The Cross-Examination
Chapter 10 - The Cross-Examination
Adrian’s attorney, Charles Wynn, approached Lucas gently.
That gentleness had been rehearsed.
“Your father expected a great deal from you, didn’t he?”
Lucas looked at the nameplate.
“Yes.”
“He wanted you to succeed.”
“Yes.”
“You resented his rules.”
“Sometimes.”
Wynn displayed school disciplinary reports showing Lucas argued with teachers and shoved another student.
Lucas explained the student mocked Ben’s speech delay.
Wynn asked whether Lucas sometimes lost his temper.
“Yes.”
“Did you push your father on March seventeenth?”
“Yes.”
“Did he fall?”
“Yes.”
“Then he was not the only person using force.”
Rachel objected.
The judge sustained.
Wynn changed direction.
He asked about the stolen envelope, the astronomy notebook, and Lucas’s secret recordings.
“You were gathering material against your father for months.”
“I was remembering.”
“You wanted to remove Ben from him.”
“I wanted Ben safe.”
“You believed only you could protect your brother.”
Lucas finally looked at Wynn.
“No. I believed the adults who could protect him kept choosing Dad.”
The jury shifted.
Wynn showed photographs of family vacations, birthday parties, and Adrian sleeping beside Ben during a hospital stay.
“Does this look like a father who hated his children?”
Lucas stared at the image.
“No.”
“Because he loved you.”
Lucas’s voice softened.
“Sometimes.”
Wynn paused, expecting confusion to help him.
Lucas continued.
“That was why it took so long to know what to call the other times.”
Sofia began crying again.
Adrian’s face remained still.
Wynn asked whether Sofia told Lucas what to say.
“No.”
“Ms. Bell?”
“No.”
“The prosecutor?”
“No.”
“Then why are your answers so careful?”
Lucas touched the edge of the witness stand.
“Because Dad taught me one wrong word could become the whole story.”
Charles Wynn returned to his table.
Rachel asked one final question.
“Lucas, did you make the promise because you wanted your father punished?”
“No.”
“Why did you make it?”
Lucas looked down at Ben, still holding his shirt.
“Because Ben kept asking whether being good would make Dad stop. I didn’t want him growing up thinking the answer was yes.”
The prosecution ended direct testimony.
Judge Ralton called a recess.
As Lucas stepped down, Adrian spoke quietly across the courtroom.
“You are destroying your brother’s future.”
The bailiff heard him.
So did Ben.
Ben turned toward his father.
“No,” he said. “Lucas brought me out.”
Adrian’s composure cracked.
He rose too quickly, knocking over his chair.
May you like
For a moment, the courtroom saw the movement his family recognized.
The jury saw it too.
