Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
No, not that I didn’t die, but because I hyped myself up to be brave, and nothing even happened.
That wasn’t to say that I didn’t anticipate something happening.
There were over a hundred people in the courtroom.
This was a big case for this town.
It wasn’t every day that a man was accused of rape when he most likely didn’t do it.
If it was, in reality, rape, then this was one hell of an elaborate setup.
“All rise,” the bailiff’s call reverberated through the room.
We all rose, and the honorable Judge Judy, I shit you not, walked into the room.
Judy was her last name, though.
She was a woman with brass balls bigger than most men.
Cleo and Loki had been talking this morning when we’d stopped at a red light, and Loki had said something about her that I couldn’t believe.
Now, though, looking at her, I realized what he meant.
She looks like Snow White, Loki had said.
She did, indeed, look like Snow White.
Black hair in a bob at chin level.
Porcelain white skin.
Rosy cheeks.
Then she spoke, and any disillusion that she was like Snow White flew out the window.
“Sit down. Dortea, get on with it,” Judge Judy snapped.
“Somebody didn’t get any last night,” Cleo muttered under his breath.
I elbowed him, causing a gush of air to escape him.
He turned and glared at me. I could feel his gaze as it burned a hole in the side of my face.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, inadvertently bumping Loki’s shoulder.
Why I had to sit in between the two of them was beyond me, but if that’s what I had to do to make the two of them comfortable, then so be it.
Dortea stood from her chair, and walked until she stood just in front of the judge’s bench. “I’d like to call Rue Loden to the stand. The SANE, or sexual assault nurse examiner, who was the first one to speak with Vanessa about the case.”
I stood, nervousness making my legs shake, and walked up to the front.
However, not before Cleo grabbed the back of my thigh and gave me a reassuring squeeze.
I patted his hand, letting him know I had it under control.
Walking up to the stand, I ignored the whispered conversations as best as I could.
I still heard the muttered comment of ‘he’s hot. Wonder why he’s with her.’
I would’ve loved to respond, but Judge Judy AKA Snow White, probably wouldn’t like me going all Southern on whatever bitch had just said that, in her courtroom.
Doing the usual, I stood behind the wooden barrier that was directly beside the Judge’s bench, and placed my hand on the bible.
“Do you swear to tell the truth,” the bailiff began.
I missed the rest of what was said, and barely managed an ‘I do’ because my eyes caught on Cleo.
His gaze held mine, and all the nervousness I was feeling evaporated.
He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I was sure of it.
***
Rue
It all started out good.
Then it wasn’t.
Brendan’s lawyer was a beast.
He was tall, broad, and unforgiving.
He was cute for an older man, but any and all appeal was lost as soon as he started questioning me.
“Can you walk me through the routine, just one more time, Ms. Loden?” Mr. Masterson asked.
I don’t think he meant it to come out sounding so harsh, but it did.
He made me feel like I was a low life criminal, and I wasn’t. I was a law-abiding citizen who only wanted to make a difference.
That was why I was a SANE nurse.
They needed me when they were most vulnerable.
Sure, most of the time they were just bullshit cases, but every once in a while, like with Audrey, I helped.
Which was why I pulled my big girl panties up, and explained it one more time.
“As I said,” I sighed. “I was called in to work a case on the night of April 7. I walked into the room, started speaking with Vanessa, and started collecting what little evidence there was.”
“And what do you mean by, ‘what little of it there was?’” Mr. Masterson asked, eyes pinning me in place.
My leg was shaking a mile a minute, but I answered the intimidating man despite my growing ire.
“I mean there was very little, if any, evidence. There was no tearing,” I explained, holding up one finger. “There was no bruising,” I said holding up the second. “There was no semen. There were no fibers. Vanessa didn’t even want to press charges, but her father was standing outside the door ranting. So she did anyway.”
Once I got that last sentence out, a small smile tipped up the corner of the stoic lawyer’s lips. “I see. And what was the father doing during this time?”
“He was on the phone with the DA’s office, from what I could tell. He was ranting and raving about turning this,” I said, gesturing to the room as a whole with my hand. “Town upside down, and selling off every property he owned if someone, somewhere, didn’t ‘fix’ this.’”
A grumbled oath from someone in the crowd had my heart beating a little faster.
I knew it was Vanessa’s father.
I just knew that if I looked over at him right now, he’d flay the skin from my body with the intensity of his anger.
“Anyway, like I said, she told me that she said ‘no’ but she also told me she was playing a game with the young man. However, towards the end she ‘actually meant it’ even though in the beginning she was just saying no because that’s what they’d agreed upon before they made the contract,” I explained.
Mr. Masterson’s eyes zeroed in on me. “Contract?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“So you’re telling me that Vanessa admitted that the two of them had a contract?” He asked slowly.
I nodded. “Yes,” I agreed.
“Hmmm,” he hummed. “I think that’s all. No further questions.”
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I got down from the stand and made my way back to my seat.
I kept my head down, refusing to look at Vanessa’s father’s eyes, even though I knew he was still glaring daggers at me.