Page 74 of Protecting Silver
“The name you gave me is Douglas Michael Atwal. The name on my original birth certificate, says, Michael Douglas Atwater. Like your name, just switched around, and a few omitted letters. Oh, and Charlie, the child you sold to me earlier? Not even close to his real name. I just want to know why you kidnapped me from my own home when I was two.”
“I think I’ll take that lawyer now,” Merriweather said, and Decker and Patch exchanged looks. They immediately stood without saying a word, and as Decker opened the door, Patch paused long enough to wait for Merriweather to look up at him.
“The next time I see you, I will be in the witness stand testifying as to my own experience at your hands. I will tell every juror, spectator, newspaper reporter, and TV camera just what you did to me and my family. The entire time I’m giving my statement, I’ll be praying to god that he either strikes you down where you sit, or sends you to hell where you will burn for all of eternity for the sins you did to little children.”
“It wasn’t like you were sexually abused!” Merriweather screamed at him.
When Patch started to say something, Decker grabbed his forearm, squeezed, and shook his head. In a low voice, he said, “Not the time.” Patch shook himself and walked out of the room with his head held high.
Six monthslater
Patch satin the second row behind the prosecutor’s table in the court room. He was positioned so that every single time Merrick turned to talk to his lawyer, he saw Patch. It had been six months since Merrick’s arrest, along with the two women who worked with him.
After days of intense, exhaustive questioning, it was revealed that the receptionist was Merrick’s sister, who had been the woman to babysit Patch and take him from his home and family. The woman who had arrived with little Charlie, was his wife. The three of them had been working the system for damn-near forty years. During the course of the investigation, over a hundred people had been found, and once the FBI brought them in to reveal what had happened, there were a lot of angry people. Not just people like Patch, but families also, thinking their beloved child was dead somewhere never to be found, but in fact was living and breathing in a different part of the country. The last Patch heard, they, including himself, had a lawsuit going against Merrick, his sister, and his wife. Not that they’d get much money from him, but it was the principle of the thing.
Patch straightened in his seat when Silver gripped his hand, and he realized the judge was giving instruction to the jury. The actual trial had been four long days, and he was ready to get it over with, but he also wanted to stay and wait for the verdict. In the last six months, he’d flown back and forth to Chicago to give his statements. If he couldn’t be there in person, the did phone interviews. Luckily his boss at the hospital understood, once he learned the entire story about Patch’s past.
He had just to meet the rest of the Atwater family, but he’d gotten to know Daniel better. Patch liked the fact that Daniel would answer any of his questions about his siblings, parents, and grandparents. After the trial, Patch needed to discuss with Silver the fact that they had both been invited to the Atwater ranch down in Wyoming for Christmas. He wanted to go, but he didn’t want to be there by himself. He wanted... no, heneededSilver by his side. If it wasn’t for her strength holding him up at times, he didn’t know if he could have survived these last few months.
Silver’s case against Eddie Freedman had been very favorable with all seven of his victims. His trial had been only two months ago, and Silver had come back to testify against him. In Patch’s opinion, Freedman received the perfect sentence. For each count of assault and battery against him, there were seven, he received a sentence of ten to fifteen years. That added up to seventy to one hundred and five years. His first year he’d be eligible for parole would be after he had served the minimum of each count, so no parole until after he served seventy years. He was thirty-nine years old, and wouldn’t be able to get out until he was a hundred and nine. Yeah, he’d spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Patch gave himself a mental shake, and stood when the bailiff called out, then sat back down and watched the security guards approach Merrick and slap cuffs around his wrists, then his ankles, connecting them with chains before they shuffled him out.
“What next?” Patch asked the prosecutor.
“We wait for the jury to deliberate. Could be hours, could be days. They have to sift through all the evidence presented, as well as the testimonies from over a hundred people. I’m not anticipating a verdict for at least two days.” After he finished packing up his table, he looked at Patch and Silver. “I’d go take in the sights if I were you. Take your mind off what’s happening back there.” He pointed to the room the jury had left through. “I have your contact information, and I’ll call you as soon as I know the verdict is in.”
“Oh,” Patch said, then looked down as Silver, who had just taken his hand in hers. “Ready?”
“I am. For now, I want to go back to the hotel and get out of these dress clothes. If you’re up to it, there are a couple of places I’d love for you to see while we’re here and have the chance. I don’t know about you, but once we leave here, I don’t plan on ever coming back to Chicago. Maybe to visit with Daniel every once in a while, but nothing permanent.”
“I agree.” Patch wrapped his arm around her shoulder and together they walked out of the courtroom.
* * *
Four days later,Patch walked back into the courtroom with his head held high, and Silver by his side. They were more than ready to get on with their lives, but Patch had to hear the verdict against Merrick before he could do that. He felt this was the closure he needed before he could meet his biological family. Settling into the seat he’d occupied during the entire trial, he settled in and waited. First Merrick was brought in, then the jury, then the judge. Patch liked that the judge didn’t waste any time in asking for a verdict. Five minutes after he sat down, Patch sat there with a grin on his face when every name of the people kidnapped by Merrick and his family members was read, and a guilty was said after the name.
The judge nodded after the last name was read, then looked over at Merrick and told him to stand. “Mr. Merrick, you have been found guilty of one hundred and five counts of kidnapping. I am going to sentence you the minimum years required for each offense. That is five years each. A total of five hundred and fifty years, with no possibility of parole, in a maximum-security prison. Each count is a class B felony, and that will go on your record also. On the off chance you get out, you’ll have one hundred and five felonies against you. With the three-strike rule, you’d automatically go back to jail for life.” The judge banged the gavel, and the reporters rushed to the front to try to get a statement from Merrick. Patch and Silver were able to slip out of the row on the opposite side. They were halfway down the courthouse steps when the reporters came rushing after them. Before they were caught, they had climbed into Daniel’s car and were driven away.
“It’s over,” Patch said. “Now I can get on with my life.”
Daniel looked in his rearview mirror and grinned at them. “Does this mean you’re coming home to the ranch for Christmas?”
“Only if Silver will join me.”
“Yes, we’ll be there.”
Chapter 34
Patch stoodin the driveway of the Atwater ranch in Wyoming and looked around at his surroundings. From what he could see, and he had no idea what to compare it to, the place looked successful. He looked over and grinned when Silver joined him.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, I wonder what I would be doing if I had grown up here. Would I be a rancher, or still a doctor.”
“Based on how Daniel is, I’d say your family would have encouraged you to be whatever you wanted to be. You would have followed your heart.”
“Yeah,” he grinned at her. “I’d be a doctor.”
