Page 53 of Shadow of Justice
“A latch. So no key.”
“No key, no.”
“And it latches from the outside. Is there any way to lock that door from the inside?”
“I don’t think so, no.”
“So then anyone could unlatch that door and enter the room, correct? If they were in the house already, that is.”
“I suppose so, yes. But nobody goes in that room but my dad. It’s his space. My mom doesn’t go in there. He gets mad at her if she does. I learned when I was little not to go in there.”
“But you went in anyway, isn’t that right?”
“No. I never went in that room.”
“Right. Except when you claim you went in and took this box out of it when your dad wasn’t home.”
“I … Yes. I went in there that time. Yes.”
“Fine. Thank you. Ms. Simmons, you never asked your father about what he kept in his desk, did you?”
“No.”
“And you never spoke to your mother about this so-called box or its contents either, did you?”
“I said I tried to. She confronted me in the driveway of my friend’s house. But she wouldn’t listen to me. She just kept screaming.”
“So you’ve never given either of them a chance to explain or defend themselves. You just assumed you had everything all figured out.”
“Objection, argumentative.”
“Sustained, Mr. Cutler.”
“Ms. Simmons, how would you describe your relationship with your parents today?”
“We don’t … we don’t talk. I no longer have a relationship with them.”
“I see. Not even your mother?”
“She won’t return my calls. My father won’t let her. He controls everything. He always has.”
“Your Honor,” Cutler said. “I’d like the last part of the witness’s statement to be stricken as unresponsive.”
“I’d say it’s entirely responsive,” I said. “Mr. Cutler may just not like the answer to his own question.”
“I agree,” Saul said. “Objection overruled.”
“Let me ask this another way,” Cutler said. “Isn’t it true that your mother has since taken out a restraining order against you for harassment?”
“Objection!” I said. “Your Honor, may we approach?”
Saul waved us forward.
“Your Honor,” I started. “This issue of Erin Luke’s petition for a restraining order against her daughter is irrelevant and highly prejudicial. It’s a stunt. No order has been granted. Counsel has manufactured this issue for the sole purpose of asking this witness about it.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Cutler said. “I didn’t file that petition. I had nothing to do with it. Hayden Simmons’s mother filed it on her own.”
“You expect me to believe that?” I said. “It’s got your prints all over it, Bennett.”
