The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 27. The Trial

Shortly after Jesse and Elliot had returned to school, I received a phone call notifying us that the men who had killed Elliot’s father would soon be going on trial. The process would begin with jury selection during the second full week of January. It would take the lawyers a day or two to agree on prospective jurors, possibly longer, so the trial wouldn’t get started until that process had ended. Once the jury had been seated and any pretrial motions had been dealt with, then the actual trial would begin.

Once we learned about this, Danny and Brandon took Elliot aside, so they could prepare him for what was going to happen. Elliot seemed to take the news well and only asked if he was going to be able to go. He told his fathers that he wanted to be there during the proceedings, but they told him they’d have to talk it over first, before they could give him their answer. Unfortunately, that’s not what Elliot wanted to hear, so he began to argue the point.

“I have to be there when this happens,” Elliot demanded.

“We know you’d like to be there,” Danny replied, “but there are many things we’ll need to consider first. I want to get an idea about how long the trial might last and which issues are going to be brought up when. Once I have those answers, we’ll sit down and talk about this in more detail.”

Elliot still wasn’t happy with the response he was just given, but he figured this might not be the best time to argue the point. He’d give his fathers a chance to get the answers to their questions first and see what they decided, before he pushed them further.

Since Danny and Brandon had noticed how this news affected Elliot, they decided it might be best if they tried to distract him, so he would stop thinking about the trial. They didn’t feel it would be good for Elliot to continue dwelling on such dark thoughts, which recalling the events of what happened the night his father was killed had begun to conjure up.

Fortunately for Danny and Brandon, there were others who were, inadvertently, willing to do this for them. Shortly after Danny and Brandon had their discussion with Elliot, he went to his room. A little while after that, Jesse, Little Ricky and Andrew approached him.

“We’re up for a little fun and we want you to join us, if you want,” Andrew told him, when they found him alone in his bedroom. “I’d love to be your partner tonight, if you’re up for it.”

Elliot thought about this briefly before he responded. He did think getting off might be a good idea and he had been wondering what doing these things with Andrew might be like. Therefore, after only a very short hesitation, he gave his answer.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that too,” he agreed.

Since the question was settled, Little Ricky went with Jesse, back to his room. Once the door to Elliot’s room closed, Andrew and Elliot quickly got undressed, but Andrew had another surprise for him.

“Jesse told me you like to kiss,” Andrew stated. “I just want you to know that I’m willing to do that with you, if you want.”

Elliot thought it over briefly, before nodding his head. Then he slowly leaned forward, as Andrew did the same. Slowly, their lips came together and Elliot felt Andrew’s tongue dart out and touch his lips. After a slight hesitation, Elliot let his tongue do the same, and as it met Andrew’s, the two muscles did a delicate dance of exploration. As this was taking place, the boys also slowly lifted their arms and began to embrace one another. Before long, they were engaged in a very passionate, and lengthy, kiss.

This continued for several minutes, and during this time the boys’ hands began roaming across the other’s body. As this tactile exploration continued, they eventually found their partners genitals and began to stroke and manipulate this area as well. Elliot was breathless, when he finally pulled away.

“What do you want to do next?” Andrew asked him. “Are you up for oral sex or not?”

“Yes, I think I’d like to try that with you,” Elliot confirmed, so Andrew lay back and gave him complete access to his body.

Although Elliot was accustomed to doing this with other partners, he was slightly tentative in his approach with Andrew. After drawing back Andrew’s foreskin, Elliot hesitantly bent forward and stuck out his tongue. Since he hadn’t done this with an uncircumcised person before, he wasn’t certain if he’d taste urine and other things trapped under the foreskin, more than he had with the others. However, he soon discovered this was not the case.

Now that he was convinced it didn’t taste differently, Elliot attacked it greedily. Since Andrew was small in stature and endowed more in line with Elliot and Nicky, Elliot was able to take Andrew’s entire penis in his mouth and worked on it at a frantic pace. Although it still took Andrew longer to cum that it took either Nicky or him, Elliot was determined not to stop until Andrew had his orgasm. Elliot was proud that he’d been able to accomplish this with an older guy and that his jaw muscles had allowed him to keep going until the end.

A short time later, the boys switched places and Andrew began to suck on Elliot’s boner. However, as he was doing this, he did something else that Elliot wasn’t expecting and hadn’t experienced before. Without warning, Andrew slipped his middle finger up Elliot’s chute and began to massage his prostate. Elliot jumped at first and even clenched his anal muscles momentarily, but then he noticed it was feeling pleasurable and began to relax. He also opted not to say anything to Andrew or ask what he was doing. He merely went along with what felt good.

Once Elliot exploded in a powerful release, he lay still momentarily, before he sat up. He looked at Andrew for a few seconds and then spoke.

“What was that you did to me?” he wondered.

“I guess you’ve never had a finger up there before, have you?” Andrew questioned. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know that. I was just trying to massage your prostate.”

“What’s that?” Elliot wondered.

“It’s a little leathery button that has the ability to excite a guy, when it’s done right,” Andrew told him. “I’m sorry if that bothered you.”

“No! It didn’t bother me. In fact, it felt good,” Elliot admitted. “It’s just that I wasn’t sure what you were doing and wanted to find out.”

“So you were okay with it then?” Andrew wondered, looking concerned.

“Yes, I am fine with it, but now I also know why it made me feel that way,” Elliot confessed. “Thank you. I’m glad you showed me that.”

The boys went to shower after they finished talking and then all four of them spent a little more time together. They even discussed what Andrew had done in more detail, so Elliot could learn more about his body. Then Elliot chose to sleep with Andrew that night, which made the other three boys feel really good as well. It was nice to see that Elliot was opening up and forming a bond with each of them.

The rest of the week dragged on slowly, as Elliot waited for his fathers to tell him if they were going to allow him to sit in the gallery at the trial. He also spent some of his time wondering what it was going to be like during the trial and how he was going to feel, once he saw those three guys again. Elliot knew that he’d like to be able to get at them, so he could rip their throats out, and that made him worry about how he might react, once they were all in the same room again. I think the rest of us were concerned about that too.

Saturday morning, before the trial was set to begin, we were mildly surprised that Elliot actually slept in for a while. He didn’t awake until 9:00, and then he slowly made his way down the stairs. He came in to the dining room, in a semi-daze, where Danny, Brandon, Jake and I were finishing our breakfast and chatting.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Brandon teased, as Elliot appeared.

“Hey, it’s not that late,” Elliot whined. “It’s Saturday, so I could have slept until noon.

“True, just like the other bums who are still in bed,” Danny agreed. “So why didn’t you sleep later then?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about the trial,” Elliot answered. “I hope you’re going to let me go and be there, so the jury can see me every day. I want them to see what those guys did to me too, as well as hearing about how they murdered my father.”

“Look, I understand where you’re coming from,” Danny agreed, “but I don’t think you’ll be allowed to sit in the courtroom until after you testify. No witnesses are permitted to hear what the other witnesses are testifying about. Besides, Brandon and I think you would be better off spending your time in school, especially since no one can give us an idea as to how long this trial is going to last. Some have said it will take weeks and others have said it may drag on for months. No matter whether it’s weeks or months, you just can’t afford to miss that much more school. We just can’t have you fall behind and then struggle to catch back up.”

“Come on! Even after missing all that other time, I still wasn’t behind at school and I didn’t have to struggle, but I HAVE to do this!” Elliot pleaded. “I want everyone to see me and realize what those scumbags did. They did a lot more than just kill my dad. They ended up stealing my entire family from me too. My dad was the only person I had and now I’ll never be able to ask him about any of the other people who made up our family tree.”

“Elliot, that information will all come out during the trial, but we just don’t think it would be beneficial for you to be there every day,” Brandon added, to let Elliot know Danny and he were in complete agreement about this. “You will be able to go when you’re needed to testify and the jury will be able to hear what you have to say and see you then.”

“But that won’t be enough,” Elliot challenged. “Please, Dad. Just let me do this.”

I think we were all a little shocked at this point, but not because of Elliot’s stance about going to the court every day. Our amazement was due to the fact that this was the first time he had called either of them Dad. Sure, he had referred to them that way indirectly, but this was the only time he’d used that term when talking directly to them.

“Elliot, I know you don’t agree with our decision, but Brandon and I have talked this over and we aren’t going to change our minds,” Danny reiterated. “To begin with, we both feel that you won’t be permitted to sit in the gallery to watch, because you are scheduled to testify, but even if you are, the trial will take too great a toll on you. It will not only cause you to miss too much time away from school, weeks or maybe months, but it will also force you to relive the nightmare of what happened that night over and over again. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it has to be.”

“Please, Dad. I have to be there. How about if I only go one or two days a week then?” Elliot offered.

“That still doesn’t take into account the fact that you probably won’t be allowed to be in the courtroom until after you testify,” Danny replied. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to go, son.”

Since Elliot had called each of them Dad, Danny felt he should return the favor and call Elliot son, so he would know it was how they felt about him. Since Elliot actually reacted when Danny did this, it was obvious that he had picked up on this fact too.

“Look, Brandon and I will call the District Attorney every day and get an update on how things are going. Then, every night we’ll fill you in as to what happened that day. That’s the best we can do.”

“But Dad,” Elliot pleaded.

He looked first at one and then glanced at the other, so it soon became apparent to him that Danny and Brandon were going to hold their ground on this one. Eventually, Elliot gave up and agreed to go along with their decision.

“Okay, but you have to tell me everything,” Elliot demanded, “and I hope you’ll at least let me go once in a while.”

“When they need you to testify and then maybe again when the verdict comes in,” Danny informed him, much to Elliot’s dismay.

Danny and Brandon were not only concerned about Elliot missing so much school, but they had also confided in me that they were worried about how he might react if it appeared the men might not be convicted. We knew the chance of this happening was a long shot, but stranger things have been known to occur. The reason we thought this might be a possibility was because the police weren’t willing to share information with us. Therefore, we had no idea how much actual evidence the investigators had come up with which directly linked the three men to the actual murder and not merely the incident at the diner. For this reason, they didn’t want to risk Elliot losing his cool in open court and, thus, adversely affect the trial.

As expected, the jury selection began on Monday, but it didn’t exactly go as any of us had imagined it would. First of all, we expected they would merely choose twelve jurors at random and seat them immediately, but that’s not what happened. Once the prospective jurors were brought in, the lawyers were allowed to ask them a wide range of questions. These included such things as if they, or their family members, had been a victim of a crime, if they thought the police always told the truth and even if they felt they were obligated to convict someone for this murder. I guess this was their way of determining if any of these people should be eliminated from deciding the case.

I actually saw this taking place, because I had offered to go to the courthouse every day, since Danny and Brandon had to work and they didn’t want Elliot to be there. However, we didn’t let Elliot know I was going to attend these sessions either, because we were a little concerned about how he might react if he knew I was there. Therefore, after I told Danny and Brandon what had happened that day, they relayed this information to Elliot and made it sound as if they had received their knowledge from the District Attorney.

After the jury was seated, we became aware of another surprise. The D.A. suddenly called to apprise us of something that had just popped up. The guy who drove the other two to the motel now claimed he had no idea what they were planning to do, so he wanted to strike a plea bargain. He was willing to agree to plead guilty to being an accomplice to murder in exchange for a reduced sentence of twenty-five and his testimony against the other two. After asking what we thought of the idea, the D.A. explained that his testimony would almost guarantee a conviction of the other pair. Danny and Brandon then told him they wanted to discuss this with Elliot first, before they agreed to it, and then they’d call him with their answer.

Fortunately, Elliot was okay with the idea of a plea agreement, after we discussed it with him. He felt that if the driver received twenty-five years, then the other two would be sentenced to a lot worse. He knew if this man testified there was also a slight chance the other two could wind up getting the death penalty and Elliot hoped they’d burn in hell.

Once we told the D.A. we were fine with him making the deal, he accepted the driver’s offer. Even though the man’s attorney tried to negotiate a better deal, he finally agreed to accept a sentence of twenty-five years for his part in the murder. It was still far better than the possible life sentence or death penalty that he was currently facing, and he could possibly even get paroled sooner.

After hearing what we’d discussed, Jesse thought Elliot needed to forget about the trial for a short time, so he decided to spend some time alone with Elliot tonight. After they took their shower, Jesse took Elliot back to his room and had him lay crossways on the bed. Then he knelt down between Elliot’s legs, and carefully lifted them up, so he could place them on his shoulders. Elliot didn’t think anything about him doing this, since Jesse had done it before, so he could work his perineum and testicles. However, that’s not what Jesse did. This time, Elliot felt something completely different. He felt Jesse’s tongue gliding around his anal ring and then he felt it trying to penetrate there.

“What are you doing?” Elliot asked.

He didn’t sound angry or alarmed, just curious.

“It’s just something else you can learn to enjoy,” Jesse told him. “It’s called rimming or being rimmed, so just lay back and see what you think of it.”

Since it already felt good and had sent some shivers up his spine, Elliot decided that was exactly what he was going to do. After Jesse had done this for a while, he worked his way up the perineum and testicles, until he finally reached Elliot’s penis. Jesse then gave him an awesome blowjob and brought Elliot off, so Elliot was very relaxed and feeling really good by the time it ended.

Once he’d had his release, Elliot sucked Jesse off too, but for the first time, he was able to do it until Jesse had his orgasm. Elliot was proud of the fact that he had finally accomplished this and thanked Jesse for what he had done for him. After that, the boys spent a peaceful night cuddled together.

The next couple of weeks were kind of hectic and more than a little tense. Elliot listened intently to the daily reports on the trial and asked many questions about what happened each day, as he sought even the tiniest details about what was going on. After a couple of weeks of this intense scrutiny and answering his detailed questions, we were beginning to wonder if Elliot was going to make it until the end of the trial. Thankfully, he did.

Another surprise for us was that Elliot wasn’t called to give his testimony until near the end of the second week, but that also didn’t go quite as we had anticipated either. You see, Elliot had already given his statement to the police and had been asked to give it again to both the D.A. and the Public Defender. As it turned out, this would be used as the crux of his testimony, when he was called in to court.

Before Elliot was actually sworn in to give his version of the events of that night, the courtroom was cleared of all spectators first, because of his age. Of course, the judge, both lawyers, the defendants, the stenographer, the bailiff and the jury remained, but everyone else was ushered out into the hallway. This included the members of the press as well, which meant some of them were upset about being excluded. Once the courtroom was emptied, Danny, Brandon and Elliot were then ushered in through a side door and Elliot was led up to the witness stand.

After being sworn in, Elliot was shown the statement he had made and asked if he had given it of his own free will. When he said he had, he was then asked if his statement was true, accurate and depicted the events of that night, as best he could remember them. Again, Elliot agreed this was the case, but these were the only questions he was asked. Once Elliot had given his answers, the D.A. then moved to have Elliot’s testimony entered into the court records as evidence and read to the jury. The judge agreed and ordered it to happen, which left the rest of us more than a little surprised. Elliot was somewhat upset that this was the extent of his involvement in the trial, but it was all he was required to do.

As it turned out, the trial took only three weeks, instead of months. Since we were only familiar with the murder trials we’ve seen on television, which often lasted for many months, we were somewhat shocked when both the prosecution and defense rested. Near the end of the following week, the D.A. phoned and informed Danny and Brandon that he expected the jury would be coming back with their verdict the following day. Since the D.A. had been so sure of this, Danny and Brandon then asked their staff to reschedule their appointments for the day, while they arranged for one of their colleagues to handle any emergency cases. They both wanted to be in attendance when the verdicts came in.

Danny and Brandon hadn’t told Elliot about what the D.A. had told them, because they anticipated Elliot would want to be there as well and they didn’t wish to argue with him about it. Not only didn’t they want him to miss classes just to be there, but they were also worried how he would react if the final two men weren’t convicted, so they went without him. I went too and we sat at the back of the gallery, while we waited for the jury to be led in and the verdicts to be read. I think we were all holding our breath as the Judge addressed the jury.

“Madam foreperson,” the judge began, “has the jury reached a verdict in this case?”

“We have, Your Honor,” she replied.

“Then will you please read it, for the record?” the judge responded.

Everyone in attendance remained perfectly silent, as they waited to hear the jury’s decision.

“In the matter of the charge of first-degree murder in the death of Sean Kennedy against the defendant Charles Grant, we find him guilty,” she announced.

Hearing this caused all of our hearts to leap for joy.

“In the matter of the charge of first-degree murder in the death of Sean Kennedy against the defendant Henry Rhodes, we also find him guilty,” she added.

After hearing the verdicts, it was as if a huge weight had been lifted off our family and Danny and Brandon were eager to share this information with Elliot. However, they thought it would be best if they waited and to tell him after he returned home from school this evening, rather than going to the school and telling him there.

As we sat in the courtroom, silently reveling in the verdict, the rest of the spectators left. A short time later, as the D.A. went to pass by where we were seated, he spotted Danny and Brandon and stopped to inquire about their reaction.

“I take it you are pleased with the verdict?” he asked.

“We certainly are,” Danny agreed, “but I’m surprised both defendants were convicted of the same charge. I thought Grant would get a harsher sentence, since we learned he was the one who actually pulled the trigger. We thought Rhodes might get off with a lesser charge.”

“No, that’s not the way the law works,” the D.A. explained, “Since Rhodes was present at the time of the shooting, the law looks at him as if he had also been directly involved in the shooting and just as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger. The same thing would have applied to the other man too, if he hadn’t pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. By doing that, he avoided the same outcome as his friends.”

“Well, Elliot will be pleased to hear this,” Brandon added, “and thank you for all you’ve done to get justice for his father and provide some sense of closure for our son.”

“It was my pleasure,” the D.A. answered.

“When will the sentences be announced,” Danny asked next.

“The Public Defender and I will each be submitting our recommendations to the judge by the end of the day, so he most likely will announce their sentence in a couple of days. I’ll call you just as soon as I know the date and time.”

Danny and Brandon thanked him again and then left for home. They were eager to share this news with Elliot and could hardly wait for him to return from school. The three of us were euphoric at about how things had turned out and now anxiously waited for Elliot to arrive at the house.

When he walked through the door, Elliot looked over at his fathers and asked his usual question. I was more surprised that he didn’t question why they were home before he was.

“So what happened today?” Elliot wanted to know.

“The jury reached a verdict and both men were found guilty of first-degree murder,” Danny told him.

We expected Elliot would be excited and pleased, but he merely stood as still as a statue instead. A second later, he dropped to his knees and began crying like a baby.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked, as he knelt beside his son.

Elliot, however, didn’t answer right away and this began to concern us all. After enduring a grueling few seconds of silence, Elliot finally began to speak.

“I’m okay,” he assured us. “The whole time the trial’s been going on, my stomach has felt like it’s been tied in knots. When you told me the good news, it was like the knots all came undone.”

“But you’re all right now?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Elliot confirmed. “I guess it must have happened because I was so happy and relieved at the same time. I’m really glad this is finally over and that what I was afraid might happen didn’t happen.”

“What were you afraid would happen?” Brandon followed.

“I was scared they were going to get off and not get punished for what they did,” Elliot explained. “That’s what worried me the most.”

“Well, they have been convicted and will be sentenced soon,” Danny assured him, “so you don’t have to worry about it any longer.”

“As long as they get a real punishment,” Elliot spat back, “and not some slap on the wrist.”

We all understood what he was implying, because he hoped the punishment they received would truly fit the crime. The judge would make this decision, so we didn’t feel this was as big of a gamble as it had been with the jury.

“When will that happen?” Elliot asked next.

“That won’t take place for a couple more days.” Brandon told him.

“I want to be there when it does,” Elliot announced. “I know the court allows people to speak at the sentencing and I want to tell everyone just how badly those guys messed up my life.”

Danny and Brandon didn’t respond right away, so Elliot continued.

“Dads, you’ve got to let me do this,” Elliot explained. “You can’t say no this time and I don’t want you to try to stop me. I have to see the guys who murdered my father and tell them just how much I hate them for what they did. I want that judge to see my face and know that I want these guys to have the book thrown at them.”

“I think I understand how you feel and I can appreciate that,” Danny responded. “Okay, when the D.A. calls to tell us when the sentencing will take place, I’ll ask him if you will be allowed to say anything. If he says you can, then we will permit you to attend and do as you wish.”

“Thanks, Dad. Both Dads,” Elliot gushed.

He then moved forward and gave each of them a hug. He wanted to show them how much he appreciated them for letting him do this, and for everything else they’ve done.

“You’re welcome and we’re fine with you doing this one final thing,” Danny agreed, after conferring briefly with Brandon. “We are also willing to allow you to miss school that day, because we suspect you will be emotionally drained afterward and potentially unable to function clearly. For those reasons, we think it might be best if you don’t go in to school at all that day.”

“Great!” Elliot concurred. “I was going to fight you on this one, if you’d said no.”

“Well, you don’t have to,” Brandon agreed. “We know how important this is for you and, hopefully, it will help you finally close this chapter of your life. We will go with you that day, for moral support, but we won’t speak. Is that okay with you?”

“It’s perfect!” Elliot agreed, and everyone left the room happy.

That night, before he went to bed, Elliot logged on to his computer and was surprised to find emails from Nicky and Jordan in his inbox. He was tempted to read Nicky’s first, but he decided to save it for last and opened Jordan’s instead.

“Dear Elliot,

Papa was talking to my mom on the phone tonight and told her about what happened in court today. I’m glad those guys got convicted and I hope you can put all that behind you now. I’m so sorry about what happened to your dad, but I’m glad to have you as a cousin. I had a great time with you at Christmas and can’t wait to see you and Jesse again the next time we visit. Take care.

Jordan”

Elliot was touched by Jordan’s note. He really liked his older cousin and was glad that Jordan thought of him as family. Now, he read Nicky’s note.

“Hi Elliot,

I heard about what happened in court today and I’m really happy for you. I don’t know what I would do if something like that happened to my dad and I think you’ve been really brave, the way you’ve dealt with all of this stuff.

I really miss you, Jesse and Jordan. I had so much fun with you guys and I can’t wait until we can hang out again this summer. See ya soon.

Nicky”

Elliot smiled at Nicky’s email. He didn’t think he’d been particularly brave, but he thought it was nice of Nicky to say so. The note also helped take Elliot’s mind off of the case for a while. He still didn’t really know how he felt about Nicky, but he went to sleep that night with the cute blond on his mind.