by Lydia Kelly
At first, Marshal only looked at the lawyers and the judge. He kept his gaze locked until Evan’s asked if Ray had ever mentioned killing me. Marshal’s gaze quickly wandered the audience until he found me. My eyes filled with tears.
“My brother said on multiple occasions that he wanted to kill her, or that he would kill her if we didn’t get the money.”
“Do you remember the exact circumstances?”
Marshal sighed, still holding my gaze. “Once was on the drive to Virginia when we were mailing the letter. The second time was when we came back and found out who her father was.”
“Do you believe that he was capable of killing her?”
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Marshal said, his gaze returning to Evans and then flickering to Ray’s table. “But he had changed so much. He wasn’t the brother I had grown up with. It was like he was a different person all together.”
Mr. Evans gave Marshal a minute to regain his composure before proceeding. “Mr. Birch, let’s take a minute to talk about Carla Lindstrom.”
“All right.”
“Now, what happened the night Ray found out about Ms. Winter’s father?”
“Well, Ray left and took the car. He was angry at me and Kaden for not agreeing to his plan to kill Raleigh. He came back a few hours later with this girl���”
“Carla Lindstrom?”
“Yes.”
Evans gestured for him to continue. I could see new tears falling from his lids.
“Ray brought her home and they started drinking. I didn’t know why he had brought her there because he had been telling me that no one could know Raleigh was with us. But then she came downstairs and the two girls met and Ray didn’t seem to mind. Kaden was angry but Ray took Carla upstairs anyway.”
“Were you able to hear any noises coming from Ray’s room?”
“Yes,” Marshal answered. His lips quivered.
“Can you please describe them?”
“Things were breaking. Carla was screaming and laughing and yelling at Ray. I couldn’t really tell what she was saying.”
“Did it sound like she was in trouble?”
“Kind of. Sometimes.”
“But you and Mr. Prideaux did nothing to help her?”
“No. She never cried for help.”
“When did these noises finally stop?”
“Around twelve-thirty, I guess.”
“And when did you learn that Ms. Lindstrom was dead?”
“Not until the next day when we were in the police station.”
“What did you think had happened to her?”
“I thought she had passed out. She was pretty drunk.”
“I see. Mr. Birch, did Ray ever threaten you during the time Ms. Winter’s was being held in your basement?”
Marshal looked at Ray but he refused to acknowledge his younger brother. “Yes. The first night, I told him that we should just turn ourselves in but he warned me that if I told anyone, he would kill me and her. At work, he made sure we were always together so I couldn’t talk to anyone else about it.”
“Did you ever think Ray would actually hurt you or Ms. Winters?”
“Raleigh, yes. But I knew that if I kept my mouth shut, he wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Thank you, Mr. Birch. I have no further questions.”
Mr. Evans returned to his seat and I looked over at Ray’s lawyer. Mr. Krieger sat back in his chair and stared at Marshal. Ray still refused to look at the witness stand.
“Mr. Birch,” the lawyer finally started. “How did you feel when you learned that Kaden had been hiding the truth about Ms. Winters and her father?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t really angry or anything. Just confused.”
“Confused why?”
“Well, a couple reasons, really. If her father was a senator, it seemed like we should have been able to get a lot more money for her. But it was also scary because, you know, he’s a senator.”
I smiled.
“A man of power?” The lawyer prompted.
“Exactly.”
“Do you think Kaden was scared of her father’s power?”
Evans stood up to object but Ray’s lawyer rephrased his question.
“Did Mr. Prideaux ever tell you that her father’s connections scared or intimidated him?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you how long he had known who her father was?”
“He told us he had known from almost the first day.”
“I have no further questions,” Krieger said with a smile.
Chapter 26
I barely slept that night. I tossed and turned. I knew I was keeping Samantha awake. Kaden would be called to testify tomorrow and I suddenly started second guessing my desire to see him. What if I didn’t get the answers I needed? I wasn’t the one asking the questions. The lawyers could twist our experience into practically anything they wanted.
I stared out the window at the sunrise, my eyes heavy, my body reprimanding me for not sleeping. Samantha watched me carefully as I dressed and did my hair, knowing I was worried about something but not ready to talk about it. Would she figure it out? I didn’t know if I could keep my feelings to myself once I had seen him.
The crowd inside the courtroom seemed to have grown since yesterday and the looks they gave me were worse than ever. There was really no need for me to be there. I had testified, given my performance and there was nothing left I could do.
I took the same seat as the day before and waited while my father spoke with Mr. Evans. I didn’t care to know about their conversation and I sat next to Samantha without saying a word.
Ray didn’t look at me as he entered the courtroom this time. But I stared at him. He seemed to have changed overnight. The confidence was gone and he looked at the ground. He still didn’t appear remorseful. Not that I would have ever expected him to feel that way.
Everyone stood as the judge entered the courtroom. Her face scanned the audience, resting momentarily on Samantha and me, and then she motioned for everyone to take their seats. Once seated, Evans called his first witness. I watched the interpreter spell Kaden’s full name and held my breath until I saw the side door open.
A guard appeared from the dark hallway and a dark head of hair and piercing green eyes following him out.
Kaden.
Kaden’s face was just as I remembered it, but his eyes were surrounded by a deep purple shadow and his cheeks looked slightly sunken. Yet he held his head high, his shoulders pulled back, and he walked with a jaunt in his step. Was it an act? I couldn’t tell. I could only look at his face, his beautiful and perfect face.
The guard un-cuffed Kaden’s hands and he twisted his wrists to regain the lost feeling. He looked at the clerk of the court while he swore his oath. It wasn’t until he started to take his seat that I felt Samantha’s hand cover mine. I looked down and realized I had been gripping her arm tight enough for it to turn bright red. I glanced at my friend and gave her an apologetic smile which she returned with a skeptical frown.
I’m fine, I signed, not knowing if my voice would even work at this moment.
We can leave, she reminded me.
I shook my head and took her hand, careful not to squeeze too tight. But as I turned my attention back to the witness, I knew my grip must have felt like a vise. Kaden stared right at me. I blinked, just once, mostly out of pure shock, and then felt my body relax. Even though we were surrounded by people, even though we were being judged by hundreds of eyes, and even though we both knew it was wrong, we allowed this short moment to pass between us. I knew he could read my face like a neon billboard sign, and my feelings for him poured from my eyes and flew from my lips as I released a small sigh.
He looked relieved to see me. His eyes appeared gentle, his lips stuck in a crooked smile. I wanted to speak to him more than anything. I didn’t care who was watching, who was listening. And, if his gaze hadn’t been so calming, I would have had to use every last bit of my will
power to keep myself from climbing over Evans’ desk and running into his arms. I smiled back as his lips started to move. I secretly wished he was talking just to me and not the lawyer.
“Yes,” he said clearly and I realized I hadn’t seen the question.
“And can you confirm that it was Raymond Birch who was driving the car on the night of September 2?”
“Yes,” he answered again, his eyes still on me.
I looked at the interpreter again. “Can you please tell the court about the conversation that took place after Mr. Birch hit the two victims with the car?”
Finally, Kaden’s eyes turned to Evans. “Marshal and I wanted to go straight to the police. Ray had different ideas and we argued for a few minutes. Marshal gave in before I did but we decided to move them farther from town before we dumped them in the ocean.”
“Why did you give in?”
“I knew Ray would go to jail, prison maybe, because of his past offenses. Marshal hadn’t gotten into any trouble before this. I didn’t want him to have a record as well.”
“So you were looking out for your two friends?”
“Yes.”
“Marshal Birch has testified that once you learned one of the victims was alive, it was you who convinced them to take her back to the house. Is this true?”
“Yes.”
“What were you going to do with her once you got her there?”
“Ransom her,” Kaden stated clearly.
“Can you please tell the court what Raymond Birch wanted to do once you found that Ms. Winters was alive?”
“He wanted to kill her.”
“Did he, during Ms. Winter’s captivity, ever talk about killing her again?”
“Yes.”
“Multiple times?”
“Yes.”
I felt my father’s hand on my knee. I looked up at him and smiled, reassuring him I was still alive and still his little girl. He was close to tears and his other hand was clenched into a tight fist.
Kaden continued to explain. “He threatened to slit her throat after we learned that her friend had been found. Then again after he figured out who her father was. And one last time the night before I turned us in.”
I furrowed my brows at this last statement and tried to remember it. But I couldn’t. Marshal hadn’t mentioned it during his testimony. When had that happened? I looked at Evans, hoping he would ask for Kaden to elaborate but he had already moved on.
“We’ll come back to that. Can you please tell the court what happened the first night Ms. Winter’s was in your house?”
Kaden nodded and shifted in his chair. “I was in my room reading and I heard Raleigh scream from the basement. I knew Ray had kept drinking once we got back to the house so I ran downstairs and found him on top of her.”
“What was he doing?”
Kaden shook his head and I felt my father’s hand searching for mine. I released Samantha from my grip and interlaced my fingers with my father’s, my free hand resting lightly on his forearm.
“He had one hand up her shirt and the other down her pants.”
My skin started to itch from the memory. I knew that all of these questions were irrelevant to the charges against Ray. Evans was using Kaden more as a character witness to demonstrate that Ray’s was capable of murder.
“What did he say when he saw you?”
“He asked if I wanted to have a go at her first. He said she was perfect because he could do whatever he wanted to her and wouldn’t have to listen to her bitching when he was done.”
I felt my face redden with embarrassment. Kaden refused to look at me and I knew it was probably killing him to say these things out loud. I knew it was also killing him to paint his friend as an uncaring monster with the worst of intentions when he knew that his own actions had been so horrible.
“What happened next?”
“I had to fight to get him off her. Then he said that we were sharing everything, including her.”
“Did he ever make another attempt to assault her?”
“He hit her once. The night before it all ended, he held a gun to her head.”
I gasped but quickly shut my mouth. All the heads in the courtroom turned toward me. I stared straight at Kaden, willing him to continue.
“Ray said that he was going to kill her because she had ruined his life. He said that she deserved to die and that he was going to enjoy killing her, that he wouldn’t regret it.”
Ray’s massive body stood up from behind his desk, his chair flying backwards and hitting the railing behind him. His face was red and he was screaming, his finger pointed straight at Kaden.
“Fuck you, Kaden! You know that wasn’t what���” but his lawyer pulled him down, replacing his chair before the guard could reach him. The two shared a few hushed words which I couldn’t see and eventually Ray threw up his arms in defeat. I glanced at the judge who glared at the defense attorney with a warning eye.
Evans continued. “What made him stop?”
“I don’t know,” Kaden answered quickly. “There was nothing I could have done to physically stop him but he asked me if there was anything I wanted to say to her before he killed her.” He hesitated and glanced in my direction. “I said what I thought would make him back off and he did. I told him we would leave the next day.”
“What happened next?” But that wasn’t the answer I wanted Evans to ask. What had Kaden said to Ray to make him stop that night? And why hadn’t he told me about any of this? My head swirled with images of the conversation that had happened while I was sleeping soundly next to Kaden. I thought that night had been so perfect, so ideal. But Ray had tainted it for Kaden.
“I called the police first thing in the morning and told them where we would be taking her. I didn’t want them to come to the house because I was afraid Ray would try to kill us all if we were surrounded. So I took her to the bank and let her empty her account, giving the police time and to safely get her away from Ray.”
“Did Mr. Birch confess to the murder of Ms. Carla Lindstrom that evening?”
“He did.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“I asked about Carla and he said that she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. He said that shooting someone would be easier than strangling them to death.”
“Anything else?”
Kaden glanced at Ray. His head rested in his hands, his eyes closed. “He said he hadn’t really meant to kill her, that it just sort of happened.”
“I see. Did you hear him moving her body down to the basement?”
But Ray’s lawyer objected.
“I’ll rephrase,” Evan said before the judge could answer. “After Ray left your room that night, did you hear anything happening inside the house?”
“Yes. I heard him dragging something downstairs. He was talking to himself, screaming and laughing.”
“Thank you. I have no further questions.”
Ray’s lawyer stood up and stormed toward the witness stand.
“Mr. Prideaux, can you please describe your relationship with Ms. Winters?”
Kaden blinked and I watched his shoulders sink. He pulled them back up and answered the question.
“Well, I kidnapped her���”
“I didn’t ask what you did to her. I asked you to describe your relationship with her.”
“It’s complicated,” Kaden said through clenched teeth.
“Complicated? How?”
Kaden blinked a couple of times, searching for the right words. “Complicated by the fact that what I did to her and what I wanted from her didn’t add up.”
“You are currently serving a four year sentence for rape and kidnapping, are you not?”
“Yes.”
Four years? My heart sank. I thought about everything that would happen in four years. I would be thirty years old, my father could be President, my body and mind would have changed so much by then.
“That clearly establishes what you did to Ms. Winters
, now will you please tell the court what you wanted from her?”
Kaden glanced at me and smiled. “I wanted her to love me.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved her. Because I wanted to be with her.”
My face and body froze. I imprinted into my mind the exact way Kaden’s lips moved as he spoke those words. My father stirred uncomfortably by my side. Samantha gave me a desperate look, but there was nothing I could do for either of them. I knew that they didn’t want to know my true feelings.
“But you were already with her, Mr. Prideaux, were you not?”
“I wanted her to want to be with me,” Kaden clarified.
“Mr. Birch and Ms. Winters have stated that you withheld information from Raymond and Marshal regarding the truth about Ms. Winters’ father and her ability to speak. Can you please tell the court why you did this?”
“I thought it would buy me more time with her.”
“Did you ever intend on ransoming her?”
“At the very beginning, yes.”
“At the very beginning,” Mr. Krieger repeated and nodded his head. “Mr. Prideaux, when did you learn that Ms. Winters’ could speak?”
Kaden smiled. “I had that figured out pretty quickly. She always looked as if she wanted to tell me off.”
“And when did you confront her about it?”
“The day we brought her home,” Kaden said, looking from the lawyer to me. His gaze held mine in a way that made the hairs on my arms rise. “Ray and I went through her things, searching every pocket in her bag, looking for anything that could help us. Marshal brought her inside and I took her upstairs to get her cleaned up. I told her to cut the act and she eventually gave in.”
I frowned at this. The first part of his answer had been so insignificant. Every pocket of my bag, anything that could help them? Why would he bring that up? And, was it my imagination, or had he been emphasizing them to me? Maybe I just wanted to find a deeper meaning, just wanted to find something to hold on to.
Mr. Krieger’s next question got my full attention.
“So once you had confirmation of Ms. Winters’ ability to speak, why did you keep it from Ray and Marshal?”
