07 The Return_ Midnight - L. J. Smith

“So admitted.”
“But no matter how I screamed and fought…well, he was too strong, and I—I couldn’t
—” Caroline tossed her head in agony of remembered shame. Tears flooded from her eyes.
“Your Honor, perhaps the defendant needs a break to freshen her makeup,” Gwen
suggested bitterly.
“Young lady, you are getting on my nerves. The prosecution can care for its own clients
—I mean witnesses—”
“Your witness…”—from the prosecution.
Matt had scribbled as much of the real story as he could onto a blank sheet of paper
while Caroline’s theatrics had gone on. Gwen was now reading this.
“So,” she said, “your ex, Tyler Smallwood, is not and has never been a”—she
swallowed—“a werewolf.”
Through her tears of shame Caroline laughed lightly. “Of course not. Werewolves aren’t
real.”
“Like vampires.”
“Vampires aren’t real either, if that’s what you mean. How could they be?” Caroline was
looking into every shadow of the room as she said this.
Gwen was doing a good job, Matt realized. Caroline’s demure patina was beginning to
chip.
“And people never come back from the dead—in these modern times, I mean,” Gwen
said.
“Well, as to that”—malice had crept into Caroline’s voice—“if you just go to the
boardinghouse in Fell’s Church, you can see that there’s a girl called Elena Gilbert, who was
supposed to have drowned last year. On Founder’s Day, after the parade. She was Miss Fell’s
Church, of course.”
There was a murmur among the reporters. Supernatural stuff sold better than anything
else, especially if a pretty girl was involved. Matt could see a smirk making the rounds.
“Order! Miz Sawicki, you will keep to the facts in this case!”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Gwen looked thwarted. “Okay, Caroline, let’s go back to the day of
the alleged assault. After the events you have narrated, did you call the police at once?”
“I was…too ashamed. But then I realized I might be pregnant or have some horrid
disease, and I knew I had to tell.”
“But that horrid disease wasn’t lycanthropy—being a werewolf, right? Because that
couldn’t be true.”
Gwen looked anxiously down at Matt and Matt looked bleakly up at her. He’d hoped that
if Caroline were forced to keep talking about werewolves she would eventually start to twitch. But
she seemed to have complete control over herself now.
The judge seemed furious. “Young lady, I won’t have my court made a joke with any
more supernatural nonsense!”
Matt stared at the ceiling. He was going to jail. For a long time. For something he hadn’t
done. For something he would never do. And besides, now, there might be reporters going over to the
boardinghouse to bother Elena and Stefan. Damn! Caroline had managed to get that in despite the
blood oath she’d made never to give their secret away. Damon had signed that oath as well. For a
moment Matt wished that Damon were back and right here, to take revenge on her. Matt didn’t care
how many times he got called “Mutt” if Damon would just appear. But Damon didn’t.