A STRIDE OF HOPE

CHAPTER SIX : THE MASTERMIND

I was now left with two reasons as to what might have happened to Quinn.Was it the father who was getting back at us or was it the heartbroken daughter trying to get relief for being turned down ?

Unfortunately the time at the time that Sheila had argued and separated with Quinn ,her father was also in bad terms with his family .This meant that their motive for destroying us had just increased.

Now I was quite sure that Quinn was innocent as he had pleaded and that his life was about to be ruined just because he was a peasant who was on the wrong side of powerful people.

If it was going to be a civil war , of course the Anderson's would win as they had the resources to hire the best lawyers in town ."Should I just go and plead for their mercy?" I asked myself.

As per now I was ready to put down my pride and swallow my ego so as to Save my brother.I decide to head to the Anderson's home to try and talk them out of opening a case on my brother .

I am met with a series of threats especially by Kane who when he saw me did not hesitate to approach me.

"I offered you half a million but you thought you were clever than I was and you declined my offer , now see who is begging the other ," he took this opportunity to make sure he talked his mind out .

I had to tolerate his insults as I was the one in need .I thought that after all the insults he would reconsider his decision but I was wrong ."You have just seen the least of your worries ,I must destroy all of you until you drop all the charges against me ."

I afterwards head home as I tried to figure out my next step . As by then the only thing that would help us was a miracle.And indeed a miracle we received though in quite a mysterious way .

The day for Quinns hearing begins with Reagan , being the witness , narrating to the court how it all happened .

"It was on a Monday morning as we were heading to our mini Mart which is located in the city ,"Reagan starts narrating. " It is then that we are approached by a group of three people , who I suspect were Quinn and his goons ." he pauses for a minute then continues .

"They start beating up my brother as I find a way to escape to a safe distance where I witnesses them rough up my brother. Quinn was the leader of the gang as he was the one roughing up my brother while the others held him."

"What a coward." I wondered .How would anyone believe such a story I asked myself quietly. I throw a glance towards Quinn who looks shocked .

The judge was a middle aged woman of about mid fourties.She wore glasses and it was quite hard to read her facial expression as she just sat there calmly."Has she been convinced by Reagan's presentation?" I asked myself.

Quinn was then asked to present himself Infront of the court .He walked to the podium as we all looked at him observing every expression he made.

"It was a Monday morning , yes I did meet with the two Anderson brothers."he stated."I was alone that particular day and not with a gang of goons as Reagan Anderson had stated earlier ."

Everyone in the courtroom had all their attention on what Quinn was saying. Before he could continue, someone from the audience shouted "Criminal ,liar you will not get away with this ."

We all turned and looked behind where the voice was coming from .It was Sheila Anderson who was then ordered out by the judge . Hatred and rage was now moving in me as I looked at her in despise.

“Actually they were the ones who approached me threatened to destroy my life as my family was messing with them and that we should have accepted their money offer .” continued Frank .

As per the reaction of the court I could sense that there was a level of doubt towards my brother. “Is this how I lose my brother, through a series of lies being put on him by a family whose one of theirs had taken away my father’s life just because they have resources and power?

Hate towards all those that were talking ill and doubting Frank was slowly increasing.We knew all was lost as we were certain that they were going to charge Frank guilty of assault. “Why was life being unfair to our family?” “What had we done to receive a series of torture first losing Saul and now on the verge of losing Frank to prison?”

Little did we know that there was a volunteer lawyer, who was actually one of Saul’s friend, had taken up our case as her way of helping an old friend’s family. As we were in the waiting area waiting for the session to start again so as to know the fate Frank was going to have, we are approached by a woman probably in her late thirties .

She introduces herself as Hannah an old friend to our dad and that she was having evidence to prove that Frank was innocent.For a moment we felt a burden lifted from our hearts as we were filled with relief .This got me to believe for a minute what people would say that the dead offer a helping hand to their families in some ways however mysterious they may be.

The second session starts by Hannah presenting the evidence proving that was innocent and how that the Anderson's were involved in the setup .That judge was in some way mysterious as she did not have a facial expression to tell whether she was being convinced or not .

After presenting our case the judge gave out his rule which declared Frank not guilty of the assault charge on him and instead they opened a case for Kane Anderson and his son Reagan who had planned and executed the framing of Frank and to add to it they opened the case on Saul’s murder by Kane .This was one moment that I was not able to react and was having a mixture of feelings as all this was really happening.

Five years later Frank graduates with a bachelor’s degree in law and in some way he receives a scholarship to work in England. I in the same year also graduate with a master’s degree in business administration and start working as an author and editor for a newspaper company.