by Jae
"I'd suggest we take a rain check and do the prep another time, but seeing as the trial starts tomorrow..." Aiden shrugged.
Kade rounded her desk and sank down onto the small couch she had in her office. With a relieved sigh, she slipped out of her high heels. "It won't take long. You already know most of the questions I'll ask you on the stand. 'Detective Carlisle, you were called in by the responding unit on the night in question, correct?' et cetera, et cetera. We can skip the standard questions for now."
Aiden cleared her throat, intently studying the floor of Kade's office. "I should probably tell you that those questions aren't as standard as usual."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kade gestured for Aiden to sit down.
"I wasn't called in by the responding unit," Aiden said. "I heard dispatch report a 10-31 in my immediate neighborhood and decided to drive over."
Kade stared at her detective. "You listen to your police scanner at three a.m.?" You really need to get a life, my friend. And so do I.
"I'd just come in from the precinct. It was the night of the Henderson arrest," Aiden explained.
"A 10-31..." Kade took off her glasses, playing with them with the fingers of one hand. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't necessarily mean a sexual assault occurred, does it? It could have been something a SAD detective wasn't needed for."
Aiden tilted her head. "Could have, but I had this feeling. And I recognized the address."
Kade sat up. "What's going on here, Aiden?" she demanded to know. "You knew the victim before this whole case started? Ever heard of conflict of interest?" She felt her temper rise. "You should have excused yourself from the investigation. God, D'Aquino will rip us apart on cross!"
"Oh, come on, Kade." Aiden stood and began to pace in the small space between the couch and the door. "I spent a total of twenty minutes in her company before she was raped. It's not like we were best buddies. I went to a lecture she gave, and when I met her the week after, she invited me to her apartment because she wanted me to talk to her support group for rape survivors – that's all. Do you really expect me to turn my back on a rape victim just because I'd seen her before?"
Kade sighed. She knew that Aiden would never turn her back on a victim; it was part of who she was. "No, of course I don't. But I expected you to tell me."
"I'm telling you now."
"Not that it does me any good now." Kade looked at the ceiling, shaking her head. "I already turned in my witness list, and you're on it. I can't call Ray to the stand instead of you."
Aiden looked down at her, her amber eyes a little anxious. "What are we gonna do?"
Kade shrugged. "What we always do: hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
CHAPTER 17
DAWN LOOKED UP at the Multnomah County Courthouse. The huge building occupied the entire block. With its massive Corinthian columns and the somber gray concrete, it intimidated Dawn a little. The steps leading to the large portal seemed endless. With a deep breath, she started toward them, the loyal horde of her companions following silently behind her.
Her mother, Caleb, and Eliza and her husband were there. even her colleagues, Charlie Rosenbloom and Ally Barry, had taken the day off to hear the opening statements with her. Dawn was grateful for their company, but as she slowly made her way toward the courthouse entrance, she looked around, wishing for the reassuring presence of a certain detective.
She stepped through the heavy doors, her footfalls on the marbled floor echoing loudly through the columned hall. There, by the metal detector, leaned a familiar, dark-haired figure. It wasn't the police officer Dawn had been on the lookout for, but she would certainly do. "Lieutenant Delicia Vasquez Montero!" she called and enjoyed the look on the tall woman's face when she turned around.
The annoyance on the coffee-colored face turned into a smile. With three quick steps, the powerful legs had crossed the space between them, and Dawn found herself engulfed in a warm embrace. "Don't call me that, grasshopper. You'll ruin my reputation."
The words and the familiar nickname rumbled through the chest against which Dawn's cheek rested, and she closed her eyes for a moment, relaxing into the comfort provided by the only aunt she had ever known. "Hi, Del."
"Hey, sweetie." Dawn felt a kiss being pressed onto the crown of her head. "How are you?"
"Hanging in there." Dawn stepped back a little to study the woman in front of her. Only a few gray hairs at the temples showed in the short, jet-black hair, but other than that, Del Vasquez was still the same strong woman Dawn had known growing up.
Del had studied her, too, and now she shook her head with a sad but affectionate smile. "You look more like your dad every day."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Dawn said.
"It is a compliment," Del emphasized. "He was the best damn partner I ever had. The young cops these days..." She shook her head and trailed off, looking at something to her right. "Speaking of young cops... one of them is staring at us right now."
Dawn turned in the direction in which Del was pointing.
Aiden Carlisle was leaning against one of the hall's columns. She was wearing neatly pressed black slacks and a formfitting crème-colored turtleneck. The leather jacket Dawn had come to love had been traded in favor of a more conservative blazer, and the detective's badge dangled proudly from its breast pocket. Aiden didn't smile or move any closer when she saw Dawn looking at her; she just gave her a curt nod.
Great! Is that kind of cool, overly professional behavior what I have to look forward to until after the trial? Or is she just keeping her distance because Del's standing next to me? Dawn wondered.
"She a secret admirer or your protective detail or what?" Del asked from behind her.
"Uh... no, not exactly." How could she explain to her old friend what Aiden was to her when she wasn't sure herself?
Del's brow lifted. "'Not exactly' to the admirer or to the protector part?"
Dawn looked down at her feet. "I don't know. To both, maybe."
"Ah." Del stepped next to her and looked at Aiden with renewed interest.
"She's the detective who arrested Ballard," Dawn hastily added, wanting to interrupt the close scrutiny Aiden was under.
"Then I definitely want to meet her." Del resolutely waved to the younger detective.
Dawn groaned. "You've gotten used to ordering cops around since your promotion, huh?"
"You bet." Del grinned. "One of the perks of my job."
Dawn noticed that the ordering around seemed to work as Aiden approached them. "Lieutenant Vasquez." Aiden nodded at the older officer. "Dawn."
Del folded strong arms across her chest and looked the other detective straight in the eye. Dawn noticed that they were about the same height. "Do we know each other?" Del asked. Aiden had correctly addressed her with the first, not the second part of her last name.
"Not really. I worked with some of your detectives on the Swanell case last month. Detective Aiden Carlisle, ma'am," Aiden said respectfully.
"God, don't ma'am me." Del groaned. "Bad enough that the grasshopper here shouted my dreadful first name across the whole courthouse. Carlisle... you're with the Sexual Assault Detail, right?"
Aiden nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant."
Del scrutinized her closely. Her black eyes looked at the younger detective with the same piercing gaze Dawn's father had always used when he'd met a person who might someday become important to his daughter. In some regard, Del had taken over her father's role in Dawn's life after his death.
Aiden held her gaze, managing not to look too uncomfortable.
Finally, Del relented and held out her hand. "Call me Del."
Surprise flickered over Aiden's face for a moment, then the detective mask was back, and she shook Del's hand with a nod.
"Excuse me for a moment, grasshopper." Del softly clapped Dawn on the shoulder. "I have to go say hello to Gracie. Take care of her, Detective."
A little embarrassed, Dawn shook her head, watching as Del hu
gged her mother.
"What was that?" Aiden asked, not appearing as distant as before. She allowed her confusion to show.
"That," Dawn turned back to Aiden, "was my overprotective aunt."
Aiden stared at her. "Lieutenant Vasquez is your aunt? Excuse me if I sound politically incorrect, but you don't look like a Latin girl to me."
"What, you mean I don't have that kind of exotic, vivacious sex appeal?" Dawn pretended to pout.
"Uh..." Aiden was clearly caught off guard by the comment. She kept silent, not wanting to reveal whatever opinion of Dawn's sex appeal she might have.
Dawn laughed. She had needed that to distract herself from the trial that would soon start. "She's my aunt in spirit," she explained. "My dad's partner, the one I told you about."
"It's good that you have her," Aiden said. The amber eyes showed that she understood what Del meant to her.
"Yeah." Dawn nodded. "We almost lost her once. After Dad died, Del stopped coming around. She felt guilty that she hadn't been able to save him, that she had survived while Dad died. She felt like she had failed us."
Aiden nodded in understanding. "I wouldn't know how to face Susan and the kids if anything should ever happen to Ray."
"Survivor's guilt," Dawn murmured. "One day, Mom had enough of Del avoiding us. There was some shouting and screaming from Mom, some tears from both of them, and Del has been coming to see us at least once a week since then."
She watched as Del wrapped one arm around her mother's shoulder and steered her down the hall toward Dawn and Aiden.
Aiden stepped back as the whole group, with Dawn in the middle, started to move toward the courtroom. Del wrapped her free arm around Dawn and only let go when they reached the double doors leading to the courtroom.
Del stepped through the doors first, leading the group to the prosecution's side of the gallery. Dawn sat down between her mother and Del. She almost giggled, in spite of her tension, when she saw Del once again using her patented lieutenant wave to get Aiden into the seat next to her. God, Del, please don't scare her off. The poor woman has to feel like some high school boy meeting the parents of the girl he wants to take to the prom.
All thoughts of Del and Aiden fled from her mind when she saw Garett Ballard being led to his place behind the defense table. She felt her heart begin to hammer and forced herself to calm down and look at him as objectively as she could. In the light of day he appeared human, like someone with whom she would share polite conversation over tea. Then his head lifted and he looked directly at Dawn. She shuddered under the gaze of the cold blue eyes.
"You okay?" Aiden and Del asked at the same time, looking at her with concern, then at each other. After a second, both officers leaned back, giving the other precedence to talk to Dawn.
"What is it with those two?" Grace whispered from the other side. "Is there some bad blood between them?"
"No, Mom. Let's talk about it later," Dawn whispered back. Much later, like never. Her mother, while shocked but supportive after her coming out, had never been a big fan of Maggie. After Dawn's first and only relationship with a woman had ended, Grace seemed to prefer thinking that it had just been a phase and Dawn would turn to a man for her next relationship. Dawn had never told her otherwise. It was a moot point when she herself hadn't been sure of the gender of the next person with whom she would fall in love. Now it was looking more and more as if that person was a woman, and Dawn didn't want to complicate an already complicated situation any further by telling her mother about it.
"All rise!" the bailiff called out, interrupting any other thoughts. "This court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Ruth Linehan presiding."
The black robes rustled as Judge Linehan took her place behind the bench. "Be seated," she said, scanning over lawyers, jury, and audience. The judge was tiny and looked almost dwarfed by her robes and the tall mahogany bench, but from what Aiden and Kade Matheson had told Dawn, she made up for it with a sharp tongue and a huge ego.
The judge addressed the jury and gave instructions Dawn had heard in many of her patients' trials before and therefore didn't really listen to, too busy trying to control her churning nerves.
"Ms. Matheson," Linehan's voice caught her attention, "are you ready to deliver your opening statement?"
Kade Matheson rose, smoothing her skirt with a practiced gesture. "Yes, Your Honor." Calmly, she rounded the prosecution's table and strolled toward the jury box. "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen." She nodded at the jurors as if she knew each and every one of them by name – and perhaps she did. Dawn had heard that good attorneys memorized the jurors' last names, and Kade Matheson was certainly impressive.
"The case you were chosen to hear is a case about hate," Kade began and took another step toward the jury box. "You are here today because of a man's primitive, uncontrolled hate against lesbian women. On the night of October 6th, this man broke into the apartment of Dawn Kinsley." Kade paused to turn toward Dawn, giving the jurors ample opportunity to look into the face of one of the victims and see the fear in her eyes.
Dawn didn't have to act to give the jury the impression of a frightened victim. As Kade began to describe the circumstances of her rape, she was afraid, not only of her memories and the presence of her rapist in the room, but also because she feared having a flashback right here in the courtroom, in front of all these people. She squared her shoulders, determined to pretend it was someone else about whom they were talking.
"He ripped her phone line out and threw away her cell phone, leaving her helpless and without any chance to call for help. He pressed a gun against her head," Kade held her index finger against her temple and let her gaze wander over the rows of jurors while she did so, "he threatened and hit her, and then he brutally raped her in her own bed." The DDA's voice was clear and confident, painting a vivid picture for the jurors.
Dawn distracted herself by gazing around the room, looking at anything but Garett Ballard or the prosecutor telling the story of her rape. She glanced to her right, where Del and Aiden sat side by side, both looking calm and collected but with an intense, righteous anger in their eyes. Dawn looked down at their hands, the strong, competent hands of trained protectors, which rested in the exact same positions against their thighs – ready to draw the duty weapon they'd had to leave behind at the courthouse entrance.
"He moved fast; he had a plan, and he acted without any scruples," Kade continued her opening statement. "Dr. Kinsley, who is also a psychologist and rape counselor, will testify that he wasn't nervous at all – because, like the police later discovered, he had committed this heinous crime before. The same man had raped Melanie Riggs and Jayne Matthews." Another pause from Kade to let her words sink in and to point to the two other victims.
"The People will prove during this trial that it was this man," Kade extended her slender arm, pointing in a meaningful gesture toward the man sitting next to the defense attorney, "the defendant, Garett Ballard, who brutally raped these women. You will hear not only how the victims identified Mr. Ballard in a lineup, but you'll also see DNA evidence that will prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that no other man could have committed the crime."
Kade directed an ironic smile toward the defense table. "The defense will try to tell you that the defendant's semen was found on Ms. Kinsley because they had unprotected consensual sex. But that's not what the ER physician or Ms. Kinsley will testify to, and I want you to ask yourselves: Why would she lie?" Kade looked at the jurors questioningly. "Because she hates Mr. Ballard? Because she wanted revenge? For what? Keep in mind, before that night, she had never seen Mr. Ballard before nor had Ms. Matthews or Ms. Riggs. We have not one but three witnesses, three victims who accuse Garett Ballard of raping them. Why would all of them lie?"
Turning toward the gallery for a second, Kade's gaze searched out the detectives sitting there. "In addition, police officers will testify how they found the gun used to threaten Ms. Kinsley in the defendant's apartment – a gun he wouldn't have needed f
or consensual sex, would he?" She shook her head. "It is not the victims that are the ones with plans of hate and revenge. The defendant is. Because his mother left the family for another woman when he was a child, he developed a pathological hate against lesbians. He sought employment as a bouncer at a lesbian club for the sole reason of gaining access to the addresses of lesbian women which he then used to break into their apartments."
As the opening statement went on and on, Dawn felt herself grow anxious. Had she been sitting next to Aiden, she would have taken her hand to try and calm herself down even if she wasn't sure how Aiden or anyone else in the courtroom would react to it. Instead, another strong hand, that of Del, covered her own and gave her fingers a soft squeeze. Dawn squeezed back before returning her attention to Kade Matheson.
"So, Mr. Ballard has motive, opportunity, and the means to commit these hateful crimes." Kade counted it off on her fingers. "At the conclusion of this case, we believe that you will be able to find beyond any reasonable doubt that Garett Ballard raped three women and, well aware of his guilt, tried to resist arrest by assaulting a police officer." She nodded at the jury members with conviction. "I ask you to weigh all the evidence that is presented, without hate and prejudice against the victims or the defendant, and then return with a verdict of guilty. Thank you."
