Chapter 20: The Trial Begins - The Nightmare Continues - TDpt4

The legal system in this country sure doesn't give a shit about the victims of the crime. The victim seems to have no rights at all.

It seemed like every week the trial of Tara's husband was scheduled, some lawyer would get a continuance and have the trial postponed for another week or two.

The defense knew it was going to get its ass kicked, and that the shithead was going down for a long long time, so they just tried to delay the inevitable. It didn't delay much. Because of the evidence the judge refused any bail despite numerous attempts by the defense to get him out.

Yeah, get him out so he could finish the job on Tara and/or Dee. She still had Dee hidden and law enforcement knew that. I'm sure the prosecution would use her for a witness because she was young and not likely to be coerced. Kids usually say what's real in those situations.

In the meantime, life went on at the house. They all kept a close eye on Tara and at least once a week one of the girls would drive her up to visit with Dee, but in some ways that made the separation even harder on Tara.

One thing that happened during all of this is that Tom and Tara were spending more and more time together. She had an aversion to men at this point because of the experience, but she saw that Tom was kind, gentle and honorable. He didn't push her for anything, especially physical contact.

He had the other four women to keep him tuckered out, but every so often, Tara would look at him with a lot of lust in her eyes. Tom didn't seem to notice, but the ladies did. Especially Marie.

She mentioned it to Tom so that he could watch for it and be aware. He started to notice once in a while, and he would ask Tara out which she always accepted. They spent quality time together, but he would never push her beyond a "thank you" kiss. She was getting a little frustrated, but understood that he would never push her towards anything. If there were going to be any sexual contact it would be initiated by her.

Every time she contemplated the act her panties would get very damp, and she would want it so badly, but when the time came to initiate any activity she would always "chicken out".

She didn't realize that Tom felt her hesitation and knew she really wanted to drag him into bed, but just couldn't get the trust going yet. It would happen if it were meant to. He was in no rush.

One afternoon, Tara brought Dee to the house, but it was during a time when Tom was out of town. He'd just started a business and had to go on a business trip. By the time he returned, Deanna had already returned to the relatives.

All of the women loved her. They told Tom that she was just a little angel, and was a small copy of Tara. She was still 7, but would be 8 in a few months. Tom was bummed out that he'd missed Dee, but when duty calls, it calls.

He was working for the government doing contracts and technology analysis. He was just starting his own consulting firm. Just him. Because of his military background the government agencies that he worked with trusted his judgment without much question.

He'd had to testify before congressional hearings to explain the proposals that the departments were trying to get funded or de-funded as the case may be, but he always insisted that any of his testimony was to be behind closed doors. There were things in the proposals, though not classified, were based on classified information.

He wasn't about to compromise the security of the information because some greedhead jack-off congressman wanted to try to make a name at his expense. He was very outspoken and had few friends in the Congress because he said what was on his mind, backed it up with facts and figures, and invited them to legitimately refute anything he had said.

More than one congressional committee was left holding their dicks when he was finished with them, and he really didn't give a damn. As far as he was concerned they were all thieves, every last one of them.

He was held back on some trips because of the impending trial, and after one such delay he went to the court and asked to address the judge.

That's not normal procedure, but as long as all the principals are in the courtroom, I suppose it was assumed that he was going to talk about the case, but when he got there and was called it became apparent very quickly that he was not a happy camper. This continuation bullshit, as he called it, was getting out of hand.

"Your honor," he addressed the judge pointing at the defense table. "This so called lawyer continues to delay the inevitable, and so far because of the rescheduling of these trial dates it prevents me from doing my business."

The judge looked interested, and somewhat amused by the tact that Tom was using. "Go on young man," he said to Tom."

"Sir. I work in government contracts doing project analysis and make recommendations on current technologies. I save all of us taxpayers at least twenty billion a year, so far, in things the bozos in Washington approve because they think it's going to kiss enough butt to get them a vote or two. These are things that are not needed; some aren't even requested or wanted. Some are funded in such a way that by the time they get delivered, they're obsolete and get warehoused for two years then scrapped. It costs you and me a whole lot of money."

He paused to see if there was anything anyone wanted to say.

"Because of the continued delays requested by Mr. Defense Lawyer," he said turning to look at the defense table. "I want to put him on notice here and now that I'm going to file a civil suite against him to recover my lost wages."

The defense lawyer stood up and looked at the judge. "Your Honor this is highly irregular," he whined.

"Yes it is Mr. Ternner, but so are your ignorant continuations of this case. Not one of the reasons you have cited has ever borne fruit. You continually ask for delays to "dig up extenuating circumstances" which is crap and you know it."

"But he can't sue me for lost wages due to continuations," he said.

"That's not for me to decide young man. That will be heard in a different court, but if I were asked to testify, you had better have a big bank account and your checkbook handy."

There was a murmur and laughter in the courtroom, before the judge banged his gavel and restored order.

"How much money are we talking about here Mr. Tompkins, your lost wages?" asked the judge.

"Well up to now it's about $2.5 million, and there's another million in jeopardy if we don't get this show on the road so that I can go on the road."

The judge nodded his head and muttered, "That's quite a substantial chunk of change." Then looking at the defense table, "Mr. Ternner, do you have any further continuance requests up your sleeve?"

"I guess not your honor," he said glumly.

"Wonderful. Today is Thursday and I don't work Fridays, so everyone is to be here at 8am on Monday to start jury selection. Mr. Ternner if there are any further attempts at delaying this trial, I may hold you in contempt. Is my message clear?"

"Yes Your Honor."

"Thank you your honor," Tom said.

"No, thank you sir. I was beginning to wonder myself, if this would happen before all of us were old and gray." Then looking at the courtroom, he banged his gavel and said, "Court is adjourned until 8 o'clock Monday morning. Be here, and be ready to try this case gentlemen."

Tom was a little taken aback at the results. He'd gone to complain about delays and the judge was on the same page.

"Mr. Tompkins may I see you in my chambers please," the judge said to him plainly.

Like a typical kid, he pointed his finger at his chest to say, "Me?"

The judge chuckled and said, "I don't see any other Tompkins men in the room. Do you?"

"Uh. No your honor, thank you sir."

So he followed the judge to his chambers wondering what this was all about. He hoped he hadn't gotten himself into trouble for speaking his mind.

When they entered the chambers, Judge Barrtel turned and asked him if he'd like something to drink. Again, he was taken aback, but declined not knowing what was happening.

To his total shock, the judge went over to a cabinet, that with the door open looked to be a fairly well stocked bar. He pulled out a bottle of JW Black label and poured two fingers in a glass. Putting the bottle back on the shelf, the judge reached into the small office refrigerator that was just below the bar taking out a few ice cubes and dropped them into the glass.

Tom heard the tinkle of the ice cubes as the judge swished the Scotch in the glass before taking a drink. He set the glass down on his desk and planted himself in the most comfortable looking high backed leather chair that Tom had ever seen. Even the admiral didn't have one of those, and he better not!

Smiling, the judge asked, "I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here?"

"Uh, Yes sir. I hope I didn't do anything offensive during my display, and if I did, I humbly apologize."

"Oh no, Mr. Tompkins, you didn't offend anyone in that courtroom except that twit of a defense counsel," he said with a grin. "That man will drive me to drink," he said lifting his glass and tipping towards Tom took another drink.

"Oh, I was just trying to make a point judge that his delay tactics are costing people time on the job. His client is a slam dunk for at least one 25 to life at minimum, and he's just delaying the inevitable."

"Hmmm. Perhaps you should put on the robe and try the case," he said with a chuckle. "You're pretty sure of his guilt aren't you?"

"Your honor, I'm living with the results of his guilt, and I can tell you she is going to be traumatized until he is dead. She knows that if he gets any kind of parole he'll come looking for both her and her daughter, who by the way, has been hidden away so he could never find her."

The judge was nodding his head knowingly, "Yes. Yes, Mr. Tompkins I'm aware of all of that, but as a judge I'm not allowed to prejudge a case before hearing all of the evidence. Confidentially, I find the evidence quite compelling. Which brings me to my question to you."

Tom looked at the judge waiting to hear.

"Mr. Tompkins," he said his eyes closing to a squint. "I've reviewed your record, at least that which I was able to obtain. The government won't give up classified information even to a judge without just cause, and truly I have none other than my own curiosity. You're quite impressive for a 22 year old man."

Tom now wondered where this was going, but was a captive audience so he'd find out when the train got to the station.

"Two silver stars, both with the "V" for valor, some Medals for Gallantry, numerous commendations, put in for the Medal of Honor twice, one still under review. Mr. Tompkins, I'd have to say you are quite an impressive soldier."

"Sailor sir. I'm a sailor."

"My mistake, Mr. Tompkins --"

Tom interrupted, "Please call me Tom your honor. Every time you say Mr. Tompkins I want to look around for my father."

Judge Barrtel just laughed out loud looking directly at Tom, his eyes sparkling brightly. It was apparent that he was enjoying the conversation.

"My mistake Tom. Please accept my apology. Yes, you were a US Navy SEAL. You and that entire organization are a credit to our country young man and I for one thank you heartily for your service."

"Thank you sir," Tom said with a blush.

"I can see the restraint in your demeanor. It isn't rare for someone in your group to be humble about membership, is it Tom?"

"No sir. We're just doing our job. We were trained to perform a little outside the box, and that's what we excel at. Sometimes things don't go as planned so we get way out of the box."

"Oh, I understand that, but that leads me to the question that brought you here. Having read the police report in the course of reviewing the evidence to be presented, I noted that you had the opportunity to kill the defendant and didn't. I just wonder why. It would have saved us all a lot of time, effort, and quite bluntly, pain in the ass time."

He chuckled and took another drink from his glass as he settled back to listen to Tom's answer.

"I'm beginning to wonder about the answer to that question myself judge. I can tell you that I didn't take his life because for him and his deeds it would have been too quick, too easy on him. The man deserves to suffer, a lot. If I'd killed him his suffering would be over."

The judge nodded his head knowingly and said softly, "Indeed."

"With a little luck and twelve intelligent people, he'll get that 25 to life and end up in prison, hopefully for the rest of his life."

The judge was nodding his head, but Tom still hadn't really answered the question, but the judge was a patient man, he knew that Tom wasn't finished.

"As an aside your honor, he's an extremely homophobic man. Tara, the victim in all of this, hid out in a gay bar because she knew he wouldn't consider coming in to a place like that. He'd burn it to the ground, but he was afraid he'd "catch gay."

The look of shock on the judge's face was priceless. He thought he knew where Tom was going with the story, so kept quiet.

"I'm pretty confident that once he gets to prison, he'll find out he's not as tough as he thinks he is and he'll end up with some Bubba. He'll get that asshole of his stretched on a regular basis, and THAT, your honor, is true punishment in this case."

"So true. No truer words ever spoken, but you know we can't acknowledge that kind of activity."

"Oh. I totally understand. That's not an issue for me. I know it's going to happen and so does Tara."

"So how did you become involved in this whole thing Tom?" the judge wanted to know.

He looked at the judge for a moment and figured the judge already knew the answer to the question, otherwise he probably wouldn't have asked it in that way.

"When Tara went to the bar, she was befriended by one of my roommates. Marie called me to help out, so I did. Once I heard Tara's story and knew this guy had almost killed a police officer I knew he needed to be taken into custody post haste."

Judge Barrtel nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm sorry to say your honor, but I didn't have a lot of confidence in the police force being able to track him down and capture him, so I thought since I had experience with that kind of operation that I'd give it a shot. It worked out."

"Yes, yes it did, quite effectively at that," commented Judge Barrtel. "How long did you work on your plan Tom?"

Tom blushed and said, "It took about 30 minutes to nail down all the details, and it was really only getting Tara to agree to be the bait. Pretty much a no-brainer from my perspective."

"Thirty minutes? You made a plan that was executed to perfection in thirty minutes," he asked incredulously.

"Umm, Yes sir. We were trained to improvise because nothing ever goes as planned. We always had to have some kind of contingency," he said in all seriousness. "Quite honestly this wasn't much of a challenge. People like him are very predictable when provided appropriate stimulus. It was just up to me to provide the stimulus," he said with a wry smile.

"The whole thing was probably done, start to finish, in about two, two and a half hours after I talked to the police and got the distinct feeling that they not only didn't have it as a priority, but probably weren't totally competent to take him down. They did provide backup for me so that once I had neutralized the perpetrator they could come in and take him into custody." With a sigh he added, "Then we could go on with our day."

"Amazing. I would never admit to saying this, but it would be nice if there were a whole bunch of 'you' out there. It could save a lot of people an awful lot of grief."

"Yes sir, but that's not our job. We're trained to take down terrorists and the like in combat situations, not deal with civilian crime. That's supposed to be the job of the police forces, but quite honestly I don't think they're very well trained or motivated anymore. Budget cuts kill public service."

"I think you hit the nail on the head Tom. Like everything else in this world it boils down to money."

"Yes sir, that's sure true."

"Well Tom, I should let you go so you can get on with things. Thank you for your time. I truly appreciate it, as well as appreciate being in the company of such a distinguished sailor."

"Thank you sir, it's my pleasure," said Tom standing up and shaking the judge's hand. With a grin, "See you Monday morning, sir, bright and early."

With a grin, Judge Barrtel replied, "I'll be here. You can count on it!"

Tom wandered back through the corridor and into the courtroom to find both Marie and Tara waiting for him. When he approached, Tara jumped up and wrapped herself around him. The look he got from Marie was telling.

He could read it in her eyes. Telling him that Tara needed him right now and that she and Lisa would just have to accept that. Her mental health was more important than their lust.

He smiled at her and nodded almost imperceptibly while Marie approached from behind Tara and wrapped herself around to hug Tom as well.

Tara pushed away and looked into Tom's eyes and he could only see fear. She was scared to death at the moment, so something must have happened earlier that he didn't see or hear.

It was Marie that filled it in.

"While you were addressing the judge Tommy, the bastard turned around and looked at, well both of us, and mouthed that he was going to kill her. It not only scared her to death but it scared the shit out of me too."

"Ok. Hold on here for a minute."

Tom ran back through the corridor to the judge's door and knocked. He heard the "come in" from behind the door and he opened it to a surprised judge.

"Sir. Are there any surveillance cameras in your courtroom? You know, to have a video record if anything happens?"

The judge looked at him, shocked that Tom would know that kind of information. There are probably a lot of things he knows the judge would be shocked to hear.

Tom explained why and was told to get the two young women and bring them into chambers and he'd make a quick call.

Tom went back out to the courtroom and escorted Tara and Marie back to the judge's chambers. By the time the three of them arrived, the judge had moved aside a couple cabinet doors exposing a TV screen that the judge had in his office.

"Good morning ladies, please make yourself at home. Would either of you like a drink?"

Both Tara and Marie shook their heads and didn't say anything.

"Tom here tells me that the defendant in the case we just heard made threats against you in my courtroom."

Both nodded their heads and whispered, "Yes sir."

"Ladies, please, don't be intimidated by the robe. I'm human just the same as you are, but I've been given the responsibility to sit in judgment of others who don't seem to be able to follow the general rules of civility."

He smiled at them broadly and let them know what they were about to see, and asked them about where he would find the offense.

Tara spoke up, "It was right near the end when Tommy was facing you. You were asking the lawyer if there were any more delays he had planned."

"Very detail oriented, I like that," he said with a gentle smile.

He ran the tape from a remote and forwarded to the approximate place where he would find the offense. He hit the play button and sure enough, the video showed him turning and mouthing "I'm going to kill you" plain as the nose on your face.