Wilder pulled my hand into his lap sandwiching it between both of his. His knee was bouncing as he looked straight ahead, and I knew it was because if he looked at Glenn he’d lose it.
“Here we go.” Liam’s voice was low as he nodded to a door opening from an ante room at the back of the courtroom.
“All rise for the Honorable Judge Martinez.”
As the judge took her seat and the jury took theirs it felt like I was watching a movie about my own life. The prosecutor, a sharp woman in her fifties who’d said, ‘Call me Marge, doll’, laid out Glenn’s crimes with clinical precision. The messages on my phone displayed on a screen for everyone to see. Photos of my trashed cabin and the pink scarf with purple horseshoes that I hadn’t realized Glenn had taken from the hook by the door. Medical reports of my injuries and finally an image of Petey and the welt across his hind quarters.
“The defendant engaged in a sustained campaign of stalking and harassment over a period of several weeks,” she said, her voice carrying across the quiet courtroom. “This culminated in a deliberate assault using a two-thousand-pound bull, the one in the image, which I think that you’ll agree, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, he’s a big boy.” That earned her aquiet chuckle around the room. “The letting loose of the bull and let’s say the encouragement for him to charge, resulted in serious bodily harm to the victim, Miss. Brown.”
Proceeding continued, with Glenn’s lawyer claiming he was set up by my jealous boyfriend, Wilder Miller and if that was what his defense was based upon it was laughable. Anyone could look at the way I looked at Wilder and know for certain that he had nothing to be jealous of. Comparing him to Glenn was like comparing the best piece of steak to a cut price beef patty at the school fete.
Sheriff Jackson was up first to talk about the evidence he had against Glenn including eventually finding him in Boulder with Lily’s stolen truck.
Once he’d finished, Lily was up to testify. She spoke strong and clear, telling everyone about Glenn stealing her truck and how he’d yanked her from the vehicle so hard she’d sprained her ankle. When her hands started to tremble, Nash shifted in his seat, and I thought he was going to get up and go and rip Glenn’s balls off.
When she finished and sat back down, Nash wrapped an arm around her. “You did so good, Lila. So damn good.”
Then it was my turn.
Wilder gave my hand one last squeeze and then I was walking to the witness stand. The longest walk of my life. Wilder’s eyes never left mine as I was sworn in, his presence anchoring me.
“Miss. Brown,” Marge said gently, “can you tell the court how Mr. Cameron’s actions affected your daily life?”
I took a breath, finding my voice. “I stopped sleeping. The messages were bad enough but after the break in of my cabin I was afraid to be alone. Afraid to go to work, afraid to leave my cabin. I had to move into the main house just to feel safe.”
Marge looked over at Wilder. “Some perks to that, though, hey, doll.”
“I guess,” I said with a giggle following her gaze. “The point is he took away my sense of safety in the place that was supposed to be my home.”
“And the day of the attack?”
“I was feeding Petey, the bull, an apple. Just being normal for the first time in weeks. Then, as I walked away, I heard Wilder screaming my nameand when I turned I saw Petey charging at me. I was petrified. Stuck to the spot thinking I was going to die.” I met Glenn’s eyes across the courtroom. “He used an innocent animal as a weapon against me.”
Once Marge had finished her questions, Glenn’s lawyer stood for cross-examination, but there wasn’t much she could do, the sheriff’s evidence was overwhelming, especially the burner phones with the messages on.
Finally, Glenn took the stand. He was contrite at first, apologizing and saying he never meant to hurt anyone. “Tally…Miss. Brown…she was always friendly with me. Smiling, talking to me. I thought maybe she was interested.”
“Mr. Cameron,” his lawyer said carefully, “do you understand why your actions were inappropriate?”
Glenn’s jaw tightened and instantly his demeanor changed. “She led me on. She’d come and talk to me by the stables, bring me coffee sometimes. What was I supposed to think? Then suddenly she’s with him…” he glared at Wilder. “Acting like I didn’t exist all of a sudden.”
The way he spat out his words sent a murmur through the courtroom. Even his lawyer looked uncomfortable.
“I was just trying to show her how I felt.” He threw his hands in the air. “Maybe I went about it wrong, but I wasn’t trying to hurt her. She shouldn’t have let me think we could have been something.”
Judge Martinez leaned forward. “Mr. Cameron, are you saying Miss. Brown bears some responsibility for your actions?”
“I’m saying she sent mixed signals. I was confused.”
His lawyer cleared her throat. “No more questions. Mr. Cameron, you can step down.”
Glenn’s ex-boss was called for a character reference, but it was pretty underwhelming, stating he was hard working and always took a turn buying the office coffees. After that were the closing statements and then we were asked to wait in the hallway while the jury deliberated. It felt like hours but after only thirty minutes we were invited back in to get the biggest shock of our lives.
Glenn had asked to change his plea to guilty.
“The fucker is trying to get a lesser sentence,” Wilder hissed. “Can he dothat?” he asked Marge who had just given us the news.
“Sure can, but I promise you the judge won’t look kindly on him wasting the time and money on a trial when he could have done this weeks ago.”
