Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Lie
"Caleb," Attorney Vance began smoothly, leaning on the wooden railing of the witness box. "It was almost ten o'clock at night, wasn't it? The parking lot was dark, wasn't it?"
"The gas station lights were on," Caleb replied calmly. "They were bright white."
"I see. And you were tired, weren't you? You had just finished a six-hour infusion of heavy narcotics and chemotherapy agents, isn't that right?" Vance's voice grew louder, theatrical. "Isn't it true that your doctors have noted you experience confusion and nausea after these sessions?"
"I was tired," Caleb conceded, looking Vance straight in the eye. "And I was nauseous. But I know what I saw."
"Do you?" Vance sneered, turning toward the jury. "Can you be absolute certain it wasn't just shadows? Can you be certain it wasn't two other men wearing similar clothes? How can this court rely on the memory of a sick, traumatized child whose brain is flooded with toxic drugs?"
I felt my blood boil in the gallery, my knuckles going white against my purse. Beside me, Bear rested a massive, reassuring hand on my shoulder, keeping me grounded.
Caleb didn't cry. He didn't drop his head. He leaned closer to the microphone.
"The man in the green jacket had a missing pinky finger on his right hand," Caleb said, his voice cutting through Vance's theatrical performance like a scalpel. "And when he hit the clerk, he dropped his wallet on the pavement right next to the trash can. He picked it up before they ran, but I saw the red bull sticker on the back of his leather wallet."
The entire courtroom went dead silent.
Vance froze mid-stride. He looked back at his clients at the defense table.
The nephew on the left involuntarily tucked his right hand under his thigh, but it was too late—every juror in the box had already looked down at his hands.
Evelyn Reed stood up slowly. "Your Honor, let the record show that the police evidence report confirms a red bull sticker was found scraped against the concrete near the scene of the crime, matching the wallet seized from defendant Mark Bellamy upon his arrest."
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Judge Harrison looked over her glasses at defense attorney Vance, her eyebrow raised high. "Do you have any further questions for this witness, Mr. Vance?"
Vance swallowed hard, his face pale, his aggressive posture utterly destroyed. "No... no further questions, Your Honor."
