Page 20 of Vermilion Desire

“I want to be there to watch the case.” Having a first-row seat to witness body language and see how Braxton’s mind works would give me the advantage to see how I can utterly make that man kneel in defeat.

I’m such a terrible person, but he was the one who initiated this war when he threatened my family.

“Why?” Cal questions.

“No ulterior reasoning other than simple curiosity.”

He thinks for a solid minute, and Cal silently looks over my head to Mr. Wolf. The silence conversation is not beneficial to me, but I should keep my mouth shut if I want this to be in my favor.

“Alright, but you cannot go near or talk to him. He doesn’t exist in your eyes as anything but a criminal.”

I nod, snappily agreeing to his condition.

“And,” he stresses as he adds on to his own condition. “One of us has to be with you at all times.”

Easy condition. I don’t need to interact with Braxton to study him because he’s better observed as a life sample as I can see more when I have the whole picture.

My theory and the initial interest in Braxton stems from his family history and their unfortunate generations that all have been littered with illnesses. By computer calculation, their rate of contracting diseases is higher than average, and that is not normal.

However, hereditary illness contraction rate is even greater.

Question is: does Braxton Berkshire suffer the same fate?

“You have that stupid expression on again.”

“Oh my, sorry, Uncle Cal.”

Chapter Six

Wolf

“You’ve been busy,” I point out as we sit in the courtroom.

Today is the court date for trial. The family of the victim is sitting just one row behind us, whimpering with tears and comforting words. On the other side are the delusional supporters of the Berkshire family.

The older Berkshire is in a wheelchair, nursed by a medical professional and breathing through an oxygen tube through his nose.

Braxton sits with his lawyers while the prosecutor sits in front of us. Scarletta wants a front-row seat to see what is happening, but her eyes are wandering towards Braxton. Both sides have been fighting to prove to the jury that he is or he isn’t the killer of a young girl.

“I’m making progress with fascinating findings.” She lays her head on my shoulder, listening in the words of the judge as he resumes the case.

She’s been keeping me in the dark as to what is going on, but I trust her to make the right decision. Whatever she is planning, it has something to do with Braxton and this case. When the lunch break happened, she had gone to see the prosecutor to speak to him privately.

I wish she would tell me and keep me in the loop so I can protect her better, but she is a stubborn girl who likes her independence a bit too much.

The first portion of the trial was all about character. The lawyers have witnesses paint Braxton as a saint and an angel sent from heaven. They speak of all the things he had done to the community and how his piano had brought happiness to everyone around him.

The prosecutor had the victim’s family speak up. Their daughter was one of the kindest people; she was a good girl who got good grades and wanted to get accepted into her dream school for social work.

Both sides got the chance to do what everyone calls ‘character assassination’ when it was their turn. It was a shitstorm, and the leading voices wanted to cause as much damage to their enemy’s image as possible while protecting their client’s pristine pureness.

It was hard to watch, especially the victim’s family was sobbing. No one was winning favors, and they aren’t losing the jury just yet. The battle was only beginning.

When the second part of the trail begins, it entails presenting the pieces of evidence of the crime and the argument from the lawyers.

“My client did not go out looking for trouble. He had his driver take him home and do remember that Mr. Berkshire is a public figure; he must have two bodyguards with him at all times.”

The lawyer loudly exclaims, “He can’t commit a crime and put Ms. Addison in the trunk of his car when he was with his bodyguards! In his police statement, his car was stolen by a group of men in masks, and the police had found his car in the river! No evidence, no crime!”

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