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On my left, Trick leaned in toward me as well, murmuring, “This is the first court appearance. It’s going to be the bail hearing.”
I made an annoyed face and pulled my face back so the two could continue their discussion around me, only to motion between them. “Would you two like to sit next to each other?”
“Nah. We’re fine,” Trick answered dismissively. “Besides, it’d do you good to hear this too. You see, the defendant…” he continued, pausing so Ayden could hiss in dislike over the mention of that guy, “is just going to meet with the judge, who’s going to determine bail.”
“Wait.” Ayden waved a hand and shook her head. “What does that mean?”
“So bail is the amount this douche would have to pay to post bond and be released from custody before the trial, right,” Trick started.
“Released?” Ayden squawked, looking horrified. “You mean, he could be released? Today?”
Trick started to nod slowly. “Possibly… If he can pay the ten percent of his bond to get out. He could be free until his trial is over.”
My stomach dipped at that likelihood. And Bella, who’d been sitting in front of us, didn’t seem to be pleased by it either. Twisting around, she demanded, “But the judge is going to deny bond, right?”
Trick winced. “It’s hard to say. You have to have done something pretty bad to get your bond yanked.”
“Hediddo something pretty bad,” Ayden insisted.
“He nearly killed three people,” Bella reminded us.
“I know.” Trick lifted a hand to calm everyone, but he kept wincing in apology as he did. “But it’s a little trickier than that. He didn’t actuallydoall the things he probably would have, things that would’ve gotten his bond denied for sure. So right now, we’re going to just hope that the public safety exception falls in our favor since thereisa likelihood he could try to do great bodily harm to others if he were free. And he was arrested under a no-bail bond, which is a good thing because at least he wasn’t able to bond out until he saw a judge first.”
“What if his bailisn’tdenied, though?” Ayden insisted, needing answers.
Trick sighed and ran a hand over his hair. “Then we pray he’s too broke to bond out or too stupid to call a bondsman to help him.”
“Motherfucker,” I hissed, beginning to panic.
But imagining this guy who’d terrorized Chloe just walking free among us sent a shiver of pure dread racing up my spine. I began to tug at my tie, needing more oxygen.
Trick knocked into my arm. “Cut it out,” he hissed. “You’re going to look unprofessional.”
I turned my head slowly to glare at him. But before I could say anything, a door at the front of the room opened and a bailiff called, “All rise. Judge Watson presiding.”
When everyone around me immediately popped to their feet, I followed suit, glancing around until I spotted a tiny woman in black flowing robes climbing up behind the bench.
After we all sat again, a bunch of legal, mumbo jumbo words were tossed around until the judge motioned to the bailiff, saying, “Please let in the defense for case 38975.”
The uniformed man stepped forward to open another door, and two officers entered, escorting a man in an orange jumpsuit with his wrists handcuffed in front of him and a chain connected to his ankle cuffs.
As Dax Freston shuffled inside, I blinked at the guy who could’ve taken away three of my beloved people. And I just couldn’t picture it. I mean, there were some spooks out there that you shook your head over and said,dude, something ain’t right with this guy. He’s a straight-up serial killer.
But I didn’t get that vibe with Freston. I mean, he was clean-cut and respectable-looking. Chloe probably would’ve even classified him as handsome. He didn’t have any jumpy, drugged-up tics that made you think he had insane, rage-inducing tendencies. No dead, soulless eyes.
He was just…normal.
And that freaked me out.
I couldn’t stop staring at him, remembering the bright purple bruises on Lucy’s neck, the way Chloe had wept, questioning her own worth as a human being, and Ava Grace’s cut on her head. I mean, she was three months old and she hadbruisesaround both eyes.
Andthismonster, hiding under normal-looking-man skin had caused all that? He’d chained Chloe to that floor, ripped off all her clothes, took a hose to her, and stripped away a part of her psyche that I had no idea if she’d even get back. It made no sense. It sickened me.
And then it pissed me the fuck off.
My hands balled into fists, and I bore a hole in the back of his head with my stare after he’d been seated.
At the front of the room, a clerk was listing off all of Freston’s offenses. “...violation of a restraining order, kidnapping, three counts of assault—one on a minor under the age of one year, one a felony assault with the aim to commit rape—stalking, drug possession, and resisting arrest…” Her voice was monotone with no emotion as if she were reading off a grocery list.
