Chapter 18 - The Witness Upstairs
The courtroom was packed on the day Ethan testified.
The judge allowed Ethan to sit in a smaller chair. He promised to tell the truth in a voice so quiet Daniel could barely hear it.
Chen kept the questions simple.
"Where were you when your grandmother fell?"
"Upstairs."
"What did you see?"
Ethan looked at Olivia.
She looked back.
For a second he was eight years old again in the hallway, frozen behind the railing.
Then he said, "My mom pushed her."
The defense attorney stood for cross-examination.
"Ethan, you love your grandmother, correct?"
"Yes."
"And your grandmother didn't like your mother very much."
"They fought."
"Did Grandma ever tell you your mother was a bad person?"
"No."
"Did your father tell you what to say today?"
Ethan frowned. "He told me to tell what happened."
"Exactly. He told you--"
"No," Ethan interrupted. "He told me if I didn't remember something, say I didn't remember."
A few jurors smiled.
The attorney changed direction.
"You were scared, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"Sometimes when we're scared, we misunderstand what we see."
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
Daniel's hands curled into fists.
Then Ethan said, "I didn't misunderstand her hands."
Silence.
"What do you mean?"
"Grandma was holding the rail. Mom put both hands on her shoulders. Grandma said stop. Then Mom pushed."
The defense attorney paused.
Chen later played the recovered audio.
Please don't get up.
Then investigators showed the searches, the forged forms, the money trail, the backpack threat, and the father's video.
Olivia finally took the stand against her lawyer's advice.
At first she cried.
Then Chen asked one question.
"Mrs. Mercer, if this was an accident, why did you search for elderly stair-fall survival rates before the fall happened?"
Olivia stared at the jury.
Her lips moved.
No answer came.
Then Chen placed one last document on the screen--a draft email Olivia had never sent.
May you like
Its subject line read:
AFTER MARGARET IS GONE.
