The Unlucky Five {1}

Emercyn Rose sat in the first row of the US courthouse in Downtown, Philly with her best friends at her side. She watched the door in front of her, the door to the left of where the judge would sit. It made her nervous knowing he was just behind the door. Even though he was restrained, she was scared.

"We'll be fine," Aiden whispered to her as he grabbed her hand. She looked over to see the three of them smiling at her. She smiled back. It was comforting to be there with them, she didn't know what she would do without them.

She was surrounded by people she loved and she knew they were going to get through it together yet she was still nervous. Even with her hand in Aiden's, she still felt butterflies flying crazily around her stomach. And it wasn't because of her love for him.

Judge Pierce stepped into the courtroom, followed by a police officer. Em had known of Judge Pierce but she had never stood before him, she never even met him in person. He looked ancient, he had to be at least eighty. The sight made her stomach drop, it was a reminder that this was all real. She turned quickly and made eye contact with her brother. Her mother, Mark, Lily, and Jessica sat in one of the back rows. Mark smiled at her, a reassuring one. He gave her a thumbs up which made her smile back. She turned around just in time to see them both walk in.

They walked out in bright orange jumpsuits with handcuffs suffocating their wrists. Each one of them had a police officer escort them over to their chairs. Matthew looked her way. That same eerie smile was plastered on his face. His eyes were dark, full of no emotion at all.

Once everyone was settled down and ready to start, Agent Cooper wasted no time at all. He picked up a folder filled with papers and walked over the table where Sheriff Davis was sitting.

"Cooper, Davis, what do ya got for me?" Judge Pierce boomed out as he adjusted his glasses on the tip of his nose.

"Let's start back in the fall of last year," Cooper said as he took out three papers. Em watched Matthew shift uncomfortably in her seat. You could tell him the darkest, most disturbing things and he wouldn't even flinch. But the moment someone said her name or talked about the accident that happened that fall, he would become uncomfortable. That was the only time something bothered that man.

"Matthew was in a car accident early October, right?" Cooper asked as he turned towards Matthew. His head hung low. He didn't say anything so Cooper continued.

"It was a very, very bad crash," Cooper explained as he handed the papers over to Judge. "Matthew had been the one driving the car. His wife Katherine had the worst of it though. She was taken into the Emergency Room where Mark Rose was ready to perform surgery."

"Please tell me this is not about Mark Rose's death, Liam," Judge Pierce interrupted Cooper. Cooper sighed as he held his arms out to the Judge.

"You don't understand this, Judge," Cooper said as he paced the room. "This whole thing leads back to Mark Rose."

The Judge cocked an eyebrow at him and sighed deeply. "Go on, Cooper."

"This all began one day not too long ago in the hospital," Cooper began. "I was walking out when I ran into four teenagers talking to the woman behind the desk, Audrey. They were asking for private files that she couldn't allow them to access. At first, I thought maybe they were just trying to cause a bit of trouble but that theory went away when one of them told me her name. It was Emercyn Rose. She was looking for her dad's files and when she explained why I found my biggest piece of information. I had this spark, I knew that this would lead me to the end of this private investigation and also, the sadness I felt for the loss of my friend.

"I was told so many times to drop it, to let it be done but I couldn't. There was something so disturbing about my friend's passing that I just couldn't help myself. I did tons of research, lab reports, and investigating but found nothing. Even if I did find something, none of it would have mattered. No one but myself believed in me. I had to do it on my own.

"I talked to Em and the others for a while that day. We went over everything. She told me how scared she was, she told me about the mysterious man she had an encounter with at Andy's that night, she told me she didn't want to tell anyone because she was afraid that no one would believe her because of her illness. Sheriff Davis and I investigated this whole thing with a lot of help from the kids. From what I've seen, Matthew Crawford killed his wife in that crash, he killed Mark Rose, and he was going to kill Sami Williams."

A silence fell over the entire courtroom. Everyone looked shocked, all of them were whispering amongst each other. Matthew's face was pale and it was a sign, he was defeated.

"And why is Adam Williams here today?" The Judge asked with a nod.

"Adam loves Em, a lot. She told me about it. However, Aiden and Em are dating and have liked each other for a long time. Adam is jealous of this so he went to Matthew seeking help. His original plan was just for Matthew to scare her, scare her so much that she would come running to her friends for help. He wanted her to run to him so he could help her and win her over. It didn't work because, in the midst of this plan, Aiden asked Em out. The whole plan went downhill fast. Matthew went his own way and decided that they had to kill Ashley. He told Adam to kill her but he couldn't bring himself to do it. So, he took her to stay with the Rothenburg's. He kept it from Matthew until he told his sister by accident. They were on the phone arguing when he told her she was still alive. He then had to tell Matthew before Sami told anyone and from there, Matthew was going to kill Sami and eventually kill Ashley too. He was caught in the process and both girls thankfully made it out alive," Cooper explained. "Matthew is the reasoning behind everything, he was the one who killed them and the one who was going to kill the girls."

"Thank you, Cooper," Judge said as he turned to Em. "Emercyn, would you please come to the stand."