Zander was sitting between her and her aunt, and she loved him for that.He was her protector and hero all in one.As soon as the judge came out of his little room, everyone stood up.When he ordered them to have a seat, everyone sat but her aunt.She didn’t know what she was going to say, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be good things about her.
“ May I help you?”The judge didn’t look all that thrilled about having his routine messed with, but he was polite to Aunt Mae when he told her to have a seat.“ This will go my way, and not anything you have to say will have any bearing on what I’m doing.So have a seat like the rest of the people, and we’ll get this case taken care of.”
“ I want you to not do this to my brother and his wife.They’ve done nothing wrong but just got behind on their taxes.That shouldn’t have any bearing on why they’re being treated this way.”He asked her who she was.“ Mae Simpleton.Hubert Marsh is my brother.”
“ Well, Ms.Simpleton, we’ll have to see what evidence is here for them.I’m assuming that you’re not here to pay the back taxes either?”She said that she didn’t have that kind of money.“ And neither do they, it seems.We frown on people not keeping up with their taxes, but it’s not just taxes that they’re here for.There is the matter of them laundering money for the local drug dealers.”
“ I object to that kind of talk.”Her father stood up and was told to have a seat.“ I will not.I’m going to be honest with you, sir, and tell you like it is.I haven’t any idea how it came about that I was laundering money.We’re behind on our taxes a bit, but that doesn’t mean that we are doing this other thing.”
“ It says here that you were taking the drug money and putting it in the bank only to take it out a month later on the pretense of having home improvements.From what I’ve seen here before me, there were no such improvements made on anything having to do with your house.What do you have to say about that?”He asked to have it explained to him why he couldn’t put money in the bank, then take it out.“ Because the money was used for drug deals and you were a part of it.”
“ Yeah, we did do that, but it wasn’t paying us as much as it should have been, so we stopped doing that.Had I known that the money would stop coming in, too, I might have rethought that.It was nice having all that money in the bank for when we needed it.”The judge told him that it was against the law.“ I know that.But it was too good a payoff not to do it.But like I said, we don’t do that anymore.That should count for something.”
“ You’ve just admitted to money laundering, and that’s a federal offence.Not to mention not paying your taxes at all is something that goes to the state level.We need people to pay their taxes for road improvement and the like.”Dad said that he didn’t drive all that much and his roads were just fine.He didn’t think he should have to pay for other people’s roads.“ Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.You’re making a good case for yourself in going to jail.Is there any other tidbit that you’d like to impart?I’m sure you’ve been up to no good on other things.”
“ My daughter has money.Make her pay our taxes so that we don’t have to beat the shit out of her to get it.She’s been uppity lately and deserves what’s coming to her.”The judge asked if he was threatening his daughter.“ It’s not like she helps us out at all.I mean, why won’t she give us her money when we need it?We didn’t raise her like that.”
“ I’m sure that you didn’t.What kind of threats have you made against your daughter?Since you’re being so honest so far, I’m hoping that you continue.”Dad told him that they had threatened her with killing her, but that wasn’t going to work.If she were dead, there wouldn’t be any money coming in.“ No, when you’re dead, you don’t usually have a job that you can get money from.”
Dad looked confused and turned to look in her direction.She didn’t know at first if he was looking at her or his sister, but as soon as he sliced his finger across his throat, she knew that it was directed right at her.The judge asked him what he was doing in his courtroom, and Dad, being honest and all, told him.
“ I want her to realize that she’s not going to get away with this crap anymore.She’s not being a good person to us, and we don’t care for it.She should want to help us.We don’t beat on her all the time anymore, and I think that should go for something.”The judge looked at her and asked her to stand up.“ See who she’s with?One of them Erickson fellas.They have all the money in the world, and we shouldn’t have to beg her for money.Just get it from him.”
“ Are you begging her for money, or are you threatening her?That’s a huge difference.”Dad said that he was doing both, but she wasn’t listening to his begging all that well.“ I see.So you’ve decided that what she has belongs to you, and you’re not above hurting her to get it.Is that what you’re telling me?”
“ Yes, you got it.She’s not playing fair, is all I’m saying.She should be made to do what I tell her, and that should be the end of it.She’s not very smart in the first place.Why would she be saving money in the first place if it’s right there to spend?I don’t understand today’s generation.Buying a house isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.It’s expensive having a home that you have to pay taxes on and keep up with the upkeep of the sucker.All it does is drain you all the time.I’m just saving her a lot of aggravation.You see that, don’t you?”The judge looked at her again and told her to have a seat; he’d get to her later.“ You go on ahead and make her do what I tell her to do.It should be a law about that.That parents are the rulers of their kids until they up and die.And if she keeps this up, she’s going to be dying a lot sooner rather than later.”
“ I think that I’ve heard enough.”Dad finally sat down and seemed satisfied with himself.He thought that he’d won this round, but she still didn’t know what to think that the judge was going to do.“ Mrs.Marsh, do you agree with your husband on the things that he said today?It’s very important that you be honest with me as well.”
“ I’d have killed her when she was born to us had I known she was going to be this much trouble.Kids are the ruination of the world, and I will stand behind that.She’s nothing to me other than what I can get from her.And since she has money, then she should—Hubert didn’t mention it, but I will.She blocked us from getting into her accounts.The banker was going to have us arrested for trying to get into her accounts at the bank.How stupid is that?I’m telling you right now, if you don’t do what we want, this isn’t going to go well for you either.I’m sick of having people hound me for money all the time.Why can’t she just turn it over and be done with it?”He asked her if she’d just threatened him.“ You take that anyway you want to, but you’d better be doing what’s right by us, or there will be hell to pay.I’m just being honest with you, like you said.”
The judge looked like he didn’t know what to do.He’d just been threatened again, and she knew there were laws about that.When he asked her to stand again, she told him that she was fearful for her life.And that she’d been beaten by them before.Shaking his head, he said that he was going to give them what they deserved, and she would be safe.Giving them what they deserved could be all kinds of things, she thought with a frown.
“ Mr.and Mrs.Marsh, I’m going to have you arrested.Why you’ve not been so far is beyond me, but it’s going to happen now.You’ll spend the rest of the month in jail here in town, then you’ll be remanded over to the local prison until such time as your trial can be—”
“ No.That’s fucking not going to work for us.We’ll have to be out to get her money.”The judge said that she’d be safer while he was in jail.“ She won’t be.I’ll just have my sister do what’s right to her.This is fucking stupid.”He was told to watch his language.“ I will talk the way that I want to,and you’re going to take back—I was honest with you, and you held it against us.That’s not right.You should be killed where you stand.I’m not going to go easy here either.You should be murdered, and we’ll be free.”
“ Take them away.”He looked in her direction again and asked Mae what she was going to be doing.When she stood up, Olivia was worried that she was going to tell them that she’d have nothing to do with them.Instead, she told them that she’d do what was necessary to get her brother out of prison.“ I thought you’d say that.So, in the interest of keeping Ms.Marsh safe as well as myself, I’m going to have you sitting in a jail cell just like your brother.Take her away, too.”
She was still sitting there when her aunt pulled out a gun.How she got it in the courtroom was something that she’d think about later.But right now, she had it pointed right at her.When Zander stood up and punched Aunt Mae in the face, it was all she could do not to run to him.But he was wrestling with getting the gun from her aunt when it went off.
Olivia didn’t move.She was sure that someone had been hurt by the shot, but she didn’t know who.Getting up and walking slowly to the two of them lying on the floor, she knelt down just as the police in the room started scrambling.She was knocked away from them and fell back on her ass, but she wasn’t going to give up that easily.As soon as she saw the blood pooling under her aunt’s body, she just knew it was going to be Zander.When the police rolled Zander off of her aunt, she feared the worst.There was blood all over his shirt, and things just blacked out.
She must have been out for a while because when she woke up, she was lying on a gurney still in the courtroom.Zander was sitting in a chair, and he looked all right but for the blood all over his shirt.She said his name, and he looked at her and smiled.
“ I’m all right.I can’t come to you right now because I’m covered in evidence.I so want to hold you.”She started crying.“ Don’t love.Please?It’s been hard enough just sitting here while you were out.I’m just fine.Your aunt is dead, but I’m just fine.I promise you that nothing happened to me other than I got blood all over myself.”
“ Is any of it yours?”He laughed that laugh that made her think she’d caught him off guard.“ So long as you’re safe, I am too.Why am I on this thing when I could be sitting next to you?”
“ You fainted, and they were worried because you hit your head when you went down.They’re going to run you in for some tests just to make sure that nothing happened.The police are taking full blame for you being hurt, too, so do what they want.They’re a little on the nervous side right now.”She asked if her aunt was really dead.“ Yes.She was trying to kill you when I jumped up and stopped her.The gun went off when she pulled the trigger.I think she was hoping that she killed me, then was going to get you.I don’t know how she got in here with her gun, but people are going to be fired for this.”
“ Good.”He laughed again and was asked by one of the officers if he needed anything.After assuring them that he was all right, he turned back to her.“ Are you really all right?I have to tell you something.When I heard that gun go off, I thought for sure that she’d killed you, and I decided that I love you very much.”
“ I love you as well.It just took us a bit longer to get there than it did the others.I’m all right with that.I love that we became good friends before we became husband and wife.You will marry me, won’t you?I need to know that you will be my wife.”
“ I will.Not terribly romantic right now, but it will be a story to remember for our children.‘Dad proposed to me covered in blood while I was rushed to the hospital for possible head injuries.’”She pretended to be thinking on that.“ Maybe that’s why I said yes.You’ll have to ask me again in a few days.I might have a head injury that is making me think that I love you enough to become your wife.”
“ I’ll ask you every day for the next month if you’ll continue to say that you love me.”She said that she could handle that too.“ I love you, Olivia.So very much.”
