"Anne Styles is still alive."

As the words left Clive's lips, my focus was trained solely on Theodore. His face went from looking like that of a ghost to one of absolute fury.

"That is a lie!" Theodore screamed. "How dare you desecrate my family's memory!"

"Thank you," Nathan nodded towards Clive as the rest of the courtroom erupted in a cacophony of shouts and accusations. Clive stepped down and came back to sit with us. I couldn't resist giving him a small high five.

The judge pounded his gavel on his desk and shouted, "Order. There will be order in my courtoom!"

I noticed that the bailiff had stepped closer to Theodore as it looked like he was ready to lunge at Clive as he walked by.

The crowd grew silent while the judge spoke pointedly to Nathan. "Mr. Greenwood, you have caused chaos in my courtroom more than one time. If your next witness isn't Anne Styles Blake herself, you are going to prison for contempt."

Nathan nodded, keeping his cool in the face of such a heavy threat. It was because he knew he had the pièce de résistancewaiting in another room.

"Your honor, although I know we haven't enough time for questions today, I'd like to call my next witness, Anne Styles Blake."

The courtroom doors opened and Anne walked in, escorted by another guard. She avoided eye contact with Theodore until she took the stand. And then she gave him a glare that I can only describe as murderous. Theodore meanwhile, slumped in his seat and looked rather gray in color. Eventually, he leaned over his knees, his hair falling around falling forward as he looked at the floor.

"Bailiff, please get some water for Mr. Blake," the judge requested. The bailiff left while another guard took his place to make sure Theodore didn't get out of hand.

Nathan spoke to Anne, "Please state your full name for the court."

"Anne Elizabeth Styles Blake," she said and I grinned at her, even though she wasn't looking at me.

"And what is your relationship to Harry Edward Styles?"

"I'm his mother."

Again the people in the courtroom became noisy and rambunctious but it wasn't really Nathan's fault this time. Judge Stoneridge clearly understood everyone's shock and amazement at this turn of events. He called the court back to order once again and then said, "Defense, were you aware of this witness?"

Samuel Klinefeld stood shakily and spoke, "No, sir. We had no idea." His voice was failing; perhaps he was only then realizing what a scumbag he'd chosen to represent. "Your honor, I'd like to request a continuance."

The judge looked at Nathan and Anne and then at the rest of us. "It looks like I have no choice in the matter. I hereby grant a continuance to Theodore Michael Blake and his counsel. Mr. Blake will be held in custody until this session reconvenes in one week's time."

Nathan had warned us that might happen because it's a legal right of the opposing party to know what they're up against. Even if they are scumbags. Still, he wanted the element of surprise to be a factor within the courtroom so that the jury could see how Theodore reacted to Anne's presence. Clearly, it left almost everyone bewildered.

So it was back into hiding for the lot of us since Theodore was angrier than ever. Police were still discovering new people who were linked to his crimes but they were starting to believe they had found just about everyone. Even so, our situation warranted police protection which was a relief to all of us, even though we were getting very tired of being crammed into hotel rooms and not allowed to go anywhere without an officer escorting us. Once again, we were forbidden from using social media and we were not allowed to send any kind of outgoing communication and we were commanded to not divulge any information of the trial to anyone outside of our immediate group - Clive, Anne, my parents, Harry and myself. And of course, our lawyer.

We found ourselves feeling like captives for the fourth time in as many months, but luckily this time it would only be a week.

Or so we thought.

The night before we were to reconvene, Nathan showed up with the statement, "I have good news and bad news." We all stared at him wondering what on earth could prompt such a statement. "Which do you want to hear first?"

"How about the bad news?" Harry suggested. "It's always best to hear the good news at the end." Funny, I wondered how many times he'd been given the good news, bad news scenario.

"The bad news is that the trial is postponed again." We all groaned loudly and in unison. "And some more bad news, which in a way is the good news." He looked around at us apologetically. "They found Mary Lemke's body."

Harry's face paled and he fell back onto the couch as if he'd been hit. I sat next to him and hugged him, saying, "I'm so sorry, Baby." Anne, Clive and my parents all gathered around him, consoling him.

When I looked back at Nathan, I said, "I assume the good news is that it can be traced back to Theodore."

"Exactly," Nathan nodded. "Chief Waters gave him up. He was going to prison for AnnaMae Watson's death anyway, so he told the police everything, all of his schemes with Theodore from the day they first met. He told the police where to dig and they found Mary's body on the property after all."

"Where?" I asked, suddenly feeling nauseated. What if Harry and I had accidentally trodden on her grave?

"Along the fence line, far northeast corner. There was a large boulder, but it looked to the police as if Theodore had some extra rocks and stones brought in."

I leaned over my knees, breathing shallow, swallowing the vomit rising in my throat. I knew the place, or at least I remembered it from when Harry and I walked the fence line to see if we could escape somehow. My mom took a seat to my side and rubbed my back slowly. But it wasn't enough. I suddenly shoved past her and ran to the bathroom, depositing my dinner into the toilet. All kinds of thoughts and emotions were running through my head. How close Harry and I had come to being Theodore's next victims. And how Harry had lost the only nanny he had ever cared about and for all those years, believing she just lied about coming back and that she had abandoned him. And thinking about us frolicking in those woods and making love in that treehouse, so close to Mary's unmarked tomb.

I sat on the floor of the bathroom and shivered, feeling too weak to stand. Mom came in shortly and held a hand out to me. She led me back to Harry who wasn't doing much better and we melted into each other's arms. Mom put a pile of blankets around us as I continued to shiver and I finally calmed down in the warmth of Harry's embrace.

"When will it end?" I asked glumly. "I just want this trial to be over with but we keep finding out new information."

"The good news is that the trial is only postponed for another week. The overwhelming evidence is against Theodore and he would be a fool to try to enter a plea of not guilty. The best thing for his lawyer to focus on right now is damage control."

"Meaning what?" My dad asked.

"Klinefeld will try to get him the most lenient sentence, maybe they'll seek parole after twenty, who knows? But just to assure you, I honestly doubt he will get it. He's going to prison, we just don't know all the fine details yet." We all breathed a loud sigh of relief. "But we still have to be on our best game for Anne's testimony. Then we can just hope the rest of the trial goes off without a hitch."

"What about Theodore's connections?" I worried. "Is there any possibility that he has others working for him who are still out there somewhere? When this trial is over, I just want to go home and never have to worry about that son of a bitch again."

"Is there any possibility?" Nathan echoed my question. "There's always a possibility. But the investigation of the police department has been extremely stringent, given that their own officers were involved in Theodore's conspiracies. It seems he had a handle on a good number of government employees as well, but the police are searching every last file in his home as we speak. If there are any questionable documents or transactions, the police will be investigating until every last one is discovered."

After Nathan left, the rest of us indulged in a few bottles of wine to ease our nerves. We were all going to have to take a luxurious vacation after this was finished. Well, Harry and I would take our own vacation, no offense to our parents, but we deserved a honeymoon after we got married.

When we crawled into bed, I clung to Harry's side. "This is the only place I feel safe in this world," I whispered.

"I'd do anything in the world to keep you safe," he whispered back. "But I'm with you, I just can't wait til this whole thing is over."

"How do you feel about everything now? I mean...Mary."

"Guess I haven't wrapped my brain around it yet," he admitted. "But after a while, I just knew she wasn't coming back. So now at least I know that it wasn't because she didn't love me."

I hugged him as tightly as I could, putting my whole body into it. "I'm so sorry that you ever had to go through any of this. It's awful."

"I know. Thank you," he said with a tender kiss to my forehead. "But you have to admit Theodore did one thing right."

"What!?" I asked in loud disbelief.

"He brought us together."

* * * * *

Sorry for another chapter without the final resolution that you're all waiting for! But in a case like this, the trial would likely be postponed for months until police had done a thorough investigation of the murders. So, I'm pushing the timeline to move faster, just a little. Next chapter will continue the trial.

You all continue to be as awesome as ever! <3 U!