Chapter 12 - October 17
Only a limited portion was presented.
Enough.
No one needed to watch thirty-eight minutes of my worst night.
The video showed a corridor near the wine cellar.
I appeared first.
Barefoot.
Confused.
Trying to open a door.
Then Richard entered.
He grabbed my arm.
The video contained no graphic detail.
But it showed enough.
Me resisting.
Richard pulling me away from the main staircase.
Me pointing toward the camera.
Then Richard looking directly into it.
He knew it was recording.
His voice came through.
“Nobody believes you anymore.”
My throat closed.
The woman on the screen answered.
Me.
“Please let me leave.”
Richard laughed.
“Leave and go where?”
Then the clip ended.
Nobody moved.
Judge Hayes removed her glasses.
Richard stared at the floor.
His attorney no longer looked smug.
Chloe was crying.
I felt strangely detached.
For years, October 17 had existed in my mind as broken images.
Now the room had seen enough to establish that Richard’s story about that night was false.
Arthur spoke quietly.
“Your Honor, additional material has been preserved and will be provided to appropriate authorities where legally relevant. We are not asking this court to adjudicate criminal liability.”
Judge Hayes nodded.
“But you are asking me to evaluate credibility.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Richard.
“That I can do.”
Richard finally spoke.
“You don’t understand what she did to me.”
I stared at him.
There it was.
His last refuge.
He made himself the victim.
“She destroyed my company.”
“No,” I said.
“I built part of it.”
“You humiliated me!”
“You erased me.”
“You were going to leave!”
“Yes.”
He slammed his hands against the table.
“Exactly!”
The entire courtroom froze.
Richard realized what he had just admitted emotionally, if not legally.
His attorney whispered:
“Stop talking.”
Richard looked around.
At the judge.
At Chloe.
At Arthur.
At me.
Then toward the doors.
The man who had arrived believing I would leave homeless was now calculating whether he could leave the courtroom at all.
Judge Hayes ordered another recess.
But before she rose, she looked toward the clerk.
“Ensure all exhibits are preserved.”
Then toward the court officer.
“And Mr. Vance is not to interfere with any evidence.”
Richard sank into his chair.
May you like
The empire was beginning to collapse.
But we still had not reached the darkest folder.
