Kerry Kilcannon 2 - Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson

Kerry Kilcannon 2 - Protect and Defend by Richard North Patterson

Author:Richard North Patterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-30T17:41:36+00:00


THIRTY-TWO

FOR SARAH, the recess—a mere ten minutes—felt endless.

She sat in a bare witness room with Mary Ann, watching a schoolroom-style clock measure out the time before the girl faced her cross-examiner. That so much of this experience involved her mother’s trauma was devastating to both parents and child, and Mary Ann’s exposure of her family’s wounds seemed to have left her listless and depressed.

“You were good,” Sarah encouraged her. “All you need is to stand up for yourself for one more hour.”

Mary Ann’s eyes flickered, the only sign that she had heard. Sarah could feel her absorb the aching knowledge that her relationships with both parents, and theirs with each other, were being changed forever.

This brought Sarah face-to-face with her own responsibilities. She had made decisions as a lawyer would, marshaling evidence and hammering at the Tierneys’ weak points without remorse. As a lawyer, she found little in herself to fault. But though Sarah could tell herself that Congress had written this conflict into law, she could not escape her role in bringing it to this climax. Now the best she could hope for was that Saunders or Thomas Fleming, not Martin Tierney, would cross-examine Mary Ann.

Glancing at the clock, Sarah said, “It’s time.”

Approaching his daughter, he stopped at a respectful distance with his hands shoved in his pockets. As she watched him with apprehension, the exquisite cruelty of the moment made Sarah wince.

“Mary Ann,” he said softly, “I’d like to apologize.”

The girl’s vigilant expression softened, then stiffened again. Sarah wondered at the skewed intimacy she witnessed—a loving father, so estranged from his daughter that he must broach his regrets on television—even as she questioned the motives of the complex man who was her adversary.

“You’ve never been selfish,” Tierney continued. “I was too emotional, it seems, to see how much you wanted to protect your mother, and worried for us both. I, who should know you better than anyone. Except, perhaps, your mother.”

Hope and distrust fought for control of his daughter’s face. “Would it have changed your mind?” she asked.

Tierney shook his head. “Not my mind. My heart. To have been so blind shames me, and my failure to understand your fears, and to comfort you, is beyond excuse. Forgive me, please.”

The spectators were rapt—torn, Sarah suspected, between sympathy and the desire to look away. Perhaps only she was detached enough to credit Martin Tierney not just with love, but with the diabolical cleverness granted only to parents: to know the means of undermining his daughter’s resolve.

Slowly, Sarah stood.

“Your Honor,” she said in muted tones, “I appreciate Professor Tierney’s sentiments, and fully sympathize with his regrets, however belated. But this is not cross-examination, nor does it address the issues raised by his intervention. Unless his apology includes consent, my client is trapped in this trial, and in a tragedy we should bring to a close.”

Tierney faced her, his translucent gaze level. “No one, Ms. Dash, wants to end this more than Margaret and I. But you’re an advocate, concerned with winning—as is your privilege.



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