Gordon took his seat on the witness stand and looked over at Dean, locking gazes with him, smiling at him smugly. He didn't care what happened to Dean really. But they were the ones fool enough to get him arrested. He was going to take great pleasure in ruining what was left of his life.
"State your name for the court please?" The bailiff said, and swore the hunter in, asking him to tell only the truth before god. Then Gordon settled in and lowered his hand, and the bailiff went back to his place.
"Mr. Walker." The prosecutor said. "Care to tell us how you know the defendant?"
"Dean and his brother, we crossed paths." Gordon said. "I was roaming from town to town, restless, rootless, we met outside a bar, went back inside and tossed back a few. Found out we had a lot in common."
"Could I ask where you are now? What your residence is?"
"I'm serving out a couple of life sentences." Gordon said. "For murder."
"And you said you and Mr. Winchester had things in common?"
"We're both killers. We'll do whatever it takes to make sure what we're hunting stays down."
"Hunting? Like stalking?"
"It can be." Gordon admitted. "We hunt, we watch, we strike, we kill. We're no different."
"And did Mr. Winchester know then that he was on the run?"
"Oh yeah. Using aliases and everything. He knew. He was trying to stay one step ahead of them."
"For the record, I'd like to submit into evidence Mr. Walker's prison record. As you can see, he was sentenced before the incident at the bank in Milwaukee." Mr. Silver said, passing a copy to the judge and Regan.
"Objection, your honor, hearsay. Mr. Walker has no way of knowing why my client was using a name other than Winchester." She said taking the copy of his arrest record, happily. Flipping through it for a moment before.
"Sustained." The judge said frowning as he too looked over the man's prison record.
"Did Mr. Winchester react to you violently before you two became drinking buddies?" Mr. Silver tried again.
"Held a knife up to my throat. Threatened to slice my head off. If that counts as violent, then yes he did." Gordon said, passing a glare toward Dean, who ignored it and just stared at the flag in front of him.
Mr. Silver asked a few more questions, establishing Dean Winchester as a hot head who was quick with a knife, not unlike what could have killed those girls in Baltimore, then turned over to Regan for cross.
"Mr. Walker," Regan said as she glanced over the file once more before standing and walking over to stand in front of him. "Are you familiar with a young woman named Lenore Patterson?" She asked, looking up from the record to lock gazes with him.
"Can't say I am." Gordon said. And he wasn't lying. He'd never known Lenore's name, or if he did, he'd forgotten it. Her name wasn't important, what was important was that she ceased to exist, something he failed at because of Dean and Sam Winchester. Who let the vampire go.
"She was the woman you were trying to kill the first time you met my client and his brother, Samuel. Can you tell the court why you were trying to kill her?" She asked. This was going to be an interesting cross examination. Although she hoped she could pull this off. Gordon Walker was the heavy hitter on the witness list.
"Because she was just like us, a killer." Gordon said. "It wasn't right, I know that now. But I don't know. Maybe I didn't like her methods. Maybe I had a heroic ideal about the whole thing. But she was just as bad as we were. They let her go, maybe they thought she was cute."
"Heroic ideal? What sort of heroic ideal could you possibly have about killing a young woman? I know you have been coached on what to say and what not to say Mr. Walker but let's be honest, shall we? What was your reason for abducting, binding and torturing this young woman? What were these methods you didn't approve of?"
"See...I know what you're doing. But I'm not on trial here. I had my trial. You're trying to make me look nuts so he gets off." Gordon said, barely refraining from shaking his finger at the lawyer. "I was warned you'd do this. Make me flip out, then he gets off."
"It's alright, Mr. Walker, we'll hear Ms. Patterson's version of the story soon enough. Is it true that the reason you were held at knife point was so that my client's brother, Samuel Winchester, could get Ms. Patterson to safety?" She asked "As she was incapable of walking under her own power at the time. "
"Gun point." Gordon corrected. "He held me at gun point while Sam assisted that monster out. Tied me up so I couldn't find her trail again. Left me for three days or so before someone came and got me. Told me he was a killer like me."
"So my client held you at gun point to save the life of one of your victims, and then left you alive." She said. "When next you saw my client... what did you do?" It was going to be hard to trip him up, but they had Lenore's testimony coming up during the defense.
"I was trying to get him to stop punching me." Gordon said. "He's got a temper, that one. Sees red like no one I've ever seen."
She looked at him incredulously. "What were you doing that caused him to start punching you?" Regan had to give the Silver credit where due, he must have spent days coaching this bad boy into his answers.
"Objection." Mr. Silver said.
"Your honor, this goes toward frame of mind. Was my client acting like a madman or did he have a justifiable reason?" Regan countered.
"I'll allow it." The judge said. "The witness will answer."
Now Gordon looked uncomfortable. "I had a sniper rifle. I was going to shoot someone."
"Who?"
"Sam Winchester."
"So you were trying to kill his brother and he stopped you by punching you. Not by shooting you or pulling out a knife to kill you but with non lethal means." She stated then nodded. "You then rendered my client unconscious and kidnapped him to use as bait in a trap set for his brother. "
Again uncomfortable. "Yes."
"A trap involving high explosives. Am I correct?"
Gordon nodded.
"Yes or no, Mr. Walker."
"Yes." He grumbled, glaring at Dean once more.
"Why were you trying to kill Samuel Winchester?" She asked.
Gordon was positively twitchy. He wasn't crazy. He wasn't. What he knew was the truth, everyone was just too damn blind to see it. "Because he's evil." Gordon said. "Oh he comes off like the boy everyone wants to take home, but that boy is evil right down to the core. Everyone but Dean could see it, those that knew. That know. What Sam is, what he's going to become. And Dean...Dean refuses to admit it, which will kill us all in the end. His brother is evil. The explosives were set up in a way that Dean wouldn't be hurt, I don't give a crap about him."
"Evil... what is it that Dean doesn't see about his brother?" God she hoped he finally stopped talking in metaphor. This man wasn't insane. He was a zealot. That was worse than insane, and harder to trip up. Once he got going, if she could actually get him going, he was going to be impossible to shut up.
She hoped.
"There's a war coming." Gordon said, no longer talking in metaphor, even if he still sounded like it. "Every single culture and holy book has predicted it in some form. And his brother...and other children like him...they're going to be on the wrong side. They're not going to be on our side. They need to be taken down, put down like dogs before they unite." He said, his voice rising in the way a fire and brimstone preacher's voice would. "You can't see it. Dean won't see it."
"Was Lenore one of those... other children like Sam? " She asked him. "Like the people you were convicted of murdering?"
"Lenore's not human." Gordon said. "Right now, Sam and the others like him are human and can be stopped. Lenore and others like her can be stopped also, but that takes skill. Not something for amateurs. The problem is when fools want to protect creatures like all of them. For no other reason but sentimentality."
"I see, so you see yourself as some sort of exterminator. When you failed to kill Sam Winchester, and he in turn rescued my client from you, what happened then? Did my client try and harm you in anyway?"
"No, they ran and called the police." Gordon said, with more than a hint of sneer in his voice. "Imagine that, a Winchester calling the police and turning a fellow hunter in. Should break some sort of code, don't you think?"
"So, you are saying that a hardened killer ran and called the police instead of simply killing you himself? "
"No, I imagine he wanted to come back and finish me off. I think Sam was the one who dropped the dime on me. Because if he could put me away, there would be no one left to stop him. Dean wouldn't. No matter how twisted Sam gets, Dean will let us down every time. So I've been shoved in a cell where I can't finish my job."
"Never the less, you were left alive twice, after making it plain that you were a threat to both Dean and Sam Winchester?"
"He's a killer. I'm betting those girls in Baltimore weren't even human. Not really. Oh friends and family might have thought they were, but this was before Dean knew the truth about Sammy. When anything supernatural was something to be destroyed." Gordon said.
"Objection your honor! She's badgering the witness!" Mr. Silver said, jumping to his feet, seeing Gordon spiral out of control, out of the carefully coached and phrased testimony.
"Or maybe not. Maybe they were human and the bloodlust got him. He got out of control. It happens. Get caught up in the heat of the moment, innocent bystanders no longer look so innocent. Not really, not without some direct light. But I'll tell you this much, he enjoyed it. You didn't see the look on his face when he beheaded a vampire. I did. It was pure joy, fulfillment, like a purpose he was discovering."
"Over ruled." The judge said looking at the witness in horror, moving a little further away from him as he ranted.
"You ...hunt ... vampires?" Regan asked. "You believe in vampires and demons and you hunt them?" She asked him. A sideways glance at the jury was gratifying. They were horrified by Gordon. She hoped it was in the way she had been pushing for.
"Yeah. I do." He said firmly. "The monsters exist. They're real, and Sam Winchester is gonna be one of 'em."
"No further questions your honor." She said as she walked back over to the table and sat down beside Dean.
Dean exhaled. Slowly. Because it was taking all he had not to jump over the table and beat the shit out of Gordon.
"We'll take a short recess." The judge said and excused the jury. Dean looked at Regan.
"Better hope he doesn't get out of jail." He said softly, so only she could hear. "Or I really will be guilty of murder."
"I don't think we have to worry about that." Regan said. "The bailiff is going to take you to ... take care of business. I need to go make a few phone calls. We'll be back at this shortly." She said as she rose and strode out of the court. room. "You were taking quite the gamble with that one, Ted. " She said to the prosecuting attorney in the hall.
"He's a nutcase, but he's not wrong." Ted said. "Your client is just as big a nutcase as him too. Sometimes I wonder how it is you sleep at night."
"On 1000 thread count down filled Egyptian cotton, and the sure and certain knowledge that without people like me, the system falls apart." She told him, not at all ashamed of the fact that she was in this for money. "How can you be so certain Winchester did it when there isn't any real evidence? Lets' cut the crap, Ted. You have nothing but the word of a nut case and empty promises of physical evidence to base this case on. What is it that makes you so sure?"
"I've gotten convictions on less." Ted said. "It's a gut feeling. Your client is a sociopath, no matter how well you coach him to look innocent and petrified. What makes you so sure he's innocent? Not just not guilty, you think he's actually innocent. Is that a speck growing where your heart used to be?" He'd faced Regan plenty of times across the aisle.
"Because I have spent the last 15 years surrounded by psychopaths, sociopaths, and all around bad men. I know the devil when I see him Ted, and it isn't Dean Winchester." She told him bluntly. "And never you mind my heart. If there is anything in there sprouting like a weed I'll rip it out and feed it to my gold fish. But I almost feel guilty about how badly your clock is going to be cleaned."
"Just be sure, Regan. Because Walker's a nutcase, sure. But he could be right, and Winchester is too. And you want to unleash him back on society." Ted said and shook his head. "Doesn't make me sleep better at night."
"That's a shame... because in this instance... it should." She said and excused herself as her assistant waved her over to him holding a manila envelope in his hand. "This is exactly what I was hoping you had for me." She said as she opened the file within. "Well... let's hope that they call Special Agent Hendrickson to the stand at some point. I would love to win this case in cross alone." Not that she wouldn't call the numerous character witnesses she had. Those were going to be the icing on the cake.
She took the file with her as she entered the court room once more.
Ben slipped her a note when she passed. "Nothing in my circles." It said. On her request, on her hunch, he'd asked around in the less than human circles, and found there was no Hendrickson. Which some might consider good, but when you also figure in that demons, spirits, everything else in that category, usually knew everything that was going on, that was strange.
Regan frowned a little and tucked it into the file. No history before three years ago, and that included in the demonic world. She had to pull a few strings to get the Feds to wait to haul him into custody until he was called to testify on the stand. She needed to discredit him on the stand. It was probably one of the few ways she could get Dean off completely.
She settled into her chair and looked over at her client. "You are certain you have never seen Hendrickson before this all began?" She asked him in hushed tones. "Not even in as a recurring face in the crowd?"
"Nope. Never." Dean said. "Believe me, I've tried to picture him in any of my past events, and he's just not there. I never heard of him before, I don't know him. No idea why I'm his pet project."
"No one...not even the Feds have heard of him before three years ago. Which is an amazing thing since the Bureau isn't exactly known for letting just anyone in. There are back ground checks that you have to go through, and he has no back ground. " She told Dean. "So, this works in our favor as far as your trial goes, but I have to tell you it gives me the creeps. Do you have any idea how hard it is to give me the creeps?"
"Yeah, I got an idea how hard it is to give you the creeps." Dean said and exhaled. "Seriously weird. Now, if I were free in any way, you know, I could do some serious research on this." But he'd been denied bail because he was a 'high flight risk' or something.
"Ben hasn't found out anything at all on his end. Hopefully you will be able to figure him out on your own time later-"
"All rise." The bailiff said and court was once again in session.
Regan looked over at Ted Silver and honestly felt sorry for him. She was going to owe him a steak dinner when this was all over and done. Hendrickson's little charade wasn't going to do his career any favors, that was for certain.
The prosecutor took a long drink of water then rose to his feet. "The prosecution calls Special Agent Victor Hendrickson to the stand." He said and waited as Hendrickson, in a nice suit, was sworn in. "Agent Hendrickson, please state your name and occupation for the court record."
"Victor Hendrickson. I'm a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations." He replied.
"And what, exactly, is your job description?"
"I'm responsible for investigating federal crimes, specializing in the violent crimes, enforce federal law, take criminals into custody and deliver them to justice." Hendrickson said.
"And how did you hear about Dean Winchester?"
"His file crossed my desk. It was assigned to my team. So I started to research him and his family. I investigated his father, his upbringing, everything I could get my hands on and found a pattern."
"A pattern?"
"In cross referencing several of his crimes, and the ones he's merely suspected of, I was able to put together a revisionist itinerary."
"Can you explain that to the jury?"
"It was a lot of work. But I traced his steps backwards, and every where I went, he'd been seen. Usually something violent happened while he was there. Then there was the hold up in the bank."
"Where you actually spoke to Mr. Winchester."
"Yes. He told me he wasn't going to negotiate the release of any of the hostages. We were preparing a SWAT team at that time just in case he decided not to negotiate."
"But he did let one of them go?"
"Yes, an old man who fell ill. Probably thought it would buy him some time, if not good will."
Regan watched and never once took her eyes off of the man on the stand. Gordon Walker had been a little unnerving in his zeal but she had actually understood him. Not that she agreed, but he was a hunter and hunters all seemed to eventually wind up like him. Or they died young. He was unnerving because he challenged the reality she liked to pretend to exist in. The one that most people wanted to exist in where there was no closet monster and it really was safe to go out after dark.
Hendrickson ... he was another matter entirely. He was a threat to that safe sound reality of LAW. Where people answered to higher authorities and didn't appear out of no where with no background, no history, in order to pursue their own agendas. In her world you went to college, then law school, then you practiced until you retired or you moved on to become a judge or lose yourself in politics. FBI agents had previous law enforcement experience, or they had specialized training in college and were recruited to Quantico. You didn't miraculously appear as a special agent three years ago with nothing behind you. It was wrong. In the same sort of way the average person on the street would consider the existence of vampires, werewolves and demons wrong.
She rose slowly when it was her time to cross examine the witness, and looked at him in an entirely new light. This wasn't just an arrogant son of a bitch. This was a threat to how her world should work. "Special Agent Hendrickson. How long have been with the Federal Bureau of Investigations?" She asked.
"Three years, ma'am." He said with clear eyes. Coming off as the epitome of polite, cool agents. "Before that I was in college. I went to college late, it took some time to figure out what it was I wanted to do. Luckily, the Bureau helped me find focus. Do something good with my life." Making a direct contrast to Dean. Hendrickson obeyed the law, he was the law. Dean was not.
"Where did you go to college?" She asked. It was all lies, but she wanted him to create the lies as he went. To paint himself into a corner with his polite, professional manner. So she kept the questions up. Digging politely into the non existent past of Victor Hendrickson.
"Objection, your honor, immaterial." Silver said.
"Goes to Credibility, you're honor, I'm coming to my point." Regan countered politely..
"I'll allow it but make it quick, counselor."
"Thank you, Your honor." She walked over to her desk and picked up two copies of the file she had just received from Quantico. "I would like to share with your honor and Mr. Silver, documentation that has just arrived from Quantico. Special Agent Hendrickson's record with the FBI. It begins three years ago as stated. However there is no application, no training record at Quantico, not so much as a next of kin in case of emergency. I have further documentation to state that there was no file on my client at Langley or any other FBI office until it was created by Mr. Hendrickson. I would like to also enter into evidence a report also from Quantico that states that the investigation that began due to my inquiry into Special Agent Hendrickson has been unable to locate transcripts from any college, high school or grade school for a Victor Hendrickson, further more there is no birth certificate and the social security number being used actually belongs to someone else. " She handed copies of the reports to the judge and to Ted Silver. "Do you have any explanation for this, Mr. Hendrickson?"
"Clerical error." Hendrickson said, coolly. "You believe I received top secret security clearance and no one picked up on the fact that I was using a fake social security number? That I've come into being one of the top field agents, but never actually applied to the FBI? And you want the jury to believe that? The people who trust me and other agents with their safety? To get your dangerous client off?"
"I have seen far stranger things in my life, Mr. Hendrickson. , and these fine gentleman at the back of the court room wouldn't be waiting to arrest you for impersonating a federal officer for a clerical error. One file missing is a clerical error. The fact that you have no history before the Bureau is more than a clerical error. Your history is as available as the evidence you have failed to produce against my client. "
She turned to walk away giving Silver an almost apologetic look for not giving him a heads up on this, then paused and turned back to face the witness. "You entered the FBI at the same time you began hunting... framing... my client. What is it about Dean Winchester, a man who has never laid eyes on you until you arrested him, that provoked this behavior?"
"He's dangerous." Hendrickson said, his eyes flicking toward the officers at the back of the room, then back to Regan. "Everyone around him, every life he touches, ends up dead. So he needs to stop touching lives."
"So you aren't denying the accusations against you. You aren't denying that you started this campaign against my client for personal reasons. Indeed you started your career in the FBI for this purpose. Whose life did he touch that pushed you to this point?"
"I choose not to respond to the allegations knowing full well there will be an investigation to clear this matter up. And this being a court record it can be used as evidence. It's called the fifth amendment to the Bill of Rights. Much the same as Mr. Winchester probably choosing not to testify. But it's not personal. He didn't personally touch my life, but he's left a wide enough path of destruction and death that the Bureau was happy to let a team investigate."
"A path of destruction that you brought to them. Coincidences put together by an amateur, passing himself off as a professional. A case file built by a man who has never been trained by those at Quantico in how to handle such things. Violent acts happen around us every day. It doesn't mean we are part of them. No further questions. "
"Counselor?" The judge asked Ted Silver, who merely shook his head. "The witness is dismissed." He said. Hendrickson looked at the judge. Then he glared at Dean. Then he walked calmly off the stand and down the aisle where he was surrounded by officers and escorted out.
Dean exhaled. "That's good for me, right?" Dean whispered to Regan.
"This is good for you." She said. "So far the prosecution is basing his case on a man who believes in vampires and a bogus FBI agent. We're doing alright here. We get to follow up with all those people you have been helping along the way. Remember... that will be the last thing in their active memory about you. Not Hendrickson declaring that you are dangerous" Silver hadn't rested his case yet, and she hoped there were no rabbits waiting in his hat. One good one could sink Dean so easily.
Silver wasn't pulling any rabbits out of his hat. He was grasping at straws. A morgue tech identified Dean as having unnatural interest in corpses, but on cross from Regan, was unable to point out which assistant attorney took his statement two weeks ago. So how could he remember a man from four years ago? Especially since he admitted to drinking. SWAT team members from St. Louis testified that Dean was the man who attacked Rebecca, and threw a knife at one of their own. Though not discredited as fiercely as Victor Hendrickson had been, they were forced to admit that it was dark, he wasn't facing them fully, and it was so quick it was possible that the identification was wrong. Regan wasn't worried about that part so much, she had Rebecca herself to testify on that subject.
"All rise." The bailiff said. Court was done for the day, and the prosecution had rested.
Regan looked at Dean. "Okay... tomorrow is our day." She said. "Tomorrow I bring in Rebecca who will testify that she shot her attacker, there will be others to testify on your behalf. We're looking good, but don't get too comfortable, you've seen what a good cross examination will do. Go get some rest, relax, read a book or something tonight. Stay out of trouble."
"Yeah." Dean said as the bailiff put the cuffs back on him and led him toward the van that would take him back to the prison. What he really wanted to do was sleep in his own damn bed and have a damn beer. This was draining on him. Being called a monster, hearing his brother called a monster, and having no choice but to sit still and keep quiet.
So he didn't have a restful night on his prison cot. He stared at the ceiling and wondered just how Sam was doing, was he okay? He had no idea, and it was wearing down the rest of him, eating at him slowly. Sam, he had to believe, was all right. Because right now he couldn't do anything one way or another.
Sam looked over at Father Pavel as the reporters gave their opinions on the trial. "I don't believe it. He infiltrated the FBI? What on earth could have possessed him to infiltrate the FBI to come after Dean? He wasn't even really after me.. so it's not the nephilim thing... " He was glad that Ben had hired a barracuda of a lawyer. Otherwise the testimony alone would have been enough to hang his brother, physical evidence or not.
"Sometimes miracles cannot be questioned too closely." Father Pavel said. "From what you have told me, mainstream law enforcement could have come after you or your brother for any number of things. This time, the one that did was completely discredited. Miracle. Or not. I wouldn't question it too closely."
"And this just in. The man who fooled the FBI into hiring him as an agent, known by Victor Hendrickson, has escaped from police custody. A source close to the story who asks their name not be released stated that Hendrickson just...disappeared. Into thin air." The anchorwoman reported and turned to her male colleague. "Everything connected to this case just gets stranger and stranger. One witness claims he hunts vampires, another disappears after no one can find proof he ever existed."
"Lady, if you only knew." Sam said to the television, the picked up the book on catechism once more. "So when are we doing this?" He asked in regard to his baptism. It was impossible to do what they did day in and day out and not believe. And with belief came power and protection. It was a comfortable trade off for Sam who had always quietly been a believer anyway.
"We can do it in the morning." Father Pavel said, wanting to get it done quickly before it would cause Sam serious harm. Right now, only the most minor of discomfort. Religion and its sacraments shouldn't be about pain, after all. Unless you were a weirdo nutso freak. Pain would come to Sam in time because of his faith, but it would be an after effect, not the point of it.
Sam nodded, as he set up the lap top. He wanted to find out what the man formerly known as Hendrickson actually was. He didn't know if he could figure it out, but he could try at least. Anything that could disappear in to thin air could get at Dean in prison. "Okay. Sunrise?" He asked as he started surfing the hunter sites.
"Sunrise." Father Pavel said. "I've always liked sunrises." As Sam knew so well. They were nearly a daily baptism and renewal in and of themselves.
+++
Jack downed the bottle of beer and rose to get another one. "Well it could have gone worse today... I think..." Some of the testimony was pretty damning even though it was given by nut jobs and con men. That little bomb shell still floored him.
Ben nodded at Jack as he passed and continued to talk on the phone. His unplugged phone. But he had friends in very low places. He spoke in a hushed whisper, but even if he'd been overheard, Jack wouldn't have understood. Not all demons, like not all people, spoke English. Even Ben's choice of vocabulary could be strange at times. But he wanted to know about this Hendrickson. Was he after Sam, through Dean? Was he after Dean? Or Winchesters in general, which would mean trouble for Jack. Which was to be avoided at all costs. Then he plugged his phone back in.
"Oh yeah. Dean could have lost control and attacked any number of the witnesses." Ben said. "Though it would have made for damn good television. I would have even taped it." They attended the court room sessions, so there was no need to tape it. Dean's supporters quietly sitting behind him as he was defamed, disgraced and insulted.
"Yeah... I thought he was going to for a minute there when Gordon Walker started mouthing off about Sam needing to die. Gotta give him credit for staying put. Then that FBI agent was something else. I can't believe he wasn't for real. I mean I'm grateful but... this whole thing is insanity. The man is on trial for murders that were solved already and accused by bigger nut cases than... well the lady down the block with the cats... she is looking really sane now in comparison."
"There's nothing wrong with the lady down the block. Besides an obsession with cats and an untreated paranoid schizoaffective disorder." Ben said with a chuckle. "Come on, did you really believe anything involving your brother would play out in a sane, orderly way? If you did, obviously I screwed up somewhere along the way in raising you to believe in, oh I don't know, reality."
"I pretty much expected things like FBI agents to be normal regardless of their involvement in Dean's life. Guess now I know better. So does Regan think this is a good thing or a bad thing cause, wow this could go either way."
"She thinks it's a good thing. Remember she's bringing a bunch of witnesses, who will lie, but they'll lie for a good cause, right? The jury was scared of Gordon. Hell, he gave me the creeps." Ben said. "I think Regan can get him off. Then he can't be tried for any of this ever again."
Jack nodded. "Yeah...that's something to hope for anyway. And the majority of them aren't really lying... just... forgetting a few details... like posing as an officer of the law, and you know... being there in the first place." He frowned a little. "Kaylie's running a bit late today, isn't she?"
Ben looked at the clock and frowned himself. "She's definitely late for Little Miss Prompt." He said. Then he turned on the TV to the all news channel, no traffic hold ups anywhere. "She's probably just late. Or she really did leave you for the tentacled alien to follow Melissa Etheridge around the country."
"Yeah... it's possible..." Jack said distractedly. Then groaned. "The late part is possible... Jeez, you would think people would forget that eventually." He laughed a little.
"Not a chance." Ben said. "It's too good. Though she struck me more as a Tori Amos girl than a Melissa Etheridge girl, but hey, to each their own."
Kaylie came in then. "Sorry! Got held up at the prison. They had to search the unopened bag of M&Ms, then I had to make sure they got to Dean without the guards eating them."
"They had to search the M&M's... then again after today's court room antics, you never know what those little M&M guys would do." Jack said as he went to pull his girlfriend into a hug.
"Well, we should report the guards for holding you up. Thought Jack was going to have a conniption fit." Ben said with a chuckle.
Kaylie laughed and hugged him back. "Yeah, those M&M guys are troublemakers. What with vying for the green M&M girl's affections and all. You okay?"
"Yeah, Hendrickson escaped from custody. Was kinda worried about both of you really." Jack said with a sigh. "Today has just... had me kinda wigged out."
"He escaped?" Kaylie said. "Oh boy. He's probably replaced Dean on the Most Wanted list. He's gonna be pissed." She said and kissed him. "I'm fine. I think one of the guards wanted to strip search me, but he thought better of it."
"That's good cause I don't want to wind up in a cell next to Dean which is what would happen if he had touched you. Did you tell him you knew a better way for him to see naked girls?"
"Uh huh!" She said with a grin. "Dancing around his head instead of stars after my boyfriend got done with him. Seeing as the boyfriend in question is the brother of their most dangerous guest, that pretty much shut him up."
"Nice." Ben said with a laugh. "Soon your reputation will precede you."
"Haven't had to punch anyone out since high school." Jack said with a laugh. "Would rather not start with prison guards, but what the hell. Maybe I should go with you next time and glare at him or something."
"I believe the last time you punched someone it was over her, as well." Ben said with a shake of his head. "Women. They, well, they keep us in shape, don't they?"
"Well, someone has to, right?" Kaylie said.
"Beats what keeps Dean in shape." Jack said. "Well Ben says that things actually went pretty well today... although all I saw was a substantial amount of insanity following him. But I guess I would be able to eat if you wanted to go get something."
"Actually, yeah, I do." Kaylie said. "A nice normal piece of time is so what's needed."
Ben laughed. "Go on. I've got a marathon to watch."
"You know.. you are way too fixated on Jennifer Garner." Ben said as he grabbed his jacket. "What are you in the mood for rabbit food or cowboy food?" He asked her as he walked her toward the door.
"I definitely want some ribs." She said with a laugh. "All that having to sit still, and look squeaky clean all the time...I need some nice, messy ribs." That was Regan's idea. Supportive family behind Dean. Supportive, clean, respectable upstanding family behind Dean. And not that they weren't. But it was tiresome to have to absolutely look the part absolutely all the time.
Regan stared at the deposition before her, then looked up at Diana Ballard. "You have to be utterly convincing up there tomorrow. You and Rebecca are my key witnesses. The ones that can take the death penalty off the table completely. If he gets even a whiff of uncertainly from you, he will make you think I'm a docile little pussy cat on cross."
"What do you want from me?" Diana said, frustrated as she took another drink of coffee. "I don't know Dean Winchester. I never heard of him until I was questioned by the US Attorneys. I might have glanced his name on the wanted list, but he wasn't in my jurisdiction." She looked at Regan, practice over. "I let his brother destroy evidence. I altered police reports. Because I know what those boys really do, and I know Dean is innocent. I'm doing everything I can do."
"So that's what happened to all that lovely physical evidence." Regan said shaking her head. "I'm not sure I want to know how he managed to get a hold of the evidence but there isn't so much as a photo of a grave site. Their finger prints aren't even on record anywhere but locally since Dean was arrested here. But right now, with everything turning into a circus, if they catch wind of a conspiracy on our part, it's gonna be like blood in the water. Unfortunately that blood is going to be Dean's."
"I know." Diana said. "Look, those two boys, they've been through and seen more than anyone should ever have to. I know that. But...I shot my partner to protect them. I falsified reports. I lied to everyone about this. How much more am I expected to give?"
"What ever it takes to be convincing on that stand tomorrow. You are my first witness in the morning. Go back to your hotel room, get some rest and tomorrow we can get this behind you and you can go home. But if you can't do this, tell me now and I won't call you up there."
"I can do it." Diana said with a sigh as she gathered her coat to go get a stiff drink and go to sleep.
But she came to court the next morning bright and early, and passed by Dean without giving him a second look as she made her way to the witness stand and was sworn in.
"Detective Ballard, you were originally on the prosecution's witness list. Can you tell me why they called you in?" Regan asked.
"They wanted to know what I knew about one Dean Winchester." Diana said. "And his connection to a case I had been on a few years back. Of course, they ran into a problem that their information was faulty. I'd never heard of Dean Winchester or his brother Samuel Winchester. They asked me for three days, over and over, if I knew either of them. The first time I saw Dean Winchester's face was when they showed me a picture of him. That was the first time."
"The case you were working on. It's one of the crimes my client stands accused of today. Can you tell me if you have closed your investigation of those murders, and if so why?"
"We have." Diana said. "Peter Sheridan confessed to the murders of Tony and Karen Giles, along with the murder of Claire Becker. He had motive, means and plenty of opportunity. He confessed to me." She exhaled when Regan pressed for more details. "Peter Sheridan was a detective, my partner. He'd gotten mixed up in drugs and money laundering, along with Tony Giles. When Tony threatened to come clean, Peter killed him. And Karen, just in case she knew anything. I...I shot him when he tried to kill me."
"No further questions." She said and went back to her seat, hopeful that Ted Silver didn't have a nose for the deception going on with Diana. She was gaining headway and didn't want to lose it the same way she had gained it. Through a powerful cross examination.
"So you never met Dean Winchester." Ted Silver said.
"No."
"Which means you and your partner never interrogated him or his brother."
"No."
"And that means that Dean Winchester never confessed on videotape?"
"Not to my knowledge and not in Baltimore."
"There is no tape that people like to watch because they find it funny?"
"No. But if you find it, let me know. Sounds like something I'd like to watch."
"And if I dragged people in here who have seen the tape?"
"Oh you mean the rookies who drink and watch tapes? Sure, go ahead. Of course, like I said, they're usually drunk. And this trial has been on the news non stop, so who knows what they believe." Diana said.
Ted shook his head and sighed a bit. Looking forward to a long vacation in Florida. "No more questions." He said and returned to his seat as Diana was dismissed.
"I would like to call Rebecca Warren to the stand." Regan said, and watched as the pretty blonde made her way to the witness box, giving Dean an apologetic look as she walked by. Once she was sworn in Regan approached the stand.
"I know that you have been through a terrible ordeal and it's hard to talk about but could you explain to the court, in your own words, what happened three years ago in St. Louis?"
"I feel terrible about all of this. It's all my fault." Rebecca said.
"No. You are a victim; it's never the victims fault when things like this happen. Please, Miss Warren, can you tell us about the events that lead up to your meeting my client?"
Rebecca nodded. "My brother Zack and I went to school with Sam - ahm... Dean's brother. He had taken some time off after graduation, and Zack and I went back to St. Louis where we had grown up for a long weekend. One day the police came and arrested Zack saying that he had murdered his girlfriend. But I knew that he couldn't have done it. Sam and I were still writing back and forth on email, so I told him about it. He and Dean arrived a couple of days later."
"So to your knowledge the Winchesters weren't even anywhere near St.Louis when the murders started?"
"That's correct." She said.
"You were the one to first accuse Mr. Winchester, can you tell us what happened?"
"Sam and Dean were looking into things, we didn't figure they could do anything but they wanted to see what they could find out anyway. That's the kind of friend Sam was. Anyway, someone came to the door and I thought it was Dean. I had only met him once in passing and I was so upset about Zack being in jail that I didn't really pay much attention to him. By the time Sam got me calmed down, they were back out the door. So I thought this guy was Dean, he really did look a lot like him, Even now the resemblance is kinda creepy."
She brought a trembling hand up to her face and told the court what had happened to her. Regan brought her a glass of water. "Its' alright, take your time." She figured if she could get the gruesome details of the attack out of the way there wouldn't be too much left for Ted to manipulate in cross. "So the swat team arrived in time to save you, but the killer got away. What happened then?"
"Well, I went to the hospital and the police station to make the report. Sam called but I screamed at him that I never wanted to see or hear from him again. I didn't even really tell him why. He tried a couple more times to talk to be but I wouldn't give him the chance. I didn't know what to think- whether or not he was involved or what was going on. The police had told me not to let on that I knew who it was or that I had told them." That much was true at least. They didn't want to compromise their chances of catching Dean.
"When did you realize that it wasn't Dean Winchester that attacked you?" Regan asked.
"When I saw his face on the most wanted list in the post office."
"Why was that such a shock if he had gotten away after your attack?"
"He didn't... or rather the killer didn't. I killed him myself." She said and took another long drink of water.
"Can you explain that to the court?" Regan asked. "Take your time; I know this is hard for you."
"When I got out of the hospital that night I was so scared, I couldn't hardly think straight. I bought a gun off some guy on the street. I know it was wrong but I didn't think I could wait for all the paper work to clear. It was a good thing I didn't. The next night the ... guy... showed up again. He ahm... was going to finish what he started and I was able to shoot him first."
"And you are positive it was the same man that had come into your home the night before?"
"I'm positive. You don't forget the face of a man who ties you to a chair and starts to cut on you for fun. "She said."Especially not when you thought they were someone you could trust. And like I said until a few months ago I had thought it really had been Dean Winchester.
"Is there any way that the man you shot could have survived and gotten away?"
Rebecca shook her head. "I stood there and stared at the body terrified that if I turned my back it would get up and come after me again. I stood there staring at it until the police came... and it lay there while they processed the scene in my parents' home... and then they put it into a black bag and hauled it off to the morgue. The officers checked for signs of life and then later the coroner did the same... they jabbed a long thermometer into his liver... can't imagine not reacting to that. Besides they buried him a few days later."
"Did you ever contact Sam Winchester again?"
"No. I thought I had killed his brother. Thought he had brought the monster into my home. It wasn't something I was willing to talk about or deal with."
"What about when you found out that it wasn't Dean?"
"He was on the most wanted list. I didn't know that it was because of me. Thought it was something else. I still didn't want anything to do with him. In fact, it's hard to look at him even though I know it's not his fault. That he was never the one that hurt me. "
"Your honor I would like to enter into evidence the police report regarding both attacks on Ms. Warren, also the coroner's report on the man they assumed to be Dean Winchester, and the grave site where the killer's body was lain to rest." She handed over a copy to the judge to look over before adding it into the evidence the jury would be perusing during their deliberations. "I have no further questions for this witness."
Ted Silver got slowly to his feet as he approached the witness. "Ms. Warren, you've had to rehash a horrible ordeal. I'll make this brief."
"Thank you." Rebecca said.
"I've looked at the police report, and the coroner's report. The man they examined was killed with two perfect shots to the chest. Have you ever owned a gun before?"
"No."
"Had you ever fired a gun before?"
"No."
"But you made two perfect shots into the heart."
"I was lucky."
"Your parents' house was also pretty trashed. As if a fight had ensued. Did you struggle with the man you shot?"
"No. That was from earlier when he had...tied me up..."
"It's not in the police report from that attack."
"They must have missed it. I don't know both happened on the same night."
"To your knowledge, where were Dean Winchester and his brother that night?"
"I don't know, I never saw them again. After I screamed at Sam, they might have left town."
"So the neighbor that saw Dean and Sam in front of your house the next morning is...wrong?"
"Yes. I left that next morning. A friend picked me up, but it wasn't Sam." Rebecca said. She glanced at Regan, she was lying. Completely and totally lying about everything except that Dean hadn't been her torturer. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. So she started crying instead. Wasn't hard, with that night so forefront in her mind.
"Objection your honor, counsel is badgering the witness." Regan said, glad that she had started crying. "Ms. Warren was a victim and is not on trial here."
"Sustained." The judge said and Ted sighed as he glanced at the ceiling.
"No more questions for this witness." He said as he went back to his table. The case was slipping away, and he couldn't figure out why. It was supposed to be a slam dunk. But now the evidence was missing, his witnesses were crap, and her witnesses, he was sure they were lying. Could he prove it? No. But he KNEW they were.
"Redirect your honor." Regan said as she got up and made her way over to Rebecca. "It's alright, I hate to keep putting you through this." She said as she handed the young woman a tissue. "Did the police ever question that you were the one who shot your assailant? Did they bring you in for questioning? Do anything at all to make you believe that they didn't believe you?"
"No." Rebecca said honestly. "I just...just aimed at the biggest part of him and hoped and prayed that I hit him... The officer said I was lucky but it was probably because I was so close to him... just a few feet away. "
"And your friend that picked you up the next morning. I take it he was young, blonde and wore a leather jacket?"
Rebecca nodded. "Yes."
"No further questions your honor." Regan said and waited for her to step down before calling her next witness. Regan filled the remainder of the morning with witness after witness who had nothing to say but amazing things about Dean. How they had helped search for one woman's missing brother, saved another's son from drowning. It was several hours' worth of the Heroic Tales of the Brothers Winchester. Minus all the rock salt, silver rounds and body burning excitement of course. There was no mention of the supernatural what so ever ... that is ... until Lenore took the stand. Lenore was the ideal witness. Practiced at the white lies necessary to keep her identity a secret, she perfectly portrayed the grateful rescued damsel. Filling the court's ears with how Gordon Walker was a mad man who thought she was a vampire. How he had tied her to a chair and was torturing her when Sam and Dean had come to her rescue. How Gordon had attacked Sam and cut his arm open over the top of her. How they had risked their lives to save her, and had tied Gordon up to give her time to get far away. That Dean had told Gordon they were nothing alike. That he would never harm a human being.
Regan rested her case, then began her closing statements.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I almost feel guilty standing before you now. We've kept you away from your families, your jobs, and subjected you to the media every day, so that the US Attorney's office could treat you to a three ring circus.
"You have been subjected to a madman's testimony of vampires and demons. You've been forced to watch as a young man trying to salvage his life from his own drunken haze used my client's misfortune to gain his 15 minutes of fame. You have been made to listen to experts giving their opinion on crime scene data that they have never seen. In fact no one in this court room has seen it. Not myself, not you, not the prosecution. There is a reason for that. It doesn't exist.
She stood before them looking each juror in the eyes. "Dean Winchester is a young man that has traveled across America doing odd jobs, and strangely enough helping people. We all know people who give of themselves in major ways. The grass roots garden variety American hero. The sort of person most of us all would like to be. But how many of those people who give so greatly would then turn around and commit the heinous acts my client stands accused of? How do you reconcile a man who would save a small boy from drowning or defend a young woman against small town prejudice with a man who would commit acts of violence and sadism?"
She began to pace. "And let's look at those heinous acts shall we? We have testimony to support that Dean Winchester was not responsible for the deaths in St. Louis . The sole piece of evidence that the state has been able to produce against my client is a tomb stone with his name on it. A confused young woman who shot and killed her assailant believed him to be Dean Winchester. The fact that she killed the man should constitute as evidence that my client is innocent as he sits before you today, awaiting your disposition on his very life.
"The lead investigator of the case in Baltimore has never seen Dean Winchester or his brother before in her life. There was no physical evidence what so ever to even say that my client was in Baltimore, much less at any of their crime scenes.
"The prosecution lists grave desecrations but can't produce any evidence of the desecration. Not so much as a photograph or police report. They bring you one long term alcoholic with a history of drinking on the job to identify my client as the man he let into the morgue, yet this man can't identify someone he met a week ago for over an hour.
"You have heard testimony from the security guard in the bank, whose life was saved by my client. They claim that he was armed and dangerous at the time but have no evidence to support that claim. No video tape, nothing. The swat team that was rendered unconscious can't even identify my client as the man who attacked them.
"The Prosecution opened this case by telling you this wasn't about emotion, this was about Truth. Truth... there is nothing more emotional and subjective in this world than the Truth. To Gordon Walker the Truth is that Lenore Patterson is a vampire and should die. The truth to Special Agent Hendrickson is that Dean Winchester is a violent homicidal threat to society. But Special Agent Hendrickson, who sat before you and proclaimed my client's guilt, was a fraud. In fact he is now a fugitive from justice himself.
"Your job ladies and gentlemen isn't to discover your own truth. That is for philosophers and holy men. Your job today is to look at evidence. Does any of the evidence presented to you here link my client to any of these crimes. Is there a single solitary finger print, DNA sample, or credible eye witness putting my client at the crime scene? Has the state been able to even prove that Dean Winchester was ever even arrested?
"It's not up to me to prove to you that Dean Winchester is innocent. It's up to Mr. Silver to prove to you that he isn't. Has he done that? Has he actually proven anything?
"These are the questions you need to ask yourselves as you retire to deliberate. Has Mr. Silver proven to you beyond the shadow of a doubt... the SHADOW of a doubt€¦ that Dean Winchester is guilty of these crimes, or are these cases already solved. A young man's life is in your hands today. Mr. Silver has requested the death penalty based upon the evidence brought before you. Is there really enough evidence to sentence a young man to death?
"Was there really enough evidence to go to trial? Or was Mr. Silver and the grand jury simply caught up in the emotion and so called truth of Special Agent Hendrickson, with nothing more than smoke and mirrors to back it up? Mr. Silver came to you with earnest sincere intent to protect us all from the sort of monster that would commit all these crimes. But that monster is not my client, ladies and gentlemen."
Once more with a calm serene demeanor, Regan Bruner turned away from the jury and walked back over to sit down beside her client. Her job was done. Provided she had done it well, and if not she would have them in court time and again on appeal until the matter was resolved to her satisfaction.
Ted Silver took a drink of water, and desperately wished it was vodka instead. This had to be the biggest karmic joke ever played on him.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm not like Ms. Bruner. I don't get to pick my cases. I'm appointed by the federal government to prosecute federal crimes as they cross my desk. And they only get to cross my desk with the evidence to back them up.
"Was Special Agent Victor Hendrickson a fraud? It appears he was. It appears he duped the whole justice system, up to the FBI which has the highest security clearance. For one purpose, and that was to bring Dean Winchester down. Why would a man do that? He did have a psych eval with the FBI, he was sane. This wasn't some school yard vendetta carried over into adulthood. Hendrickson knew something about Dean that worried him. That should worry us.
"Our law is a quirky thing. Shadow of a doubt, reasonable doubt, innocent until proven guilty. But he still ran. Somehow he got out of a bank swarmed with SWAT officers. A bank that no one came out of until it was discovered that Dean Winchester and his brother had already fled.
"Ms. Regan has filled your heads with stories of Dean Winchester's heroism. His good deeds that he refused any repayment for. Of course she would. That's her job to paint her client in the best possible light. She spoke of smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors and tricks of light. Evidence gone missing as we went to trial, but evidence that was available when the warrants were filled out and filed. Evidence that was there when the FBI chose him for their ten most wanted list. More smoke and mirrors, ladies and gentlemen.
"I am not maliciously prosecuting Dean Winchester. If I hadn't met the burden of proof, the grand jury would not have indicted. But smoke and mirrors, ladies and gentlemen. It's all smoke and mirrors to make Dean Winchester look like the boy we want living next door. The one we want to pull over and help us when our car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
"But these crimes. An inconclusive exhumation of the man Rebecca Warren claims she shot. Torture, dabbling in the occult, murder, assault on officers of the law...will you really allow the smoke and mirrors she calls the shadow of a doubt release this man back into our community? Back into our neighborhoods? Near our children's schools? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we've assigned you with a serious task. I can't emphasize that enough. So as you deliberate, think of the smoke and mirrors."
He rested his case, wishing he was fishing right now.
"Okay... now we wait. They'll take you back to a cell for now and we'll be called back in when the jury comes back with their verdict." She said quietly to Dean. "I can't promise, Juries have convicted on less but I think we are doing well here. Hang in there. Before you know it this will be over."
"Thank you." Dean said sincerely. But he was scared. He wasn't dumb, he knew the jury was in that room right now deciding which extreme of Dean Winchester they believed more. Monster, homicidal Dean who was a danger to everyone around him. Or Selfless Hero Dean who helped people everywhere he went, pulling kittens out of trees and carrying groceries for old ladies. He wasn't either, really. But he gave the row behind him an assuring smile as he was led back to the holding cell.
The row behind him contained Jack, Kaylie and Ben (who had been suckered in) and Kaylie squeezed Jack's hand. "I'm going to go get a soda, you want anything?"
"A valium would be good." Jack being the one person in the room who was as scared as Dean right then. He looked at Ben and smiled sheepishly his thanks. He knew his brother wouldn't die regardless, Ben wouldn't let it happen, but it didn't make it any less frightening that there were people right now deciding if Dean Winchester deserved to live or die. "Nah... I don't need anything honey." He said to Kaylie. "Probably couldn't keep it down right now." He admitted.
Regan walked over to Ted Silver. "Sorry if I made you come off as a fool in this whole proceeding. Not your fault really. Hendrickson or whatever his name is handed you a really pretty package of nothing to deal with."
Kaylie kissed Jack and headed off to the vending machines as Ted looked at Regan.
"Something's not right about this case. I can't explain it, but missing evidence? Witnesses kamikazing on the stand?" He shook his head. "I don't get to pick my cases, Regan. I just prosecute what comes across my desk. That's thing, it never would have crossed my desk if there really wasn't anything there!"
"What came across your desk was the creation of Victor Hendrickson. I didn't manufacture the closed murder cases, Ted. You got screwed because the FBI didn't keep an eye on their own. He convinced the grand jury there was evidence that just wasn't there. How ever this turns out I owe you a drink when it's all over. "
"Might as well buy me a drink now." Ted said, looking at his watch. "Court's out for the day. My guess they won't come back with a verdict any earlier than 72 hours." He was good at predicting deliberation times. There were even pools on how often he was right on that, and he was right more often than not. "I hope you're on the right side of this, because if Dean Winchester is half as scary as my case made him out to be, or would have had I any evidence, I wouldn't want him free."
"I am, Ted. And believe me... my job is done, nothing I say here would change a thing... he is not the monster they painted him out to be. If he were, you wouldn't have Gordon Walker up there making a fool of himself. Hell, I think he should get sainthood for letting that little bastard live. Come on. I think I can afford to foot a steak dinner along with that drink. You've earned it." She said with a laugh.
Ted laughed at that. "You're on." The bailiff came in and dismissed court, saying the jury was deliberating.
Ben looked at his watch. "Come on, Kaylie's probably still waiting by the vending machines."
Jack nodded, still staring at the door where the jury had disappeared into. "Yeah. Let's go find her and then get something to eat." It was a toss up whether or not he wanted to eat everyone out of house and home when stressed or if food was his worst enemy. Right now he wanted to find a buffet and eat himself silly. It was a girl thing to do but it was better than drinking himself into oblivion. Which was yet another option.
"It'll be fine." Ben said. "We've got a contingency plan, remember?" He reminded Jack as they exited the court room behind other people. The media was being held at bay, at least until they were outside the court house. Then it would be fair game, unfortunately. Ben looked up and down the hall. "Okay...vending machines are...that way I think."
"Right." Jack said as he turned down the hall. "Kaylie?" He called out looking through the crowd that had gathered to see the day's court. Regan had been right. It had been a three ring circus and attracted as many tourists as the beach for the last week. He stood up on his toes and peered into the crowd. "Kay?"
Ben looked around, finding the vending machines and moving in for a closer look. Because Kaylie was, well, short. But she wasn't by the vending machines. Her purse was, however. And a buzzing that was fading, that most wouldn't pick up on. "Jack!" He said, waving him over.
Jack pushed his way through the people, as they started to thin out, having come to the realization that it wasn't going to be a quick decision for the jury. "What is it?" He asked.
He handed Jack Kaylie's purse. "We might have a bit of a problem." He said as the buzzing faded. "Might be a big one too." He was really reconsidering his decision to let Jack's brothers barrel their way into his and Jack's life right now.