Betrayal - Fern Michaels [54]
“Mr. Conroy, does the state’s answer satisfy you?”
“Yes, it does.”
“We’ll continue to view the testimony.”
The VCR was turned on, and Sara’s face lit up the screen.
“I’m sorry, but this is what the court needs to find out in order to put the bad man away.”
“I was in third grade. I remember now. That’s right.”
“So in third grade, was this the first time the bad man, Mr. Rocket, came to your room and frightened you?”
“I don’t really remember. He was mean all the time. He always wanted to play with Emily. I bet he touched her, too, and she liked it. I’m going to ask her. You should, too. Emily won’t tell even if he did. Mommy says—”
“Let’s not worry about what your mother says, Sara. Let’s get back to the night you woke up when you were in the third grade. You saw Mr. Rocket sitting on the edge of your bed smoking. What happened next?”
“I hate this, but I have to do what’s right.
Mommy told me always to tell the truth, right, Mommy?”
“Of course, dear. Now tell Mr. Wykowski what happened.”
“Okay. Well, I watched him sit there for a while. I think he thought I was asleep, but I was secretly peeking out through my eyes. You know how you close them, and they’re like slits? That’s what I was doing. He reached beneath the covers and put his hand on my . . . You know . . . on my privates.”
Kate tried to see the expressions on the face of the jurors, but the room was too dim.
“Did you have your pajamas on?”
“No, I just had on a long T-shirt and my panties. He pulled my panties down, too. Right to my knees. By then I didn’t know what to do. I was just so scared I thought I should keep pretending I was sleeping. I did, and after that he rubbed me . . . there. Then after a while he stopped. I saw he was rubbing his underwear, too.”
Kate’s stomach climbed high into her throat. She wanted to vomit at the smug look on Sara’s face. Though Kate would never know if Don or Debbie coached Sara, she was sure Sara knew much more in the sex department than she’d let on to her parents. She remembered a conversation she and Emily had when Emily had got her first period. Sara seemed more knowledgeable than Emily. She’d even remarked that she’d better not have sex or she could get knocked up. Kate thought Sara must’ve been around nine at the time.
“Was there another time Mr. Rocket came to your room?”
“Yep. Lots of them. Every time him and Aunt Kate came to visit he came in my room. He would come into the bathroom, too. I was afraid to tell Mommy; she didn’t want me to lock the door just in case I fell or something. I never did. Uncle Alex knew this, and he’d come into the bathroom. Once he got in the shower with me. He got his hands all soapy, then he rubbed his . . . his man part. It got all big and stiff. He made me touch it, too. It was all slimy and had these big old veins popping out. I started crying, then he made these terrible noises and turned away from me. When he looked at me again his part was all flat. He said if I told, he would kill my dad. I stayed in the bathroom so long I was wrinkled. I think Mommy had to come and get me out of the tub. I was just so scared.”
Kate couldn’t stop herself. She bolted from the courtroom in search of the nearest restroom. At the end of a long hall, she found the ladies’ room. She shoved her way into a stall. On her knees, she vomited until there was nothing left. She flushed the toilet, then dragged herself to the sink. Splashing cold water over her face helped a bit, but nothing would ever remove the words she’d just heard from the mouth of the most evil child on earth. After she’d composed herself, she went back to the courtroom.
James and Alex were waiting.
“After you left, the judge thought it was time for a break. Let’s go to lunch.” James guided Kate through the throngs of reporters lining the halls. They were in attack mode. “There’s a back entrance we can use.”
The trio raced to the basement, then back