Thursday they left right after breakfast. Annerieke and Simon rode with Huib and Margreet in Margreet's car. Lisa and Sjaak got in with Bennie and Joke.

After an hour's drive they found the court, parked and walked to the entrance. They were checked for their identity papers by a couple of security officers and had to walk through a control gate.

"Perfect," said one of the officers, "no weapons or such gear! Good luck today!"

"Didn't you bring your weapons?" asked Lisa to Joke in surprise.

"Yup, but we turned them in at the identity check, of course they can't be taken into the courtroom with us. And I suppose we won't need them there either, they have their own security guards."

They walked through to a large room with beautiful tall plants and a large coffee machine. Marcel and Janny, Joke and Anton and also Elly and Martin were already waiting for them there.

Janny hugged Annerieke and reassured her in advance: "I've got dinner ready, a big pot of pea soup and a big pot of vegetable soup and sandwiches. We wanted so badly to be here with you today. When you asked last week, and told us about that email from the judge, we just wanted to be here. We want to taste the atmosphere, both from the side of the defendants and from the judge!"

"Cool Janny, I'm very happy about that!"

As Lisa and Sjaak walked with Bennie and Joke to the reception desk, they saw that Ellen and Marieke were already standing there talking to a young woman behind the counter.

"Ha, there you are! How are you? Get any sleep last night?" asked Ellen.

"Yes, we had a little more trouble getting to sleep, but then we slept the sleep of the innocents, like a bunch of marmots!" Sjaak told them.

They all shot up in laughter. "A good night's sleep you will need," said the woman behind the counter, "it's going to be an intense day for all of you!" She extended her hand to Lisa and Sjaak and introduced herself: "My name is Marianne, welcome to our court!"

“Marianne and Ellen have teamed up to get your case to Johan. So if you have any problems with that afterwards, you should be with them," Marieke laughed.

"I can't imagine anything about that, I think you two worked that out perfectly together!" nodded Lisa. "Really nice, thank you!"

Marianne checked their official credentials with the whole group one more time, ticked off their names on her list, and led them to the waiting room near the courtroom where they would spend the day.

"Johan will probably pick you up in person later. Good luck in advance and feel free to have a cup of coffee or tea!" she said, patting Lisa on the shoulder as a sign of understanding and encouragement, and went back to the counter.

"Johan, she just calls the judge Johan, which also sounds so odd. I can't imagine that they all call each other by their first names here. And Marieke is there too, what would be the reason for that?" wondered Sjaak.

Ellen heard what he said and sat down on her crouch by Sjaak and Lisa for a moment. "Johan is different from the other judges. Really a man who was used to living from his heart! He was caught up in the rules and laws that apply here, but.... drum roll.... The old spark that was there between Johan and Marieke during our college days is still there, now stronger than ever. Johan, Marieke and I hadn't seen each other for some years, but went to Marieke's house for dinner last week Monday night. After that I left pretty quickly, because I felt the electricity between those two and wanted to give them time to let the fire blaze. Later I heard, that because of their connection, the walls Johan had built up here, had been finely shattered by Marieke.

Marieke told me that Johan went completely crazy while reading and looking at your declaration and everything you delivered with it on the USB-stick. He has felt your pain, your sorrow, your imprisonment in that situation. And he became so furious that he pounded on his desk with his fists so hard that his empty coffee mug fell off, into smithereens. And it hadn't even occurred to him. He had been screaming furiously. Marianne had heard it at her workplace, there in her office near the counter, and went to see. She could barely get through to him. That means two things: first, Marieke really succeeded in crushing his walls, and second, your information touched him very deeply. His fighting spirit for you is enormous.

And that Marianne, the hostess and secretary here, calls him by his first name, no, that is not usual. On that day when he had gotten so angry, he had told her everything, about his dreams of doing justice to people in this work, about how he had gotten stuck, about Marieke, about our friendship before and about the love between Marieke and him, and what that had done to him, with those walls around his heart.

And he had asked Marianne to address him as 'Johan' from now on, because he no longer wanted her to have any reason to look up to him. He longed for all the judges and other staff members to form a united front against evil.

I just understood from Marianne that the other judges had found it rather strange and would not go along with it yet. But I suspect that this is still to come. In any case, Johan and Marianne feel fine about it. If what I hope will happen today happens... the atmosphere here could change. There's more to the scales than meets the eye, more than just your case!"

Lisa and Sjaak had listened with growing astonishment. "What wonderful developments!" thought Lisa. "Will you please keep us informed? I really hope it's going to have such an impact!"

"I will," said Ellen, standing up. "Ha, there Johan is just arriving."

Ellen walked up to him and hugged him. It was clearly visible that they were good friends of each other.

And that was even more evident when Marieke flew around his neck and gave him a kiss full on the mouth. "Hey gabber of mine, make it a beautiful day!" Johan beamed and promised her that he certainly would.

"You'd expect him to be dreading it," Lisa said softly to Sjaak, "I mean, it's about a bunch of powerful, rich men on trial. But it seems more like he's looking forward to it."

She hadn't noticed that Johan had moved closer by now. He had heard her last words and smilingly extended his hand to her, "Ha Lisa, Sjaak, I'm Johan. I heard your last words, Lisa... and yes, I'm looking forward to it! I'm a little excited about it, as always, because of course I don't know how the other side is going to play either, but I expect something good from it. Go inside with me, and we'll get further acquainted there!"

In the courtroom, a corner had been made a little cozier, so that all those present could sit together in a circle. Johan took the floor, introduced himself, then gave the floor to Ellen and Marieke.

"I am Ellen Hendriks. Lisa has asked me to represent her in her fight against the suspects. So in terms of my work I am her lawyer, but otherwise just Ellen, to all of you. And Johan I have known since the first year we went to law school. We had a good friendship that year, then lost sight of each other, but thanks to Lisa we were able to rekindle our friendship."

Ellen made an inviting gesture to Marieke, who looked around the circle smiling. "And I am Marieke van Velzen. I also met Johan and Ellen in that same academic year. After that I went in a completely different direction, namely security. Lisa asked me if I wanted to help her in terms of security. And because of that... that's why I got in touch with Johan and Ellen again.

The contact with Ellen is fun, wonderful. She is a great friend! But the contact with Johan, how should I describe it properly... that contact goes a lot deeper. Straightforward: we are soulmates, have rediscovered each other and the fire between us has just about exploded to volcano level."

Marieke beamed as she told the audience. "Johan lives with me now, and he is the best that ever happened to me! Yes Johan, that’s true, and I dare say that in this circle with ease, because here are more couples like that, like us! And Lisa, I can tell you with certainty, that you have been given the cream of the crop of judges!"

Johan laughed, waving his hand as if he was getting embarrassed by her compliments and her enthusiastic story. The others in the circle laughed too, becoming completely relaxed.

And so they went around the circle. Each attendee told his or her name and told what relationship he or she stood in to Lisa.

Sjaak kept it short: "I am Sjaak, and what Marieke just described about her relationship with Johan, also applies to me towards Lisa: she is my soulmate and the fire between us is high and strong, and she is for me the best that ever happened to me."

With a kiss on her forehead and a loving smile, he gave the turn to Lisa, last: "Three guesses who I am then: Lisa Martens, but honestly I feel more like Lisa Mulder. Maybe we should start thinking about getting married, Sjaak, so I can take your name, but that aside. My mind says, that we have started a terrible day, that I should be nervous, but thanks to you and this great round of beautiful and deeply meant words, I feel quite relaxed. I can go into it with good spirits, with the expectation that the truth will be on the table and that Johan will speak justice."

She looked at Johan, wondering if he expected more. He nodded at her kindly. "I totally concur with that Lisa, it should be awful and exciting, but we'll make it a great day. Like you, I want the truth to come out, and I'll do everything I can to get justice from my heart. The outcome of this trial... conviction or acquittal..." chuckling, he looked at Lisa: "... officially I am not allowed to choose between the two yet of course! I was able to schedule the verdict for next Monday, so that we don't have to drag it out over the Christmas holidays. I'll let you know about that, with the exact time. Do you have any questions?"

Johan quietly looked around the circle, feeling connected to all those people who were looking him straight in the eye and softly shaking their heads. "Good, it's also almost time to start with the first suspect. Shall we line up our chairs again neatly? The guards will bring in the first suspect in a moment."

Marianne, who was just starting her break, briefly consulted with her colleague as to whether she could stay away a little longer so she could witness this first trial. Her colleague had no problem with it, whereupon Marianne thanked him and followed the group into the courtroom.

To chapter 207. The first suspect, the mayor

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