Beach Wedding(73)

As I went to follow him out, my big brother turned and shook his head.

“No. Stay and watch, dummy,” Tom said. “One of us has to be here at least.”

Things calmed down after a lot of gaveling by the judge.

The annoyed-looking lady was clearing her throat, no doubt about to remind us all that the violent assaulting of defendants was legally impermissible, when Byron Seager stood.

“Your Honor, a sidebar, please.”

The entire court went into mumble mode and then dead silence as Volland and Seager and the judge conferred.

Even the killer, Kyle Wilton, was staring at them from where he sat waiting in the witness box.

A moment later, the judge whacked her gavel a couple of good hard cracks as Volland and Seager finally sat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this court has just been advised that the defendant has changed his plea from not guilty to guilty.”

A huge collective outcry shot through the courtroom.

“Sentencing date will be determined by the end of the day. Bailiff, take Mr. Sutton into custody. This court is adjourned.”

Everyone looked on as Henry Sutton was handcuffed. Then we all looked at each other in wide-eyed shock for a silent beat.

“What in the world?” Marvin said as we both stood slowly. “Did I just hear what I think I just heard?”

I wrapped Marvin in a hug. It was only after I let him go that I realized I was crying.

“We won,” I said as I clapped him on the back. “We did it, Marvin. We finally won.”



99

Marvin and I were coming out of the packed elevator with the still stunned crowd into the even more packed and buzzing courthouse lobby when I saw her by the metal detectors on her phone.

“Marvin, I’ll meet you outside, okay?” I said.

“You really sure you want to go there, Terry?” Marvin said.

“No, but I’m going to do it anyway.”

Hailey Sutton looked up from her phone as I arrived in front of her.

She stared at me wide-eyed.

“Mrs. Sutton,” I said. “I just wanted to tell you for myself and for my whole family that I’m sorry. I, like a lot of people—including my father—thought that you had killed your husband. But we were wrong. I’m really sorry about what you were put through.”

“You should be,” she said, staring at me angrily. “You know what kind of torture this was for my family?”

“I just wanted to apologize for everything. That’s about all I can do. Take care now.”

“Your father was a real son of a bitch,” Hailey Sutton said, folding her arms as I turned. “He dug up all the dirt he could.”

I looked at her and nodded.

“The law isn’t pretty sometimes. But he was doing his job. You have to admit, you did look pretty guilty. And you were less than forthcoming.”

“I wanted to cooperate, but the lawyers...”

We both watched Byron Seager with his phone glued to his ear as he exited the elevator and the courthouse.

“Yep, the lawyers,” I agreed.

Hailey was heading for the door after him when she suddenly turned.

“Actually, wait. I’m sorry, too. I guess. About your father, I mean. We’re actually the same, aren’t we?”

“The same?”

“That son of a bitch Henry in there took away someone you loved, too.”

I was just about to follow her out when a door in the hall opened on my left and my brother Tom came out.

“Hey, dummy, I just heard. We actually did it!” he said, smiling ear to ear as we hugged.

“Terry, Terry, Terry,” he said as we walked down the hall. “Man, could that have gone better? That weasel Henry Sutton goes down after not one but two Rourke knuckle sandwiches! I mean, someone call Hollywood quick. But wait. Why did he change his plea do you think? Does he have something else up his sleeve?”

“No,” I said. “I guess he was waiting until the last second to see if Wilton would make it to the stand alive. Since he did, Henry figured why sit there and be humiliated while they aired all the agonizing embarrassing details about Cold Springs Chemical.”

“Took one for the team, huh? What a weird family.”

It was snowing more heavily as we hit the cold plaza outside.

“I’m so pumped,” Tom said. “I have an idea to celebrate.”

“Speaking of weird. Here we go,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“No, no. You’re going to like this, Terry. What I was thinking is, this summer we should rent out a house on the beach. Maybe in Southampton. You know, some sun and surf. Mingle with the rich and powerful. I’m thinking we do it right. Meadow Lane, of course. One of those big white elephants. Get a taste of the high life, you know? Maybe we’ll have a family reunion or something. What could possibly go wrong?”

I opened my mouth to say something.

But then I just started laughing instead as the snow fell around us.

“Yeah,” Tom said, starting to laugh himself as we walked across the parking lot. “On second thought, staycation this year is probably a better bet.”

Read on for an excerpt of Stop at Nothing, the first book in Michael Ledwidge’s Michael Gannon Series.




Stop at Nothing