“Okay.” Maggie leaned her head back and fell into a dead sleep as the exhaustion took its toll.
Maggiehadamildconcussion. That meant she had to take a couple weeks off from the diner, and limit her screen time. Thankfully, a quick email to her clients explaining the delays took care of them. Her other injuries were mostly cosmetic,no broken jaw or orbital fracture. Sean pleaded no contest to the charges of kidnapping and assault, and after Centre County sentenced him, he’d be off to Oklahoma to face charges for what he’d done there.
Alex, Maggie’s lawyer, was worth her weight in gold. She’d taken Sean to the cleaners, forcing the sale of the house and all the assets, even going so far as to line up a realtor and someone to clean it out of stuff. Sean’s things were going to a storage unit, while Maggie had asked them to donate anything of hers to the local women’s shelter. She didn’t want anything from that life.
Luke didn’t blame her.
Mom had been doing physical therapy for her ankle, which Luke normally took her to, but today he’d had to ask Maggie to take her.
Because Luke was at the county courthouse.
A bead of sweat dripped down the back of his white dress shirt as he climbed the stairs, standing in line for the security desk. They copied his ID, asked his business, and then he walked through the metal detector and on to his destination.
Gwen met him in the hallway outside the courtroom. “How is he?”
“Nervous,” she responded, pushing her glasses up her nose. “But that’s to be expected.”
“Do we know what the prosecutor is going for?”
“Let me worry about that, Luke. You just tell the truth about your brother.”
Luke shook his hands out and blew out a breath. “Got it.”
He and Mom visited Aaron in jail, once. It killed him, and he knew their mother felt the same way, to see his baby brother in a prison jumpsuit. Aaron looked like a little boy sitting across from them, subdued in the hard plastic chair.
Luke was the reason Aaron was behind bars. He only hoped to influence the judge not to make the time he spent there too long.
Gwen marched past him into the defendant’s counsel chair, while Luke slipped onto the bench behind her. He didn’t recognize anyone else from the raid, but the judge would sentence a lot of defendants today. Aaron was just first on the docket.
The bailiff led his brother into the courtroom from a different door. Aaron didn’t look up until he sat next to Gwen. She leaned over and said something Luke couldn’t hear.
“All rise.” Everyone in the courtroom stood, and the judge entered from the door behind the stand.
“Be seated.” The judge, an older man with a thick gray mustache, opened a file in front of him. “This court is now called to order to determine the sentencing for Aaron Graham.” He turned his attention to Aaron.
“Young man, you pled no contest to the charges of Possession with Intent to Distribute.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you understand this is a federal crime?”
“Yes, your Honor.”
“And you still wish to proceed?”
Aaron nodded, looking at Gwen, who rose to her feet. “We do, Your Honor.” She looked over her shoulder at Luke.
“And counselor, I understand you have a character witness for this young man?”
“Yes, we’d like to call Luke Graham to the stand.”
Luke wiped his palms on the front of his slacks as he stood and entered the witness stand. The bailiff swore him in, and he sat down. Gwen stood, and he focused on his old classmate, not his brother. He could do this.
“Please state your name and relationship to my client.”
“Luke Graham. I’m his brother.”
“Are you aware of the charges?”
