Chapter 12: The Trial: Part 2

It was eleven o'clock at night in Springfield but all was not as peaceful as it should be. After the ending of the first part of the trial a lot of people, especially those who had betted on Bart winning this trial, had gathered outside of Moe's and they were attempting to break in.

The leader of this group looked over his shoulder to make sure they weren't seen. Taking a pick, he jimmied the lock and the group all went into Moe's.

Going inside, they searched the area turning over tables, going behind the bar and searching, searching for the money Moe had taken from them for Bart's winning this trial.

Coming up empty, the group sat down at a table.

"So, what now?" Asked one of the members to the leader.

He sighed, "Well, since we can't get our money back, there's only one solution left."

Maggie Simpson awoke later than she had planned and she cursed herself for it. Putting on some clothes she exited her hotel and headed for the jail. When she arrived, she was surprised to see a large gathering of people outside of the jail.

People were holding up signs and gave way to angry yellings as the warden of the cell, calmly, walked out to meet them.

"What's this all about?" He asked the crowd.

A short man with thin rimmed glasses walked forward and shook his fist and pointed at the Warden.

"We demand that you give us that little wench so we can do a proper beating!"

The Warden crossed his arms, "Ain't happenin, Pete. Miss Darrlow is a goin to stay here. Now, you folks go on back home."

A woman then came up, "I'm surprised at you, Roger. That little thief robbed us and you are giving her a slap on the wrist!"

"Now, Evelyn, don't you start with me now. The law's the law, ain't no one goin to change that."

Pete walked up to the Warden, "Now listen here, Roger. Either give her to us or we'll storm right in there and take her ourselves."

Maggie had enough.

"Hey! She deserves the right to a fair trial! Leave her alone!"

The crowd turned and gave nasty looks to Maggie.

"Who's the whelp?" asked someone in the crowd.

Maggie nervously chuckled to herself while the crowd then returned their attention back to the Warden.

"Look Roger, there ain't going to be a trial, not as long as we are a stand'n. You have two days to give us her or we'll burn your precious jail to the ground, her along with it." Said Pete. After that the whole group disbanded leaving Maggie in awe of what she heard.

When she entered Gina's cell, she found her tucked away in a small corner.

"How're you doing?" Maggie asked.

Gina sat on her bed and sighed, "I could be better if it weren't for these damn stupid people acting this way!"

Maggie nodded, "I caught the floor show outside. What is up with this town?"

Bart was at Barney's Bowl-O-Rama with Milhouse and Richard. He had protested being here considering tomorrow he'd have to bring forth his witness and try to steer the case away from Jessica and her lawyer.

Alex was the one who had talked Bart into going, he did admit that after Jessica's little act, he needed to cool down his mind.

After sinking in his ninth gutter ball, Bart hated to admit he was terrible at this game, he decided to call it a night.

Walking down the street Bart was only halfway when he saw a firetruck blaring its siren. Bart looked to the direction it was headed and quickly followed in pursuit. He followed it for a block and a half until he came to its destination. The Court House.

Meanwhile, halfway down the block, Moe and Barney, both having their clothes burnt, were running to Moe's.

"You know, Moe, I think maybe we used a little too much booze on that place. I thought you only wanted to burn the little girl's desk?"

Moe grunted as he ran, "Well, it back fired and we have to live with it. Don't worry, Barn', cause that was only part one of this operation."

Alex and Lisa were watching a movie, when Homer came in yelling, "Hey, Marge! Come down quick! I think someone has found the dog!" Homer changed the channel on the TV, which showed Kent Brockman in front of the smoldering courthouse.

"Aw, nuts." Homer said as he slumped down next to the girls.

This is Kent Brockman with an alarming report! The Springfield Municipal Courthouse has been burnt down! An eyewitness is here with us today who can give us his viewpoint. Sir?

Comicbook Guy, holding a camera, coughed, "Yes, I can. I was out here updating my website, when I saw a vagrant in the shadows setting the court ablaze. He might have been Pyro or Johnny Blaze, which one, I don't know."

Kent Brockman nodded, then returned to the camera.

We have footage from this available and if you know this person contact police immediately.

The picture then went to a man standing in the shadows burping.

Aww, they'll never catch him! Look at him. He's a master of disuguise. It's probably Flanders." Homer said shaking his fist at the screen.

Lisa rolled her eyes, "Dad, Ned Flanders is dead, remember?"

Homer thought for a moment, "D'oh!"

Alex pointed at the screen, "Look! There's Bart!"

Mr. Simpson, this is surely an odd coincidence. Case not going well?

Alex barred her teeth in anger. She always hated Kent for playing the upper hand

Bart shook his head; "I'm here like everyone, Kent. This will neither help my case nor Jessica's."

Kent didn't seem to agree with Bart's honesty and decided to push on to another onlooker.

The next day, It was decided that the court would take place inside the bowling alley, much to the dismay of Judge Snyder who took the whole thing rather disgruntly.

Everyone was waiting for Jessica's attorney to arrive.

"Miss Lovejoy, where's your attorney? Will he be with us today?" Asked the Judge.

Jessica looked sheepishly around, "I know he'll be here soon, your honor."

Bart grinned at the fact that Jessica was being put into a bad position.

Soon, the doors opened and a ragged looking Mr. Gweeble was panting as he took his seat.

"Sorry I'm late, your Honor. Someone had taken the tires off my car, so I had to immediately run here."

Judge Snyder rolled his eyes, "Mr. Gweeble, I don't care for your excuses. I expect you to be here on time, is that understood?"

"Yes, your Honor." Said Mr. Gweeble, sheepishly.

The trial then began. Bart called his first witness, Moe.

Moe walked up to the podium as the bailiff took out a bible.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you, God?"

Moe shrugged, "Yeah, sure, whatev'ah."

Bart walked up to Moe, "Mr. Syzlack, do you remember what occurred in the night in question?"

"Yeah. Me and Barn was fogging out my bar from the bats that had come in when we had gotten a call that you were being held up at the booty place."

"The Maison Derriere." Bart corrected him.

Moe nodded.

"Who was it that called you?" Bart asked.

"An anonymous Joe, he said he needed to hurry." Moe was sweating a lot.

Bart nodded, "And when you got there what did you find?"

"We both found you and yer girl tied up in rooms."

Bart sighed. He knew this was going to be easier with Moe's testimony.

"Thank you, Moe. Your witness."

Bart stood down as Mr. Gweeble stood up and adjusted his tie.

"Mr. Syzlack, is it true that there are a lot of people who are interested in this trial?"

Bart stood up, "Objection! What's the relevance to this?"

Mr. Gweeble gave an evil grin, "Mr. Syzlack here is a well known bookie. A lot of outside interest is going into this trial and his bar is one of their favorite hangouts."

Judge Snyder nodded, "Objection denied, please continue Mr. Gweeble."

Mr. Gweeble turned back to Moe, "Well?"

Moe shifted in his seat as he tried to loosen his collar.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Has anyone paid you for your testimony today?"

Bart stood up again, "Objection!"

"Withdrawn." Mr. Gweeble said and he sat down.

Alex felt this wasn't going so well. She wondered who Bart's next witness would be.

Sitting with Gina in her cell, Maggie was overwhelmed by how this town was treating her. Two minutes ago, someone tried throwing in a maltov cocktail only to have the bars of the cell bounce it back at it's owner.

Gina was pacing back and forth; "I need to get out of here, before they kill me."

"When's your court date?" Maggie asked.

Gina sat down and shook her head, "There isn't going to be any. This town will never have it."

"My God! This town is worse than Springfield! At least there you're given a few days notice before they tell you you're not going to be given a trial." Maggie fumed as she sat down next to Gina.

Gina nodded. "I don't know what to do, Mags'. I've thought about escaping, but my hair pins don't work against that cell door and even then I'd have to try to get by that idiotic sheriff." Gina put her hands to her face and cried. "I wish Bart was here, at least then I'd have a good chance of getting out of this mess. But I blew it. I'm going to die in here, I just know it."

Maggie petted her head as she thought long and hard.

She then smiled. "I think I know of a way to get you out."

She left and then two hours later came back to the cell with two wigs, one matched her own hair while the other matched Gina's.

"Maggie, what…?" Gina began to ask only to be quieted by Maggie as she slipped the blonde wig onto her friend's head.

Maggie stood back and examined it.

"Perfect. Now, you and are the same size, correct?"

Gina stared at her for a second until she realized what Maggie's plan was.

"Yes. Yes, I think we are."

Maggie nodded and soon the two had changed clothes and had on their wigs.

"Guard!" Yelled Maggie.

The sheriff came over to unlock and was surprised when Maggie banged against the door, knocking over the sheriff and she quickly ran her way out.

With the Sheriff in hot pursuit, Gina, dressed as Maggie, quickly slipped out of the cell and was out of the building.

Meanwhile, downtown, a lot of the townspeople were able to catch glimpse of the Sheriff chasing after the wanted woman. Maggie soon found herself being chased by practically the whole town. Cutting into an alleyway, she took off the wig and stripped down to her underwear. A sleeping vagabond was nearby and she quickly relieved him of his jacket, but was careful enough not to do it so abruptly as to wake him.

The mob soon found their way into the alley and Maggie slumped down next to the bum and extended her hand at the people.

"Any of you fine people have a quarter?" She asked.

None of the group paid her any attention, only murmuring in disgust at the fact they lost their prisoner.

Bart was worried sick. First off, Barney had taken the stand but during mid-questioning fell off the podium and into a drunken slumber. The Second was, was that Dr. Nick Riviera, being his last witness, hadn't shone up.

"Mr. Simpson, how long are we going to have to wait?" Asked Judge Snyder.

"Not long, your Honor." Bart replied as he feverishly looked to the back door.

Just then, Al, the owner of the bowling place, dragging behind him an oxygen tank, went up to the judge and whispered into his ear.

"Fine." The Judge told him, he then looked at the everyone who was seated in folding chairs, "We've been given notice that the Huntzberger's bowling party and the Gilmore's party are waiting to bowl, so we're going to go to recess until tomorrow. Hopefully, Mr. Simpson, your witness will be on time." The Judge banged his gavel.

As everyone left, Alex quickly walked up to Bart and planted a kiss on him before asking, "Bart, what happened to your witness?"

Bart glared at Jessica and Gweeble talking at their table.

"I can only guess."

Alex looked in Bart's direction and sighed, "They're behind this, aren't they?"

Bart sighed as he gathered his things, "Just goes to show on what you can do if you have the support of the Mafia at your disposal."

The two of them left as a bunch of surly rich people came in with matching bowling jackets.

When they were outside, Bart looked around, "Hey, Alex, where's Lisa? Didn't she come with you?"

Alex shook her head, "No. She didn't. She's on her date with Nelson."

Bart then laughed, which surprised Alex.

"Wow, so he finally did it, huh?"

"Did what?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Nelson's been pining after Lisa since the sixth grade. He thought once his Internet Company reached over a quarter of a million in sales that he'd finally have the nerve to ask her out."

Alex stopped the both of them when they reached Bart's car and looked at Bart with an astonished look.

"Excuse me? 'A quarter of a million in sales'? Are you telling me that Nelson's wealthy?"

Bart nodded, "He's only doing his job at Moe's only because he loves it. Nelson wants to keep a low profile so he can still keep his street cred."

Alex shook her head in amazement. "What does he sell?"

"Sports wear. Both he and Jimbo Jones got into it when Jimbo's restaurant got big."

Bart talked about it more when they went back to the house and only stopped when the phone rang.

Picking it up, he was surprised to hear who it was.

"Maggie? Where are you? Are you still in New Haverbrook?"

"I am and I need a favor." Maggie replied on the other end.

Bart sat down at the counter while Maggie let him in on what had happened over the past couple of days.

"Actually, this will do better. Can you ask Gina if she's willing to testify against Jessica?" Bart asked.

"Hold on." Maggie then had a hushed talk with Gina, which Bart couldn't make out.

"She'll be there for you."

The next day, at the Bowl-o-Rama, The Judge called into order and then turned his attention to Bart.

"Mr. Simpson, will you call your next witness."

Bart then stood up, "Your Honor, I call to the stand, Miss Gina Darrlow."

A gasp came from people in the alley, which echoed throughout the place.

Gina threw her hair back behind her shoulder as she took the podium.

Bart noticed that Jessica looked calm and was in fact smiling. Bart knew that her and Gweeble had a plan to make her seem like an unreliable witness.

After she had been sworn in, Bart walked calmly to the podium.

"Miss Darrlow, is it true that the co-plaintiff, Jessica Lovejoy, acquired your service in an effort to have me kidnapped and held against my will?"

Gina nodded, "Yeah. It is true."

Bart nodded, "Why you?"

Gina sighed, "She learned of me through various people and that I was in jail for attacking my boss. Our agreement was that if she were to get me out of jail then I would help her rein you in. She was planning to have Dr. Nick drug you and the two of you married. Unfortunately, you were not responding to the drugs, as she would have liked. She decided, then, to hold you and have Japanese doctors use brainwashing methods to fill the trick. However, I decided against it and called up Moe to have him and Barney rescue you and Alex, since she had got herself caught."

Bart turned around to Gweeble, "Your witness."

As Bart sat down, he noticed that Jessica's smile had vanished and was replaced by a more concentrated look.

Mr. Gweeble buttoned up his jacket as he walked to her.

"Miss Darrlow, is it true that, if what your saying is true, you're a direct accomplice to Miss Lovejoy's dirty work?"

Miss Darrlow nodded, "Yes. That'd be true."

"Isn't it also true that you were once Mr. Simpson's girlfriend and on one particular evening you wrecked his car because he couldn't make time for you during your relationship with him?"

Gina closed her eyes and sighed; "Yes, that is true also."

Mr. Gweeble gave his biggest smile, yet.

"So, if all that is true, how can we be certain that it wasn't you who had Bart kidnapped and you're blaming it all on Jessica?"

Gina gave a huge grin, "Because…I have proof."

Bart then got up out of his seat and handed a VHS tape to the judge.

"Plaintiff's evidence A, your Honor."

Mr. Gweeble turned white; "Objection your Honor!"

Bart cleared his throat, "The reason this evidence is coming so late, your Honor, is that it wasn't available until a certain time that the Springfield County Jail would allow."

The Judge nodded, "Proceed."

Milhouse dragged in a TV set and VHS player and inserted the tape.

The picture was in black and white but it showed Jessica sitting across a sheet of glass and talking to Gina.

Just as Gina had said the two talked about using Gina as a means of getting Bart and then taking him to the Maison Derriere and drugging him.

"Mr. Gweeble, do you have any more questions for the witness?" Asked Judge Snyder.

Sadly, Mr. Robert Gweeble shook his head.

As he went back to his seat, Bart stood.

"Your Honor, the Plaintiff rests."

Judge Snyder nodded and then turned to the jury, "The Jury may now retire to deliberate the evidence and come up with a verdict."

He banged his gavel several times.

To be Continued…