Denny D. Vito had all of the crowd's attention on him as he spun the yarn of a murderous child. Mina could hardly believe he had to gall to try to gain sympathy for Hot Dog Johnny.

  D. Vito held out a wallet. "My son..." the wallet rolled down, displaying several photos of a five year old in a leather jacket and a pompadour. "Grew up in the school o' hard knocks like his dear old daddy. I ain't saying he's an angel, but unlike some privilege latte sipping Beverly hills hipsters, he took many hard knocks in life!"

  D. Vito sniffed. "In Hard Knocks Preschool, some punk pulled a switch blade in him and robbed him of his favorite stuffed dinosaur! In Rock Hard Elementary school, he was held up at gunpoint for his lunch money! And in High N Dry School, he was out in da spo when he was framed for da murder of Oil Slick Nick and even though it was never proven, he was as good as expelled. And when you ain't being edumacated in da Bronx, you are looking for woik!”

  D. Vito closed his eyes as he leaned on the podium.

  “But nobody in da Bronx would hire my boy, so in da spirit of nepotism, my prodigal son had a homecomin.’”

  Mina calmly raised a question.

  “Hold it,” she said, pointing at D. Vito. “What did you do for a living?”

  She didn't aim to provoke him, just draw further discussion from him.”

  D. Vito smiled and raised a hand. “I was a lawyer for da poor and underprivileged.”

  “And what did your son do?”

  “Jus’ menial tasks. Helpin’ his old man file papers around da office.”

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  Mina thought for a second. “I'll keep dragging this out so Raven can work on getting his phone.”

  “So,” she said. “What do you mean by you ‘was’ a lawyer?’”

  D. Vito chuckled. “You already know what happened pally from our talks. Da Aura put my business out of commission. And I had to add West to be a taxi driver!”

  “But…” Mina asked. “If you became a taxi driver, what about your son?”

  “Eh,” Vito answered. “He just did his own thing. Not hurting, nobody.”

  Well,” he said and there was a sinister gleam in his eyes. “Except for that young surfer dude who tried to put one over on him! He's lucky his pops knew some good defense attorneys to get him outta dat pickle.”

  Mina exhaled harshly. She immediately saw red. ‘That pickle’ was her boyfriend’s death. Vito, once a caring and kind mentor to her, had pulled some strings to get his son off free from murdering Chad.

  Vito continued to run his mouth about Chad. “So many people never understood my boy. Including that oiled up preppy surf punk. I'm not saying he deserves what was coming to him, but he should know never to pick on those who has a tough life!”

  Mina’s lip trembled. He was using one of her lowest moments to excuse his son from a heinous crime. The Aurafather was lower than a Brooklyn sewer. She had to control her emotions but she was sinking deeper into fury.

  “And,” D. Vito said, “That comes to…”

  “OBJECTION!!!!”

  Mina screamed so loudly the room was silent.

  "I don't care who you are," she exclaimed. "that doesn't give you a right to kill people who anger you!"

  Wide eyed faces all stared at her. Even the judge was taken aghast by what the normally mild mannered and kind Mina had cried.

  “Miss Hawkins,” Divine said, adjusting her pearly glasses. “I’ve never seen you in such a tizzy. Do you know something about Johnny Vito that we don't know?”

  Mina wanted so badly to tell everyone what Johnny had said to her and Chad before he punched him. She wanted to say how the Aura had taken her first love from her. She wanted to tell it all even knowing what the cost would be from the Aurafather himself.

  There was a darkened sneer across D. Vito’s face warned her “go ahead and see what will happen” but she didn't care.

  D. Vito’s son had killed her boyfriend and now Vito himself had turned her second love into a robotic weapon all for his twisted means.

  Slowly, Mina opened her mouth as everyone waited for the condemning words to come out.