Page 174 of In the Air Tonight

Sienna

NOW

This cannot be happening. If they call me to testify, I’ll refuse. They can’t make me, can they? I look at Cam, but he’s staring straight ahead.

The judge is pissed as she bangs the gavel and demands order in the court.

The hot stares of everyone in the courtroom burn the back of my neck.

I want to expire on the spot.

“What do I do if they call me up?” I whisper to Cam.

“You go up there and tell the truth.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You have to.”

The defense attorney, a frosty blonde with four-inch heels, walks over to Blaise, her arms crossed. She didn’t have anyquestions for Denise or Ramona, but she stares at Blaise long enough that she squirms on the witness stand.

“Fourteen years is a long time.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And in all that time, you never reported what you saw, not to the police or your parents or anyone, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Why not?”

“I was afraid of what would happen to me if I did. He was a big part of my community, my brother’s best friend…”

“But you had no compassion for the woman he allegedly assaulted?”

“I thought of her every day of those fourteen years.” She glances at Neisy. “Every single day. I was sick over it.”

“Why now?”

“I heard he was running for office, and I couldn’t live with the secret any longer.”

“What’s in it for you to come forward after all this time?”

“Nothing other than the chance to right a terrible wrong. As you can see, it’s been anything but easy for me.”

“Why should we believe a word you say about something that allegedly happened so long ago, you can probably barely remember it?”

Blaise is unflinching as she stares down the attorney. “I remember every second of it. I remember every detail of that day and the days that followed. According to the Land’s End chief of police, my description of events exactly matched that of Ms. Sutton’s, and there was no way I could’ve known what she reported.”

I swallow hard. She’s very believable.

After a long pause, the attorney says, “Nothing further.”

Blaise is dismissed from the stand.

She walks back to her seat without looking at me.

I still cannot believe she ratted me out after she promised she never would.

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