The hearing took place on Friday in a courtroom where cameras were present. Zac was immediately turned off by this and looked at Mark. Mark sighed and leaned in to his client and friend. "They do have a permit to be here, so there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry." Zac knew there was a camera pointed directly at him so he stifled a grumble and swear, but did crack his knuckles uncomfortably. He wasn't entirely sure how this hearing was supposed to be conducted, but knew if it was conducted right there would be no probable cause for a trial and he'd be finally off the hook. He could go home with Jenny and start the painful grieving process at the apartment in New York.
Upon walking into the courtroom, Zac glanced around to see who was there. Kris and Taylor were, but without Jenny. That was a good thing. He didn't want Jenny there. She was most likely back at the hotel with one of his other siblings. He noticed both his parents were there, but neither of them was looking at him. He could see the shame in their lowered eyes and it made him very upset.
"Just keep quiet," Mark whispered, knowing Zac was ready to give some sort of signal to his family, "and stay attentive. You're confident in your innocence but you're not over-confident to the point where they interpret it as cockiness. You're still grieving." Zac nodded although Mark's instructions had been repeated at least ten times on the way to the courthouse.
The hearing itself was frightening. Zac wasn't entirely sure what was going on the entire time because the legal process wasn't something he paid much attention to. Ginger had been a TV crime drama freak but he never bothered to watch it with her, but at that present moment he wished he had; maybe then he'd understand what everyone was talking about.
The evidence the prosecution had collected was overwhelming. Where did it all come from? Because of Zac's arrest they had a search warrant and could search both the hotel here in LA and his home back in New York, and apparently that was enough to come up with evidence baggies marked A through K.
The biggest surprise, however, was that somehow they had obtained the alleged murder weapon--a Browning BDM with marks matching the bullet they took out of Ginger. When it was presented (it was evidence baggie D) Zac looked at Mark and very carefully shook his head; he had no idea where it came from.
"�Browning BDM with Mr. Hanson's fingerprints on the handle," the prosecutor's lawyer was saying. Zac, who had tried to keep a low profile until this point, immediately made a disgusted face and resisted the urge to scream "What the fuck?" at the lawyer. Underneath the table Mark put his hand on Zac's arm, reminding him to keep his cool. Mark leaned in.
"Mind explaining?" Mark asked.
"I have no idea," Zac whispered. "I've never touched a real gun in my life." Mark nodded.
And from there it continued in the negative spiral. The judge seemed to be convinced solely from the prints on the gun, but the prosecution had at least a half hour's story worth of motive, none of which was true. By the time the hearing was winding down it was obvious that Mark and Zac were losing pathetically and the prosecution was nearly rejoicing because of it.
The judge sat with her arms crossed as the hearing was almost officially over. All that was left was her decision. "Well," she said, looking at Zac, "the evidence is overwhelming. It all depends on whether or not the jury believes it. Trial date tentatively set for July 18th, bail is set for five hundred thousand dollars." She banged her gavel and stood up. Zac's mouth dropped.
"Trial?" he asked Mark, who didn't say anything. "Trial? There's going to be a trial?"
"That's what her honor said," Mark explained briefly as Zac was handcuffed again and led out of the courtroom. "Don't worry, you have enough to post bail."
"But it's going to trial!" Mark didn't continue.
When Zac arrived back at the jail cell that had been his home for the past few days, Taylor was already there with the bail money. It wasn't long before Zac was released, rubbing his wrists and following Taylor out to the car. "Thanks, Taylor," Zac said.
"I don't want to sound offensive, but I'm surprised they gave you bail."
"Don't worry about it," Zac said. "So am I. And that it was set so low. I mean I wasn't in the cell five minutes before they let me out again. Ginger and I together are--were--practically billionaires." They got into the car. The day was beautiful, not very hot, but Zac couldn't enjoy it. They had been so optimistic about the case not making it to trial, but then they were slapped in the face with eleven different pieces of evidence, all of which were completely false but were authentic enough for the judge.
The car ride back to the hotel was awkward and quiet. Not only had the day's sudden turn of events ruined their optimistic view of this case, but Ginger's death was still hovering over the two brothers, her funeral having been the day before. If Zac had been able to post bail before the hearing (interestingly enough, it had been denied), he would have been able to attend the funeral. It still bothered him.
To try to relieve the silence, Taylor turned on the radio. "�just this afternoon it was released that the Ginger Stevens murder case will go to trial sometime late July."
"Taylor�" Zac complained.
"Sorry," Taylor said and switched the radio to CD and allowed prerecorded music that had no opinion on the current situation to fill the car speakers. Zac found himself relaxing a bit--it was easier to forget his problems with music playing.
Getting into the hotel was a feat. Not only had there been news teams nearly twenty-four hours a day in front of the hotel, but since it was the day of Zac's hearing and they might have heard Zac was out on bail, the number of teams there had doubled and possibly tripled in size.
Taylor and Zac were led in by a weary security guard through a press-free back entrance. Zac couldn't help but sigh; he was used to the back entrances (but usually it was to avoid fans, not press) however the bulky security guard seemed afraid of Zac. Zac, who still believed that justice would prevail, couldn't understand why no one else seemed to believe in his innocence.
Once safely inside the elevator, Taylor turned to his little brother and knew of his disdain immediately. "Don't fret about it Zac, people are just suspicious. They still know you're innocent."
"Taylor, if they know I'm innocent, wouldn't they be saying 'Hey Zac, isn't this bullshit?' instead of looking like they're going to shit themselves if I as much as put my hands in my pockets? You saw that guy; he's easily the size of NFL quarterback. He could knock me out with one hand and he looked deathly afraid of me!"
"Being the size of a quarterback does nothing if the other guy has a gun."
"That really doesn't help, Taylor." Taylor lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry." The elevator doors opened and the two walked to the front door of their hotel room. Taylor unlocked the door and peered inside before opening the door. The two of them went in.
"Daddy!" Jenny yelled. She hopped off the couch and into her father's arms. He picked her up off the floor and swung her around before they fell together into a chair.
"I missed you, darlin."
"I missed you too, Daddy," Jenny said. She rested her little red head against Zac's chest. He kissed the top of her head. Nobody else in the room seemed to matter to him at the point as he sat in a comfortable chair with his daughter in his lap.
"Do you want some coffee?" his mother asked, resting a hand on his shoulder to catch his drifting attention. He looked up at her.
"What?"
"Do you want some coffee? I just made some." Zac nodded and vaguely responded positively before she went off to the kitchenette where the coffeepot had just finished brewing. Next to her Taylor was finding mugs. "Is this getting out of hand or what?" Taylor's eyes drifted over to Zac, still sitting quietly with Jenny.
"This has been out of hand. Zac just getting arrested is out of hand, but now they're actually going to trial?"
"Where did all that evidence come from?" Taylor could only shrug. Diana poured the coffee into the mugs Taylor found and allowed Taylor to take it over to Zac.
"Here you go," Taylor said, handing Zac his coffee with a forced smile on his lips. Zac took it without a word. "Listen, Zac, I'm--"
"I know what you're going to say, Taylor, and I don't want to hear it. It's over and done with�it happened a very long time ago." Taylor couldn't help but feel guilty. Early into Zac and Ginger's relationship Taylor and Ginger had an illicit affair that caused the two to break up for about six months and caused a rift between Zac and Taylor that lasted over five years before all three of them were okay around each other again. Now it was barely a memory until the prosecution used it as motive for Zac as the murderer. The prosecution was cruel and unrelenting in its game--nothing was sacred, nothing was private, and everything was shown in grotesque detail. Zac had never been so embarrassed in his entire life, and a camera was taping the entire thing.
Taylor was quiet. His guilt over the tryst had never gone away even if the event had been forgotten, and it was flaming like a heart attack in his chest. Zac knew, Zac had always known, but his outlook on the entire ordeal was "Don't ask, don't tell" and by that everything would just go back to normal. He never wanted to speak about it, so it was never discussed.
"Jenny, why don't you pick out a movie for us to watch?" Zac asked. His daughter climbed off of him and ran of to find a movie. Zac didn't want a risk television--possibly every channel, including cable channels, would have something to say about him.
The front door opened and Kris came into the room. She looked immediately to Zac and resisted the urge to get emotional in his arms. Instead she did the worst thing she could do. She remained silent.
"Where have you been?" Zac asked, knowing she wasn't going to start the conversation.
"I, uh, I had some unfinished business to take care of," she said. "I need to ask you something." He nodded. "Do you want Ginger's last movie to be released?"
Zac had no idea. Ginger had just finished filming a movie in New York before they came out here--in fact she was out there in LA to begin publicity--and it could be released without a problem. The only thing stopping it was Kris's consent, and Kris's consent wouldn't come without Zac's.
"I don't know," Zac said.
"Think about it. I don't need an answer yet." Zac nodded.
"Okay. I will." And he did. Kris got up and walked away, while Zac sat back to think of the consequences concerning both decisions he could make. He was leaning towards no when he realized how many other people would be out of a job because he didn't want it out. "Kris?" She looked over from the kitchenette where she was standing with Diana. "Release it."
"You sure?" Zac nodded. "All right."
Jenny came back with a Disney film that Zac immediately put in to help them all escape from reality for a little while.
Later that week everyone was getting cabin fever but could do nothing about it. Mark was coming over for dinner to talk legal business and help relieve the boredom. The only people who were coming and going were Walker and Diana, and after a while that got quite repetitive.
There was no dining room in the hotel suite, so the living room had been turned into a makeshift dining area where most of everybody sat on the floor. Jenny sat on Zac's lap; she was hovering around him and he enjoyed it, knowing full well there was a possibility he would never have this kind of contact with his daughter again. If he went to prison--serious prison--he would most likely never be able to talk to her without inch-thick glass in between them. He took the liberty to kiss the top of her head and appreciate that he could still do so.
Mark was sitting next to Zac and looked at the boy and his daughter. As much as Zac drilled that he was twenty-five now, and he had a seven-year-old daughter, he was still very much a boy. A boy accused of murdering his wife. Mark shook his head.
Business was saved for after dinner--no one wanted to talk about something as tragic as a death and a trial while trying to have a sensible meal, especially considering the severity of the topic. Kris took Jenny away from Zac as everybody left, allowing him to be alone in the living room with Mark.
"Are you happy to be home?" Mark asked. Zac looked around.
"Well I'm not really at home, am I?"
"You know what I mean. To not be there." Zac nodded.
"Yeah, but it's only fleeting," he said. "I don't know how long I'll get to enjoy seeing them without bars blocking my view." Mark was ready to remind him that if he were to be convicted and sent to prison, he would most likely be seeing them through glass, not bars, but he didn't feel it was appropriate to point out. "I am so scared, Mark. I wasn't scared before. I know I'm innocent. Everyone here knows I'm innocent. I figured that would apply to the judge as well but obviously not. If the prosecution can convince a judge with that phony evidence, they can convince a jury as well."
"The judge didn't believe the evidence, though," Mark said. Zac looked over at him questioningly. "You could tell she didn't. All she needed was probable cause and she got that from the situation with Taylor." Zac sighed.
"Dammit," he breathed. "That shit never goes away, does it?" Mark could only shake his head. Zac crossed his arms in front of his chest; the hearing didn't go deep into the affair, but the trial definitely would. Taylor would be called to testify and the whole story would be brought up again. They'd never actually discussed what had happened and Zac wished they wouldn't have to in front of a jury, an audience, and Court TV, because it would most likely be a televised trial. It wasn't only that they had to discuss such a private matter in front of so many people--Zac was used to that--but nobody knew about the break-up. It only lasted six months and at that point people didn't really know that Zac and Ginger were dating. There was a mystery about it, and neither of them was really ever asked about it. To the general public Zac and Ginger's relationship was picture perfect, the only flaw being Ginger had Jenny before they were married, but they were still married. They were deemed the "happiest couple in Hollywood" and kept that title all the way until now. News of the affair and the breakup would disprove that Zac and Ginger had always been happy together, and that could very well change the public's perspective of Zac. "Mark?"
"Yes?" Mark asked, looking over at Zac.
"If they've got me, and they think it's me, doesn't that mean that Ginger's real killer is still out there somewhere?" Zac asked. The question seemed so juvenile and obvious, but coming from a hurting Zac it was completely legitimate. Mark was reluctant to answer.
"Yes." Zac sighed.
"Great�"