Page 115 of Shattered

“Miss Geithner, do you understand what you have agreed to?” The judge asked her.

She nodded. “Yes, Your Honor. I accept the terms.” Her voice had been soft, docile, and it made Mackenzie nervous. Maybe a little anxious. After her outburst the other day, he didn’t trust her to remain sitting while they were in there.

“So be it,” Judge Wright said. “Miss Geithner, in accordance with the plea agreement, I sentence you to forty years in prison, to be served concurrent with any punishment you receive in Massachusetts. You will be held for extradition until such time as you can be transferred to the women’s facility in Boston, Massachusetts.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” she whispered.

“Don’t thank me, Miss Geithner. I sifted through all of the evidence and the photos. I read all of the testimony including the affidavits supplied to me. I have never met a viler, more heinous group of people and person, like you, ma’am in my life. In my opinion, you lured people in to torture them, abuse them, and ultimately, according to the evidence before me, murder them. With you off the streets, ma’am, I believe our community will be safer. You, Miss Geithner, are what we would consider a super predator, and you will be treated as such.” Judge Wright smacked his gavel against his desk. “We’re adjourned. May God have mercy on your soul, Miss Geithner.” The deputy standing behind her the whole time, took her arm then and led her out the same door she’d entered.

Mackenzie stood along with the others in the courtroom as the judge exited the area. He felt empty. Hollow. He glanced around the room and saw the same shocked expressions on everyone’s faces. He’d gone in there expecting one thing and was leaving with a completely different outcome. Sure, he knew there was a plea deal, but he hadn’t expected Holly giving over information to the government, nor had he expected forty years. He thought life without parole, maybe.

“Hey,” Aurora said, her voice almost too far away for him. “You okay? Do you need to sit?”

He blinked. “Uh, no.”

“Dad?” Royce grabbed his arms. “Sit. You look a little pale. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I... I guess I’m a little taken aback.” Mackenzie sat.

Royce sat beside him. “I think we all are. I can tell you; this isn’t how I saw it going the night in the zoo.”

“Same.” Mackenzie scrubbed his face.

“You ready to get out of here?” Kalkin asked, joining them.

“This is going to sound really stupid,” Mackenzie muttered.

“It’s already been arranged,” Kalkin said. “Come with me.” He then looked at the others and handed back their phones. “You guys get lost.”

Aurora squeezed Mackenzie’s hand then followed everyone out of the courtroom. As he started to stand, everything seemed so distant. The beginning of the trial. The reporters coming to his job. Hell, he hadn’t even thought about Ulysses or the site since the day he pulled away. What the fuck did that say about his state of mind in the very beginning?You’re fucked up. Admit it.He could and did on a daily basis. However, with Aurora by his side, the haze was starting to clear.

“This is how it’s going to go,” Kalkin said. “You’ll go into the room, say your piece, and leave. Don’t hang around. She doesn’t deserve your attention any longer.”

Mackenzie agreed. “I understand.”

“I don’t know why I say shit,” Kalkin snarled. “You’re going to do what you want, how you want it.”

“Probably, but my intention isn’t to stick around. I have more important things to do,” he said, following Kalkin down to one of the holding rooms in the annex of the court.

“Good. Keep it that way.” Kalkin opened the door then stepped aside. “She’s handcuffed. She can’t come at you, and if she does, we’ll see it.”

Mackenzie nodded as he stepped into the bright, white-washed room. There, shackled to the table sat Holly. The shell of the woman he once knew, didn’t acknowledge his presence and he didn’t suspect she would, either. He crossed to her, pulling the letters from his back pocket. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything, but damn it, she needed to understand how much she affected his family.

“These are from Riley and Liam.” He placed the envelopes on the table.

“I don’t want them,” she muttered. “They do me no good.”

“Of course not,” Mackenzie replied. “What were they thinking trying to explain to you howyoumade them feel.”

She stared up at him with vacant, hazel eyes. “I don’t care.”

“You’re right about that.” Mackenzie snorted. “You never did. This was all one big scam.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you stop me? Seems to me, I shouldn’t be the only one sitting here.”

He’d have laughed if he hadn’t been so fucking pissed. “You did all of this to yourself. I was vulnerable, weak in mind and body, and I saw someone I could help. Turns out, the bitch I was trying to help was also Brutus in disguise.”

“I did my part. I confessed to such at the hearing. What more do you want from me?” The reedy tone to her voice set him on edge.

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