Aislinn stood in the courtroom. Derrick was looking at her luridly from behind the prosecution’s desk with his attorney. In the end Aislinn hadn’t been able to afford much. She had at one point considered asking Lord Arnauk for help, but decided that no matter how good his lawyers probably were there was no way he would help her out after what she’d said to him that night.
Aislinn had asked Luke and Renee to testify on her behalf but no one had been willing to lose their job. So with her cut price lawyer and no witnesses the only thing she had to go on was the fact that she was half Derrick’s size and didn’t have enough money to hire a hitman. Her defense had been based on that and Derrick’s previous history of sexual harassment.
Aislinn stood in there waiting for the verdict and hoping that if she lost she’d have a fine and wouldn’t have to go to jail and possibly lose her job. At the same time her premonitions were telling her that she wasn’t safe in her apartment and there wouldn’t be a place much safer than behind bars and being watched in jail. It’s always good when jail becomes a good alternative to life, she thought with tears in her eyes.
Finally the judge came back into the courtroom. Everyone stood and then was told to be seated and then the defendant was asked to stand. Derrick was grinning as judge found Aislinn guilty of battery as a misdemeanor. She was fined $500. 00, which to her sounded like a fortune, but at least it wasn’t jail time.
On her way out of the courtroom Derrick caught her and cornered her in the hall. She felt completely defenseless. What could she do? Hit him again? “Get out of my Derrick,” she said with a tired but angry voice.
He grinned. “You should have just played along with me. If you want your job back I’ll pay off your fine and we can find a way for you to work it off somehow.” He chuckled at that.
Aislinn looked around the hall and happened to catch the eyes of a courtroom guard who was standing near the doors. The man in uniform came over to her. “Do you need some help miss?”
“Yes,” she said in such a grateful relieved voice that the guard almost arrested Derrick on the spot. “I just want to leave and he’s… Well, he’s…”
The guard got the point and gave Derrick a look that caused the man to back off and allow Aislinn to move hurriedly down the hall. Derrick smiled at the guard, knowing there really wasn’t anything he had done that the guard could do anything about at this point. He hobbled out of the courtroom on his crutches thinking that he wasn’t done with Aislinn yet.
***
Rafe watched from the back of the courtroom. This is better than I thought it’d be. I don’t think she could be pushed much lower, he thought.
The last time Rafe had seen Aislinn she was full of fire. She had fought him like a hell cat to get away. But he knew he’d track her down again. For now he was content to let her stew. It was obvious that the atmosphere of her life here was wearing on her. He wanted her to the point that when he offered her help she would come to him out of lack of any other alternative. This court case had totally blown her cover. If there was one type of record you couldn’t keep undercover it was a police record. Rafe’s contacts regularly kept track of police records. The minute Aislinn’s name came across his desk and in the same area he was already headed he knew he’d get his chance with her again. But he was patient and had more important things to attend to for now. If she had ended up in jail he would have done something about that. But she could handle a fine. Besides, from what he had been told she was working for the Arnauk and that might come in handy in the end.
***
Cullen’s stomach started to growl. He had been staring at the latest reports and avoiding leaving for the reservation. It was a three hour drive and he still had an hour or two before he had to leave to still manage to be there before sunset. He had been managing to find excuses to not leave all day. Everyone was waiting patiently. As far as most of the others were concerned this was Cullen’s day. If he wanted to be late and piss off Jenna that was his call.
The report he was looking at seemed to be calling his name. It was as though he knew there was something in it that he was just missing. His stomach growled again. Finally he decided to just take the damn reports with him and he pulled them together and headed down to the restaurant.
Cullen sat down in his normal seat more than a little nervous about possibly seeing Aislinn and that pissed him off right from the start. He began spreading the records out to look at them while he waited. Just then a small commotion got his attention. He looked up to see Aislinn rushing through the restaurant and Meghan following her. He didn’t even think about it. He just knew that something was wrong.
Cullen came up to the employee’s break room. He could smell Aislinn and Meghan and he knew that they had gone in there. The door was open a crack and he could hear crying. He almost stormed in to find out why Meghan was making Aislinn cry when he heard someone start talking.
“Meghan I’m sorry,” I didn’t mean to be late Aislinn sobbed. Cullen stopped and listened, hoping he’d hear what was going on. He figured that Aislinn wouldn’t tell him.
Meghan tried to be mad but it was really hard to be the boss and yell at someone when they were already upset. “Alright, just tell me why you’re so upset. I can’t very well send you out to wait on customers like this.” Meghan tried to be comforting but Aislinn pulled away in a manner that reminded Meghan of someone who had been abused.