ALLEGHANY COURTHOUSE - NEXT MORNING

COURTROOM ONE

ARTHUR

The room is rippling with anticipation, I think everyone can see that the end is coming. I look across at Brian and Justin, and they look calm. They have been having regular chats with Trevor, the last one was this morning, where they came to an astonishing decision, which was not up for discussion!

“Attention, everyone!” Courtney orders. The defendants have been staring straight ahead, in her case, and at Brian and Justin in his. But his view of them is blocked by the hulking presence of Christopher Emaitch, or should I say Jack Zyniaf. He insisted that he sit with them. “Today will be closing arguments, and then we’ll ask the jury if they are ready to go to verdict.”

The murmuring gets louder.

“Silence! Anyone who speaks after the arguments begin, unless they are the counsel or on the stand, will be charged with contempt and removed from the court…” She turns to look at them. “...unless of course they are not on the stand and want to play let’s stall. Nobody has won that game when I have been in charge.” She holds his gaze until he looks away, there is a tap on the door. “All rise!”

Norace settles us down and looks around the court. “So the closing arguments for the defendant, Deborah Jane Grassi, will kick us off.”

PHYLLIS

“Ladies and gentlemen of the court and jury, my client has already admitted her guilt. I am not going to ask you to take into consideration her age, final admission, or the historical nature of the abuse. I am asking you to understand that when that is all you have, you will do anything to hold onto the, as fellow counsel put it, golden goose. Now she sees that this started, and with his help and encouragement, continued, with her son. She wants to be as far away from him as possible, even if that is jail. Let me explain the continued help. She was the PFLAG Chairman of that district, for a very long time, until Mrs Taylor was voted on in her absence. As the Chairman, she had files and every so often a note would appear in them. It was her son that would drop a little titbit in her ear. What she would've done with that information we will never know, but he was like an Iago dripping poison. She knows his determination, she's watched him bend Mr Kinney to his will. He’s even turned on her, deservedly so, in my opinion, but he will hound her to her grave. By admitting her guilt and not asking for clemency, she too goes free.”

I head back to my seat and look at Miss Grassi properly. Gone is the arrogance and fury, it has been replaced with acceptance and relief. “I did my best.”

“Thanks.” She smiles the first genuine smile I have seen since I met her.

“Thank you, counsel.” Norbert nods at Arthur but he shakes his head. He was given the option to go next, but wanted to hear what I said first. “Closing arguments for Michael Charles DeVore, please.”

ANITA

I can feel his eyes boring into my back as I approach the stand and turn around to face the jury.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the court and jury, when the information on Jack Zyniaf came to light, I asked my client why he hadn’t outed Brian at the same time and he said because his dad would kill him. He said nothing to save his life…” Arthur looks incredulous and makes a quick note. “...I believe him in that instance.” Michael starts to relax. “But as for the other times, he, like his mother, admitted his guilt, in anger and tried to retract it, in earlier testimony. I too am asking for you to understand his actions…” He starts to preen, and sits up a bit more, eyes trained on the jury. “...he wanted to be close to Mr Kinney, to keep him near and forever indebted to him. But he went about it in an entirely abhorrent way.”

I return to my seat and his face is riddled with confusion, fury and disbelief. I hold his gaze, daring him to say one word.

“Uhm, counsel, is that the end of your closing argument?” Norbert is, like everyone else, stunned.

“Yes, Your Honour, I have no more to say…” I turn to Michael. “...do you?” Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the slight smirk on Courtney’s face. “Let the records show he is remaining silent at this time.”

“Duly noted.” Courtney intones with as little laughter as she can.

“Closing arguments for the plaintiff, Brian Aiden Kinney.”

As Arthur stands and strides to the front of the court. You can feel the air go still as we wait for him to begin.

ARTHUR

“So, ladies and gents, members of the court, the jury, and, of course, Your Honour. Like me, you have heard their facile in one case, and to the point in the other another arguments for their behaviour. But let's get to the truth of the matter. It started with him. Not her. He did everything because he wanted to see how far it would go. Do not believe for one minute that the lack of outing of Mr Kinney in school was because he feared for Mr Kinney's life. Oh no, because Mr Grassi, in effect, did kill him. And like Dr Morris said in his testimony, would’ve let him die by encouraging his, if you excuse the terminology, sucking, fucking, drinking and drugging. But there is a minuscule reason for his behaviour…” I pause because I am so pleased to have remembered it. “...it is because these were the actions of a little boy who wanted his mother to love him best. However, he gave her no reason to then nor even now does he try to. So he punished the one person that got the love. The one who got the pride. The one that got the respect, the adulation, the everything he thinks he was due although he is still undeserving it. The reason I say that he killed Mr Kinney is that he killed his child and teenage years. By constantly running to Jack like an angry rabid rat, he condemned him to hell, and then had the nerve, the gall, the downright audacity to throw his help, his support, the shelter that they provided back in his face. If I, not we...oh yes, it was always I, where he was concerned, if I hadn't done this, that and the other, then you wouldn't be in the position you are in. He thinks that the success of Kinnetic is down to him…”

I return to my desk to take a sip of water and a breather, I turn to the court this time.

“...oh, he is trying to ride on the coattails of Mr Kinney again. If you recall when he had his parapraxic moment, he said he went to his other baby. It is not common knowledge, but it was Mr DeVore who suggested the baths for offices, his one good idea, and oh, how he rode that, he even got a key to it! But when there was a break in, the locks were changed.” I pause and let that implication set in and he looks green. “I am not suggesting more impropriety on his behalf, but as Mr Kinney said, the rot started when he refused to be browbeaten anymore. When he wanted to look out for himself and himself alone, when he stopped putting Mr DeVore first. After the break in, which again I am sure he had nothing to do with, he was not given a key, no matter how fanatically he hawked his reasons at great length. To this day, in his own words, he is not sorry for what he did. He has no regrets. So tell me why, tell my why in the name of inhumanity, why he should not be punished as severely as the punishment he caused Mr Kinney? Why shouldn't he reap the consequences of his actions? Why should the perpetrators of abuse, whether direct or indirectly caused, escape censure? While it is true that he didn't provide the gun, he certainly provided the bullets that killed any happiness that Mr Kinney could've had, especially after that Florida trip….

I turn back to the jury and can see flickers of remembrance flit across faces.

“...in Mr Miller's testimony he said that after Florida, for a while everything was okay for Mr Kinney and then it wasn't. And when he asked the defendant if he made the abuse start again he didn't deny it. There is none so silent as the guilty, and it is time he paid for it.”

With a nod to Norace, I head back to my seat and hold back my tears as Brian mouths thank you.

NORACE

All eyes are on me. This case has garnered a lot of interest. “You have heard the evidence, the testimony, and the closing arguments. Madam Forewoman, please stand.” Everyone holds their breath. “I ask you now, are you ready to consider your verdict?’

“We are, but can we check with you Your Honour; that we are still passing verdict on Joan Kinney?”

“Yes.”

“Then we are ready Your Honour.”

“Thank you. The jury is dismissed for consideration.” We wait for them to leave, the silence is unnerving and oppressive. “As is customary, we allow ten minutes before the court is cleared, just in case they reach the verdict quickly.”

All eyes turn to the clock...