Cascade (39 page)

MJ placed his large hand over her small hand.
They smiled at each other.

“
I never expected all of this,”
Honey said.

“
I never expected they would name
the baby Mack,” MJ laughed.

“
Samuel Mack Lipson,” Honey said.
“They wanted to name him after Dad, since he and Celia saved Blane.
The Mack was pretty obvious since he was born at the store. Six
pounds, ten ounces. Jill said they are over the moon with Mack.
Blane hasn’t wanted to even set him down.”

MJ pulled into the parking structure. Lost in
their own thoughts, they were silent until MJ found a parking spot.
After putting the SUV in park and shutting off the car, he turned
to her.

“
I’d like to know what the DA
said.”

“
Ann… You remember who that
is?”

“
The Assistant DA who is
prosecuting the case,” MJ said.

“
Right. She said they went back to
the judge’s chambers and the judge was mad. She thinks my sister’s
lawyer, Mr. Blanchard, is trying for a mistrial.”

“
Why?”

“
Because she said I was ‘cute as a
button’ and ‘adorable.’ The judge wanted to know what the defense
had planned since I ‘blew his abuse defense out of the
water.’”

“
What did he say?”

“
He said they never planned on
using the abuse as a defense. Anyway, Ann said they’re planning to
prove that I’m paralyzed because you botched the medical. You were
in it with my sister and you did this to me on purpose.”

Blowing out a breath, MJ sat back in the
seat.

“
Ann asked me if you and my sister
were lovers,” Honey said. “Were you?”

MJ shook his head.

“
You don’t remember,” Honey
said.

“
I don’t remember,” MJ said. “If
it happened, it was a long time ago. But I don’t think we did. I
never liked her. I always thought she was… evil. But I can’t be
sure. I don’t have that kind of memory any more. You know
that.”

“
Hmpft,” Honey said. “Well,
according to Ann, they’re planning on saying that you and she were
lovers and planned the entire thing to get me out of the way. She
stabbed me for you. Now that she’s in prison, you’re pretending to
be with me so no one suspects.”

Not knowing what to say, MJ nodded his
understanding.

“
I asked Ann, ‘What about Trevor?
She was married to Trevor! Sold Jill into prostitution and Katy
too?’ Ann doesn’t know what they’re going to say about Trevor.
Maybe you and my sister were going to get together and Trevor would
have his Jill? She doesn’t know.”

“
When did I make this plan with
her?”

“
I guess when you were in on their
scheme.”

“
Oh, that’s good,” MJ said. “I was
on tape all of that time. You can hear me. And what they’re saying
too.”

“
I said the same thing but they
said that was the problem.”

“
Why?” MJ asked.

“
Because the DA and Ann have been
instructed to leave your team out of the case. If they introduce
your tape, they open the door to ask about your team. Her lawyer is
gambling that the Feds would rather let her go, get off misdemeanor
assault, than expose your team.”

MJ got out of the driver’s seat. He took
Honey’s wheelchair from the back of the SUV and came around to her
door.

“
You’re mad.”

“
I’m not mad,” MJ said. “I’m also
not going to get hooked into this crap with your sister. She’s
always been evil. She’s evil now. She’s trying to get to you in the
most basic way possible – destroy your faith in the people who love
you. She did it to us before and I won’t let her do it
now.”

“
So you did sleep with
her?”

MJ sighed. He lifted Honey into her
wheelchair. After helping her settle, he set a vase with a dozen
pink roses in her lap.

“
I’ll tell you what,” MJ said.
“The LC has investigated every person who I had sex with – anyone I
remembered, anyone who said we did. It’s supposed to be as complete
a list as possible. She has one for everyone on the team. Some
intelligence thing. I can ask her if your sister is on the list.
Would that make you feel better?”

“
No, I don’t care,” Honey
said.

“
You don’t?”

“
You married me, not her. And no
matter what she says, you’d never have married her. Ever,” Honey
said. “As for the rest, I know you’re good at what you do. The docs
at Craig said over and over again how lucky I was that you were
there to save me. ‘Only an experienced, field trained professional
could have saved your life.’ That’s what they said. So I don’t care
what their lawyer or so called experts say. Plus I know you love me
and would do anything to keep me here.”

Smiling, MJ kissed her cheek. They took off
toward the hospital. They were waiting at the elevator when Honey
asked:

“
Are they going to let her go
because of your team? If they let her go, she’ll come straight
after me.”

“
I don’t know,” MJ said. “But I’ll
find out.”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning – 6:25
A.M.

“
Aden?” his secretary’s voice came
over the speaker on his office phone. “Your lawyer’s on the
phone.”

“
Lipson or personal?” Aden looked
up from the share report he was reading.

“
Samantha Hargreaves.”

“
Thanks, put her through,” Aden
said.

Aden took a drink of water before he answered
the phone. With any luck, the charges would be dismissed today and
he could move on with his life. Smiling at the thought, Aden picked
up the phone.

“
Are you sitting down?” Samantha
asked.

Aden beamed. She must have good
news.

“
Yes, what’s the news?”

His heart pounded in his chest. His mind raced
forward to his future dreams – a new school for Nash, marrying
Sandy, a new baby, and Noelle’s beautiful unbruised face. He was
careful not to pant into the phone.

“
They’re holding your hearing
today! In an hour and a half. Are you at work?”

“
I’m at the office,” Aden
said.

“
Wearing a suit?”

“
I have one here,” Aden said. “But
my hearing can’t be today! I won’t get a chance to say good-bye to
the kids or Sandy or…”

“
You don’t have an option, Aden.
This is an emergency hearing. They’re recalling your bail. The DA
may have already sent officers to come to get you…”

“
Aden?” his secretary’s voice came
over the speaker phone. “There are two police officers here to see
you.”

“
Tell them I’ll be out in a few
minutes,” Aden said to his secretary.

“
The police are there?” Samantha
asked.

“
Yes,” Aden said. “I’ll get
changed and go with them. You’ll be there?”

“
I’ll call Sandy,” Samantha said.
“She’s with the kids today?”

“
Yes,” Aden said. He felt his
heart drop in his chest. He could barely keep the sorrow from his
voice.

“
Ok, I’ll see you at the court
room.”

Aden dropped his head into his hands.
Overwhelmed with emotion, he rested for a second then got up to
change his clothing. Using his speaker phone, he called Jacob and
Sam to let them know what was going on. Sam came in his office as
he was tying his tie.

“
Today’s the first day of the rest
of my life,” Aden said.

“
Every day is.” Sam smiled.
“You’ll do fine.”

“
What about…?”

“
We’ll take care of everything
here. You’ll catch up fast when you get back.”

“
And Sandy?”

“
We’ve already contacted Social
Services,” Sam said. “They can stay with us. Delphie and I have
filed to be additional guardians of the kids. You’re going to have
to trust us.”

“
Trust?” Aden asked.

“
Yes, trust,” Sam said. “You do
what you have to do and we’ll take care of the rest. When you’re
done, we’ll sort out what needs to be sorted.”

Aden nodded.

“
Let’s go,” Sam said.

Aden followed Sam out to the reception area.
The police officers handcuffed Aden and led him out to their police
cruiser. Like the dream of his future just moments before, Aden
watched the Lipson Construction office fade from sight.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning – 9:11
A.M.

“
Mrs. Scully, have you ever seen
any burns like this?” Ann Campbell asked.

The Assistant DA picked up a photo of the back
of Jill’s head after she had been burned with acid.

“
I saw Jill when she had those
burns,” Honey said.

“
Any other time?”

“
I had those burns when I was
about eleven,” Honey said.

“
How did you get those
burns?”

“
My sister put car battery acid in
my shampoo,” Honey said.

“
Objection!
Assumption!”

“
How did you know your sister put
the acid in your shampoo, Mrs. Scully?” the judge asked.

“
She told me,” Honey said. “She
said it was retribution for trying to make her look bad. She tried
to do it again when we were in high school but after being burned
once by family shampoo, I always bought my own. I hid mine in my
room. She ended up burning our little sister Briana and Mom. Dad
was furious.”

“
Your little sister was...?” Ann
Campbell asked.

“
Six years old. She tried to
shampoo her own hair. It was her second time washing her own hair,”
Honey said. “She has a scar on her neck and back from
it.”

“
These scars?” Ann Campbell held
up a photo of Briana’s neck, back and a small half moon scar on her
forehead. “Please enter into evidence this picture of Briana
Lipson.”

“
Yes,” Honey said. “I have one
too.”

“
Would you mind showing us?” Ann
Campbell asked.

“
No ma’am,” Honey said. “I need
some help.”

The bailiff helped Honey take off her silk
jacket to expose her neck and shoulder.

“
You have to look past the surgery
scars, but I have the same scars on my shoulder and
neck.”

Honey pointed to her shoulder and neck. When
she looked up, she saw that everyone in the courtroom had a kind of
stunned expression on their faces. Confused, she looked for MJ. His
face was grim but he smiled at her. She looked up at Ann Campbell’s
face. The Assistant DA worked to recover her professional demeanor.
Honey blushed and pulled on her jacket. The courtroom was
uncomfortably quiet. She fiddled with her diamond wedding
ring.

“
And you don’t remember what
provoked this attack?” Ann Campbell asked.

“
My sister and I never got along.
I couldn’t ever tell what would set her off. I was usually her fall
guy. She’d make fun of me at school, soil my clothing, rip up my
favorite shirt, and spread rumors about me. It was that way until I
moved out.”

“
When did you move
out?”

“
After high school. I worked for
Lipson Construction on a road crew in high school. When I could
work full time, I got an apartment.”

“
What was your relationship with
your sister?”

“
I never saw her,” Honey said.
“She lived with Mom and the girls. I would go home to do laundry or
hang out with the girls… um, my younger sisters Bree and Becky… but
I never saw her. I didn’t have any contact with her until she
started dating Trevor last year.”

“
What brought you into contact
with your sister again?”

“
Mom wanted me to meet her
boyfriend because she thought they’d get married,” Honey said. “I
met them for lunch in December of last year.”

Honey had been coached not to talk about
Trevor, but her blood boiled remembering how smug her sister was at
that lunch. She sat there, all high and mighty, with a married guy.
A guy married to her friend, Jill! Honey glanced over at her
sister. Her sister curled her lip at Honey.

“
When did you see her
again?”

“
Mom wanted me to help her with
the wedding,” Honey said. “I was a bride’s maid, went to a couple
wedding showers, engagement party, stuff like that.”

“
If you and your sister weren’t
close, why did you go?”

“
My Mom asked me to go,” Honey
said. “I’m sure people have a lot to say about my Mom, but she’s
always tried really hard for us. She asks me for very little so I
always do what she asks.”

“
Your Mom asked you to help your
sister later too. Isn’t that right?”

“
Mom asked me to help her and her
husband get back and forth from the airport for their honeymoon,”
Honey said. “Mom had a business appointment that morning so I took
off work to take them to the airport. I was supposed to pick them
up. I was a little late, like ten minutes, and I saw them leave
with someone else.”