Page 76 of Declan

“Yes,” I reply clearly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Penny nods and replies, “Thank you, Mrs. Hughes,” then she turns to the judge and adds, “The defense has no other questions for this witness, Your Honor.”

Penny returns to her seat beside Declan, appearing calm yet I see the glint of victory in her eyes as the judge looks over at the prosecution and says, “Do you have any further questions for Mrs. Hughes?”

The prosecutor stands and replies, “No, Your Honor.”

The judge nods and asks, “And do you have any other witnesses providing testimony today?”

“No, Your Honor,” the prosecutor replies quietly.

The judge turns to me, motioning with his hand as he says, “Mrs. Hughes, you may step down.” I smile and nod, then rise and exit the witness stand and walk toward the back, where I take a seat.

Then the judge turns his gaze to the prosecution and asks, “And do you have anything else you can present that may hold a bit more weight in my decision?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” the man’s co-counsel speaks up. “Permission to approach?”

The judge nods, motioning for him to come forward, and he grabs two sheets of paper, placing one in front of Penny before walking to the bench and handing the other to the judge. “The prosecution submits this report from the defendant’s cell phone carrier, which shows his cell phone was in the vicinity of where the body was dumped around the time the deceased was murdered.”

Penny glances down at the paper and gives Declan a questioning look, who leans in and whispers into her ear.

The judge reads over the report, not appearing to be overly excited about it, and then he looks up and asks, “Ms. Wolf, have you seen this report before today?”

Penny rises and replies, “No, Your Honor. But it’s clearly impermissible unless the State has an expert witness to call to authenticate the data.”

The judge turns to the prosecutor and asks, “And do you have an expert witness to authenticate this data?”

“Well, no,” the prosecutor stammers. “But we wi—“

The judge frowns as he interjects, “Then the report is not admissible and will not be considered.”

The prosecutor rises, sputtering, “Your Honor, the prosecution moves to—“

“Denied,” he states without allowing him to finish. “It’s the opinion of this Court that the likelihood the State has enough evidence to proceed is slim to none, and since that would mean you’ve wasted this Court’s time, I am not feeling overly generous in offering you leeway to further waste this Court’s time.”

The prosecutor opens his mouth to respond but then thinks better of it and closes his mouth, sitting behind the table as the judge continues, “We will reconvene in thirty minutes’ time, wherein I will determine if this case has sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Court is in recess.”

The clerk smacks the gavel, then rises, and we all scramble to stand as he steps down from the bench and disappears into his chambers.

Declan and Penny immediately put their heads together, and Declan occasionally turns to ask Dare a question, but it doesn’t take them too long before they sit back and wait for the time to pass.

The two prosecutors have their heads together, and they’re deep in conversation when one of them picks up his cell phone and glances at the lit-up screen. He makes a face and shows it to his colleague, who also grimaces. The phone stops ringing, but then the other man picks up his phone, which is now lit up with an incoming call, and I smile, knowing whose call they’re likely grimacing over.

Their boss.

The second guy doesn’t answer the call, but then the first guy’s phone lights up again and he grabs it, accepting the call and putting it to his ear. He appears to say nothing, listening intently to whatever is being said by the caller, and I can only imagine the tirade that jackass is on, given my shocking accusations that I’m sure hit his desk within minutes of leaving my mouth.

That fucker is scared. And he should be.

They all should be.

The call ends, and the two men put their heads together, obviously not too happy about what transpired on the one-sided call, and I smile again, feeling confident things are about to go as planned—for me.

Soon, the bailiff tells us all to rise, and the judge is back on the bench, calling the court back into session.

“Your Honor,” the prosecutor begins. “If I may?”

The judge nods, indicating that he should speak, and then the prosecutor says, “It has been brought to my attention that the State’s office was not privy to all of the details of this case. Due to this, it’s the State’s decision to file a motion to dismiss the charges without prejudice against Mr. Hughes.”

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