The Justice Game

93

The medical staff at Virginia Beach General treated Jason like royalty. Though Jason was still in shock from the pain and trauma, he realized that in the big scheme of things he was miraculously unhurt. He had dislocated his shoulder and suffered a serious concussion from the blow to his head. He now had a big bald spot where they had shaved his head for the stitches, though they had since covered the wound with gauze and a bandage.

His first visitor was Bella Harper.

“Look at you,” she said. “I leave you alone for one hour, and you just about get yourself killed. You look terrible.”

“Thanks,” Jason mumbled. He motioned with his hand for Bella to keep her voice down. “I’ve got a splitting headache.”

Bella shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m just so glad you’re okay,” she said, choking up. The bravado hadn’t lasted long. It looked like she wanted to give Jason a hug but didn’t dare touch him for fear she might hurt him. Instead, she squeezed his hand.

“From the minute we figured out you were missing, I started praying for you,” Bella said.

“Thanks.”

Bella gave him the rundown about the search. She had discovered Jason and Kelly were missing when she tried to call the lawyers with news about the shadow jury’s verdict. After fifteen minutes of unanswered calls, Melissa Davids had called her company and obtained the information for the GPS unit in Jason’s gun.

“When she found out the location, she and Mr. McAllister were on their way before they even called 911,” Bella said. “I don’t think Ms. Davids trusts the cops.”

Jason thanked Bella for everything she had done. He was tired and hurting and just wanted to sleep. Unfortunately, all the nurses were determined to keep him awake for another twelve hours because of the concussion.

“Don’t you want to know about the verdict?” asked Bella.

From the tone of Bella’s voice, it was hard to tell whether they had won or not. Maybe it was the painkillers, or the trauma he had just seen Kelly endure, or the horror of seeing Andrew Lassiter shot right in front of him. For whatever reason, the verdict didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. He would certainly take no great solace in a defense verdict. As hard as it had been to watch Andrew and the others die, he couldn’t imagine what Blake Crawford must have gone through watching the tape of Rachel being shot.

“They gave the plaintiff a million dollars,” Bella said.

Jason closed his eyes and absorbed the news. Was it justice? In his drug-induced state, it was hard to tell.

“I’m kidding,” Bella said, grinning. “It was a unanimous defense verdict.”

Jason’s first thought was that he wanted to kill his assistant. There were some things you didn’t joke about. But the drugs had made a pacifist out of him.

“Very funny, Bella,” he said as sharply as possible, though his voice didn’t have much edge to it. “How did Blake Crawford take it?”

“That’s it?” Bella asked. “I just told you we won the biggest case of your career, and you don’t even smile?”

“I don’t know,” Jason said. He was too drugged to be anything but honest. “It doesn’t really feel like anybody won.”

“I know what you mean,” Bella admitted. The two were silent for a moment, as if they were honoring the memory of Rachel Crawford.

“In answer to your question,” Bella said, her tone reflective, “Blake Crawford wasn’t there. But Reverend Starling was, and he was incredible. He thanked every one of the jurors and then called Kelly and Blake. Kelly, of course, didn’t answer. You want to know what Blake said-according to the reverend?”

Jason shrugged.

“He told the reverend to congratulate you and thank you for setting up a fair process for resolving the case. He said he had to accept the jury verdict as God’s will.”

Jason thought about that for a moment. “Amazing,” he said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Bella said.