Revenge By Law's
ARTICLE 89

After the judgment hearing

Indira exits the state courthouse with a haggard face. The media crew who had been waiting for him immediately stormed him. As the most attention-grabbing figure in every trial process, of course, the opinion of Indira related to the end of his struggle will be quite expensive coverage. Moreover, the public also wants to know Indira's response to the ten-year prison sentence obtained by his client, Abhimanyu Alexander.

“As a true lawyer, I respect the verdict made by the panel of judges. However, I consider a lot of oddities during the trial process, both those that occurred inside or outside the trial, which definitely influenced the verdict,” said Indira.

“Can you give an example of such weirdness?” ask one of the reporters.

“For example, Benjiro's trial. Are any of you attending? No, right? How can the Benjiro trial be conducted behind closed doors and without involving my client, Abhimanyu Alexander, even though that person is the mastermind of the case that befell my client? You just think, until the third trial, almost everyone thought Abhimanyu Alexander was Mischa's killer. But, when we revealed the truth that the culprit was Benjiro, without any help from the police, they seemed to keep us away from that person. And even more strangely, our client was still given a penalty for drugs that he had clearly brought without his knowledge.”

“Then, why in the previous trial Mbak did not provide a defense for the charges read by the prosecutor?”

“Yes, because of that. We see this trial can no longer be expected. We already plan to appeal to the high court, especially after seeing the absurd verdict just given earlier.”

After declaring an appeal, Indira immediately broke through the crowd to leave, although there were still many questions the reporters wanted to ask. In fact, he was still followed by a few news seekers all the way to the front of the court gate.

Finally, Indira was able to enjoy the tranquility in a coffee shop near the courthouse. He immediately ordered Vietnamese coffee which is usually powerful to make him not sleep until tomorrow morning. He did plan to stay up late because he wanted to immediately prepare the documents needed for the appeal.

“Hey, are you also here?” ask an old man who has been sitting there since.

“Lho, mr. Burhan. How quickly did you get here?” said Indira who immediately sat on the chair opposite the old man named Burhan.

“Masa’ you don't know your habits? Every time you finish reading the verdict, you always come here to calm your mind and reflect on the verdict you just gave to a defendant.”

“Ya, right. You often say that every verdict you take will affect someone's life, especially for perpetrators and victims.”

“Good, good. Turns out you didn't really forget mr.”

They both laughed. There is a happiness created between them. The old man was one of Indira's favorite lecturers when he studied law first. Likewise Indira is one of the most memorable students of Pak Burhan because of his persistence, although not too smart. Usually, they meet in this coffee shop to share about the law, especially when Indira faces a fairly complicated case.

Unfortunately, during Abi's trial process, they couldn't carelessly meet. Mr. Burhan is the presiding judge in the case. In fact, they must pretend not to know each other so as not to arise things that are not desirable and can harm them.

“Satisfied with the verdict I gave earlier?” ask Mr. Burhan in the middle of their discussion about the current condition of the campus.

“Long if I say satisfied. But we are planning to appeal. I beg for support and input from Mr.”

The man laughed while patting Indira's back. “You've been very developed during handling this case. I'm so proud of you.”

“Indeed, so far only you believe that I have the potential as a lawyer. Perhaps the one that motivates me to perform as well as possible in this case is Mr.” as well

The man laughed again. “You don't have to do it for anyone and because of anyone. Do it for yourself. You know how much you love the law and justice. That's why you were so happy to hear you quit that rotten law firm and opened your own law firm.”

Indira smiled while blushing in embarrassment. Indeed, their relationship had been very close. As a big boy without the attention of his biological father, Indira found a good father figure from the judge. Mr. Burhan also treated Indira like his own daughter. He said he had a daughter but died at the age of five from illness.

“Is your client not angry with the verdict he got earlier?” ask Mr. Burhan.

“Abimanyu Alexander is a strange person. Since knowing Benjiro's trial was held behind closed doors and he was not called to be a witness, he could have guessed that he would not be sentenced to freedom.”

“Because, seeing his attempt to keep Abhimanyu away from Benjiro's trial, the mastermind must have thought Abhimanyu was a threat that would expose Mischa's death case to a wider extent. That is, if Abhimanyu is free, his chances of becoming a threat will be even greater. It is not impossible that he revealed something related to Mischa's death that has not been revealed in the trial to the public.”

Mr. Burhan was intrigued by Indira's words and shifted his chair forward. “Indeed, do you know something?”

“Of course not, sir,” replied Indira with a smile. “But the verdict will not stop an Abhimanyu Alexander. He's already making plans to be in jail later.”

“Plan?”

Indira realized, Mr. Burhan is not the right person for him to be able to tell Abi more. No matter how close they are, Mr. Burhan must not know their plans ahead.

“Yes, he means a plan he can survive in prison later. He has been in the rutan long enough, of course he will not have trouble adapting in lapas.”

Mr. Burhan was stunned for a moment and smiled. He was a little disappointed thinking he would know something important.

                  *

The old white sedan car entered the yard slowly. Like his car, the house also looks antique even though it is small. An old man named Mr. Burhan got out of the car and walked towards the door.

His first destination was the kitchen. He missed his own hand-made coffee. Although he had two cups of coffee gulped at the coffee shop earlier, he still felt less. He has long been a coffee addict.

Mr. Burhan walked slowly towards the central room. He turned on the television and sat in the rocking chair in front of him. After the coffee was shaved, he placed it on the table beside him. Although the television was on, he did not give any focus to it and instead fantasized.

A well-dressed man was sneaking around nearby. He touched his waist to make sure the weapons he had stored up since. Slowly he approached Mr. Burhan who had started to close his eyes.

Suddenly Mr. Burhan's eyes opened and immediately turned to look at the well-dressed man. It turned out that in his hand there was already a weapon that was brandishing.

“Why didn't I realize it? Stupid!” snapped by Burhan sir.

The man in dress was flinching. He was not afraid of the gun pointing at him. In fact, he just looked down as if resigned.

“What happened, Mister?”

“The damn boy had a plan so he let himself go to jail. He must have found the document in PT's office building. Laras Jaya Karya.”

“Not possible, Sir. What kind of lunatic would let himself go to jail just to find out something that wasn't clear yet?”

Suddenly Mr. Burhan opened fire that almost hit the left ear of the well-dressed man.

“Crazy people like us are very likely to do things like that. Sane people like you won't understand.”

The well-dressed man was scared. Either because of the bullet that almost blew his head off or because of the anger that he rarely saw from the old man.

“Ma, forgive me, Mr. Jireh.”