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“You’re right, of course, Mr. Kelly,” Harrison continued, an unpleasant smile on his face. “Mr. Truelove is the subject of this deposition. So perhaps he wouldn’t mind answering a few questions about himself?” Jesse went cold. “Before your employment at Oswald House, what did you do as a living Mr. Truelove?”
Jesse looked at the lawyer at his side. Kelly gave him a small nod.
Jesse cleared his throat. “I was an independent IT consultant.”
“And who hired you…and for what?”
“Mr. Truelove’s client list is protected information,” Kelly put in. “If the judge really wants it, she would issue a warrant. Has she done so?”
“Please ensure the report reflects Mr. Truelove is declining to answer,” Ivor said with a sneer.
“It’s not relevant, that’s why,” Jesse snapped. “She’s notmykid, is she?”
“But if you plan to continue a relationship with the baron, you could end up with a role in her upbringing,” Harrison said smoothly. “This is why we need to know the sort of people the baron allows into his home…into his family. Fortunately, your arrest record is on file, so we don’t need you to tell us about that.”
“So I’m a screw-up,” Jesse grated. “Wasa screw-up. It’s all in the past.”
“You’ve left it all behind? Just like that?”
Jesse shifted. “Yes.”
“And what triggered this change of character?”
“Emory did.”
The people across the table’s faces tightened with scorn. “A haemophile inspired you to be a better human being?”
“Yes. No,” Jesse corrected himself. “He convinced me I wasalreadya good human being.”
“So, if the baron ever requested you do anything illegal, for example, break into a law office to steal confidential information”—Harrison gave him a hard look—“you would refuse?”
Jesse couldn’t breathe.
“Please note that, again, Mr. Truelove has declined—”
“Hypothetically speaking,” Jesse said in a low voice. “I would do anything to help level this twisted playing field of yours.”
“Perhaps you’d like to expand on that, too?”
Jesse leaned forward in his chair. “If this was all because he was gay, or another race or gender, the world would be up in arms. But no, just because he’s a haemophile, it’s okay to treat him like some sort of pariah—someone who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a kid, just because he’sdifferent.”
“Let the record show that I’m now placing before Mr. Truelove evidence exhibit Eight-A—Baron Emory Von Magnusson’s registered Kill List.”
Jesse stared at Harrison’s tablet with his vision blurring. He didn’t want to read it again, didn’t want to see that they were so many men and women, different ages, different backgrounds, from all over the world.
“This is what makes him different, Mr. Truelove,” Harrison said, tapping the screen. “It’s not because he looks different—or his skin color, or because of his sexual orientation. It is because he hasmurderedpeople. Many, many people.”
“To survive,” Jesse said quietly, still staring at the list. “To live. Before they had a choice.”
“These first fifty names,” Harrison went on, running his finger down the list. “These deaths all occurred within the first two years of the baron being transformed. Early research suggests a haemophile can subsist on one full human feed for up to a month. This number of deaths far exceeds the amount minimum needed for the baron to feed. And this is only the ones we know about.”
Jesse shook his head. When he spoke, his voice creaked. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I’m asking if you really think that every single person on this list was killed by the baron simply to allow him to survive? Not out of malice, enjoyment or sexual thrill?”
Jesse shoved the tablet away. “You can’t judge him on stuff he did over two hundred years ago.”
“I’m afraid that is what we are here to do,” Harrison said.
