Page 48 of Jason's Justice
“What did Grayson say?”
“His first words were that it was all Larry Mason’s fault, that he was taking orders from him.”
“Ah, so he threw Mason under the bus?”
“Correct, but you need to know this.” Lloyd laughed as he looked at the others in the room with a grin.
“Oh, God, what now?”
“The judge took time in signing the warrant, not because he wanted to look at the evidence, it was for another reason.”
“Which is?”
“Apparently, the courts are taking a long weekend, like they will literally be closed on Friday, and Monday. Since it’s after five on Thursday, Grayson and the others will have to sit in jail until Tuesday morning.”
Jason couldn’t help it, he threw his head back and laughed. When Ilsa brought him a bottle of water, he grabbed her, still laughing, danced in a circle with her in his arms, then bent down and planted a kiss on her lips. They didn’t break apart for several minutes, and when they did, Jason saw all the men, even Kevin and Lyle had gigantic grins on their faces.
Six days later, eight men stood in the kitchen at Ilsa’s home with their arms crossed and each wore a scowl.
“Are you sure?” Clark asked as he studied the three people standing on the other side of the room. “One of us can stay.”
“No, you guys need to get home to your ladies, and I’m sure there’s still a lot of work to be done before the snow starts.”When they still seemed hesitant to leave, Kevin looked at them sternly.
“We’re grown ass adults, guys. I’m armed, there haven’t been any problems since we arrived. We’ve cleaned up the mess with Katherine’s apartment, and since the neighbor caught it all on her doorbell camera, there are additional charges against the cops who broke into her apartment. You have the things she requested, and you all listened when she told her mother to get someone in there and pack up the rest for donations. You and I both know that now that she’s working at Broken, and for Caleb, she won’t be back here.”
“Besides,” Jason said. “When it comes closer, we’ll reach out and have Duane return to testify. It’s going to be a few months yet before this goes to trial. We’re going to be stuck at the dining room table going through the paperwork and working with Lyle and the DA. Go home, get on with your lives.”
When they still didn’t want to leave, Ilsa smiled at them. “Besides,” she said gently with a motherly smile. “I can’t speak for Kevin, but once these trials are over, Jason and I will return to Fool’s Gold, and we will be taking on the case against Royal, Miller, and the Firths.”
“Shit,” Clark said as he scrubbed his face. “I forgot all about those assholes. Pardon my language.”
“Nothing to pardon. Go home, get Katherine’s things back to her, and call us when you arrive safely home.” She walked up and gave them each a hug, and when they bent down to return it, she kissed each of them on the cheek. It took another thirty minutes, but they finally left, leaving Jason, Ilsa, and Kevin by themselves. Ilsa turned to them when the last person pulled out of the driveway, three pick-up trucks and Katherine’s car, which Scott drove because he was the shortest of all of them, and it wasn’t a very big car. She turned to the two men beside her. “We good?”
“Yep,” Jason said as he went into the kitchen and they filled their coffee cups, cleaned up from their breakfast and went into the dining room to go over the paperwork for the upcoming trials again. They knew it was going to be an arduous affair, but since Grayson and his goons were behind bars, they looked forward to taking on the task of putting the bad guys behind bars.
CHAPTER 20
“You may callyour next witness, Counselor,” the judge said to Jason.
Jason stood at his table, buttoned his suit jacket, and while looking forward, he called in a stern, loud voice. The reaction from the other table shocked him.
“I call Duane Manchester to the stand.” He waited until he heard a commotion from behind him, and glanced over at Ilsa, who gave him a subtle nod.
They were at the trial for George Grayson, and Jason had let the defense call their witness, and so far, in his personal and professional opinion, they had only called the people to make George look good. None of them brought up how bad George was. Jason waited until Duane was sworn in, took his seat, and settled in.
“Mr. Manchester, please state what you do for a living.”
“I’m head of security for a private business.”
“What gives you the experience to do this job?”
“Twenty-five years as an FBI agent.” As soon as he gave his answer, the defense attorney whipped his head to look at George, but the man in question refused to look at him. Duane’sresponse caused a stir with the jury, and the judge even raised his brows.
“Where did you work out of? Which branch?”
“The Los Angeles office.”
“For how long?”
