Chapter 16 - THE DEFENSE ATTACKS
David’s attorney spent two hours trying to turn me into the woman David had described in his divorce draft.
Controlling.
Emotional.
Obsessive.
He displayed old messages.
Where are you?
Why aren’t you answering?
Lily is waiting for you.
Please come home.
Without context, they looked desperate.
That was the point.
“Mrs. Vance, would you agree that you contacted your husband excessively?”
“Sometimes.”
“Would you agree that you became anxious when he didn’t respond?”
“When our daughter was sick, yes.”
“Would you agree that you monitored his schedule?”
“We had a child with a heart condition.”
He walked closer.
“You called him fifty times in one night.”
“Yes.”
“Is that normal behavior?”
I looked toward the jury.
“No.”
Then back at him.
“Neither is your seven-year-old dying.”
Silence.
The attorney changed direction.
He displayed the forged email.
Move whatever you need from Lily’s account.
“Is this your email address?”
“Yes.”
“Was this sent from a computer inside your residence?”
“According to investigators.”
“So it is possible you sent it.”
“No.”
“But possible.”
“I was in Boston.”
“You could have remotely accessed the computer.”
“I suppose.”
He smiled slightly.
For the first time, I understood his strategy.
Create doubt.
Not truth.
Before he could continue, the prosecutor asked for permission to introduce new authentication evidence.
Agent Cole had found something.
Security footage.
Login timestamps.
And a voice recording from our home assistant system.
The system activated automatically when David said its wake word.
That night, while he used my laptop, the device recorded a command.
David’s voice.
Alexa, remind me to tell Dad the email is done tomorrow morning.
The courtroom went still.
Then Charles’s voice could be heard faintly in the background.
Delete it from sent after you forward yourself the copy.
David closed his eyes.
His attorney stopped smiling.
The judge admitted the evidence.
During the next recess, David asked to speak with his lawyers privately.
Twenty minutes later, rumors spread through the courtroom.
He wanted to change his plea.
But when proceedings resumed, he did not.
He chose to continue.
Later, I understood why.
David still believed Julianne would refuse to testify.
Then the courtroom doors opened.
She walked inside.
May you like
And David finally looked terrified.
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