With These Four Rings - Book Five: Wedding Bonus (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls 5) (13 page)

It had taken her dad almost two years to investigate her mother’s death, find the culprits, and have them indicted and brought to trial. Because of their wealth and power, it had seemed impossible at times, but her father had been unwavering in his determination to make them pay for what they had done to the one true love of his life.

That first day of the trial had been heartbreaking for Tashi. She’d sat between her husband and her father as the prosecution and the defense made their opening statements, and then through the testimony of the prosecution’s first witness—a Carol Sweeney, who’d worked at the drug store where her mother had been employed as a pharmacist, twenty years ago.

Carol testified that just hours before her death, Evelyn Holland had told her that three young men had been forcing her to fill prescriptions for some powerful narcotics. She had to comply with their request or else they would have her arrested on phony charges and her child would be placed in foster care. Carol stated that Evelyn told her that the nephew of the doctor had stolen one of his uncle’s prescription pads, written out orders for some bogus patients, and then forged his signature. The son of the insurance mogul wrote up policies for the patients, while the son of the politician had several identifications made up in their names.

Carol was the first person Tashi’s dad had spoken to when he began the investigation into her mother’s death. Carol had also said that she was with Evelyn the day he’d gone to her house asking for a second chance. She’d begged Evelyn to tell him about her pregnancy, but Evelyn didn’t want to ruin his life and his career by tying him down with a child he wasn’t ready for. She’d promised to tell him once he made it into the FBI. But she’d died before that day came.

The defense had objected to every question from the prosecution, and every statement the witness made, claiming it was hearsay since Evelyn Holland wasn’t around to corroborate Carol’s story. In cross-examination, the defense asked why she waited almost two decades to come forward with her cockamamie story. She responded that she feared for her own life after Evelyn was found dead in one of the defendant’s homes. The defense brought in their own witnesses to try to paint Evelyn as an unfit mother and drug addict who turned tricks to support her habit and her illegitimate child whose father was unknown at the time.

Several times, Tashi wanted to stand up in the courtroom and scream “Liar,” at the witnesses, but her dad on one side of her, and Adam, Alessandro, or Arabella—whoever was seated on the other side—had held her back. She’d felt the tremors running through her father’s body as he too was subjected to the lies about the woman he still loved.

But the prosecution had a trump witness in their back pocket that blew the defense’s “not guilty” plea out of the water.

Audrey Ferguson, the ex-girlfriend of one of the defendants, was Paul Dawson’s biggest challenge. Just before the defense rested, and it seemed that the defendants would get away with murder, Paul had gotten an anonymous tip that a girlfriend of one of the defendants had been present when the murder took place, and that she had videotaped the entire thing—a videotape the defendants had no idea existed until it was entered into evidence.

Paul had worked diligently to track her down in Florida where she’d fled the day after the murder. Audrey was justifiably scared for her current family, as she’d been for her life nineteen years ago. Paul had told her that she could either testify willingly or be subpoenaed.

Audrey validated Carol’s story, and added that after the defendants planned out their scheme, they went looking for the perfect pharmacist to execute it. Evelyn Holland was a young single mother with no one to protect her. They pretended to like her, befriended her, and even invited her to their homes and out to clubs to party with them. They took pictures of her drinking, and on one occasion, she was so drunk, she threw up outside a bar. They threatened to use the photos to paint her as an unfit mother and have her daughter taken away and even harmed if she didn’t do what they wanted.

Audrey testified that she’d been invited to her ex-boyfriend’s home for a private party while his parents were away on vacation. She arrived earlier than the other guests, and reported that as she approached the pool area, she heard the victim tell the defendants that she was going to report them, even if it meant implicating herself. She wanted out. She was told that the only way out was through the grave.

Audrey reported that it was at that point that she began recording the events on her camcorder. She’d wanted to go to the police, but was so afraid she might end up dead like Evelyn had, that she’d instead changed her name and gone into hiding. She’d made copies of the video and kept them in various safe places as insurance, and told one other person about them, just in case the defendants ever came after her. It was that still unidentified person, who’d tipped Paul.

The prosecution presented Exhibit #15. The judge informed the jury that what they were about to see was extremely disturbing, and she demanded that the court maintain order. Then the videotape detailing the horrifying murder of Evelyn Grace Holland was made public.

Chills had rushed up and down Tashi’s spine as she’d watched her mother being pinned to the tiles of the pool by one of the defendants. The other held a hand over her mouth to muffle her screams while the third injected her with a dose of the narcotics she’d delivered to them that day. When they were finished, they tossed her into the pool, and stood by laughing while she splashed around in the water begging for help.

At one point, she made it to the side and began to pull herself out of the pool. “Please, I have a daughter. I have a baby,” she begged as she struggled to hold on.

“You should have thought of her before you threatened to rat us out. It’s your fault the little bastard doesn’t have a mommy anymore,” one of the defendants said, as he pushed her back under and held her down until she stopped struggling. When her body floated to the top, they fished her out and pretended to resuscitate her before calling 911.

In the police report, they claimed that she was a friend with a drug addiction. They admitted that they’d been having a party and that Evelyn had arrived early and told them that she wanted to go for a swim while they were in the den shooting pool. Since she was a champion swimmer, they thought nothing of it. But when she’d been gone for a long period of time, they went out to the pool and found her lying facedown in the water. Because of their families’ power, money, and prestige, the young men were never under suspicion.

Thus, Evelyn Holland’s death was ruled as a self-induced drug overdose and suicide. Since Audrey hadn’t come forward, no one investigated the bogus patients and the drugs that had been prescribed and filled during the five months leading up to Evelyn’s death.

When the video ended, the courtroom was so quiet, if one listened hard enough, one could hear a butterfly’s wing flapping in the nearby park. There wasn’t a dry face in the courtroom, not even in the jury box. Some of the defendants’ friends and family members had walked out in apparent disgrace and disgust.

There was no way the defendants could deny what they’d done to her mother anymore. They’d changed their plea to “guilty” in exchange for the death penalty to be taken off the table. Tashi wanted to see them fry, or more accurately, be injected with same drugs they’d given her mother, and left to die in the way she was. But it wasn’t up to her.

Part of her was glad that her mother’s killers had been caught and brought to justice, but another part of her wished she’d been spared the details of her final moments on this earth. It was so cruel, so evil, and senseless. It was then she fully understood her uncle’s distrust and dislike for the wealthy. Tashi shuddered, opened her mouth, and sighed aloud as she felt the anger, rage, pain, and hate explode inside her.

Her father squeezed her hand that was covered with her tears. “As soon as you’re finished with your statement, we can leave.”

“I don’t think I can talk. I don’t think I can do it.”

“You’ll do fine, baby. Your dad and I will be right beside you.” Adam pulled her against his side and rubbed her shoulders and arm, sending comfort flowing through her like only he could do. “I know the trial was hard, but once they’re put away, you’ll have peace and closure. I promise.” He dabbed at her tears with a white handkerchief. After the first day, he’d made it a habit to bring one along. “You can do it for your mom. Be her voice, just this last time.”

“Bastards!”

Tashi lifted her head from Adam’s shoulder at her father’s under-breath exclamation. The three defendants, dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands and ankles shackled, shuffled into the courthouse, their chains jangling as they walked. They’d been free on bail during the first half of the trial, and subsequently dressed in suits, looking all innocent, prestigious, and invincible, but after the judge saw the video, she’d revoked their bail and placed them behind bars. She wasn’t giving them the chance to flee to a country that didn’t comply with America’s extradition laws, especially when the death penalty was an option, as in this case.

Tashi didn’t think the restraints were necessary, but someone obviously wanted to send a message to wealthy folks who thought they could get away with murder, and to the corrupt politicians who helped them cover up their crimes.

The defendants didn’t look so arrogant now that their freedom, their power, and pride had been stripped from them. The heads that had been held high when the trial began were now bowed low, and the contemptuous eyes that had stared at her then, now stared at the floor as they jiggled their way to their seats. Tashi wished she had the courage to run to the front of the room and trip them, watch them fall flat on their faces on the terrazzo floor, and then laugh as they struggled to get back on their feet.

Not one of them looked in Tashi’s direction, which suited her fine. After today, she would leave this courtroom and never think of them again.

“All rise.”

Everyone stood as the bailiff declared the judge’s entry into the courtroom. Once they were seated again, court was called into session and the sentencing procedures began.

Tashi sat very still and erect as the defense and then the prosecution made their pre-sentencing statements. The defense asked for leniency, arguing that the defendants were young and stupid when they committed the crime, but that they have since changed, matured into upstanding citizens who have contributed positively to their communities. The prosecution demanded that the full extent of the law be implemented because of the premeditated planning to commit multiple crimes, and the malicious, merciless manner in which Evelyn Grace Holland was killed, leaving her young child motherless.

When the judge asked if the defendants had anything to say on their own behalf, they declined.

They refused to even say they were sorry.
Bastards!

“It’s time, sweetheart.”

Tashi trembled as Adam and her father escorted her to the front where she would be making her victim impact statement. She glanced briefly at the judge, then at the faces in the crowd. Some had been attending the trial out of curiosity, some out of sympathy, some to see justice done, some to sell stories, and some—like the defendants’ few remaining loyal friends and family members—had come to wish Tashi away, back into obscurity.

And then there were those, like Carol Sweeney, her mother’s former best friend, and her band of supporters who once loved her mother and who missed her presence on this earth. Courage welled up inside Tashi as those compassionate eyes smiled at her. She opened the sheet of paper her dad placed in her hand and stared at it. She’d been working on this statement ever since the court had accepted the guilty pleas of the three defendants. While she was writing it, she’d spent a lot of time in the room where she’d laid out her mother’s personal possessions that her uncle had kept in storage for her, and that her husband had flown to Granite Falls in the Andreas’ private jet as if they were precious cargo. They were precious to her. They had helped her fill in some of the blank pages of her life and understand exactly what she’d been missing from not having her mother.

“They’re waiting, darling,” Adam whispered.

Tashi cleared her throat and began reading. “I never knew my mother. I have no memories of her because I was only four years old when she was viciously and maliciously taken away from me. The only family I had then, my Uncle Victor, sacrificed his life to raise me. He was the only person who was in a position to keep her alive in my heart, but he couldn’t.”

She swallowed as her uncle’s sorrow and the reasons he’d sheltered her from the public came full circle for her. “My Uncle Victor never spoke about my mother, his beautiful, vibrant, younger sister, Evelyn Holland, whom he loved. He never spoke about her because it was too painful for him. Uncle Victor died four years ago, and with him he took any chance I had to learn about my Mom. But thankfully before he died, he gave me the gift of finding my father—or more accurately, helping my father find me—a child he never knew existed until three years ago.”

Sighs and murmurs circulated, and the judge had to remind everyone to keep order.

Tashi drew strength from her father’s and husband’s hands on her shoulders. “My mother had her reasons for not revealing the identity of my father to anyone. But I know if she hadn’t been ripped from my life, I would have met my father years ago. Every little girl needs her daddy. I’m no different, and I would have pestered my mother until she told me who he was. My parents were very much in love when they conceived me, but misunderstandings kept them apart. If my dad had known that I existed, they might have had a second chance to build a life together, and raise me, their daughter, together. I’ll never know.” She swallowed.