Sleeping Beauty (48 page)

“I yelled something at her–I can’t remember what–and I pushed her away with both hands.”

“With open hands? Not fists?”

“No, open hands. On her chest.”

“What did she do?”

“She slid backwards off the bed onto the floor.”

“Onto her back?”

“Yes.”

“And then what happened?”

“She started to cry.”

“Was she still attempting to touch you at this point?”

“No, she was just sitting on the floor and crying.”

“Was this typical for her at the end of a hypersexual display?”

“No. Normally she would just go to sleep.”

“What did you do at that point?”

“I grabbed some paper towels from the hall closet and tried to get my shoulder to stop bleeding. Then I put on my shirt, and left.”

“You left her bedroom?”

“No, I left her apartment.”

“You left her on the bedroom floor crying?”

“Yeah. I figured by the time I got back she’d be sleeping.”

“And how long had all this been going on–from the moment she first touched you to the time you left the apartment?”

“I don’t know, maybe about ten minutes. Maybe a little more.”

I smile on the inside at his good guess. I happen to know that it was exactly ten minutes and forty-seven seconds, according to the video.

“Where did you go?”

“I went for a walk for a little while, and then went back.”

“You went back to her apartment?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you find when you returned to her apartment?”

“Claire was in her bed.”

“Was she crying?”

“Not anymore.”

“Did she appear injured?”

“Not to me then.”

“Tell us what happened then.”

“I sat on her bed and told her I was sorry for pushing her. She said she was fine, that she was, you know, going to be okay. And then I kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her.”

“And what happened then?”

“And then she kissed me.”

“A–a chaste kiss? Like a sister would give a brother?”

He frowns. “No.”

“The kind of kiss she would try to give you when she was exhibiting hypersexuality behavior?”

“No.”

“What kind of kiss?”

“Like a romantic kiss.”

“I see. And what did you do?”

“I kissed her.”

“You returned the kiss, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“And why did you do that?”

Davin winces, but I know it’s not anything physical this time. Emotionally, he’s being grated like cheese. “Because…” he trails off. “I loved her, you know?”

“You loved her? Or you were in love with her?”

“Both I guess.”

“Did you know before this time that you were in love with your boyfriend’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever act on this feeling before with her?”

“Never.”

I feel Rev stiffen beside me at the blatant lie.
No one knows but us,
I think.
No one but us
. Still, I’m terrified about what could happen if anyone beyond the three of us finds out the truth.

“Tell us what happened then.”

Davin clears his throat. “I think it would be easier if you’d just ask questions.”

“Fair enough. Did you and Ms. Beau have sexual intercourse after you kissed each other again?”

Davin’s voice barely carries to where I’m sitting, even with the amplification of the microphone. “Yes.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“I see. And what happened afterwards? Did you stay in her apartment?”

“No.”

“You left?”

“I stayed for a little while, and then I left.”

“Why?”

He looks at Ben like he’s lost his mind. “Well, because I’d just cheated on my boyfriend with his sister. It seemed like a good time to clear out.”

More laughter from the peanut gallery. I have never felt less like smiling. I stare at the back of Brendan’s head, wondering what he could be thinking at this moment.

“And did you resolve to tell her brother about what had happened?”

“I did. I was going to.”

“And did you?”

“I gave him the Cliff Notes version.”

“Meaning what?”

“I told him about what happened on the couch.”

“Not about the sexual intercourse in the bedroom?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He sighs, touching his side again where the broken ribs are. “It got kind of complicated.”

“In what way?”

“I broke up with him the next day, and I didn’t want him to blame Claire.”

“Any other reason?”

“Because Claire didn’t remember any of it.”

“What do you mean? The next morning she didn’t remember?”

“She didn’t wake up the next morning. She slept for four or five days. When she woke up, she didn’t remember any of it.”

“She acted around you like she always did?”

“Yes.”

“Did she know you had broken up with her brother?”

“No.”

“When did she find out?”

“I don’t know. Sometime after I got hammered at Ghost Point.”

“You broke up with her brother in May and he didn’t tell her until November? Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“No. I asked him not to, and he went along with it.”

“Why did you ask him to do this?”

“Because I knew she wouldn’t let me take care of her if she knew I’d broken up with him. And I knew he wouldn’t let me take care of her if he knew what’d happened with Claire.”

“But you’d broken off your relationship with him. Why would her brother go along with this?”

“Because he wanted my help. He wanted to continue touring, and he couldn’t do that without someone there with Claire.”

“I see. Any other reason you were so eager to help care for her?”

“I wanted to see if there was anything there with her, if she cared about me.”

“You wanted time to see if there could be a relationship with her?”

“Yes.”

“Did her brother suspect this was your motive?”

“No.”

“So you wiped your conscious clean by breaking up with her brother, while intending to pursue her while he was out of town, is that right?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“And were you successful?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have enough time to find out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because she ran into Brendan at the beach, and they hit it off.”

“They fell in love?”

“Eventually, yes.”

“And what did you do at that point?”

“I backed off.”

“But you were hurt, correct?”

“Yes, but Claire didn’t know that.”

“Did you treat Ms. Beau any differently?”

“Not really, but I stopped coming around.”

“Because she’d begun a relationship with Dr. Charmant?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” Ben strokes his chin, no doubt wondering how to move forward.

I’m wondering the same thing myself, hoping that this impromptu, unrehearsed testimony doesn’t backfire and leave us with an even bigger mess than we had when court recessed for lunch.

“Mr. Wibbens, were you there when Dr. Charmant and Ms. Beau ran into each other at the beach?”

“Yeah, I was there. I’m the one who took Claire to the beach.”

“Did the two of them speak to each other in your presence?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell us what they said to each other when they met?”

“It was pretty awkward at first. I could tell that Claire wasn’t happy to see him. She made a few sarcastic comments about his black eye and his leg being in a cast, and asked him what’d happened to him.”

“And what did Dr. Charmant tell her?”

“He told her to think about it, because he was sure she would remember.”

“He asked her to try to remember? You heard him asking her to try to remember what had occurred in the sleep lab?”

“Yeah, he was encouraging her to remember.”

“What was Ms. Beau’s response?”

“Nothing at first. She just looked mad. And then it looked like she remembered.”

“How did you know that she’d remembered?”

“Because she got that look she gets when she feels stupid and embarrassed.”

Everyone laughs, including me this time.

“I see. And what did she say at that point, if anything?”

“She dropped the whole angry attitude thing and told him that she was sorry, that she sometimes, you know, attacked people and got violent when she was entering an episode.”

“Ms. Beau apologized to him? She apologized to Dr. Charmant?”

“Yeah, she apologized, and I could tell she meant it.”

“How could you tell?”

“Because she looked like she was about to cry.”

“And what did Dr. Charmant say at this point, if anything?”

“He stopped her in the middle of her apology and told her not to worry about it, that he knew she didn’t know what was happening, and that she couldn’t stop it anyway. He said he was glad she wasn’t hurt.”

“Did the two of them ever discuss the incident in the sleep lab in any more detail?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did they ever bring up specifics, such as the shower?”

“No…well, not in front of me. I think Claire was embarrassed and he didn’t want her to feel any worse by dwelling on the details.”

“Did you think you had a basic understanding of what had happened in the sleep lab without the details?”

“Yeah, I was pretty sure that she’d attacked him and beat him up.”

Davin is having an effect on the spectators. The people around us who looked disgusted at the start of his testimony seem to have sympathy for him now. I watch the jurors, hoping that they’re having a similar change of heart.

“And was this assumption based on what you knew about Ms. Beau’s hypersexual behaviors?”

“Yes.”

And what happened then? Did you and Ms. Beau go elsewhere on the beach?”

“Well, I did, but Claire stayed with Brendan.”

“You left her there with Dr. Charmant?”

“I could tell she wanted to stay and talk to him, so I did, yeah.”

“And did you rejoin their group at a later time?”

“No, I went surfing with friends, and when I got back on shore the two of them had left to go to a movie.”

“And this was the day they began dating, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Were you jealous that she was dating Dr. Charmant?”

“Of course.”

“After Dr. Charmant and Ms. Beau began dating, did you ever witness their interactions at her apartment?”

“Yes, lots of times.”

“Did Ms. Beau ever seem to be fearful of Dr. Charmant?”

“No.”

“Can you tell us how he acted towards Ms. Beau?”

“What do you mean?”

“Was he kind and considerate as the relationship continued?”

“Yeah, I could tell that he really liked her.”

“Did he ever in your presence, do anything that you thought was inappropriate?”

“No, but I think Claire was hoping for things to move along a lot sooner than he was willing to allow.”

Ben starts. “And how would you know this?”

Davin shrugs. “She’s a California girl and he was, like, this stuffy Arizona dude.”

The courtroom roars with laughter. Even the judge is having a hard time keeping a straight face. Ben looks like he’s about to repeat his performance from the lunchtime meeting room. The only person not laughing is Lucinda Gaelic, which is just fine with me. The more skin she has covering her creepy teeth, the better.

When Ben’s gotten himself together he says, “And by this do you mean that Dr. Charmant was more conservative about physical contact as the relationship progressed than was Ms. Beau?”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

Just like the second time around,
I think.
I can’t believe I had to work that hard twice. It’s a wonder I ever got pregnant.
I stifle a giggle, earning a big hairy eyeball from Rev.

“Mr. Wibbens,” says Ben, “when Ms. Beau came out of her episode for good, did she remember her relationship with Dr. Charmant?”

“No.”

“Did you encourage her to continue that relationship?”

“I guess I tried to subtly discourage her.”

“Was this because you felt that Ms. Beau had been mistreated in any way by Dr. Charmant?”

“No, not because of that.”

“Because you were still in love with Ms. Beau and you were jealous?”

“Yes.”

“Were you happy when Ms. Beau broke off the relationship with Dr. Charmant once she recovered from her episode?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was glad until I saw that she wasn’t happy.”

“Was it your intention to continue to try to establish a relationship with her at that point, once she’d broken off her relationship with Dr. Charmant?”

“Yes.”

“You started coming over to her house again, calling her again?”

“Yes.”

“Did she ever indicate that she understood your overtures?”

“No. It seemed like she was depressed about what’d happened with Brendan.”

“Even though she didn’t remember anything that had happened between them?”

“I think she remembered some things. Just enough to make her sad about breaking it off.”

“How many weeks was it before she and Dr. Charmant reconciled?”

“About four weeks later.”

“And did you then make yourself scarce again?”

“Yes.”

“You spent less time with her, stopped calling her?”

“Yes.”

“Did she attempt to contact you?”

“Yes. All the time.”

“And how did you respond to those attempts?”

“She’d leave me voicemails or text me. I wouldn’t answer.”

“When did the two of you re-establish contact?”

“The night Brendan was arrested.”

“This was the night you took her to your boat to hide her from the media, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And did you learn anything that night that shocked you?”

“Yes.”

“And what was that?”

“Claire told me that she was pregnant.”

“What was your reaction to that?”

“I almost freaked out.”

“Did Ms. Beau know that you were upset by this information?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t know the reason. She thought it was because she hadn’t told me already.”