Frostbite

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Threat Notice

I walked with William back to the courtroom as the recess finished up. I sat next to Felix and Stephanie, as Starkes and Aaron sat at the table's end. They looked confident but also angry.

I noticed that Lucinda was not in the room at first, till a police officer quickly brought her back inside with cuffs, having her sit with the cuffs on still. "What happened when I was gone?" I asked softly.

"Apparently during the recess, Lucinda tried to escape, yelling about how it was her prophetic right to fulfill Beatrice's wishes," Felix whispered. "Who did you talk to?" Felix asked, turning to glance back at William.

William had returned to his previous place, leaning against the wall with his back to the wall. He had one foot against the wall as he examined the room. I looked back to Felix. "I'll tell you later, this is not the right time to talk about that guy," I said, trying not to reveal the fact that the prince was there, his future superior.I glanced at Lucinda, confused and curious as if she would try to yell again or do anything else that would be insane, I was curious about how far she was willing to push her luck.

I flinched when I realized that Lucinda was staring back at me, her eyes wide and crazy, she looked like the cuffs were the only things stopping her from jumping out of that chair and launching at all three of us.

I looked back at the judge as she walked back in, this would hopefully be the conviction, I tried to keep my mind at ease, not to affect anyone else who may be watching me. The judge looked stern, confident, and incredibly angry like she was on a warpath of destruction, and the target was Lucinda Matthews.

The judge cleared her throat, organizing the stack of papers she had in her hand, before turning to face the jury."The jury of this court today, before we hear your verdict, do you have any words you would like to say, to explain why you came to such a conclusion?"

One juror stood, I noted her age, as she was most likely in her early fifties, with subtle gray hairs amongst the sea of blonde, pulled back in a bun, with what appeared to be a hair pick, holding it. The blonde looked artificial, evident by her roots coming in a different color. The juror seemed to hesitate on what to say, her eyes looked wide with nerves as a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.

I glance over at Starkes, who ironically enough seemed to suspect something was wrong, his brows were furrowed, and his lips were pulled tight in a neutral, but tinged negative expression. I glanced over at Aaron, who had a confused expression as he watched the juror try to gather her words.

"Something feels wrong." Felix broke the silence, in a hushed whisper as he leaned over my shoulder. "So I am not the only one who can tell something is wrong then..." I trailed off, leaning towards Felix while maintaining my gaze on the suspicious jurywoman.

"Members of the jury, have you not come with a conviction-" The judge began to speak, but the jurywoman spoke, cutting the judge off in what could be told as an unintentionally loud voice."YES! YOUR HONOR- yes we did-" The jurywoman stammered. I made a mental note of all the jury members near the woman flinched at her sudden yell. "This feels wrong..." I trailed off again, I turned quickly as Starkes stood up.

"Your honor, it is clear to me and my client that the jury is not cooperating or is not ready with their verdict, I wish to request an extension of the court's recess for them to reevaluate their decision?" He said, holding his cane in front of him, trying to look intimidating, as he knew that this was a big thing to ask for.