In the courtroom Jackson took a deep breath as he stood up from his seat and approached the stand.

"JR, I want to make this clear. You are telling the court that it was a mental breakdown which caused your assault on Bianca."

"That is correct." said JR, confidently nodding his head.

"And this breakdown was caused by the trauma of the accidental shooting of Marissa Tasker."

"Yes, that is correct." said JR again.

"You are very specific about that." said Jackson as he began to pace back and forth across the courtroom. "That is was the accidental injury to Marissa that caused the breakdown."

"It was a horrible injury. I could have killed her."

Jackson nodded.

"But that is the curious part. That night you did kill someone. You shot a woman five times; you don't feel any guilt or remorse about that?"

"Well… um… she was a murder."

"That is my other problem. You saw people killed; friends and family injured. That whole night was traumatic for everyone involved! And yet the only part of that night that caused you mental torment was the accidental shooting of a woman who at absolutely despised?"

McCoy leaped to his feet.

"I'm not understanding the relevance of this questioning." He exclaimed.

Jackson turned to him.

"I am merely trying to understand the reasons for JR to suffer this supposed mental breakdown - A breakdown which resulted in the assault and attempted murder of Bianca Montgomery."

The Judge sighed and looked from Jackson to JR.

"Continue with your questions, you have made some interesting points. But stick to facts. I will not stress again how much I hate showboating!"

"Thank you your honour." said Jackson with a smile.

"So JR why do you think you found the shooting of Marissa so traumatic when there was so much bad feeling between you?"

JR gave a short laugh, that sounded very false.

"Well it's not like I wanted to kill her." he joked.

Jackson didn't smile.

"You're sure about that." He said flatly.

"Yes." said JR but his laugh now sounded desperate.

"That police statement that your lawyer handed to the Judge, do you claim that to be what really happened that night?"

JR's face turned pale.

"Well, I mean at the spur of the moment… I mean I might not have remembered everything exactly as it happened."

"So you lied to the police?"

"You honour!" protested McCoy. "He is badgering the witness. This has nothing to do with the case."

Jackson could barely contain his anger.

"This has everything to do with the case!" he replied.

"Answer the question young man." said the judge.

"It was how I remembered it at the time." said JR carefully

"So you remember more now. Maybe your memory got a little fuzzy from all the alcohol you consumed that night."

"I wasn't that drunk." protested JR.

"No you're right. They only found one bottle of Jack Daniels in the secret passage where you had been hiding. Did you mention that in your statement?"

"No… I… I wasn't hiding in the tunnels I used them to get to the Parlour without the gunwoman seeing me."

"Yes I read the statement. You saw the woman enter holding a gun and you were worried, so you ran to fetch your own revolver from your room and when the shots started you used the secret tunnel to sneak up on her."

JR didn't answer.

"Is that what you told the police happened?"

"As far as I can remember."

"Only what you may not know is that I was actually the person who let that woman in the front door. She didn't look suspicious, she looked like a waitress, and she certainly wasn't holding a gun."

"Maybe you didn't notice because you were so upset after your argument with Erica!" retorted JR.

"If you were standing on the stairs how did you know that I'd had an argument with Erica?"

"Well you were shouting." JR insisted.

"Young man." said Jackson smoothly. "I never shout."

McCoy was on his feet once more.

"Your honour, I demand that the prosecution ask questions relevant to the case. What happened at the Chandler Mansion is not related to the assault on Bianca Montgomery!"

"I'm sorry I thought your whole case rested on JR's schizophrenia triggered by the accidental shooting of his ex-wife." replied Jackson. "The assumption is that it was caused by guilt, but I don't believe it was guilt because of an accident. I believe JR intended to kill Marissa all along, only it didn't go to plan."

"Your honour this is preposterous." cried McCoy, resentment in his voice. "The prosecution failed to prove one attempted murder and are now attempting to conjure up another."

"Anyway how was I to know she was even going to be at the party." protested JR.

"You broke into your Cousin's house and used his phone to send a text message."

JR laughed dismissively.

"You can't prove that."

"Yes I can." said Jackson assuredly, "The Police have Scott Chandler's phone in evidence and paint from that phone was transferred to your gun. Why were you holding a gun after just sending your ex-wife a text invite to a party? That doesn't seem very normal behaviour?"

"I… I…" stammered JR.

"My other question is why did you bribe your pilot in cash to file a false flight plan before leaving to gate crash the party?"

"I…"

"Why did you go to the party at all, you told everyone that you were leaving Pine Valley for a time, why did you change your mind?"

"Your honour!" exclaimed McCoy loudly ready to launch a new rebuke, but JR beat him to it.

"Fine, fine, I did all that. I lied to the police, I bribed my pilot, I tricked Marissa to the party, I got drunk. I was angry. I wanted to hurt her, the way she had hurt me. She broke my heart! But I couldn't do it. I couldn't go through with it. I had the gun in my hand but I couldn't go through with it! I decided in that moment to walk away for both our sakes. I was just leaving when that woman burst in. I just reacted out of instinct. I had to stop her… And then when that last shot hit Marissa… it was an accident. That is why I felt so guilty. After all my plans I'd decided to make peace and then a tragedy happened…"

JR was crying, only Jackson didn't look moved by it.

He walked back to his desk where Caleb passed him a file.

"Your honour, I have here a ballistic report of the night in question.

"Why would you bring that?" asked McCoy confused.

"I thought it might be useful." replied Jackson. "As you can see even when drunk JR was an excellent shot. He fired five bullets at the assailant, all of which hit their target in a very neat arc." Jackson stepped in the middle of the courtroom and demonstrated the arc using his fingers as the gun, firing five imaginary bullets until his fingers were pointing at the floor. "Now in order for his miraculous sixth bullet to accidently hit Marissa, a woman he has already admitted he planned to shoot, he would have had to lift his gun, turn and shoot." He mimics the movement as he spoke, his gun finger now pointing at JR. "Now I'm no expert but that seems a very unlikely accident."

"I was drunk, I was drinking." protested JR, panic in his voice.

"Five bullets in a moving target without a single miss." said Jackson, pointing back at the report. "You used the incident to your advantage. You turned the gun on Marissa just as you had planned before the interruption, only now you had cover; now no one would know the truth."

"No I was drunk."

"That was probably the only thing that saved her life." replied Jackson.

"This is preposterous. This is nonsense." cried McCoy shouting over Jackson, "This has absolutely nothing to do with the case!"

JR looked distraught. This time the tears looked real. He was sobbing.

"It's her fault. It's all her fault."

JR leaped to his feet, pointing a wavering finger to an empty space in the middle of the court room.

"Blame her. It was her fault! It's all Marissa's fault. She shouldn't have been so happy without me…"

Then he stopped when he realised the real Marissa was seated on a courtroom bench to his right. She was staring at him with wide eyes.

Suddenly the courtroom door slammed and standing in the doorway was Bianca Montgomery.

"I hope I'm not too late." she said a little out of breath.

…