"Mr Harris, you need to be sworn in", the judge said irritatingly but Patrick remained unmoving with his usual stone face.
"Mr Schuman, will you please put some sense into your client?", Alexandra asked politely but it was obvious that she was holding back from going there and lifting his hand for him.
"I cannot force my client to get into that witness stand if he wishes to remain silent", Schuman retorted unctuously.
"That's enough! You need to stop blocking this case! Do you even realize what we're dealing with right now? We're dealing with a man who tortured and killed his eighteen-year-old daughter so you stand up and you go deal with him!", Lexie rattled out furiously. Schuman snorted disdainfully and stood up to approach Patrick who was still standing in front of the witness stand unmoving.
"At least get sworn in and you can remain silent from there. We don't want more drama from these broads", Schuman said in a low voice, thinking he was discreet, but he must have forgotten about the microphones of the cameras.
Patrick nodded in understanding and accepted to be sworn in. It was just an "I do" for God's sake, he had to make all that scene for two stupid words. Well, not stupid because they were used to marry someone, but in that context it was nothing. When I saw him raise his hand, I plugged my ears the hardest I could to avoid hearing his voice and waited for Taylor to remove my hands.
Patrick didn't even state his name despite Schuman's multiple requests and the judge's insistence. So the bald man spun around to go back to his seat and shrugged as he looked at Alexandra, smirking victoriously. She snickered in provocation and stood up determinedly. Show time.
"Mr Harris, I suppose you aren't willing to answer to any of my questions either", Alexandra started but Patrick didn't even blink an eye. "Alright then. Your Honor, may I expose the last evidence in my possession?", she asked in her sweetest tone. Sucker.
"Certainly. Perhaps it will make him react", the judge said with clear frustration in her voice.
"Projector, please!", Lexie exclaimed to no one in particular. The screen immediately came to life, displaying the first slide of my quantitative assessment.
A wave of gasps and sobs were heard in the room, even Schuman's face was screaming disgust and horror. Alexandra sorted out some papers on her desk, grabbed a little remote, and asked for the exhibits to be handed out to the witness and the journals to the judge herself. Once everything settled, Lexie went to stand in front of Patrick and cleared her throat to get ready. Patrick didn't even look at the screen or the pictures, he remained quiet and watched the woman in front of him. I, on the other hand, grabbed Taylor's arms and held them tightly around myself to get ready.
"March 6, 2015. This is the day you buried your wife and this is also the day you first laid your hands on Brooklyn. According to your daughter's own writings and pictures, you dragged her to the back of the church at the end of the mass, and you hit her until she couldn't stand on her feet, leaving her with three broken ribs and a concussion. The next day, as Brooklyn was going down the stairs after dinner to go visit her mother's grave, you did it again. You inflicted her seven punches in the jaw, four kicks in her already broken ribs, and you threw her in the staircase, leaving her on the ground while you went back to watching TV. The following morning, you grabbed Brooklyn by her hair while she was asleep, you dragged her into her bathroom and you tried to drown her in the toilet bowl. You plunged her head a first time for thirty seconds, pulled it out for five seconds, put it back for a minute, pulled it out again for five seconds and put it back for two minutes. You didn't even pull it out, you left her head in the water and you left her barely breathing. At night, Brooklyn was in her room, getting ready to go back to school the next day, and you barged in, trapped her in your arms, and threw her out of the window, making her fall from the first floor."
YOU ARE READING
Children of a miracle (GxG)
General FictionI was trapped. Trapped between an obscure past that was haunting me and a chance of building a better future for myself. Trapped between the four walls of my apartment. Trapped between truth and lies. I was trapped until Taylor Lawson walked through...
