Chương 7
Adrian received his own copy through counsel.
He sent no message.
That evening Emily asked Denise for the black-and-gold pen.
Denise had somehow ended up with it among the hospital belongings returned after the security incident.
“I thought it was yours,” Denise said.
“It isn’t.”
“Do you want me to throw it away?”
Emily looked at the pen.
“No.”
She took it home.
The full protective-order hearing was scheduled for three weeks later.
Derek hired a lawyer named Franklin Ross.
Ross was not theatrical.
Emily almost wished he were.
A ridiculous lawyer would have been easier.
Instead he was calm, precise, and extremely good at taking ugly facts apart until each one looked harmless alone.
Derek’s message asking where she slept became concern about property.
The repeated calls became attempts to resolve a relationship.
The grocery-store confrontation became a private argument.
The bruise became an injury with no witness.
Adrian became a dishonest investigator who developed a sexual relationship with the person he had been hired to locate.
That part was true.
Mara warned Emily before the hearing.
“They will try to make Adrian the story.”
“He made himself part of it.”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe he should be.”
Mara studied her.
“That could hurt your case.”
“I’m not lying for him.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“I know.”
Emily paused.
“I’m saying if keeping me safe requires pretending Adrian was innocent, then I don’t want that version.”
Mara nodded slowly.
“Good.”
The hearing room was smaller than Emily expected.
No dramatic gallery.
No reporters.
Just lawyers, a clerk, a bailiff, a judge, a few people waiting for their own cases, and fluorescent lights that made everyone look tired.
Derek wore a navy suit.
No turquoise.
The fading bruise along his jaw was barely visible.
When Emily entered, he looked directly at her until the bailiff told him not to.
Adrian sat behind Mara.
Emily had not asked him to.
His attorney had.
If his affidavit became evidence, he needed to be available.
Emily took the witness seat.
Her hands were cold.
Mara began with simple questions.
Her name.
Her relationship to Derek.
When they had met.
When they became engaged.
When she left.
Emily answered.
Then came the things she had spent a year minimizing because saying them aloud made them sound worse.
Derek reading her messages.
Derek taking her car keys during arguments.
Derek blocking the apartment door.
Derek smashing her phone and buying a new one the next morning.
Derek telling her she confused fear with drama.
Derek apologizing beautifully.
Derek doing it again.
She described leaving.
Changing addresses.
Changing jobs.
Changing numbers.
Then the grocery store.
“He wanted me to get into his car.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“He grabbed my arm. I pulled away. He slapped me.”
Mara asked, “Why didn’t you report it immediately?”
Emily looked at the judge.
“I was thirty-eight weeks pregnant. I wanted to get home.”
Nothing eloquent.
Nothing heroic.
Just true.
Then she described the hospital.
Derek taking the clipboard.
Slamming it into the wall.
Noah crying.
Adrian coming out.
The punch.
The father field.
Franklin Ross stood for cross-examination.
He was polite.
That made him dangerous.
“Ms. Carter, Mr. Cole assaulted my client in the hospital, correct?”
“He punched him.”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“And Mr. Cole is the father of your child.”
“Yes.”
“And you had a romantic relationship with Mr. Cole.”
“Yes.”
“A relationship that began shortly after Mr. Cole was hired by Mr. Hayes to locate you.”
Emily looked at Adrian.
He did not look away.
“Yes.”
“Did Mr. Cole disclose that employment to you?”
“No.”
“So you were deceived.”
“Yes.”
Ross paused.
“By both men?”
Mara stood.
“Argumentative.”
The judge nodded.
“Sustained.”
Ross changed direction.
“Ms. Carter, were you angry with Mr. Hayes when you began your relationship with Mr. Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Very angry?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell Mr. Cole negative things about Mr. Hayes?”
“I told him what happened.”
“From your perspective.”
“Obviously.”
A few people shifted in their seats.
Ross continued.
“You now know Mr. Cole had financial incentive to collect information about Mr. Hayes.”
“Not when we were together.”
“He was paid by Mr. Hayes.”
“To find me.”
“And he lied to Mr. Hayes.”
“Yes.”
“And lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“So we have a professional investigator who lies to clients and intimate partners.”
Mara stood.
The judge stopped Ross before she could object.
“Counsel, ask a question.”
Ross nodded.
“Do you trust Mr. Cole?”
The room became very quiet.
Emily looked at Adrian again.
Three weeks earlier, the answer would have been simple.
Before that, simpler.
She looked back at Ross.
“Not completely.”
Ross seemed almost pleased.
“Yet you ask this court to rely on records he produced.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he gave you the parts that make him look bad too.”
Ross’s expression tightened by a fraction.
Emily continued before Mara could stop her.
“I’m not asking the court to believe Adrian is a good person. I’m asking the court to look at what Derek did.”
The judge looked at Ross.
“Next question.”
Adrian testified after lunch.
Emily sat beside Natalie.
Noah was with a childcare worker in a private room down the hall. Emily’s body kept expecting him against her chest.
Adrian took the oath.
Mara walked him through the contract.
He explained the type of work he had performed.
Address research.
Observation from public locations.
Verification.
He admitted locating Emily.
He admitted lying to Derek.
He admitted speaking to Emily without disclosing who had first hired him.
Ross approached cross-examination almost gently.
“Mr. Cole, you violated professional ethics.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to my client.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to Ms. Carter.”
“Yes.”
“You continued investigating Mr. Hayes after your contract ended.”
“Yes.”
“You physically assaulted him.”
“I struck him once.”
“You punched him in the face.”
“Yes.”
Ross spread his hands.
“And we should trust your records because?”
“You shouldn’t trust them because of me.”
Ross paused.
May you like
Adrian looked toward the judge.
“The emails came from Mr. Hayes’s account and were preserved by the firm’s system before I terminated the contract. The invoices were generated by the firm. The vehicle photographs retain metadata and were backed up automatically. My handwritten notes are mine. Those should be evaluated as mine.”
