The hours recess granted by Judge Ruse flew by. Alex and I grabbed a coffee, but by the time we'd finished them; it was time to go back into court.
Toni-Rea had been taken back to her foster home, I took my seat behind Alex and waited for Judge Ruse to come back and the closing statements to begin.
Everyone was were they were meant to be, Alex stood up to make her closing statement when she was abruptly interrupted.
"Judge Ruse, my client would like to make a statement. I know this is short notice and we apologise, but she would like to have her day in court."
"Miss Cabot, do you have any exceptions?"
Alex looked at me, then at Judge Ruse, "Well, I'm not prepared for cross examination..." Alex paused, "The people agree." Alex took her seat whilst the defence called Mrs Lillian Parks to the stand.
"Mrs Parks..." Kevin Sacks began.
"Oh, dear, please call me Lillian."
"Lillian, this entire case we've heard how you've done wrong, but not once have we heard what you have to say. Tell me about the girls you take in."
"Well, I own a school for young ladies. We take in girls who have lost their families from all over the world. We teach them the American way of life, and then we send them off to live with respectable families."
"What kind of backgrounds do these young ladies come from?"
"Most of them have lost their families, or at least one parent. We take them in, teach them, love them and give them a family environment. Some of the girls have seen their families murdered, their siblings killed right in front of their eyes."
"Can you tell us all what really happened on the night Marni lost her life?"
"Oh yes of course, well I had a terrible feeling that young Marni had fallen into the hands of people who might not be good parents. So naturally I was concerned. Young Toni-Rea was jealous, she was so angry."
"Objection, how does Mrs Parks know how Toni-Rea was feeling?" Alex said almost mocking Sacks' earlier attack.
"Answer the question Mrs Parks." Judge Ruse said.
"Toni-Rea was a lovely girl, but she started following Marni. She would make comments in spite about how Marni had run off with police officers. Something inside her changed." Lillian said calmly and sweetly.
"So you were concerned about Toni-Rea because of her behaviour?" Kevin Sacks asked Lillian.
"Of course, I love my girls like they're my own children. When I saw Toni becoming irrational and jealous, I couldn't help but worry."
"So what really happened the night of Marni's murder?"
"I followed Toni-Rea to detective Benson's house. Marni was outside, I believe she was about to enter the apartment. Toni and Marni began fighting and arguing about their lives, how Toni-Rea wanted detective Benson as her mother. She was in a jealous rage, she pulled out a knife, I fought with her, took her by surprise and got the knife away from her. Then Toni over powered me, she slit Marni's throat, she froze. I couldn't help Marni, there was so much blood and her eyes were lifeless; so I took the knife out of Toni's hands. My car was outside, I told her to take her clothes off, the gas can in the back of my car was filled with water. I poured it over her and gave her a cardigan I'd knitted a few years ago. Then I drove a few blocks and disposed of the knife."
"Why did you do all of this?"
"I love Toni, she's like my own daughter. I had to protect her, it was like a maternal instinct I couldn't deny."
"So what you're saying is that you didn't murder Marni, you covered it up because you were trying to protect someone with no family, living in America, thousands of miles from their home country?" Sacks asked clasping his hands together for the jury.
"Yes, that's exactly what I did dear." Lillian said with a small, soft nod of the head.
"Thank you Lillian, your witness Miss Cabot."
Alex stood up, she was totally unprepared but had jotted down a few points she could make. "Mrs Parks you were here when Toni-Rea was in the courtroom were you not?"
"Yes dear, I was here."
"So why do you repeatedly call Toni-Rea, Toni?"
"Laziness I suppose." Lillian replied.
Alex smiled and looked down showing an exaggerated expression to the jury making them all lean in, in curiosity. "You're too lazy to call someone by their name, even when that person stated clear as day in open court that her name is Toni-Rea."
"Well, I wouldn't say that."
"If you're too lazy to call someone by their name, why should we believe that you're not too lazy to take care of these girls, in the way you'd like us to believe."
Lillian stuttered, "I... Erm... I love my girls. So I shortened her name, it doesn't mean I'd hurt them."
"If that is the case, then why have you stopped protecting Toni-Rea now?" Alex asked finding herself getting more and more confident.
"She needs to be taught a lesson that jealousy is a sin, and so is lying. I can only hope that God will forgive me."
Alex forced herself not to roll her eyes, "Right. Okay." Alex said in a disbelieving tone. "You say you took in girls from across the world who had troubled lives or lost their parents, correct?"
"That's correct." Lillian replied.
"Are you a registered social worker?" Alex asked perching on the edge of her desk.
"No."
"Are you a registered agent of the law?"
"No." Lillian Parks moved uncomfortably on her seat.
"Then it begs the question, if you had no way of knowing these girls were without families, how did you find them?" Alex's right eyebrow raised.
"I, they." Lillian cleared her throat. "I have friends that worked with me, we found them and offered them a new life in America. They jumped at the chance of a new life here."
Alex smirked, she'd broken Lillian's focus. "Mrs Parks, we have you on tape selling these girls you cared for, 'for pleasure'. I find it hard to believe that a woman who sells minors to men for sex can really love and care about these girls..."
"Objection! Is Miss Cabot going to ask a question?"
"Sorry Your Honour," Alex said, "Mrs Parks you say you took the knife from Toni-Rea, so she had it first?"
"Yes. I took it away from her, but she got it back. Then I took it away from her and disposed of it."
"Okay, you see I'm having trouble believing that because when we tested the murder weapon for finger prints, we did find both yours and Toni-Rea's on it. Can you explain to us how yours were the first set of prints we found?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean Miss Cabot."
"Let me explain this to you, when the lab lifted prints from the knife they had to take them off layer by layer. The first set of prints they lifted were Toni-Rea's meaning she was the last person to touch the knife, underneath hers were yours, then before yours, Toni-Rea's and the first layer of finger prints came back to you. That means you held the knife first, not Toni-Rea. How do you explain that?"
"I'm sorry dear I still don't quite understand. I'm old you see."
Alex took out a cardboard cut out, she propped it up to show the jury, judge and Lillian. "This is the knife," she said pointing to the picture, "As you can see, a technician has given you a key here to show you four sets of finger prints. The purple set of prints are yours Mrs Parks, as you can all see the purple prints are the least visible on the photo of the knife. That's because they belong to the person who first held the knife. The green prints belong to Toni-Rea, they are the second set of prints on the knife overlapping Mrs Parks purple prints. The pink prints again belong to you Mrs Parks, overlapping both the green and purple prints, then you have the orange finger prints that belong to Toni-Rea. Do you understand now Mrs Parks?"
Lillian shrugged, "I think I can comprehend that."
Alex perched herself on the edge of her desk, she looked down slightly and removed her reading glasses; then she folded them up, clasped them in her right hand and stood up. "So you understand that forensically this proves your story to be a lie?"
"I, no!"
"Mrs Parks forensics can prove that you were the first person holding that knife, that means you didn't take it from Toni-Rea! It proves you've lied about the events that involved the knife."
"No! That's not true!" Lillian shouted getting to her feet.
"No more questions Your Honour." Alex said sitting down. She shot a smile at me, I winked at her feeling so proud of her. Even completely blitz attacked she could stand her ground, and win.
Sacks declined a redirect, "Miss Cabot are you ready to start your summation?"
"I am Your Honour." Alex stood up, she walked to the jury box, she stood in three feet away in the middle so everyone could focus on her. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you've heard Mrs Parks auctioning off underage girls for sex. You've heard a scared girl's testimony about the cold blooded murder of a child, and what was it for? Because Marni had found a new home. That's not love, that's not care or concern, that's control. Forensics prove that Mrs Parks is lying about who touched the knife first which calls into question everything she has said throughout the trial. You can not trust her, you know you can't trust her, but those innocent girls who had no one trusted her. Marni trusted Mrs Parks and now she is dead, and that lady there killed her." Alex said pointing to Mrs Parks. She dropped her arm and looked at every juror in the eyes as the silence forced everyone's attention back on Alex. "Everything points to the defendant, all the evidence points to one person. There is no question in my mind that Lillian Parks not only killed Marni, but took the most vulnerable children from seven different countries and sold them to paedophiles. She promised them a new life, with love. She promised them the American dream but instead she stole their childhoods and lead them to live a life of sexual abuse and rape. We don't know for sure how many children have been in the care of Mrs Parks, but we do know we saved twelve girls the night the police arrested her. Who knows how many girls we've saved right up to this very day? You need to find Mrs Parks guilty to help save God only knows how many other children. If something terrible happened to you and your family, would you want someone like Mrs Parks taking your daughter, granddaughter or niece? I know I wouldn't. It is your duty now to protect the children of America and the world today. Make the right decision, find Mrs Parks guilty on all counts."
I felt butterflies in my stomach, Alex's summation was on point as always. She'd rocked it. I watched as Kevin Sacks stood up to make his closing argument.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mrs Parks is an elderly woman. She is not capable of murder, she is a kind, loving woman who's only downfall was to love a child so much she protected her from a murder charge. It would be an injustice to find my client guilty. How could anyone think that Mrs Parks could over power a young, healthy teenager? It's not possible, if both Marni and Toni-Rea wanted to stop Lillian, then surely they could have. This is just a ploy to get someone in jail to take the rap for this murder. It's a terrible loss, but it's not my clients fault. She's just a old lady, like your mothers or grandmothers. Are they really capable of murder? No, just like my client isn't. Do the right thing, find her not guilty."
Judge Ruse looked at the jury, instructed them of their duty then dismissed them. Court was adjourned until the verdict came back. Alex and I headed out for a coffee, we picked one up at a stand outside the court house.
"You were brilliant in there." I said feeling very proud.
Alex smiled at me, "You guys did all the hard work, I just presented it."
"Don't do that." I said taking Alex's hand, "You were amazing, accept the praise."
"If you insist." Alex laughed, "I did kick ass."
I smiled, "You sure did, and when Lillian took the stand, that was genius. She proved herself guilty, I don't think we could have asked for more."
Alex nodded, "As soon as this case is over, we can focus back on Sadie and her daddy. Have you heard everything else on the bears?"
I felt shock run through me, I'd almost forgotten about the exploding bears. I'd gotten myself so wrapped up in Lillian's case I'd let the rape case go cold. "Crap! Alex..." I started.
"It's fine, Munch and Fin have been working the case with Amanda to keep it warm for you."
"You did that for me?"
"Well, I know how hard this case has been for you, and I knew you'd want to see it through to the end and so did the rest of the squad. They're all on your side Liv."
I hugged Alex, "Thank you, you're the best."
Alex smiled, "Of course I am." she said, "But be careful, you shouldn't fluff my ego too much." she laughed.
Before I could say anything else, Alex's phone rang, she picked it up. "The juries back."
"That was quick." I said looking at my watch, "Forty five minutes deliberation."
"That's either really good, or really bad." Alex said as we made our way back to the court.
Everyone sat in silence as the jury filed back in to their seats. Judge Ruse sat down and asked the head juror to stand.
"On twelve counts of human trafficking, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"Is everyone agreed beyond reasonable doubt?" Judge Ruse asked.
"Yes Your Honour."
"On the twelve counts of selling minors for sex, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"Is everyone agreed?"
"Yes."
"On the count of murder, how do you find the defendant?"
"We are hung Your Honour."
"And you can not come to a conclusion on your own?"
"No ma'am."
"Thank you." Judge Ruse said, turning to face Lillian Parks. "You have been found guilty and will be sentenced to twelve consecutive life sentences. Because the jury is hung, I conclude that you are guilty of murder and will serve another life sentence." Judge Ruse banged her gavel, "Remove Mrs Parks from my courtroom."