Hostile Witness

by Rebecca Forster

  “Objection,” Rudy roared. “Counsel is blatantly badgering this witness.”

  Forgetting Kip Rayburn Josie turned on Rudy.

  “What is outrageous is that my client is on trial when it is the Rayburn family that should be held accountable for what they have done to her. How far did you look for a perpetrator, Mr. Klein? How far were you willing to go to sacrifice a child so that you could make a name for yourself – or was it to protect the reputation of a dead judge?” Josie’s eyes slid to Kip. “Or is your office protecting the next Justice Rayburn, Mr. Klein?”

  “Ms. Bates, that is enough,” Judge Norris warned.

  “No, I want to know. Were you afraid if you tried to find the real criminal someone might have dug up the fact that Fritz Rayburn wasn’t such a good guy after all?”

  “That’s ridiculous. Your client had the means and the opportunity. You’re client set that fire.” Rudy was half out of his seat, outraged at the turn of events.

  “That is enough!” Norris roared and his gavel crashed onto his desk.

  Josie took too many steps back, moving so close to Kip that she could almost touch the wooden railing between them. She rerouted herself again. It was wrong to be so aggressive, so outraged. Righteous indignation would help her client, not an attack. The silence was deafening. Rudy Klein sat down. Josie pulled herself together.

  “Continue with this witness in an appropriate manner, Ms. Bates or you will be sanctioned.”

  She turned toward the jury then back again, her head bowed in thought. Rudy fumed in his chair. Josie was composed once more.

  “Is it true your father was abusive to you, yes or no?”

  “No.”

  “Mr. Rayburn isn’t it true that in the two days before his death you and your father fought violently.”

  “I wouldn’t characterize it that way,” Kip answered.

  “Did you argue?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you argue about?”

  “A business matter.”

  “During that business disagreement, were you so outraged that you threw a glass decanter at your father?”

  “Yes. It was a mistake.”

  “Did you resolve the matter?”

  “We would have,” Kip replied.

  “So at the time of his death, you still harbored ill will toward your father for a current transgression. Yes or no.”

  “No.”

  Josie didn’t give him time to breathe.

  “Did you harbor ill will toward him for his treatment of you as a child?”

  Kip swallowed hard and answered, “No.”

  “Were you upset that your father paid so much attention to the defendant.”

  “I didn’t think it was healthy.”

  “You didn’t think it was healthy,” Josie reiterated. “That’s an interesting choice of words, Mr. Rayburn. For whom was it unhealthy? For Hannah Sheraton?”

  Kip ignored the question and answered as he liked. “There was an unhealthy concern on my father’s part for a girl who didn’t know the value of his attention.”

  “Are you still contending that your father only had Hannah Sheraton’s best interests at heart?”

  “Yes.” Kip leaned forward in his chair, daring her to take this further. Josie pulled herself to her full height, a small smile on her lips.

  “Mr. Rayburn, do you know the penalty for perjury?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then answer this question truthfully. Was your stepdaughter abused by Justice Fritz Rayburn?”

  Kip couldn’t contain himself any longer. He stood up and leaned over the railing of the witness box. His tone was cruel, and his plain eyes seemed dead.

  “If I had any knowledge of abuse in my home I would gladly tell you because then everyone would see that Hannah is a murderer. If my father did such a despicable thing, if any of what you said was true, at least that little shit would have a decent motive for killing my father. Or didn’t that occur to you, you bitch?”

  Time stopped. The courtroom reverberated with the echoes of Kip Rayburn’s fury. His face, so ordinary in repose, took on angles and shadows carved by the twin blades of raw emotion and brutal honesty. He trembled as he stood looking down on Josie Baylor-Bates. His hatred of her was palpable. She took a step forward, holding out her right hand as if to ask the judge to give her a moment. It was Josie and Kip in that instant. Everyone else faded to black and the camera captured them in close-up.

  “If everything I said is true,” Josie said firmly, “then Hannah isn’t the only one with a motive to kill your father is she, Mr. Rayburn?”

  22

  “In my chambers!” - Judge Cy Norris

  “Sit down!”

  Judge Norris bellowed as he swept into his chambers. He yanked at the zipper on his robes and fought his way out of them. Behind him Linda and Kip, Rudy and Josie scattered. Linda took a chair, as did Rudy. Josie and Kip stood on opposite sides of the room.

  “Your Honor,” Josie began.

  “Not yet. Not yet, Ms. Bates. You just give me a minute here to cool my jets.” Norris huffed. Adrenalin kept him from his seat. Behind the desk he paced like a caged animal; long strides in a short space. His hands were on the side of his head before they landed on his hips. The temperate looking man who had initially taken the bench had a formidable temper.

  Finally he stopped, grasped the back of his chair, and hung his head. In the silence that ensued he finally sat down, tented his fingers and looked at them. He was, in a word, appalled.

  “Mr. Rayburn. I will not accept that kind of behavior in my courtroom. Period. And I am disturbed to think that your behavior might be repeated in your own courtroom were the governor to allow you to take the bench.”

  “It isn’t my courtroom I’d worry about, it is your own.”

  “Mr. Rayburn,” Norris snapped.

  “This entire trial is a farce.” Kip sounded off. “You’ve enabled that woman to degrade these proceedings by attacking me and my father in public when she had every opportunity to ask me those same questions before this trial began. This is a calculated attack.”

  “You will show this court respect, sir,” Judge Norris intoned, “because you have no standing except as a witness here.”

  “It doesn’t matter when I ask a question,” Josie insisted, ready to fight with Kip. “I expect a truthful answer. If you were going to turn a blind eye to what was happening in your own home then I had no choice but to bring it to the court’s attention.” Josie whipped her head toward Judge Norris. “Your Honor, I request a continuance. I need more time to fully prepare now that I have this information. I need to see what bearing the victim’s behavior, this witnesses’ behavior, has on my case.”

  “Your Honor,” Rudy jumped in. “There is no need to put the court out because Ms. Bates’ client has been less than forthcoming. The defense has had ample time to uncover and investigate all aspects of this matter. We aren’t talking about forensics that need additional testing, or an eye witness that needs to be located.”

  “I should say not,” Kip drawled. “There couldn’t be a witness, or evidence, because nothing happened to that girl. Ask my wife. Ask her.”

  All eyes turned toward Linda. She sat with her knees together, her hands fisted in her lap. Her face was the color of chalk, her eyes cold as ice as she stared at Josie.

  “Why are you doing this to us?” Linda lifted her hands slightly.

  “Did you know, Linda? Did you?” Josie asked quietly. But Linda didn’t answer. She turned to Judge Norris.

  “Your Honor, my daughter is ill. She lives in a world of fantasy. Hannah lives in her own mind. She paints pictures; she makes up lives for herself. She smokes marijuana. She reinvents herself every. . .”

  “Linda!” Josie cried. “What are you saying? Hannah has been abused, and she has the scars to prove it.”

  Linda dropped her head before swinging it toward Josie, glaring at her from beneath her long lashes.

  �
�Don’t you dare tell me about my daughter, Josie.”

  “I’m not. I’m asking you to look at her objectively. Look at what that man did to her,” Josie pleaded.

  “And I’m telling you to look again.” Linda shook back her hair and sat up straighter. “You always could tell a fake when we played ball, Josie. You should be able to tell one now.”

  Josie’s eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. It was there in Linda’s tone, the shadow behind the eyes.

  “This isn’t sport, and Hannah isn’t my opponent, Linda,” Josie said cautiously.

  “No, this isn’t sport,” Linda whispered before finding some strength and starting again. “Hannah is a sick girl who has taken up every minute of my life with worry. I don’t mind for myself, but she can ruin my husband’s career, and the reputation of a fine man who died a tragic death.” She turned toward Rudy then to Judge Norris. “How can you let this happen? How can you let her insinuate these things? Whatever Ms. Bates believes she saw, Hannah probably did it to herself; whatever she told you are the imagining of a lonely teenager who has never fit in anywhere.” She turned her gaze back to Josie. “This isn’t helping Hannah, Josie. This isn’t helping any of us.”

  Kip stepped in.

  “If you stay this course, Ms. Bates, you will be on the wrong side of a slander suit. We want Hannah to plead no contest to all charges. Mr. Klein, I’d like you to negotiate a plea bargain. We will advise you of new counsel.”

  Josie scoffed.

  “You know counsel can’t be replaced without good cause, and I haven’t done anything but act in the best interest of my client.”

  “That’s a laugh,” Kip snorted. “I can replace you this minute. I won’t pay one more cent for this kind of representation.”

  “So this is all about money and appearances.” Josie nodded, resigned to what she had to do next. “Fine. Let’s remove her from you – not me from her. Judge, Ms. Sheraton is being prosecuted as an adult. She should make her own decisions and, if there is a question as to the legality of that, Your Honor, then I’d like to go on record with my intent to file for emancipation of the minor Hannah Sheraton to sever all legal ties with Linda Rayburn.”

  “You can’t do that,” Linda cried half standing. Kip grabbed her shoulders and settled her again.

  “Your Honor, this is a mockery of the system,” Rudy argued. “Emancipation was never meant to be used this way.”

  “Then leave me alone to defend that girl!” Josie pushed the envelope without a thought to the consequences.

  “Quiet. All of you.” Norris cut the air with his hand and looked at each one in turn. Josie infuriated and determined, Linda stiff with rage, Rudy anxious to get this proceeding back on track, and Kip Rayburn hurt, angry and dangerous. There was something else in Kip Rayburn, too, but it took Norris a minute to identify it. Then he had a word for it. Shame. Shame could be a powerful motivator.

  He gave his order.

  “I’ll talk to the defendant. Alone.”

  23

  Josie knew one thing: all problems could be solved.

  Fritz Rayburn was a problem. Someone solved it by eliminating the source. Josie’s father solved his problems by the book. Emily Baylor-Bates ran away. Linda turned a blind eye, some people ignored their troubles, and some created bigger ones to take their place. Then there were people who solved their problems the good old-fashioned way – they worked at it. Ask the right questions, determine if answers were truthful, make a plan, follow through and regroup if necessary.

  Now they were waiting to see how Judge Norris would solve the problem of Hannah Sheraton.

  Linda and Kip sat in the empty jury box, isolated, huddled together, and holding hands. Kip didn’t move; Linda couldn’t sit still. She leaned into her husband, put her hand on his knee, draped her arm over his shoulders, dropped her head so that it nestled against his jaw, and spoke to him in whispers. The only thing Linda Rayburn didn’t do was look at Josie pacing in the back of the courtroom.

  Josie checked her watch incessantly, and wished a thousand times that Norris would have let her stay in chambers while he spoke to Hannah. She promised silence. He had dismissed her, and now time wasn’t going any faster because Josie was up and moving. She sank onto the back pew, put her knees together, and splayed her feet outwards considering the fine point on the toe of her high-heeled boots.

  “Bates?”

  Josie started and sat up straighter, instantly on her guard. Rudy Klein swung himself onto the pew in front of her.

  “What’s going on out there?” Josie cocked her head toward the door, keeping her voice low.

  “The press is getting ready for a feeding frenzy. You’re headlines again. That’s quite a talent.”

  “Anything else?” Josie had no patience for him and this little game of dredging up the past.

  “No. I guess not. Just thought you might like some company. I suppose I was wrong.”

  Rudy started to get up. Josie stopped him.

  “Sorry. Sorry. I’m a little sensitive at the moment.”

  Rudy sat down again. He hung one hand over the back of the pew. He spoke quietly, thoughtfully.

  “You’re not the only one. And you’re not the only one who feels bad about all this.” Rudy sighed. His fingers drummed lightly on the back of the bench. “I’ve got to tell you it makes me feel terrible. I admired Judge Rayburn. I don’t want to think he could do what you’re saying he did. Not to a kid. Not his son or that girl.”

  Josie looked at Rudy as his voice trailed off. He was a truly handsome man. His hair waved back from a broad, intelligent brow. The eyes that looked so lazy were actually bright and telling. He had probably been a hell of an actor but he wasn’t acting now. Rudy was disturbed and fighting to stay true to his own charge.

  “I don’t think anyone wants to believe it, but that is what we’ve got,” Josie said.

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” Rudy sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. “I just wonder if you really know what you’re doing. I mean the press is going to run with this, a lot of things are going to be called into question: Rayburn’s judgments, the governors, your own part in this.”

  “Are you concerned for my professional reputation?” She slid her eyes toward him, wary of the opponent at rest.

  “I wouldn’t like to see you go down the tubes and I think you might. You’re running with a ball but you didn’t consider who made the pass.” Rudy rested his chin on his hand. “Maybe asking for a continuance and checking out the kid’s story before you came out with all guns blazing might have made a little more sense”

  “It’s nice of you to worry about me. I think my reputation will survive,” Josie drawled.

  “Hey, come on. I’m not rooting for you to go down, this is just some advice. Whatever is between you and the girl’s mother is between the two of you. But what she has to say about this girl being delusional, or self destructive, or whatever, may be right.”

  “And I believe my client,” Josie answered. “That’s enough.”

  He shook his head, sliding his arm off the back of the bench in dismay, genuinely distressed.

  “Then you’re going to be the only one. Fritz Rayburn was a California Supreme Court Justice. I can recite his resume chapter and verse. There has never, ever been a hint of scandal and now a girl with mega problems is crying foul. You’ve got to see the downside of all this.”

  Josie pulled her feet together and leaned forward. She kept her voice low.

  “Rudy, why does age and accomplishment count for more than youth and fear? I think telling me about this was a pretty gutsy thing for Hannah to do. I wish she’d done it earlier. She knew people would react the way you are. Nobody wants to scrutinize Fritz Rayburn, or call him to account. Do you think Kip would have stood up for Hannah if she told him? Do you think her mother would?”

  “I would, had there been credible evidence,” Rudy insisted.

  “Right. The same way you’re willing to believe her now,” Josie scoffed. �
��Give me a break, Rudy.”

  She turned her head. Kip was watching them, and when Josie caught his eye she was overwhelmed with sadness for everyone: Kip, Linda, and especially Hannah. Then she looked around the courtroom and the feeling passed. No one in here did anything because they felt sorry for a fellow human being. Here everyone was driven by a higher purpose, and Josie’s was justice for a girl who had no power.

  “You said you and the DA want to hold kids who kill accountable.” She sat up straighter but still spoke quietly. “Why shouldn’t accountability work both ways? I’d like to think you’d prosecute Fritz Rayburn if he were accused. I’d like to think I would defend him because everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But Fritz Rayburn isn’t my client. Hannah is. She deserves everything I’ve got to give including laying the truth out like a bed of nails and making you lay down on it. I expect you to fight back hard, but what I really expect, Rudy, is that we’ll just get to the truth. Most often this is where the truth finally comes out if you dig deep enough.”

  Rudy Klein pulled his lips together. Josie Baylor-Bates believed in her client as much as he believed Hannah Sheraton was responsible for Justice Rayburn’s death.

  “I can bury you with this abuse thing if you pursue it, Bates. It’s motive pure and simple,” he said bluntly. “I’ll talk to the District Attorney about a deal. Let’s make this go away before it goes any further.”

  Josie looked over at Kip Rayburn then back at Rudy. “No, Rudy. This time I’m right. It’s a reason for Hannah to have defended herself not the other way around. No deal.”

  With that Josie stood up. The door of chambers had opened. Judge Norris had Hannah by the arm and was escorting her into the courtroom.

  Linda rushed out of the jury box, hands out to her daughter. Hannah looked away and stayed close to Judge Norris. Kip stood behind Linda. Rudy followed Josie until they had all congregated behind the bar. Judge Norris and Hannah were in front of it. Norris spoke quietly and firmly.

  “I have decided to grant a continuation per Ms. Bates’ request. This trial will resume on Tuesday the sixteenth. This court will recognize Ms. Sheraton’s adult status without emancipation proceedings. She has chosen to have Ms. Bates continue as her defense attorney. She has also decided there will be no further discussion of plea bargain unless the attorneys are present, and the defendant agrees.”