Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Poor innocent Mistress my ass! She was probably using a pain collar on him and torturing him just because he wouldn’t obey her every whim! Imani thought indignantly.
But of course, this was Yonnie Six where males were second class citizens—actually, not even citizens at all. They were treated like pets and like a pet that has gone crazy and hurt someone, her client was about to be put down. Unless she could say or do or show something to prove his innocence, he was going to die before she ever even got to meet him!
Frantically, she scrambled among the papers on the long table in front of her—she hadn’t even had a chance to read them yet! She—
Then her hand fell on the tiny, fingernail-sized drive the Kindred operative had given her. Picking it up, Imani realized it was her only chance.
“Your honor,” she said, holding out the drive. “I would like to submit this drive into evidence and ask the court to examine its contents thoroughly.”
“Objection! The Defender can’t just offer new evidence without giving us a chance to examine it,” the green-haired Prosecutor exclaimed.
“Normally, she could not. However, my curiosity is piqued,” Judge Thoughtgood remarked. “Let’s all examine it together—shall we? Bailiff, set up a screen, please.”
In short order, the female bailiff positioned a large screen at the front of the courtroom which was hooked to a smaller one set up on the judge’s desk.
Her throat dry with anxiety, Imani watched as the tiny drive was plugged in and the blank screen came to life. What was she going to see? Was the evidence—whatever it was—really enough to keep J’are from being executed?
She supposed she and everyone else in the courtroom was about to find out.
Seven
At first the screen was black. Then it resolved into a single image of a room—a room filled with cages. Strong, metal structures that looked big enough to house an extra-large dog, Imani thought. All of the cages were empty—all except one.
In that cage—at the far end of the room—a sleeping figure lay curled on his side. It was a large, muscular Kindred and his face was slack with sleep—a sleep so deep it didn’t’ seem natural to Imani. Was that her client? Could he have been drugged?
He certainly wasn’t moving or twitching at all, as many people did in their sleep. He was completely inert, his long black hair hiding his eyes, his mouth slightly parted in slumber. There was a thick black pain collar around his throat and a chain attached to it led to the end of his cage.
“All right, we see it—this is clearly your client asleep in Lady Zangelo’s kennel,” Judge Thoughtgood remarked. “But what is this supposed to tell us, Councilor?”
At first Imani didn’t know how to answer. Then she saw the time stamp at the bottom of the screen. Tebrulary the thirty-third at midnight.
“Look, your honor,” she said excitedly. “That’s the date and time of the murder! What this evidence shows is that my client clearly could not have committed this crime since he was chained up and fast asleep in his, er, cage at the time.”
“Then how did he get the victim’s blood all over his face and hands?” Judge Thoughtgood asked, frowning.
As if in answer to her question, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed. Then a shadowy figure entered the room and crept towards the cage with the sleeping Kindred. The figure was covered in a hooded robe, so the face was impossible to see, but what it did next was obvious.
The shadowy figure in the robe unlocked the Kindred’s cage and reached inside. Quickly but thoroughly, its hand swiped over the Kindred’s mouth, hands, and broad, bare chest. The figure also left some smears on the metal cage and the floor in front of it.
Even in the dim room, it was clear to see what had been left behind—blood.
As soon as the sleeping—or drugged—Kindred was thoroughly smeared with crimson, the figure unhooked the chain from his collar. Then it glided away, leaving the cage door standing open.
After that, the vid images ended and the screen went blank.
Imani drew a deep breath. Thank goodness for the Kindred operative who had found this footage and given it to her! Without it, her client would surely have died. Now, he would live. There was no way the judge could ignore such blatant evidence that J’are had been framed. No way she could sentence him to death now.
“Your honor,” she said, rising as the Bailiff wheeled the screen away. “I think this evidence speaks for itself. I would ask that all charges be dropped and that my client be released.”
“I’m afraid not, Councilor,” Judge Thoughtgood said dryly. “Though it is clear that your client was framed for the murder of Lady Zangelo, it is the position of this court that he should still be put to death.”