Chapter XX: Judgement Day
A/N: Hehehe. That was quite a line from Sabrina. Now we will see if it does not blow up in her face… Can't wait to see what you all think! SSD
"Chambers. Now!" Judge Norgull growled to the attorneys on both sides of the aisle as the jury and those in the gallery started murmuring at Sabrina's comment. Felix could safely say that she had a grin that would scare just about anything he could think of.
As he and the others made their way towards the judges' chambers, Norgull ordered Sabrina, "Doctor Byrne, do not antagonize the defendant."
"With all due respect your Honor, my continued existence is antagonistic to the defendant," she replied, respect clear in her voice, but still with some humor in it.
"Then don't do anything directly to her. Got it?"
"Yes, your Honor." She replied. The judge's security shut the door. Once he was behind his desk, Norgull inquired/ordered, "Alright. While everyone can understand what Doctor Byrne was implying a few moments ago, I get the feeling that judging by both the look on Doctor Byrne's face and that of the defendant's, that a rather specific event is being alluded to. Mister Switalski, do you have anything to add?"
"No. But I would like to know." The defense lawyer was clearly frustrated.
"You sure about that kid?" Anthony drawled before continuing on with, "It's a mental image that really cannot be done away with once you know."
"Since the prosecution clearly has at least some idea, why don't you share it with the rest of the class," the judge stated.
"Your turn to write it down, Erin," Anthony suggested. Which she quickly did, and gave it to Judge Norgull.
"And here I thought I had seen everything in the past 30 years," he said as he passed it to Switalski, whose eyes went wide and skin took on the shade of parchment paper. He now knew that it was over.
"Mr. Switalski, do you need a recess to talk things over with your client?" Judge Norgull asked.
"Yes, your Honor, I definitely do."
"Since it is nearly time for lunch anyway, why don't we recess for lunch? At 1:30 we will start things up again."
Hank, despite wanting to be at the trial for Sabrina's testifying, had been piled on at work, along with the business of Kelton's death. And not all of it was official police business.
Over 20 years ago, Kelton had been leading investigator on a case of a woman falling from the roof of her house. At the time, he had not thought anything of it. Years later, a man he had come to respect came to him with an old case file and investigations of his own.
Andrew Rhodes suspected that his son had murdered his wife and paid off the cops that were investigating the matter of Elizabeth Rhodes's demise. Almost immediately after being given the file, Hank could see Kelton's purposely shoddy police work.
Over the years, he'd nearly been killed multiple times over his investigation, all after the old man died. But nothing he had found could be definitively linked to Cornelius Rhodes. He'd been over the file more times than he could count.
"Hey there stranger." Looking up it was Olivia Benson.
"Not that I am not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" Hank asked.
"An old friend of mine is here in Chicago for a court case. He was called in by the feds to do a psych eval to make sure a defendant was competent to stand trial for attempted murder," she replied.
"Your friend wouldn't happen to be a USNR Captain Hwang, would it?"
"That would be correct," she replied before taking a look at his case board, and asked, "What case is this?"
"It's a cold case. A woman's murder that was passed off as a suicide, and covered up by the investigating officer," Hank replied.
"Do you have a suspect?"
"Yes. Her husband, subhuman piece of shit that he is did it. But I haven't been able to find the smoking gun so to speak," he growled.
"Maybe a new set of eyes could help?" she offered.
"Go right ahead. I've been over the reports more times than I can count."
They had been at it for several hours when Olivia took a break to get some water. Hank had gotten a phone call earlier in the day saying that the testifying had gone as smoothly as it could, with his niece Sabrina apparently sinking the defense's case with one remark according to a recent phone call.
It would have to be big to do something like that. Hank had refused to explain as to what that statement was, saying that she would be happier not knowing.
Giving another look at the paperwork in front of her, she moved to the part of the evidence that went over repairs in and around the house that time. It had clearly been gone over, but Olivia went on with it.
She was now looking at building permits on the family home. Most things still seemed to be in place… Wait a minute…
"Hey Hank, what about this? There were repairs done to the house about a week before the incident."
Olivia had the feeling that she had hit pay dirt while watching Hank go over the paperwork and the images.
Sitting back in his chair he murmured, "I have you now!" In a slightly louder voice, "Thank you for your fresh pair of eyes. We can go over the timeline, now that we have our smoking gun."
He and Sabrina had gotten into the hospital without anyone that would call the press noticing them. Those that did see them, nodded and went about their business.
Sabrina was also finally having her cast removed from her leg by Doctor Morgenstern. It was hard to believe that it had already been six weeks since the incident. Connor thought it felt much longer.
The jury was deliberating. Felix had promised that he would call when he had news of them being done. Connor could not wait for the trial to be over and for he and Sabrina to get on with living their lives.
Wherever that would lead them. He and Sabrina had not discussed much beyond the end of the trial and getting back to work. Assuming they still had jobs here at Gaffney.
"Hey there stranger," Connor looked up upon hearing Sabrina's voice. She was walking, still with crutches.
"Still need to build up your strength?" He asked.
"Morganstern suggested some therapy. Suggested that you would likely be able to help on that score," Sabrina replied.
"I bet he did. Did we ever find out who won the hospital betting pool on us?"
"I think it was Maggie. I hope she had a nice evening out on the proceeds," Sabrina mused as they walked side by side, taking comfort in each other's presence.
They were almost to the parking lot when Connor asked, "Where do you want to go to lunch? It's almost that time."
"Let's go to Paradise Pup. It's also far enough out of the way that no one will bother us."
Connor was helping Sabrina into his car when he noticed an envelope on the windshield. After making sure she was all the way in the car, he removed it and groaned when he read it.
"What's the envelope for," Sabrina inquired.
"It's an invitation to Claire's wedding. Suggesting that it would look bad if I didn't show up and for you to dress properly, whatever the hell that means," Connor bit out.
"As much as I would love to make your father's and Claire's lives difficult, I don't want to cause trouble for her fiancé. You did say that he seemed to be a halfway decent human being?" Sabrina asked.
"I didn't meet him for very long, but yes he does seem to be a good guy." Connor replied handing the invitation to her.
"Well, it does say that it is an open bar. Do you know if your aunt and uncle are coming? It's been a dog's age since I've seen them," Sabrina answered after a brief scan of the invite.
"I think they are. I'll call them later to find out if you and I will have anyone that we can have a civilized conversation with." Connor responded.
With that done and over with, they couple put the invitation from their minds, and onto happier things.
It was just as they were finishing up their lunch that they got the call from Felix.
Sabrina's heart was in her throat as Judge Norgull looked over the paper with the verdicts for the various charges against her would be murderer.
"Jury have you reached a verdict?"
"We have your Honor."
"How do you find?"
"For the first count of the indictment, Attempted Murder in the first degree we find the defendant…."
A/N 2: I'm evil. I know. Looking forward to seeing what you all think! SSD