The Happiest Day of Her Life Ch. 03

"Almost... there..." said Chloe.

"Me... too... Baby... Cum... for... me..." said Jenn.

Their orgasms weren't completely simultaneous but it was very hard to tell who set off whom. Both women were thrashing on the huge dildo and setting each other off even more. Wave after wave of orgasms crashed over the pair. Jenn leaned in for a kiss and Chloe moaned into her mouth. Moaning turned to panting which eventually became regular breathing. Jenn kissed Chloe passionately until the hot redhead could no longer sit up straight. Jenn slowly, and carefully, removed the dildo from Chloe. There was a wet sliding sound, followed by a distinct pop and a soft groan. Jenn removed the other end from herself and lay gently next to Chloe. Chloe's fingers took to playing with Jenn's long black hair.

Chloe smiled and softly said, "Holy shit."

"I love you," Jenn said quietly.

Chloe said, "Yeah, I can see that," with a soft giggle. Jenn loved the sound of that giggle. "So, would you really have a problem if I still wanted you to share me with your sister?"

"Yes," said Jenn. "I don't want to share you, Chloe."

"Good. I don't want to share you either."

The young lovers wrapped their arms around each other and fell asleep cuddling. Rather than making her do a walk of shame, Jenn found some clothes of hers that she never wore to school that would fit Chloe. She showered with Chloe and cooked her breakfast. Chloe had dinner with the Stevens sisters for the rest of that week.

John, Holly's husband, nearly had a heart attack on Friday when he realized he would be having dinner and Board Game Night with four breathtaking women. It was a shame the sisters did not own Twister. John had half a mind to drive to the K-Mart in West Babylon to pick one up.

Holly told Marie she had interesting news about the trial and asked if it was ok to tell her around the dinner table. Marie had gotten to see the love between Jenn and Chloe at this point and, therefore, trusted everyone at her dinner table. She told Holly to spill the beans. Holly went on to tell her that her firm called the District Attorney's office and she would be allowed to be third chair. She wouldn't be sitting next to Marie, but she would be at the table and could pass her notes and refill her water glass. The discovery lists went out. All five of the defendants were listed. That did not necessarily mean they would testify, but it left the possibility open. Speaking of discovery, evidence was turned up in the legal searches of the defendants' rooms.

Holly continued, "Marlon had, in his sock drawer, some cut up remnants of your wedding dress."

"I saw him doing that," said Marie.

"Right," said Holly. "It's in your statement to the police and your affidavit. That's why the police bagged and tagged it. It went to the lab and they found Trent's blood, some of your hair follicles and some of your blood on it."

"My blood? How did my blood get on it?"

Holly answered with a smile, "Apparently, Marlon used the swatch to clean your blood off his knife after he stabbed you. That small piece of cloth puts him at the scene of the murder and the rape. The other four also kept souvenir swatches but none of the others had your blood on it, only one other had your hair on it and only two had Trent's blood. That's not really bad news though, because it can be proven that all the swatches came from the same dress. And since there was only one way to get a swatch..."

"...It proves they were all there," Marie finished the sentence for her.

"Right," said Holly. "It's good evidence. The warrants were all signed by the same judge and were shown at the time of entry into the defendants' homes. The DA's office has their balls in a vice, which means we probably won't go to trial."

"Why wouldn't we go to trial if we have such a great case?" asked Marie.

Holly replied, "Because we have such a great case. The existence of the evidence goes to the Public Defender representing the defendants as part of discovery."

"Wait, wait," said Marie. "Discovery?"

"Jeez, Ree, don't you watch Law & Order?" joked Holly. "You know how in courtroom dramas on TV and in the movies, there's a surprise witness or surprise evidence?"

Marie nodded.

"Yeah," said Holly, "that's bullshit. Discovery is the law that prevents surprises in the courtroom. Each side has to share all their evidence and their entire witness list with the other side before the trial. We have to know everything they know and they have to know everything we know at the start of the trial."

"Then why are there still surprises in court?" asked Marie. "I see it on the news all the time."

Holly had a grin on her face and said, "Because lawyers are dicks and try to bury important evidence in a sea of seemingly unimportant evidence. We can't do that in this case because most of our evidence is pretty strong, including a victim who recognized her assailants three months after the fact and who was recognized by them. Yeah, so, since our evidence is so strong, the PD... sorry... the Public Defender wouldn't want to go to trial. He'll probably plead them down. That means the defendants can confess to a smaller crime and serve a sentence for the lesser crime instead of possibly facing death row for murder, attempted murder and accessory to murder."

"How much time would they get?" asked Marie.

"It depends what they can plead down to," said Holly. "If the other four rolled over on Marlon, since he was the only one with a knife, he could go to trial for rape, murder and attempted murder and they could skip to violation of the open container law."

"But they're all guilty," said Jenn.

"The DA's office will only want to net the biggest fish," said Holly. "If too many suspects are tried, you run the risk of them all getting off on a technicality. They'd probably rather see Marlon do big time and let the other four plead out to something that gets them eight months each but puts them on the sexual offenders list."

Marie asked, "Isn't there any way for all five of them to stand trial?"

Holly looked Marie directly in the eyes, "Well, Ree, that depends on you."

Marie gave a look that said what the fuck are you talking about?

Holly explained, "They can all stand trial if you're willing to testify at two different trials. The PD would probably go along with it if there was a Murder and Attempted Murder trial for Marlon and he wasn't tried for rape and there was a Rape trial for Anthony, Calvin, Peter and Thomas and they weren't tried for accessory to murder. The DA has plenty of evidence for two trials. She has the bloody gown fragment, the knife and your sworn testimony to put Marlon away. She also has the DNA they scooped off you in the hospital to get the other four. It's perfect. The only reason I can think of that they didn't go for two trials in the first place is that they didn't want to over-burden you."

"Are you kidding me?" Jenn interjected. "This woman here, my sister, called the authorities on a cell phone she fished out of her dead husband's pocket and waited naked and covered in spunk for them to arrive. Then she found her abusers and instead of lighting the building up with Molotov cocktails, like I would have, she called the authorities again and walked up to the five punks to identify them and they don't want to 'over-burden' her? It's a little fucking late for that..."

"Wait," said Chloe. "She did all that?"

Jenn nodded.

"Holy shit, Ree!" shouted Chloe. "You deserve your own comic book!"

Marie smiled and said, "Thank you, Chloe. I have to tell you, Holls, I'm pretty offended at that, too. I'm an Emergency Department nurse in West Islip, for crying out loud and they don't want to 'over-burden' me?" Marie gave a derisive chuckle and then said, "Bring it!"

Holly asked Marie, "When's your next day off?"

"Tomorrow."

"When's your day off after that?"

"Sunday."

Holly groaned and asked, "When's the next business day you have off after that?"

"Monday."

"This Monday?" asked Holly. "That's perfect. We can... Wait. You get three days off in a row?"

Marie replied, "I work twelve hour shifts."

"Point taken," said Holly. "Ok, Monday's perfect. I'll re-arrange my schedule, pick you up and take you to the DA and we'll tell her you're willing to testify at two separate trials. Hey, maybe I can second chair one of them so I can sit right next to you... What time's good for you on Monday?"

Marie said, "I'll be here all day."

"Great," said Holly. "I'll call you an hour before I'm coming over on Monday."

True to her word, Holly gave Marie an hour's notice on Monday. Marie had showered and fixed her hair in the morning and had set aside some nice clothes, not wanting to put them on too early and spilling something on them. She changed into her nice clothes after brushing her teeth again and waited outside her front door for Holly to drive up.

The DA was overjoyed that Mrs. Melar was willing to testify at two separate trials and phoned the Public Defender's office to make the new deal. Elated that the majority of his clients would not face accessory to murder charges, the PD accepted the deal of two separate trials. Calendars were confirmed, dates were set and the wheels were truly in motion. Holly was given permission to second chair both trials and she made the appropriate arrangements with her firm.

Holly spent a lot of time with the ADA prepping Marie for the rape trial. That would be the first of the two. The evidence was overwhelming, so all Marie had to do was remain calm on the cross examination. Holly was a trial lawyer and knew how to press people's buttons on the stand. She played the PD in their practice sessions. The ADA, a strong looking 5'11" African-American Amazon named Ebonee, went over the types of questions she would be asking Marie. The two lawyers would then explain to Marie why she should word an answer "this" way instead of "that" way. When they were confident that Marie was ready to tell her story, Holly started playing "the bad cop" or "the bad lawyer" or "the Devil's Advocate" or whatever the fuck she was playing. Holly got really mean, but Marie understood the point of this. Ebonee, who had expected Holly to go soft on her friend, was impressed by the platinum blonde's skills at cross and her intelligence in general. After practicing and practicing and practicing with Marie, both attorneys were in no doubt she was ready for trial.

When the first day of the trial arrived, Marie wore the clothes Holly picked out for her and waited outside her front door for Holly to pick her up. They were almost silent as they drove to the courthouse as each woman geared up for the trial. There were two tables facing the Judge's bench. Ebonee sat at the seat of their table that was closest to the center. Marie was next to her and Holly was on Marie's other side, holding Marie's hand under the table. Jenn and Chloe were in the first row of the gallery sitting directly behind Marie and Holly. The defendants were marched in. They were all dressed very nicely, looking very different from the two other times Marie had met them. She still recognized Tony, Tommy, Calvin and Pete instantly. Pete and Tony were glaring at Marie but Tony had his customary smile lingering below his stabbing eyes. Marie focused on her task at hand, as she did after every shift change in the ED. She went over everything she was there to do. She was brought out of her deep thinking by the words, "All rise!"

The opening remarks were brief and then Ebonee started calling witnesses. Detective Rodrigues was called. Two other police officers were called. Then some lab technician. Then they had a lunch break. Ebonee leaned towards Marie to tell her she would testify after they re-adjourned. Ebonee, at Marie's invitation, joined her, Holly, Jenn and Chloe for lunch. Ebonee was impressed by Marie's support system and assured her that she would be great on the stand.

Ebonee called Marie to the stand and Marie walked up to the witness stand. She placed one hand on the bible and raised her other hand, swearing to the bailiff that she would tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Jenn grinned at that because it was what Marie always did. Ebonee asked Marie to tell the story of her wedding night. Her story was obviously shocking to the members of the jury and those in the gallery who'd never heard it before. She had been cautioned by Holly and Ebonee to concentrate her story on the rape and not so much on Trent's death, although she was allowed to mention that part. Ebonee took a long dramatic pause after Marie finished talking about the gang rape that took her virginity on her wedding night.

Finally, Ebonee asked, "Mrs. Milar, do you see any of the men who raped you here in court today?"

"Yes, I do," responded Marie.

"Can you, please, point them out for the court?" asked Ebonee.

"Yes, of course," said Marie. "The man there with the spiky blonde hair is the one they called Tony. The one in the blue suit next to him is the one they called Calvin. Next to him is the one they called Tommy and next to him is the one they called Pete."

Ebonee said, "If it pleases the court, let the record show that the witness has identified the four defendants."

"Excuse me, please," Marie said. "I'm not finished."

"What?" asked Ebonee. She did not know what Marie was talking about.

Marie continued, "In the back row of the gallery, in the gray hoodie, I can see the one they called Bobby."

Bobby stood up and shouted, "I'll kill you, bitch! I'll fucking kill you," as he fired two shots at Marie from his Glock before the bailiffs could tackle him to the floor.

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Thank you, all, for reading this. Please send any constructive criticism you may have and let me know if I should keep going with this series.