The Murder of Sara Barton (Atlanta Murder Squad Book 1) Lance McMillian (ereader with android .txt) đ
- Author: Lance McMillian
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A liveliness fills the room that was missing earlier. The trial just became interesting from a certain point of view. Barton and I measure each other across the empty space. I pick up a trial transcript and walk to my spot.
âMr. Barton, do you remember in opening statements when your counsel saidâand Iâm reading from the transcript: âYou wonât like my client. Heâs abrasive and arrogant. He cheated on his wife throughout the course of their marriage. He gambles too much, and he acts like a little boy who has never grown up.â Remember that?â
âI remember.â
âAre you abrasive?â
âCan be.â
âArrogant?â
âYes.â
âDid you cheat on your wife?â
âRepeatedly.â
âGamble too much?â
âProbably.â
âAct like a little boy who never grew up?â
âI guess so.â
The game of getting under Bartonâs skin begins. Already he shows annoyance. Heâs dying to prove that heâs smarter than me, that he wonât fall into my traps. Good. I hope to use his arrogance against him.
âDo you lie?â
Thatâs a tough one for him to answer. He sits there plotting for a critical stretch of seconds.
âEverybody lies.â
âWeâre not talking about everybody. Weâre talking about you. Do you lie?â
âFrom time to time.â
I can work with that answer. Barton gritted his teeth in giving it to me. Being on the receiving end of the harsh treatment he has doled out his entire career doesnât agree with him. Bullies donât like to be bullied.
âSpeaking of lying, letâs talk about Monica Haywood. Your testimony is that she lied for your benefit without your knowledge?â
âThatâs right.â
âThe morning after the murder, you were at her condo?â
âI was.â
âThe police were looking for you?â
âYep.â
âHaywood told them you werenât there?â
âShe did.â
âYet you were hiding in the bedroom?â
Barton pauses for a second, scowls, then contends that he wasnât hiding, he was just in the bedroom when the police rang the doorbell and that Haywood decided on her own to lie to the police.
âDid you tell Monica after that to stop lying for you?â
âDidnât talk about it.â
âA few days later, she went to the police station to talk to the police?â
âShe did.â
âShe lied to give you an alibi?â
âYep.â
âYou didnât know she was going to do that?â
âNo idea.â
He is no actor, thatâs for sure. Every answer comes across as curt with a helping of attitude on the side. Barton has been on the stand all day with his literal freedom hanging in the balance. Heâs getting tired. Heâs getting cranky. I smell blood.
âAnd you were in the courtroom when Monica admitted lying to this jury?â
âI was.â
âAnd you didnât know she was going to lie for you then?â
âI did not.â
âThe two of you live together?â
âWe do.â
âEngaged to be married?â
âSure.â
âAnd you didnât know that she was againâfor the third time nowâgoing to lie on your behalf?â
âNope.â
âBut as you admitted earlier, you do lie from time to time?â
âJust like you, Counselor.â
He smirks, proud of himself for that one. I smile honey back at him. Itâs happening. Heâs imploding right before my eyes. Millwood, knowing that his client is a lost cause, barely tries to hide his own contempt toward Barton at this juncture.
âHow many women have you sexually harassed in the workplace?â
Anger replaces the smirk. No âyepsâ or ânopesâ here. Heâs going to have to give an actual answer, and all his possible options on that score hurt him. I await patiently while he struggles to pick his poison.
âIâve never intentionally harassed anyone.â
âHow many women have you unintentionally sexually harassed?â
âNone. I donât think Iâve ever sexually harassed anyone. Everything was consensual, flirting on both sides.â
âThese women wanted it?â
âI didnât say that! It was mutual banter between friends.â
âAnd the unwanted sexual touching was that also banter?â
âYou werenât there. Youâre twisting things. The touching was friendly, welcomed.â
âAnd yet all these women still reported you for sexual harassment?â
âThey wanted money.â
âThey lied for money?â
âPretty much.â
âAll of them?â
âYeah.â
We are so often in life our own worst enemy. Barton is overheating and leaking oil at the one moment that he needs to be the calmest. The females on the jury flash their disgust. The pattern is clear. Barton blames women for all his problemsâSara for the 911 call, Monica for lying about him without his knowledge, the women he sexually harassed for making stuff up.
âAnd Roy Winstonâyour own witnessâwas he lying when he said the claims against you were credible and that your conduct was unacceptable?â
âHe was just covering his ass.â
Someone in the audience gasps. The judge bangs her gavel. The top of Bartonâs head collects tiny pockets of perspiration. The courtroom light falls harsh on him.
âLetâs talk about the gun, Mr. Barton. You bought it a few months before the murder?â
âYeah.â
âSara wanted you to buy it?â
âShe did.â
âShe felt unsafe?â
âThatâs what she said.â
âShe wanted the gun for her protection?â
âYep.â
âAnd that was the gun that killed her?â
âThatâs what Iâm told.â
âYour gun?â
âApparently.â
That bit will make it into my closing argument. The very gun that Sara wanted to protect her life took away her life. Thatâs a nice narrative hook. But I wonât stop there. The only evidence we have that Barton bought the gun for Sara comes from Bartonâs own mouth. But maybe he got the gun because he already planned to kill her. Remember Saraâs own words: âHeâs going to kill me!â Based on the evidence, the only person Sara feared was Bernard Barton.
âAt some point you learned about a video of Sara and another man having sex at a firm party with you in the room next door?â
âI did.â
âAnd the man in question was a younger attorney whose office was right down the hall from yours?â
âYeah, I guess.â
âThe video made you mad?â
âI didnât care that she slept around. I was mad that she got filmed doing so.â
âYou called her a whore in fact?â
âIf the shoe fits.â
Dear God. Even Judge Woodcombâthe epitome of courtroom decorumâshoots a glance
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