The last of the crowd filed out the door, leaving them alone in the courtroom.
Michael pulled his pager from his belt. “This thing went crazy a couple of minutes ago. I need to . . .” He studied the display.
“What is it?”
“It’s Charlotte. It says ‘urgent your office.’”
“Call her.”
He opened his cell phone and dialed the number, leaning close to Glynn so she could hear. “Charlotte, it’s Michael.”
“I’m on my way to your office. I have something to show you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s too complicated to go into over the phone. I think I know why Sebby’s doing this.”
The burgundy carpet seemed as thick as the mattress on her bed, Charlotte thought. Michael and his partners were doing very well.
“Through here,” the receptionist said, leading her into a large mahogany office lined with law books. Michael and Glynn jumped to their feet when she entered.
“What did you find?” Glynn asked, her voice anxious. “Mark stopped his sessions too soon. He didn’t push him far enough,” Charlotte answered, dropping her folder on a large conference table. “This thing about seeing you in the bathroom . . . that isn’t what Sebby has been hiding all this time. The real secret is what he says he doesn’t remember.”
Michael reached for the folder. “You think he’s still blocking on something?”
“I’m not even sure he’s blocking. I think he might be digging in. And he won’t tell because he’s afraid of something even worse than having his mother go to prison.”
Glynn joined them at the table. “Charlotte, you’re not making any sense.”
“I know. Sit down and let me explain.” She opened the folder and pulled out the transcript of her session with Sebby. “When Sebby was on the stand this morning, he said it was confusing. That’s what he always says when he doesn’t want to talk.”
Michael gave her a puzzled look. “I don’t get it.”
“You will.” She looked at Glynn. “What are the three things Sebby won’t talk about?”
“He won’t talk about Stephanie at all, not even to say her name.”
“Right, because you asked him not to. That’s when you said he started having problems—not when you told him you loved her, but when you told him not to tell anyone.” She flipped to a page she had marked earlier. “I asked him why he stopped wanting to do things with her and he said, ‘I don’t remember that. It’s too confusing.’ Those are his exact words.”
Michael looked at his legal pad. “You’re right. He said that this morning too.”
She turned again to Glynn. “And that’s what he said when I asked him if he was worried about your breast cancer. You kept that quiet, Glynn. Did you ever tell Sebby not to tell anyone about it?”
“Just his grandmother . . .” Her eyes grew wider as she remembered. “It was the weekend right before he tried to kill himself. We went to Indiana and I asked him not to tell Irene.”
“That’s what I thought. And any time someone starts pulling at his secrets, he answers by saying he doesn’t remember because he’s confused. And then he follows it by trying to hurt himself. He did that with Stephanie. He did it with your breast cancer. And he did it when Mark pressed him to go further. So this business about seeing you kill Bas is not the secret. The secret is whatever happened next.”
“That’s nice to know, but what good does it do us if he remembers seeing his mother commit a murder and won’t tell us anything else?” Michael asked.
“Look, whatever he’s hiding about this is what started everything. It’s what scares him so much about keeping secrets.”
Now it was Glynn with the bewildered look. “I always thought what scared him was that something bad would happen to me like it did to his father.”
Charlotte played the words over in her head. “That’s it.”
“What?” Michael and Glynn asked in unison.
“That’s exactly what he’s afraid of.” Charlotte grabbed Michael’s tablet and opened to a fresh page. “Here’s what you have to do.”
Glynn smiled as Sebby entered the courtroom and returned to his seat at the front of the chamber. She was finally free to show her emotions because Michael said the jury would want to see the love she had for her son.
Judge Bowers leaned over to the witness stand. “Sebastian, I just want to remind you that you’re still under oath. You have to tell the truth to Mr. Gattison.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Michael stood and walked toward Sebby, his face set in a stern but fatherly expression, as if about to deliver a serious lecture. “Your mom calls you Sebby. Is it all right for me to do that?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks. And thanks for coming today and telling that story. I know it must have been really hard to do, especially since it could mean your mom having to go to prison.”
“Objection. Sidebar, Your Honor.”
The attorneys mumbled too softly for Glynn to hear, but it sounded as if Michael was being admonished for trying to push Sebby off his story for her sake. Glynn tuned it out. She was riveted to her son, who had looked at her twice since coming back from lunch. It was clear he was anguished, but his willingness to meet her gaze was all the encouragement she needed to believe they would end this day on the road to healing.
The gavel slapped. “Objection sustained.” She turned toward Sebby. “Sebastian, I want to remind you that the truth is what matters here. The outcome of this trial isn’t your concern. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Sebby, I want to ask you some questions about your story, but I have some other things I’d like to know first. Can you tell the court what you remember about how your mother and father acted when they were together? Were they happy? Did they argue a lot?”
“I guess they were happy. I never heard them fight about stuff.”
“Did you all have fun together?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What kinds of things did you do as a family?”
Sebby crinkled his nose, which Glynn recognized as a sign he was thinking hard. “We went on picnics and stuff. We went to the farm in Indiana and chased each other in the barn.”
“Do you ever remember your parents fighting?”
He shook his head.
“You have to answer out loud so people can hear you.” “No, I don’t remember them fighting.”
“Ever?”
“No, sir.”
“So did they act like they loved each other?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you said you heard them yelling at each other in the bathroom that day. Had you ever heard that before?”
“No.”
“So it was very unusual what you heard.”
“I guess.”
“Did you ever hear your mom argue with Stephanie?”
Sebby suddenly shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I don’t remember.”
“That was just . . . what? A few years ago.” Michael looked back at Glynn and she nodded.
“I don’t . . . I don’t remember her very well.”
Michael walked to the table where the exhibits were displayed. “Sebby, did you know your mom told the reporters a few weeks ago about Stephanie? It was in the papers. And then she signed a statement that we read in court yesterday that told all about how they loved each other. So everyone knows now. It isn’t a secret anymore.”
Sebby looked at her, his eyes big and questioning. She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile.
“Do you have a question, Mr. Gattison?” Judge Bowers asked.
“Yes, Your Honor. Sebby, if your mother tells you that you don’t have to keep that secret anymore, does that make you feel better?”
“Your Honor,” Ferrin whined. “Objection. He’s leading the witness.”
“Overruled.”
“Yes, sir,” Sebby answered. He visibly relaxed.
“So it feels good to get secrets ou
t in the open, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I think most people feel that way. There was another secret your mother asked you to keep. Do you remember that one? You don’t have to say what it is. Just tell me yes or no.”
He nodded. “Yes, there’s another one.”
“Did you also know your mom went on television a few weeks ago and told everyone she was being treated for breast cancer?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“She did. So that isn’t a secret either. She’s releasing you from those secrets now, because they aren’t secrets anymore. She also said the doctors thought she was probably cured, that they got the cancer early and it won’t be back.”
Glynn’s heart nearly melted when Sebby gave her a full-on smile.
“You really love your mom, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” he said. The tips of his ears were turning red.
“Are you keeping any more secrets for your mom, Sebby?”
He shook his head adamantly. “No.”
“So . . . she didn’t ask you to keep any secrets about the day your father died?”
“No, sir.”
“Did someone else ask you?”
The smile left his face, but he didn’t answer.
“Sebby . . .” Michael put his hand on the rail in front of the witness stand. “I think there’s one more thing you’re hiding, and you have to tell us what it is.”
“I don’t remember. I get confused.”
“I know you do. But you really have to think hard this time. You made a deal with your mother, remember? She had the surgery and did the radiation treatments so she would get well. You went to Rawlings to go through the program so you would get well. She held up her end, and she even told everyone her secrets. Now you have to hold up yours.”
Sebby was in a state of near-panic, breathing faster and starting to sweat.
“Let’s go back and finish your story. You went into the bedroom when you heard the voices. You were hiding behind the bed. Why were you hiding?”
“I wasn’t allowed in their room.”
“Who told you that? Who said you weren’t allowed in their bedroom?”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“Was it your mother?”
“No.”
Michael glanced back at Glynn with an affirming nod. Then he turned back to Sebby. “What did you see from behind the bed?”
He gulped for air and blurted, “I told you. I saw her push the TV into the water. That was all.”
“You saw your mother do that?”
He started to cry. “I can’t tell. Something bad will happen.” It tore her apart to see her son in such pain, but Charlotte had pleaded with her to let Michael lead him to the truth. If Sebby didn’t face this, he would never be safe from the demons that tortured him.
“Are you keeping a secret for someone because you think something bad will happen?”
He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “It already did. Something bad happened to Dad.”
Michael looked back at Glynn, bewildered. “Because you told the secret?”
He nodded, burying his face in his hands.
“Who did you tell?”
“I accidentally told Mom.”
Glynn couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. She didn’t remember him saying anything shocking or secretive in the short time after she came home.
“Told her what, Sebby?”
“I don’t remember,” he wailed.
“Yes, you do. You told your father’s secret and something bad happened to him. Now you’re afraid if you tell it again, something bad will happen to your mom. Is that right?”
He nodded vigorously. “Yes.”
“Sebby, your mother is safe. She was very brave and told her secrets. Nothing bad happened to her. Now you have to be brave and tell yours.”
“Dad said she wouldn’t be there anymore, and not to say anything to Mom.” Tears rolled freely down his cheeks. “But I did. I told Mom about her when we were making cookies. And she came back and killed Dad.”
“Who did, Sebby?”
“Marcella . . . Marcella Stroupe.”
The courtroom went deathly silent for several seconds before murmurs erupted from the gallery. Judge Bowers slammed her gavel. “Quiet or you’re all going out the door!”
Michael looked at Glynn with dismay, and then at Ferrin, who was staring agape as his star witness. “Your Honor, I think we need a recess.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Chapter 22
Glynn’s knee bounced uncontrollably as she waited with Michael. “What’s taking so long?”
“Ferrin’s trying to salvage his case.”
“Why? He knows by now I didn’t do it.”
“He needs to make sure Sebby isn’t going to change his mind as soon as we walk out. He can’t charge you again because of double jeopardy.” He reached for his belt and removed his pager. “Charlotte’s outside.”
“Can we go?”
“The hallway’s going to be jammed with press, Glynn. I don’t want to make any premature statements.” He answered the text message, telling Charlotte to wait.
The door opened at the back of the courtroom and one of Ferrin’s assistants came in with the bailiff. “Mr. Gattison, Mr. Ferrin would like to meet with you and your client in the secondfloor conference room. Bobby’s going to guide us up the back steps.”
Glynn followed anxiously, ready to put this behind her. What she didn’t expect was to find Sebby already seated on the far side of the table, his grandmother at his side. She ignored Irene and hurried around, arms wide to receive her son.
He stood and reached out, wrapping her in a powerful embrace. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I got mixed up. I know it wasn’t you.”
“Shhh, it’s okay. I knew there had to be something wrong.” She basked in the relief of holding him tight, finally letting herself believe this saga would soon be over.
“If we could all have a seat . . .” Ferrin gestured at the table.
Glynn sat on Sebby’s opposite side, gripping his hand. She wasn’t yet ready to speak to Irene.
Ferrin took the seat at the head of the table. “We have a lot of questions that remain unanswered, but Sebastian is adamant that it was not his mother he saw commit the murder, so our office has no choice but to drop the charges.”
Michael cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Gerry, I’d like to see your office drop this case with the same zeal with which you took it up. My client has suffered tremendous harm from this prosecution, and you owe her more than a simple acknowledgment that you have no case.”
“Michael, we prosecuted her in good faith.”
“And we’ll accept that. But your public statement should acknowledge my client’s innocence, not your lack of evidence.”
It was clear to Glynn that avoiding public humiliation was high on Ferrin’s agenda. But finally he sighed in resignation.
“Very well. I’ll issue an apology when we announce we’re dropping the charges. But I still want Sebastian to clarify some of our questions. And by the way, I’ve just received word that Marcella Stroupe was taken into custody a few minutes ago, and they’re already working on matching her fingerprints to the scene. We’ll be questioning her, but it’s difficult to say whether or not she’ll be charged.”
Irene pounded the table with her fist. “What do you mean difficult to say? She killed my son!”
“Maybe she did, Mrs. Wright. But we now have a credibility problem with our eyewitness because he’s already told all of America his mother did it.”
“I thought it was Mom at first,” Sebby explained. “I could only see her from the back. I wasn’t used to seeing her with short hair. That’s why I got confused. And because . . .”
“Go ahead, son.” Glynn patted his arm.
“Dad promised me Marcella wouldn’t be coming over anymore after you got home.”
“And this Ma
rcella Stroupe . . . she and your father were having an affair?” Ferrin asked.
Glynn wished she didn’t have to hear this part—the idea that Bas had cheated on her while she was gone made her sick to her stomach—but the fact Sebby had carried this horrible secret for so long by himself made her feel obligated to listen.
Sebby began to push his hair against the grain, clearly upset. “I walked in on them one night. That’s when Dad told me not to come into the bedroom anymore. And then before Mom got home, he made me promise to keep a secret. He said if I told Mom that Marcella had been there, something bad would happen to them.”
“So what really happened that day, Sebby?” Michael asked quietly.
“It was like I said. We were making cookies in the kitchen and Mom was asking me all these questions about what I’d been doing while she was gone. I don’t remember everything I said, but I know I told her Marcella had been at the house. It just slipped out. And then I got really scared when I remembered it was supposed to be a secret.”
“And what happened when your father got home?”
“I got up when I heard him and went to get more cookies. They were yelling at each other in the bathroom. I went in and hid behind the bed, and I saw her push the TV into the tub. Then she turned around and came out.”
“Did you see her face?” Ferrin asked, making notes as fast as he could.
“Yes, I was . . . I was surprised it was her, like I said, because at first I thought it was Mom. She went out the door. I can still hear her heels clicking on the floor.” He shook his head. “Mom never wears shoes in the house.”
Glynn laughed nervously, still squeezing his hand.
“Then I went into the bathroom. Dad was slumped over in the tub. I called to him but he didn’t answer, so I went to my room to wake Mom up.”
Ferrin stopped writing and leaned back, folding his arms. “Why didn’t you tell the police what you saw?”
He drew a deep breath and choked back a sob. “I was afraid Marcella would kill my mother.”
Tears filled her eyes as Sebby finally let go of his last demon. Charlotte had said he would need a lot of help to get over this once and for all, but getting the secrets out was the biggest step. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, son.”
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