Part 81

Mr. Grisham sat at the round dining table with the rest of the ragtag, make-shift family. Suki visibly trembled while she tried to serve coffee. Rosita finally touched her hand and gave her a kind smile before taking the pot.

"Alright, I talked to Mr. Green and he gave me what one might call a Reader's Digest version of what happened," he said. "However, I get the idea that there's more there. And if I'm going to be able to really help, I'm going to need to hear the whole story. Including what really happened on the rooftop. This will all be off the record and I will not judge but I need to know everything."

Rosita nodded and sighed. She looked around the group and they nodded, hoping that after this, they could truly start to move on. "Well, the story starts early last May… At the time, we worked for the New Moon Theater, under producer/director Buster Moon…"

"He really wanted to take us to Redshore City, to perform for the entertainment capital of the world," Meena said.

The cast each took turns sharing the story up until Crystal threw Buster. Norman held his wife as she recalled her attempt to catch him. "As you can see, it was pretty traumatic." He explained to the lawyer.

Grisham sighed. "Crystal was almost fanatic about protecting his image."

Jerry nodded. "Because of what happened to his wife." When they looked at him, he realized that he needed to tell the story. "Mr. Crystal's wife was killed in an accident with a drunk driver. To try and protect himself, the driver tried to deflect fault for the accident to Mr. Crystal. Losing his wife, Porsha's mom and then being blamed for it, caused him to change. For the worse."

Suki looked at Grisham. "What did Marcus tell you about what happened on the rooftop?"

"That Crystal chose to jump. That he tried to stop him and take him to the police," the zebra looked at her. "Now, I want to hear your take. What happened?"

Suki sighed and looked around. "No one here will believe me, but, Crystal regretted his actions that night. When I got to his office, he was shaking and you could tell he had been crying. But of course, he would never cry in front of anyone else. Marcus told him what prison was like and ultimately gave him the choice. He wasn't going to let Crystal off the hook, he was going to pay for what he did. But you know what the law does to wealthy people. Either they let them buy their way out or they seize their assets anyway to prevent them from doing so. And that would have left Porsha with nothing and she would have gone into the system."

Nooshy shivered. "I was in the system. It's awful. You're nothing more than a meal ticket and they make sure you know it too." She held herself. "That's why I ran away as soon as I could. Living in a cardboard box and dancing for money was better."

Johnny recalled that night in his head. Offering to help his father deal with the monster who had killed their closest friend. 'It's about making sure real justice is done and no innocent people are hurt for it.'

"So, you want to know the truth," Suki asked. "The truth is, yes. He strongly advised Crystal to jump but only because he wanted Crystal to be punished without Porsha being wrapped up in that punishment."

Grisham nodded. "Understandable. And he didn't do anything to force him to jump?"

Suki shook her head. "No. It was completely his choice." She looked at Jerry, expecting him to contradict her.

He nodded and winked at her. "She's telling the truth." Everyone looked at him. "I was there and I watched him jump."

"Then why did you try to get my dad arrested?" Johnny demanded. "Not just now but I know you wanted revenge. Why did you tell Mrs. Noodlehead…"

Jerry looked at Johnny, resignation in his expression. "I was lying. I just wanted to scare her into leaving Eddie alone."

Grisham held up his hand. "Wait, wait, wait. We're getting ahead of ourselves. Who is Eddie?" The sheep raised his hood. "And where do you fall in this situation?"

"Buster was my best friend and someone I loved very much. After…" he took a deep breath. "Well, he loved his theater and his cast. He always wanted a big family. Well, what else could I do? I took over his role. My late former mother and my ex-father were a piece of work." He opened his jacket and let the lawyer see the scars from the shooting.

The lawyer gaped in shock. "Your parents did this to you?"

Eddie nodded. "Mrs. Noodleman hired a couple of contractors to… Well, she thought that if I were dead then Nana would have to leave her fortune to her and my father. The first one… I was able to stop on my own. Then a few days ago. She's the informant and she got her information from Jerry but…"

"What? That's the information? That's their evidence? An informant who tried twice to kill her own son?" Grisham shook his head. "Vaughn is not going to be happy."

Porsha frowned. "Inspector Vaughn? But he hated my dad. He was always trying to get him for something. I'd think he'd be thanking Big Daddy."

The zebra chuckled. "I think he's just mad that Mr. Green took away his chance for revenge. The drunk driver who killed Mrs. Crystal was his brother and he's blamed Mr. Crystal for his disappearance ever since. He wanted Crystal to suffer the horrors of prison because of it." He looked at Eddie. "We need to push the lack of credibility to the story. Do you think you could testify to your mother's state of mind?"

Eddie nodded. "If it can help Mr. Green, I'll do anything. He was one of my protectors and Johnny and Ryan have done so much for me." He looked around. "They all have." He let Rosita and Norman hug him gently. "I'd do anything for them."

Grisham looked at Jerry. "I'll need you to testify as well. You're the one who gave Noodleman the information. It has to come from you."

Jerry nodded. His dream the night before came to mind. Crystal was counting on him. "I'll do my best."

"Now as for the parole violation. It's ridiculous but I might be able to convince the judge that we just need to add a few more months and an ankle bracelet," he said. "I once fought for Crystal and I will fight for your father; Johnny, Porsha, Nooshy. I will do everything in my power to bring him home!"

AN: It's short but it's only meant to be a transition chapter to get us to Wednesday. I should warn you, there will be ONE more death before this story is done. Who? Well, I kind of hinted at it in the last chapter.