Chapter Two-Hundred and Thirty-Three
Phoebe pulled at the hem of her dress, looking over to John as he placed an arm over the back of her chair. "Were you scared?" She asked, noticing how he glared at her adoptive parents with pitch-black eyes.
He bent toward her, whispering in her ear. "I was, but Jacob pulled a shiv on me. I don't see anything on Howard's person, though."
Kemp gave a snake-like sneer, calling Phoebe to the stand. "Miss. White, is it true that your parents adopted you at birth?"
She nodded, looking Kemp in the eyes as she answered. "Yes Sir."
"Have you ever used any substances such as alcohol, or illegal drugs?" He barely got the sentence out before John shot to his feet.
"I object!" He shouted, stepping toward his sister. "She's eleven. She doesn't even know where to find that shit."
Kemp laughed, looking between the siblings. "Miss. White, is this your biological father?"
She shook her head, gripping John's pinky finger as he offered his hand to her. "He's my brother."
"I would have had to be Seven when she was born, Kemp. And as I've told you before, I am a virgin." He looked up at the judge, begging for Phoebe to be released.
The judge nodded, noticing how Phoebe was starting to shake with fear. "Mr. Bender, how much do you know about this case?" She asked, praying that he could give them the information that they needed to close the case.
"Enough to put them in the can." He stated, letting Phoebe rush back to the table with Thomas. He grabbed the bible from the stand, handing it to Kemp and placing his left hand on it and raising his right. "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth with God as my witness." The words came like breathing to him, and for the first time in his life he didn't mind being sworn in.
Kemp glared at him, lighting into him with all sorts of questions.
"Why would Beverly adopt one child out but not the other?" Kemp asked, finally becoming irritated with John as he always seemed to have the right answer.
"Because that bitch told us that Phoebe was aborted." He snapped, leaning forward in his seat as a way to show Kemp that he wasn't scared. "If she hadn't told us that, Phoebe would be even more abused than she was. Fuck! She might even be dead by now. Jacob was a Psychopath! If I'd stayed there any longer, I wouldn't have made it to my graduation."
Kemp slammed his hand down on the stand in front of John, sick of his smart mouth. "So, your father never signed the papers?" He asked, barely missing the flash of yellow in John's eyes.
John growled, baring his teeth like a wild dog. "No." He stated, giving a small whistle to keep Chance at bay.
Thomas stood, letting John down from the stand and calling Phoebe's adoptive parents up. "Mr. White, Phoebe has lived with my family for some time now… and my wife, daughter, and her brother have all seen the marks left on her by you and your wife, and Johnathan knows personally the marks of abuse, he has identified her scars and bruises as marks of that act." He handed a copy of the photos from John's case, and another of Phoebe's, in front of the judge. "As you can see, they match, John was only abused far worse."
Phoebe touched John's hand, not missing how his eyes had lightened with fear. "Thank you."
John sat in the lunch room with his family, picking at his food until a cop's voice echoed over the speakers. "All United States Police, there is an escaped convict from Chicago's detention center, middle aged male, brown hair, brown eyes, buff build, and is wanted under the charge of severe child abuse. He has escaped, with the help of several other men and one woman by the name of Beverly Gina Bender. These two, leaders of the group, are married and under the same charges."
John's head snapped over to where Kemp was sitting with his wife and newborn child, fight instantly boiling in his chest. "You fucking prick!" He screamed, marching over to Kemp and shoving him into the wall. "You sent my DNA tests in to him. You helped a psychopath escape!"