It was unnaturally cool.
Tish Adams stood, her face a black-and-blue pulp and arm in a sling, directly in front of none other than the imposing figure of Luther Alverson. He stared down from his bench at her. Slowly, he read the charges against her.
The indictments for murder had been handed down by a hastily assembled grand jury, rousted from their beds and called to the courthouse. In a bizarre twist of fate, on the first bench behind her, just beyond the rail, stood her son, Todd Adams, now out on bond thanks to Mikey DelVecchio and his new buddies at All-Night Bonding Company.
Across the aisle, on the front row, stood Garland Fincher. He stood stock-still, staring straight ahead of him directly at Tish Adams. His face looked like thunder. His hands in fists. Beside him, still standing, was Hailey Dean.
Her shoulder sported a thick bandage with stitches underneath where a bullet had grazed her, but otherwise not much worse for the wear. On her other side stood Chase Billings. He glanced occasionally at Tish Adams. For the most part, his eyes remained locked on Hailey beside him. It was hard to take in what happened the night before, that Hailey had somehow managed to literally dodge a bullet . . . well, almost. Tish Adams aimed the .22 straight at Hailey. If Hailey hadn’t dived onto the floor at that split second, she’d be dead right now.
“Quit staring! Do I look that bad without makeup? It’s your fault! I asked to stop at the drugstore for blush and lipstick but you said we didn’t have time!” Billings checked to make sure she was smiling when she said it. She was. Actually, she was even more beautiful without the distraction of makeup, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to tell her that.
Her crystal green eyes were like pools of tropical ocean water, almost unnaturally green. They were framed by her light brown brows, and her silky blonde hair fell in waves around her face. Her lips were perfectly shaped and pink without lipstick or gloss to enhance them, and even with all Billings knew she had been through in her short life, her face remained unlined except for two light wrinkles on either side of her lips . . . laugh lines. Hailey Dean seemed to love to laugh and could almost always find something light and funny to say . . . when she wanted to. He loved that about her. She always made him smile . . . and she wasn’t the kind of girl that minded laughing out loud, really loud if warranted. And then . . . there were her half smiles, and he loved those too.
Wham!
The sound of the judge pounding his gavel snapped Billings out of his daze. “So ordered. The defendant Tish Adams is hereby remanded to the Chatham County Jail until said time when she shall be tried for the murders of Alton Turner, Eleanor Odom, and Cecil Snodgrass, and the attempted murder of Hailey Dean. We now await the district attorney’s decision as to whether this will be a death penalty case and at the time that announcement is made, this court will be in recess on this matter. Court adjourned!” He pounded the gavel again very loudly, shot a look of contempt and loathing at Tish Adams, and left the bench.