Unlikely Angel

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Susan stood in the middle of the courtroom trying to memorize it.

“Where will I be?”

Beaton stepped forward to her in order to answer her.

“Well, you won’t be in here most of the time. I don’t think you need to hear most of what’s going on. But when we call you in, you will come right up here,” he gestured to the witness stand. “A man will hold out a Bible and you will raise your right hand and place your left one on the Bible and he will ask you to swear that you will tell the truth. At that point you are what we call ‘under oath’. That means it is against the law for you to lie. I know that won’t be a problem because I can tell you are a very honest little girl.”

“Where will my daddy be?”

“He will be outside with you and when you come in, he will sit behind my table. He will have to testify too and I know you will have some friends here to sit with you while he does. But when you are on the stand, he will be by me because I want you to be able to see him without seeing the defendants. My table is right here and that is where I will be. The table over there is where the defendants will be with their lawyer. You do not have to look at them except when you point them out.”

Susan was silent, taking in everything so Beaton continued.

“The jury sits there,” he said pointing toward the box that would hold the twelve men he had to convince to vote the guilt of the Franklin brothers. “The judge will be next to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Are you still scared?”

“Yes, but not as scared. It is better now that I know what will happen. What will everyone else be saying? Why do you not want me to hear it?”

Johnny saw Beaton hesitate and spoke up, “She gets scared when things are hidden from her. Best to tell her or she’ll worry herself sick.”

“Susan, the doctor will be on the stand and he’ll have to answer very specific questions about what the men did to you. And the defense will try to get the doctor to say you are not very smart and that you are not a reliable witness because of it. These are not things you need to hear. It will sound to you like the case is not going well but I have seen a lot of cases and I know what I can do to make it go right.”

“I understand. The doctor never talked to me. Can I listen to that part?”

Johnny patted her head, “Yes you can. I’ll be right with you and I’ll try to keep my temper in check, okay?”

“Okay.”