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  The Judge sat back and tented his fingers. "The Jury is released for the rest of the day. I want the other wives brought in this afternoon… and they better not be drugged, Mr. Ross."

  Mike slammed a file on the desk. "Yes, your honor."

  Judge Harmon left the room, and Davis walked over to Ross. "You've got nothing, Mike. You know damn well those girls are going to walk in here, clinging to these guys. If it looks odd, the Judge is going to think it's because they've been kept drugged."

  Mike stared at the reams of paperwork and files on his table. A years' worth of work had collapsed around him. This was the case that was supposed to earn him his seat on the bench. He looked up at Davis. "So?"

  "So, suppose we settle for legal fees and damages to property."

  Gerard walked over to listen, and to protect his client's interest. "Mrs. Gray insists that the hunters be prosecuted for trespassing. I guess they scared the shit out of her. I told her there was a fifteen thousand dollar per man fine for hunting out of territory, and she's okay with that. It pissed her off when she found out they were collecting fees for appearing on talk shows as heroes."

  Nicki was still sitting in the witness chair, because no one had told her that it was all right to step down. Cain was shackled to his chair, so they just sat and smiled at each other. It finally occurred to Cain, and he said, "Nicki, come here."

  Nicki bolted from the chair and ran to him, kneeling by his side and crying. "I missed you, Master Cain."

  "Ah, Nicki. I told you that you could never escape me."

  Doctor Tom was furious when Joanne Tierney showed up with an orderly he vaguely remembered seeing with patients on the grounds. There were two sheriffs and an attorney named Gerard Fuller, a wimpy looking man waving the Judge's signed order.

  "I'm going on record as stating that this action is dangerous and completely against my prescribed recommendations. Even without medication, Sallie Plummer is catatonic."

  "Believe me, Tom, I am personally heading the motion to investigate your treatment of these women," Joanne smiled.

  The women were brought to the entrance, wearing shabby clothes that had been thrown together. Sallie was in a wheelchair, staring unfocused eyes at the ground and wearing her hospital gown. The staff barely had time to get them washed, when the order had come in.

  Lucy and Saundra left their attendants, which was the first surprise for Doctor Tom. They huddled around Sallie, and for the first time in months, she turned her head and tried to speak to them. Joanne walked up and they tightened their protection around Sallie.

  "My name is Joanne," she said quietly. "I've been taking care of Nicki." She watched nervous hope fill frightened, disoriented eyes. "She thought you might like to visit with your Masters this afternoon."

  "Masters," Tom muttered. He turned on his heel and walked back into the building. There were plenty of other patients who needed him.

  "Mmmmaster Sol," Lucy stuttered. She worked furiously to focus her tearing eyes.

  Joanne noticed they were staring suspiciously at the sheriffs. Gerard stepped forward. "I am Nichole's attorney. This is not a trap, ladies. I have a court order signed by the Judge for each of you." He looked nervously at Sallie.

  Joanne knelt down and held her chin. "Sallie, Dwain is waiting to see you."

  She trembled and tears fell down her cheeks. "Master Dwain?" she asked hopefully.

  "Is that all right?"

  "Master Dwain," she sighed.

  Saundra asked, "Will we have to come back here?" Most of the time, had been a terrifying and confusing blur.

  "No, Saundra. Even if it takes a while to readjust after this, Mathias is insisting on private treatment for you… in his home," Joanne informed her. There was a good chance that she would be acting as liaison for all of the women, until they were comfortable.

  Something in Sallie's mind snapped, and she stood up and looked at Joanne and pouted. "I don't want Master Dwain to see me wearing this."

  Joanne laughed a little, and said, "Welcome back, Sallie. I suggest we hurry if we're going shopping."

  Nicki was still kneeling with her head on Cain's thigh. They never left the courthouse for lunch, because Nicki did not want to miss her friends' arrival. Cain and Nicki had not spoken much. It seemed to be enough just to be close and feel him stroking her hair.

  When the door at the back opened, Joanne and Gerard were escorting three nervous girls wearing sweaters, blue jeans, and sneakers. "Lucy insisted that this was the outfit Sol would want," Joanne explained.

  It was what Sol had told Lucy to wear for their date so long ago, and all that her confused thoughts could grasp. When Judge Harmon came in, nobody rose. He looked at the three women, kneeling by the defendants with their arms around them. A smaller woman was sitting in Dwain McGee's lap with her head buried in his neck and crying.

  Mike sat quietly at his table, staring at the Judge's bench and fantasizing about the dream that slipped through his hands. It would have been nice, if he could think of someway to twist things so that he could pretend that he had been duped. It had been him who had been closely involved with the women at the institution, and the effort to have Nichole brought back to it.

  "Mike?" Judge Harmon asked. The defeated Prosecutor just shook his head. The Judge turned to the Defense. There were no cameras in the courtroom to record his speech. "Davis, I can't pretend to say that I agree with this. I will never be convinced that these women were not kidnapped and brainwashed. However, I also cannot condone a future of drugged therapy for them. The case will be dismissed, but I just want to go on record as stating, that I think these men are guilty."

  "So do I," Davis replied. He looked across the row of relieved clients, fawning over their women, and then back at the Judge. "Isn't it a bitch, Sully?" Davis Merrill had a brief remembrance of how he and Sully Harmon used to debate legal moralities… rather an oxymoron to try to force together, Davis always thought. It was probably why Sully chose the bench. He never could let the right and wrong of it go, even when the law was on his side. Davis turned to his adversary. "Mike, if you ever decide to ditch the righteous side of law, come look me up. I can always use an attorney with your shrewd tenacity."

  CHAPTER IX. EPILOGUE

  In the end, it was a financial wash. The amounts collected from the state and institution covered the legal fees, and the hunters' fines went back to the state. The money for the remaining damages were put into an account for Joanne to compensate her for treating the girls. She had argued unsuccessfully that it was not necessary, with the outrageous sum Cain had paid for her house.

  With their Masters guiding them again, most of what Joanne counseled was deprogramming from the drugs and treatment from the institution. It had not escaped anyone's notice, that Benny had become Jo's constant companion. He would stay outside on the lawn, throwing a ball for Dee Oh Gee, while she counseled the women. To make it easier, all the couples were staying at Cain's estate.

  Joanne and Benny finally moved into the cottage together. Benny said it was so he could protect her. When he was not busy running errands or playing with the dog, he would have the Masters explain some of the interesting devices in the basement game room.

  Three months after the hearings, Jo and Benny walked to the main house for breakfast, and they discovered that all of the couples were gone. Gerard showed up at lunchtime, and handed Joanne a large envelope. It contained the deed to Cain's estate, and a short note from Nicki.

  'I'm tired of living in the world of flashbacks, Jo.'

  It took a week for them to convince Davis to give them the directions, and they found the overgrown trail leading up through the woods. Joanne did not need to go to the clearing. She just wanted a sense of the life that Nicki and the others could not let go of.

  A flash caught her eye and she walked to a tree. Folded on the ground was Autumn's black outfit, with the buckle from her chaps reflecting the sun… and a bottle of whiskey, propped up by her steel tipped boots.

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  Candace Smith, Flashback Mountain