The jury had been deliberating for well over an hour before Elise opened her mouth again.

"Tears, Loki?" she stage-whispered from her side of the table to his. "What the hell was that?"

"I could not restrain myself," he replied facetiously. "My heart is broken."

"'Lise, don't agitate him," Parmeri interjected. "It's been a rough couple of days for him."

"Shut up, Skip," said Elise.

"Hey!" he barked. "You don't talk to me like that."

"I talk to you however I want now," said Elise. "You're not my boss anymore."

"You seem quite unhappy, Elise," Loki said, smirking. "If it gives you comfort, I promise to write to you while you wait in your cell for death to come."

Finally, Elise boiled over. "You bastard! You good-for-nothing fucking bastard! If you get out of this, you'd better pray that my brothers don't find you!"

Once the words left her mouth, the U.S. Marshal who had escorted Loki into the courtroom that day approached Elise. He hovered behind her without saying a word, placing his hand firmly on her shoulder to hold her to her seat.

Loki chuckled darkly. "I will 'get out of this,' but I assure you, not a soul on this wretched planet will seek revenge on your behalf. Not your brother, not your father, not anyone."

"Elise," said Cara, leaning forward and raising her voice slightly to be heard from the opposite edge of the table, "don't dig yourself into a deeper hole over nothing."

"Earth to fucking Cara," Elise growled, "I didn't dig myself into this hole. Your asshole client has been terrorizing me since I met him. I would have told you that a long time ago, if I didn't think he was going to kill me for it."

"Whatever, Elise," said Cara with a wave of her hand. "From everything I've seen, it sort of looks like you're the one terrorizing him."

"How did you become such a bitch?" Elise spat. "Seriously. Were you born that way, or did you have to work at it?"

Cara leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "At least I'm not a slut," she hissed. "Let me ask you something. If everything you're saying is true, then how come he hasn't tried to get in my pants?"

"Gosh, I don't know, Cara," Elise replied sarcastically, "it might have something to do with you being an ugly, stupid bitch!"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You're just jealous because I'm on the partnership track and you're going to jail."

"First of all, the jury's still out," said Elise. "Second of all, if you're on the partnership track after that disaster of an argument, then Skip's as dumb as he is shady."

"Now, you listen to me, 'Lise," Parmeri retorted, "I run one of the best law practices in the country. After this, I'm gonna have big-name clients beatin' down my door before the foreman can say 'not guilty.' You might've fired me, but I'm gonna give ya a little bit of advice on the house: If ya couldn't take the heat, you never should've been in the kitchen in the first place. I mean, Christ, 'Lise, I treated you like family, and now it's gotta be like this?"

"You didn't treat me like family," she spat. "If I was family, would you really still be representing him?"

"I do whatever it takes," Parmeri replied. "That's how I got where I am today."

"Yeah," Elise huffed. "I guess you're right. You'd sell your own daughter down the river for a little face-time with a reporter."

"I was unaware that you had a daughter," Loki said, smiling.

"Yeah, sort of," said Parmeri, "but, uh... trust me, you wouldn't like 'er."

"So, what happens next, Skip?" Elise posited. "If the jury comes back with not guilty by reason of insanity, what have you accomplished? Your client's committed to an institution, he has no immigration status, so he's always gonna be at risk of being deported, and, on top of that, you have to live with whatever horrible shit Loki does after this on your conscience. Are you sure you're ready to sleep in the bed you're making?"

"Don't you worry 'bout me," he said. "You got yourself to worry about now. You better-"

Before he could finish his thought, the jury reentered the courtroom. Elise had anticipated that they would take longer to reach a consensus. She hadn't even had the chance to fully process the enormity of it all – how could they have considered all of it in such a short deliberation? She braced herself for whatever news was going to come, but she still felt unprepared to accept the possibility that she would be found guilty. Just moments prior, she had been full of rage, but now, all she knew was fear. Her entire body shook, from head to toe, and she regretted not having eaten anything as acid gnawed at her stomach.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" Judge Dames asked.

"We have, Your Honor," the jury foreman answered.

In her hypervigilance, Elise was acutely aware of the bailiff's movements and sounds as he approached the clerk. As the paper on which the verdict was written passed into the clerk's hands and then into Judge Dames', the crinkling sound it made was like metal scraping against metal. The marshal's hand on her shoulder felt much heavier now. Everything moved more slowly, as if the court's employees and officers reveled in the queasy tension that must have been wearing on all parties involved.

"Will the defendants please stand while the jury reads their verdict?" said the Judge.

Elise stood along with Loki and his attorneys, though she had to hold the edge of the table to keep steady.

"In the matter of the defendant, Loki Laufeyson," said Judge Dames, "how do you find?"

The foreman was visibly nervous, clearly uncomfortable with his role. "We, the jury, find the defendant, Loki Laufeyson, not guilty of the charge of unlawful entry into the United States by reason of insanity..."

The words were sickening. Elise knew that the pattern wouldn't change. Once they decided that he was insane, it was over.

The foreman kept reading. "We find the defendant not guilty of terrorism transcending an international boundary by reason of insanity. We find the defendant not guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act by reason of insanity. We find the defendant not guilty of arson by reason of insanity..." He went on and on, clearing Loki of all his charges, from murder to contempt of court, "by reason of insanity."

While Cara and Skip quietly celebrated with Loki, Elise looked down and covered her face with one hand to hide her tears and frustration. She could hardly believe it was happening. A defense like that was always a long-shot, but somehow, they had managed to convince the jury. She replayed all of the testimony in her head and racked her brain in an attempt to pinpoint any one thing that she or Whitney Mercure could have done better, but her thoughts were moving too quickly.

Her focus returned to her own verdict when Judge Dames said, "And in the matter of defendant, Elise Milton, how do you find?"

"We find the defendant, Elise Milton, guilty of aiding and abetting in two counts of first-degree murder and in one count of unlawful entry into the United States. We find the defendant not guilty of aiding and abetting in the other aforementioned crimes. " The foreman paused to take a breath before he went on to address the remainder of Elise's crimes, of which she had been charged as the principal. "We find the defendant not guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, not guilty of treason, not guilty of first-degree murder, not guilty of attempted murder, and not guilty of rape. We find the defendant guilty of three counts of assault in the second degree, and lastly, we find the defendant guilty on the single count of contempt of court."

Elise barely heard any of it over the sound of her own sobbing after the foreman gave the verdict on the counts of aiding and abetting murder. Effectively, none of it really mattered. She would be spending the rest of her life in prison, likely without parole. All of her senses were overcome with panic. She dropped back into her chair, no longer able to bear the weight of her own body on her weak legs, leaned over the table, and cried into her forearms. The room filled with noise and chatter from the spectators, and try though he did, clapping his gavel against its sounding block, Judge Dames could not bring his court under control.

Of course, Loki couldn't help but remark on the sad sight. "Pitiful creature," he snarled, his lip curling with contempt. "Do you see now what your 'good will' gets you?"
She looked up at him and inhaled a ragged breath, but she said nothing.

So, he continued, under the cover of the conversations taking place behind him. "Even while you rot in that jail, you are not free of me. I will let them make their meager attempt at 'healing,' like mice pulling thorns from the paw of a wounded bear, and when the time is right, they will release me from my confinement. They will swing the doors open wide and unleash me on this world once more, and I will find you. Wherever you are, I will find you. This is not yet over, Elise, mark my words."

"Order!" Judge Dames bellowed.

Gradually, decorum and relative calm reached each and every observer in the courtroom. Those who were standing were seated once again, and those who had been speaking fell quiet.

"I won't speak at length about this verdict," said the Judge, "but I am inclined to agree with the jury. It's clear that an abuse of power has taken place here. Ms. Milton, even if it is true that you did not intend the eventual outcome of your actions, you had a responsibility – and I'm quoting from the Model Rules of Professional Conduct – to 'maintain a normal client-lawyer relationship' with Laufeyson or to 'take protective action' in the event that you judged him to be unable to make decisions on his own behalf. Not only did you fail to fulfill a very minimal obligation from the very beginning, but you put yourself and your client in jeopardy when you assisted him in the commission of numerous violent crimes, never once taking the steps you reasonably could have taken to prevent the losses of life for which you were responsible. Given your blatant refusal to take action, despite having had numerous opportunities to do so, I can only conclude that you were complicit in Laufeyson's crimes, and that without your encouragement, his illness may never have progressed so quickly and with such disastrous consequences. You will be remanded into custody, and we'll schedule sentencing for tomorrow morning."

"It hurts, doesn't it, Elise?" Loki whispered.

"Please stop," she breathed, tears still draining from her eyes.

"As for you, Mr. Laufeyson," Judge Dames continued, "I hope that you will someday come to understand the pain you've caused us all, and I pray that when you do, you will find a way to atone for it. This may just be your last chance. Your commitment hearing will be held within the next ten days, but until then, you will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. This court is adjourned."

The judge rapped his gavel once to punctuate the end to the trial, then retreated swiftly to his chambers as the Marshals descended upon Elise and Loki.

"Stand up," said the Marshal who had been standing behind Elise. "I have to cuff you, but since you're on crutches, I'm just gonna cuff one of your wrists to mine. Which side is your injury on?"

"I can't believe this is happening," she mumbled.

"Well," the Marshal said, "it is."