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“I ain’t have a problem with anyone. You do a crime, you have to pay the price. Simple.”
“And you’ve just been waiting to make Mr. Callahan pay. You chose routes close their homes to patrol, you are always one of the first people at the scene when it comes to their family, are you not?”
He nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
“In police terms, you’re still a rookie, correct?”
“I have almost two years under my belt.”
“And in those two years, your department has been suspected of bribery, and the crime rate has risen, correct?”
“Yes.” He crossed his arms, not wanting to back down.
“You will do anything to clean up the streets and you believe that all stems from the Callahans?”
“They have this city under their control, and because of that, people look the other way.”
“You, a police officer, would look the other way? Your people on the force would look the other way?”
No answer.
DiMarco turned to the jury. “These men are supposed to protect us. But he says they look away? From what? How did you, Officer Scooter, manage to accuse and get a prosecution of Mr. Callahan, when so many others, wiser than you, have found no evidence that my client ever did anything wrong?”
“A lot of men have tried. We’ve lost too many good men, many of them are jaded and just want to get their pay and go home to their families in peace.”
If he was smart, he would have done the same thing.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it,” he said to the jury. “The police department is tired of doing its job. Which means they were too tired to find Mrs. Callahan.”
“Objection!”
But he didn't stop. “They were jaded, sick and tired of losing too many men so they pointed to easiest exit—”
“Objection!—”
“They wanted to go back to the donuts and coffee. Who cares if an innocent man rots in prison? They’re tired!”
“Your Honor!”
“Mr. DiMarco!” The judge banged on the gavel. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please strike the previous statements from the record. Mr. DiMarco, you are walking on very thin ice.”
“My apologies, Your Honor, I’m just a little bit tired,” he said, and if I could’ve, I would have laughed.
The court stilled.
“Well then, would you like an hour and a half recess for lunch now?” the judge asked the jury, and they all nodded, which meant I was going back to the tombs underneath the court.
“I want to go on the stand,” I whispered to DiMarco as the bailiff and another guard came up behind me, handcuffs at the ready.
He looked at me like I really was mad.
“Mr. Callahan—”
“Only the guilty and the weak sit back. I’m neither of those things. I was telling you I am going on the stand, I wasn’t asking your permission.” He worked for me, not the other way around.
“It’s your trial,” he muttered, shaking his head at me.
Nodding, I glanced back at the door, and once again people came and people went, but the one person I needed was still nowhere to be found. I wanted to see Ethan again but after Olivia left, she never came back in.
Turning, they led me out of the courtroom. The holding cells under the courthouse felt like a tomb; dark, damp, and probably infested with mold. There was one toilet, a bench drilled into stonewall in the corner, and not much else. Luckily, no one else was there.
“Someone will have your lunch brought down,” the bailiff said as he locked me inside.
I took a seat on the bench, as there was nothing else to do.
She’s not coming. I didn’t want to believe it. It hurt to believe it. Part of me wanted her to be hurt, to be captured like Declan had said, at least then she would have a good reason. But this…five months and not a word, how could she abandon us? If she didn’t care for me, then at least I thought she would’ve come back for Ethan.
But then again, she never wanted kids.
Maybe this was her way out. She had money and properties hidden all over the world, and she could hide out for the rest of her life without worry.
“Think any harder and you might pop a vein,” Coraline smiled, as she stood outside my cell with a bag of fries and what smelled like a burger.
“How did you get down here?” I asked, checking for the guard.
“Cancer. If it didn’t suck so much it would be great. You can get people to do almost anything. Now eat.” She stuffed the bag and the drink through the bars.
“Thanks, Coraline.” I wasn’t hungry, but I doubted that she would let me off.
She glanced behind her. “I really have to go before he comes back. But whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
“Coraline—”
“Doubting is a sign that you’re at the finish line. You’ve been fighting for months and you’re at the end. Stop thinking about it, we will push through this and come out at the other end whole. We always do.” She smiled once more before doing her best to sneak out. She, like the rest of my family, was crazy, but you had to love them.
FOUR
“Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.”
—Erwin Rommel
LIAM
“Liam Alec Callahan,” I said into the microphone.
“Mr. Callahan, I’m going to get straight to the point,” DiMarco said to me. “Did you kill your wife?”
“No. I did not kill my wife.” I don’t know how many times I had said that bloody sentence, but I was fucking sick of it.
DiMarco turned jury and then back to me. “That’s not very convincing, Mr. Callahan. So can you please explain to us what your wife means to you and why you wouldn’t kill her?”
“She…she drives me insane.” I paused for a moment, trying not to smirk at my next thought. I forced a watered down smile instead. “She’s the only woman I want scream at and make love to at the same time. She can make me smile with a single glance or glare. She sings in the shower and it’s God-awful. And when she comes out, she pretends as if it didn’t even happen. She kicks me in her sleep because she doesn’t understand where her side of the bed ends and where mine begins. She is bossy, brilliant, and beautiful. The reason why I couldn’t kill her is because I’m hopelessly in love with her. I couldn’t imagine not having those moments with her. Actually, that’s a lie, I can. Being locked away from her and my son is more horrendous as I could have ever imagined.”
“No further questions, Your Honor,” DiMarco said, as he nodded to me and allowed the asshole in the alligator shoes to step up.
I had spent the this whole time doing my best to keep a straight face, but watching him size me up made me want to stomp his face in. I bet those pretentious shoes of his could cause a good amount damage too.
“Mr. Callahan, you love your wife even though this was an arranged marriage?”
How the fuck did he know that?
“Excuse me?” My jaw clenched tightly at his question. I heard a few mutters from the peanut gallery, and the fucker grinned.
“Your marriage to Melody, it was arranged, correct? A way to pull the family millions together,” he pressed.
