I could hardly +breathe as I sat between Roberto and Ryan. My fear was that if Ryan lost the case, Roberto would send someone after him to kill him. No longer was I afraid of Ryan getting disbarred for helping Roberto escape. That clearly wasn’t the plan. The plan was that Ryan would get Roberto legally set free. It was going to be hard, if not impossible to convince the judge that Roberto had not been involved; Or at least that there was not enough evidence to convict him.
It was Ryan’s turn to give evidence in defense and the morning went on without much excitement. Ryan had found a few people from the first hearing who were willing to testify they basically had not seen Roberto anywhere near the crime scenes. It really wasn’t very hard to find people who would testify they had not seen Roberto. He was known in the community and there were a lot of people who wanted to get on his good side.
I watched as Ryan moved diligently around the courtroom. I could tell he had the jury in the palm of his hands. Things were looking good. Most of the jurors nodded their heads slightly as he talked.
Ryan was full of confidence and it shown through in how he asked questions and even in the way he carried himself as he moved around. I felt better and better about our case as the morning went on. I could tell that Roberto felt better too.
Roberto seemed at ease a bit and he didn’t even seem as creepy as he sometimes did. I felt myself breath a bit as the morning wrapped up and we went into afternoon break. I saw Roberto let out a sigh of relief also.
The bailiff came and got Roberto and the rest of the courtroom emptied as Ryan and I sat there and prepared for the second half of the day. I reached over and grabbed his hand and held onto it for a moment as we both took a couple deep breaths.
“You did great. This is going so good,” I said as Ryan looked through his notes.
“Jennifer, I need you to know something,” Ryan looked around the room to see if anyone is around.
“Okay, what?”
“Things are about to get crazy. I need you to trust me.”
“Of course. I trust you.”
Although there was still a doubt because I could tell, he was hiding something from me. I did trust him, though. We had spent so much time together over the last few months. I felt like I really could trust him. But I knew he had a secret he wasn’t telling me.
I know that sounds weird. Knowing someone has a secret but still trusting them. But it was the truth, I knew he was keeping something from me and I still felt confident that I could trust him. I would wait until the end of the day and see how things turned out.
“Just don’t leave today without talking to me. Promise me you won’t leave.”
I looked into Ryan’s eyes and saw a sadness that I didn’t know what to do with. Ryan didn’t usually look sad. He didn’t usually show much emotion at all.
Ryan was a tough guy with a tough exterior. He kept his cool under all situations and I admired that. Not many men, or women, could hold themselves together when the shit really hit the fan. I had yet to see Ryan lose his temper or seem out of control in any way. It was one of the things I think drew people to him so much.
When you see someone who is so confident and put together, you just tend to admire them. We all do. It doesn’t matter who they are. When we see confidence like that of Ryan, we want it for ourselves. Confidence is sexy and Ryan had the sex appeal thing down perfectly.
“Of course, I’m in it with you until the end.”
“I’m going to run and grab us some food. Stay close here and I’ll be back soon.”
Ryan made his way out of the courtroom and I hurried to the ladies room for some relief before the second half of our day. It was hard to stay hydrated and also not have access to a restroom for four hours.
As I walked into the restroom, I looked down the hall and saw the prosecutor with a group of security guards around. It was quiet the scene. I couldn’t help but stare at them as the group moved from the entryway into a private conference room. I wondered who it was they were protection.
Then I saw her.
My heart dropped to the ground and I froze still as I saw a quick glance of the woman’s face. How was it possible? What was going on? I had just seen Mrs. Anderson.
When Ryan got back to the courtroom with our sandwiches, I must have looked pale as a ghost. I stared off in the direction of the conference room and tried to figure out how to tell Ryan what I had seen.
“Jennifer, are you alright? You look sick.”
“Um, I saw something, Ryan. This is bad.”
I didn’t feel well and could feel the room spinning as I thought about what this would mean for Ryan and Roberto’s case. Mrs. Anderson had certainly been put into witness protection and must be willing to finally testify against Roberto.
I couldn’t blame her. All the pain that Roberto and his men had caused her. There was certainly a reason she wanted to put him back behind bars. I worried about her life, though. Could the Federal Bureau actually keep her safe from Roberto?
My voiced cracked a little as I continued on.
“I saw her Ryan. I saw Mrs. Anderson.”
My hands shook as I reached for Ryan. He held onto my hands and squeezed them firmly.
“Everything is going to be alright Jennifer. Just remember that.”
Ryan’s voice was calming and he didn’t seem as upset as I thought he would be. Maybe it was because people had started to come back into the courtroom. Or maybe he was just trying to be a professional and keep his emotions in check. For whatever reason, Ryan looked even more determined as we set in for the second half of the trial day.
Chapter 32
Jennifer
It was of no surprise when Mrs. Anderson was called to the stand. Well no surprise to me and Ryan, Roberto seemed extremely surprised. I had a feeling he really had tried to kill her. The look on his face was a mixture of surprise and anger. Anger that she was alive and about to testify against him.
“Mrs. Anderson, did my assistant and I talk to you about your testimony for this hearing?”
“Yes.”
“Can you share with this court what you told us about that day you witnessed the murder of your husband.”
Mrs. Anderson looked around the room at Roberto and then back at the judge.
“We didn’t talk about the murder of my husband. We talked about the pizza restaurant murder.”
Ryan’s face went white as he looked at Roberto and me.
“We ask that the murder of Mr. Stan Anderson be considered in this hearing.” The defense attorney quickly jumped up.
“Mr. King. You did just open this door.”
“Yes, you can include evidence from the murder of Mr. Anderson.”
The prosecutor seemed elated, like a school boy on the last day of school. Something really bad was about to go down. I just didn’t know what it was.
“Can we have a recess?” Ryan said to the judge.
“Five minutes.”
Ryan and I made our way into a side room and I saw peer panic on his face.
“This is bad Jennifer. This is so bad. They are going to nail him now.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
I didn’t understand how one additional murder charge was really all that bad. Roberto had already been charged with so many things.
Ryan paced the room and seemed to be in a bit of a panic. As the five minutes was up the bailiff came for us but Ryan didn’t respond. He was breathing heavy and totally out of it.
“Ryan, we have to go back in there,” I said as I grabbed his hand.
We walked slowly into the courtroom and I saw the concern on Roberto’s face when he looked at Ryan. He too must have known something was going wrong with his case.
“I’m sorry Dad. I’m so sorry.” Ryan whispered in Roberto’s ear as we sat down.
Roberto reached over and grabbed Ryan’s hand firmly.
“Do your best.”
It was actually a very touching scene. Something between them was better th
an ever before and they had bonded. Roberto seemed genuinely concerned when he saw Ryan. It was nice to see.
“Mr. King, you can proceed with the examination of Mrs. Anderson,” Judge Henry commanded.
Ryan just sat still and looked pale as a ghost. I wrote down a couple questions for him and ripped off the paper and put it into his hand. He read them slowly and then stood up.
“Mrs. Anderson, how many times have you changed your story of the night of the pizzeria murder?”
It was a good question. In all reality, she had changed her story at least three times. Most likely because Roberto forced her to, but still it would give a possibility of doubt to whatever else she said later on in her questioning.
“Three times, but…”
Ryan cut her off.
“So there have been three different version of what you saw that night? How are we suppose to know what you tell us here today is the truth then?”
“Well, I only changed my story because I feared for my life. My husband had been murdered by Roberto Calvertino…”
“Objection your honor that is not a proven fact.”
“Mrs. Anderson we need to only state facts as you know them,” The Judge said to Mrs. Anderson.
“Yes, your honor. That is a fact that I know.”
The courtroom erupted in chatter and the judge had to pound his gavel to calm everyone.
“Mrs. Anderson. You saw Mr. Calvertino murder your husband?” The judge asked her straight out.
“Well no.”
“See your honor. She is just making up stories,” Ryan said as he returned to the defense position.
“Your honor, I saw Roberto and Marco Veneto kill my husband.”
Again the courtroom erupted in chatter, but this time it could not be calmed. The judge tried to talk over everyone and continued to bang his gavel a few times.
“Exit the jury,” The Judge said to the bailiff.
The jury was quickly moved out of the courtroom. The judge again pounded his gavel to command order in the courtroom.
“Your honor, we request a brief recess to get Mr. Marco Veneto from the state penitentiary and bring him to testify.”
“One hour. I want this wrapped up today.”
The judge pounded his gavel again and we went with Roberto to the back room to discuss this crazy turn in the case.
***
“Oh God Dad. They are going to find out. I don’t know what to do. I’m going to get charged.”
Ryan went to his father and Roberto wrapped his arms around him. I just stood in the corner.
“No. Here’s what you do. Deny everything. It’s the truth. You had no idea what happened until years later. I’m sorry it happened.”
I had no idea what they were talking about. Were they talking about the pizzeria murder? Were they talking about Mr. Anderson’s murder? I didn’t know and I wasn’t about to ask them.
“I will just discredit him when he is on the stand. There is nothing he can say that I can’t talk around. Right?” Ryan said as he looked at his father.
“He’s a lying cheating bastard, Ryan. He will do anything to get back at me. He will try to get you because he knows it will get me.”
“I won’t let him. I will not go to prison over this!” Ryan yelled and slammed his fists onto the table.
I jumped at the loud noise and the anger in Ryan’s voice. It scared me. It reminded me way too much of his father. I wanted to run. I would have left in a second if I had not already promised Ryan that I wouldn’t leave.
My stomach churned, though. It sounded like Ryan was admitting that he knew something about these murders or some murder. He was afraid. Ryan was seriously afraid.
For the remainder of the hour, Ryan and Roberto sat at the table and discussed their tactics for how to go about dealing with the testimony of Marco Veneto.
I knew Marco from the press around Roberto’s case. Marco had pretty much been the man who committed crimes for Roberto, but all the press was that he had strong-armed people and took bribes. His conviction wasn’t for murders. That was what they charged Roberto with. It made sense that Roberto probably wasn’t the person who actually committed any murders, though. He never did anything himself, always had others do his dirty work. I suspected that Marco Veneto was the one Roberto had paid to actually do the murders.
“So did Marco cut a deal and that’s why he wasn’t charged with the murders?” I said from the corner of the room where I was curled up in.
Roberto looked over at me and grimaced.
“He threw my Dad to the prosecutors and took a deal.”
“So he was the one who actually murdered those people and not Roberto. But he got off?” I know I sounded like a naive school girl, but I didn’t know it until after the comment had already come out of my mouth.
“The real world doesn’t work how we want it to little lady. Yes people you trust turn against you.”
“But he’s the one who actually murdered those people.”
“Jennifer, they wanted my Dad. He’s the one they wanted. They would give anyone any deal they could in order to get my Dad.”
I just shook my head as I tried to make sense of everything.
It was weird that Ryan was suddenly calling Roberto his Dad. I couldn’t get that out of my head. Something was wrong, or different. Maybe it was just because they had made up with each other, but I felt like there was something else going on.
“Why don’t you go back into the courtroom and let us finish up here,” Roberto said.
I didn’t want to be in that room anymore anyways. I quickly made my way out and back to the defense desk.
Again the urge to flee came over me. I really didn’t know what would happen next with this trial and the anxiety over it was driving me crazy. I just wanted Ryan, none of this craziness. I didn’t even care that he had tons of money or was in the press all the time. I certainly didn’t care about his million dollar home or his private jet. All I wanted was to be away from the chaos and in bed with him.
I sat in the courtroom and waited for Ryan and Roberto to come back out. The people filled the seats behind me and I did my best to look professional while they made their way into the room. Soon the prosecutor and his team were there and then the bailiff brought the jury in.
Roberto and Ryan were still not back.
“Miss, you need to get Mr. King and Roberto Calvertino back in here.” The bailiff said to me.
“They are just in the conference room. Can you let them know it’s time to start?”
The bailiff made his way to the side door to the conference room and went in. It was only a minute before he returned.
“They are not in there.”
The shock on my face must have instantly alerted the bailiff and he went straight back to the judges chambers.
Panic set in. Where could they have gone?
Suddenly I flashed to all that research I had done on Russia and how it would be the perfect place to escape to. I wouldn’t have expected Ryan to go with Roberto though and there was a guard on the other side of the conference room, I didn’t know how they would have escaped.
Sweat formed on my brow as I tried to look calm, but inside I was screaming. I felt my breathing as it became faster and I wanted to just get up and leave the courtroom. It was filled with people now and I couldn’t be the only one sitting at the defense table when the judge came out of his chambers.
I tried to take a few deep breaths but the room was getting dizzy and I felt myself having a hard time sitting upright.
“Please rise for the honorable Judge Henry,” the bailiff yelled.
I held onto the table while I stood.
“Ms. Roy, where are Mr. King and the defendant?” The judge asked me.
“Um. I …They were in there,” I said as I pointed to the conference room.
The room was silent as the judge talked with the bailiff. I sat down because I was going to fall over if I tried to stand any longer.
I couldn
’t believe Ryan and Roberto had left me there. Ryan had just made me promise not to leave no matter what and then he and Roberto sneak out and take off. It was not anything I could have expected.
The bailiff got a radio call and went to the back door of the courtroom and opened it. Roberto and Ryan came walking in, Roberto was being escorted by an officer.
“Mr. King, nice of you to join us,” the judge said annoyingly.
“I’m sorry Judge, Mr. Calvertino needed a restroom break.”
I could tell in Ryan’s voice that the restroom had not been what just happened. There was something else going on and it was starting to piss me off that no one wanted to include me in the details.
“Alright, let’s continue.”
The prosecution called Marco Veneto to the stand.
“Mr. Veneto, did you work for Roberto Calvertino for the last twenty-five years?” The prosecutor asked.
“Yes. We were like brothers growing up.”
“Mr. Veneto, Did Mr. Calvertino pay you to murder people?”
“No.”
The prosecutor seemed surprised by that answer.
“Mr. Veneto, Are you telling me that Mr. Calvertino never paid you to participate in any murders.”
“That is correct.”
“Then why are you here today Mr. Veneto. It was my understanding that you had confessed to the state prosecutor.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
‘Mr. Veneto. This is not some game. Did you participate in the murders in question?”
“Yes.”
It was hilarious to see how frustrated the prosecutor was getting with Marco Veneto. The prosecutor looked like he might actually explode. His face turned red and he was holding his breath as he thought of each question.
“Ok, explain to me what I’m missing here. Yes, you participated in the murders, but no you were not paid for them. How is this possible?”
“That is correct.”
Marco just smiled at the attorney as he got angry again.
“Mr. Veneto did you or did you not commit these murders under payment from Roberto Calvertino.”
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