AUTHORS NOTE: Two for one today, the words just kept coming and so I decided to split it into two chapters.
CHAPTER 152
A week later…
(ANGUS)
"Don't you think we should be heading back inside now lad, we will soon be having to leave for the hearing?" I say gently to the boy sitting next to me in a world of his own.
Jared absently nods but doesn't offer to move as he just sits stroking the head of the wooden carved dog in the garden of the place he used to call home. I didn't think this was a good idea, and I told Gideon so but he had argued with me saying it was what Jared wanted, but looking at the boy in front of me now, I know that it was the right choice to come and stay here. He needed to come here.
Gideon is inside with Arash discussing the final details for today. Christian and Ana were supposed to be meeting us here in Chicago but with the developments happening in Seattle at the moment Jared had told them that they needed to stay there and take care of Sadie and Lucy. Sadie had suffered some kind of breakdown at the news of Jen's death. All the Greys have rallied around and are helping to support her. From what I know via conversations with Jason Taylor and Gideon it appears that Grace is doing all she can and has practically moved in to help while Meg and Mia are also semi-permanent fixtures in her home now. The last I'd heard was that Sadie had asked Elliot if it was possible for Jen to be brought to Seattle to be buried as while she wanted no part of her ex-husbands death she felt responsible for her eldest daughter, despite the way Jen treated her. Elliot had spoken to Christian and arrangements for Jen's body to be transferred to Seattle are underway, but I have heard rumours that police now believe that Jen was linked to David's death in some way, but the fact she is dead means nothing more will probably come of that hunch. My contact in the Detroit police department has told me that David's apartment was feet away from one Jen now occupied which raised obvious questions. Another development is that Jen's ex-husband Neil has told Lucy that the company he works for are making changes resulting in him relocating to their Seattle site, and not only that he is bringing his own parents with him who have agreed to relocate with him. I believe Elliot has been in touch with him and offered to help him with that relocation.
I am pulled from my thoughts by movement next to me, and I look at Jared who has now stood up.
He turns to look at me, "I'm ready" he says simply.
"Ok lad" I reply and wrapping my arm protectively around his shoulder we make our way back to the house. As we enter Gideon immediately walks towards us, a relieved look on his face.
"There you are, I was looking for you" he says as he glances at me before returning his attention back to Jared.
"I'm sorry… I was just spending some time with Oscar" Jared mumbles, but Gideon shakes his head and pulls Jared into his arms.
"You have nothing to apologise for" he says adamantly.
I see Eva and Victor both smiling at Jared kindly and then I see Arash appear in the doorway.
"Hey Jared, how's it going?" Arash says gently.
Jared looks at him and shrugs, "I don't really know" he replies with heart breaking honesty.
Arash smiles sympathetically at Jared and walking towards him he places his hand on Jared's shoulder, "This is a big thing and nobody would think any less of you if you decide you don't want to go" he says gently.
Jared immediately stiffens and shakes his head adamantly, "No I need to do this" he replies.
oooOOOooo
When we arrive at the court we take our seats and wait to be called. I am watching Jared closely, this young boy has been through so much and I can only hope that justice gets served completely for him. There is no question that Philip Martin won't be seeing the outside world again, there is just too much he has done. Even though he has pleaded guilty to all the charges placed before him.
A few moments later we are called in and after the formalities are observed the details of the charges are read out by the judge. I look across at Philip Martin who is sitting next to his lawyer and is dressed in prison clothes and shackled. He refuses to make eye contact with any of us simply sitting with his head bowed.
The judge pauses and looks at Martin who raises his head at the mention of his name.
"The charges here read like a horror story, you are by no stretch of the imagination an incredibly greedy, vindictive and selfish man. The fact you chose to admit your guilt should persuade me of your remorse and make me lenient in my sentencing. However, I believe that this was a calculated move on your part to simply try and cheat the system. Before I pass sentence there is one victim statement to be read". The judge turns towards us and smiles kindly at Jared.
"Are you ready son?" he asks gently and Jared takes a deep breath, swallows deeply and nods.
"Yes sir" he replies.
The judge nods and gestures towards a podium near him and Jared stands, Gideon stands with him and whispers something in his ear before pulling him close and pressing a kiss to his head. We all watch as Jared walks over to the podium. His hands trembling slightly he pulls out the sheet of paper from his pocket and clears his throat.
"When you are ready son, take your time there's no rush" the judge says.
Jared nods and then takes a shot look at Gideon before turning his attention towards his uncle.
He waits, and waits and I realise what he is doing. He is waiting for Philip Martin to look him in the eye which he steadfastly refuses to do.
"Uncle Phil" Jared begins and when there is no response from Martin Jared frowns.
"I said, Uncle Phil" he says more forcefully and I smile as at this moment he reminds me of Gideon. "Damn it Uncle Phil do me the courtesy of looking me in the eye" Jared snaps. I watch as Philip Martin shuffles and his lawyer whispers in his ear. Eventually Martin reluctantly looks up and makes eye contact with Jared.
This seems to galvanise Jared and he snorts, "At last, it took your lawyer to make you look at me, what's the matter Uncle Phil can't you look me in the eye now you have admitted what you did?" he pauses and licks his lips then his eyes fall to the paper in his hands and he begins to read.
"Uncle Phil… " He stops and looks up once more, "Actually no, you are not my uncle. A fact you rammed into my head all my life, that I wasn't a real Martin. Something you never allowed me to forget. I say to you that I was a real Martin, admittedly not by birth but I was chosen to be a Martin and a court of law granted that decision and I lived up to the standards instilled in me by my father William Martin and my mother Angela Martin, but you didn't so I won't even bring myself to be associated with you. So, I will give you what you want I will no longer give you the title of Uncle". Jared pauses again before returning is attention to the paper in his hand. I notice his hands are no longer trembling and his voice is sure and clear as he begins to read. "Philip Martin, you wanted to take the money my dad worked hard for, money which you could also have made had you not been selfish, lazy and incompetent in business. Sadly, you are all these things, you are also greedy and you decided that my father's money should be yours so you decided to try and ruin his life and my mother's by playing sick twisted games. Your first game of choice was kidnap. You planned to take me away from them to make them give you that money they had worked hard to make. When that failed and they ended up dead, your game changed and you decided to kill me instead. But because you are incompetent and lazy your gameplan failed and however you tried to salvage it, it continued to fail because you Philip Martin are one of life's failures. My dad William Martin wasn't, my mom Angela Martin wasn't, Uncle Pete wasn't and neither was Aunty Suzy but you… you failed Philip. You failed and spectacularly so, and now you have nothing. You have no family because you murdered them, you have no wife because she finally woke up and saw you for what you were and turned away from you. You don't even have any money which is the only thing you truly wanted and hopefully from this day forward you won't have your freedom. So, from the boy who you always sneered at, bullied and abused, the boy you always taunted telling me I wasn't a real Martin… game over you lose, and I say that it is you who are not a real Martin because a real Martin would never have treated their own family that way… real Martin's look out for each other like my dad always tried to do for you and you repaid him by getting him killed and killing his wife… that is NOT how a real Martin behaves". Jared pauses and looks at Gideon, "I might be with my biological family now and my surname is now Martin-Cross but I was raised a Martin, I am proud of that name and I am more of a Martin than you will ever be".
I glance at Gideon who is staring at Jared with unconcealed pride and he nods at Jared's words.
We all turn towards Philip Martin who is showing no emotion whatsoever and he simply lowers his head once more. Jared comes and sits down to total silence. The judge looks at him and smiles.
"You are a remarkable young man Jared. You deserve the very best of what life offers you and I hope that with the love and support of your family you can overcome this tragic period of your life". He pauses and turns towards Philip Martin.
"Philip Martin, you are a despicable human being. The list of charges and evidence which I have seen are sickening and with that in mind I have no choice but to sentence you to life in imprisonment with no possibility of parole for your callous cold hearted murder of Angela Martin. For your part in the murder of William Martin I sentence you to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. For the attempted kidnapping of Jared Martin Cross I sentence you to a further twenty years imprisonment, for the possession of class one drugs I sentence you to 10 years, and finally for child abuse I sentence you to 15 years". The gavel hits the desk and we all gasp, the sentences were all within the remit for the crimes but were certainly all at the upper end of the scale.
Philip Martin is led away and we silently leave the court room. As we do so I hear someone call out to Jared, he turns and freezes which puts me and Gideon on full alert.
A tall man strides towards us and I lean down to Jared.
"Who is this?" I whisper, although I know exactly who this is because I have researched this man extensively and not liked what I found. I have no intention of letting him anywhere near Jared but at this moment I decide to let Jared have the illusion of control as I need to see how he feels about this uncle.
"Uncle Patrick" he replies bitterly, the way he said that tells me all I need to know and I squeeze Jared's shoulder letting him know he has my support. Gideon moves closer to speak and making eye contact with him I silently shake my head, letting him know that Jared needs to do this, not us.
"Hey buddy!" the man says genially as he comes closer totally ignoring everyone around Jared.
Jared cocks his head to one side, "How much do you want Uncle Patrick?" he says coldly to which Patrick Martin stiffens slightly before he recovers and lets out a nervous laugh.
"Hey now!" he begins but Jared shakes his head.
"No, mom always said you only showed up when you wanted money. You have showed up so I have to ask the question. Also, I will ask where have you been all my life? I met you only a handful of times that I remember growing up. I don't know you, so why are you here pretending you care… because we both know that you don't. You called me when you heard about what was happening and you quickly told me I was better off with my dad and abdicated any responsibility for me… which I am totally fine with and so I ask if you don't want money – which I find very difficult to believe considering how now you know who my dad is you have called and text me regularly only to ask about him, why are you here? What do you want?" Jared stops and Gideon pulls him closer offering him his unconditional love and protection.
Patrick Martin stares at Jared and it is clear he has no idea what to say or do. I am watching him closely and I swear I see a flicker of regret in his eyes at Jared's words.
"I… I heard about what Phil did and I just…" he trails off and shakes his head. That is an obvious lie and Jared knows it.
"You what? You came to find out if it was true?" Jared asks. We all notice he is starting to tremble and Gideon swiftly takes charge, unable to stay silent any longer.
"You will stay away from my son" he growls menacingly and Victor steps up behind Jared and places his hands on his shoulders.
"You heard the man; I suggest it is in your best interests to leave now and leave quietly" Victor says in his firm assertive law enforcement voice.
Patrick Martin looks at Gideon and then Victor and I swear I see a glint of relief in his eyes as he does so. Eva who is standing slightly back moves to Jared's side and I take a step back to make room for her as she steps forward.
"Hey" she says bluntly. "You were told nicely to go and leave Jared alone. I am not as nice and polite as my husband or father so if you don't turn your ass around and get the hell out of here right now and leave my son alone, I promise you will be leaving in a manner you won't find good".
Patrick stares at her, again I swear I see relief when Eva called Jared her son, but that is quickly replaced by anger at her blunt words.
"Are you threatening me lady?" he says as he takes a menacing step forward.
"Just try it asshole" Eva retorts as she stands her ground in front of him.
"Just go" Jared says quietly but Patrick hears him and looks at him with what seems like regret.
I decide it is time for me to end this, "Ok lad, if you haven't realised by now you are not welcome here. Jared doesn't want to see you so let's go shall we" I say as I grip his arm and propel him towards the door.
"What the hell?" he mutters as I frogmarch him out. But I also can't help but notice that he isn't resisting as much as he could be doing and is going along with this quite willingly. This makes me wonder exactly what is going on here.
When we get outside I pause spinning him towards me and as I grip his arm I hiss into his face, "Listen to me laddy, I know all about you. All about you. It's my job to know all about potential threats. You are a potential threat. Now, what I know about you could stay with me and go no further if you decide to be sensible about this, and from what I have just seen I believe you know how to be sensible. Or if I am mistaken and you don't I could inform my employer, the man who you seem to have taken a great deal of interest in and believe me when I say with his resources he could bring to light the more… interesting aspects of your lifestyle and totally destroy you. I don't think you would want that would you?" I stop and look at him questioningly.
Patrick Martin sags and shakes his head, "Look man I'm broke I need money, and I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't desperate" he pleads.
"Not our problem, you have a choice to make I suggest you make it and quickly" I say.
The man thinks and holds up his hands, "I'll go, and I assure you Jared won't hear from me again, I assure you I wouldn't have come here had I not been really desperate… but… Just know that I may be an asshole but I'm not an asshole like Phil. I have made some stupid decisions in my life but I wouldn't ever hurt Jared – my brother loved him and as far as I am concerned Jared is still Bill's son and so for that fact I don't want Jared mixed up in what I do. That is why I've kept my distance all these years you have no idea how much I tortured myself before finally deciding to come here today. I didn't want to but I'm desperate so if you expose me Jared will be inevitably at risk… please don't do that to him. It's better for him if he just hates me" he says.
I nod, "Good choice and bear in mind I know everything about you so I will be keeping my eye on you to make sure you stick to that, do we understand each other?" I say.
The man sags and nods, "Yes sir" he replies simply.
"Good now go" I say and I watch as he sadly walks away.
I return inside and making eye contact with Gideon I nod at him and he gives me a simple nod back. He knows all about Patrick Martin and how he is involved with really bad people to make money to fund his drug habit. He knows everything I uncovered about him and we agreed to keep it between ourselves and away from Jared for his own protection, as Patrick Martin is correct the people he is involved with are not people you would want to cross. That is why Gideon simply wants him as far away from Jared as possible. It also appears that Patrick Martin isn't stupid, and he actually cares about Jared in his own way to do just that.