Chapter 17 - The Broken Alibi
Martin Hayes attempted to salvage the cross-examination, but his questions were brittle, striking against Mom’s calm truth like pebbles against granite.
"Mrs. Bennett," Hayes began, pacing the perimeter of the well, "isn't it true that you suffer from severe osteoporosis and have had multiple accidental falls on your icy porch over the last three years?"
"I have slipped on ice before, Mr. Hayes," Mom answered evenly. "Ice does not leave aluminum paint flecks embedded in a woman’s forearm."
Hayes cleared his throat, adjusting his spectacles. "You were agitated that night. You were disoriented after being awakened from deep sleep. Isn't it possible you lunged toward my client with that bat, and in the dark, she merely deflected your attack?"
Sarah Thorne leaned back, whispering to me, "He's grasping at water."
Mom looked directly at Hayes, her eyes piercing. "I am sixty-eight years old, Mr. Hayes. I weighed one hundred and eighteen pounds that night. My daughter-in-law is thirty-two and runs marathons. If I had attacked her, I would have been disarmed in three seconds without two compound fractures and three cracked ribs. Furthermore, you have the laboratory forensic report on your desk. The only fingerprints on the handle of that bat belong to Leah Bennett."
Judge Campbell leaned forward over his bench. "Do you have any further questions that aren't purely speculative, Mr. Hayes?"
Hayes hesitated, sweating beneath his stiff collar. "No further questions, Your Honor."
"Step down, Mrs. Bennett," Campbell said gently. As Mom walked back to our table, every head in the gallery turned in reverent silence. I took her hand, squeezing it tight, and felt the steady, calm pulse in her wrist.
"State, call your next witness," Campbell ordered.
Karen Vance stepped forward. "The State calls Daniel Bennett."
A collective intake of breath swept through the room. Leah’s head snapped toward the side holding cell door. Two armed bailiffs opened the steel portal, leading Danny into the room. He wore orange prison canvas, his legs shackled, his wrists cuffed in front of his belt. His eyes were red-rimmed and sunken, avoiding the gallery, avoiding Leah, and most of all, avoiding Mom.
When he reached the witness chair, Danny took the oath in a hoarse, broken whisper.
"Mr. Bennett," Karen Vance said, walking toward him with measured steps. "On the night of December twelfth, who struck your mother with the aluminum bat?"
Danny closed his eyes for a long, agonizing second. Across the room, Leah glared at him with venomous intensity, mouthing something silent and venomous through her bared teeth.
"Danny," Vance repeated, her voice cutting through the heavy air. "Who struck Evelyn Bennett?"
Danny opened his eyes. A single tear tracked down his stubbled cheek. He pointed a trembling, chained finger straight across the room.
"Leah," Danny choked out. "Leah hit her. Leah told me if we didn't get the deed signed that night, Richard’s bridge loan would default and we’d lose the mansion on the ridge. She said the old woman wouldn't survive the winter anyway, and that we needed to force her hand."
"Liar!" Leah shrieked, slamming both hands down onto the defense table. She surged to her feet, knocking over her water glass, her face contorted in rage. "You spineless coward! You were on your knees begging me to fix your debts! You wanted her dead more than I did!"
"Order! Order in this court!" Judge Campbell slammed his gavel repeatedly, the wooden clatter echoing like gunshots. "Bailiffs, restrain the defendant! Restrain her immediately!"
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Two bailiffs grabbed Leah by the shoulders, forcing her back into her chair while Hayes frantically tried to hold her arms down. The illusion of the polished society wife was shattered completely, leaving behind only the feral, predatory creature that had stalked Mom through the dark of Elm Street.
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