"It's day one of the Zachary Hanson murder trial and the opening remarks have been made. After only two hours, the court has been adjourned for the rest of the day and it is clear that this isn't a case that will be solved quickly. The defense's strongest statement is of Hanson's character and devotion to his late wife, actress Ginger Stevens. The prosecution's amount of incriminating evidence is overwhelming. There is already speculation that the evidence could be phony, but as for the rest of the world, we are still unsure and still in shock over these past few weeks' sudden turn of events," said a reporter on television, standing outside the courthouse where Zac's trial was being held.
Zac watched on the sofa, his daughter in his lap. She had headphones on and was listening to her favorite CD; the only way he would allow her to be in the room while the news about his trial was on. Most of all he just wanted to protect her from all of the problems that could arise from this trial, but he knew that was in vain. Once she went back to school she would be teased.
Taylor walked into the room and immediately shook his head. "Zac, you shouldn't be watching that crap, especially with Jenny in the room." Zac looked over his shoulder at his older brother. Taylor had a protective look on his face; Zac couldn't understand how Taylor always seemed to know what to do and what to say when neither of them had been in any kind of situation like this before.
"She can't hear any of it."
"Still." Taylor sat down in a chair and his eyes drifted over to the television screen. "What are they saying about it?"
"Nothing good. Nobody's taking any sides yet."
"That's surprising." Zac nodded and sighed. Jenny looked up at her father and paused her music.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, darlin?" Zac asked, looking down at her. He brushed some of her messy hair out of her face. She didn't like to brush her hair. Ginger usually had to sit her down and distract her so she wouldn't realize so much that her hair was being brushed. She hadn't let anybody come within two feet of her with a brush since Ginger died.
"I'm hungry."
"All right. I'll make you something." She jumped out of his lap and the two of them went to the kitchenette to find some food for her. Most of the meals since arriving in LA had been take-out, but when Diana and Walker came over they usually brought nutritious groceries so everybody could eat well while quarantined (at least in theory) in the hotel room.
He settled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Jenny and set it on a paper plate for her at the counter. She sat down and looked at it, not eating. He waited for her to take a bite, and when she didn't, grew more annoyed than confused.
"What, Jenny?" he asked.
"Mommy usually cuts it in fours," Jenny said, looking up at her father. Zac neaerly teared up at the thought but refused to cry in front of his daugher, especially not over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Triangles or squares?"
"Squares." He cut her sandwich into four squares. She whispered a "thank you" before she began to eat. He could see the tears in her eyes and sighed. She looked back up at him as he moved around the counter and put his arms around his little girl. "I love you, darlin."
"I love you too, Daddy."
"And everything's going to be okay, sweetie," he told her. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later everything's going to be just fine." She looked up, craning her gaze up so she could see her father behind her.
"I know. I just miss Mommy."
"Me too."
The door opened and Mark came in. People were always coming and going but it seemed to be the same people every time. Zac looked over and connected eyes with his lawyer almost disdainfully as he realized this conversation wasn't going to be very good.
"Can we talk?" Mark asked. Zac nodded. He kissed Jenny's hand before following Mark into one of the other rooms, where they could talk alone. Zac sat down and allowed Mark to sit across from him at the table that was off to the side in the bedroom.
"What's up?" Zac asked.
"They're going to have Taylor testify tomorrow."
"Oh Jesus," Zac said. "Anybody else?" Mark shook his head.
"Probably not tomorrow. Kris will be speaking in a couple of days, probably about the affair and her general relationship with you. She'll be good for us."
"Yes, she will," Zac said. "I just want this all to be over. I don't want Taylor to testify because it's going to bring up all of that shit that happened--"
"But that's what they want, Zac. They want to make it seem like you're capable of murder."
"I wasn't the one who had the affair."
"But you were the one who broke it off," Mark said.
"Well what would have you done? She was my girlfriend and she went off and fucked my brother!"
"Whoa, whoa, Zac, you can't do that in court. That's the kind of reaction they're looking for and that's the kind of reaction that'll get you convicted. It's a touchy subject but if they ask you about it, and they probably will, don't get upset. Don't ever get mad. Don't sweat. It'll hurt you in the end."
"I'm sorry," Zac said submissively.
"It's okay. At least you did it here and not on the stand."
"When do you think they'll put me up there?" Mark shrugged, unsure of how to answer.
"Not for a while, I guess. You'll get your turn and we'll have notice so we can get you prepared." Zac nodded. "It's going to be tough, especially this week. Nobody knew about the affair and it's going to raise a lot of questions. Lots of buzz."
"I doubt there could be any more buzz than there is now," Zac said, putting a hand to his forehead. "How long do you suppose the trial is going to last?"
"I don't know."
"Ballpark."
"Well, depending on the argument and whether or not this evidence is convincing, I'll guess...four months?"
"Four months? I have to stay here in this fucking hotel for four months? I might as well be in prison!"
"Zac, it's just a guess. You're hardly in prison anyway. Your family is here, your daughter is here, you've got a comfortable bed and wallpaper and pretty much any luxury you want. This place is a palace--you just shouldn't leave. You're not being held here for any reason. You can go outside, but with all you have here, why would you?"
"I just need some fresh air. I can't even go on the balcony because ten news stations have their cameras pointed at it day and night, waiting for something to happen." He took a breath. "I just don't want Jenny to live like this. She's bored. She should be playing with kids her own age on the playground or something, not locked up in a hotel room with nothing to do and the person closest to her age is her father."
"Where else is she going to go?"
"I don't know." He sat back. "Mark, if I'm not found guilty, do you think I'll ever be able to go back and be normal again?" Mark wasn't sure what to say. Zac probably would never be able to go back to a normal life (or at least the life he thought was normal). This was the kind of thing, guilty or not, that would follow him the rest of his life.
"I'm not sure, Zac," Mark said. Zac sighed. "But let's not think about that right now. Here, I saw this in the newspaper today. It's in support of you." Mark opened his briefcase and pulled out that day's newspaper. Zac took it--he hadn't been reading the paper since Ginger died because all the newspaper spoke about lately was him, and he was quite aware of his situation without getting the media bias involved.
Zac read over it, only slightly pleased with the article. It was indeed in support of him, and he was glad to see it, but in the end he wished it didn't have to appear at all.
"Sit down, Mr. Hanson," said the opposing lawyer to Taylor in court the next day. He'd already been sworn in and looked about as nervous as Zac did, who sitting about fifteen feet in front of his brother. "Could you please state your name for the record?"
"Jordan Taylor Hanson," Taylor said into the microphone.
"Taylor, you're the older brother of the accused Zachary Hanson, correct?" Taylor nodded and answered positively. "You and your brother are very close, correct?" Taylor answered positively again. "Have you always been this close?" Taylor sighed.
"Pretty much, yes. When we were kids we were about as close as you could get."
"But," the lawyer said, "there was a period of, what, five years when you and your brother didn't speak to each other?" Taylor paused.
"...Yes."
"Well you're only twenty-eight, Taylor. Five years is a very long time." Taylor didn't respond. "Do you mind telling the court why you and your brother Zachary didn't speak to each other?" Taylor looked over at Zac who wasn't looking back.
"Ginger and I were having an affair." There was a short commotion in the audience and Taylor could see the reporters in the back all taking notes and checking their cameras to make sure they were getting this new, shocking news.
"And Zac found out?"
"Obviously, yes."
"How?"
"It wasn't until after it was over. I was telling Kristina--"
"Your fianc�e and Ginger's best friend," the lawyer supplied.
"Yes. I told her about it and Zac walked in on the conversation."
"What happened then?"
"Well, he got very mad, understandably. He hit me and ran out of my apartment, where we were at the time, then went home and immediately broke up with Ginger who was in town visiting him."
"He broke up with her? For how long?" Taylor didn't appreciate the lawyer's feigned ignorance. He knew how long; he probably knew more than Taylor did at this point. Everybody knew it; he could at least not pretend he was completely suprised to hear this information.
"It was about six months," Taylor said in answer to the question. "Six months before they met again and got back together. He was just mad--it wasn't like he ever stopped loving her or anything."
"When did this happen? Zac and Ginger had a very public relationship and I've never heard anything about a breakup before."
"They'd only been dating for about four months when this happened. They didn't go public with the relationship until they'd been back together for a while. At that point they just wanted to forget about it; neither of them ever spoke about the breakup again."
"But he didn't speak to you for five years!"
"Actually, it was more like two--it wasn't until after five years that he was finally okay around me; finally trusted me again. You see he blamed me for everything. He never once blamed her."
"Why do you think that is?"
"Well with Ginger it was a one-time thing; she cheated on him once, and once he could forgive. I've had a rather--" He cleared his throat. "--nasty habit of stealing girls from him before. I'm not proud of it but it's something that happened. The rest of the times it was forgiveable. Zac never really cared much for the girls I stole. However Ginger was different. She'd always been different. He actually loved her."
"Did he?"
"Yes. Very much so."
"Now, Taylor, to the best of your recollection, while Zac and Ginger were dating--both times--did they ever fight?"
"Well yeah of course, every couple fights."
"Did he ever seem...out of control? Did he ever raise a hand to her?"
"What? No! Never. Zac's not the kind of person who would do that sort of thing," Taylor said, trying to keep his cool but noticeably offended that the lawyer would even suggest it.
"He hit you."
"That was different. I'm his brother and I'm a guy. Zac would never raise a hand to a woman, especially not his wife, and especially not Ginger. He's not a violent guy. That was the only time he'd ever hit me and honestly if I was in the same position, I would have hit me too. Who wouldn't?"
"Well you are his brother. What kind of person would hit his own brother?"
"I just told you. If he'd been sleeping with my girlfriend, I would have hit him too, brother or not."
"All right...no further questions."
"Mr. Jacim, your witness." Mark stood up and stepped over to Taylor.
"Taylor, how exactly close were you with Zac and Ginger while they were dating? This is after they were speaking with you, of course." Taylor cracked a smile despite the bitter memories.
"I was about as close are you can get. With me and Zac in the band together and Kris as Ginger's assistant, we were together almost all day every day."
"And you and Kris actually lived with them for a while?"
"Yeah, when we all moved to New York shortly after Zac and Ginger's wedding, we all shared an apartment for about three months while my place with Kris was being renovated."
"So you probably are the best judge of their relationship from an outsider's point of view?"
"Well, besides Kris, I would say yes."
"Okay. To you, how did their relationship go?" Mark asked.
"From the time they got back together until she died, I'd say it was the best relationship imaginable. They did fight but they knew how to solve their problems quickly. They never fought in front of Jenny."
"Jenny is the daughter."
"Yes, Jenny is their daughter. But I mean even up until the day she died they fit together. They balanced each other out and until the end you could still tell they absolutely loved each other."
"Even after seven years of marriage?"
"Oh yeah! They were amazing together. People called them the happiest couple in Hollywood because it was true. They really were." Mark nodded.
"Even with a six-month breakup?"
"Yeah, after a while we all agreed to just forget about it. It was a long time ago, it's over, we moved on."
"All right. Keeping that in mind, what is your personal opinion of Zac being accused of Ginger's murder?"
"I think it's absolutely ludacris. Zac is not at all capable of murder and even if he was, he'd never kill his wife. He loved her too much. Zac's completely innocent and while we sit here making up excuses to point him out, the real killer's out there somewhere and may kill someone else."
"Thank you. No further questions."
"Mr. Hanson you may step down."