Chapter 15 #3
Ajay was called to the stand. Jared looked pointedly away, but Tanzie met his eyes and gave a nod.
Casey imagined this must surely have put a strain on the siblings’ relationship too.
She thought of Nate, of how she would do literally anything for him and the kids, and tried to envisage a scenario where fate might pit them against each other, but she couldn’t do it; it was simply too awful to imagine.
Ajay gave his account of what had happened on the night in question. The barrister tutted at some intervals and raised his eyebrows incredulously at others. When Ajay stopped speaking, the barrister made a great show of pondering on what he’d just heard.
“Mr. Williams,” he began with a sly smile, knowing full well he was undermining Ajay.
“My apologies, Officer Williams. Are you seriously trying to suggest that Mr. Brickly, who has been terrorized at his place of work and, according to his own testimony, threatened with violence, is the person at fault here?”
“I am telling you that in my professional opinion, he was heavy-handed in the way that he restrained Jared Williams.” His mouth was a thin line of repressed rage.
The barrister laughed humorlessly and shot back, “And in my professional opinion your judgment is compromised because you are the defendant’s uncle. And let’s be frank here—your own conduct isn’t without blemish.”
A murmur of shock rippled through the court.
“I’m not the one on trial here,” said Ajay. He gripped the ledge of the witness box so tightly that the skin on his hands pulled taut and his knuckle bones stood out in relief.
“True,” the barrister conceded. “But we need to decide whether you are a credible witness. And I would say that a police officer who had to be relocated to a different county because they attacked a member of the public has no place in this witness box. I put it to the court that Officer Williams is an unreliable witness and ask that his testimony be struck from the defense’s case. ”
“You bastard!” Casey shouted at the prosecutor.
“You’re one of those people who shouts out the answers to quiz show contestants on the TV, aren’t you?” said Margo coolly.
“Aren’t you enraged by this?” Casey rounded on her.
“Oh, sweetie, I am pure fucking incandescence. If I was to set my wrath free upon all the injustices that I see humans inflict on each other, half the planet would be a smoldering mass of charred flesh. You’re lucky I’m good at repression.”
A white-hot fiery glow emanated from Margo, and Casey nodded, mollified. She looked back at Ajay and saw that his head was bowed in defeat, and her heart broke for him.
The court adjourned for lunch and then it was Jared in the dock, looking frightened and lost, and Casey felt her chest constrict.
He was nervously wrapping and unwrapping a loose thread from his blazer cuff around one of his fingers and she could see from the quick rise and fall of his too-big suit that his breathing was shallow.
Tanzie and Ajay sat in different pews with worried, stony expressions as they awaited the judge’s verdict.
The judge folded her hands on her desk and began to speak.
“Jared Williams, I don’t think you are a bad person, nor do I think that you are irredeemable.
But you are reckless. And you did—with premeditated intent—steal keys from your landlord to break into a department store and cause criminal damage.
And you did evade capture. And you did aggressively resist the night guard.
” She looked briefly down at her notes. “This is not your first brush with the law, and I worry that if not checked, your transgressions will become more serious down the line. Therefore, I have decided that a short custodial sentence at a juvenile detention center would be prudent. I hereby sentence you to three months with an option to reduce to eight weeks for good behavior.”
The gavel went down, and Jared began to shake.
He looked over at Ajay, his eyes wide as tears spilled down his cheeks, his expression imploring his uncle to help him.
Tanzie buried her head in her hands; her shoulders shook with silent sobs, and Casey covered her own mouth, trying to hold back tears.
Ajay’s hands were clenched at his sides, his face taut with angst. He looked utterly defeated.
Three lives had been irrevocably changed in that moment, and Casey felt the weight of it pressing down on her shoulders.
“I think we’ve seen enough,” said Margo gently. “How about a nice hot chocolate back at the store?”
“Will Jared be okay?”
“There are many variables” was all Margo would say.
“What about Ajay?”
“He’s already typed his resignation letter. It’s in his breast pocket.”
“But there are variables?” Casey asked hopefully.
“In this reality, it is almost certain that Ajay will never forgive himself, and a person who can’t forgive themselves will eventually push away every olive branch offered, until people simply stop trying.”
She could only guess what it would do to Ajay to be cut off from his family.
“Okay,” she said, as the edges of the courtroom began to fade. “Let’s go.”
Margo nodded once and they were back in the store, the spirit already busy at a hot chocolate station that had sprung up in the Christmas department. But even a cinnamon-spiced cocoa with chocolate whipped cream couldn’t dispel the image of Ajay’s hollow eyes from her thoughts.