United Flight 65--Non-stop, Orlando to Baltimore
May 19, 2008, 12:15 a.m.
Sitting in the back of the coach class, he silently chuckled
at the irony of the situation. He had
finally been on the winning side of his first main event contest, and much to
his surprise even got the pinfall for his team.
Of course, he didn’t care too much for Aph whacking him in the face with
the belt, but her reasoning was sound enough in his book, when he confronted
her after the show. With that cleared
out and all of the business concluded for the week, he drove back to the
airport for his red-eye flight back home.
After all, he had a trial to attend in a few hours' time.
The even more ironic part is that he and Ice Man would have,
according to Ice, the best match-up possible in the opening round. Not only were their opponents well-scouted,
but Will had just wrestled them less than two hours ago. He already knew that the smarks on the
Internet would say that he was riding Aph's coattails in the last match, and
that there was no chance in hell that he could beat Black Phoenix and Kevin
Heat for the second match in a row.
Then again, it mattered not to him what the smarks said,
anyway. For that matter, it didn't
matter what Jake Steel had to say about him.
He had made a life out of ignoring the nasty asides and other such
comments said to him. And while
challenging Steel to a match was sounding more and more promising by the day,
he could not in good conscience do that to someone who retired half a decade
ago.
All in all, he didn't have much choice in matters for the
next couple of weeks. There was a trial
to go through in which he would be one of the main witnesses for the
prosecution, and if the trial was over in enough time he'd have to focus on
training for the tournament. So he knew
that things were going to be hectic over the next couple of weeks.
Then again, the thought of getting Brandy out of his life
forever just might be worth the hassles he would be enduring....
Office of the District Attorney
for the State of Maryland, Harford County--Bel
Air, MD
May 19, 2008, 8:45 a.m.
He followed Elyssa into the building, attempting to force
his mind to focus on the situation at hand.
Today was the preliminary hearing, as the trial itself was scheduled to
begin tomorrow morning. He had figured
on two days for jury selection before opening arguments would begin, and so he
mentally had Thursday down as the day he needed to be prepared.
So when he walked into the appropriate office and saw the
D.A. pacing back and forth, he knew there was a problem--likely a big one. "Mr. Snyder, what is the cause for
concern?"
Robert Snyder looked at him with a look of bewilderment on
his face. "We just received word
that Miss McDonald prefers to not have a trial by jury. The judge hearing the case has granted the
request, and opening statements are tomorrow."
"Is she out of her mind?" Elyssa exclaimed. "She's just asking to be thrown in jail
if she's forgoing the jury trial!"
He remained silent, contemplating this new turn of
events. Leave it to Brandy to
continually find ways to screw things up.
Will then looked at Snyder.
"Personally, I do not see how that is a problem for us. This should work in our favor, and make the trial
quicker."
"That's where the problem is," Snyder
replied. "I think she's hoping to
throw us off our game, and speed things up so that if we mess something up, her
lawyer can call a mistrial and let her go free until another trial is
arranged."
If the lawyer was trying to draw Will's ire, that was the
one statement that would be a lock to make it happen. "But you're not going to mess anything
up...are you?"
"We'll try our best not to."
Before he could reply, Elyssa did. "'Can or can not. Do or do not.
There is no try.' Make sure this
happens, Mr. Snyder."
"I shall do what I can, Lieutenant Anderson. It would behoove us all to get this right the
first time. Mr. Prydor...are you ready
to testify tomorrow if the need should arise?"
He nodded. "Yes,
I am."
"You do realize that I cannot go over the questions
with you; we are not allowed to 'coach' our witnesses."
"Nor would I expect you to. Just ask the questions, and I'll answer
them."
"Lieutenant Anderson, would you be ready tomorrow if
the need arose?"
"I would."
"All right, then.
Trial's set to start at 9:00, in the district court building, courtroom
number 3. If you could come by here at
8:30 so that we can make certain we have all the necessary files ready, that
would be very much appreciated."
He nodded, and then the three people parted company. As Elyssa and Will got in his truck for the
45-minute drive back to Baltimore,
she turned to him. "Will, are you
sure about this, given your history with her?"
"I have to, Elyssa.
You can only bend a man so far before he snaps. Besides, I want her out of my life. This is the only way."
"But she can't be out of your life while she owns part
of the End of Nowhere!"
"Elyssa, she won’t own it for too much longer."
"How can you be certain of this?"
"I've asked a professional to do some research. The word I received back is that if one of
the co-owners of a parcel of land is incarcerated for any violent crime--say,
attempted murder--then the other co-owners may demand that the incarcerated
person's name be removed from all papers noting ownership of the land. The moment Brandy is found guilty, I'm going
to file a motion to do just that."
"And her belongings?"
"Sold off, the proceeds to go to charity."
"Are you allowed to do that?"
"It's a sidebar to the law I just mentioned. Because they would be unable to claim their
items within a reasonable amount of time, I get the right as owner to do what I
want with the property."
There was a pause, and then a soft chuckle from Elyssa as
she looked at Will. "Has anyone
ever told you that you can be a mean son of a bitch?"
"Yes, someone has.
That's how I got into this situation to begin with."
Nothing else needed to be said as the truck was put into
gear and drove away. Things would start
to get interesting tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment