Chapter Twenty-Eight

Evelyn

 

My jaw dropped at the judge’s ruling. It didn’t make any sense. While John and Jill celebrated, Eliza looked uninterested in the win. I fumed with anger, my teeth gritting hard against each other as I watched James walk from the courtroom.

“This is not the end,” I told Axel.

“I don’t get what happened,” he admitted, his eyes filled the same confusion as mine.

“Me neither. The law states that James should get the land, and the only way they could stop the will from being carried out as it stood was to prove that Martin Jasper was not in his right mind when he created it, or that he was coerced in some way,” I explained.

“But, they didn’t prove anything,” Axel said.

“I know. The will was written up years ago, when James was in the service with you, and he didn’t even know about it until he returned back to the ranch,” I gasped.

Axel pulled me by the hand, guiding me from the courtroom and away from the cheering kids.

“Evelyn, do you think there’s a reason for the regular judge not being here?” Axel asked.

“I know there is,” I growled.

I tried calling James, but the call went straight to voicemail. I sent a text, an e-mail, and tried calling again, leaving a voicemail for him to call me back.

Axel stood by my car, going over everything that had happened. I shook my head, still in disbelief that they won, that James was going to lose his ranch.

“He can’t lose that place,” I groaned, leaning against my car.

My body was weak and my heart aching. The feeling of defeat was wearing hard on me, but I wasn’t prepared to give up until I knew the truth.

“What can you do?” Axel asked.

“I’ll try to find out why the regular judge isn’t here, and you dig up what you can on this one,” I instructed.

“And then what?” Axel queried.

“Then, we file an appeal, possibly get the case thrown out due to prejudice, incompetence, whatever we find,” I snarled.

Axel nodded, giving me a quick hug before loading me into my car. My hands on the steering wheel, I sat there fighting back tears as I watched the Jasper kids exit the courthouse.

I reached down, starting the car with a quick twist of the key, and put it into reverse. Axel was already pulling out onto the main road as I made my way through the parking lot. My foot stiffened and felt heavy against the gas pedal as I approached the kids standing in the middle of the aisle where they parked. My tongue slid across my lips as the thought of running them over rolled through my mind. If they were gone, James wouldn’t have anyone else to contest the will.

Jill smirked in my direction as Eliza dropped her eyes to the ground. I took a deep breath, pushed the brake pedal, and waited for them to move out of my way before passing. I hated myself for not having the strength to go through with the plan.

James’s phone continued to go to voicemail each time I called. The e-mail and text I sent were still marked unread, and I was beginning to worry that he was more than upset about the case and that he was upset with me.

The regular judge was on vacation, a trip that was not scheduled on his calendar. My source, one of the county prosecutors, told me he thought it might have been due to the accident, but he wasn’t sure. Whatever the reason, he was unreachable, out of the country, and unable to help.

Axel’s number lit up on my screen as I held my phone ready to call him to share my news.

“What did you find out?” I asked eagerly.

“It may not have been the regular judge that the kids had in their pocket,” Axel boasted.

“I assumed that once they tried to put him out of the game,” I sighed, realizing that we were dealing with a much larger situation that we first thought.

“The new judge is from New York, and from what I can see publicly, he just obtained his judgeship in here in Texas,” Axel sneered.

“So, that’s why they wanted to keep pushing the dates back; they were waiting on his paperwork to finalize, but why him?” I gasped.

“There’s a picture of him at a country club, the same one where John and Jill are members,” Axel growled.

“Can you connect them yet?” I asked.

“Not yet, but I’m certain I can,” he boasted.

I told him about the regular judge and the sudden vacation that no one really knows anything about. We hung up, agreeing to continue our search for the connection, and I tried reaching James again with no luck.