Chapter 10
After lunch break (Jack had made sure that Kate ate a healthy meal) everybody gathered in the court room again. It was time to hear the witnesses.
"Mr. McKenzie, are you ready to question the witnesses of the prosecution?" Judge Bone asked.
"Of course. I call Mr. Jason Harris." A murmur went through the audience when they heard the name they knew from Kate's testimony. Kate sighed. Jason was the last person on earth she wanted to testify on her trial.
A handcuffed man in orange convict clothes was brought in by a police officer. Jason shot Kate a hateful gaze.
"Your name is Jason Tyler Harris and you were born on October, 11th, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan. Currently you are serving a ten years sentence in the New Mexico State jail for robbery. Is this correct?" The judge asked.
"Yes. And that's all her fault," Jason said gesturing towards Kate. "Isn't it Maggie?"
"Save that for your testimony Mr. Harris," Judge Bone warned.
"Mr. Harris would you tell the court why it is Miss Austen's fault that you are serving a sentence?" McKenzie asked.
"Of course I will. It was all her plan. She talked me into robbing a bank," Jason said.
"That's not true!" Kate exclaimed. "I just chose the bank, the robbery was his idea."
"Miss Austen, you had time to testify. Now let Mr. Harris tell this story from his point of view," Bone demanded.
"Yes. Sorry, sir," Kate answered.
"It was her idea," Jason affirmed. "She told us that robbing a bank would be totally easy. A foolproof way to make a lot of money, if you did it right. She got the plans, she got the weapons and she made the plan. She decided to play the innocent hostage while we were the bad robbers. She probably planned to play this show till the end and keep all the money for herself while letting us become arrested. This bitch is absolutely cold blooded. Don't let yourself be fooled by this beautiful face and these innocent eyes. She cares for nobody but herself. She had it all sorted out. She would distract the bank manager by playing a customer. Then she would play the heroine trying to get a gun and letting herself being caught by me. I should take her into the other room where I would slap her to leave a visible mark. I did, after we had a pretty good time making out of course. Then I should force the bank manager to give me the key to the money cage threatening to kill Maggie, Kate or whatever her name is. She told me to shoot him as soon as I got the key."
"That's not true!" Kate exclaimed shocked.
"Miss Austen," Bone warned.
"Mr. Harris, please continue," he told Jason.
"Now I know what she planned. She wanted to take her gun, shoot me and our allies and take all the money before anybody notices because no one would expect this from the heroine. The police was just there before she could take the money. "
"Thank you, Mr. Harris," McKenzie said looking pleased.
"Mr. Turner, do you have questions for Mr. Harris?"
"Of course I have," The lawyer said getting up.
"Mr. Harris, you said the bank robbery was planned by Miss Austen. Did you know that she has never been accused of robbery, theft, fraud or any other crime aiming to enrich her?" Turner asked.
"No, but she probably just didn't let herself be caught. She is clever," Jason answered.
"Apparent a lot cleverer then you, Mr. Harris. Let me read a little from your file. You are previously convicted for theft, car theft and bank fraud. Don't you think a bank robbery fits a lot more to your personal history than to Miss Austen's?" Turner asked.
"Sir could you tell Mr. Turner to ask the witness a proper question?" McKenzie said to the judge.
"Mr. Turner, please stop asking Mr. Harris rhetorical questions," Bone told the lawyer.
"Yes, sir. I don't have any more questions for Mr. Harris. But I would like to call a witness who may give us a better understanding of the events in this bank. I call Mark Hutton." The bank manager entered the court room.
"Your name is Mark Andrew Hutton, you were born on July, 25th, 1961 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and you work as a bank manager. Is this correct?" Bone asked.
"Yes, it is."
"Mr. Hutton, you are the bank manager of the bank Miss Austen, Mr. Harris and two other men robbed half a year ago. Would you please tell the court the events of this day from your point of view?" Kate's lawyer asked.
"Of course. Miss Austen came to my counter introducing herself as Maggie Ryan and asked for a credit. A few minutes later three masked men entered the room aiming guns at us. After some minutes one of the customers attacked a robber and made him lose his gun. Miss Austen took it, but said she didn't know how to use a gun. Then Mr. Harris took the gun from her. Now I know that she let him take it voluntarily.
Mr. Harris took Miss Austen into another room and they stayed there for a few minutes. When they left the room Miss Austen had a huge bruise at her cheek and Mr. Harris threatened to shoot her, if I wouldn't give him the key to the money cage. I agreed. I opened the door. Then Mr. Harris pointed his gun at me getting ready to shoot me. But Miss Austen shot him in the leg and then shot and wounded the two other robbers, too. She saved my life. Then Miss Austen pointed her gun at me and asked me for the key to a safety deposit box. I gave it to her and she took an envelope out of it and left the bank."
"Just to make sure I got that right Mr. Hutton. The vault was already open? Miss Austen could have taken all the money, but all she took was this envelope containing nothing but a toy airplane?" Kate's lawyer asked.
"I don't know what it contained, but yes, Miss Austen left the money there and only took the envelope," Hutton answered.
"Thank you Mr. Hutton," Turner said.
"Mr. McKenzie, do you have any questions at Mr. Hutton?" The judge asked.
"No, don't have any questions."
"You can take a seat in the audience area, Mr. Hutton," Bone told him.
"Who is your next witness Mr. McKenzie?" he asked.
"I call Mrs. Rachel Brennan next."
Kate closed her eyes unsuccessfully trying to prepare herself for the meeting with Tom's widow.
A woman in her late twenties entered the room and sat down in the witness stand.
"Your name is Rachel Darlene Brennan, born May, 4th, 1977 in Des Moines, Iowa. Is this correct?"
"Yes."
McKenzie went over to Rachel. "Mrs. Brennan, thank you for coming today. It must have been difficult for you. You are the widow of Tom Brennan, the man who got shot by a police man because Miss Austen tried to break a police barrier. Do you hold Miss Austen responsible for the death of your husband?"
Kate's lawyer stood up. "Sir, please. We all feel sorry for Mrs. Brennan's loss, but she neither was there when her husband died nor is she qualified to judge if Miss Austen could foresee what would happen to him."
"Sir, we are here to get a picture of Miss Austen's character. I think we should hear the people who suffered from her actions," the state attorney replied.
"I will let Mrs. Brennan testify," the judge decided.
"No." everybody looked confused at Rachel. "Mr. McKenzie asked if I think Tom's death is Miss Austen's fault and my answer is no. I don't know Miss Austen personally, but Tom talked a lot about her. He told me that Kate Austen was the best friend you could find. And he told me about Wayne Jansen and the way he had treated Kate and her mother. He told me what Kate did and that didn't change the picture I got of her. I thought about her as the friendly and caring person Tom talked about so often. And I'm proud of my husband that he kept being loyal to his old friend and tried to help her. How it ended is tragic and I miss Tom every day. But if I hold someone responsible for his death then it isn't Kate Austen." Rachel turned to Kate both having tears in their eyes. "Kate, I don't know you, but I already like you because of Tom's stories and I hope that you don't have to go to prison."
"I'm so sorry for what happened to Tom," was all Kate could say.
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault," Rachel answered.
"Mr. McKenzie do you have more questions for Mrs. Brennan?" Bone asked a stunned state attorney.
"No," he simply answered.
"Mr. Turner?" the judge asked.
"I have no questions."
"Thank you Mrs. Brennan. You can take a seat behind. Do you have more witnesses Mr. McKenzie?" Bone asked.
"Yes. I want to call Raymond Mullen."
An old man who seemed to feel a little uncomfortable in his suit entered the room.
"Your name is Raymond Clark Mullen. You were born March, 15th, 1937 in Albury, Australia and you own a farm. Is this correct?"
"Yes, sir."
McKenzie went over to Ray. "Mr. Mullen, Miss Austen worked on your farm, right?"
Ray nodded. "Yes, she worked for me, but I knew her as Annie. She worked for me for several months and we got along very well. But then I saw her mug shot at the post office one day and it said the person who reported her would get 23.000 $ cash.
I'm not proud of it, but I needed the money really badly, so I turned her in. I told her I would drive her to the station and planned on giving her to a federal marshal somewhere on the way. But she noticed him following us and escaped."
"But she only managed to escape by causing an accident in which you got hurt, isn't that right Mr. Mullen? She endangered you to enable her escape," McKenzie stated.
"She caused an accident, but she didn't mean to hurt me. When she saw I got hurt she brought me back to the street where someone would see me and call an ambulance. Because of the time she lost doing that she got caught. A part of me had hoped she would have let me down to escape, because I already regretted reporting her. I wouldn't have deserved better. But Annie – sorry, I mean Kate – is a good person. She couldn't let me down."
"But she was the cause you got hurt in the first place, don't you blame her?" McKenzie asked.
"Sir, the witness already answered the question," Turner complained.
"Mr. Turner is right. If you don't have another question please let Mr. Turner question Mr. Mullen."
Both advocates told that they didn't have further questions for Ray.
"Then let's hear the witnesses of the defense," the judge decided.