CHAPTER 11: SOPHIE TAKES THE STAND
Three months passed before the preliminary hearing.
Sophie’s wound healed into a thin scar above her ear.
The nightmares lasted longer.
She stopped wearing white dresses. She refused to enter large ballrooms. Whenever someone raised their voice, her shoulders tightened.
A child therapist helped her understand that fear was not weakness.
Still, I hated that she needed to learn that lesson at eight years old.
Preston’s attorney argued the assault had been accidental.
He claimed Preston had lifted the menu board only to remove it from the aisle and lost his grip during a heated confrontation.
The CCTV showed otherwise.
His attorney then argued Sophie had caused the incident by stealing the phone.
The planting footage destroyed that claim.
Finally, they attacked me.
They said I had manipulated Sophie because of a corporate dispute.
The prosecutor asked whether Sophie could testify.
I wanted to refuse.
Sophie asked to do it.
“I don’t want Uncle Preston saying I lied.”
She entered the courtroom carrying a folded drawing in her hand. Her feet did not touch the floor when she sat in the witness chair.
The prosecutor spoke gently.
“Do you know the difference between the truth and a lie?”
“Yes.”
“What is a lie?”
“When you say something happened even though you know it didn’t.”
“Did you take your uncle’s phone?”
“No.”
“How did it get into your jacket?”
“He put it there.”
Preston stared at her from the defense table.
Sophie noticed.
Her voice became quieter.
The prosecutor asked, “What happened after your mother defended you?”
“Uncle Preston got angry.”
“What did he do?”
“He picked up the wooden sign.”
“And then?”
“He hit me.”
Preston’s attorney stood.
“Objection. The witness cannot know whether the contact was intentional.”
The judge overruled him.
During cross-examination, the attorney approached Sophie with a sympathetic smile.
“You love your mother very much, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You would say anything to protect her?”
Sophie frowned.
“No.”
“But your mother told you Uncle Preston was dangerous.”
“He showed me.”
The courtroom became silent.
The attorney tried again.
“Your grandmother says your mother sometimes becomes confused when she is upset.”
Sophie looked toward my mother, who sat behind the defense table.
Then she faced the attorney.
“My grandma says things that make bad people look good.”
Even the judge looked away for a moment.
The hearing ended with the court ordering Preston to stand trial on multiple charges.
As Sophie and I left the courthouse, reporters crowded the steps.
She gripped my hand.
“Did I do okay?”
“You told the truth.”
“Is that enough?”
I looked back at the courthouse.
“It has to be.”
That evening, Detective Morales called.
Federal investigators had completed their review of Bennett Development’s accounts.
Preston had not lost a few million dollars.
He had stolen more than eighteen million.
May you like
And someone had helped him move it overseas.
The account holder was Claire.
