Between Darkness and Dawn

18.

For a whole week, Carmen was kept away from Cody. Not only was he denied visitors other than his lawyer, but her parents had taken it upon themselves to petition the court to have her denied access to him. They claimed that because of her ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, being in close proximity to Cody would prevent her from recovering and seeing the monster that he really was. It infuriated Carmen, but with a court injunction, she had little choice. A letter had arrived, duly noting her that if she visited Cody at all, while the injunction was in place, she would be found incapable of making her own decisions and her parents could easily have her locked in a psychiatric home for the duration of Cody’s trial. And if that happened, she wouldn’t be able to get out unless one of her parents signed the consent form; it was far too dangerous, and so she reluctantly stayed at the hotel and refused to go outside.

To make matters worse, an extra charge of intentional emotional harm had been added to Cody’s case. Because he had knowingly kidnapped and held Carmen, Harmony and Godfry hostage, he had caused them irreparable emotional damage; with Carmen’s kidnapping that same argument had been put forward concerning Audrey and Ferris, who had suffered the undue stress of believing their daughter to be in the unsavoury hands of a criminal. Carmen might have laughed when Peter broke the news to her, if it hadn’t have been for the fact that Cody really was being kept in prison because of such lies. The very letter she had sent her parents, telling them that she had chosen to stay in Colombia because she was in love, had been handed over to the prosecutor, claiming that it proved without a doubt, that she had been forced to write home by her captive. Carmen was furious and Peter was hopeful of the fact that, having been given to the prosecutor, it was also open to his own interpretation.

Peter had been busy, while the judge heard their arguments, before deciding if they would go to trial or not, having a handwriting expert and psychologist look over her letter for signs of distress or coercion. So far, two independent reports from both kind of experts had proven Carmen to be writing of her own free will and he was hopeful that the judge would agree with him and have it removed from evidence. What worried him, was Carmen. With her sulking in her hotel room, refusing to leave and refusing the medical examination on grounds that it violated her civil rights, she wasn’t helping him out very much. He couldn’t fight the injunction against her seeing Cody unless he could prove that she wasn’t a victim of Stockholm syndrome and in love with her captor. And he couldn’t do that unless she saw what he saw; that her actions and words only convinced everyone even more, that she depended on Cody and wanted nothing to do with anyone else. Harmony helped a little, but not enough.

frankly, Peter had to admit that he was all too captivated by Harmony. Her relationship with Godfry had come to an abrupt end the moment she found out what he had told Carmen’s parents about their trip. She had been interrogated for hours by her own parents and had only just managed to convince them that Godfry had fallen and hit his head during their trip and had made the whole thing up when he was delusional. It let him know that she was available if he ever risked asking her out on a date, but it also let him know that she knew the truth of her adventures with Cody and his men, and wouldn’t bat an eyelash over his own involvement with those events. But for the moment, he decided not to bother complicating his life with a girlfriend, at least not when his good friend was in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed against a girl he loved. And certainly not when Carmen made things difficult.

He didn’t see any way out of going to trial unless he could convince the judge hearing the particulars that Carmen had been, and still was, in no danger from Cody. But because of Ferris’s influence, there wasn’t even a preliminary hearing, they had gone straight into giving evidence and in just a few days, he would have his first chance to present the case as he found it. But at least there would be no jury. Peter hated juries, right from picking them to trusting them to make the right decision. He only hoped to God that he could control Carmen long enough to convince the judge of the truth; if not, then Cody might spent a good many years in prison, all because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.