Page 96 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

We rose, and the judge left her chair and went into her private office, disappearing from sight.

I expected screaming from Solomon. Instead, I found him sitting slumped over the table. He was shell-shocked, for sure. In denial, like he couldn’t understand what just happened or wrap his head around it. In fact, he was probably disassociating hard because all of his lines were very muted. He felt anger and a deep grief on some level, but he wasn’t actively in touch with those emotions.

I felt no pity for him. He’d done this entirely to himself. Maybe, one day, he’d realize it, but I doubted that. He didn’t have the self-analytical ability to realize it. And frankly? He’d done so many people wrong who were now behind bars, it wasn’t likely he’d ever leave prison alive. Factor in his age and his horrible eating habits and vices, and he wouldn’t make it to eighty years old. This man absolutely would die in prison, one way or another, and I was relieved he wouldn’t pose a danger again.

Dwayne and Tylesia had sat behind us, and Dwayne leaned in to put a hand on my shoulder.

“You won. Congrats.”

I half turned in my chair, ignoring all the other people rising and hurrying for the door. This case had also gotten a lot of media coverage, and the reporters were flocking for their offices.

Dwayne looked pretty happy. Then again, this case had been as much his as it had been mine, in a sense. Solomon had done us both dirty.

“I think we all won with this one. You won’t continue with your trial.” The decision was obvious in his lines.

He grinned. “No point. Can’t do anything worse to this man than forty years in prison can. I’ve already been compensatedby the state. What more can I do? Except torture him in a courtroom a little more.”

Tylesia snorted. “I’d torture him some more.”

Tye was apparently still feeling vindictive. I did not blame her.

“Not worth the money to drag his ass back to court.” Dwayne shrugged. “I’d rather move on from the whole experience.”

That was a very Dwayne answer.

Tylesia seemed to be much better since I’d seen her a month ago. Some therapy and being away from that lunatic had definitely helped. I still felt like she had a long road ahead of her to travel, but she was safe and with her family again, so she’d be fine. Dwayne was much the same. I’d encouraged both of them to share their story with Alan, partially for his ever-growing encyclopedia. Also in part because we’d learned through this ordeal that an anchor bond would feel “dead” if a strong enough shield separated psychic and anchor. People who operated those machines clearly knew it, hence why they didn’t use the highest setting, but they should have shared the info for the rest of us. Law enforcement especially needed to know, in case something like this situation happened again. It shouldn’t be taken at face value someone was dead if a bond was broken. It could very well mean a person was held captive. They also needed to know they can’t search for someone past a shield. Lots of info to pass along here.

Tylesia leaned sideways and addressed Abby. “You two good? School figured out?”

“Yeah, I stay with her during the week”—Abby indicated Skylar—“and we stay with my dad on the weekend. It’ll work out great. We’ve already done it this past month to test things out and it went fine. We’re juniors, so unfortunately we have to have the full schedule, but once we’re seniors, we can choose a fifth period elective of internship. So basically we’ll only be inschool until lunch, then we’ll get out and go train with Jon and Donovan. We just have to get through this year first.”

“Smart. I look forward to seeing your names online in the future.”

“We’ll totally beat Jon’s record.”

I winced. “Dammit, Abby, knock on wood. I’m known for the crazy cases, after all.”

She laughed, not a care in the world.

Donovan silently urged us up with a hand under my elbow. It was true, another case was on the docket after this, so we shouldn’t linger. I popped up with him.

“At least the next exciting thing isn’t going to be a case,” Donovan observed. “You two are coming to our wedding, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Dwayne promised.

“Good.”

It was going to be one hell of a party. Honestly, though? Being married to this man was what I looked forward to most.

Epilogue

Nothing about our wedding was serious. Not the location, the costumes, none of it—except the vows and the marriage license. I took those pretty damn seriously. The rest of it, though? It was just fun. A true celebration.

Everyone was on time for the wedding. We’d rearranged the tables on the main floor so there was a pathway between them, with a red carpet we’d borrowed to make an aisle. People wereseated at tables, ready and waiting. At the head, our wedding party stood on either side as witnesses, along with our officiant. Namely, Grandpa. He was all spruced up in his old army dress uniform, and he looked sharp.

He was not the only one looking sharp. I had gone for a formal knight costume, a blue cape, with ‘chainmail’ and all, a Styrofoam sword at my hip. Jon had landed on a king’s costume and it couldn’t have been more perfect. The gold crown studded with red gems set off the gold of his hair, his gold embroidered red velvet tunic hugged his torso, and the way his thigh-high black boots accentuated his legs made my mouth go dry. To top it off, a white cape swirled around his ankles. He looked downright stunning and regal. He took my breath away. It also made me think of roleplaying later.

“Sugar” by Maroon 5 was playing as we queued up at the kitchen doors for our grand entrance. Eshaal wore one of those super poofy princess-like dresses, had a gorgeous crystal tiara on, and she was armed with not one, but two wands that blew bubbles. We’d landed on bubbles to avoid having to clean up flowers later.

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