Chapter Thirty: Alley Cat
It is the opening day of Kate's trial. Kate sits at the defendant's table, her lawyer talking lowly to her, hiding their faces behind a folder. Lucas sits with a police escort, handcuffed, wearing an orange jumpsuit, waiting to be called to the stand. His face is split in an ear to ear grin. He can hardly remember the last time he was so excited. He looks over to where EJ and Sami sit, grins even wider, and raises his eyebrows. EJ gives him a small smile and a wink, then looks away as quickly as possible. "I wonder how many times Kate dropped him on his head as a child," he thinks to himself. He puts his arm on the back of Sami's chair; she leans forward slightly and he lets the arm slide down so that it's around her waist. She looks over at him without turning her head and they both smile.
Vivian sits between Victor and Phillip. Belle decided not to go because she thought the whole thing was too icky, really. Vivian holds Phillip's hand in both of hers; Victor has his arm across her shoulders. Kate happens to look up and see Victor leaning over to whisper something in someone's ear. "I wonder who that is sitting with them?" she asks herself. Victor leans back in his seat and Kate gets a full glimpse of Vivian. She looks over as Victor leans back and sees Kate ogling the two of them. Vivian's face lights up with her best Sunday school teacher smile; she lifts up a hand and wiggles her fingers at Kate. Victor turns to see what Vivian is looking at, Kate can see him chuckling as he makes eye contact with her briefly before turning back to Vivian. "That bitch!" Kate thinks to herself, stewing in anger. Seeing Phillip holding Vivian's hand makes her livid. "She better not try again to win my son from me!" At that moment Kate sees Phillip leans down and kiss Vivian on the cheek. Kate can't take anymore; she climbs over the back of her chair and jumps over the barricade separating the spectator seats, lunging towards Vivian. "Keep your hands off my son, bitch!" she screams while two guards tackle her and drag her back to her seat. Vivian fights with all her might the laugh pushing against her lips. Phillip's eyes tear up and he looks sorrowfully at Vivian, saying, "I think maybe my mom's gone nuts." "I think maybe she always has been," Vivian adds to herself, patting Phillip on the hand.
Court is finally in; Kate is at the witness stand. Mr. Smith attempts to ask Kate several questions but she pleads the fifth on each. The lawyer gets incredibly frustrated with her. "Mrs. Roberts, please, we have you, on tape, offering money to a mobster's family if he would take the rap for a murder your son committed. Are you attempting to deny that it is indeed you?" Kate rolls her shoulders back slightly and hisses at the lawyer, "I plead the fifth. I'm not dignifying any of your questions with a response." Mr. Smith throws his hands up in exasperation. "Well, then, Mrs. Roberts, let me present a witness that does answer questions. You are dismissed. Lucas Roberts is called to the stand." Lucas guffaws and bounces slightly in his seat. Kate looks over at him and wonders why she ever thought he was worth the effort. "How could Tom Horton have such a stupid son? But then, look at Austin. And Phillip too, for that matter. Hmm. I wonder what the common denominator is with them," Kate ponders this deep thought as she's led back to her seat.
Lucas takes the stand and is sworn in. He first outlines in detail the events surrounding the Franco Kelly murder. "I was there, the day of Sami's wedding to Franco. I was drunk. I walked by the library and saw Franco standing over my mother with a fire poker. She was on the phone, unaware that he was behind her, so I shot him." "Why didn't you just call out to your mother, warn her to duck?" "Well," Lucas replies, "I don't really know. It just seemed easier at the time to shoot him." "You say he was going to kill your mother. Why didn't you just tell the police this at the time? I'm sure you could have gotten off with self-defense." Lucas clears his throat. "We couldn't tell the police because I wasn't supposed to be there. I was breaking a restraining order." Mr. Smith looks at him. "Why were you there if there was a restraining order in place?" "I was there to kidnap my son. After I shot Franco, my mother told me I had to leave and that she'd take care of everything. So, I grabbed Will and took off. I guess Sami came in and found Franco's body. She passed out and my mom took that opportunity to put the gun in her hand." "Now, Mr. Roberts, why didn't you come clean afterwards, admit what you had done?" Lucas flicks his eyes towards Kate and answers, "My mom told me not to. She said for us to stick to our story." "Do you always do what your mother tells you, Mr. Roberts?" "Yes," Lucas replies, nodding enthusiastically, "always."
"Wellnow," Mr. Smith continues, "let's talk about EJ Wells. You said before your mother had told you to kill him. Tell me more about that." Lucas begins his tale. "Well, my mom and EJ were equal partners at Mythic. She wanted him out of the way so she could have full control. She kept telling me about how set we'd be if we could eliminate him. She would tell me all the time about how anyone with eyes could see that he was hot for Sami and that I'd never have a future with her while he was around. I didn't believe her until the night of our engagement party. When Sami said she couldn't forget EJ, I knew the only way to secure her was to get rid of EJ, like my mom had said." Mr. Smith looks puzzled. "If your mother wanted Mr. Wells dead, why didn't she just kill him herself?" Lucas makes a laughing noise that sounds like a hiccup. "My mom never does her own dirty work." Mr. Smith looks over at Kate, her face in incredulous shock. "No further questions, your honor." Judge Abrams addresses the room, "Court is in recess until the jury reaches a verdict, at which time we will reconvene for sentencing."