Page 12 of Axel

“Good. I have to tell my dad about firing Benny. I think he’s the man that he’s been having a little bit of trouble with for a while now. He’ll either be happy or disappointed. I’m not in the mood for him being disappointed in me today. I’m on top of the world.”

After getting a shower, he was going by his condo to change by nine-thirty. As soon as he got to the courthouse, he made arrangements for them to be married. He was serious when he told her that he would have a big wedding later if that was what she wanted. For now, they’d be married in the event that they had unprotected sex for whatever reason.

The first hearing that he had was a quick no-brainer. The man had robbed his neighbor of a great many packages over the last several months. After having his client put in cameras all around his home, he was able not only to catch him stealing his packages but also pissing in his azaleas. He’d beenmore upset about that than he’d been about the packages. The bush had been from his mother’s home when she passed, and it was dying now. He was awarded more than he asked for, and Axel thought it was because most of the people on the panel had had the same thing happen to them at one time or another.

He was preparing for his second trial when he heard from Mac. Always glad to hear from her, she told him what was going on a the house and how much was being done to finish up both the living room and the dining room.

“Also, Jamie called. The man doing your furniture? He said that he has the table finished with the chairs, and he’ll be bringing them tomorrow. Which is perfect timing as the dining room is ready to get set up. Also, did you know that my parents have the same table, a bit smaller than ours, and they’ve been trying to get rid of the two corner cabinets that go with it? You’ve been in their dining room. You know how crowded it can be.” He asked her if she wanted them. “I do. I have a feeling that we’re going to need the extra room for tableware and such, so that will be perfect. Jamie is going to give them a once-over so that he can make sure that they all match. Also, before I forget, I spoke to your brother Stamos. I had no idea that he was an electrical engineer—anyway, he’s going to come over when the television arrives and hook it up with the stereo equipment that you already got for that room. I love the television, by the way and think that it’ll look wonderful with the furniture surrounding it during the holidays and such.”

“The office furniture has arrived too. It’s been set aside until the office is taken care of. Did I mention that I’m having another office set up in the event that I want to take on a partner? I don’t right now but if it comes down to it, I’ll already have things set up.” She told him he was good at thinking outside the box. “Thank you very much. Have you spoken to your dad yet about Benny?”

“He said his plan for the day was to have fired him and three other men who were working on your house. When Benny was taken away, I guess the other men walked off the site. Dad told me that he thought they were slowing down the progress at the house and was happy to see them gone. I believe him. Without them there as distractions, they were able to finish up those two larger rooms.” He told her that it was beginning to feel like a home to him. “Me as well. When I was out there, I figured out that the pantry wasn’t very large. I hope you don’t mind but I’m having it expanded by taking out that closet that is in the dining room. I didn’t know what that was for anyway.”

“I think that it was a dish closet—at least that’s what my mom called it. But with the two cabinets from your parents’ house, we won’t need it. And you do what you want to the house. I’m just happy not to be spending the rest of my life in a condo.” She told him that she had an apartment somewhere but hadn’t been in it for years. “Years? Sheesh, Mac, I do hope you didn’t have any plants in there that needed attention.”

Laughing, she told him that she’d been subletting it. “Good to know. I’m thinking about doing that with my condo. I don’t want to have to go back there but the income from it would be a nice nest egg should we want to splurge on a cruise or something.” She told him that she had to go but loved that idea. “Good, I’ll make the arrangements to have it cleaned up and rented out. I love you.”

“And I love you very much.” Showing up at the courthouse a little before three, he was asked to sit in on a couple of other trials that were going on, not as an attorney but just as someone who could take some notes on the attorney who was working the cases. He didn’t mind that, but he also told his buddy that he wasn’t going to hold back when telling him what he observed, if anything.

“Good. I never expected anything less from you.” He sat down in one of the many seats that were empty and watched the young woman as she spoke to the judge about her client. Whatever was going on, he thought that she was over stressed about it and needed to chill a bit. Her movements told him that she was either a stick in the mud or she was dealing with more stress than he’d thought. Listening in better, he heard her then.

“Yes, your honor, I know that he was put out on bail. If you remember, I was against that when the other attorney suggested it. Why he had any say in this is beyond me. But the very fact that he’s not here shows the reason why he shouldn’t have been allowed to be free.” The judge asked her something,but he didn’t hear it. “Threatened me? Yes. I’ve made it known to my boss that he’s been threatening me with death since I took the case on. I don’t have any way of making it so that he doesn’t serve jail time with him admitting to the police that he’d killed the young child. His prints and DNA were all over the site. Again, I don’t know why he was allotted bail when there was a murder involved.”

“Give me a minute to look at this file, will you Ms. Author? It won’t take but a few minutes of your time.” She said that she had nothing but time for him. “Good girl. Also, I see Mr. Hathaway in the courtroom. Perhaps you can have a word or two with him concerning this other attorney. I believe he’ll have some information that can help you stay safe, too.”

Just as she reached him, putting out her hand to shake it, the back doors to the courtroom burst open, and gunshots were sprayed all over the room just as he pushed the woman to the floor and lay atop her.

“Debra? Where are you? Come out, come out from wherever you are?” Debra, he assumed, was beneath him, and she begged him not to let her die. It was her birthday today. The man, brandishing the gun, sprayed another round of shots into the room. Since he couldn’t see anything from where he was, he had no idea how the man was still standing when he had a fucking gun. “Debra honey? Come out and play. For every minute I have to wait on you, I’m going to kill one of these people.”

Then, just as another round of bullets took out the glass windows on his side of the courtroom, there was a single shot fired, and everything got eerily silent. He tried to sit up enough to see what was going on but was told not to move. He was able to move his body directly off Debra to allow her to breathe better.

It took nearly forty minutes for things to be straightened out enough that he was able to get up off the floor. He’d been allowed to move so that Debra could be questioned, but he never left her side. Holding his hand, she seemed to be dealing with what had happened much better than he thought that she would have under other circumstances.

“I did file charges against him just this morning. And the judge was…he killed him, didn’t he? Judge Markus?” The officer said that the bailiff, as well as the court stenographer, were also killed. And there were several injured. “I’m so sorry. He would have killed me too if not for the fast thinking of Mr. Hathaway.”

“I just reacted, that’s all. When the doors opened, it was all I could think of was to keep us both safe.”

The officer was a little green, but he was holding up well. It was more than likely his first murderer, as they had so very few in this town. In fact, other than the one that I have a hearing on next, it had been about a couple of decades since anyone had been murdered.

After another hour, he was finally able to see his family. They’d been called about two hours ago, and he was glad to see them. Especially Mac. Holding her while she sobbed into his chest about the fact that they’d only just got together, he told his parents that he was all right and didn’t have to go to the hospital as the gun was never pointed in his direction.

Chapter 6

Bright and early the next morning, they were at the same courthouse that they’d been in yesterday. Only this time, things were much more quiet, and there wasn’t anyone waving a gun around either. To look around, seeing the bullet holes in the walls and broken windows, made her heart beat a bit faster. Taking Axel’s hand into her own, she wanted to take him home, wrap him up, and make sure he was safe for her at all time. As she was getting ready to go into the courtroom to be married, a young woman came up to her.

“I wanted to tell you that your husband saved my life yesterday.” She said that they weren’t married yet but were there to do it now. “Good for you. He is a good man, and he did really save me. Every time I think about being tossed to the floor by Axel, I want to find a dark corner and hide. He didn’t hurt me, but the sounds going on around me and not knowing what was going on will haunt me forever. I will forever be grateful to him.”

“I’m glad that both of you are all right. As soon as I was told about it, I had to get here and be with him. They wouldn’t allow me to touch him until everything was cleared up.” Mac felt her fear nearly get the better of her. Debra asked her if she was all right. “I am now. But yesterday, I was a mess. I know this is going to sound very strange, but would you like to stand up with me to get married?”

It was spur of the moment, and both of them seemed to be shocked by the question. When Debra told her that she’d be honored to do that for her after sharing her husband yesterday, Mac felt like it was the right thing to do. She didn’t have any women friends at all and was happy that the two of them were getting along so well. Like they’d been friends forever.

The wedding ceremony was over in less time than it had taken them to get ready for it. She was happy now, and so loved the wedding ring that Axel had put on her finger. The diamond ring that he’d given her before was a perfect match to her blue eyes with the azures that circled it, and she loved that he’d given her two wedding bands. One for public, the other a safe one for working. She didn’t want to lose a finger because she’d gotten married.

Debra was invited to have breakfast with them. It was at her parents’ home, but she again felt like she just belonged there. After having as many little breakfast sandwiches as she could stuff into herself, she was ready for a long nap.

The cabinets had been removed just yesterday. That was what was going on at her parents’ home when the police had called her. She didn’t know if that was the norm around here but she didn’t much care for having to hear about what had happened to Axel from the police. Yes, she told herself that he was fine, but what was going to happen the next time she kept asking herself.

“I’m all right.” She said that her head knew that, but her heart didn’t seem to care. “I understand that. It’s the same with me. I didn’t get anywhere at all hurt, but I find myself looking around for another shooter all the time.”

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