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“That’s the plan.Mr.Chase was sent to prison when he tried to kill Tessa.Who I like, by the way.”She told him that she did as well.“Anyway, he’s gotten life without parole.Which is good for a great many people.He’ll also be in solitary confinement too.Only able to get out and about for thirty minutes twice a day.Tessa and her mom are going to stay here for a while.They’re going to donate the land here in town to the Strong Foundation and help with the houses that are going to be built on the land for first-time home buyers.It’s a good cause and one that my family is willing to get behind.”
“So he got nothing anyway.”Barkley told her that was right.“Stupid man.Why on earth did he think that he could have gotten away with that?I mean, did he actually think that everyone was going to be just fine with him selling his sister’s land for much less than it was worth?Not only that, but to have murdered people to get what he wanted?He must have been dropped on his head a lot as a child.If I were his parent, I would have kept dropping him until he was out of my hair.He’s a monster.”
An hour later, they were called back into the courtroom.The judge looked like he’d gone a couple of rounds with a fighter and had lost.Carrie wondered what had happened in the time they’d been gone.The bailiff came to stand next to them when the judge was seated.As soon as he was, she was handed an envelope and told to open it.She looked at the judge, and he winked at her.Michael was brought in, but there was no sign of Mick.The judge began speaking as she was getting the letter out.
“There has been an accident, I’m afraid.”Judge Marshall looked at Michael.“I’m sorry to tell you this, sir, but your son was killed twenty minutes ago when he tried to escape from custody.So because of this, we’re going to delay this pretrial for two weeks while—”
“What do you mean, he was killed?I just spoke to him an hour ago.”The judge asked Michael if he remembered what they had spoken about.“Yes.I told him that I was going to get us both out of this stupid mess and that we’d be going home.My son…he’s really dead?”
“I’m afraid so.”Michael stood up and put out his hands.He asked to be released.“I’m sorry?What do you mean, you want to be released?The trial will still go on as planned but only delayed.”
“No.That isn’t going to work for me.I have daughters to raise.Especially in light of their father being gone, they’ll need me to take care of them.I want you to take these outrageous cuffs off of me so I can raise those little girls as I should have been able to do all alone.”Carrie stood up.She told the courtroom, as she had been told to do in the letter, that she and her husband—arranged and taken care of by Judge Marshall—had adopted the children.“You have no right to do that?They’re mine.”
“They were my sister’s daughters, so I, as well as the rest of my family here, will raise them as our own.I think that under the circumstances, they’re better off with me than you, you sick bastard.”He lunged at her but didn’t do anything but tangle himself up in his cuffs.“Not only will they be safe, but they’ll have a good life without you being there.”
“You can’t let this happen to them or me.They’re mine.I want them to live with me.”The judge told him to sit down and shut up.“I will not.What will it take to make things right for me?I have money.As soon as I get the insurance check from my wife’s death, I’ll sign that over to you.Come on, everyone has a price.Name it.”
“You just tried to bribe me.Are you aware of that?”Michael told Judge Marshall that he did it all the time, and no one had yet to turn him down.Not if they were smart.“Yes, I can understand how that would work out for you.I believe that two of the bodies that were dug up on your land were judges of good standing.”
“What the ever-loving fuck are you doing digging around on my land?You stop that right now.Damn it.What is the world coming to when a man’s land isn’t safe from people like you?Whatever you found, I didn’t put them there.”The judge pulled out a sheet of paper and began reading off the names of the dead as well as how they were killed and why.“Where did you—that mother fucking little shit.Mick did this to me, didn’t he?He was so against me raising my daughters that he told on me.Did he also tell you that he killed some of them too?The pussy had to be made to kill them.He was so squeamish about it.Christ.If he wasn’t dead already, I’d kill him myself.”
“Are you telling me that you forced your son to kill those people?What sort of threat did you use?”Michael seemed not to understand that he was confessing to crimes that would get him into trouble.He even told the judge how he’d had to help Mick hold the gun and pull the trigger on the first body.“I’ve heard enough.”
The judge sat there for several minutes as he seemed lost in thought.Carrie could tell that he was angry.When Andrew poked her, she handed him the letter.In it was the perfect lifesaver for Mick Cartwright.
Mick wasn’t dead.That had been written in bold letters across the top of the letter to them.But he had been made to look like he was.After pictures were taken of him being killed and he was whisked away, Mick was on his way to a better, much safer life.The judge also told her to make sure that they didn’t contact him as he’d been taken care of by Barkley and Lisa Strong and would want for nothing.There was also mention of the insurance policy that had belonged to Mick.It would come to the babies as well.
“Mr.Cartwright, I don’t know why I was surprised by your lack of feelings for the death of your only son.Be that as it may, I am going to sentence you now and save the taxpayers a great deal of money.I think that taking you to trial would indeed be a waste of time, as you mentioned earlier.”He thanked him.“You might want to take that back in a few minutes.I’m sentencing you to fifty years for each of the bodies found on your property.An additional five hundred years for the sodomy of your children.Which would include—” Michael told him that wasn’t going to work for him.That he needed out.“I don’t give a good god damn, you monster.This is my courtroom, and I’m in charge.Where was I?Oh yes, which would include another five hundred years for threatening a judge.”
“You can’t sentence me to thirty-two hundred years, you idiot.People only live to be about seventy years old.How the hell do you suppose that is going to happen?”Judge Marshall stood up, and so did everyone else.“Answer me, damn it.I demand an answer.”
“I only wish that you could live to be that old, you murderer.I know for sure that I’ll sleep better at night knowing that you won’t be running around despoiling other children.That crime alone should have you put to death by, I don’t know, but I know that you should suffer like no one has ever suffered before.”Judge Marshall looked at her.“Mrs.Strong, I wish you the best of luck with those little girls.And even knowing that they’re going to be safe with you, my heart bleeds for what has been done to them.You love them and hold them tightly, and they’ll be all right, I think.”
“I think so as well, sir.And thank you.”He said that it had been his pleasure.“Officers, I want you to take that thing away, and I’ll make arrangements for his prison term in the morning.Christ, sometimes I hate my job.”
When the judge left the room, Michael was taken away as well.Once he was out of earshot, the entire courtroom burst into clapping and shouts of joy that it was finished with the Cartwrights.She only wished that she could have spoken to Mick once more before he was taken away.
~*~
Barkley was still at his desk at midnight.They’d heard from Mick so that he could thank them for his new life.It had taken Carrie nearly an hour to stop crying.It hurt him in ways that he couldn’t put words to when she sobbed on his chest.Holding her and telling her that she did great was all he’d been able to do for her.
When she fell asleep on him, he was just able to slide out from under her and go check on the girls.He was also a twin, so he knew they would like it better if they were close.Putting them in the same bed had given them peace too.Almost as if they knew they had each other even if no one else did.Picking up Sunny, he kissed her on the forehead before picking up her sister.Holding them, he went to the rocker and sat down with them in his arms.He already loved these two girls so much.
“I’m going to tell you about your daddy when I think of something.While I didn’t know him all that well, he was a good man and one that you should always be proud of.”Rocking, he told them about the trial today and how he’d been killed.“Not really, so don’t worry about that.He won’t be able to come and see you anytime, not until Mr.Cartwright is dead and buried.I don’t think he’ll last all that long in prison anyway.”
Rocking, he told them how much he loved them.“I’ve only known you guys for just a few weeks, but I can’t imagine a life without the two of you in it.My mom, your grandma, is so excited to babysit the two of you that she can barely contain herself.My dad too.He told me how happy he was to have little girls in the family.”
Barkley thought of their biological father, Michael, and decided he wouldn’t tell them about him.Not unless they asked.All he’d tell them until they were old enough to understand what he was saying.He and Carrie had agreed that they were just going to tell them that he was dead.
“I have five brothers, your uncles now, who have already decided that you two are never going to date.And if you do, they’re going to be right there with you.”He laughed a little.“I think it’s funny, but I’d believe them if I were you.They’re pretty intense about the fact that you’re their nieces.”
When Sunny yawned again, he joined her.Thinking that watching the two of them playing on the floor with the million and one toys they already owned was a joy that he hadn’t anticipated.They were also trying to get around.Not much success at that yet, but he didn’t think it would be long before they were into more things.
“Mick set the two of you up nicely.You’ll be able to go to any college that you want and not have to work.Also, there will be plenty enough left over that you’ll be able to buy your own home should you wish to do that.Not that I’m going to allow you out of my sight to do either of those things, but there is the help.”He laughed at himself, telling two seven months old how he was going to be a helicopter parent to them.“I won’t really.I mean, I’ll try not to be.Perhaps when we have a couple more kids, the feeling of watching over you too much will have lessened.”
He didn’t think so but didn’t tell them that.Looking at Bethany, she was staring at him as if she was hanging on his every word.Kissing her on the nose, she smiled at him and then continued staring.
“I have a feeling that you’re going to be just like Carrie.Your mom.She’s pretty intense when she’s working something out.What is it that you’re so frowny about?”Carrie cleared her throat at the doorway, and he smiled at her.“I was just telling them about the day we’ve had.I should be working, but I can’t make myself do it tonight.”
