Chapter 14 - THE BAIL HEARING
At 8:00 AM the following morning, light rain washed over the tall tinted glass windows of the County Municipal Courthouse.
Inside Courtroom 3B, Mara Vance sat in the front spectator gallery dressed in a dark wool suit, her hands folded serenely over a leather handbag. Beside her stood her high-powered corporate defense attorney, holding a stack of emergency petition papers.
At the defense table stood Kael, dressed in a grey suit provided by his legal team, looking remorseful and composed.
"Your Honor," Kael's attorney argued smoothly before the bench, "my client admits to an unfortunate verbal dispute under high domestic stress. However, as documented by the attached clinical reports from his mother, the child's mother is suffering from severe psychiatric instability and has fled with the infant. We request immediate temporary sole custody to ensure the child's physical safety while Mr. Vance is released on personal recognizance."
The judge frowned, reviewing the thick folder placed on his desk. "Where is the mother's legal representative?"
Before the judge could strike his gavel, the double doors at the back of the courtroom swung wide open.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
Every head in the gallery turned.
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Elowen walked down the center aisle. She was dressed in a clean, dark blazer, her head held high, her eyes fixed like lasers on her husband and mother-in-law.
Beside her walked a senior federal prosecutor from the Department of Justice, flanked by two plainclothes federal agents holding sealed sub-poena dossiers.
