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“First he can’t see,” Jake says, “and now he’s old and forgetful. Not only are these claims false, but defamation.”

“I agree,” the dean says. “Ms. Lopez, careful you don’t stray from fact to accusatory. Mr. Deaver’s testimony stands.”

Jake’s grin is so wide, and he actually does a mini fist pump. It makes the loss sting worse. A witness statement is always tough to go against, though I still thought I had a chance to call question to it.

I underestimated the dean’s soft spot for his staff and Jake’s manipulation tactics.

“Yes, Your Honor,” I say.

“Mr. Byrne, would you like to bring up your witness?” he says to Jake.

“Please. I’d like to call upon Chloe Miller, a witness who heard—”

“Claims,” I interject.

“Theo’s motive, proving the vandalism was premeditated.”

Chloe takes the witness seat, the direct opposite position to Theo, who is frowning at her. Much friendlier than the glare she sends his way before giving her attention to Jake.

Jake clears his throat. “Ms. Miller, is it true you and Mr. Hudson previously had a relationship?”

“Yes.”

“And during one of the conversations you had, did Theo ask, multiple times, to have dinner with your father?”

“Yes.” Chloe glares at Theo. “At first I thought it was because he wanted to impress my father so he would approve of him. I thought it was because he liked me.”

Jake sucks his teeth. “But that wasn’t why, was it?”

“No,” Chloe says. “He kept talking to my father about the statue, about his beliefs and political stances nobody cares about. He kept asking him to get the statue taken down.”

“And why would he ask your father that?”

I almost interject; I could since none of this was submitted before and the judge hasn’t previously approved this. But my curiosity for Theo, for his secretiveness about Chloe, about that night, keeps me quiet.

“The statue is my father’s great, grandfather. Our family funded its creation, and my dad could take it down if he wanted.”

“But your father didn’t do that.”

“No.” She points to Theo. “And then he broke up with me.”

“Objection,” I finally cut in. “Relevance?”

“Your Honor,” Jake says, “the relevance lies in that after Theo failed to get what he wanted, he broke up with Ms. Miller, and days later, the very statue he petitioned to get taken down was vandalized.”

“Sustained.”

Jake winks at me, and I swallow a curse. “While you were together,” he asks Chloe, “did Theo mention his true thoughts about the founder of Bell-Haven?”

“He did.”

“Can you please tell the court what those were?”

Chloe nods, directs her attention to the dean. “He said he thought it was ridiculous we had a statue of him. That he sent several emails, and even showed up to the dean’s office, stating that the statue should be removed entirely. That it didn’t belong here.”

“Interesting,” Jake says, working the audience, working the dean. He’s good. Better than the last time we sparred in the courtroom like this. “So Mr. Hudson told you before how much he hated the founder, mentioned very specifically that he thought the statue shouldn’t exist. Could you tell us how he felt when his requests for it to be removed were denied?”

“He was mad,” Chloe says, “annoyed. He said anyone who thought keeping the statue was a good idea was an idiot.”