Page 57 of Ashes of Us
Mathers didn't continue the line of questioning, and Danica knew it was because it would make Amy look bad if she was revealed as the one making comments about Danica's relationship with Alexander, which she thought was a stupid decision, because David would absolutely ask.
Instead, he turned his attention to what happened at Jimmy's apartment.
“Did you and Jasper talk about what happened at his cousin's apartment?”
To Danica's surprise, Dr. Lin shook her head.
“Not in detail. He told me he went there because he felt Jimmy wouldn't be as biased as his parents.” She glanced at Danica almost apologetically as she spoke.
“He knew he messed up badly and he wanted to figure out how to fix it, not hear how he should leave her and take half her inheritance to get back at her for having an affair.”
Mathers shifted, and Danica could see how uncomfortable he was with the direction of Dr. Lin's testimony.
She glanced over at Amy, curious about her response to what Dr. Lin was saying and wasn't surprised to see she was sitting with her arms folded over her chest, no sign of remorse in her facial expression or body language.
“So, he didn't mention anything about Ms. Gamache and Miss Sheridan joining him and his cousin that night?”
“It was discussed, but I saw no reason to dive too deeply into it.
Jasper was very dismissive about them being there and was more annoyed by Jimmy putting his.
.. desires over Jasper's comfort than anything.” Danica knew Dr. Lin was trying to be as tactful as possible because that was not how Jasper would have described Jimmy's actions. She was pretty sure the conversation went more like: ”I can't believe Jimmy left me alone with that psycho so he could get his dick wet!”
“He didn't say what he did with Ms. Gamache when he was left alone with her?” There was a slightly desperate edge to the lawyer's voice now, and Danica had a feeling he felt like his case was crumbling and there was nothing he could do to hold it up.
“He said he finished playing his video game and decided to go to sleep so she would stop trying to talk to him.” Dr. Lin's lips twitched slightly as she spoke, but other than that, she managed to maintain her professional demeanour.
“He woke up with her all but naked on top of him a few hours later, threw her off him and left the apartment. He drove around for an hour or so and then decided to go home to try to convince his wife to forgive him.”
“I bet he's wishing he could have her testimony stricken from the record right about now,” David murmured to Danica as he wrote something on his notepad.
Danica had to agree, Mathers looked absolutely dismayed that Dr. Lin hadn't been able to confirm Jasper had cheated.
His shoulders slumped, and he returned to his seat, shaking his head.
“No further questions.”
When Judge Perella told David she was his witness, he stood up and approached the bench with a friendly smile.
“I only have a few questions for clarification purposes, and you'll be free to go.” He assured her.
“First, you stated that some of Jasper's family members were suspicious of my client's relationship with her employer and used to tell him about it?”
“That's correct.” Dr. Lin nodded, looking more relaxed with David's friendly, personable approach.
“Did he ever tell you who?”
“Objection!” Mathers stood up quickly. “Does not pertain to the night in question.”
“I think it does, considering Dr. Lin referred to it as the reason why Mr. Preston accused my client of having an affair, which is why all of this started in the first place.” David responded mildly as Danica glanced at Amy, wanting to see her reaction to indirectly being accused of causing the sequence of events that led to her son's death, but she kept staring straight ahead and didn't have a reaction.
She heard the judge sigh and looked back to see him pinching the bridge of his nose, before taking off his glasses and rubbing his face.
“I'll allow it.” He said after a moment of deliberation.
“It may not have happened during the fight, but it does pertain to why the argument happened in the first place.” He turned to Dr. Lin and gave her a small smile.
“However, I'm leaving it up to your discretion if you feel the answer is relevant to the night in question, and you can decline to answer if it doesn't.”
“It was his mother and two of his aunts.” Dr. Lin answered immediately, confirming Danica's suspicions. “And it's why Jasper went to his cousin's place instead of his parents' house that night.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” David smiled at her, and Danica could see it was just a little smug. “Just a couple more questions. Did Jasper ever tell you about his relationship with Ms. Gamache?”
“He said they had a friends-with-benefits arrangement that ended when he graduated from college.” She shrugged. “He was not interested in anything more. To use his words, ‘She was too needy and desperate.’”
“This is my last question, I promise.” David couldn't hide how pleased he was with that response and practically beamed as he made a quick note in his ever-present notebook. “In your professional opinion, do you believe Jasper Preston had sexual intercourse with Lucille Gamache on April 20th?”
“No.” The doctor shook her head firmly. “He was very upfront when he spoke about his marriage to Danica, and he knew his response to her announcement was unfair and unfounded. He never once downplayed or hid anything about the argument. When he spoke about waking up to find Ms. Gamache lying on him in just her undergarments, he became physically ill because he knew if Danica had walked in and seen him like that, she would have left him. If anything, he was distraught with himself for not calling a cab and leaving when Jimmy went into the bedroom with his girlfriend, but said he was so high, all he wanted was for her to stop talking so he could sleep.”
“Thank you very much.” David nodded and smiled at her again before heading back to his seat. “No further questions.”
“Call your next witness, Mr. Mathers.”
His next witness was Danica's and Jasper's marriage counsellor, Doctor Caleb Rowan, but with the restrictions Danica had given him, he couldn't do much more than ask how the doctor felt about their progress in therapy, to which the doctor said he thought they were both committed to rebuilding what had been broken by Jasper's accusation and were putting in the work to do so, but admitted he felt Danica was more hesitant then Jasper to let things go.
“Was it established why she wasn't as sure about things?” Mathers asked, but Danica could tell he was only asking because it seemed important, not because he felt it would help his case.
“I believe it had to do with the fact that they physically assaulted one another in the heat of the moment.” Dr. Rowan explained. “While I do believe they had forgiven each other for their actions, I think it was harder for them, Danica in particular, to forgive themselves.”
David declined to cross-examine the couple's therapist, telling Danica Mathers had asked all the questions that were allowed with her restrictions, and Dr. Rowan had answered them to the best of his ability, so there was nothing he wanted clarification on.
After their marriage counsellor was dismissed, Judge Perella declared they would take a sixty-minute recess for lunch and reconvene at two-thirty.
After a quick lunch and check in with Alex, Maverick, Emilia and Xavier, Danica met back up with David to discuss the next steps.
“I think we've heard enough,” David told her as they walked slowly back to the courtroom.
“I'm going to call Sergeant Galvin, and after we hear his testimony, I'm going to make a motion to dismiss.
They haven't produced a single iota of evidence that Jasper was the father or even wanted the baby.
At most, he said if the child were his, he would have stepped up and raised it.
It's time we stop wasting everyone's time.”
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After lunch, Mathers called Elena to the stand.
He asked a few questions to establish her relationship with Lucy, how long they had known each other, how close they were, and then he started asking her about the night in question.
To Elena's credit, despite knowing Lucy since they were in middle school and saying they were practically sisters, most of what she said matched the story she gave Maverick.
She explained that Jimmy told her he had to cancel his date with her that night because Jasper was there and was going through a rough time.
She decided to hang out with Lucy instead and told her why she wasn't going on the date.
Lucy then started trying to convince her to get Jimmy to let them come over, and she eventually gave in and began texting Jimmy about what they were doing.
When Jimmy said they were running to a nearby convenience store for snacks, they decided to 'coincidentally' meet them at the store.
She convinced Jimmy to let them come over by telling him that she had been planning to have sex with him after their date that night.
Danica did notice that Mathers seemed to be deliberately avoiding discussing how immature, manipulative, and crazy both Elena and Lucy behaved that night.
If Danica didn't know that the women were in their mid to late thirties and was hearing this story without knowing any of them, she would have guessed they were fourteen or fifteen.
Her disgust must have been showing on her face because David nudged her and murmured, “Poker face,” reminding her to remain neutral and look unaffected.
It took massive effort, but she was able to rearrange her features and hide her emotions as she listened to the rest of Elena's testimony.