Cal didn’t think the jury would catch that tick in his jaw.
Dadreallyhated Sam.So much so he almost had a hard time hiding it.
Almost.
“In the time since it happened, they’ve built it up bigger in their heads than it was.They were teenagers.Emotional teenagers.Nate was grief stricken, and I shouldn’t have lost my temper with him, but I do not remember… the extremes to which Nate characterized our altercation.”
Cal glanced at Nate.He expected blank.
He saw fury.Sam looked like she was about to leap to her feet and maybe charge the stand, but she didn’t.They both sat there and breathed through their anger.
“Mr.Bennet, your children have portrayed Marie Bennet as a good, warm, loving mother who never hurt them or anyone else.Is this how you would characterize your late wife?”
“I’m glad that’s how they see it.I worked hard so that’d be how they looked back on her.Marie and I were just kids when we got married.We weren’t mature.We made mistakes.We both had a temper.Marie was… she wasn’t… ranch life was hard on her.She didn’t always have a clear view of things.”
Here it was.What Cal had expected.Undercut everything Mom had been.Because this was he said, she said.Andshewas dead.
“With every child, she got a little bit more unstable.She’d have episodes of rage.Sometimes, she’d… be violent.I tried to shield the boys from it, so I suppose it’s no surprise they think it was me.Cal’s… trauma no doubt made it difficult for him to separate truth from reality.”
“Objection, Your Honor.The experts on trauma testified that Cal Bennet would have no reason to confuse fiction with reality.”
“Sustained.Let’s stick to the facts, Mr.Bennet.Mr.Wheeler.”
Wheeler nodded.“Can you lead us throughyourexperience the day of the murder, Mr.Bennet?”
Dad took a big, deep breath like itpainedhim to do this.“The morning of her murder, my wife had discovered a mistake I made.An infidelity.A pregnancy out of wedlock.It was wrong.I have no excuses for it.But…”
“Out of wedlock,” Aly whispered.“But Bo was Marie’s.What’s he talking about?Anotherkid?”
Cal didn’t think so.Cal figured this was just a story Dad had fabricated and convinced his lawyer to let him tell on the stand.
It was a terrible idea, but as Cal watched his father recount his fake version of events, Cal worried.
Because Ben sure painted a hell of a picture.And Bo was nowhere to be found.
“So, your wife wasnotpregnant in the year 2000?”Wheeler asked.
Shit.This was it.This was the point.None of them knew Mom had been pregnant, so now they’d pretend shewasn’t.
“No.Marie was not pregnant in that year.”
“Your Honor, I’d like to submit Marie Bennet’s medical records from the year mentioned as evidence.You’ll see there was no evidence of a pregnancy.Just as no one who testified for the prosecution could remember Mrs.Bennet being pregnant in that year.”
Cal couldn’t believe it.They’d brought up the truth to… make it into a lie.And now… now… Vanderbilt was stuttering out some objections about the line of questioning, but Cal could see they weren’t going to go anywhere.
Since it was asecretpregnancy, there was no proof.Dad would claim infidelity and what… Cal still couldn’t fully wrap his mind around that.Even as Wheeler began to question Dad again.
“Tell us about the night of the murder, Mr.Bennet.After your wife found out about your transgression.”
“She came at me that night.I couldn’t stop her.She was wild, raging.She might have been drinking, it’s hard to say.She hid such things from me.”
“What the fuck is this,” Landon muttered viciously.
But Cal just watched, while Benjamin Bennet did his thing.Twisted and turned.Manipulated.Changed the story until you weren’t sure what the truth was—but he seemed so certain, surely his way was the truth?
“Marie harmed… herself.The way she came at me that night, I had to defend myself.I wasn’t trying to hurt her.Shewas trying to hurt herself.I didn’t kill her.Not really.Oh, I’m sure I shoulder some emotional blame, but she came at me.I was mostly trying to stop her from hurting herself, but she kept flinging herself at me.She tried to use the shovel on me.I didn’t use it back, I swear I didn’t.”
His voice shook.From Cal’s vantage point he could even see a tear fall down his father’s cheek.He wanted to jump the partition and demand the jury see this for what it was, but all he could do was watch, morbidly fascinated by the way Benjamin’s gaze moved around each jury member, and then very slowly moved to their row.But he wasn’t making eye contact with Cal.Cal looked down the row of his family.
