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“Best friends forever?”
“A couple. Sure.”
“You tell any of them you were going to Coach Tate’s house that afternoon you say he raped you?”
“No. It was supposed to be a secret.”
“Anyone see you around his house?”
“I don’t think so,” Lawrence said. “He had me sneak in through the basement from the alley bulkhead door.”
Sitting behind Naomi with Bree holding my hand, I tried to stay focused on the testimony and listen for discrepancies, but my ribs hurt and my mind kept drifting to the evening before. Jannie and my grandmother had already gone to bed by the time Pinkie dropped me off.
Bree and I are tight. She knew in an instant that something was wrong with me beyond a couple of cracked ribs. I’d repeated Pinkie’s story, and she was as shocked as I was.
“Are you going to tell Nana Mama?” Bree asked.
That question had kept me up most of the night. It was still bothering me in court that next morning. So was the fact that Patty Converse had not shown up, and I think several of the jury members had noticed.
Then Naomi said, “Ms. Lawrence, did you see Rashawn Turnbull at Coach Tate’s house that afternoon?”
I forgot about the night before and Stefan’s fiancée, and focused. It was the first I’d heard about the victim being at the alleged rape scene. I glanced over at Cece, who was sitting beside a pretty blond woman in her late thirties. Two rows behind Cece sat her parents and a young woman I didn’t recognize. But they all seemed as interested as I was.
Lawrence said, “No, I did not see Rashawn there. Why?”
“Because Coach Tate says the only person at his home after school that day was Rashawn Turnbull.”
The high school senior looked doubtful. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“What time did you leave?”
Lawrence shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. Four? Maybe five? I was still kind of groggy.”
“Went out through the basement to the alley?”
“That’s right.”
“Strange,” Naomi said, looking at a couple of pieces of paper. “I have a sworn statement here from Sydney Fox that says she remembers Rashawn Turnbull knocking on Coach Tate’s door around four that afternoon. She remembers Rashawn going inside.”
Delilah Strong jumped up. “Objection, Your Honor. Sydney Fox is dead and cannot be questioned. I’d like to move that her statement be inadmissible.”
“This goes to the witness’s credibility, Judge,” Naomi said.
Varney thought about that for a moment and then said, “Overruled.”
“Your Honor!” Strong cried.
“I said overruled. Ms. Cross, can you rephrase as a question?”
Naomi nodded, said, “Are you sure you didn’t see Rashawn?”
Lawrence frowned, looked around, seemed to seek someone out in the courtroom, and said, “I don’t remember. I was groggy. Maybe he was there.”
“Or maybe you weren’t there at all,” Naomi said.
“That’s not true! Why would I lie about something like this?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” Naomi said. “Your parents here today, Sharon?”
