Page 57 of Mending Fences
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dr. Christensen’s voice was tight on the other end of the phone. “Yes, I have seen more risqué pieces from my students, but are you sure you want to do this?”
Mandy squashed the twinge of doubt like she would a spider daring to invade her bathroom. “I only have a few working hours. This is the best I have short of a tornado piece, and you know I can’t do one of those after the one hit three years ago. And I already did a car burial ground, and I think a cemetery is too cliché.”
“Very well, change the shape of the swimming pool and soften some of your statues. The work needs to be appropriate for under eighteen, and those aren’t exactly Michelangelo.”
Abbie came into the room, and Mandy quickly hid her work.
“Thanks, Dr. C. I’ll send the finished one over on Monday morning.”
Abbie stepped around easels. “Alex got word Daniel is testifying after lunch. If all goes well, you’ll be rid of me in a few more days.”
Too bad. Other than not being artistic, Abbie was a great roommate.
The moment the defense had waited for had come. Daniel Crawford took the witness stand.
The attorney got right to the heart of his questions. “Last week in another trial you testified you tried to help Miss Vandemark by using her inhaler. Why did you think her inhaler would help?”
“Over the past couple of years, Miss Vandemark has had three such fainting spells in my presence, all of them brought on by a combination of stress and alcohol.” Daniel looked at Summerset’s father, hoping he would understand the danger his daughter had become.
“Had she been drinking?”
“She had one glass of wine at lunch, although I cautioned her not to.”
“Any particular reason for that, Mr. Crawford?” The attorney leaned in.
“Yes, Summerset rarely is able to stop at one drink, and I knew lunch would be distressing for her.”
“What reason did you have to believe she would be distressed?”
Daniel shifted his eyes to meet Summerset’s. She needed to listen this time. “Because I told her I was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her, and I felt she needed to enter a sobriety clinic as I could no longer be that for her, since keeping her sober had somehow become my job.”
The judge hit his gavel three times to quiet the court.
“And what was her reaction?”
“She threw her lunch at me.”
“And what did you do?”
“I signed the bill and left the restaurant.”
“Did you see Miss Vandemark again that afternoon?”
“Possibly. A half hour later, I left the hotel to take a walk. I thought I saw her through the doors to the bar, but the glass is wavy, and I didn’t check to see if my assumption was correct. I had previously asked the bartender not to serve her and assumed that if it were her, she would be turned away.”
“Were you aware the bartender you had spoken with had left for a family emergency around one and had been replaced by another?”
“Not until the testimonies were given on Wednesday.”
The attorney checked a paper on his desk, then addressed the judge. “That will be all.”
The prosecuting attorney rose for the cross-examination. “You say you broke off your relationship with Miss Vandemark that day, but were you not, in fact, leading her on?”
“No, sir.”
The lawyer held up three photos. “In the last two weeks, you have been seen and photographed either kissing or holding Miss Vandemark.”
