Screaming in the Silence (22 page)

"So you were looking out for your two friends?"

"Yes."

"Marshal Birch has testified that once you learned one of the victims was alive, it was you who convinced them to take her back to the house. Is this true?"

"Yes."

"What were you going to do with her once you got her there?"

"Ransom her," Kaden stated clearly.

"Can you please tell the court what Raymond Birch wanted to do once you found that Ms. Winters was alive?"

"He wanted to kill her."

"Did he, during Ms. Winter's captivity, ever talk about killing her again?"

"Yes."

"Multiple times?"

"Yes."

I felt my father's hand on my knee. I looked up at him and smiled, reassuring him I was still alive and still his little girl. He was close to tears and his other hand was clenched into a tight fist.

Kaden continued to explain. "He threatened to slit her throat after we learned that her friend had been found. Then again after he figured out who her father was. And one last time the night before I turned us in."

I furrowed my brows at this last statement and tried to remember it. But I couldn't. Marshal hadn't mentioned it during his testimony. When had that happened? I looked at Evans, hoping he would ask for Kaden to elaborate but he had already moved on.

"We'll come back to that. Can you please tell the court what happened the first night Ms. Winter's was in your house?"

Kaden nodded and shifted in his chair. "I was in my room reading and I heard Raleigh scream from the basement. I knew Ray had kept drinking once we got back to the house so I ran downstairs and found him on top of her."

"What was he doing?"

Kaden shook his head and I felt my father's hand searching for mine. I released Samantha from my grip and interlaced my fingers with my father's, my free hand resting lightly on his forearm.

"He had one hand up her shirt and the other down her pants."

My skin started to itch from the memory. I knew that all of these questions were irrelevant to the charges against Ray. Evans was using Kaden more as a character witness to demonstrate that Ray's was capable of murder.

"What did he say when he saw you?"

"He asked if I wanted to have a go at her first. He said she was perfect because he could do whatever he wanted to her and wouldn't have to listen to her bitching when he was done."

I felt my face redden with embarrassment. Kaden refused to look at me and I knew it was probably killing him to say these things out loud. I knew it was also killing him to paint his friend as an uncaring monster with the worst of intentions when he knew that his own actions had been so horrible.

"What happened next?"

"I had to fight to get him off her. Then he said that we were sharing everything, including her."

"Did he ever make another attempt to assault her?"

"He hit her once. The night before it all ended, he held a gun to her head."

I gasped but quickly shut my mouth. All the heads in the courtroom turned toward me. I stared straight at Kaden, willing him to continue.

"Ray said that he was going to kill her because she had ruined his life. He said that she deserved to die and that he was going to enjoy killing her, that he wouldn't regret it."

Ray's massive body stood up from behind his desk, his chair flying backwards and hitting the railing behind him. His face was red and he was screaming, his finger pointed straight at Kaden.

"Fuck you, Kaden! You know that wasn't what…" but his lawyer pulled him down, replacing his chair before the guard could reach him. The two shared a few hushed words which I couldn't see and eventually Ray threw up his arms in defeat. I glanced at the judge who glared at the defense attorney with a warning eye.

Evans continued. "What made him stop?"

"I don't know," Kaden answered quickly. "There was nothing I could have done to physically stop him but he asked me if there was anything I wanted to say to her before he killed her." He hesitated and glanced in my direction. "I said what I thought would make him back off and he did. I told him we would leave the next day."

"What happened next?" But that wasn't the answer I wanted Evans to ask. What had Kaden said to Ray to make him stop that night? And why hadn't he told me about any of this? My head swirled with images of the conversation that had happened while I was sleeping soundly next to Kaden. I thought that night had been so perfect, so ideal. But Ray had tainted it for Kaden.

"I called the police first thing in the morning and told them where we would be taking her. I didn't want them to come to the house because I was afraid Ray would try to kill us all if we were surrounded. So I took her to the bank and let her empty her account, giving the police time and to safely get her away from Ray."

"Did Mr. Birch confess to the murder of Ms. Carla Lindstrom that evening?"

"He did."

"What exactly did he say?"

"I asked about Carla and he said that she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He said that shooting someone would be easier than strangling them to death."

"Anything else?"

Kaden glanced at Ray. His head rested in his hands, his eyes closed. "He said he hadn't really meant to kill her, that it just sort of happened."

"I see. Did you hear him moving her body down to the basement?"

But Ray's lawyer objected.

"I'll rephrase," Evan said before the judge could answer. "After Ray left your room that night, did you hear anything happening inside the house?"

"Yes. I heard him dragging something downstairs. He was talking to himself, screaming and laughing."

"Thank you. I have no further questions."

Ray's lawyer stood up and stormed toward the witness stand.

"Mr. Prideaux, can you please describe your relationship with Ms. Winters?"

Kaden blinked and I watched his shoulders sink. He pulled them back up and answered the question.

"Well, I kidnapped her…"

"I didn't ask what you did to her. I asked you to describe your relationship with her."

"It's complicated," Kaden said through clenched teeth.

"Complicated? How?"

Kaden blinked a couple of times, searching for the right words. "Complicated by the fact that what I did to her and what I wanted from her didn't add up."

"You are currently serving a four year sentence for rape and kidnapping, are you not?"

"Yes."

Four years? My heart sank. I thought about everything that would happen in four years. I would be thirty years old, my father could be President, my body and mind would have changed so much by then.

"That clearly establishes what you did to Ms. Winters, now will you please tell the court what you wanted from her?"

Kaden glanced at me and smiled. "I wanted her to love me."

"Why?"

"Because I loved her. Because I wanted to be with her."

My face and body froze. I imprinted into my mind the exact way Kaden's lips moved as he spoke those words. My father stirred uncomfortably by my side. Samantha gave me a desperate look, but there was nothing I could do for either of them. I knew that they didn't want to know my true feelings.

"But you were already with her, Mr. Prideaux, were you not?"

"I wanted her to want to be with me," Kaden clarified.

"Mr. Birch and Ms. Winters have stated that you withheld information from Raymond and Marshal regarding the truth about Ms. Winters' father and her ability to speak. Can you please tell the court why you did this?"

"I thought it would buy me more time with her."

"Did you ever intend on ransoming her?"

"At the very beginning, yes."

"At the very beginning," Mr. Krieger repeated and nodded his head. "Mr. Prideaux, when did you learn that Ms. Winters' could speak?"

Kaden smiled. "I had that figured out pretty quickly. She always looked as if she wanted to tell me off."

"And when did you confront her about it?"

"The day we brought her home," Kaden said, looking from the lawyer to me. His gaze held mine in a way that made the hairs on my arms rise. "Ray and I went through her things, searching every pocket in her bag, looking for anything that could help us. Marshal brought her inside and I took her upstairs to get her cleaned up. I told her to cut the act and she eventually gave in."

I frowned at this. The first part of his answer had been so insignificant. Every pocket of my bag, anything that could help them? Why would he bring that up? And, was it my imagination, or had he been emphasizing them to me? Maybe I just wanted to find a deeper meaning, just wanted to find something to hold on to.

Mr. Krieger's next question got my full attention.

"So once you had confirmation of Ms. Winters' ability to speak, why did you keep it from Ray and Marshal?"

"Because it put me in control."

"Control to do what?"

"Control to call the shots. Control to keep Raleigh safe."

"Safe? Surely she wasn't kept safe if you raped her."

My father squeezed my hand and I glanced up at him. He stared down at me with a frightened and helpless expression. I smiled and squeezed back. I was still here, still in one piece.

"Don't you think she would have been safer if you had accepted the ransom money and turned her over to her father?"

Kaden blinked. "I suppose."

"Let me just clarify, Mr. Prideaux. You led Ray and Marshal Birch to believe that you would ransom Ms. Winters, something which you admit would have been in her better interests, yet you hid information from them to buy you more time with her."

It was clever what the lawyer was doing. Clever, but inevitably pointless because Marshal had already testified against his brother. Krieger wanted to show the jury that Kaden had been keeping me, not for ransom money as he promised Ray and Marshal, but for his own selfish purposes. Ray had therefore been misled, tricked into doing things he wouldn't have done under normal circumstances. It was a tough theory to prove but probably the only way the jury would give Ray any sympathy.

"Yes," Kaden answered, looking guilty for the first time.

"So you admit to withholding information from Mr. Birch and his brother with the intent of prolonging Ms. Winters stay?"

"Yes, but Ray would have killed her if he found out who her father was."

"How do you know that?" Mr. Krieger demanded. "Raymond Birch drove hundreds of miles to mail a ransom note which he believed would be answered. His actions tell us that he did indeed want to ransom her."

"He also held a gun to her head and a knife to her throat," Kaden said, his face reddening with anger, his jaw clenching. "He told me that he was going to kill her because she had ruined his life. He killed that girl because he knew I wouldn't let him kill Raleigh."

But the judge held up a warning hand, letting Kaden know that he was out of line.

"I would ask the court for Mr. Prideaux's statements to be struck from the record. They are merely speculations." Mr. Krieger turned toward the judge.

"They weren't speculations!" Kaden screamed, standing up and then immediately sitting down and hanging his head.

"So stricken," the judge ruled.

"I have no further questions."

Evans was out of his seat before Mr. Krieger had finished speaking, ready for his rebuttal.

"Mr. Prideaux, when you first found Ms. Winters alive in the trunk of your car, is it true that you convinced Raymond Birch to ransom her as an alternative to death?"

"Yes."

"And, please tell the court, between the three of you, who vocalized his desire to kill Ms. Winters?"

"It was Ray."

"Prosecution rests."

Kaden's head snapped to the judge and she excused him. Immediately he was out of his seat and quickly handcuffed by the guards. I felt my throat start to close, a sob resting just above my chest. I didn't want him to leave. If I could just look at him for another hour, another five minutes, things would get better. My legs twitched and I fought the urge to run. I clamped my hands into tight fists and pressed my mouth into a firm line so no words could escape.

I watched in horror as the guards escorted Kaden from the courtroom, waiting for him to turn around and acknowledge me one last time. He was nearly to the door before it happened. He glanced over his shoulder, his face calm, his walk steady. His green eyes caught mine only for the briefest of seconds and I saw him smile. I could tell the smile was meant for no one but me and I buried my face into my father's chest and broke into tears.

I walked back to the hotel room alone that afternoon. The winter wind burned my face and hands but I barely noticed. I was still in love with Kaden and almost entirely sure that he still loved me back. But was someone like Kaden capable of love in the best sense of the word? Love was supposed to be personalized, it was supposed to mean something different to each person. But I didn't know what it meant to Kaden. I didn't understand his definition of love and it certainly didn't seem compatible with the commonly accepted description of the word. But what I didn't understand no longer scared me. I should have been ashamed, I should have been sick with disgust that I relished the love of a man who had kidnapped and raped me. But I was a sick, masochistic girl who went to bed every night praying I would wake up in his arms.

The hotel where my father, Samantha, and I had stayed was old and rather quaint, probably one of the only hotels in the area that wasn't near the highway and that didn't advertise specials for free HBO. The high ceiling in the lobby was painted in a maritime theme and accented with gold leaf.

I nodded at the concierge, made my way to the spiral staircase and slowly climbed the stairs. The walls of the hotel were lined with old pictures and drawings of ships and other sea vessels, all with two dates: their maiden voyage and either their disappearance or the day they sank. The name of the captain was printed below. I wondered if anyone else was staying in this hotel and, if they were, did they find these pictures as depressing as I did? I would have much rather seen ships that were still strong and alive out on the ocean. Why immortalize something so upsetting? Surely, drowning would be a painful death, especially for the captain, who lost his ship and his life at the same time.