Chapter 103
“They have asked you to continue your testimony,” he told me. I nodded, got up and wished I had worn pants with pockets so I had someplace to put my hands. I didn’t want anyone to see the tremble. But I had worn my black A-line skirt that didn’t have any pockets. I was led into the courtroom. Simon was looking at me with a smirk, he thought he was winning. I wanted to punch his face so badly that my hands now trembled for a different reason.
“Miss Bishop, thank you for joining us again. I will remind you that you are still under oath,” the judge said.
“Yes, your honour,” I said.
“Very well, please take a seat.” I sat down in the chair and faced the room. My eyes found Hunter and then Wictor. They both looked like they were ready to kill. Mr Rodhes’ testimony must have been as good as I feared. Anthony was trying to calm Wictor down. I hoped the two had talked about Wictor’s past. I didn’t want to surprise Anthony. Hunter and I had talked about how to handle something like this, but now it was unsequential.
“Good afternoon Miss Bishop,” Mr Steel said as he stood up.
“Hello.”
“We have heard the testimony of Mr Rodhes. I was hoping you would confirm something he said,” he told me. It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer. My worry and the look on Simon’s face were making me angry and I would do what I could to piss Mr Steel off. He was waiting, the jury was waiting, I was waiting. Then he seemed to realise he hadn’t asked a question. “Would that be okay?” he added.
“Yes,” I said.
“Thank you. Can you please tell us how you know Mr Rodhes?”
“I lived as a foster child with him and his wife,” I said.
“During your teenage years?” he asked.
“Yes, from when I was seventeen until I was eighteen,” I told him. He nodded as if that explained everything.
“Mr Rodhes told us you were regularly in trouble for breaking the rules. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get punished when you broke the rules?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true that you ran away from Mr Rodhes’ home when you were seventeen?” Mr Steel asked.
“Yes.”
“And did you return to his home or to another foster home between that time and your eighteenth birthday?”
“No.”
“Did you live on the streets?”
“No.”
“Did you live with a boyfriend?”
“No.” I was wondering how many places he would go through before asking me where I had lived. But he moved on.
“When you left the Rodhes’ household, did you steal anything?”
“I don’t remember.”
“If I told you a valuable wall clock went missing at the same time as you ran away, would that jog your memory?”
“No.”
“No, as in you can’t remember, or no as in you didn’t steal it?” Mr Steel asked.
“No, as in I didn’t steal it.”
“You think it was a coincidence it went missing at the same time?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to it.” I wanted to say more, explain what happened. But Seymour’s voice in my head told me to just answer the questions. Tim would get to ask his questions next, and I needed to trust him to let me tell my side of the story.
“Thank you, Miss Bishop. No further questions, your honour,” Mr Steel said. I took a deep breath and met Wictor’s eyes. He still looked angry, but there was determination there as well and he nodded at me.
“When you lived with Mr Rodhes and his wife, were you the only foster child?” Tim asked.
“No, there were four of us,” I said.
“All girls?”
“No, I was the only girl. The other three were boys.”
“What age were the others?”
“I don’t know exactly, but around the same age as me.”
“And that would have been late teens?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Mr Steel asked if you broke any rules. Could you please tell us some of the rules they had?”
“My rules were to come straight home from school, I was to help with the dinner, do my homework, make sure I only got A’s in school, I wasn’t allowed outside the house once I got home from school or on the weekends. I was only allowed to eat the portion that Mrs Rodhes served me during breakfast, lunch and dinner. No snacking or eating outside those meals. No TV and no internet. Bedtime at eight P.M. and lights out at nine P.M. No arguing with Mr or Mrs Rodhes.”
“You testified that you broke some of these rules, can you tell us which ones?” Tim asked.
“I would stop by the library on my way back from school and I would sneak out during the weekends as I had a part time job.”
“I see. And the other children living in the family, would they get in trouble as well?”
“No.”
“They didn’t break any of the rules you broke?”
“No, they didn’t have the same rules as I did.”
“Do you remember which rules the boys had?”
“They needed to be home before dark and they couldn’t have girls in their rooms.”
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
“Did you have a good relationship with Mr Rodhes?” Tim asked.
“No I didn’t.”
“Can you please explain why?” This was it. Tim had given me the opportunity to explain everything and I would take it.
“The second week of me living in the household Mr Rodhes came into my bedroom just after nine in the evening. It was dark as I wasn’t allowed to have any lights turned on. He sat down on the side of my bed and started to talk to me. He told me how pretty I was and what a good girl I had been since I came to live with them. He tried to take my hand, but I yanked it away and turned my back to him. He stayed for a while, by then he left,” I told the jury.
“Was that the only time he entered your room?”
“No. The following days he would visit my room every night. He would sit and talk with me and try to take my hand and place it on his body,” I said.
“Did he try to go beyond talking?”
“Yes, after about a week. He pulled down my cover and tried to pull up the t-shirt I used for sleeping. He covered my mouth with his other hand. I fought to make him let go.”
“Did he?”
“Yes. One of the boys that lived in the family knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow a textbook from school. Mr Rodhes stopped moving and he whispered I should say I had forgotten it at school. I did what he told me, but it must have spooked him because he left.”
“Was that the last time Mr Rodhes came into your room?”
“No. He came in every night for as long as I lived there. Each night the boy knocked on the door and saved me.”
“Did you tell anyone about what was happening?”
“Only the boy. After a week of him knocking on my door he found me at school and he talked to me. Eventually, I told him everything.”
“You didn’t go to Mrs Rodhes or to your caseworker?”
“No. Mr Rodhes had convinced me they wouldn’t believe me. He was a prominent figure in the community where they live and I was just an orphan girl.”
“Is that why you ran away?”
“I ran away because my friend, the boy that helped me, convinced me that if he told Mrs Rodhes what was happening, she would listen to him. She always liked the boys and would dote on them. In the end I agreed as I wanted it to stop. I was scared that one day he wouldn’t stop when there was a knock on the door.”
“What happened when your friend told Mrs Rodhes?”
“She got mad at me. I was in my room doing my homework and she came barging in. She screamed that I had manipulated her boy and spread lies about her husband. She pulled me off my chair by yanking at my hair and forced me to bend over the chair. She had a long cord and she hit me over the back with it twice. I screamed from the pain and my friend threw himself on top of me to keep her from hitting me again. She shouted some more and then walked away. When I looked up, Mr Rodhes stood in the doorway with a grin on his face. I knew that my friend knocking on the door would no longer help. Mrs Rodhes had proven she wouldn’t believe even the boys.”
“And you ran away?” Tim asked.
“Yes. My friend came to my room later that evening, just before my bedtime. We both had a bag with mostly schoolbooks and some clothes and we climbed down the tree outside his window.”
“Where did you stay after that?”
“As neither of us were eighteen we knew we had to stay out of sight. We found a really run down motel. My friend had been allowed to have a part time job so he had some money saved. He helped me get work at the same supermarket and we made enough money to afford to stay at the motel. We both turned eighteen after a couple of months and managed to secure scholarships to the state college.”
“Did the Rodhes try to find you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Thank you Miss Bishop. I have no further questions, your honour.”
“Mr Steel?” The judge asked and I looked over at him. Both he and Simon had lost their victorious look.
“No questions, your honour,” he said.
“Does anyone object to the witness being excused?” the judge asked. Both parties said no and I felt a stone drop from my chest. “Miss Bishop, you are excused and you no longer need to appear at the court each day. I do ask that you don’t discuss the trial with anyone until a verdict has been given.”
“Yes, your honour.”
“Very well, have a nice evening.” I stood up even though my legs felt unsteady. I couldn’t look at anyone as I walked towards the exit. I held my head high and I did my best to hold back the tears that had been threatening to come since I started talking. The feelings from back then were just waiting in the shadows to overtake me. I had my sight set for the ladies’ bathroom. As I left the courtroom I heard the judge adjourn for the day and I hurried my steps. I didn’t want to end up in the crowd trying to get out. I almost ran the last steps and reached the relatively safety of the ladies’ rest room. One wall was stalls, all of them were slightly open and empty. The opposite wall had a long counter with sinks and above them mirrors. I walked up to the counter and rested my palms on it as I let my head hang down. I felt the first tears falling as I did my best to get my emotions and memories under control. I heard the bathroom door open and looked up into the mirror, dreading to see a stranger judging me. In the mirror I saw Hunter walking into the bathroom and I turned around to face him.