The Diamond Syndicate

“OK, let me redirect the question. So do you admit that you didn’t trust the defendant, Diamond Reed?” Prosecutor Swartz asked as she stood directly in front of Estelle.

“Yes,” Estelle answered nervously. She was now unable to see the defense table because Prosecutor Swartz had positioned herself directly in front of them.

Prosecutor Swartz placed her perfectly manicured hands onto the ledge of the witness stand where Estelle sat. “Did you know that the defendants killed Dr. Ricci?” She tried to give Estelle confidence with her eyes.

“No!” Estelle yelled.

“Objection! What kind of questioning is this?” Kyle asked the judge.

“Sustained!” Judge Fritz looked at Prosecutor Swartz over the top of his glasses. “One more question,” Prosecutor Swartz said, looking straight into the eyes of Estelle Brown. “Was your life threatened for testifying today?” She had a feeling that was the reason for Estelle’s conflicting answers.

“No,” Estelle said, shaking her head from side to side.

“Were you involved in the murder of Dr. Ricci?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, no!” Estelle placed her hand over her chest. Her brows furrowed, and her mouth gaped slightly open, as she stared back into the eyes of Prosecutor Swartz, hoping and praying she would stop questioning her. Estelle couldn’t understand what Prosecutor Swartz was doing. She felt like she was the one on trial for murder.

Diamond leaned forward in her chair, so she could see Estelle. She sat there and stared at her with threatening eyes. She wanted to remind Estelle of her threat, to make sure she didn’t say anything that would further incriminate her and her son.

Diamond was concerned that the older woman would spill her guts in front of the jury. She realized that she should have gotten rid of her a long time ago. She’d tried to tell the good ol’ doctor that Estelle would only be in the way, not to mention Diamond already had a gut feeling that Estelle was the one who’d turned dime on them in the first place.

Dante sat slouched in the chair next to his mother, thinking back on how he should have done things differently. He regretted having gone into the house the night he was captured. Now he was facing additional charges on attempted manslaug

hter and attempted murder of a police officer.

There were two police officers in the house the night he’d returned. They were placed there as lookouts, anticipating Dante’s return. But what they didn’t expect was gunfire.

Dante knew they were going to try to throw the book at him, if not seek the death penalty. At the age of twenty, his life was definitely over. He thought about how he’d allowed his mother to manipulate him and his friends. She only dated young men Dante’s age and sometimes younger, depending on her mood, turning them out with her experienced sex game and then making them take care of her.

As Dante sat there he wondered if his mother hadn’t set him up to take the fall. She wasn’t facing nearly as much time as he was. His mind was speaking to him in ways he’d never allowed in the past.

“So who are you protecting, Ms. Brown?” Prosecutor Swartz yelled, bringing everyone out of their thoughts and back to the present.

“No one!”

“These people are murderers! You said you would cooperate with the state!”

“Objection!” Kyle hollered.

Swartz ignored him. “Were you present when the defendants killed Dr. Ricci?”

Estelle’s eyes widened. “No!”

“Objection!” the defense attorneys yelled in unison.

“Sustained!” the Judge finally interjected.

“What are you trying to hide? Are you afraid of someone? Tell me! You can tell me! Why are you taking up for these coldblooded murderers? Have they threatened you?” Prosecutor Swartz pointed behind her to the defense table.

“Objection, Your Honor!”

The defense attorneys had stood by now, and the judge was banging his gavel against the sounding block, but it fell on deaf ears as Prosecutor Swartz continued to try to scare answers out of Estelle.

The judge banged his gavel with venom seeping from his voice. “Sustained!” You could see the fury in his eyes as he burned a hole through Prosecutor Swartz. “Prosecutor Swartz, you are way out of line. The next stunt you pull like this, I will fine you for contempt of court and have you thrown in jail so fast, you won’t know what hit you. Do you understand, counselor?” He pointed a finger at her as his lips quivered.

Prosecutor Swartz was good at what she did, and she was hard-hitting. She would test any judge to see how much she could get away with. She was the type of attorney who would turn on her witnesses if she wasn’t getting the responses she needed, and as far as she was concerned, Estelle was no different from anyone else. But Judge Fritz was also a tough cookie, and he wasn’t going to have any of that nonsense in his courtroom.

“No more questions, Your Honor,” Prosecutor Swartz said in a calm, yet firm tone. She sashayed back to her table and sat down in her chair, crossing her legs at the knee and exposing her smooth, muscular legs.