A slight shock went through Lisa as the first suspect, the mayor, was brought in. He looked at her for a moment in a flash, but then continued walking to his seat with his head bowed.

Johan greeted him and his lawyer politely. "You have been able to read what the charges against you are. On paper you have already been able to respond, and today I want to address both the charge and your response."

Johan started at Ellen, who briefly summarized the charges. Then the lawyer of the other party was given the floor. It came out that the mayor denied nothing, only had one point of objection: he had not known better than that Lisa had longed to do this work....

Johan gave Ellen the opportunity to question the mayor.

"Are you married?"

"Yes."

"Would you want to treat your wife with BDSM and then give her over to other men so they could use her services?"

"Of course not!"

"Lisa was married to Henk. Did it never occur to you that it was strange for that man to use his own wife in this way?"

"I did think about it once, I thought that was odd. But since Lisa seemed to think it was all great, I let that go with the idea that everyone is different, that everyone is in situations differently."

"I understand your train of thought. On a different note..." Ellen picked up the ritual candle and the papers the mayor had filled out. "Do you recognize this candle?"

"Yes I do, Henk had it in his office."

"That's right yes. Do you have any idea what the marks on this candle mean?"

The mayor nodded, "Not exactly, but I know they are occult signs, demonic signs, as some people call them. They help people achieve their goals, and I firmly believe in that."

"And your personal goals you wrote down on these papers and then made a ritual out of that, and then validated it by having sex with Lisa. Did I describe that so well?"

"Yes, that's pretty much what it boils down to."

"You have done this several times, each time with new goals. I took the liberty of taking this as evidence and reading it in advance, so I had an idea of what you were about. My understanding is that your main goal was to gain more power, to move up the political ladder. You are now mayor of a relatively small town, but you aspire to the political top. You would prefer to eventually become prime minister. Is that right?"

The mayor confirmed her conclusion, "Yes, I want to lead our country from a higher position."

Ellen continued, "I was always taught, that I have to work on my career. I have to study, keep up with my literature, do the best job I can for my clients. In other words, my position basically depends on my talents and my commitment. How do you stand on that?"

"It seems like a somewhat strange question for a court case," the mayor hesitated, looking questioningly at Johan.

Johan nodded, "It seems so, but I assume Ellen has a purpose in doing this and is not just bringing this up, is that right?" Questioningly, he looked at Ellen.

"That is certainly correct, I would like to know what you think about the relationship between your position on the one hand and your talents and commitment on the other."

"I think it's a good starting point, and I'm certainly working on that."

"In addition, why did you go to Henk and Lisa?"

The mayor shrugged, "Just as a lot of people need a wheelbarrow to accomplish something, that's how I got into this. I'm sure things like this support your own efforts to move forward."

Ellen continued, "And has it brought you what you hoped for?"

"Not quite yet, because as you know I'm not a prime minister yet, but I have gotten new connections every time after I've been with them. I experienced that as a confirmation, that it was true that my visits to Henk and Lisa would help me."

Ellen nodded, "And if you take a moment right now, at this moment, to feel if those new connections were people who wanted the right thing for you and for the people over whom you would like to become prime minister.... What do you feel then? Were they people who were looking for the best, or people who were only after money and power?"

There was silence for a moment, while the mayor bowed his head and thought.

When he looked at Ellen again, there were tears in his eyes, "That was a tough question... it hurts to realize through that question... damn it! No, they were not good people, not people who would want the best for our country or the world. They were after my money, I had to pay them a lot. And they were assuming, that I would take them with me in my climb to the high top in politics... In fact, they were trying to use me as a wheelbarrow!"

His answer surprised all present. Ellen struggled for a moment to continue. In a voice that betrayed her emotion, she asked her final question:

"If you had known at the time that Lisa was being forced into prostitution within an atmosphere of dark rituals, would you have stayed away from her?"

The mayor slapped his hands in front of his face as he nodded.

Totally unexpectedly, he rose to his feet, looked briefly at Ellen, and then turned to Lisa, "Lisa, I can't say anything else but that I'm terribly sorry I did this. I helped to damage you, it should never have happened! I didn't know you were forced, on the contrary, I thought you enjoyed it. But that doesn't make the misery any less. I want to tell you one more time that I am sorry, that I am very sorry. For what that's worth after all these times..."

Johan knew very well, that officially he should not have allowed the suspect to stand up. It could have been intimidating, it usually would be when a suspect did that. But he had sensed the mayor's condition and therefore let him. And because of what happened next, he was very grateful for that.

He heard a chair shuffle and in the corner of his eye he saw someone stand up in the room. Lisa came forward and stood in front of the mayor. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she held out her hand to him. He placed his hand in it, whereupon she placed her other hand on his.

"I am not qualified to pass judgment on you, I leave that to the judge," Lisa said with a quick glance at Johan, "but I do want to say to you, I am very pleased with your reaction. I see and feel that it is not a reaction to get out of punishment or anything like that. I see and feel that you mean it."

The mayor nodded and replied in a hoarse voice, "It should never have happened, I should never have done it...thank you for your response, Lisa."

She nodded at him and walked back toward the table her chair was behind, but was met halfway down that route by Sjaak. He hugged her, kissed her forehead, "How proud I am of you, my beautiful firebird!"

Lisa shot up in laughter and, when Sjaak released her again, went back to her seat. Behind her she heard people sniffing and blowing their noses. Johan also grabbed his handkerchief, and Ellen and the mayor got some tissues from someone else.

Johan looked at Ellen: "Do you have any further questions?"

She shook her head, looked at the mayor, and briefly put her hand on his. "Thank you for speaking your heart. I guess you can go back to your seat, right?" she asked Johan. She received an affirmative response, upon which both Ellen and the mayor resumed their seats at the tables.

Johan turned to the mayor's lawyer, "I understand you wanted to ask Lisa some more questions?"

The lawyer looked at him, then looked at the mayor and briefly consulted with him. "The questions I had wanted to ask Lisa are no longer relevant your honor."

Johan nodded at him, "That's clear then. And may I ask you to call me by my name from now on. My name is Johan, to everyone here. I know it's unusual in courts, but I've discovered recently, that in court it's only about one thing, investigating what happened and getting justice for it. I know that I do have the last word in court, but I want us to deeply realize that I cannot get there unless we all work together.

I see in the back of the room Marianne, our secretary and hostess at the counter". Johan pointed to her for a moment, to which Lisa half turned and smiled at her. "According to our customs, she is almost at the bottom of the rankings. Only the cleaners are below her. But I strongly assure you: without the cleaners, the place would be a mess. Without Marianne, the atmosphere would not be what it is today. People who come here are tense. Some a little, others are shaking all over. Marianne is the one who takes the edge off by the way she welcomes everyone. She also takes care of the organization, the planning, the summons, which I prefer to call invitations by the way.

By tradition, I belong to the top group that we call judges and the lawyers are just below us. I can no longer stand that, I can no longer accept that my colleagues who perform other tasks should look up to me.

That means for the prosecutors and the defendants that they don't have to look up to any of us either. Of course they need us, but I want to treat both those parties as human beings, as I am a human being myself.

And then I come now to what we all just witnessed and I can only be grateful for this hour. I cannot let you know my decision at this time. I invite you all to come next Monday. Before the vacations begin, I would like to close this. You will still be notified of this by Marianne. Does anyone here in the room have an urgent question?"

Ellen looked up in surprise and whispered to Lisa, "I've never heard that question asked by a judge."

Lisa smiled, "I think today everything is going different, everything better than ever!"

As they whispered to each other, Sjaak stood up, "I don't have so much as a question, but I do want to express my gratitude for the special way you have spoken today: Ellen and Lisa, the mayor and you yourself Johan. I have felt, that in this hour walls came down and hearts spoke. And that is the most beautiful thing for all of us! Thank you so much!"

To chapter 208. Reactions to the court hearings

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