"Now, Miss West; can you please go over the events of the night in question?" Brandon Waithe asked his client and witness as she sat in the small witness box, after being sworn in and going through the questions about the interactions with the deceased before the attack.
When he had first been told he'd be taking this case for the head of his firm – Steven West himself –he had, had multiple panic attacks. He was defending Steven West's daughter. From a charge from the state of California for murder! Of course, when he finally saw all the case details, his heart broke for both his boss and his client. And had some solid relief when he realised how cut and dry this whole case was. There was evidence upon evidence that Ryder Daniels, the deceased, had been stalking his client for almost a year, at least that she was aware of; the evidence that showed this had been going on for years was just the icing on the cake.
Even the DA Office knew that this one was a pointless trial. There was no way any sound judge or jury would look at this case and think anything BUT 'Self Defense'. But the law was the law, and they all knew it had to be done; if they didn't do this right, it'd set precedent in the future or cause accusations; the press was already all over it, and had been since the story broke a few months previous. Due to her age at the time of the crime – only 17 – Jade West hadn't been mentioned, and the existing connection between the two hadn't come out but that was due to every news outlet in the state knowing that if they did one story revealing too much, they'd be sued and filing for bankruptcy within days.
"Um I...I was at the school, well, my school. Hollywood Arts. In the Black Box Theatre." Jade's voice was shakey but firm. Every time he met her about the case, it completely contrasted to the few times Brandon had met her previously; while Jade wasn't the simpering, spoiled daughter most expected of Steven Wests offspring, she was certainly...something. He'd only ever seen her at big company events and parties. She spoke with confidence and self-assuredness, dressed in something attention drawing and borderline inappropriate for an underaged girl – multiple clients and lawyers found themselves thrown out of the party for hitting on her. She never cowed over meeting big clients and had a take no prisoners attitude. It was a total 180 to how she was now, at least when talking about the case. She was withdrawn, she worried at the skin around her nailbeds. She wore nothing but black that seemed to cover up every inch of skin from her neck down. A perfect example was today – a high necked black dress with black tights, black heels and a black blazer, her hair pulled back into a fancy looking twist.
"We...we had a show coming up. I was having a bit of trouble with my monologue because...because I'd been worried and distracted because of the stalking." Oh, everyone knew about the stalking already. All evidence had been shown, including a photo album that made every member of the court blanch at the sheer intrusiveness. The middle school items hinting this obsession of Daniels was far more ongoing than originally thought. And dear God, that video. That poor girl, Victoria Vega. Jade's friend a victim to the same monster who had attacked her.
"I thought I'd locked the doors to the theatre but...I must have forgotten because...he was there. Halfway through my monologue, I saw him standing at the edge of the stage just...just staring at me. With this...look in his eye. It was...almost..." She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself, fingers digging into her upper arm and her ribs. "Predatory. I told him to leave, that this was a private practice and, and he shouldn't even be on school grounds anymore, since he wasn't a student. But he just...ignored me. Like I wasn't even talking. I...I was getting weirded out. I...I knew it was him, stalking me. I had tried to deny it and ignore it but...I knew, somehow. He always knew where I was, who I was with...he'd randomly turn up at places I was going with my friends. And then...when I swore at him and called him a creep...he just...it was like a switch was flipped in his brain." She paused there, taking a deep and shakey inhale, her fingers digging in harder, and he was sure she'd have little finger print bruises on her bicep and ribs.
"Take your time Jade, don't worry." The Judge comforted her with a soft and grandfatherly smile, and Brandon knew his boss had been happy with this choice of judge – Judge Kavan was known for being discreet and kind to the witnesses and defendants, and always had a bit of a soft spot for fragile women and girls; not in a suspect way, but he seemed to give off a favourite Grandfather vibe.
"He started shouting and rambling about...how...how I was nothing but a tease. How he'd done so much for me, how he'd always been there for me and got nothing in return. That he was entitled to getting something back from me because of how much effort he put in..." Her breath hitched and Brandon could practically feel both Mr West and the defendant's boyfriend, Beck Oliver, tense up and resist the urge to rush forward to comfort her. "Then he...he pulled out the knife and pointed at me...I told him to go, to get away from me and he just,….lunged at me." She let out a sob, covering her mouth with the hand that was once gripping her bicep.
"Would you like a break, dear?" Kavan asked gently, but Jade shook her head, taking a deep breath and sniffing a little.
"N-no thank you, your honour." She replied softly, before continuing. "He kept hitting me and...and I tried to fight back, to get away...but he had me by the hair and just kept punching and hitting and...then he ripped at my shirt and skirt and...he...he pushed me down to the ground." She took a shakey breath and glanced towards the seated crowd; it was a closed court, but the witnesses (A collection of teenagers who were Jade's friends, and one who was Ryders friend. Officer David Vega and his partner, as the police officers who arrived first. Detectives Diaz and Fowler. The doctor who treated her. An older balding man who was Jade's teacher. Jade's father and step mother, and finally, her boyfriend.) He guessed it was either her father or boyfriend that she was searching for, and when she caught their eye (Beck, he noticed out of the corner of his eye) she seemed to take strength from him and continued on, but her voice was weak. "He ripped my tights off and pushed my underwear aside and then...he forced himself inside me." That last sentence was whispered, but due to the utter horror and silence in the court room, it was as loud as a police siren.
"It...hurt. A lot. I begged him to stop but he...he just held the knife at my throat and told me to shut up and...I scratched and hit but...he didn't stop. Then I don't...I don't know what happened." Her voice hitched again. "But he must have dropped the knife because he was holding my throat and I couldn't breath and...I just...I picked it up. And he still wasn't stopping so I...I just stabbed him." She let out another sob, her eyes welling up with tears. "I didn't...I didn't even realise until...he stopped...thrusting." The word was said with such disgust and horror that it almost caused him to recoil, although he managed to stop himself (the jury didn't. He saw most of them wince or cover their mouths in shock). "I...I didn't know what to do. So I pushed him...off of me and...and called the police." She bit her lower lip hard and shook her head.
"I didn't want to kill him. I never wanted to kill anyone, I swear. But...he just...he wouldn't stop. I just wanted him to stop because it hurt-" That seemed to be the most Jade could get out, as she let out a sob once more and couldn't stop any of the ones that followed, the flood gates opening. He could feel the sympathy and heartache of practically the whole court room and the Judge glanced at the prosecution.
"We'll take a quick recess before we allow for cross examination." He stated firmly, letting the Assistant DA know in no uncertain terms that she was not going to be asking any questions right now.
After a quick murmur of conversation to her colleague, she stood up. "The Prosecution has no questions for the defendant, your Honour." Marla Temple replied with a shake of her head; it was unusual and almost never done, but even the ADA knew there was nothing to gain from questioning Jade. There was no arguing the states case.
Jade was escorted back to the defence table, where she sat quietly sobbing into her hands, as the judge called for a recess of 30 minutes.
The trial was over. Jade West was cleared of the Murder charge, due to it obviously being self defence. It was only 2 days, which was something of a record, Sinjin was sure, especially in a case of Self-Defense vs. Murder 2 – not that Sinjin was an expert at California law, but according to movies and TV shows, the trial could have lasted a whole week, if not multiple weeks. Sinjin wasn't exactly the star witness for the case either. But he'd spoken with the police a few days after they'd come to the school to speak with Cat, Robbie and Sikowitz. Beck had asked him too, personally, as almost everyone at Hollywood Arts knew one thing:
Sinjin loved Jade West to an unhealthy level. But, unlike Ryder Daniels, he would never dream of touching a single hair on Jade's head – even if she had offered. And everyone knew that too; it was why Jade didn't kill him multiple times over the course of them knowing each other. Because to Sinjin Van Cleef, yes, Jade was the epitome of perfection and beauty. But she was more like...artwork. Like the Mona Lisa or Botticelii's Birth of Venus. Beautiful to look at, to gaze at in awe but never to be touched – well, not by him anyway.
But because of that, because he loved to look at her, he had a habit of following her. And in turn, that led him to notice that Ryder Daniels had a tendency to follow and admire Jade too. But he wasn't content with doing so from afar. And Sinjin kind of resented him for that, for attempting to get close to her. Because no one but Beck was allowed to do that. And maybe Cat, Andre and Robbie. But not someone else. No one else really deserved to get close to her.
So he'd went to the police and explained that he'd seen Ryder following Jade, harassing her, trying to get her to talk with him or go places with him. And yeah, when he was on the stand, the jury and judge and lawyers all stared at him like he was a alien freak. But when he glanced at Jade, she wasn't giving him that look. She was giving him a weak but thankful smile, and Beck gave him a thankful nod as he stood up when he was finished. And that made it fine, he didn't care about the other looks. He was helping out Jade. And Beck was giving him one of those approving looks that made Sinjin feel like a superstar.
But something bothered him. And it made him worry at his lower lip and tug on his hair and he sat deep in thought on a bench in the court house, waiting for his mom to come pick him up – they'd finished earlier than he'd expected, so he wasn't upset about the delay. His mom was on her way after all.
And when he spotted Jade coming out of the bathrooms, dressed in full black and dabbing at her tear-red eyes, he pushed off from the bench and approached her, purposely catching her attention so she wouldn't get startled.
"Hi Jade..."
"Oh, hey Sinjin..." She managed to get out weakly, seemingly just exhausted, a fragile smile on her lips. "Thanks for...well, for everything. I know I'm not always the nicest person in the world to you but...thanks."
Sinjin nodded, shifting from foot to foot. "Um Jade? There's something...the evidence." He rushed out. "The photo album? I...I recognised some of those photos Jade. The ones...the ones of you and Beck alone and out and about or you two with the gang. They were taken by me." His eyes widened as a thought hit him. "Do you think...he hacked me?"
There was an odd look on Jade's face, as if she was perplexed by something, a little furrow on her brow, an odd tilt to her lips. And then it hit Sinjin. Those photos. All of them were...on a flashdrive. He had started to keep his 'collection' on his flashdrive a while ago, so he didn't have them connected to the cloud or anything – they were just for him. He didn't want them to get hacked; he and Jade had an odd agreement – he did errands and tasks for her, and she pretended to ignore his non-sexual obsession with her. But Jade had found that flashdrive when it had fallen out of his pocket. She'd got angry about it and annoyed and told him she was going to keep it.
She'd seen all of those pictures before. She'd known it wasn't Ryder who had taken them.
"What are you saying Sinjin?" Jade asked, her voice almost a purr as his eyes shot up to meet hers. And the evidence of tears were still there, sure. The red rims and smudged eyeliner. But there was a glint in her eyes. A fearless, reckless confidence. Nothing like her eyes had looked at all since the night of the attack.
"I...you know those pictures weren't taken by Ryder." He whispered, still wanting to keep this secret. Because...because it was still Jade. Even if she had... "You acted like you'd never seen them before. But you had. You'd seen them because you found my flashdrive. Which...which means..."
"Which means what Sinjin?" Jade asked, her face still the picture of curiosity and sadness, but her eyes...those damn grey-blue eyes still had that glint. "You think I...manipulated all of my friends into seeing Ryder was stalking me? That I manipulated Ryder into looking like he was stalking me? That I led him on...that I invited him to meet me at the Black Box Theatre that night?" She took a step forward and almost whispered. "That I brought the knife with me, not him?"
Sinjin's mouth had gone dry, his eyes wide and it felt like he'd been drenched in ice water.
"That's...that's insane Sinjin. It's crazy..." She shook her head, and looked at him once more. "But even...even if that was true..." The helpless, shaken and heartbroken girl expression slipped for a moment, and the expression he was so used to from before came onto her face, lips tilting up at one side in a confident smirk, eyes glinting with devilish humour and whispered in his ear.
After, with a sly wink, she turned away from him, her facade back in place perfectly, as she hurried to Beck who was waiting at the end of the hall. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and Sinjin watched as Beck leaned in to listen to her whisper something. He nodded once then glanced over his shoulder, catching Sinjin eyes and giving him a smirk and a two fingered salute, before the pair turned away and heading down the hallway, to join Jade's dad and their friends.
And as Sinjin stood there, frozen in his spot, waiting for his mother to pick him up, Jade's whispered words rang in his ear, and they rang truthfully.
"Even if that was true...who would believe you?"
Um...Surprise?