Chapter 5 - The Arraignment of Judas
The Cedar County Courthouse was surrounded by a wall of cameras by eight o’clock the following morning. Local news vans, regional reporters, and dozens of bewildered townspeople jammed the stone steps. For years, Daniel Cole had been the upright chairman of the merchant association, and Eleanor Cole had been the pious patroness of the historical society. Now, the town was gathering to watch the mask rip away.
I stepped out of the transport vehicle wearing my full dress greens, polished jump boots gleaming under the overcast morning light. Sergeant Miller walked on my left, his imposing frame daring anyone to step out of line. On my right, Brooke carried an accordion folder stuffed with thick binders of evidence. Hannah walked between us, chin lifted high, wearing a clean coat Brooke had bought her the previous night.
When the crowd saw us, a collective hush fell over the steps, followed immediately by the rapid clatter of camera shutters.
"Sergeant Cole! Is it true your parents reported you incarcerated while you were serving abroad?"
"Did Mayor Mercer pay off your family to protect his son?"
"Rebecca, look over here!"
I ignored the flashing lights, keeping my eyes fixed on the bronze double doors. We marched through security without pausing, the bailiffs snapping to attention as they caught sight of my military insignia.
Inside Courtroom 3B, the tension was suffocating. Sitting at the defense table in bright orange county jumpsuits were Daniel and Eleanor Cole. Stripped of her designer pearls and tailored tweed suits, my mother looked shrunken, her dyed blonde hair wild and unwashed. Daniel sat hunched over, his hands cuffed to a chain around his waist.
When the heavy wooden doors swung open and the rhythmic click of my boots echoed across the marble floor, Daniel snapped his head around. His eyes widened in naked panic.
"Rebecca..." Eleanor whimpered, half-rising from her chair before a female deputy firmly pushed her back down. "Rebecca, baby, please! You have to tell them! It was all your father! He forced me to sign those papers! He told me Mercer would destroy our business if we didn't protect Julian!"
"Quiet at the defense table!" Judge Harrison bellowed from the bench, slamming his gavel down with enough force to crack wood.
Daniel glared at Eleanor with raw hatred. "Shut your mouth, Eleanor! Don't say another word!"
"I won't shut up!" Eleanor shrieked, tears carving dirty streaks down her foundation-smeared cheeks. "She's my daughter! Rebecca, look at me! Look at your mother! I carried you for nine months! You can't let them send me to a state penitentiary!"
I walked up to the bar, standing straight as an iron rod. I didn't yell. I didn't cry. I looked Eleanor in the eye with the dead, detached calm of an interrogator.
"When I was bleeding out in a field hospital outside Fallujah, begging the medics to tell my family I loved them, you were cashing my death benefit checks," I said, my voice carrying clearly through the silent courtroom. "When Hannah was crying herself to sleep in the basement, you were drinking wine on Thomas Mercer's yacht. You stopped being my mother the moment you traded my dog tags for blood money."
Eleanor choked on a sob and buried her face in her cuffed hands.
Judge Harrison adjusted his spectacles, his expression as hard as granite. "This court has reviewed the initial findings presented by Captain Brooke Vance of the Judge Advocate General's Corps and the State Department of Justice. The allegations involve grand larceny, falsification of official government documents, child endangerment, and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a fatal hit-and-run felony."
The judge leaned forward, his glare pinning Daniel Cole to his seat.
"Given the severity of the charges, the overwhelming evidence of flight risk, and the blatant contempt for the laws of this nation and its armed forces, bail for Daniel Cole and Eleanor Cole is hereby denied. Both defendants will remain remanded to state custody pending federal grand jury indictments."
The gavel came down like a guillotine.
Daniel surged upward against his chains, his face purpling with rage. "You ungrateful little bitch!" he screamed at me, spitting across the barrier. "I built this family! You were nothing until I gave you a roof over your head! You owe me everything! Everything!"
May you like
Deputies seized him under the armpits, forcing him toward the holding cells. As he was dragged away, his curses echoing off the high ceilings, Hannah reached out and took my hand. Her fingers were warm, and for the first time in four years, they were completely steady.
***