempted murder of Miss Pataki!' The judge roared; the Weasel was dragged from the court kicking and screaming Arnold stood up and wrapped his arms around Helga.
'Your honour I call we pause for an hour so that Miss Pataki may recover from her fright.' Mr Pritchard said calmly, although a hint of sympathy was heard in his voice, the judge nodded,
'Court adjourned until after dinner.' Standing up he walked into his waiting room and the jury stood up and dispersed back to the jury room, Helga was shaking violently and sobbing, Arnold kissed her on the forehead and standing up helped her walk along to the witness waiting room.
'Are you alright now?' He asked once Helga was sat down with a cup of coffee,
'Yes, I'm fine, thank you.' She said with a strained smile, sitting down next to her he sipped at his coffee slowly and then said,
'At least the Weasel will be sent to prison as well as Louie.' Helga nodded,
'Yes, at least something good came out of my attempted murder.' Arnold raised an eyebrow and she grinned,
'Why do people always want to kill me?' Grinning Arnold said cheerfully,
'I think it's your habit of having the heads of crime families arrested.' Helga rolled her eyes,
'No really? Ya think?' Laughing he smiled as Reba pushed Phoebe into the witness waiting area.
'Phoebe was brilliant Mrs Heyerdahl, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to help us.' Reba smiled,
'Well I couldn't let her name be used like that, when I saw that article I was just so mad, I knew straight away that you couldn't be dead, I am going to sue the writer of that article for libel.' Frowning Helga looked up,
'Who wrote it?' Reba frowned angrily,
'A journalist called Angela Lloyd, well when I find her I am going to make sure she pays, a lot.' Helga's eyes widened then they narrowed,
'Somebody used my pseudonym!' She hissed angrily,
'Wait until I get hold of whoever thinks they can use my pseudonym and get away with it, I will personally shove a copy of the New York Times right up their ass!' Reba looked shocked then she smirked,
'Take a number hon, I get first kick.' A bailiff knocked on the door and with a smile said,
'Court is due to commence in a few minutes.' Nodding Arnold glanced at the three women,
'Are we ready?' Reba and Helga nodded and Reba started to push Phoebe into the court,
'Hey Mrs Heyerdahl? Can I push Pheebs?' Helga asked almost nervously, Reba smiled and nodded,
'Of course you can hon.' Smiling Helga pushed Phoebe into court, Arnold walked with Reba,
'Have the doctors said anything about her and Gerald getting better?' Reba smiled,
'There was a lot of fluid around their brains, it's a miracle that they are even alive, but the doctors did a routine brain scan on Phoebe and it seems that the fluid is not putting as much pressure on her brain, in a few months she might be able to talk. And you know how far medical science is coming along, one day they might be able to operate and fix the problem, and I'll have my baby back.' Nodding Arnold smiled,
'I hope so.'
The court was still packed when Arnold, Helga and Reba sat down with Mr Pritchard, he sighed and turned to look at Helga,
'Marcus the Weasel will be sentenced with Big Louie, so it seems Miss Pataki you have killed two birds with one stone.' Nodding Helga said grimly,
'Not yet I haven't.'
'You will, I can guarantee that.' The clerk came out of the judges waiting room and addressed the onlookers,
'All rise for the honourable Judge Samuel Jenson.' Once again the judge walked out and Arnold noticed that he seemed to have undergone a miraculous transformation, he was walking faster and seemed more alert, obviously he hadn't had a court case so exciting in years. As the judge sat down he leant forwards and said,
'You will probably be wondering what is going to happen to Mr Weasel, during the brief adjournment I discussed with both the prosecutor and the defence lawyer about what we could do and we reached a unanimous agreement. He will be tried at today's trial.' A few people cheered then shut up when the judge glared at them, leaning forwards slightly Arnold glanced over at Big Louie who was sitting on a chair seething, his face was red and he was muttering something angrily to his lawyer, who was looking more and more petrified. The prosecution lawyer stood up when the judge gestured for him to continue,
'For my next witness I call Jacob Daniels.' A middle aged man wearing a security guard uniform stood up from the back of the court and walked forwards, as he climbed into the witness box he stumbled and knocked the bible off it's stand. A look of surprise and embarrassment crossed his face and picking the bible up he brushed it off and put it back on the stand.
'Poor guy must be nervous.' Helga whispered, Arnold nodded in sympathy, he knew how awful it was to give evidence.
'Now Mr Daniels, could you give us a brief clue about what your job entails?'
'I am a security guard at ze museum.' When he spoke Arnold realised that the man was French, which was probably the reason for the man's nervousness.
'I lock ze doors and make sure ze alarm system is in working order. I also have to go round ze building every hour to make sure zat no burglars try to burgle ze building.' Nodding Mr Pritchard asked,
'Were you at the museum on the night in question?' Jacob nodded,
'Yes, I was showing ze new security guard around and showing her ze string.' Mr Pritchard frowned and then asked,
'Do you mean showing her the ropes?' Jacob nodded,
'Yes, yes, I am sorry, my English is good but my metaphors is not so good.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'Now then, on the night in question did you see the men who broke into the building?' Jacob shook his head embarrassed,
'Alas no, I was checking ze room with ze sapphire in and somebody hit me in ze back of ze head. I was knocked out cold unfortunately.' Mr Pritchard nodded,
'Of course, you may step down.' Jacob nodded in relief and stepped down from the witness box, Helga frowned,
'I wondered what happened to him.'
'I would like to recall Miss Pataki if I may.' Mr Pritchard asked the judge who nodded, standing up Helga once again stood in the witness box,
'I must remind you that you are still under oath.' He reminded her, Helga nodded,
'Of course.'
'Now Miss Pataki, Mr Daniels has told us that he was knocked out cold, did you happen to see any of this?' Helga nodded,
'Yes I did see some of it, I saw Mr Daniels go into the room with a flashlight, then he fell forwards, I saw the Weasel running away. I can only assume that he was the person who knocked Mr Daniels out.' Nodding Mr Pritchard said,
'Thank you, you may step down.' Gratefully Helga stood up and once again moved to sit next to Arnold, Mr Pritchard looked at the jury who were scribbling notes down and said,
'For my final witness I call Mortimer Greys.' Frowning Arnold glanced at Helga who shrugged,
'I don't know who he is.' She whispered,
'Neither do I.' Arnold whispered back. Mr Pritchard was now facing an elderly man wearing a black suit, his general appearance screamed either a pallbearer or the un-dead, and Arnold would have bet money on him being the latter.
'Mr Grey please state your occupation for the jury please?' Mr Grey nodded,
'Of course, I am to put it bluntly a dead collector. I am told of a person who has died and it is my job to make sure they reach the correct funeral home or in some cases the police morgue.' Helga shuddered and Arnold squeezed her hand,
'I know it's creepy, but somebody has to do it.' He said reasonably,
'Who would want to?'
'Mr Grey, you were the person sent to collect the bodies of Mike Stansfield and Jim Pierson were you not?' Mortimer nodded,
'Yes I was.'
'Can you tell us the general appearance of the bodies?' Mortimer frowned and said,
'Mr Pierson had a bullet wound in his neck, from the position of his body I think he was murdered in one room then dragged into the main room, he died instantly, the bullet severed the spinal cord. Mr Stansfield had one bullet wound in his stomach and two more in his chest, I am assuming that the bullet in his stomach hadn't killed him and whoever shot him was forced to shoot him again to make sure he was dead. Not that I blame whoever did it, a nasty piece of work Mr Stansfield was, very nasty, I saw quite a few of his victims, he was creative I'll give him that, but very sick in the head.' Mr Pritchard thought for a moment before saying,
'Okay you may step down, I have no further questions. Your honour that concludes my witnesses.' The judge nodded,
'Thank you, I think that it is time we adjourned for the night. The trial will resume tomorrow at ten a.m.' Banging his gavel down he stood up and walked off, Helga stood up and stretched, suddenly she looked up and excusing herself made her way over to Mortimer Grey.
'Excuse me Mr Grey, may I ask you something?' Mortimer nodded,
'Of course.' Helga smiled sheepishly,
'This is kind of a strange question but what made you want to collect dead bodies?' He grinned,
'It is always an ice breaker.' Laughing Helga thanked him and walked back to where Arnold and Reba were watching her curiously,
'What was that about?' Reba asked,
'I had to know why he did what he did.' Arnold frowned,
'What did he say?' Helga laughed,
'Apparently it's an ice breaker.' Arnold and Reba looked surprised then they said in unison,
'Oh.'
Okay that's it for now, the next chapter will be up as soon as possible.