Black Tie Event

Chapter Thirty Five

A/N: Yo. So, the legal junk in here gets kind of long...I'm a sucker for it, so I can only hope that you guys like courtroom procedurals. If you don't, I'll let you know right now that the verdict is at the very end, and I won't even judge you if you skip down to it. (; But in my opinion, the trial is always one hell of a ride. So, take what you will from that. Anyway, thank you so much for the comments! You're too funny. Love you all! :)

Xoxoxoxo
- Railene

***

"Ms. Carthage, you testify that you've worked for Collin Shaw for two years. Is that true?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes."

"And you also testify that when you saw my clients on the day of the alleged attack, you recognized them. Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind telling us how?"

"They were friends of Mr. Shaws," she explained. "They were around all the time."

"They were around all the time," she repeated. "And Ms. Carthage, did my clients ever hurt you physically prior to these allegations?"

"No."

"No? Why not? I thought they were around all the time."

"Objection," Carrie argued.

"Rephrase and I'll allow it, Counselor."

"I'll answer," Lucy offered indignantly instead. "My assault was sexual, and I lived in a home with four other people at any given time, which included Mr. Shaw's own wife. It wasn't possible to hurt me there. That's why they--"

"Thank you," she cut her off. "But you testified that you worked there for two years. Didn't you?"

"Asked and answered," Carrie complained impatiently, not even standing up.

"Sustained. And let's phrase our objections as objections, not outbursts."

"I apologize," Carrie muttered in a voice that told us all just how sorry she really was - which was not at all. But the short back and forth interrupted the defense attorney's flow, and that was a good thing. She was losing the power to intimidate Lucy, and it read in her testimony. She didn't come across as afraid anymore; it was clear that she just wanted her justice.

"Ms. Carthage, in the two year span in which you knew my clients, not once did you file any complaint against one of them. So doesn't it stand to reason that the sexual acts you've attested to were somehow provoked?"

The resentment read across Lucy's face as she considered the audacity of the question placed before her. "Are you suggesting that I provoked my own rape?"

"I'm suggesting that it wasn't a rape at all."

"Objection."

"Sustained," the judge warned, exuding wrath. "You watch how you speak to a witness, Counselor. Rephrase."

"You knew my clients well enough to recognize them on sight. Did you speak often?"

"Fairly."

"First name basis?"

"Yes."

"You'd serve them drinks when they came over, right? You even hung out a little bit."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"How far would you go?"

"I don't know. We conversed, every so often. It was more of a work relationship. They were more like employers."