As soon as the judge called things to order, Rachel stood up. Jewel had told them both to ignore Sandy if they could, except to point out to her that they were speaking. He didn’t think that was going to work, but Jewel assured them that was the way to go.
“Mrs. Crosby. May I help you with something?” She said she had a small problem and that he could help her and her family. “I’ll do what I can for you. Tell me what you need.”
“Tell her to sit down. This isn’t about her.” Rachel reached for his hand, and he took it. “Rachel, where are my children? You were to bring them here.”
“My nephew is wanting to play in spring sports. The school sent home some paperwork for him, insurance and stuff like that. He is also in need of a physical. Sean and I are unable to make sure he gets one before the season starts due to the fact that neither Sean nor I are his parents or his legal guardians.” She asked to hand him what she had been given. After she gave it to the judge, Sean stood up with her when she came back to their seats. “As you can see there, Sean has put both children on our insurance. That was something that required more paperwork, but we’re hoping that with some kind of note from you, we’ll be able to get everything they both need to enjoy their school.”
“I would imagine they’re having a difficult time enjoying much of anything right now.” The judge glared at Sandy. She started in on him being mean to her. That they were her children, and she refused to turn anything over to Rachel, the child thief. “You hush your mouth right now. We’re not speaking to you. I suppose you’d rather they sat around just waiting for a word from you, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. They’re mine, and she stole them from me.” Sandy turned to her. Sean could see the hatred on her face. It was so strong he wrapped his arms around Rachel. “You’re nothing to me. You never have been. I had everything under control until you had to stick your nose into everything I was doing. I could be out of here and rich if you’d not taken the kids. I would have made a killing in selling them off. I should have killed you like I did that stupid brother of yours. I still might have to do that when I get out of here. Jonathan was forever making me pay attention to those brats of his. Well, I showed him, didn’t I?”
Sean didn’t move. He had no idea what anyone else was doing, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Sandy. She’d not only admitted to killing her husband but also her plans to sell off her children. Christ, he thought. She’d also said she was going to kill Rachel. When a movement out of the corner of his eye alerted him that something was going on, he looked at the judge.
“I want both sets of attorneys in my quarters. Now.” He looked like he was about to have a stroke; the judge was so angry. “You two there, Mr. and Mrs. Crosby, come with us.”
The judge started away but returned to pick up a stack of files on his desk. Sean could only read the top papers, and that was what Rachel had given him. After crowding into the room with the others, he stood behind Rachel.
“I think this has gone on long enough. No one is making any headway on this. Not to mention, the police officers where Ms. Farley has been staying are ready to quit. Hardened cops are going to quit their jobs over this woman.” No one said anything to the judge’s statements. Sean had a feeling this was the very reason Jewel had told Rachel to do this today of all days. “Do you see this stack right here, Mr. Marks? This is the paperwork that has been brought to me against your client. All of it has been researched to the hilt. Then on top of all this shit, she goes and confesses to several crimes that I’m going to try her for. What do you say to that?”
“I don’t have anything to say, Your Honor.” The judge started to speak, but Marks cut him off. “You would not believe the things she’s told me. Not about the cases against her, but just in general. Stuff that she wants me to do.”
“Like what?” He said he wasn’t sure he could tell him. “All right. You’re fired as her attorney. Now, tell me what she’s said to you.”
Sean didn’t think it worked like that, but Marks began telling them of the sexual nature of some of her demands. How she wanted him to find her a hitman for Rachel. Also, the man was embarrassed when he told them she was forever touching his cock.
“I thought about getting a plea bargain for her, but she absolutely refuses to think of anything beyond her getting out to her children. And the things she wants to do with them makes my skin crawl.” Marks looked at Rachel. “She has a hatred for you that is scary. The things she wishes she’d done to you when they were all living with you are sadistic. Ms. Farley is insane if she thinks she won’t get major jail time for even just one of the things she has told me.”
The judge picked up the files and held them in his hands. Staring at them, Sean wondered if the man was trying to find some sort of divine answers. He was pretty sure there wasn’t any such thing coming from the deeds of Sandy.
“I’m going to ask you one question. You can choose not to answer because of you being related to or representing this woman. But I’m going to put it out there. Mr. and Mrs. Crosby, would you be willing, right now, to adopt the two children of Sandra Farley? To keep them safe? To make sure that no harm comes to them other than normal daily things that children do?” They both answered him with a yes. “Good, Mr. Crosby, Mrs. Crosby, and Mr. Marks, do you have any objection to this family taking full custody of said children?”
“No, sir.” Both Misty and Ryan said they thought the two of them would do a good job. “Certainly much better than they’d be if subjected to their mother,” Misty added.
Mr. Marks didn’t speak. Sean didn’t understand that. He had already been fired from being her attorney. But when he stood up and sat down again, he looked like he was completely defeated.
“I think—and this isn’t a reflection on either of you—but I think they’d be better off being raised by wild wolves than they would be with their mother.” Marks looked at the judge. “I would also like to say that if given a real chance at making sure this isn’t written down as a mistrial, the Crosbys have my vote in raising those kids. The only thing I would wish is that she gets the death penalty. It’s too bad that Ohio no longer has it.”
“Oh, good lord.” The judge shuffled around on his desk for a few minutes. “Here it is. Because this trial was to be tried in Tennessee and had to be moved, she will be given the sentences for that state. Tennessee has the death penalty. This is from the sitting judge in her county. He said that if she is found guilty, we’re to let the jurors know they can give her the sentence of death by lethal injection. They will carry out the sentencing when she is remanded back to Tennessee.”
“I’m sorry. Can you say that again?” The judge repeated what he’d said to Marks. Then he handed the notarized copy to him. “This is something I’d never come across before.”
“Me either, for that matter.” The judge handed the paperwork to Ryan and Misty as he continued. “She just confessed to murder, attempted murder, as well as child endangerment. We have it all on video. I’m of the opinion that’s good enough for a confession. I’m going to end this nightmare and have her remanded back to her own state, and not think of her again.”
“I’m for that.” He said that he was as well after Rachel agreed. “I would like to be able to go home and tell the kids they’re not going to see their mother again if you’d not mind. I know they’ll both sleep better knowing she’s not going to ever be released.”
“I’m going to do you one better, honey. I’m going to sign off on the adoption paperwork now that will make you both the parents of them and enable you to change their names. I’d like to think they’ll be better off being Crosbys than Farleys at this point in their lives.” It took him only another twenty minutes to have all the paperwork finished up. He even sent the courier to the courthouse to file the paperwork so that they could get started on everything today. “You two, you’re going to be the best thing that has ever happened to them. Thank you.”
Willie Marks thanked them as well. He shook Sean’s hand and hugged Rachel. The man had never looked so downtrodden. When he started to leave the chambers, Rachel stopped him. The two of them stepped into the hall to speak for a moment. When she came back in, he could tell that she’d been crying. Asking her what had happened, she only hugged him. They were back in the courtroom ten minutes later, with all the paperwork needed to have Becky and Jon be their children forever.
Being seated again, the judge asked for Sandy to stand up. He wondered what sort of shit she was going to give the judge when she found out about her trial. When he and Rachel stood up when asked, the judge smiled at them both.
“After careful consideration, I’ve decided to forego giving the Crosbys temporary custody of the children of Sandra Farley.” Sandy actually did a little jig before flipping them off with both hands. “I have decided that in the best interest of the children, I’m granting full custody of them as of today. The paperwork has been filed and notarized. There will be no more—”
“Wait one fucking minute. You can’t do that. She can’t have them.” The judge, ignoring Sandy, went on to say how they’d be able to change their names if so desired and that there would be a payment each month for their care. “You’ll take that back right fucking now. If there is any money coming, it’s for me. I fucking birthed the two of them.”
“Who was born first?” No one in the courtroom said a word to Rachel when she asked Sandy the question. “You have a fifty-fifty chance. Which one of them was born first? Also, what color are their eyes? You should know that one too, easily enough. They are, as you said, birthed from you. Answer those questions correctly, and I’ll make sure that whatever money comes from the state for me to continue loving them goes to you. Tell me and everyone in here what you know about those two questions.”
“You’ll do that if I can answer those?” Sandy turned to the judge and nodded. Sean wondered what Sandy might do with the money in prison, but then he’d never been in one, so he didn’t know of what use money would be for her. “All right. The boy, he was first, and he has brown eyes. The girl, Becky, she came along later, about an hour. And she has them too. Just like her mother. See, I know as much about them as you do.”
Rachel moved to the front of the dais and handed her phone to the judge. She told him that there were birth certificates in the file that she’d given him, and he studied them both. Rachel only looked at him, her face expressionless. When he laid the paperwork down, he looked at them, then at Sandy, before speaking.
“Ms. Farley, according to the birth certificates, Rebecca was born four minutes before her brother. They were delivered by C-section. Also, according to the picture I have right here, neither of them has brown eyes like you, but Jon has one blue and one green. Becky seems to have the same, but hers are both more bluish.” She said he lied. “Why? Why would you think I’d have any reason at all to lie to you about something so simple as their birth order and the color of their eyes? I’m willing to bet that you didn’t remember they were bore by C-section either.”
The courtroom was cheering when the two of them left. The judge had joined them in being happy that the kids were going to be in good hands. Sandy was still bitching about the money that should have been hers when the doors closing silenced her. Sean pulled Rachel into his arms and kissed her.
“That was fun.” She laughed when he did. “She didn’t know anything about them. I know the precise moment they came into the world. I was there when they were born.”
She kissed him this time and smiled up at him. “This is a cause for celebration. The entire family needs to be in on this. And I’m going to stop by the shop and pick up a dozen roses for Jewel. She was right on the money for things to go the way they did.”
By the time he’d been able to pick up three dozen roses, everyone was at the restaurant. He handed the first bunch to his lovely wife, the second to his daughter, and the third to Jewel. Becky was so happy about the news that she hugged the roses and him so much he was sure they’d never survive the ride home. Sean had a family. He was going to do everything in his power to keep them safe and happy.
Chapter 6
Jason didn’t care for this part of his job. Not really a job, he supposed, but a leadership role that he’d gotten. Shaking his head, he wondered what the difference was when one of the ten men he was here to speak to sat down across from him.
It had been a wonderful Christmas. Now they were coming up on spring again. The time was moving much faster than it had when he was a man without a family. Now, it seemed like a day would pass, and it would be a month down the road. He wanted things to just slow down a bit. He glanced at the paperwork in front of him to bring himself to the present.
“It says here that you’ve been caught stealing blood from the humans.” Bill asked him why that was a crime. “It’s a crime because you know as well as I do that the rules were made up long ago, and we’re to follow them. We do not take blood from humans without leaving them better off than they were before. We certainly don’t take anything at all from the downtrodden. Understand?”
“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Jason just stared at him. “I mean, it’s not like they have any idea that I took from them. I’m usually very careful about making sure they don’t have any memory of me being there.”
“That’s the part that gets you into trouble, Bill. They usually do know you’ve taken from them. I have reports of eleven people going to their local police stations about being bitten.” The smile wasn’t improving his mood. “Look. You’ll find these eleven people and repay their kindness to you in some way that they actually do not know it’s from you. If I hear of you breaking the law once more, I’m going to have Emerald and her ice dragons end your life.”
Shocked, Bill left him with several promises to behave himself. Emerald sat down beside him as the next person came to sit in front of him. He asked Sherry why she was taking liberties with the people she fed from. Liberties that made him slightly ill to think about.
“Sherry, you’ve been told several times that you cannot touch the human’s pets after they feed you. I don’t mean just touching, but you’ve been breaking their necks when you leave them. Why?” She told him she was old and didn’t care much for animals. “Be that as it may, you are sentenced to work in the veterinarian’s office for a period of ten years. If one animal dies by your hand again, either in the office or out, you will be sentenced to death.”
Sherry glanced at Emerald, who smiled at her. When she got up to leave, he asked the queen of dragons what she was there for. Her laughter scared three of the vampires enough to fall to the floor and stay there.
“I love to watch you work. Not to mention, I think it will help them behave when they can see that I’m right here beside you. Also, I have a question for you.” He looked down at the paperwork in front of him and saw this was more of the same shit. Jason called Carl to have a seat. “Also, two of the people here are going to die today, and I thought I’d just come around and help you out with that right now. I’m sort of putting the fear of me into them too. It’s fun.”
“I’m sure it is. Carl, you’re here before me because you’ve been stealing money from the banks around the state. There is zero tolerance for that.” He nodded and said it was fun. “No, it’s not fun. It’s theft. Today is your final day. Make your peace with your—”
“No. I don’t want to be killed by her.” Jason said that was the rule. “I don’t like those rules. I know I have to die today, but there isn’t any reason for me to be frozen, then knocked around like nothing to break me down. No. I’d rather meet the sun.”
With a snap of Jason’s fingers, sunlight streamed into the dark room he’d been using and hit Carl on the head. Within seconds not only had Carl met his punishment, but he was also no longer an issue for him.
Jason had no guilt, nor did he feel like he should give his kiss a se
cond chance at their crimes. The people in his area had been getting away with a great many things for far too long, and he was putting a stop to that. Even with having Emerald around, he knew some of them were never going to stop what they’d been getting away with for centuries.
The next couple were the two that Emerald was going to end.
“Margaret and Goebel, you are here before me for the crime of killing seventy-four humans for no other reason than you could. You’ve been found guilty by this court and will have your lives ended. The manner in which you die is not up to you but Emerald, queen of the dragons.” Emerald stood up and became the scariest creature he’d ever seen, her dragons a close second. “All your worldly goods have been taken and divided up between the families of the children you murdered. Your names will be stricken from the books. You will no longer be remembered when the dead among us are counted.”
The couple could not speak. When they’d been put into a cell, their mouths were removed so they could no longer feed from each other. The simple fact was that the two of them had slaughtered more humans than he had an accounting for, and he wanted them ended.
Emerald called her dragons as soon as she stood up. The room was large enough to hold the people—however, it was cramped when the dragons grew to their dangerous sizes. But Jason could see that the point was made just how she’d predicted. They would know he wasn’t one to fuck with when it came to breaking the laws of their kind.
“Margaret and Goebel, you are hereby sentenced by your leader, Jason Crosby, to death by dragon. You will have no last words.” Emerald put out her hand, and Jason watched, along with the other vampires, as the couple was frozen in place by the slow moving ice that Emerald was killing them with. When they were solid ice, she turned to her dragons. “Destroy them.”
Sean: The Sons of Crosby: Vampire Paranormal Romance Page 8