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No plea bargain is struck. The jury is picked, and Lucinda asks a few random ones whether they have accepted bribes and sees who looks nervous: no one, as it turns out, so she strikes people who are too young to have children and one fellow who looks like he hates the entire world for her picks. Paul strikes a grandmotherly type and someone who admits when asked that they don't think much of rich people.
"All rise," comes the command as Judge Roberts walks in.
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self_composed
edgeofyourseat
"You didn't say announce, you said suggest by demeanour," he says. "How do I know what a man who's going to hit his son looks like? I've never seen anyone do it!"
self_composed
"I also said say and imply," Lucinda says implacably. "I'm not expecting you to be a psychologist. So," she continues, "are you saying that you do not believe that your employer ever struck his son? That seems vanishingly unlikely to you, because most people don't hit their sons and you have never seen evidence otherwise, as you've explained?"
self_composed
"You don't sound sure," Lucinda says. "Are you sure? It's all right - as long as you're sincerely sure, it's not perjury to say so."
self_composed
"No?" Lucinda asks, like she's surprised. "And why is that?"
edgeofyourseat
He glances quickly over at Alice, who returns him an utterly flat look.
"...I've never really... thought about it like this... before."
"...I've never really... thought about it like this... before."
edgeofyourseat
This would be so much easier if Theo did not consider himself a person of integrity. But he does.
"...I tried not to think about it at all."
"...I tried not to think about it at all."
edgeofyourseat
"Things that are none of my business."
He is aware as he says it how terrible it sounds.
He is aware as he says it how terrible it sounds.
self_composed
"Well, now that you're thinking about it, please tell us about any evidence you may have seen regarding the allegations at hand," Lucinda says.
[Is he always this cagey?] Bella asks Alice.
[Is he always this cagey?] Bella asks Alice.
edgeofyourseat
[He hates telling anybody anything about anybody else. I'm half sure he used to work for a family a lot shadier than mine.]
"I didn't... notice anything," says Theo, with great difficulty. "Nothing specific. Nothing that stood out."
"I didn't... notice anything," says Theo, with great difficulty. "Nothing specific. Nothing that stood out."
self_composed
"Then why are you so unsure about whether your employer could have been abusing his son? Please, explain," Lucinda says.
[She is being way more patient than I would,] Bella remarks.
[She is being way more patient than I would,] Bella remarks.
edgeofyourseat
This is the point at which Theo decides to cut the bullshit just to bring this torture to an end.
"I never noticed anything that made me think, at the time, that my employer could have been abusing his son," he says. "But the general impression I've formed of his personality over the years makes it not that surprising to hear that he could've been."
Alice is careful to only laugh on the inside.
"I never noticed anything that made me think, at the time, that my employer could have been abusing his son," he says. "But the general impression I've formed of his personality over the years makes it not that surprising to hear that he could've been."
Alice is careful to only laugh on the inside.
self_composed
"Thank you," says Lucinda, rewarding this sudden openness. "No further questions."
Paul declines to question this one. Or maybe he's just hoping to doze a little longer.
Paul declines to question this one. Or maybe he's just hoping to doze a little longer.
edgeofyourseat
Mr. Hammond is scowling thunderously; Theo flees back to his seat as soon as he is dismissed.
self_composed
Lucinda calls up Mrs. Hammond. Swearing in yada yada.
"Mrs. Hammond - I believe you are still technically Mrs. Hammond? Would you prefer Judith?" Lucinda says solicitously.
"Mrs. Hammond - I believe you are still technically Mrs. Hammond? Would you prefer Judith?" Lucinda says solicitously.
self_composed
"All right, Judith. Please describe for us the development of Mr. Hammond's... disciplinary measures, insofar as you were aware of them."
edgeofyourseat
"It all started out very ordinary," she says. "Sending the boy to his room, that sort of thing. I didn't pay much attention; I didn't think there was any reason to worry. So while I don't think he was hiding it from me, exactly, I only knew well after the fact that he had started hitting him... I'm sorry, is there such a thing as a box of tissues in this courthouse?"
self_composed
Lucinda gets a little packet of them out of her purse and hands them over.
edgeofyourseat
"Thank you," she says, and removes one, and holds it in her hand in case of tears.
"Delaney has this way of being certain of things that makes him very hard to disagree with. He was certain that his way of handling his son's discipline was the best possible way, and nothing strange or unusual at all, and that is wasn't my place to have any kind of opinion on the subject. So I didn't. I convinced myself that it wasn't very bad and it wouldn't get any worse, and then of course it did, but slowly..." She dabs carefully at her eyes.
"Delaney has this way of being certain of things that makes him very hard to disagree with. He was certain that his way of handling his son's discipline was the best possible way, and nothing strange or unusual at all, and that is wasn't my place to have any kind of opinion on the subject. So I didn't. I convinced myself that it wasn't very bad and it wouldn't get any worse, and then of course it did, but slowly..." She dabs carefully at her eyes.
self_composed
Lucinda nods. "The aforementioned documentations lists you as being present for the entirety or for part of forty-seven incidents. Would you like to review them and make a decision about whether you'd like to corroborate that part of the documentation, or do you already know?"
edgeofyourseat
"If Junior said I was there, then I was, and if Junior said it happened, then it did," she says.