Read Online Young Sentinels (Wearing the Cape) (Volume 3) by Marion G. Harmon - Free Book Online
Authors: Marion G. Harmon
Ads: Link
state-sanctioned public alias.
“As to whether or not the young lady under the mask is indeed the person legally known as Astra ... Miss, will you please stand?”
I picked up Malleus and stood.
“Did anyone here see you arrive?”
I nodded, waved. “Hi, Terry.” He waved back; the exchange got a ripple of laughter out of the jury and observers. Judge Sanderson tapped his gavel lightly.
“Order. Your point, councilor?”
“Just this, your honor. A show of hands, please? From everyone who saw her fly in?” A scattering of hands. “And if your honor and the jury will observe, the person in question is carrying a weapon formerly wielded by Ajax, one of our city’s fallen heroes. Miss, would you care to describe it?”
I nodded again. “It’s cast titanium, about one hundred pounds.” I flipped it like a baton and gently set it on the front corner rail of the witness box, handle up.
“Your honor?” Dan invited.
Sanderson waved a bailiff forward. The beefy court officer looked appropriately serious, but he gave me a friendly smile before he braced himself, wrapped both hands around Malleus, lifted with a soft grunt, and carefully put it back down. Dan looked at the defense attorney. “Would you like to give it a try?” Another laughter-wave. The man shook his head as the guard returned to his post.
“Lastly, your honor,” Dan said, “we have requested the presence of someone acquainted with our witness. The Sentinels have provided Doctor Jonathan Beth, the team physician. Doctor Beth is also a noted research scientist, but in his medical capacity he examines each of the Sentinels after any physical altercation. Doctor? Could you please stand?”
Doctor Beth stood from where he sat behind the rail, smiling and looking totally at home. Was he hiding as many butterflies as I was?
“Doctor, please consider yourself under oath. I saw you speaking with the witness before this session began. Is she, to your satisfaction, Astra?”
He smiled at me, faced the jury. “Yes, she is.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Dan turned back to the bench. “Of course, our witness may in fact be a shapeshifter, or a duplicate of some sort. But then, who isn’t these days?” Another ripple and a light tap of the judge’s mallet. The latest round of tabloid revelations claimed President Touches Clouds had been replaced with a mind-controlled clone. By Martians.
“You have made your point, councilor,” Sanderson ruled. “The court finds that it can, in good faith, accept the witness as Astra, legally recognized by the State of Illinois. The defendant will be able to confront his accuser in cross. Objection denied.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. It had mostly been a mime show for the benefit of the jury and media, but not completely. The legal principle had been firmly established, but still wasn’t universally accepted. Other state courts had ruled differently, appeals were still winding upward to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Judge Sanderson had never ruled on it in trial.
“Thank you, your honor.” Dan turned to me. “Astra, can you state for the record your whereabouts on the night of May twenty-fifth?”
----
When court adjourned, I found Seven in the private hallway outside the courtroom, talking to a pretty young woman in a pencil skirt. Seeing me, he broke off. She brushed his lapel and gave him her card before turning away. My escort these days, Seven had been in the crowd when I landed on the courthouse steps. He was really there to protect everyone around me from collateral damage if I got attacked in public.
The Paladins had taken a shot at me last spring, but nobody had been able to prove Conspiracy to Commit against the organization. So now wherever I was publically scheduled to go, outside of patrols, Seven went ahead unobtrusively. Even to my “good” stops, which this wasn’t.
He misread my look and smiled, showing his cheek-dimple. The man had too many dimples.
“As to whether or not the young lady under the mask is indeed the person legally known as Astra ... Miss, will you please stand?”
I picked up Malleus and stood.
“Did anyone here see you arrive?”
I nodded, waved. “Hi, Terry.” He waved back; the exchange got a ripple of laughter out of the jury and observers. Judge Sanderson tapped his gavel lightly.
“Order. Your point, councilor?”
“Just this, your honor. A show of hands, please? From everyone who saw her fly in?” A scattering of hands. “And if your honor and the jury will observe, the person in question is carrying a weapon formerly wielded by Ajax, one of our city’s fallen heroes. Miss, would you care to describe it?”
I nodded again. “It’s cast titanium, about one hundred pounds.” I flipped it like a baton and gently set it on the front corner rail of the witness box, handle up.
“Your honor?” Dan invited.
Sanderson waved a bailiff forward. The beefy court officer looked appropriately serious, but he gave me a friendly smile before he braced himself, wrapped both hands around Malleus, lifted with a soft grunt, and carefully put it back down. Dan looked at the defense attorney. “Would you like to give it a try?” Another laughter-wave. The man shook his head as the guard returned to his post.
“Lastly, your honor,” Dan said, “we have requested the presence of someone acquainted with our witness. The Sentinels have provided Doctor Jonathan Beth, the team physician. Doctor Beth is also a noted research scientist, but in his medical capacity he examines each of the Sentinels after any physical altercation. Doctor? Could you please stand?”
Doctor Beth stood from where he sat behind the rail, smiling and looking totally at home. Was he hiding as many butterflies as I was?
“Doctor, please consider yourself under oath. I saw you speaking with the witness before this session began. Is she, to your satisfaction, Astra?”
He smiled at me, faced the jury. “Yes, she is.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Dan turned back to the bench. “Of course, our witness may in fact be a shapeshifter, or a duplicate of some sort. But then, who isn’t these days?” Another ripple and a light tap of the judge’s mallet. The latest round of tabloid revelations claimed President Touches Clouds had been replaced with a mind-controlled clone. By Martians.
“You have made your point, councilor,” Sanderson ruled. “The court finds that it can, in good faith, accept the witness as Astra, legally recognized by the State of Illinois. The defendant will be able to confront his accuser in cross. Objection denied.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. It had mostly been a mime show for the benefit of the jury and media, but not completely. The legal principle had been firmly established, but still wasn’t universally accepted. Other state courts had ruled differently, appeals were still winding upward to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Judge Sanderson had never ruled on it in trial.
“Thank you, your honor.” Dan turned to me. “Astra, can you state for the record your whereabouts on the night of May twenty-fifth?”
----
When court adjourned, I found Seven in the private hallway outside the courtroom, talking to a pretty young woman in a pencil skirt. Seeing me, he broke off. She brushed his lapel and gave him her card before turning away. My escort these days, Seven had been in the crowd when I landed on the courthouse steps. He was really there to protect everyone around me from collateral damage if I got attacked in public.
The Paladins had taken a shot at me last spring, but nobody had been able to prove Conspiracy to Commit against the organization. So now wherever I was publically scheduled to go, outside of patrols, Seven went ahead unobtrusively. Even to my “good” stops, which this wasn’t.
He misread my look and smiled, showing his cheek-dimple. The man had too many dimples.
Similar Books
