CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
(part three)

“This is fascinating, but can we get to the point?” Miles Blanchard, her sister’s attorney, asked.

The DA had told her that Mr. Blanchard would try to keep the jurors from liking her or forming a bond with her. Honey smiled at the man. She must be doing well.

“Let’s keep moving,” the judge said.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” the assistant DA said. “You said your father hit your mother. Did he hit you?”

“Yes,” Honey said.

“And your sister?”

“She was his favorite. He held her on a kind of pedestal, said she was the best of all of us leeches. If she did something wrong, she’d tell him that I did it, and he’d hit me. I think she was reprimanded, but I don’t remember him hitting her.”

“You say ‘hit’ what do you mean?”

“I couldn’t go to school because I was so battered. He broke my arm a few times. When my Dad adopted me, they had to re-break my arm to make it work right.”

“But your sister went to school?”

“Yes, she was good at school,” Honey said. “Mom and I would clean the hotel while she went to school.”

“Mr. Blanchard has said that your sister was ‘raped’ by your father,” the assistant DA said.

“I don’t remember that,” Honey said. “Mom and I were always at his disposal. He kind of idolized my sister. She’s pretty, funny and smart. They’re a lot a like – my sister and Greg.”

“Objection! Conjecture!” Mr. Blanchard jumped to his feet.

Startled, Honey looked at the judge. The judge gave the attorney a stern look for his dramatics. Turning to Honey, she smiled.

“You can only tell us about your experience, Mrs. Scully,” the judge said. “Not your judgements or what you think about it.”

“Just the facts?” Honey asked. “But they are a lot a like. That’s a fact. They look like twins.”

“Stick with your facts,” The judge smiled. “I ask the jury to disregard Mrs. Scully’s statements regard comparison between her sister and Mr. Gilmore. Please proceed.”

“Mom and I were supposed to take care of his needs,” Honey said.

“Your father didn’t rape your sister?”

“Not that I know of,” Honey said. “And I don’t know when he would have. He usually had Mom and me in bed with him.”

“You slept in the same bed with your mother and father?”

“He would have sex with Mom then me,” Honey said. “That’s usually how it worked. I couldn’t read or write. Greg said it was the only thing I was good at.”

Ms. Campbell walked back to her table to give time for Honey’s last statement to linger in the air. Honey glanced at Mr. Blanchard and saw a smug look on his face. Her sister leaned over to say something in his ear. He nodded as if to say, having sex with Greg was the only thing she was good at. Honey’s head jerked toward the loud cough in the audience.

MJ.

He loved her no matter what. Honey gave him a soft smile.

“This is a good time to take a recess,” the judge said. “Ms. Campbell? Mr. Blanchard? I want to see you in my chambers in fifteen minutes.”

Honey wheeled past the jurors on her way to MJ and her family. She could feel their eyes on her. When she looked up, an elderly woman near the end smiled at her. She nodded and kept moving. Inside, she couldn’t help but smile.

The jury was starting to like her.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow….