In Self Defense Susan Sloan (summer reads .txt) 📖

I suggested that he might want to sit down with his wife, and evaluate the situation.  It’s been my experience that it’s often a good thing to do when the wife holds the purse strings.”

“And do you know whether he took your advice?”

“I assume he did,” Bloom testified.  “Because in our next conversation, which was also our last, he said that he had reconsidered and decided against pursuing a divorce.”

***

“We don’t have to prove Durant was actually getting a divorce,” Mark Sundstrom reminded his colleague, Tom Colby, when court recessed for the day.  “Just the fact that he was talking about it should be enough.”

Colby cocked his head.  “I think it weakens our case,” he said.  “Both attorneys have now as good as confirmed he was lying to Stephanie Burdick.  Which makes the argument that Durant never told his wife he was coming home that night seem that much more plausible.”

“Well, we had to put the attorneys on the stand,” Sundstrom said.  “If we hadn’t, Johansen would have called them, and made us look like we were trying to hide something.  But I think we’re still okay with the humiliation angle.”

***

The following morning was the start of the third week of testimony, and it was Jeffrey Durant’s turn on the witness stand.  In the course of the past year, Richard’s brother had come to side with his parents, rather than his sister, in his evaluation of what had actually taken place the night Richard died.

“In the last couple of years of his life, Richard spoke to me often about problems in the marriage,” he testified.  “He told me he thought Clare was having an affair, and might be considering divorce.  He said he had contacted a couple of divorce attorneys, himself, for an evaluation of his situation.”

“And what did he tell you about that?” Sundstrom asked.

“He said his position wasn’t good.  He said if Clare divorced him, and he gave her any trouble at all about it, he could lose everything -- the house, the kids -- and he could be tossed out of Nicolaidis Industries, too.  He said all it would take was for her to make her wishes known to the Board, and since she was the majority stockholder by far, the Board would do whatever she wanted.  I guess she found another way to get rid of him.”

“Objection!” David declared.

“Sustained,” Judge Lazarus ordered immediately.  “The jury will disregard the witness’s last remark, and I caution the witness to confine himself to answering the questions he is asked, and keep his opinions to himself.”

“Thank you, I have no further questions,” Sundstrom said, knowing full well that the jury wasn’t about to disregard anything, no matter what the judge said.

                            ***

David knew it, too.

“Mr. Durant, did you approve of your brother’s marriage to Clare Nicolaidis?” he inquired.

“Sure,” Jeffrey replied.  “Why not?  She was the boss’s daughter.”

“And at the time, did you ever suggest to your brother that he find out what the impact of a divorce might be before he married the boss’s daughter?”

“No,” Jeffrey said.  “Why would I?  She was obviously head over heels in love with him.  It never occurred to me that she would want to dump him down the road.”

“And your brother,” David asked softly, “was he head over heels in love with her?”

The witness shrugged.  “Well, yeah, I guess so.  He married her, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did, didn’t he?” David conceded.  “And if you would, please tell the jury what evidence you have to suggest that Mrs. Durant wanted to dump her husband.”

“My brother told me so.”

“No,” David said.  “I asked what evidence you had that your sister-in-law wanted a divorce.  Your brother telling you so is what’s called hearsay, not evidence.”

Jeffrey looked at the prosecutor, who shrugged, and then again at David.  “Well then, I guess I don’t have any evidence.”

“You have no evidence that Mrs. Durant ever went to a single divorce attorney, much less two, do you?”

“No,” Jeffrey was forced to admit.

“And other than your brother telling you that he believed his wife was having an affair, you have absolutely no independent knowledge that she was even doing that, do you?”

“No.”

“I see.  So you’ve testified here today with no evidence of anything, with only hearsay from a man who was, in fact, doing all the things he accused his wife of doing -- having affairs and seeking a divorce -- isn’t that so?”

“Yeah, well, maybe,” Jeffrey said.  “But she’s not the one who’s dead, now is she?  He is.”

“Yes, he is,” David responded with a nod.  “Thank you for raising that point.”

***

“When is this going to be over?” Julie cried impatiently.  “I can’t go to school.  I can’t see my friends.  I can’t go riding.  I can’t even go out of the house.  I can’t do anything!”  The girl was still sneaking down to the family room at night to watch the news, so she could keep up with what was going on in the trial.  But hearing that her Uncle Jeffrey had now said awful things about her mother was more than she could take.

“I know this is hard on you,” Clare said, unaware of her daughter’s nightly fixation.  “It’s hard on all of us.  I don’t think it will be much longer.  I hope it won’t.”

***

“This is just too much for the children,” Clare told David.  “It’s disrupting their whole lives.  What if I plead guilty to something?  Would it all just go away?”

“If you plead guilty to something -- presuming the prosecutor would even entertain the idea, you go to prison,” her attorney told her in return.  “For a very long time.  Is that what you want?  Is that what you think you deserve?”

“Well, I did kill him.”

“Yes,” David conceded, “but you killed him in self defense, and that’s the big difference.”

***

On the second day of the third week of trial, James Lilly took the witness stand.  Looking somewhat nervous at having every eye in the courtroom fixed on him, he had to clear his throat