A screen filled with texts appears. “Mr. Porter’s text history to his brother. You might have destroyed your phone, Mr. Porter, but your brother was not that smart.”
She steps towards the jury as she speaks, and his evil eyes don’t stray from her.
“Not only can we see just how often the two brothers communicated, but his exact words when requesting his brother to burglarize Second Chance Sanctuary. Damage Second Chance Sanctuary, and worst of all… Assault and kidnap an employee at Second Chance Sanctuary. And, his panicked text messages to you when his actions went too far.”
“Bullshit! These should be inadmissible.”
“If you hadn’t fired your lawyer, Mr. Porter, he would have taken care of that for you,” Judge Fulton explains dully. “Can you explain why you think they should be removed as evidence?”
Porter’s silence lingers.
“Didn’t think so. Proceed, Miss Greenwood.”
“Mr. Porter did not physically put his hands on another person, but his actions directly resulted in one Second Chance Sanctuary employee being kidnapped and held against her will, and another nearly losing his life.”
“I didn’t tell him to beat the man to death!” He cries.
“So, you admit that you did speak to your brother?”
“Wait, no!”
“Mr. Porter,” Judge Fulton thunders. “Sit down. Stop speaking out of turn. You’re under oath, and she hasn’t finished yet.”
“Mr. Porter, do you admit to unlawful harassment of Mr. Dane?” Liv hammers him while he’s still shaken up from the judge’s hand-smack.
“No.”
“Did you create unlawful documents in an attempt to obtain Mr. Dane’s land?”
“No.”
“Mr. Porter, do you admit to conspiring with your brother to commit crimes against Second Chance Sanctuary?”
“No!” He pounds his fists on his table in frustration.
“Last question, and remember you are under oath, Mr. Porter,” she continues calmly despite my need to jump acrossthis bar and put a wall between her and Randall Porter.
“Did you conspire to kidnap JoAnna Montgomery?”
He hangs his head. “No,” he utters, losing his fight.
“Then why do your text messages say otherwise?” She adds at the end, speaking directly to the jury instead of giving him a chance to respond. “That’s all, your honor.”
“Mr. Porter, your closing statement.” He doesn’t look at the judge. “Mr. Porter,” Judge Fulton encourages again. When Porter doesn’t move or speak, he hits his gavel. “We’ll go to recess while the jury deliberates.”
Liv packs her briefcase slowly as Porter is led to another room, but as soon as the courtroom begins to empty, she spins around to face us. “I totally got him!” She beams, and I’m struck by it, grateful to be on the receiving end of it.
“You did great,” I tell her, breathing for the first time in nearly two hours.
“Sorry to call you out. I knew you wouldn’t show if I warned you about it,” she says to my side.
“No, it was great, really captivated the jury,” Jo agrees, but Lochlan only grunts.
“Now, what?”
“We have to wait until the jury comes to a decision. Couldbe ten minutes, could be hours. You guys don’t have to stay for this part. I appreciate you coming.” Liv and Jo hug, giggling about how pretty they both are or something, as I move over to talk to Lochlan.
“She’s the most important person in the world to me, Loch. You can at least humor her with a few words when she speaks to you.”
