Chương 15
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have to decide what to feel.”
“She used to let me eat dessert before dinner.”
“She did.”
“She taught me chess.”
“Yes.”
“She threatened me.”
“Yes.”
Mia rubbed one thumb against the edge of the table.
“Those can all be true?”
“Yes.”
She looked tired.
Daniel reached across the table but stopped before touching her.
Mia placed her hand in his.
The intimidation trial began on a wet Tuesday morning.
There were no cameras inside the courtroom, though reporters filled two rows behind the prosecution table. Evelyn sat beside her lawyers in a dark gray suit. Her silver hair was arranged in the same polished low bun. She did not look at Mia when Daniel and Simone entered.
Mia testified from the witness stand after the judge closed the courtroom to some observers and adjusted procedures to reduce unnecessary stress. Even with the accommodations, the witness chair felt enormous.
The prosecutor asked simple questions first.
Mia gave her name, age, school, and the reason she had been in the hospital. She described Evelyn’s first visit, then the second. She explained the recorder.
“Why did you turn it on?”
“Because I thought she would tell me to lie again.”
“Did anyone ask you to record her?”
“No.”
“Did your father know?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Mrs. Cross she was being recorded?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because then she wouldn’t say it.”
The prosecutor played the audio.
Evelyn’s voice filled the courtroom.
Tell them you remembered it wrong.
Mia kept her eyes on the wooden edge of the witness box.
When the recording reached Your family survives because I allow it, someone behind her shifted in a seat. The judge looked toward the gallery.
Then Mia heard her own voice.
Then they heard everything.
The metallic handcuff click was not on the recording. Detective Reed had taken the recorder before arresting Evelyn. Mia remembered the sound anyway.
The prosecutor stopped the audio.
“How did you feel when your grandmother said accidents could keep happening?”
“Scared.”
“What did you think she meant?”
“That something could happen to Dad. Or me.”
“Did her words make you want to change your statement?”
“Yes.”
“Did you change it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Mia looked at Evelyn for the first time.
Evelyn’s face remained composed, but her fingers were pressed together on the table.
“Because Uncle Julian was driving.”
The defense objected. The judge instructed the jury that Julian’s guilt was not at issue in this trial.
Mia turned back toward the prosecutor.
On cross-examination, Evelyn’s attorney approached slowly. His name was Benjamin Cole. He spoke in a quiet voice and smiled only with his mouth.
“You love your grandmother, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“She has cared for you many times.”
“Yes.”
“She took you on trips?”
“Yes.”
“She helped pay for your school?”
“I think so.”
“She visited you after your mother died?”
“Yes.”
“And you were angry with your uncle after the accident.”
“Yes.”
“Angry with your father too?”
Mia looked toward Daniel.
He sat behind the prosecutor with Asha beside him.
“Yes.”
“Because he allowed you to ride with your uncle.”
“Yes.”
“And because he had evidence he did not initially give police.”
“Yes.”
“Your family was fighting.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your father might lose his job.”
“Grandma told me.”
“And that frightened you.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted to protect your father.”
“Yes.”
Cole rested one hand on the lectern. “So when your grandmother came into the hospital room, you were already expecting her to say something bad.”
“I was expecting her to tell me to lie.”
“You wanted to catch her.”
“I wanted people to hear her.”
“You hid the recorder.”
“Yes.”
“You did not tell her it was there.”
“No.”
“You waited until she had spoken, then revealed it in front of a police officer.”
“Yes.”
Cole glanced toward the jury.
“That was a plan, wasn’t it?”
Mia thought about the minutes before Evelyn entered. Her hand fumbling beneath the blanket. Her fear that the recorder would beep. Her uncertainty about whether pressing the button had worked.
“It was part of a plan.”
“What was the rest?”
“I didn’t have the rest.”
A juror lowered her eyes.
Cole continued. “Your grandmother never said she would physically harm you.”
“No.”
“She never said she would harm your father.”
“She said accidents keep happening.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“She didn’t say, ‘I will hurt him.’”
“She did not ask you to destroy evidence.”
“No.”
“She asked you to tell police you remembered incorrectly.”
“Yes.”
“Because you had been through a traumatic collision.”
“No. Because she wanted to protect Uncle Julian.”
“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
Cole stepped closer. “You cannot know what another person wanted, can you?”
“Sometimes they tell you.”
“Did your grandmother say, ‘I am threatening you’?”
“No.”
“Did she say, ‘I know your memory is accurate’?”
“No.”
“Did she say, ‘I know Julian was driving’?”
“No.”
Mia’s ribs no longer hurt when she breathed, but she used the same slow rhythm she had learned in the hospital.
“She said my family survives because she allows it.”
“The jury heard the recording.”
“Then why do you keep asking?”
A few people in the gallery moved. The judge raised a hand.
Cole’s smile disappeared.
“Mia,” the judge said gently, “answer only the question asked.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Cole returned to the lectern.
“Your father has told you he believes your grandmother has controlled the family for years, correct?”
“He told me she fixes things.”
“He has discussed this case with you.”
“Yes.”
“He has told you what he believes happened.”
“He told me what he did.”
“What he did?”
“He hid Uncle Julian’s message.”
Cole paused.
“And you were angry.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you are sitting here beside him today.”
“He isn’t beside me.”
Several jurors smiled before suppressing it.
Cole tried again. “You remain close to your father.”
“Yes.”
“Even though he made a serious mistake.”
“Yes.”
“Because people can make mistakes without intending harm.”
Mia looked at Evelyn.
May you like
“Sometimes.”
“Your grandmother could have made a mistake too.”
