Chapter Twenty
It was nine a.m. when Cade, Briar, Elliot, T.K. and India walked into the courtroom in Boston the next morning. Flynn, Gretchen and Cooper were in handcuffs sitting at a table with attorneys Lydia Garvin, Mandy Wiess and Sam Branter.
When they took their seats behind the barrier, Flynn turned his head and stared at India. He sneered at her and leaned forward to whisper something in Lydia’s ear.
Lydia turned her head and glared at her as well.
India could feel the hatred emanating from them and she raised her head a little higher. Well, she hated them too, and she didn’t care at this point, how these monsters felt.
A moment later, the bailiff announced the arrival of the judge and everyone stood up.
When they sat down Briar moved to the front and asked permission to address the court. “Your Honor, it has come to our attention and I bring it to your attention, that Ms. Garvin should not be allowed to represent Flynn Hudson and it is our intention to charge her with conspiring with Mr. Hudson to break the laws of this nation.”
Lydia jumped to her feet. “Objection, your Honor. Can Mr. Rivers prove these allegations of conspiracy?”
Briar looked toward the back of the courtroom and nodded to the two men standing at the back. “Your Honor, these are agents, Steve Halling and Greg Norwood from the FBI. Evidence of the conspiracy has been turned over to the FBI and they are here to arrest Ms. Garvin for those charges.”
Judge Brian Moore waved the FBI agents forward and asked, “Is the FBI going to charge and arrest Ms. Garvin for conspiracy?”
Steve stepped forward and nodded. “Yes we are, your Honor. We are at this moment freezing all assets, both here and abroad, including the transfer of monies yesterday from Karen Jane Jennings account.”
“What does Karen Jennings account have to do with Ms. Garvin’s accounts?” the Judge asked.
“We were able to trace Ms. Jennings account to Ms. Garvin. In fact, Ms. Jennings is actually one of the defendants sitting in front of you today. Ms. Jennings is in fact Gretchen Hawks. Ms. Jennings is Ms. Garvin’s sister.”
“What is significant about the monies transferred in the last few days?” the Judge asked.
“The monies transferred yesterday are the bulk of Flynn Hudson’s fortune in illegal activities,” Steve informed him.
Flynn jumped to his feet and turning to Lydia he shouted, “You treacherous bitch! Where did you put my money?”
“All I did was move it, to stop something like this from happening, you fool,” Lydia whispered as she tried to get him to sit back down in his seat.
“Well guess what? You didn’t stop it and now the Feds have it.” Flynn growled. “Damn you!”
“Your Honor.” Lydia turned to the judge. “I was merely watching out for my clients when the transferred occurred. How can that make me a conspirator?”
The Judge turned to Briar and asked, “I assume you have more than a money transfer to tie Ms. Garvin to this so called conspiracy?”
“Oh yes, we do.” Briar told him. “We can tie her to an attempted kidnapping and a connection to a murder Flynn’s son committed fifteen years ago. Her fingerprints were found on the second floor of a warehouse here in Boston where the murder was committed. There is also a witness that puts her on the second floor of that warehouse.”
Lydia turned her head to glare at Cooper. She didn’t say anything but instead turned back to the Judge.
He was quiet for a moment then he leaned forward in his chair and addressed the concerns Briar brought before the court, “It seems as if there is enough evidence to halt this arrangement before it’s begun.” He turned to Flynn. “Mr. Hudson, I’ll give you forty eight hours to retain a new attorney while Ms. Garvin gets her own house in order. In the meantime, you and your other defendants will be remanded to jail here. In three days’ time you will be arraigned on the charged before the court.” He picked up his gavel and banged it on the bench in front of him. “Court is dismissed.”
As soon as the Judge left the courtroom, Steve and Greg stepped forward to place handcuffs on Lydia.
Flynn stood up and growled, “You’d better hope the money is returned or I’ll kill you myself.”
Lydia reared back and the look on her face was one of fear. She turned to Steve. “Get me the hell out of here.”
India smiled slightly at the scene in front of her. This was the easy part. The butterflies in her tummy weren’t looking forward to the next part. For the first time in a long time, she was going to face her grandparents.
When Lydia was lead out of court, she passed India and she paused for a moment. Turning to her, India was met with a glare of pure hatred. “I should have let Cooper kill you fifteen years ago. He came to me after he murdered Jenna and said there might be a witness to what he’d done. He was whining about one of his precious jars being missing.”
“Why did my mother have to die?” India asked her. There had to be a reason and she had a feeling Lydia knew it.
“Flynn wanted to prove no one was safe to John Carsten,” Lydia told her. “By killing his daughter, Flynn thought he would have John’s cooperation but it didn’t turn out that way. I stopped him from killing you back then but I should have just kept my mouth shut. If you had died, I wouldn’t be going to prison now.”
Steve hustled her away before India could respond. Taking a deep breath, India turned to Briar and a tear ran down her cheek. “How can you fight that kind of hate?”
“I don’t know.” Briar pulled her up and into his arms. “I don’t know but she won’t ever get the chance to hurt you again.”
“We still have one more visit to make,” Cade reminded them. When India turned to face him he asked, “Can you do this?”
India nodded.
“You don’t have to go with us you know,” Elliot said. “We can tell John about the connection to his family without you.”
“No, I have to face them at some point; this may as well be it. This way when this trial is over I can really get on with my life. I don’t want there to be any more secrets.”