by Artemis Hunt
Sam quickly intervenes. “We’re not technically going out, Mrs. Morton. We’re just really, really good friends.”
Angelique’s features soften. “You’ve done a lot for my son, Samantha. I want to thank you for that.”
“I’m not sure it will be admissible in court.”
Brian says, “Sam was arrested for what she did, Mother.” He closes his hand tightly over Sam’s. “I don’t think I can ever repay her for that.”
You tried to, Sam thinks, tears coming to her eyes. She quickly blinks them away. She’s getting super-emotional lately. She’s glad she isn’t on the stand.
Karen Sandler is nowhere to be seen during lunch. Brian checks his cellphone, but there are no messages from her either.
“Must be quite a long session in the Judge’s chambers,” he says guardedly.
After lunch, they are quite subdued when they troop back to the courtroom. Everyone else resumes their seats. Karen and Norma reenter the courtroom. Karen takes her seat beside Brian at the defendant’s table and whispers something to him. Sam can’t hear what it is, but she can tell that Karen appears quite anxious.
Sam tries to quell the negative thoughts that threaten to spring up like weeds.
Judge Cowan returns.
“All rise.”
Amid the scrapes of chairs, everyone rises, and then sits again as the Judge takes his place.
After a few introductory recaps, he announces, “Due to the nature of the evidence, which was unlawfully obtained and which contravenes Article 8 of the Human Rights, which is the right to respect an individual’s private life, including her home, I have moved to strike it off. The photographs may not be used in court.”
A collective murmur issues through the crowd. Sam’s spirits sink.
Damn.
It is up to Brian now to prove Delilah’s malicious intent.
Then there’s the issue about the other piece of ‘evidence’. The one that is coming up. Is the Judge going to strike that one off too?
11
The next day, Brian has to sit through the rest of the prosecution’s witness testimonies. Norma Hennessey has called Manny, the doorman of his apartment building.
Manny testifies – all the while looking at Brian sheepishly – that Delilah had indeed run out of the elevator doors that fateful night. Her mascara was streaked and her hair was in a mess. There were scratches on her arms and chest that he could see above the swelling of her breasts.
“I tried to stop her to ask her what happened . . . but she was crying and shaking her head. She ran to the parking elevators. I debated whether or not to call the police – ”
He eyes Brian again with a guilty expression on his scrunched features.
“And why didn’t you?” Norma Hennessey says.
Manny hesitates.
Brian nods. Just tell the truth, it’s OK.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on. Mr. Morton . . . he has always been good to me. Polite, always. I wanted to give him a chance to explain. And it’s the first time this has ever happened with one of his ladies – ”
“That will be all, Mr. Polchek. Your witness.” Norma nods at Karen.
Karen stands up.
“You were going to say something about Mr. Morton’s ladies, Mr. Polchek. Please continue.”
Manny says apologetically, “Mr. Morton . . . he was always good with the ladies. He usually brings plenty of ladies home.”
“Ladies? Do you mean hookers?”
“No!” Manny seems aghast. “These are nice ladies. Uh well, ladies who are not hookers, I mean.”
“Plenty of ladies?”
“Yes. Before Mr. Morton moved out, he had plenty of ladies come to . . . visit him.”
“Were these overnight visits?”
“Yes.”
“Would you say Mr. Morton had an easy time attracting the ladies?”
“Oh, yes,” Manny avows. “He’s a handsome man. And charming. And rich too. Ladies go for all that.”
Brian cringes. Manny has always idolized him for his looks, money and charisma. A lot of guys did – before his fall from grace, of course.
“How many ladies has Mr. Morton had over in his apartment?”
Manny freezes, unsure if he is to continue.
“Go on,” Karen coaxes him. I’m his attorney. I won’t let him come to harm.
“Uh, hundreds over the years.”
“Hundreds of different ladies?”
“Yes.”
“Not the same ones twice?”
“No . . . except for Ms. Fox.” Manny points at Sam, sitting in the audience. “She stayed over plenty of times.”
Brian glances back at Sam, who nods at him encouragingly.
Karen continues, “Have any of these ladies over the years seemed reluctant to you, Mr. Polchek?”
“In what way do you mean?”
“Did they resist Mr. Morton in any way, in your observation?”
“No. It was the other way around most of the time. They were very eager to go with Mr. Morton.”
“Does Mr. Morton strike you as a man who needs to force a woman to have sex with him, Mr. Polchek?”
“Objection,” Norma interrupts. “Mr. Polchek’s opinion is of no relevance in this case.”
“Mr. Polchek has been a witness to many of Mr. Morton’s dalliances over the years. Since you are using him as a witness to Ms. Faulkner’s physical and mental state on the night of _______, it is only appropriate that I should cross-examine him on the normal conduct of the defendant.”
“Objection overruled. You may answer the question, Mr. Polchek.”
Manny hesitates again.
He finally says, “I don’t think Mr. Morton ever needs to force a woman to have sex with him. At least . . . if he is fully conscious and not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol.”
Brian winces. As if he needed to hear that last bit.
“Thank you, Mr. Polchek. That would be all.”
*
If Brian thought that Delilah’s and Manny’s testimonies were difficult to sit through, he is practically squirming in his wooden seat as the Emergency doctor who examined Delilah on that night takes the stand.
The doctor’s name is Fran Granger. Curly red hair. Freckles. Pale, pale skin – the kind that hasn’t seen the sun in months. She glances briefly at Brian, and purses her mouth.
Uh oh, Brian thinks. She’s nailed me to the cross already.
Dr. Granger goes on to describe, very graphically, what she found when she examined Delilah that night. She reads from her hospital case notes.
“The patient was extremely frightened, distraught. She had multiple lacerations and contusions on her upper arms, chest, abdomen and legs, consistent with a struggle of some sort. I performed a vaginal examination on her. There were lacerations there as well along with other signs of forced entry.”
Brian locks eyes with her. Fran Granger shoots him a look of extreme hostility. Nice to see that some women aren’t taken in by his good looks and charm. He hopes there are not too many of those on the jury.
“I obtained a sample from the semen stains I found inside her vagina. I examined her anus and rectum as well. There were signs of forced entry. Tears around the perineum.”
Norma Hennessey picks up a report.
“The DNA in the semen sample was cross-matched to that of Mr. Morton. They were a perfect match.”
“Would these findings be consistent with rape, Dr. Granger?”
“Objection!”
“Overruled. The witness may proceed to answer the question.”
Brian feels himself get a little hot under the collar. The trial has taken a downswing for the worse.
“Yes,” Dr. Granger says, raking her gaze into Brian’s face. “These findings are consistent with both violent rape and sodomy.”
Her expression says: I’ll get you, you fucker.
A few more questions, and then Norma Hennessey says, “I have no further questions for this witness
.”
Brian can almost feel the damnation hanging in the air over his head. Some of the jury members, especially the women, were practically burning him at the stake already with their scorching glares.
Shit.
Karen stands up.
“Dr. Granger, is it possible that these findings . . . these lacerations and signs of traumatic entry in and around Ms. Faulkner’s private parts . . . be also consistent with being brutally penetrated by an inanimate blunt object?”
“I don’t see why – ”
“Please answer the question.”
Dr. Granger’s cheeks flush red. “It’s possible, but why should anyone – ?”
“Thank you, Dr. Granger. You have indeed acceded that it is possible. Would you also say that it’s possible for Ms. Faulkner to violently penetrate her own private parts with a blunt object . . . such as a dildo or any similar-shaped object . . . in order to stage her own rape and sodomy?”
“Objection! The defense counsel is badgering the witness!”
“I am merely asking if it’s possible, your Honor.”
“I will allow this,” the Judge says. “Answer the question, Dr. Granger.”
Fran Granger is positively brimming with rage. For a doctor, she certainly can’t hold her emotions in check, Brian thinks.
“Yes,” she hisses through her teeth. “It’s possible, though not likely in the event we actually found Brian Morton’s sperm samples inside both Ms. Faulkner’s vagina and rectum.”
“But is it also possible that Ms. Faulkner could have rendered Mr. Morton unconscious, milked him for his semen and then injected the semen into herself to make it seem like she was raped?”
“Listen to yourself, counselor,” Dr. Granger sneers. “A tall story, isn’t it?”
“But it is possible?” Karen insists.
“Yes, it’s possible, but not likely. Extremely unlikely.”
“Thank you, Dr. Granger, that would be all.”
As the Emergency room doctor gets down from the witness stand, she shoots a murderous look at Brian.
Norma Hennessey says, “With that, the prosecution rests, your Honor.”
A buzz goes through the courtroom crowd. Brian’s bones ache all over. The chair is uncomfortable enough. Not to mention having to relive the testimonies – of having evidence of his own guilt being flung repeatedly like stones in his face.
Then Karen Sandler stands up.
“The defense calls Brian Morton to the stand.”
12
Sam can’t take her eyes off Brian on the witness stand. He is wearing Gucci today, and his suit is a dark green color that matches his eyes and sets them off. He is pale, and his eyes are large in his face, but he is looking remarkably beautiful amid his obvious angst.
She hopes the jury is coming to the same conclusion: How can a man as beautiful as this possibly need to rape a woman if he needs sex?
Of course, nothing is ever as clear cut in the cold light of day. Immensely virile and beautiful men have had the compulsion to dominate and rape women throughout the history of time. Sam is not so obtuse to think that a beautiful man would be innocent of such crimes.
But in Brian’s case, he was set up. Now it’s a matter of proving it.
But like Karen said, it is not so simple. Motive and what exactly happened that night are two interlinked subjects, but may be viewed as separate incidences by the jury.
Karen goes through the spiel she has rehearsed with Brian. All Brian has to do is tell the truth of what happened that night. Right up to when he stopped remembering.
Sam listens, the knot in her stomach tightening as he goes through the story she has heard and analyzed a hundred times.
“What was going through your mind when you saw Ms. Faulkner in the lobby of your apartment building?”
“She was . . . is a very attractive woman.” Brian says this without inflection.
“Did you purposefully try to seduce her?”
“Yes. It’s something that I . . . instinctively do whenever I see an attractive woman.” Brian takes a deep breath. “I try to get into her pants.”
A ripple goes through the crowd. Sam flinches. But this is what Brian wanted. Nothing but the uncompromising truth.
“How many women have you seduced, Mr. Morton?”
“Since I was sixteen? I’m not sure of the exact number . . . but it must have been over a thousand.”
Gasps all round. Sam is certain that this is something that Brian will not be proud of today of all days. On the stand, Brian appears appropriately glum.
“Why so many, Mr. Morton?”
Brian pauses. “Why so many? I don’t know. I’m not the type who settles down, I guess.” He doesn’t look at Sam when he says this. “Because I wanted them . . . and they wanted me. It was all completely consensual.”
“Objection to the word usage of ‘all’,” Norma says. “What you did to Ms. Faulkner was not consensual.”
“What he allegedly did,” Karen says heatedly.
“Please proceed, Mr. Morton,” the Judge says, rolling his eyes.
“Asking her up to my apartment was a seduction ploy,” Brian admits. “But that was all it was.” He goes on to describe exactly what happened – up to the moment he blanked out.
“Do you consume a lot of alcohol normally?” Karen asks.
“Yes. I’m a social drinker. I take about three or four shots a day.”
“Do you get drunk easily?”
“No.”
“Do you consume drugs?”
Brian hesitates. “Yes. Sometimes.”
“What sort of drugs?”
“Club drugs, most of the time. I do it to get high. Ecstasy. Special K. Coke, sometimes.”
“Crystal meth?”
“Once or twice, but as a rule, no. I’m not an addict. I can do without drugs.”
“Did you imbibe or ingest any drugs on that day?”
“No, definitely not. My toxicology results came back negative. My blood alcohol was also within normal limits.”
“Have you had blackouts before?”
“No. Never. This was the first time.” Brian looks anxious as he says this.
Karen takes up his blood report. She reads from it. “Everything within normal parameters except for serum Creatinine, which is high, and blood potassium.”
She pauses significantly. Sam knows she is going to bring it up again later.
Brian winds up his testimony as to the night in question. Total amnesia as to what happened.
Karen says, “Let’s talk about something else that might be relevant to the case. Let’s talk about college and when you met Ms. Delilah Faulkner, who was then known as Ms. Adele Jankovic, for the first time.”
The court holds a collective breath.
Hesitantly, Brian launches into his story of what happened with Adele back in college. He speaks haltingly, as if the guilt is threatening to swamp him. Sam knows this is no act. Brian is truly consumed with guilt at what he had done to Adele. He believes he must atone for it. He has truly paid the price for it, and is still paying.
Sam cannot see Delilah’s face from her vantage, but from the rigid way the redhead holds her shoulders, she knows that Delilah is every bit as strained.
“And why did you perpetrate this ‘trick’ on Adele Jankovic?” Karen asks gently.
Brian swallows visibly. “Because I was young and dumb and all those things you associate with college jocks. Because I could. And I didn’t think beyond that . . . of how much it would hurt another person. It’s no excuse, but it was what it was.”
“The fallacies of youth,” Karen muses.
Brian’s expression wears so much pain that Sam quails. She knows it’s not something he put on either.
“I’m sorry.” He faces Delilah directly. “I’m sorry for what I did. I had no idea it would lead to this.”
“Objection. The defendant is accusing the plaintiff of something which is not fact-based.”
“I was getting
to that,” Karen says. “Now tell me what happened on the night of _______, Mr. Morton.”
Fast forward to the recent future. Sam clutches her purse in her hands for support. It is the night of Brian’s visit to Adie right after Sam’s arrest and bail. The night he offered his body to Adie like a sacrificial lamb.
“Objection.” Norma Hennessey is on her feet again. “This has no relevance whatsoever to the case, your Honor.”
“Once again, I’m establishing motive as to why Ms. Faulkner alleged that Mr. Morton raped her on the night of _______.”
“There is no motive! There was a committed crime. All the hard evidence points to that crime!”
“Please, your Honor. It is imperative for the members of the jury to be presented with all the facts for their decision. This information comes from the defendant himself and it was not obtained unlawfully.”
Karen stands her ground.
The Judge strokes his jaw, considering this. “Very well, Ms. Sandler. I will allow this. But do not deviate from the proceedings.”
“Thank you, your Honor. Mr. Morton, please proceed to tell your story.”
In starts and stops, Brian tells the story. He is super-nervous. Sam remembers – with a tinge of bittersweet nostalgia – the arrogant, smug man she had reacquainted with in the bar with Cassie over a year ago. To see him humbled and brought down to his knees like this is beyond painful.
Karen says, “So you went up to her apartment with her? Did anyone see you?”
“No. It was very late at night.”
“She invited you up to her apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know. I figured she didn’t want anyone to see us talking in the car park.”
“What did you say to her?”
“As soon as I went up to her apartment, I asked her to consider dropping all her charges against Samantha Fox’s breaking and entering.”
“Was this how Ms. Fox obtained the photos?” Karen glances pointedly at the Judge, who had disallowed those very photos.
“Yes.”
“What did you offer Ms. Faulkner?”
“Anything she wanted. Namely money. I didn’t have much of it anymore because I – ” Brian arrests Sam’s eyes across the room “ – invested in a new business venture with my partner. I also had to resign from being the President and CEO of my advertising firm, which I jointly held shares with my cousin, because of the negative publicity I was getting.”