Valencia

C h a p t e r 34: The Court

He didn't get enough of her yet. He didn't get to love her more, kiss her stronger, hear her laughter awhile longer, hug her tighter, tell her again and again how special she is.... How special she was.

"It's not time yet to let go of this memory, but I promised you, and I can see why you cared a lot about me keeping my promise. I'm doing this for you." Drake muttered under his breath, looking at her picture on the wall.

Everyone was walking to the court. With every step, their legs took one step closer to betray them. Getting in there will make a lot of things clear, will possibly show who is behind this.

Valencia sat on her seat, trying to keep her expression impassive as much as she can. On her left, there was Arthur's wife. Her lawyer was already there, and it didn't take long before Thomas got in followed by Drake.

Thomas kept a serious look while Drake smiled softly to Valencia and sat behind her where guests can sit as Thomas sat next to her.

People were getting in one by one, and Valencia started to lose focus on them and focusing more on thinking about what may happen.

After a while, the bailiff who was standing next to the judge's seat spoke out loud:" All rise. The court of the murder of Arthur King is now in session, the honourable judge James Kenny presiding", the judge and jury got in and everyone went silent.

The judge cleared his throat and said:" Everyone but the jury may be seated. ... The prosecution must prove that a crime was committed and that the defendant is the person who committed the crime."

Valencia's body tensed as she felt everything is so close to being destroyed or saved.

"I'd like to give the first words to the lawyer from this side." The judges said, directing to the lawyer from the other side.

He stood up, hiding a smirk, started to speak:" Hello your honour, dear jury. I'd like to start by reminding each other of who is Arthur King. He is a man of principles, a loving husband, newly married one, a nice neighbour and a friendly person. This soul was killed mercilessly by Valencia David. All evidence is against her." He moved the paper in front of him and continued:" Dear judge, let's start with the first evidence. As we looked legally through her files, we figured she has a criminal record in many fields. To be honest, I'm kind of impressed to see a young girl with a record like this one. Here's a copy of her files your honour."

The judge passed his eyes through the file in front of him then spoke calmly:" I see... please proceed."

The lawyer walked away from the table and walked until he faced the jury, then turned to look at the judge:" You know you honour, the DNA report showed that there was a hair of hers in the crime scene, I know this wasn't talked about but we preferred to keep it a secret, you know we wouldn't like to put Mrs.King in danger of any kind."

Thomas was feeling furious. He stood up and exclaimed, trying his best not to yell:" Objection! We were told that there was nothing except his body. Also, may I see the medical report?"

The man smiled and walked to his table and grabbed a paper. "This is the evidence, also after looking through the place for days we found it, I mean it's one hair, it's a miracle that we found it."

"That's bullshit!" Drake yelled, standing up.

The judge hit the table with his gavel stock.

"I demand silence or you'll be out of the courtroom."

"As I was saying, your honour, there are already some actual proves to show she committed the murder. I just want to add that a lot of people saw her that day looking dazed off and with dirty clothes. I have no evidence for that though." He went back to his sit and thanked the judge for listening.

The judge spoke after a while asking Thomas to speak up.

He was so stressed out, the other lawyer made it so hard for him. There was so many fake information and he didn't know how to oppose any of them.

"At first I want to welcome you dear judge and dear jury. Well, I want you to look at what he said from our perspective as humans, for the criminal record, they were minor things any teenager can fall into, we can't judge someone by their past especially when the victim had no choice in it. Also, Valencia David was away from home for like three years and I'm sure she has other things to do other than killing a man who only did well to her previously. As for the hair, your honour I hope you won't take it into consideration because let's be real, it can be out there due to many reasons, even the wind might bring it; it's an invalid evidence." He paused for few seconds, directing to the cops in there to get him then he continued again: "Also I'd like to call our witness, who is our main evidence that Valencia wasn't even there the day of the murder."

As he said that, Declan got in and the judge spoke up:" Will the witness please stand to be sworn in by the bailiff." Declan stood up and the bailiff looked at him and said "Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

Declan looked at him unsure, but then when his eyes led on Dylan, he whispered:" I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth"

The judge asked, checking his papers:" Were you with the suspect Miss. Valencia David the day of murder as the report says."

There was deadly silence and Declan only wished earth could swallow him in that moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the weight he's going to carry through all his life.

I won't be lying anyway, their report is wrong, I wasn't with her the day the murder actually happened.

"No, I was not. My statement was said under pressure due to some threatening I received from Valencia David's side. I wasn't with her in the murder period."

***

IT ACTUALLY STARTED!

NOW IT'S GONNA GET MESSY AND IT MEANS WE'RE, again, ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE END!!

Prepare yourselves! ♥

Thank you for voting and reading so far, we're 668 reads away from 10k ♥

Love you,