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“Can you tell us what happened from the moment you left work until the police arrived at your home?”
Mikael doesn’t answer anything, again. He remains perfectly still, silent.
“Why isn’t he fighting back?” I whisper to Tucker, surprised. “He doesn’t say anything.”
Tucker shrugs his shoulders, as confused as I am.
“Please answer the question,” the judge orders.
Mikael blinks several times but still says nothing. He seems to be disconnected from reality.
“Did you abuse your daughter Meredith?”
Mikael stares at him. His frail shoulders tense and his jaw tightens. But again, he says nothing.
“Mikael, do you understand my question?”
The latter swallows his saliva with difficulty and finally answers with a broken voice. “I never hurt my daughter.”
“I want an exact answer. Did you or did you not abuse your daughter that night?”
“No,” Mikael sighs.
Other questions follow, but once again, Mikael refuses to answer them. He’s stupid, he’s going to get into trouble on his own. He has to plead his innocence, damn it! Or is he really guilty? Damn! I want to know. I lean over and rest my elbows on my knees, completely forgetting to take notes. After a few minutes, it’s his lawyer’s turn to get up and join him. She is a woman in her fifties who doesn’t seem to understand her client’s silence either.
“Mr. Larey,” she begins, “you are accused of the murder of Helena Larey, your wife. Can you describe your relationship with her?”
He shrugs his shoulders. His lawyer glares at him as if to force him to answer. In fact, he doesn’t seem to want to fight, as if he accepts the fate that was reserved for him.
“Our relationship was complicated,” he finally admits.
“Why was that?” asks his lawyer.
“Because…because Helena was so…extreme. About everything.”
“What kind of mother was she to your child?”
Mikael takes a deep breath as if it were difficult to answer. “I thought she loved her,” he finally confesses.
“You said you didn’t touch your daughter. Can you tell us what happened when you got home that night? What did you see?”
He leans forward. His lips are trembling. And I can almost feel mine doing the same. What the hell is he doing? Plead your case! Defend yourself! He has to prove his innocence, he has to show the jury that he’s not guilty. Staying silent will have the opposite effect. He’ll ruin everything, destroy his life by keeping his lips sealed.
“I came home late that night…I…when I came home, I heard screams. And I saw my baby on the floor. Blood. A scarf. Helena was there…”
The prosecutor mumbles something I can’t hear from my seat. Mikael raises his head, looking crazy. “Go to hell,” he shouts.
Basic technique, subtly destabilizing the defendant.
“You entered the living room and discovered your little girl on the floor?” his lawyer resumes, trying to remain calm in the face of his stubbornness. “And then you saw your wife? Is she the one who assaulted your child?”
Mikael doesn’t answer, his eyes moist. He is certainly reliving this nightmare and doesn’t know how to get out of it.
His story reminds me of another one. My body boil and my breath tightens. I need air, but I also need to know what happened that night. I need Mikael to talk!
My first instinct was against him. From what happened in my life and the few clues I had discovered at first, I immediately believed he was guilty. I would have dreamed of seeing him rot behind bars. But once I dug into the case, I managed to overcome the hatred that had been present in me since the murder of my parents. I managed to not let it blind me. And today, after all that, and discovering him in front of me, broken inside…I really believe in his innocence.
I blink, ignoring Tucker, who is focusing his attention exclusively on me. He must have noticed that I’m sweating profusely, unable to hold back everything that haunts me. I feel his fingers brush my shoulder, which makes me jump.
