The Pretend Boyfriend (The Pretend Boyfriend #4)(15)
Author: Artemis Hunt

“Ladies? Do you mean hookers?”

“No!” Manny seems aghast. “These are nice ladies. Uh well, ladies who are not hookers, I mean.”

“Plenty of ladies?”

“Yes. Before Mr. Morton moved out, he had plenty of ladies come to . . . visit him.”

“Were these overnight visits?”

“Yes.”

“Would you say Mr. Morton had an easy time attracting the ladies?”

“Oh, yes,” Manny avows. “He’s a handsome man. And charming. And rich too. Ladies go for all that.”

Brian cringes. Manny has always idolized him for his looks, money and charisma. A lot of guys did – before his fall from grace, of course.

“How many ladies has Mr. Morton had over in his apartment?”

Manny freezes, unsure if he is to continue.

“Go on,” Karen coaxes him. I’m his attorney. I won’t let him come to harm.

“Uh, hundreds over the years.”

“Hundreds of different ladies?”

“Yes.”

“Not the same ones twice?”

“No . . . except for Ms. Fox.” Manny points at Sam, sitting in the audience. “She stayed over plenty of times.”

Brian glances back at Sam, who nods at him encouragingly.

Karen continues, “Have any of these ladies over the years seemed reluctant to you, Mr. Polchek?”

“In what way do you mean?”

“Did they resist Mr. Morton in any way, in your observation?”

“No. It was the other way around most of the time. They were very eager to go with Mr. Morton.”

“Does Mr. Morton strike you as a man who needs to force a woman to have sex with him, Mr. Polchek?”

“Objection,” Norma interrupts. “Mr. Polchek’s opinion is of no relevance in this case.”

“Mr. Polchek has been a witness to many of Mr. Morton’s dalliances over the years. Since you are using him as a witness to Ms. Faulkner’s physical and mental state on the night of _______, it is only appropriate that I should cross-examine him on the normal conduct of the defendant.”

“Objection overruled. You may answer the question, Mr. Polchek.”

Manny hesitates again.

He finally says, “I don’t think Mr. Morton ever needs to force a woman to have sex with him. At least . . . if he is fully conscious and not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol.”

Brian winces. As if he needed to hear that last bit.

“Thank you, Mr. Polchek. That would be all.”

*

If Brian thought that Delilah’s and Manny’s testimonies were difficult to sit through, he is practically squirming in his wooden seat as the Emergency doctor who examined Delilah on that night takes the stand.

The doctor’s name is Fran Granger. Curly red hair. Freckles. Pale, pale skin – the kind that hasn’t seen the sun in months. She glances briefly at Brian, and purses her mouth.

Uh oh, Brian thinks. She’s nailed me to the cross already.

Dr. Granger goes on to describe, very graphically, what she found when she examined Delilah that night. She reads from her hospital case notes.

“The patient was extremely frightened, distraught. She had multiple lacerations and contusions on her upper arms, chest, abdomen and legs, consistent with a struggle of some sort. I performed a vaginal examination on her. There were lacerations there as well along with other signs of forced entry.”

Brian locks eyes with her. Fran Granger shoots him a look of extreme hostility. Nice to see that some women aren’t taken in by his good looks and charm. He hopes there are not too many of those on the jury.

“I obtained a sample from the se**n stains I found inside her vagina. I examined her anus and rectum as well. There were signs of forced entry. Tears around the perineum.”

Norma Hennessey picks up a report.

“The DNA in the se**n sample was cross-matched to that of Mr. Morton. They were a perfect match.”

“Would these findings be consistent with rape, Dr. Granger?”

“Objection!”

“Overruled. The witness may proceed to answer the question.”

Brian feels himself get a little hot under the collar. The trial has taken a downswing for the worse.

“Yes,” Dr. Granger says, raking her gaze into Brian’s face. “These findings are consistent with both violent rape and sodomy.”

Her expression says: I’ll get you, you f**ker.

A few more questions, and then Norma Hennessey says, “I have no further questions for this witness.”

Brian can almost feel the damnation hanging in the air over his head. Some of the jury members, especially the women, were practically burning him at the stake already with their scorching glares.

Shit.

Karen stands up.

“Dr. Granger, is it possible that these findings . . . these lacerations and signs of traumatic entry in and around Ms. Faulkner’s private parts . . . be also consistent with being brutally penetrated by an inanimate blunt object?”

“I don’t see why – ”

“Please answer the question.”

Dr. Granger’s cheeks flush red. “It’s possible, but why should anyone – ?”

“Thank you, Dr. Granger. You have indeed acceded that it is possible. Would you also say that it’s possible for Ms. Faulkner to violently penetrate her own private parts with a blunt object . . . such as a dildo or any similar-shaped object . . . in order to stage her own rape and sodomy?”

“Objection! The defense counsel is badgering the witness!”

“I am merely asking if it’s possible, your Honor.”

“I will allow this,” the Judge says. “Answer the question, Dr. Granger.”

Fran Granger is positively brimming with rage. For a doctor, she certainly can’t hold her emotions in check, Brian thinks.

“Yes,” she hisses through her teeth. “It’s possible, though not likely in the event we actually found Brian Morton’s sperm samples inside both Ms. Faulkner’s vagina and rectum.”

“But is it also possible that Ms. Faulkner could have rendered Mr. Morton unconscious, milked him for his se**n and then injected the se**n into herself to make it seem like she was raped?”

“Listen to yourself, counselor,” Dr. Granger sneers. “A tall story, isn’t it?”

“But it is possible?” Karen insists.

“Yes, it’s possible, but not likely. Extremely unlikely.”

“Thank you, Dr. Granger, that would be all.”