Drake Forever (Unrestrained 7)

DRAKE: Fantastic news about Southampton. I bet you'll be happy to be in charge and back in the UK. Will Claire be with you?

MICHAEL: She's not coming. We've split. Say no more.

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows at that. He and Claire split?

DRAKE: Understood. Let me know next time you're in New York City and I'll be there.

MICHAEL: Good to hear. I was hoping you'd come with me and start up a robotic surgery unit. I'd love one dedicated to children and since you're doing your fellowship I thought it would be a great fit.

DRAKE: Had to put that on hold, because of the trial. Maybe get back to it after. But starting a pediatric neurosurgery robotic unit sounds like a dream. Don't tempt me like that!

MICHAEL: *tempts you* Seriously, consider it. I have the funding. There's nothing I'd like more than working with you on this. Keep it in mind. Talk to Kate. She'd love it in Southampton. Great weather and city.

DRAKE: I will. Talk later.

MICHAEL: Give her my love. And kiss that baby for me!

I smiled as I put my cell away, and sighed. As much as I would love to go to Southampton and set up a pediatric robotic neurosurgery unit, I couldn't see Kate wanting to move again after we'd only just returned. Besides, she was so happy to be back in Manhattan and close to Ethan, I couldn't see her being willing to move again.

Then John drove me to the courthouse and dropped me off a few blocks away. I waited while he got out of the vehicle so he could follow me a discrete distance behind. I was filled with a sense of wistfulness as I walked to the courthouse, wishing Kate would want to go to Southampton, but I put it out of my mind. It wouldn't be fair to ask her. Not after moving back to Manhattan.

I slipped on some sunglasses so I could blend into the crowds on the street in the hopes that any reporters hanging around the courthouse wouldn't see me and try to get a comment. The sidewalk was crowded outside the courthouse so I tried to avoid the center of the steps leading up to the entrance where the reporters were standing. Court was scheduled to start soon and I wanted to get in and through security as fast as possible so I could find a seat somewhere in the rear of the courtroom. I managed to slip inside without any reporters recognizing me and went through the metal detectors and signed in before entering the courtroom, which was almost filled. I found a space at the back of the court, and took a seat on the bench beside an older couple, who were whispering to each other while they watched the proceedings.

The woman turned to me and smiled, apparently not recognizing me, which was good. I wanted to be as unnoticed as possible. I had even considered growing my beard and had let my whiskers get longer than usual. Plus, I wore a pair of jeans, a baseball cap and my battered leather bomber jacket instead of my usual car coat and scarf. I wanted to look as little like myself as possible. Hopefully, no one would look at me and see anything other than a curious bystander taking in a murder trial. That was my hope, at least. As much as I told Kate I didn't care about the paparazzi, I didn't want to make the news headlines or pictures of me appear in any of the newspapers or websites covering the case. It would only make things worse, so I hoped my disguise as an ordinary, slightly-scruffy Joe off the street worked.

The court filled up and soon, every seat was taken, the rows filled with ordinary people and with a few who were clearly reporters, either dictating into their cells or writing down notes in their notebooks. I leaned back and watched as the assistant district attorney and his staff entered the court, stopping to speak with the guard on their way and then taking their place at the appropriate table. Next to them was the defense's table. The defense attorney was already there when I arrived, with a young man who I assumed was an assistant, seated beside her. Finally, a door at the side of the court opened and Lisa was brought in. She wore a conservative suit with a white blouse, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, her face devoid of makeup and looking anxious and fatigued. I knew people would feel sympathy for her because she looked frail and in need of protection.

They didn't understand than underneath that facade was a woman who was cold and calculating. Manipulative. Everything about her appearance and demeanor was meant to manipulate the audience, to garner their sympathy for her. Poor abused woman taken advantage of by cruel older men. Her lashing out was in self-defense because she feared for her life.

I knew that would be the approach the defense took. But Derek was just not into violence. If he disciplined Lisa, it was because that was their game. She had sex with other men and played the bad nympho who couldn't get enough. Derek and she both had big orgasms as a result of their game. It wasn't my game. I didn't get off imagining Kate with another man. In fact, it upset me to think of anyone else touching her. But I was liberal enough to understand that it turned some men's and women's cranks. To each his or her own, as long as no laws were broken and it was all consensual.

The defense would have to build a case that Lisa had been coerced and systematically abused so much so that she feared for her life and when confronted by Richardson, Jones had struck out to prevent him from harming Lisa -- and himself. The would argue that Lisa having taken a hammer and striking Derek with it several times after he was already down was just her losing control out of fear.

It was so far-fetched that I couldn't believe anyone would swallow it.

But that was the defense's argument. It was up to the defense to provide evidence to support that contention and the prosecution to knock that evidence down and show that the murder was premeditated. The Assistant District Attorney would argue that Lisa had planned to kill Derek and make it appear as if he had gone out of the country. She and Jones would hide his body and live high off the hog, stealing possessions and selling valuables to fund their own new life.

Only, they didn't count on Derek's staff coming to check on the cabin just in case Derek returned from overseas and wanted to stay there.

That much had already been leaked over the course of the past year while the prosecution and defense prepared their cases. I'd followed the case of course and had Lara to help me understand the whole process and what each tidbit of evidence that leaked meant.

Lara was sure the jury would convict Lisa of first degree murder as Jones's accomplice, but it was possible that she would succeed in playing the victim card and make it look as if Derek was the deranged madman who had to be stopped before he hurt her even more.

Lara thought that Lisa should accept a plea bargain for a lesser charge of manslaughter, but apparently, Lisa was having none of it. She wanted to prove her innocence.

Ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised if Lisa decided to act as her own lawyer. She really thought she was smarter than everyone else -- typical of malignant narcissists and sociopaths.

The door at the rear of the court opened and the Judge entered. We all stood and waited until the Judge was seated and the trial began.

After some housekeeping business about the trial and how it would proceed, we listened to the prosecution deliver its opening statement.

I watched Lisa as the Assistant District Attorney gave her statement, detailing the events of the murder and making the argument that the evidence would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lisa and Jones had conspired to kill Derek Richardson, and then carried out the murder, luring him out to the cabin, killing him, then burying his body in the forest near the cabin. They then lived at the cabin, using Derek's money and stealing his possessions to fund their lifestyle. They used his cell to send messages that made it appear he had gone to Singapore to spend some time vacationing, and would be relocating there, starting a new business. Several transfers of money took place over the next weeks to Jones, and a number of possessions had been sold on eBay including some valuable jewelry and watches.

I thought back to when I contacted Derek the second time about Lisa, after I realized Lisa was going to be a problem. I never heard back from him that second time and had no idea that he was probably already dead.

While people had made inquiries about Derek's whereabouts, Lisa and Jones relied on the fact Derek often took unannounced trips to the far east for business and pleasure an

d had spoken often of wanting to start fresh somewhere like Singapore. So, no alarm bells were raised when Derek left the US and people stopped hearing from him.