52

That afternoon, Piper waited outside the courtroom for the bailiff. Lazarus was there, speaking quietly in the hallway with someone. Russo came up the elevator and checked her watch when she saw that no one had been let into the courtroom.

The doors opened, and Piper was the first one in. She sat at the bench behind the prosecutor’s table. The judge was already out in his robe.

“Afternoon, Counselor,” he said.

“Afternoon, Your Honor.”

Russo and Lazarus came in, and Dr. Brown and Lounger walked in together afterward. Lazarus stood in the back of the courtroom. Dr. Brown sat down in the pews, and Lounger took his place at the prosecution table.

“Looks like everyone’s here,” Judge Billings said. “Detective Holloway, I notice you snuck in.”

“Just consider me a fly on the wall, Judge.”

“Well, it’s good to see you. Anybody have a problem with the detective being in the courtroom? Okay, then let’s get started. Hank, bring in Ms. Grace, would you?”

A moment later, the bailiff appeared with Sophie and Carol, who had her arm around Sophie’s shoulders. Sophie looked scared until she saw Piper.

“Ms. Grace, my name is Judge Billings. Please have a seat.”

Carol brought her over, and she sat down in the witness chair. Carol whispered something to her and then left the well and sat in the audience pews. Piper had seen in camera judicial interrogation before. It was a practice that was common in juvenile court where the judge felt the need to ask questions of a witness in private. The process affected children differently than adults: even if they were the victims, once they were put on the stand, they felt they were the ones that had done something wrong.

The judge said, “Bailiff, please bring out the defendant.”

Piper said, “Your Honor, there’s no reason to have Mr. Whittaker in the room while Ms. Grace testifies. It would be too upsetting.”

Russo was on her feet. “While I sympathize, clearly the defendant has a right to be in here to hear his primary accuser’s accusations. Why have a trial if we can’t even agree to that?”

“I agree it is Mr. Whittaker’s right to confront his accuser, but Ms. Bianchi, it’s a short leash.”

“I understand.”

“Then Bailiff, please bring him out.”

Owen Whittaker was brought out of the back. When he saw Sophie, he did something he’d never done before. He stopped. So abruptly that the trailing bailiff ran into him and shoved him to keep going. He couldn’t get his eyes off Sophie on the stand.

Sophie was fidgeting and staring down at her lap, unable to look up. Piper glanced behind her and saw Lazarus sitting in the audience section, carefully watching Sophie.

Once Owen was situated next to Russo, the judge said, “Ms. Grace, do you understand that you’re required to tell the truth in a court of law?”

“Yes,” she said nervously.

“Okay, well, I’d like to ask you some questions. Will that be all right?”

She nodded.

“Good.”

Piper quickly said, “Sophie, you’re not in any trouble. We just need to find out exactly what happened. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She glanced at the judge, who looked back to the girl and spoke in a soft voice. “Do you understand what was said, Sophie? Do you understand why you’re here today?”

Her gaze kept to her lap. “To talk about the man who killed my mom and brother,” she murmured, her voice barely audible.

Piper’s jaw tightened.

“I know this will be difficult, but we need to understand what happened that night so that we can best protect you. The courtroom is closed and we’re not recording anything, we’re just talking to determine how best to move forward. So please answer these questions honestly. You do know the difference between truth and a lie, correct?”

Piper said, “She’s fifteen. She understands, Your Honor.” Anger at the question. Sophie wasn’t five.

The judge gave her a sideways glance and then turned back to the girl. “Can you tell us what you remember about that night, Sophie?”

She nodded and swallowed.

“My mother and brother were watching a movie,” she began, her voice barely audible. “I was supposed to watch it with them, but there was a school dance. My friend Jason picked me up, and we left.” She hesitated. “That was the last time I saw my mom and Sully.”

The courtroom was silent. She glanced at Piper for reassurance.

The judge said, “What happened when you got home?”

“I opened the door and shouted something, like ‘I’m home’ or something. No one said anything back. I turned to go into our family room, and that’s ... when I saw them. They were dead.”

Her voice was trembling now.

“Did you see anything else?” the judge asked. Piper was grateful he didn’t ask her to describe what she saw in detail.

She nodded. “I saw a man in my house.”

“Where in the house?”

“He was standing in the room, in the corner so I couldn’t really see him. Then he came out of the dark and I saw some of him. He had a lot of blood on him. I tried to run and he came after me so I ran up the stairs to my room. I got to the window and didn’t have time to open it so I had to jump out. I don’t really remember anything after that. I went to the hospital and people were asking me questions.”

She sat still on the stand, showing no tears or emotions. Just seeing Owen Whittaker made her go blank.

“Sophie,” Piper said, “if at any time you feel uncomfortable, you tell us, okay? If you don’t want to talk or need a minute to yourself, you say something.”

Russo rose. “I get that she’s here to protect her, Judge, but Ms. Danes can’t simply interrupt questioning, even if it’s done by judicial interrogation.”

The judge looked at Piper, his stern look saying everything he needed to say. Then he turned to Sophie. “Please go on, Ms. Grace.”

“I couldn’t see all of his body, but I know he was naked and had blood all over him. It was everywhere. He looked like ... I don’t know. Dead, I guess. I didn’t look back. I don’t even know if he was chasing me when I jumped out the window. I was just trying to get away.”

The judge eyed Dr. Brown, eyebrows raised. Dr. Brown, watching Sophie, nodded.

“I think we can open questioning,” the judge said. “Sophie, I’m going to let Ms. Bianchi and Mr. Lounger ask you some questions, okay? But your guardian is in the room, and if you have any questions, you can always ask me or her. Do you understand?”

Sophie nodded, her gaze still on her lap.

“Mr. Lounger. Any questions?”

“Yes, Judge.” He got up to the lectern and looked at Sophie. “When you saw the naked man, can you tell us more about that? What did you see exactly?”

“I saw a man standing in the corner. I couldn’t see his face but I know he was staring at me. He was breathing really hard and there was blood everywhere. I could see his legs. They were dirty and covered in blood. It was all over him, all over the room ... everywhere. My brother and mom weren’t breathing.”

Lounger flipped a page in a yellow legal pad that contained his notes before saying, “Can you recall anything peculiar in the days leading up to this attack? Any strangers you didn’t recognize around the neighborhood or your family discussing anything strange that had been going on?”

“I would sometimes see things move.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, I’d leave something out on the kitchen counter and it’d be moved when I saw it the next day, or I’d come home from school and some of my clothes would be missing. Like underwear and things.” She gave a weak smile. “Sully said we had a ghost.”

Lounger cleared his throat, and Piper was certain he hadn’t really paid attention to what she had just said.

“Did you get a good look at the weapon he had used on your mother and brother, Sophie?”

“No.”

“Did you see where the man went after you jumped out of the window? Did he try to follow you?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t look back.”

Lounger scribbled a note. “When you were running away, did you see anyone else? Any passing cars or neighbors out that maybe might’ve seen something?”

“No.”

“Thank you, Ms. Grace. That’s all I had.”

The judge said, “Ms. Bianchi.”

Russo approached the witness box and rested a hand on its edge. She leaned in with a seemingly warm smile.

“Thank you for being so brave today, Sophie. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to testify about the worst moment of your life in front of strangers. You’re a brave girl.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Russo continued, “Have you ever had something really bad happen to you before? Like your brother got hurt and you were there?”

She nodded. “Yeah. My brother fell off his bike and cut his head. He had to get stitches.”

“So you remember him falling off the bike?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember how you felt? How, when you saw your brother fall, everything was in slow motion and then after it was hard to remember what you saw?”

Lounger just sat there. Piper rose to her feet and said, “Objection. Leading.”

Russo said, “Given her impaired ability to give comprehensive answers, I’d like to treat the witness as hostile for the purposes of this hearing, Judge. Regardless, I can lead during an in camera questioning.”

He looked at Piper. “I think leading is appropriate here.”

Russo said, “Sophie, was it hard to remember the details of your brother falling off the bike afterward?”

“I guess.”

“Okay, so Sophie, had you ever seen the man you identified as being in your home that night?”

“No.”

“Never seen him before that night?”

“No.”

“So you saw this man’s legs, but it’s like when your brother fell off the bike, isn’t it? Everything in slow motion.”

She nodded but said nothing.

“You were in a state of shock when you saw your mom and brother. With having seen something like that, you might be misremembering details about it, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s talk about your escape. You said you jumped out of your bedroom window, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Can you describe the condition of the window when you jumped out of it?”

She looked at Piper and then to Russo. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Was it closed, open, broken?”

“It was closed. I had to jump out. I felt it cut me everywhere.”

“When the police arrived, they found your window broken out and suspected that you had used the chair of the desk in your room to break it out. Something you never mentioned before. Can you explain that?”

“No. I don’t know. I mean ...”

“Objection,” Piper said on her feet again. “Badgering.”

“Overruled.”

Piper sat back down.

Russo said, “Sophie, is it possible you’re mistaken about the window when you jumped out and in fact you had already broken out the glass?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a tremble in her voice.

“And if you’re mistaken about that,” she went on without acknowledging Sophie’s answer, “could you be mistaken about other details of that night?”

“Objection,” Piper said. “Asked and answered.” She wasn’t even certain if that was the right objection, but she couldn’t sit there and say nothing.

The judge, with a hint of exasperation in his voice, said, “Ms. Bianchi, wrap it up.”

“I’m done. Thank you, Sophie.”

It wasn’t a full cross-examination; it was a sneak peek for Lounger. A taste of what Russo could do to Sophie on the stand if he put her up in front of a jury. Just with questions about a broken window, Russo had rendered Sophie uncertain and confused.

She sat down. The judge looked to Piper. “Any questions, Ms. Danes?”

She went to the lectern.

Piper’s gaze settled on Sophie. She looked so small and vulnerable in a witness box that hadn’t been designed with children in mind.

She gave a warm smile to Sophie, who was barely able to glance up.

Piper moved closer to Russo and Owen Whittaker, trying to show Sophie she had nothing to be afraid of from him anymore.

“The man that chased you, did he seem familiar with your house’s layout when he moved around?”

“I think so.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t hit our big coffee table when he was chasing me. Most people that come over bump into it because of where my mom put it.”

Piper nodded.

“Did he do anything to you? Acknowledge you in any way?”

“I think he smiled at me.”

Piper felt a cold revulsion. His smile was one of the worst things about him.

“Did he say anything to you?”

She nodded, but her gaze fell back to her lap. “He said ‘Run.’”

“He told you to run?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“You said he chased you through the house, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“What was the defendant doing while he chased you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I only looked behind me once. I think I heard him laugh.”

“He laughed?”

“Yes.”

“Like it was a game?”

“Yes.”

“To play a game, you have to understand it, don’t you, Sophie? You have to know what’s going on and be able to understand how your actions are impacting the people around you, don’t you?”

Russo rose. “Objection. Counsel is testifying.”

“Sustained.”

Piper cleared her throat. “Did he say anything other than telling you to run?”

“No.”

“Did it seem to you he understood what he was—”

“Objection. Ms. Grace is not a mental health professional to testify as to how Mr. Whittaker was behaving that night.”

“She’s a competent witness and can testify as to general observations as to mood and behavior. Things she actually saw, not conclusions she came to.”

The judge said, “The objection is overruled.”

Piper said, “Sophie, what did the man that chased you seem like? Did he seem like he knew what he was doing?”

“I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“He ... liked it.”

The courtroom was in silence a moment.

“Thank you, Sophie. Nothing further.”

Russo rose. “Your Honor, there’s clearly more here. No one at any time before right now mentioned that Mr. Whittaker spoke that night. The defense will need time to prepare. I would also ask that, since we’ve had the in camera interview, we call Ms. Grace to the stand in open court.”

Lounger didn’t even look like he was paying attention. As he opened his mouth to say something, Piper could tell it was going to be that he would submit to the judge’s discretion.

“I would object,” Piper said. “The court has gotten everything it needs. There’s no reason to put her through testifying at a competency hearing, and then at a preliminary hearing, and then at trial. It’s too much for a young victim with this degree of trauma, Your Honor.”

Judge Billings glanced over to the young teen still in the witness box. “I need to think about this. We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning at eight, and I’ll give my ruling. Court is adjourned until then, thank you.”