La Arquitecta

Chapter 66

"Mr Khan," the judge said, handing the floor to David's defence council for the cross examination of Zelina.

Khan stood up and walked around his desk with a curious expression on his face. "Ms Vega, you mentioned in the evidence you just gave an alleged rape that took place eight years ago. Strange, is it not, that yesterday's opening statement by the prosecution is the first anyone has ever heard of it?"

"No, it's not strange at all," Zelina replied evenly, knowing that one of Khan's top priorities would be to get under her skin with his questions. "I was too scared to go to the police. I was afraid for my life that night when I ran from David's house."

"Your family must have urged you to go to the police, surely?"

"I didn't tell my family about it. I didn't tell anyone for a very long time."

Khan paced across the floor, making sure to look at the jury as he said, "Convenient. So we have an alleged crime that there is no evidence of other than your word, and you didn't tell anyone about it at the time." He turned back to face Zelina. "The truth is, you're lying, aren't you, Ms Vega?"

"No!" Zelina insisted strongly, but Khan didn't give her a moment.

"The truth is, you found out about Mr Hernandez's past conviction and decided to pretend you had been the victim of a similar crime, isn't it?"

"No! He raped me!" Zelina said vehemently. "He tied me up, gagged me and raped me, just like he did to that other girl, and like he was going to do me again that afternoon this year!"

"But there is no evidence of anything you allege about this supposed previous attack, is there?"

"Objection," Mr Ryan said, standing up. "Harassing the witness. We've already established that there is no evidence of the previous attack apart from Ms Vega's word, and she already answered the question."

"Sustained," the judge said. "Next question, Mr Khan."

Khan nodded his acknowledgement and paced the floor again for a moment. When it came, the next question took Zelina by surprise. "What do you do for a living, Ms Vega?"

"I'm a wrestler."

Khan raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if the fact was new to him. "A wrestler? That's an interesting job. So, your work involves you throwing other women around a ring?"

"Yes," she replied a little cautiously, not knowing where this was going.

"Women that are much bigger than you, presumably? No offense, but you're on the short side."

"Yes, some of them are bigger than me," Zelina confirmed testily.

"Would you say it was fair to describe some of these women as six feet tall? Big, muscular ladies?"

"Yes."

Khan looked at her as if she had just fallen into a trap, but she didn't know what trap it could be. She soon found out.

"So, why is it, if you specialise in throwing tall, muscular people around a wrestling ring; people much bigger than yourself, you claim to have been so incapable of fighting off Mr Hernandez? It doesn't ring true, does it?"

"Of course it rings true," Zelina snapped. "He grabbed me from behind. He had me in a waist lock, and he had his hand over my mouth. I tried to get free as best I could; that's how we ended up falling through the coffee table."

Khan seemed to ignore her response. "What I believe, Ms Vega, is that there was no fight; there was no struggle."

"Objection," Ryan said, standing up again. He didn't need to give a reason, for the judge spoke straight away.