Chapter 4 - The Legal Guillotine
The trap snapped shut twenty-four hours later.
Arthur and Eleanor Bennett were arrested in the lobby of their luxury apartment complex as they attempted to load several suitcases filled with cash and expensive jewelry into a rental car. The FBI had moved with terrifying speed once my forensic report provided them with the exact routing numbers and transaction hashes of their laundering operation.
Because of Evelyn's immense influence, the arraignment hearing was fast-tracked. I refused to stay in my hospital bed. Dressed in a sharp, tailored black suit that Evelyn had flown in from New York, I walked into the courtroom leaning on a cane, flanked by four Cross Corporation security guards.
When Eleanor and Arthur were led into the courtroom in bright orange jumpsuits and handcuffs, the reality of their situation finally seemed to hit them. The arrogance was completely gone, replaced by a hollow, gray desperation.
Their defense attorney, a public defender assigned to them after their private lawyers realized all their assets had been frozen, stood up weakly. "Your Honor, my clients maintain their innocence. They are victims of a high-level corporate conspiracy by Cross Medical Group to alienate them from their daughter..."
"Silence," the judge snapped, slamming his gavel. "Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, this court has reviewed the financial evidence provided by the federal authorities, as well as the audio recording captured in the trauma bay of Cross Memorial Hospital on the night of July 6th."
The prosecutor stood up, playing the recording through the courtroom speakers.
“Take whatever he needs from her,” Eleanor’s whispered voice echoed through the courtroom, cold and malicious. “Blood, tissue, anything. Our son has a future.”
The gallery gasped. Several reporters began typing furiously on their phones. Eleanor buried her face in her chained hands, weeping openly, while Arthur stared at the floor, his shoulders slumping.
"Furthermore," the prosecutor continued, "DNA evidence compiled by the FBI confirms a 99.9% match between the victim, known as Claire Bennett, and Mrs. Evelyn Cross. The defendants are being charged with federal kidnapping, bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and attempted grand larceny."
The judge looked down at the Bennetts with utter disgust. "Bail is denied. The defendants will remain in federal custody until trial."
As the guards began to lead them away, Eleanor caught sight of me sitting in the front row next to Evelyn. She broke away from the guard for a brief second, throwing herself against the wooden barrier separating us.
"Claire! Please!" she begged, tears streaming down her wrinkled face. "We did what we had to do to survive! We loved you in our own way! Please tell them to drop the charges! Daniel is going to prison for twenty years if you don't help him! He can't survive in there!"
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I stood up slowly, leaning on my cane, and looked down at the woman who had spent thirty years making me feel like I was nothing more than a shadow.
"You told the doctors I was expendable, Eleanor," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the courtroom. "Now, you're about to find out what happens when the expendable one stops carrying your weight. Goodbye."
