Page 6 of Shining Through

Now, Gerber approached the witness stand. “Did you see my client take the keys?”

“No, but my girlfriend said—”

“That’s not what I asked.” Gerber flipped through his notes. “Did you see him take the keys?”

“No.”

“Did your girlfriend ever ride the bike without you?”

He shrugged. “Once. Sometimes.”

“Which is it? Once or sometimes?”

“Sometimes,” was the grudging answer.

“No more questions.”

The prosecutor called Daniil to the stand. First, he explained that he was in town to train with his choreographer, who worked out of the University of Delaware’s Figure Skating Training Center. He’d met Becky outside his apartment, when he’d seen her getting off the bike. She’d said he was welcome to a ride anytime.

“So the night of the party, you took her up on her offer.”

“Yes. She told where to find the keys.”

“Did anyone hear Rebecca McCutcheon give you permission?”

“No.”

The prosecutor scoffed. “In the middle of a party? No one heard a word of this alleged conversation?”

“We were, um, outside.”

She rolled her eyes. “So there’s no proof at all.” She stepped back and peered as if he were a bowl of crickets served as dessert. “Mr. Andreev, following the best season of your career, you were suspended from competitive figure skating because you tested positive for banned substances, is that correct?”

Daniil stiffened. The way she’d juxtaposed the suspension and the positive test implied that he’d cheated his way to becoming one of Russia’s top skaters. He hadn’t. Nor would he ever.

Gerber objected loudly. “Irrelevant!”

“Sustained.” The judge sounded bored.

Damn it!Daniil wanted to answer this question. That way, everyone would know the suspension was for marijuana, not PEDs. But he wouldn’t get the chance.

The prosecutor smirked, showing her disgust. “No more questions.”

He trudged back to his seat. He’d thought his past mistakes were behind him. Instead, he was back in hot water, waiting for the next sentence.

His coaches’ sympathetic looks only made him feel worse. He wished it would just end already, and they’d drag him off to jail and be done with it.

Then, hushed whispers rippled through the mostly empty courtroom. Daniil’s pulse quickened, as everyone turned toward the back of the room. A tall, very unhappy-looking young woman came down the center aisle, escorted by another baby legal type. Her disheveled t-shirt and hair made her look as if she’d not slept in two days. If she’d traveled all the way from Australia, she probably hadn’t.

Anton leaned forward and whispered to the attorney. “I thought you could not find her!”

“And you told us not to stop looking until we did.” Gerber looked pleased with himself. “Finding her was the easy part. Getting her here?” He chuckled. “We didn’t know for sure if she’d be on the flight when it landed this morning. But here she is.” He rose to his feet and buttoned his suit coat. “The defense calls Rebecca McCutcheon to the stand.”

“Objection,” the prosecutor shouted, and charged toward the bench. “We’ve had no time to depose this witness!”

The judge glared. “Mr. Gerber, what’s the meaning of this? I don’t appreciate grandstand stunts in my courtroom.”

“And I wouldn’t dream of pulling one,” he said, in a smooth tone. “Miss McCutcheon was on the list of potential witnesses we provided to the court. Is it possible the prosecution didn’t expect her to travel all the way from Sydney to testify, and therefore, is unprepared?”

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