Chapter 51

After a preliminary hearing, the trial date was set to begin two weeks after Jason’s arrest. He was appointed a state defense attorney and spent the entire time before trial in a federal jail cell. He was refused bail on the premise that he was a flight risk and had tried to flee the country before his arrest. Given that his bank account was frozen due to multiple counts of fraudulent activity, ranging from blackmail to check forgeries, he could not afford a lawyer. It seemed that Jason’s life of crime commenced when he realized he’d gotten away with the insurance fraud.

On the first day of the trial, Chelsea was not allowed inside the courtroom until she was to testify. As the first witness, she was required to be at the courthouse at the commencement of the trial which was set to begin at 10:00 a.m. The case of abduction was the first to hear, after which he would be tried on the fraud cases. She waited outside the courtroom for almost an hour before she was called inside by the clerk and escorted by a guard. Colt and Reid sat to the back of the room while Jason sat in his bright orange prison suit beside his lawyer. His hands were cuffed and feet bound together. As she’d learned from the prosecutor during the preparation process, it was a no jury trial.

After she took the oath on the Bible, the federal prosecutor, Miss Fenwick, stood and addressed the court. The woman’s blonde hair was neatly pulled back in a bun, and her dark framed glasses sat pertly on her button nose. She was an attractive woman who didn’t appear to smile much. She had that look that made your heart quiver just a little bit. Chelsea had to remind herself that she was not the one on trial.

“Miss Downing, tell us what happened the day you were abducted,” Miss Fenwick addressed her, studying her with electric blue eyes.

It was hard recalling and telling every detail of what she could remember. She told them from the time she felt someone grab her to the time she realized she was free. She avoided looking at Jason while she spoke, mostly keeping her eye on the attorney, who seemed to hang on to every word. Once or twice, she glanced at Colt who smiled at her reassuringly.

When it was time for the defense attorney to cross-examine, her heart started racing uncontrollably. She’d watched many movies with lawyers who would do anything to get their clients off, including blaming the witness.

“Miss Downing, what makes you so sure it’s my client who abducted you?” he asked, his voice was calm and kind. This threw her off, and she stared at him for a second.

“First, it was the voice I heard before they freed me. I recognized the voice in the line-up before I even saw the face, and then there was the tattoo.”

“And you sure you never saw that tattoo before? You met the defendant twice before.”

“I saw him from a distance. We never spoke, and I never got close enough to know he had a tattoo on his inner wrist.”

The prosecutor stood. “Your honor, based on our investigation, the defendant got that tattoo a few days prior to the abduction of Chelsea Downing. Even if they had spoken on the two occasions she’d seen him before, she would not have known about the tattoo.”

“Is that true?” The judge looked at the defense attorney who appeared confused. The lawyer sat and leaned toward his client, speaking softly.

“Yes, your honor.” He stood and addressed the judge. “I have no further questions.”

Chelsea’s eyes flicked to the defense attorney in shock. Was that it? Wasn’t he going to grill her and make her cry? She’d come prepared to stay strong, willing herself to be tough, and now he wasn’t going to question her further. She didn’t know if she should be upset or relieved. She was escorted from the podium and was now allowed to sit in the courtroom for the balance of the trial. She sat beside Colt, who immediately took her hand, giving her a gentle squeeze.

“Your honor, I would like to call to the witness stand …” the prosecutor began.

The defense stood, interrupting her. “We would like to enter a plea, your honor.”

“Your honor, this is highly unusual,” Miss Prosecutor protested. “They already entered a plea of not guilty. This case needs to be heard.”

“Miss Fenwick,” the judge addressed the prosecutor. “Let’s not waste our time, shall we? We’ll hear the plea.” He then turned his eyes to the defendant who now was standing beside his attorney.

“How do you plead?”

“We plead guilty, your honor.”

The judge looked across at Miss Fenwick who didn’t seem very happy. “We accept the plea, your honor.”

“Very well.” He sighed. “Sentencing will be in two weeks from today,” he said, while the clerk took notes. He hit the gavel and rose.

“All rise!” the guard said, and everyone got to their feet.

* * *

“What happens now?” Reid asked Prosecutor Fenwick.

She pulled her glasses from her face and placed them on the desk. They were in her office in the federal building, and she was sitting in her high back leather chair. She seemed annoyed as she replied, “Well, the judge will review the case and pass down a sentence based on the evidence. They can plea for a lesser sentence, citing that the defendant willingly submitted to the court.”

“But he will go the prison, right?” Chelsea asked.

“Yes, he will.”

Colt, who was sitting quietly in one of the armchairs in front of the huge mahogany desk Miss Fenwick sat behind, asked, “The witness you were about to call, who was it?”

“Carla Benson. Her twin brother is a journalist; you should know him—he writes trash about you,” she replied. Chelsea knew she was being sarcastic because she knew he knew Carl. They’d discussed him during the preparation process for the trial.

“What about the other cases?”

“He has pled guilty to all the charges that have been laid against him. Therefore, even if he serves a reduced sentence for this crime, he’ll be serving several consecutive sentences which should put him away a long time.”

They left the prosecutor’s office with mixed feelings. Although everything was almost over, she had been looking forward to seeing Jason squirm under cross-examination. She had been looking forward to hearing the judge finding him guilty when he himself said he wasn’t. Oddly, she was disappointed that he pled guilty.

“What’s that look?” Reid asked her as they got into the car.

“I’m disappointed he pled out,” she said sourly.

Colt glanced her way as he slid into the front passenger seat, but he said nothing.

As they headed back to the hotel, her disappointment in how the trial went slowly dissipated. She had to be thankful that it didn’t drag on unnecessarily, taking up much of their time. He must have seen that the evidence against him was overwhelming. That’s why he pled out, in addition to having so many other charges against him. He did the best thing for himself and taxpayers.

Chelsea felt better than she’d felt in the last few days. Now that she had the security of knowing Jason was going to prison, her fear lessened. Colt, on the other hand, seemed quiet. He was there supporting her, but she saw that he was troubled. Reid was the one who couldn’t stop talking about the case.

“Chelsea, you did great posting those articles. The police would never have suspected that creep if you didn’t point fingers,” Reid said, quite animated.

Chelsea looked at him in wonder. “But you were mad at me, accusing me of messing things up!”

Colt, who had his eyes closed with his head resting on the back of the car seat, opened his eyes and narrowly looked at Reid. With a shake of his head, he closed his eyes again, ignoring them both.

Reid glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I was wrong, okay.”

As they made a stop in front of the hotel, her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure. He was standing around, seemingly waiting for someone. A woman, looking just like him came through the hotel entrance and walked up to him at the moment he raised his eyes as she and Colt left the car.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Colt saw him as he started walking their way.

Reid was about to drive off to park the car when he braked, coming to a stop. He got from behind the wheel and walked quickly up to Carl Benson and the woman beside him.

“We don’t need any trouble, Carl,” Reid said.

Carl held up both hand in defense or was it surrender, Chelsea couldn’t tell. “Not here to make trouble, dude.”

Colt made a few strides and was in front of him in a moment. Carl turned to him with his mouth open to speak, but Colt’s right fist landed squarely on his lips. His eyes widened as blood trickled from a gash on the lips. Colt pulled back and landed another punch on Carl’s chin. The man reeled back but caught his balance. Colt advanced and was about to pull another punch when Reid grabbed his arm.

Carl’s lips were bleeding. The woman, whom Chelsea assumed was Carla, dabbed the wound with a handkerchief she pulled from her handbag. Colt wrangled himself from Reid’s hold and moved towards the other man once more.

“Colt, no!” Chelsea grabbed his arm as he was about to raise it. He paused and looked around at her. ‘It’s not worth it,” she said in a soft voice.

Colt stepped back, and then turned to walk away when Carl spoke. “Sorry, man.” Colt stopped but did not turn. “My sister told me what happened between you two, and it wasn’t you who caused her to attempt suicide.”

“You’re fucking sick, lying about something as your own flesh and blood being dead. You sick bastard!” Colt’s voice spewed the venom he was feeling toward Carl. “You told me she committed suicide. How could you do that?”

“I wanted you to pay for hurting her. She almost died, trying to kill herself. I was the one who found her in a pool of blood. I know you two were together and then you weren’t. I thought you broke her heart,” was Carl’s hot reply.

“You’re sick!”

“Let’s go,” Chelsea said, taking Colt’s hand and pulling him toward the entrance.

They left the siblings looking on with pained expressions. She was curious about what happened between Carla and Colt, and even more curious about what caused her to try and harm herself. When they got to the suite, Colt immediately locked himself away, leaving her feeling shunned. Reid came back shortly after asking about Colt.

“He’s in his room,” she told him, a heavy feeling in her chest.

Reid rested a hand on her shoulder. “He’s probably dealing with a few emotions right now; give him time to accept all that’s been happening. Now that Zoe is awake and talking, he should soon be back to his usual self.”

What Reid didn’t seem to understand was that this behavior was Colt’s usual self. She inhaled deeply, and then expelled it slowly.

“What happened between Carla and Colt? Please tell me,” she pleaded when Reid seemed hesitant.

He beckoned her to the window where he spoke in low tones. “She was part of a group who followed Colt around. What her brother didn’t know was that she was on drugs. As bad as our boy there is, he hates junkies. They dated for a while, and when Colt discovered she was on drugs, they had an argument, and she left.”

“Was he serious about her?”

He sighed. “At the time, he was trying to live a decent life. He was young, and I was encouraging him to give up the orgies and threesomes and maybe try one girl.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” she insisted. “Was he in love with her?”

Reid laughed softly. “No, he wasn’t in love with her, but he was willing to try having a normal relationship.”

“Thanks for telling me. So it was the drugs that made her depressed?”

“Yes, along with the family genes. Their mother was institutionalized when they were young.”

“Oh, my, that must have been rough on them.”

It wasn’t difficult to feel compassion for the siblings and to understand Carl’s protectiveness of his sister. All they had were each other, and when she attempted suicide, he perhaps lost a screw as well. He became obsessed with getting back at the man he thought hurt his sister.

After she had chatted with Reid, she sat on the sofa while Reid went out. She waited for a couple of hours, hoping Colt would come out. He didn’t. Finally, she went to her room, showered and ordered room service, having her dinner alone.

* * * *

A month went by after the incident with Carl. The journalist wrote an entire front spread dedicated to Purple Crush and the injustice he was given throughout the years. He even admitted to misunderstanding the rock star. What he omitted was his sister’s drug problem and what happened to her as a result of it. However, he did apologize for all the bad press he’d given Colt and even mentioned that most of the articles he wrote were influenced by what Jason told him. He went on to cover Jason’s sentencing along with the dirty attorney who committed insurance fraud, collecting 25% of the insurance money.

With all that and the fact that everything was settled, Colt still had not come out of his shell. They had canceled the final concert for Florida due to the trial, and now they were trying to reschedule another. It was near Christmas, and all the popular venues were booked. They would have to wait until next summer to have the concert; therefore, their tour was officially over. In the meantime, they would make use of the studio and record new songs in time for the next tour.

Chelsea needed answers. The relationship felt like it was over, and she needed closure. She was making plans to return to Virginia, but she needed to hear Colt tell her what was in his heart. After showering, she made it her mission to confront him.

Since the day after they returned from her identifying Jason, he spent most of his time locked away. When he did come out of his room, he was quiet and distant. He sometimes went out on his own, refusing to let anyone go with him and would return hours later. Occasionally, she wondered if perhaps he’d returned to his old ways.

It was Sunday evening. Reid had gone on a date with Ella, and the guys were partying somewhere in the suburbs. The suite was in darkness except for a light coming from Colt’s room through the door that was slightly ajar.

She found him pacing the room frantically. When she gave the door a gentle push, it opened a little bit more. Colt paused, turning to look at her in dismay. They looked at each other for a moment before she stepped inside the room and closed the door.

“Colt, what’s the matter? Have you been avoiding me?” He looked away without saying anything. “So you have been avoiding me. I knew it. You spend most of your time locked in here, and when you do come out, you hardly say two words to me. I can feel the rift, and I need to know what’s going on.”

He shuffled, sighing deeply, and then looked at her. “I can’t do this,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Chelsea, it’s too intense … I mean this between us; we can’t go on like this anymore. It’s driving me crazy!”

Her heart stopped, and so did her breathing. There were a few minutes of silence as the blood drained from her face, and she gasped, taking in a lungful of air. “Are you breaking up with me?” She’d known it, but hearing it coming from his lips was still painful.

“Chelsea, listen to me. It’s not what you think.”

“No, I don’t want to listen. I heard you loud and clear, Colt. I’ll leave quietly, no need for you to work yourself up into a frazzle like this. I’m going home.”

She turned, grabbing the door handle. “I want to marry you!” his voice was loud and clear, but she wasn’t certain she heard him correctly. She whipped around to face him.

“What?”

He took three strides and was standing in front of her in a second. “I want you to marry me,” he repeated. Then he did something that made her eyes widen. Her mouth fell open while her was heart flipping like Simone Biles. Colt got down on one knee. He started rummaging through his pockets, then after a few seconds he held up his fist as if he’d found lost treasure. Slowly, he unfolded his hand, and inside was a dainty princess cut diamond ring with tiny side stones. The heart now took off down the track like Usain Bolt.

“Found it!” he exclaimed. “Been carrying this around for four months.” He grinned. “Now answer me,” he said.

“Colt, you can’t get married, what about your fans?”

His face fell as his shoulders sagged. “Don’t you want to marry me?”

“Yes, of course I want to marry you, silly!”

He was on his feet, stepping close to her with a wide grin. “Is that your final answer?”

“But Colt, what about your fans? They don’t want you to marry,” she said in a low tone.

“Fuck the fans; you said yes, and you can’t take it back.”

Chelsea giggled. “You can’t say, ‘fuck the fans’, Colt,” she replied.

He cupped her face. “I told you not to swear, Chelsea,” he happily murmured.

“But …” she started to protest, but her speech was cut short by his lips capturing hers. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, giving in to the kiss with all that her heart had to offer.

THE END