Justin Time (Chapter 15) An Original Novel
Link to beginning of story:
https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel
Link to Chapter 14: The Verdict
https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-14-an-original-novel
Chapter 14 Review:
In the beginning of the deliberation, Mark Hannity is the only juror who believes Katherine Time should be found not guilty. After the first day he felt quite defeated, however the following morning he has an inspiration and slowly lays a good argument that starts swaying the jurors.
Chapter 15: Jewel Thieves
The courtroom was packed with the media the following morning. Wearing his favorite sweater that Katherine gave him on their anniversary, William sat in the second row with his head down and hands together praying. The jury just stepped into the courtroom and Judge Jacoby began.
"Has the jury reached it's decision?", he asked.
"Yes we have your honor on all six accounts.", answered Janet White.
"Will the Defendant please rise? You may begin Ms Foreman.", said the Judge.
"On the account of child abuse, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff, Katherine Time, not guilty! On the account of experimental drug use on a human, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff, Katherine Time, not guilty! On the account of child endangerment, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff, Katherine Time, not guilty! On the account of the premeditation and conspiring to conduct an unauthorized surgery, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff Katherine Time, not guilty! On the account of the administering of an unauthorized experimental drug, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff Katherine Time, not guilty! On the last account of practicing surgical medicine without the appropriate medical license, we the people of the jury find the plaintiff Katherine Time, not guilty!"
Many cheers came from the courtroom and the media went into a frenzy. William cheered with tears rolling down his eyes. Katherine was shocked and sat back down in her chair. After a few moments, the situation hit her and she broke down and sobbed. The person who was the most shocked in the courtroom was Judge Jacoby. He just sat there motionless. He wasn't sure what just happened. At least he didn't believe it. He was suppose to order the bailiff to remove the handcuffs from Katherine and tell her she was free to go home. He didn't. He just sat there.
Finally Katherine's attorney, Paulson, went over to the Judge and asked him if she is free to go.
The Judge said, "Oh. Um..Yeah."
With the bailiff overhearing he approached Katherine and removed the handcuffs.
There was one other person in the courtroom pleased beyond belief. That person was Mark Hannity.
During lunch recess at school Justin took Blair over to a quiet area of the playground where they could be alone. After making Blair promise not to tell anyone, he went through a whole accounting of what happened in the alley behind the warehouses.
"How do you know they are going to do something against the law.", asked Blair.
"Because, the man said that if this Wheels guy isn't any good, they could go to jail.", answered Justin.
"I think we need to tell our parents.", said Blair.
"No. You promised you wouldn't tell anybody.", said Justin.
"But this can be important. Why not?", asked Blair.
"Because we can solve this ourselves.", he said with enthusiasm.
"What? By ourselves.?", questioned Blair in disbelief.
"Yeah! It will be fun. With my imagination and your awesome intuition, we can do this."
"You are crazy! I think your head still needs healing.", said Blair.
"My brain is perfect. Okay, I will make you a deal. Let's just go there and listen. They said they would get together around 3:00 pm today. After that, you can do whatever you want."
"Well..okay.", he said reluctantly.
It was 2:30 pm after school when Justin and Blair started walking home. They were on there way to the back alley where Justin had fallen the day before. Blair was getting second thoughts that this may not be a good idea, but Justin convinced him that it's okay and it should be fun.
"Remember,", said Justin, "We need to keep very quiet. Last time they heard me when I fell."
"No problem, I can be so quiet that nobody can hear me. No even Ruffus.", said Blair.
"Good. I am not sure what they're up to, but I bet it's against the law.", said Justin.
"They must be bad people.", said Blair.
"Only bad people do things against the law."
"That's not true Blair.", snapped Justin, "Sometimes the law is stupid and good people need to break it."
Justin was thinking about his mother and how she had to break the law to save him.
"We need to be quiet now.", he said as they were approaching the barred window above the trash bin.
They sat down against the warehouse wall while they were waiting. A couple minutes later they heard the door open and close from the inside. Then they heard footsteps within getting louder and then they stopped. A couple minutes later, they heard the door open and close again.
"Hey Ben. Are you here?", said A.J., in his hoarse voice.
"Of course I'm here. Come to this back room and have a seat where we can talk.", ordered Ben.
"You must be Wheels.", said Ben, "I have heard good things about you."
"Yeah. That's me. AJ told me you need a driver. Tell me the details and my cut of the pie."
Ben began, "I want you to listen and listen carefully. We can't afford screw ups. We are going to rob Gershwin Jewelers."
Blair let out a quiet shriek. Justin put his finger to his lips gesturing Blair to be quiet.
"Did you hear something?", asked A.J. "No.", both Wheels and Ben said at the same time.
"Continue Ben", said Wheels.
Ben continued, "I have been studying Gershwin for a few weeks now and they are perfect. They are a very small store, but are located in a very ritzy part of town. They have millions of dollars in inventory. Their business hours are from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. It gets dark around 6:00 pm now, so we will get there at 6:50 pm., just ten minutes before closing. All the jewelry is locked in glass display cases. There are video cameras so we all need to wear black clothing with a black ski mask over our heads. There are two exits. One in the front and one conveniently in the back alley. We will enter through the front. And Wheels you will be waiting for us in the back alley. The owner always closes up by himself and usually excuses the last employee around 6:00 pm. A.J., we are going to park a block away and walk to the jewelry store. We will put on our masks right before we enter. The first thing you need to do A.J., is point your gun straight at the owner's head and tell him not to move.", emphasized Ben."
Blair's heart was pounding so fast. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Justin was still listening intently.
Ben went on, "While you have your gun pointed in his face, I will be breaking the glass jewelry cases and stuffing the jewelry in my bag. He probably has an alarm. According to my estimation, regardless if the alarm is silent or not, we have nine minutes before the pigs arrive. That is plenty of time. We will stay for only six minutes. That gives Wheels three minutes to clear us out. We should be a mile away. Now Wheels, I want you to drive at a normal speed limit unless we have an emergency. Understand?"
"Of course, I don't want to raise attention. But believe me, if something does go wrong, they won't catch us.", said Wheels.
Suddenly, Blair let out a sneeze. Justin looked at Blair with fear in his eyes and mouth wide open.
"Go check it out.", came a voice from inside.
Justin grabbed Blair by the shirt and pulled him up. They both started to run. A.J. popped his head out of the alley and pulled out his gun and shot at them. He missed. Then he stopped and took careful aim at Justin, pulled the trigger and BANG. Blair turned around and saw one man on the ground and another one with a very bent trash can lid in his hand running in the opposite direction. Justin was unharmed and they both continued to run. They finally stopped about a half of mile away at a nearby park.
“I think we're safe now.”, said Justin.
Trying to catch his breath, Blair said, “Okay. I have to stop. For someone who was in a coma, you sure can run fast.”
“I hope they didn't recognize us Blair. I never turned around so I don't think he ever saw my face.”
“I see. Well I did turn around. I think there were two men. One was laying on the ground and the other was running away with a trash can lid in his hand.”, said Blair.
“Why would he have a trash can lid?”, asked Justin.
“I don't know, but I am going to go home and tell my mom and dad.”
“Don't do that. We will get in trouble.”, argued Justin.
I don't care. I am afraid. I will see you later.”, said Blair as he started walking home while looking around in all directions.
Justin pondered the situation for a moment and then thought if he didn't tell his parents, they would find out anyway. While he was walking home, he figured he will let them know during dinner.
At the dinner table, Justin mentioned, “I need to tell you something.”
“What do you need to tell us son?”, asked William.
“Well..I kind of did something I shouldn't of done.”
“What did you do Justin Time?”, said Katherine sternly.
“I got involved with some bad people.”, he said. Immediately Katherine was thinking about drugs or petty theft.
“What bad people?”, questioned William.
“They were jewel thieves and they had guns.”
For a few moments there was nothing but silence. Finally Katherine asked,”Why were you hanging out with jewel thieves?”
“I wasn't hanging around them. I was spying on them. They were going to rob a jewelry store. Me and Blair wanted to listen in on their plan.”
Justin continued telling them the story from the beginning and ended the story with the shooting. After getting over her shock, Katherine called the police. “The police said they had already apprehended the thieves. They had received a phone call earlier.
Then she knelt down to Justin and said, “Don't you ever do anything like that again. You know better than that and you could have been killed. Please promise me that you will never risk your life again. You have a big future ahead of you.”
“I promise. I won't do anything like that again. I know I have have a big future ahead.”