Sophia held out a piece of tissue to Rachel and rubbed her back gently. They stood at an empty section of the toilet. The floor above them was the room where the final court case was to be held. “Everything is going fine. Why are you crying?”
Rachel dabbed her face with the tissue and sniffed “Don’t worry. They are not sad tears, I’m just so happy. I can’t believe that the day I’ve been waiting for since the last six years is finally here….”
Sophia smiled. “That’s true. I still remember when you were leaving to get married to George. I thought you were crazy back then. I thought you would be harmed over here or that something huge would go wrong. I couldn’t understand why you would choose to take this path but I’m glad that everything turned out for the best.”
“Yea…I’m so glad nobody died in this process unless it would have made things worse. It wouldn’t really feel like a victory after all”
Sophia switched on her phone and checked the time. “We have about an hour left before the court case begins. Morris and Judith won’t be able to escape it this time. It’s amazing how happy you feel when bad people are brought to justice. It feels amazing.”
Rachel laughed and sniffed again. “I know right, It feels good. Thinking about the fact that my father is going to be a ‘free’ man once again makes me so happy. I can’t seem to stop the tears from flowing. I would never be able to understand what it feels like to be locked behind bars for six years knowing that you did nothing wrong. He went through so much for no reason”
“It’s weird how things played out….” Sophia said “.. At first, we thought George and his mother were all part of it. We were even suspicious of them. Who would have thought that Patricia would get shot and Judith would turn out to be the one behind George’s car accident?”
Rachel laughed. “Truly, it was unexpected”
Sophia looked at Rachel for a moment before asking. “Your marriage contract is ending next week. Your father will be released today, the moment the court case is over. So you’ll get what you’ve wanted in the end. What do you plan to do with George?”
Rachel sighed. “I know at the beginning, I said I’ll leave the moment I get what I want. But somehow, we discovered that George and his mother are innocent. Besides, I love him….”
“Ooooh, I see….” Sophia teased, making Rachel laugh.
“Anyway, I want to stay. For real, this time. I’m sure he must have been thinking about it too. Our one year marriage contract is over. How time flies.”
“Yea, can’t believe it has been a year already. Things are better than what they were last year. It’s actually good that you accepted the marriage contract offer.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say so?”
“It was because you showed up here and started investigating your father’s case that all of these happened. Everything was hidden before but because you reopened the case, we discovered what Morris’s intention really was against Mrs Patricia. We also discovered what really caused George’s accident.”
Rachel laughed “I didn’t think about it this way before. I am glad I accepted the invitation”
Sophia glanced at the time “Oops! At this pace, we’ll be late. The court case starts in thirty minutes.”
“Let’s head upstairs…”
~~~~~*~~~~~
The judge stood in front of the courtroom ready to give judgment. On opposite sides of the courtroom were Morris and Judith standing.
Everyone was present. Patricia, Tony, George, Rachel and her mother, Amanda Reeves and Mr Anderson. Including James Scott. Some board members took out some time to attend, obviously still in shock of all that had been revealed.
Who would have thought?
Patricia’s lawyer, Katherine stood in front of the courtroom. There would have been no need to involve a court case since there was more than enough evidence but Morris and Judith refused to give in, insisting that they would take it to court and prove that they were innocent.
Rachel sat beside her mother, wondering what on earth Morris was expecting his lawyer to say on his behalf? Was he expecting his lawyer to bring up something sensible when everything was already pointing to him and Judith as ‘guilty’.
She would never understand how someone could be so resolute and unrepentant despite everything that had happened so far….
Of course, his lawyer was unprepared and had nothing sensible to say regarding the innocence of Morris and Judith. It backfired at the end.
“…. For attempted murder through a fire accident on George Scott. For participating in an attempted murder on Mrs Patricia Anne Scott and a fabricated lie against Mr Arthur Reeves that has cost him six years in jail so far…..” The voice of the judge echoed through the room as he looked at Judith who was clenching her fists in anger as she stood in front of the courtroom.
He continued “…. I sentence you to twenty five years in prison…”
Judith screamed, falling to her knees.
This was all Patricia’s fault! If only she had not returned! If only she died a long time ago, things would be different now!
The judge turned to Morris “You fabricated a fake lie against an innocent man which cost him six years of his life. You attempted murder on your wife when she was least expecting. You bribed a head police officer to shift the hand of the law, preventing a court case for Mr Arthur Reeves and ….”
A moment later, he said “…. I sentence you to twenty seven years in prison….”
The judge faced the audience and continued “To balance the hand of the law, the innocent man, Mr Arthur Reeves is henceforth, a free man….”
Rachel held her crying mother tightly as the tears rushed down their faces. Finally, her father would have a normal life.
George glanced over at Rachel sitting on the row in front of him and smiled. He was glad that everything was now sorted out. He didn’t have to feel so guilty regarding her family anymore.
“…. He is to be released immediately and the fake criminal records in his name must be destroyed. For the loss of time and false accusation, The current CEO of Imperial Hub Limited is to pay Mr Arthur Reeves and his family fifty million dollars for the damages caused by his father six years ago. Case closed!”
Everyone stood up and watched as the police officers placed a handcuff on Morris and Judith’s wrist.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Nothing would have prepared her for today. The moment a car stopped in front of the court building and two officers came down along with her father, Arthur Reeves….
Rachel and her mother ran to his side quickly, almost smashing him with hugs. Of course, the tears followed too.
His hair had grated even more and his cheeks were sunken, George observed from afar as he watched the family reunion happening in front of him…..
Processing the news of Morris Scott, someone he took as his own friend, being the one behind his unrecognizable life must have been hard for him to deal with.
There are some kind of emotional scars you don’t easily heal from due to damage that has been done….
George watched sadly as it occurred to him that despite his freedom, Arthur Reeves would never be the same again. His own father, Morris, had scarred him for life.
Six years was a lot of time.
Arthur must have had dreams and things he wanted to build and do with his life during those six years.
George looked at his mother beside him on her wheelchair. He noticed the tears in her eyes and he knew that she was thinking the same thing. Their family had ruined a lot in Rachel’s family, it would have been better if his mother never mentioned Arthur’s name to Morris.
A lot of things would have been different, for the best.
“It’s good to be back…” Arthur Reeves whispered to his wife and daughter with tears in his eyes. He thought he’d have to spend another four years in prison. It felt like a dream….
He was a free man once again.
From a distance, a small police truck pulled up and four police officers came out of the building pulling a handcuffed Morris and Judith along.
Tony walked up to George after coming out from the building. “Everything is finished now. Never knew a day like this would come”
“I know right. But it is for the best. Let peace reign from now on.” George answered “By the way, how about the other people involved?”
“Oh, yes. The bank official that helped Morris with the fake transaction was arrested this morning. Morris actually repaid him by getting him up the promotion ladder quickly. Then the head police that helped him was arrested too. I think it’s about five or six years of imprisonment or so”
George sighed. He had a headache from everything. “I see. What about the board members that knew about this from the start?”
“Mr Anderson handled that part. He had a recording of Mr Smith and Mr Nelson talking about getting rid of Arthur Reeves years ago. It seems they were jealous of him back then too. Anyway, that was the proof that got them about three years in prison. I’m not sure, I think you should ask Mr Anderson for the details”
“It’s all good. What about Raymond and the other guys he used for his dirty work?”
“They fished them out before they could escape. They are being questioned at the moment. They’ll probably get at least five years in prison”
George glanced at his mother as she wiped away a layer of sweat. He rushed to her side quickly “You need to head home now and get some rest. You are not fully healed yet. You can greet and talk to Morris another day. Okay?”
“Alright…” Patricia smiled, too weak to argue with him.
George helped her into the car, remaining by her side while Tony drove them home. Her wound was still fresh and she had a fever, her health was important to him right now.
He would bring Arthur Reeves over another time when she was strong enough to see him.