Page 39 of The 24th Hour

In the courtroom now, Dr. Aronson spoke up. “See this. On the tape, Mary Elena is her current age of twenty-eight. But her fear has thrown a switch in her mind. She’s mentally in the second grade. She backs into her chair and hugs her knees.”

On the tape, Mary Elena was saying, “Let’s go outside, Oompah. Let’s go for a ride in the car. I want to go to the park.”

Then her voice changed, though it still sounded young. She said, “He came toward me and I pushed back and the chair fell over and Oompah picked me up. ‘What hurts?’ he asked me. I told him, ‘I just want to go outside. Please, Oompah.’ We went to the park.”

On the tape, Aronson asked, “Who are you now?”

“My name is Olivia.”

In the courtroom, Dr. Aronson said, “Mr. Gaines, please freeze the frame.”

Gaines pressed a button and the scene froze.

CHAPTER 50

YUKI STOOD TEN feet away from Dr. Aronson and continued her direct examination.

She asked, “Did you ever call the police about Mary Elena’s grandfather, or tell her parents?”

The doctor said, “Oompah had died by the time I started seeing Mary Elena in therapy. Both her parents are now dead, but at that time, she didn’t want to tell them, particularly her mother, who was Oompah’s only child. But she told me how she tried to protect herself. One of the signal traits of DID is the use of alters.”

Yuki asked, “Can you explain more about these alters?”

Aronson described four alternate personalities he’d either met or been told about by Mary Elena. He began with Lily, the childlike alter who had been seen on the video. She was about the same age Mary Elena had been when she was first assaulted. Lily had some power to shame Oompah with her baby talk and manner, but as a grown man, he often as not overrode her.

Aronson explained that a couple of years after Lily’s appearance in Mary Elena’s mind, Olivia came into being. Olivia’s personality was that of an ingenue who used her so-called feminine wiles to distract potential attackers. But Olivia had limited power as a guardian, and soon after Olivia became part of the group of alters, Loretta appeared.

Dr. Aronson noted, “I’ve only met Loretta one time, and when I asked her if she knew the other alters, she wouldn’t answer. I later deduced that she’d been instructed to keep to herself by a fourth alter, Ana.”

Yuki asked, “What is the nature of Ana?”

Dr. Aronson smoothed his hair back with his hand and seemed to search for the right words.

Finally, he said, “Mary Elena told me that Ana first appeared when she went to high school. Ana was older than the other alters and assumed a parental role in this grouping. She is authoritative, angry at what Mary Elena has suffered, and appeared when boys tried to get physical with Mary Elena.

“It was Ana who told me that she stood up to Mr. Cates, explaining to him that Mary Elena had a personality disorder. Ana told me that she’d specifically told Mr. Cates, ‘Don’t bother her. She is off-limits because she has a mental disorder that makes her much younger than she appears.’ But he didn’t listen to her.”

The defendant, Tyler Cates, interrupted loudly, “Oh come on. This is crap,” as Schneider added, “Hearsay, Your Honor.”

The judge slammed down the gavel and cautioned both Cates and his lawyer. Yuki looked at the jury box. As she expected, she saw shock on the jurors’ faces. If they boughtthat Mary Elena, in the person of Ana, told Tyler Cates that she was psychologically impaired, Cates was cooked.

Yuki asked, “Dr. Aronson, how long have you been treating Ms. Hayes?”

“Currently, for about the last six months. But I was at Handel-Reeves, a noted psychiatric hospital in San Francisco, and treated Mary Elena when as a teenager she was admitted to Handel-Reeves on five separate occasions and diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, mixed personality disorder, and amnesia.”

“Did she know Mr. Cates before the attack?”

“She told me that she did not. She does not know him now.”

“Thank you, Dr. Aronson. I have nothing further.”

Judge St. John turned to the defense and asked, “Mr. Schneider, do you wish to cross-examine the witness?”

CHAPTER 51

YUKI WATCHED ED SCHNEIDER stump across the well to the witness stand. He greeted the witness, getting his name wrong.

“Dr. Aronstein, how do you know that Ms. Hayes has this DID as opposed to faking it for her own benefit?”

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