However believable he was, and however much torment he seemed to be in, Brendan's court case still had to drag on and on. They'd never quite gone over the facts enough. They never quite had enough specific details. The jury and audience were forever being sent out because evidence was "contentious" and Brendan would be faced with yet more pictures of his boot on the day he'd found Macca and O'Shaughnessy.

Brendan tried not to focus on the horror story being told by the lawyers. He would take advantage of seeing his family and friends every day. He'd watch how they changed outfits, changed hair styles, changed size (Mitzeee's stomach was really starting to protrude). But one thing never changed. No matter what, they'd all wear the same anxious expressions every day. He wanted them to smile. If these were going to be the last memories of them, he wanted them to be as happy as he could make them. Then again, he'd never been very good at making his loved-ones happy.

He'd constantly disappointed Cheryl, he'd almost destroyed Steven and he'd halted Anne's dreams for far too long. That was a hellish burden he would always have to bear.

Nights for Brendan were becoming more difficult. It was increasingly difficult to leave the courthouse and return to that tiny grey cell. In wake, he wouldn't let his mind wander to a potential future where his family were around him and he could protect them all and keep everyone safe. In sleep, he couldn't stop those dreams from taking over. Waking up in the cell after dreams of sun and grass and trips to Cheryl's mansion with Steven at his side was killing him.

He had made one decision. If he ended up in prison, he wouldn't accept any visitors. They'd put their lives on hold for long enough just to attend his case every day. He wouldn't let them wait for him forever. He wouldn't let them put a halt to their lives. He wasn't worth it and they didn't deserve that hell.

None of them deserved that hell.

Cheryl and Steven would walk into the room every day like bosom buddies now, his sister had clearly adopted him as part of the family. That was strange. She'd never been able to accept his girlfriend, the person he'd chosen to protect himself from Cheryl's wrath. But his boyfriend, the one he would have kept hidden away for ever, she loved him. There was weird kind of irony there if he'd been bothered to try and see it.

Steven was growing in the real world. He looked different, more groomed and … well, sexy. Brendan suspected Steven might have been accompanying Anne into town to buy himself some new clothes. He was smiling, his hair was styled. He looked like he had in Barcelona, so innocent, so full of hope and belief in Brendan.

Brendan vowed that he wouldn't let him down again.

'Defence would like to call Douglass Carter to the stand.'

Brendan had a sinking feeling that if anyone was going to let him down, it was this useless do-gooder idiot.

'Mr Carter, could you tell me, in your own words, what happened on the night in question?'

Douglass began a very shaky and nerve-ridden account of the night. He did describe, in vicious detail, that O'Shaughnessy had beaten him up and that Macca had laughed and encouraged the beating. That did sound like Macca, Brendan conceded. The boy was blood-thirsty, he liked his men to show their cruel streaks and O'Shaughnessy was cruel but weak. Defenceless Douglass was a perfect victim for them both.

Brendan smirked as Douglass continued to talk them through O'Shaughnessy's short comings, turning him from hapless victim to deserving criminal. He spoke about a room O'Shaughnessy had.

'It's like a s-safe room,' the yank explained. His accent, his timid but intelligent persona was painting him as the trustworthy victim here. Innocent people – idiots who think that people are generally good – they would like Douglass, they would believe him. It didn't hurt that he had thin, pale scars left his brow bone from the attack. It just painted him as this sweet, unfortunate boy.

McGinn was even able to produce a doctor's report that the scars had been received around the time of Macca and O'Shaughnessy's disappearance. Brendan almost felt like smiling. Maybe things were going to start going his way and at lunch, he'd felt like he could kiss Douglass and his depiction of the "victims" as anything but innocent.

After lunch, Douglass was put back on the stand.

'Tell me about your relationship with, er, Simon Walker,' McGinn started. Brendan felt puzzled and there was a buzz around the room. The question had clearly been deemed a little out of the blue.

'Your honour, there's been no mention of a Simon Walker before now,' the blonde prosecutor protested. 'It's Brendan Brady who is on trial. I would suggest the defence spends more time defending the accused and less time creating fantasies.'

'I promise this is relevant, your honour,' McGinn replied professionally. He was somewhat less professional when he added: 'I suggest the prosecution keep unneeded, biased opinions to themselves.'

'Order,' the judge scowled as the lawyers glared at each other, but she allowed McGinn to continue questioning Douglass about Walker.

Brendan could feel his blood boiling. He'd always known that Walker was behind this. He'd known how long the man had been planning it all for, but Brendan was furious that he'd been taken for a mug for such a long time. He wanted to ring that smug git's neck. Douglass began to talk about Rhys. Brendan couldn't even remember a Rhys, but he'd apparently been key in ruining Steven's life in the Blue Zone, he'd been working as Walker's little mole. Brendan made the decision to also ring Rhys' neck, if he ever found out who he was.

However, Brendan almost snarled when Douglass was questioned about his relationship with Steven Hay. His hair stood on end as Douglass fumbled his way through an admission that he "cared deeply" for the man. Brendan couldn't believe that this weedy little git had thought he was some kind of competition for Brendan. Brendan was a real man and Douglass was … nothing. Why did he ever think he could steal Steven from him? Brendan could sense his grip on the desk ahead of him was tightening. His knuckles had turned white with the pressure and he'd happily see his knuckles splaying Douglass' perfect teeth right across his jaw right about now.

He felt embarrassingly happy, when Douglass recounted the tale that Steven had refused his advances and had turned down a free pass to the US to stay at The Estate.

'Final question, Mr Carter, do you believe the accused is capable of the atrocities of which he has been accused?'

'No.'

'No further questions, your honour.'

McGinn sat at his desk and chewed his pen anxiously. Brendan understood it. More than anybody else that McGinn had put on the stand, Douglass was the weakest. He'd change his religion if he thought it would buy him an extra day. He was a coward and a master of self-preservation, and worst of all, he had no loyalty to Brendan.

Brendan was suddenly struck by an idea. Douglass had struck a dodgy deal with Walker in an attempt to get his sticky hands on Steven. Wouldn't a couple of carefully chosen insults now, see Brendan locked away forever and Steven would be…. Brendan couldn't think about. He just tried to relax as the blonde lawyer asked:

'What is your relationship to the accused?'

'He was my … boss, I guess.'

'Was he a good boss?'

'I, erm…. He was okay.'

'But you were going to emigrate to the US?'

'Well, I'm from there. I thought it would be nice to go home.'

'And take Steven with you?'

'I thought I could make him happy.'

'Could you … make him happy?'

'He loves someone else, I've learned that now.'

'So you have strong feelings for Mr Brady's lover, Steven Hay, and you've been given a free pass away from what seems to be a car crash of a relationship.'

'Your honour!' McGinn exclaimed. 'Mr Brady is on trial, not his relationship.'

'Sustained.'

'You've been given a free pass to go back home to the States,' the blonde lawyer reworded her accusations. 'And yet, you've returned to give evidence at the trial?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'I know he's innocent.'

'You think he's innocent,' the lawyer corrected him. 'It is your opinion that he is innocent.'

'Based on conversations I had with other people, yes.'

'I would like to ask a few more of your opinions, if you don't mind. I'll give you a name, and you give me a couple of words to describe them. Okay?'

Douglass just nodded. He seemed confused. Even the judge warned the prosecution not to waste the courts time, as the lawyer went to pick up what was clearly a list from her desk.

'Steven Hay,' she said.

'I … yeah, I thought I loved him. I wanted to protect him, I guess.'

'Couple of words, please, Mr Carter. Cian O'Shaughnessy.'

'I thought he was really sweet, I thought I loved him, but he was just a user.'

'You think you love a lot of people, Mr Carter.'

'I'm emotional,' he shrugged.

'What about Mr Brady? Did you think you loved him?'

McGinn stopped chewing his pen. He sat up, with a smirk spreading across his face like a virus. Brendan just raised an eyebrow. Had this sharp, top Dublin lawyer got her facts muddled? Had she made the fatal mistake of believing that every person McGinn was going to put on the stand would have some kind of love and loyalty for Brendan?

Her face dropped when Douglass, with all the conviction of an honest man said:

'I don't even like Mr Brady. Most of the time, I hate him.'

'Sorry.'

'I hate him. He's a horrible boss, he's heartless man, but I don't believe he's a murderer.'

'What did I tell you?' McGinn shouted happily. They were stood outside the courtroom in an enormous echoing hall, which was spinning and ricocheting McGinn's glee around every available space. 'What did I tell you? You've just got to get the jury on your side. You can already see them softening towards Brendan. He's not a killer anymore. Now he's the man willing to sacrifice himself for love.' He clutched Ste's shoulder and squeezed tightly. 'Reasonable doubt, that's all it takes. And we've got a chance now. We've got a chance. And you,' he clutched onto the Doug, 'you were brilliant. Detailing your hatred and distrust for Brendan and then bam! Hit them with the fact you still don't think he's capable.'

McGinn had been brilliant in his closing statement too. Where the prosecutor had talked about a civic duty to put dangerous men behind bars, McGinn had spoken about their obligation to cut through their desperation to blame someone for such horrific murders and blame the right person. These murders were gruesome, police reports say they were likely carried out by a psychopath who saw these men as a problem to be removed.

"You've seen in court that Brendan Brady is not that psychopath. He is a man who loves his family, loves his friend and has been the victim of a vicious set up, but a person so desperate to destroy Brendan Brady, that he would take two innocent lives in the process." And he'd repeated:

'As a jury, your job is not to find a man guilty, it is to find the right man guilty. Brendan Brady is not that man.'

The jury were going to take days to decide. It was a complicated case and all they'd been able to attempt was a cause for reasonable doubt. There was a lot of evidence and victims and witnesses to think about. McGinn had not been able to prove Brendan's innocence. There was no solid evidence which screamed "not guilty", Walker was far too clever for that.

He had a brain for detail. His mind worked in facts and figures and numbers, but he had no understanding of emotions at all. The fact so many witnesses came forward for Brendan would have flummoxed him, that would be Walker's undoing. He'd had no faith in the power of love and friendship. He had no concept that people could actually care about someone enough to fight for them.

Several Days Later.

'… and on the count of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant not guilty,' the foreman said firmly. It was the final "not guilty" after a stream of them: voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter not guilty; accessory to murder, not guilty; conspiracy to commit murder, not guilty….

Ste beamed at Brendan. This was it, things were finally coming together. Their future was bright and beautiful and things were going to be a twisted kind of perfect. Cheryl dragged him closer and pressed sticky red lips to her cheek.

'See, babe,' she whispered. 'I knew they couldn't find him guilty.' Which was nonsense because she'd spent the majority of the trial worrying about what would happen if he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

And then came the killer blow:

'Of the Section 3 Assault Causing Harm offence, we the jury find Brendan Brady guilty.'

Just a short chapter, but I didn't want anybody getting carried away with "happy endings" just yet. Comments, feedback and reviews are very welcome.

Thanks for reading …xx