Becoming the Whiskey Princess (29 page)

L
ike we all knew he would, Casey fuckin’ lied through his teeth.

With my fist clenched at my side, I hold Amberlyn’s hand with the other as I listen to the complete bullshite that comes out that wanker’s fuckin’ mouth.

“I did love Lena, very much,” he claims. “I never raped her. We didn’t even lie down that night. I took what she said to heart; I’d figure out how to marry her another way. I dropped her off at the gate like I always did and drove off, like I usually did. The next thing I know, I’m being accused of raping her, and from then on the O’Callaghan family has had it out for me. Always putting me down, running my name through the mud, coming at me in public and trying to ruin me.”

“Did you feel threatened?” the defense asked.

When a scared look comes over that fucker’s face, I want to smack it off, especially when he claims, “Yeah, of course. They are rich. They have ways of making people disappear.”

My da scoffs as I shake my head; even Lena rolls her eyes.

“Have they ever tried to have you disappear?”

He nods. “Yeah. Old man O’Callaghan has offered to pay me off many times. Told me to leave town or he’d open the case about Lena again. I’m innocent, but they keep on with it. No charges were ever pressed, so why they feel like I need to burn for that is beyond me.”

“What happened that night you allegedly shot Amberlyn Reilly?”

He shakes his head and I want to laugh at his theatrics. It’s downright pathetic. When the tears well up in his eyes, it takes everything out of me not to stand and call him on his bullshite. It’s just completely insane!

“Fuckin’ wanker,” Kane says from behind me and I nod, completely disgusted by him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her. I love Amberlyn.”

Amberlyn looks at me and I roll my eyes. Love? This bloke has a different notion of love.

“We dated and we were happy. She says that Declan didn’t steal her from me, but he did. He swooped in, his money waving in her face, and she was a goner. Of course, she’d go for a rich guy, the damn prince of this county instead of a struggling artist.”

Kane scoffs and I have to agree. This dude is out of his damn mind.

“I was heartbroken, distraught even. I tried to win her back, but she wasn’t having it,” he says before pausing to wipe his face. Sucking in a deep breath, he looks at his lawyer and with the most pathetic expression ever, he says, “I never stopped loving Lena, still do love her. I figured out I was using Amberlyn as a rebound, so I reached out for Lena and she came. We professed our love for each other, and we were gonna run off together, and then Declan comes out, telling me to go. And like Lena always does, she listens to her brother and is leaving me. Amberlyn is standing there, looking at me like I’m worthless, and something inside me snaps. I didn’t even have control of myself. I would never try to kill someone. I would never do that. Never,” he pleads with his hands up. “I don’t even know what happened next. I woke up at home and then the police came, saying I shot a girl. I would never do that,” he cries. And when he looks at Amberlyn, I swear, if looks could kill, he’d be dead. “I would never.”

“But they say you did.”

“I wasn’t there. Mentally, it wasn’t me. I was out of my mind,” he cries, and then he just breaks down. Crying so damn hard that if I didn’t know he was a full of shite bastard, I’d believe him. Looking at the jury, I see that some are wiping their tears, and I want to scream that they are dumb. He is playing them all. Wake up! He is a fuckin’ liar!

“So you are the victim?”

“I am. I’m sick in the head from where they have ruined me,” he pleads, and all of us are in disbelief.

Is this really happening? Handing him a box of tissues, the lawyer pats his shoulder before looking at the judge. “I have nothing more.”

The prosecution lawyer stands automatically and tucks his hands in his pockets before looking over at Casey. He is excited about something, and you can tell that this isn’t his first trial.

He is ready to pounce.

“Explain to me, Mr. Burke,” he says and Casey looks up, his eyes red as he watches him. “You say that you were in love with Ms. O’Callaghan and Ms. Reilly, yes?”

“Yes. Lena is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Hmm, why didn’t you ever tell her that?”

“I did, all the time.”

“So she’s lying?”

“Yes, that what that family does. Lie and deceives.”

“Hmm, that’s mad because I’ve known this family a very long time. When they aren’t working hard to make their whiskey great, they are helping the community. They have parties and invite everyone. They are generous. Last I heard, they are building a new library for Brighton Elementary. They also paid for your ma to be housed in the home, so I’m sorry, but I don’t see them as being liars or even deceivers.”

Casey’s mouth drops at hearing about his ma, but he recovers quickly, shaking his head “Probably out of pity, to make them look good!”

“Hmm, maybe, but still,” he mutters but then quickly starts another sentence, probably because the defense was about to object. “You said you don’t remember pulling the gun out or even pulling the trigger, right?”

Casey looks up and something inside me tells me this is it. This is what the prosecution was excited about.

“No, I don’t.”

“Why did you have the gun? Your grandda’s old pistol?”

“Um,” Casey says, pausing. My da smacks my leg and Kane squeezes my shoulder. Amberlyn is beside me, sitting on the edge of her seat as we wait for him to answer. “Um, for protection, of course.”

“Protection for what? It’s not common to carry a gun in Mayo. I don’t have one for sure, and I put bad guys in jail. It kind of makes people mad.”

The courtroom laughs as Casey looks wildly at his lawyer. The prosecution stands in his line of sight, smiles, and asks again, “So please, tell me why you went to the O’Callaghan estate with a gun. Did you plan to use it?”

“No,” he blurts out. “It was for protection. I forgot I even had it.”

The prosecution doesn’t say anything for a second, but then he puts his hands back in his pockets. “If it was for protection, what made you want to use it, do you think?”

“I don’t know; it wasn’t me.”

“Hmm, but you said you forgot about it. Why do you think you pulled it out and shot an innocent girl?”

“I don’t know.”

“Could it be because you hate Declan O’Callaghan, and you didn’t have the gun as protection from everyone else, but actually in case Declan came out so you could kill him? And wouldn’t that mean your actions were premeditated? That you took the gun with the intention to do harm?”

“No, never,” he says.

“Or maybe it was actually to kill Lena? Maybe with her out of the picture, all the rape accusations would be gone and you could live your life. Because, like I said, no one really carries guns in Mayo, so in order to carry one legally, it would have to be registered. Your grandda didn’t have his gun registered because it was so old, so in turn, no one could trace it back to you. Am I correct?”

Whoa. I never thought of that. Looking at Lena, I can see her eyes filling with tears as she looks down at her lap. Amberlyn moves her hand into hers, and Lena gives her a watery smile.

“I didn’t think he could do that. Any of this.”

Amberlyn nods. “Me neither, but he did.”

“Yeah,” she says with a nod before wiping her face to look at Casey.

Looking back at the stand, I see that Casey is just staring at the lawyer, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide. You can see the guilt all over his fucking face. He was gonna kill my sister if she didn’t agree, or maybe me, who knows. But that wanker wasn’t out his mind; he knew what he was doing. He’s a fuckin’ psycho.

“I’d never,” Casey promises. “I love her.”

“Sure ya do,” the prosecutor says. “I have nothing more.”

When we all walk out of the courtroom four hours later, we are elated.

Not sure what the jury was doing, eating cake or what, but they were unanimous.

Casey Burke was guilty.

The show he put on as they took him out of the courtroom was almost comical. He thrashed around, screaming and crying. For someone who loved my sister, he never looked at her or begged her for forgiveness like a normal human, but we all know he’s a liar.

Riding in the car, we are all smiles except for Lena and Micah. I don’t know what happened, but during the break while we waited for the jury, they went off together. When they came back, he sat behind us while she sat beside Ma. I don’t see them fight much, but they usually make up quickly, and I hope that’s the case this time. He can be an idiot, but he’s a good guy.

Once we get back to the house, we gather in the sitting room for drinks and dessert. My ma, Mrs. Maclaster, Amberlyn, and Fiona are sitting by the window, talking animatedly while my da, Mr. Maclaster, Kane, and I sip whiskey and talk more about the trial. I believe that if it wasn’t for the prosecution picking up those small details, Casey might have gotten off. I wanted to kiss the guy, but instead I shook his hand, promising him the biggest bottle of whiskey before he walked away to do the interviews that were waiting for him.

“My son tells me that we need ya here in the distillery,” my da says, and Mr. Maclaster laughs.

“I told Declan it isn’t going to happen. I don’t have time.”

“Maybe part-time, then?” I ask relentlessly.

A wide grin brightens his face as he shakes his head. “Let me talk to my wife, yeah?”

“Better than no, I say,” my da informs me. “I heard Cathmor is almost done with beta testing. All is well.”

“It’s a damn good whiskey. I feel it will sell well,” Mr. Maclaster says, and I’m stunned to silence.

“I agree. He’s gonna do great things,” my da says, sending me a confident grin.

“Yeah, he will,” Kane adds, toasting his drink. We all meet our cups to each other’s and I nod thanks before we swig, but I pause when I hear my ma say something that catches my attention.

“Not anytime soon,” Amberlyn says with a laugh. “We want to live a bit, just us.”

My ma laughs as she waves Amberlyn off. “Ivor and I married, and two months later, I was pregnant with Declan. We have babies quickly around here.”

With my brows pulled in, I step over to where they are, placing my hand on Amberlyn’s shoulder as she says, “Well, we are gonna wait. I want to finish school first.”

“Uni? You’re going to the uni?”

“Ma, let it be,” I say, not wanting to have this conversation with everyone here, not that it is any of her business anyway. “We are gonna wait a bit, like she says. We want to enjoy each other.”

“Well, how long?” she asks, her face full of disappointment. I hate that look, but I shrug.

“Not sure. When we are ready. We aren’t ready yet.”

“Maybe you will be by the time the wedding comes.”

Amberlyn laughs. “That’s in a month and a half. I doubt it. I want to finish school first.”

My ma glances at me and I hold my palms up. “Those are her wishes and I’m good with them. I want to be able to give my kid attention. Let us find our place in the world before we bring our kids into it.”

“Well, then,” she says, shaking her head, and when she gets up, I squeeze Amberlyn’s shoulder, causing her to look up at me.