"And if you have a minute, why don't we go talk about it somewhere only we know?"
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Maya Beaulieu, born and raised in Montreal, has heard the stories about Lance Stroll, the boy who grew up down the street of where she lived. All the reason to stay...
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"We will restart in 2 minutes. Take your time settling down before we start." The judge sits on his chair, scrambling some papers together.
"Do I have to go back on the stand?" I ask as my mother and I walk back to our table. Lance took his seat back on one of the rows behind us.
"I will request a dismissal," My mother reassures me. "Even if they want you back on the stand, I won't allow it."
I nod and exhale, relieved. In no way do I ever want to have a cross-examination this brutal.
"Thank you all. How are you doing, Maya?"
I look up as the judge calls my name, and he smiles at me kindly.
"I am okay, still a little over the place."
"And by that, I want to file a dismissal of her presence to be a witness. I think the brutal questioning and the leading speculation of Mr. Brown were quite harsh and not in line with decent human respect." My mother states, not giving Joey or his attorney another look.
"Excuse me?" Mr Brown scoffs. "I was sharing how the night actually went."
"Except did the night go like that?"
"It did."
"Fine. Then I want to call Joey Tremblay to the stand."
Mr Brown scoffs again, "That is not happening."
"And why not? Is he going to perjure himself if I do? Or will he admit to the crimes he did commit?"
The judge let the little banter between my mother and Joey's attorney unfold. But Mr Brown doesn't answer the question.
"Do you have a reason why Mr. Tremblay cannot take the stand?" He asks, and I feel a little spark of hope that Joey will be forced to tell the truth when he takes the stand.
"I want to call fire lieutenant Simon first."
The judge looks at my mother, raising an eyebrow, "Any argument against having fire lieutenant Simon before Joey?"
"No. Let him go first." My mother says, and that's where the spark of hope went away again. Joey is not going to take the stand because his attorney will do everything in his power to avoid that from happening.
Simon walks up to the stand, takes the oath and then sits down, looking at Mr Brown with a formal smile. He doesn't look at me, nor does he look at Joey. He keeps his gaze firmly on Mr Brown.
"Welcome, Simon, and thank you for coming."
"It is no problem." Simon is wearing his official fire lieutenant uniform, one only for formalities. Like a meeting at the headquarters, a funeral, and in this case... for court.
"Can you describe your relationship with my client?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Joey and I were friends. We started at the academy together. That's where we grew very close. It was a thrill that both of us started at the same firehouse. He always had my back, and we helped each other a lot."
