Chapter 17 - JULIANNE TELLS THE TRUTH
Julianne wore a plain gray suit.
No expensive jewelry.
No diamond ring.
She did not look at me.
She looked at the jury.
The prosecutor asked how she met David.
“At a private fitness club.”
“Did you know he was married?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have a relationship with him?”
“Yes.”
“Did he give you money?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know some of it came from his daughter’s medical trust?”
“Not at first.”
David’s attorney immediately objected to the last two words.
The judge overruled.
The prosecutor asked.
“When did you begin to suspect?”
“On the yacht.”
She explained the account comment.
Because that account paid for paradise, baby.
Then she explained the calls.
David watched her without blinking.
“How many calls did you see?”
“Dozens.”
“Did Mr. Vance see them?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know they concerned Lily?”
Julianne’s eyes filled with tears.
“He saw ICU in a message preview.”
A sound came from David’s side of the courtroom.
His attorney whispered for him to remain still.
“What did Mr. Vance do after seeing that?”
“He blocked Maya.”
The jury looked toward him.
Julianne continued.
“The next morning, I asked if he should call home.”
“What did he say?”
She hesitated.
The prosecutor waited.
Julianne finally answered.
“He said, ‘If something serious happened, somebody else will deal with it.’”
I closed my eyes.
I had not heard that before.
The prosecutor allowed the silence to remain.
Then she played the final recording.
David and Charles.
Three days before the ICU.
If Maya discovers the trust before the divorce, we’re finished.
Then.
And if the hospital needs money?
Then David.
The hospital won’t know what’s missing.
David’s attorney attacked Julianne on cross-examination.
He called her a mistress.
A liar.
A woman accepting immunity.
A woman protecting herself.
Julianne agreed with almost everything.
“Yes, I had an affair with a married man.”
“Yes, I took expensive gifts.”
“Yes, I believed what I wanted to believe.”
Then the attorney asked.
“So why should anyone trust you now?”
Julianne looked toward David.
“Because I spent fourteen days watching him lie without realizing it.”
Then she looked at me.
“And she spent thirteen years doing the same thing.”
Nobody spoke.
The attorney returned to his table.
David whispered something to him.
The lawyer shook his head.
David whispered again.
This time louder.
“I want the deal.”
But the prosecutor had already withdrawn it.
May you like
The case was going to the jury.
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