Page 28 of Beau (Sheppard’s Shadow #5)
On cross-examination, Jameson seemed to be getting answers to questions that he didn’t ask.
Every time he brought up the ‘game’ that Allison had been playing, she’d go on this tirade about how nobody should be upset with her for having some fun.
Even bringing up that no one had had any fun with her supposed game, she still didn’t understand why she’d been jailed when the Watsons had won.
“Won what?” She could never get past the fact that she thought what she was doing was just fine, as she’d not hurt anyone nor had anyone died.
“But they did have to relive the death of their mother over again when you thought to tease them into thinking that she was still alive. Most family members were upset with you because of the way that you treated them. Lying to them about their mother.”
“It’s just something that I do. I can’t believe that anyone would believe that I was their long-dead mother anyway.
That’s what makes it so much fun for me.
To see who breaks down first. Usually it’s the oldest children, but this time I couldn’t fool any of them.
That’s how they won against a professional like myself.
” He asked her where she got the DNA from that said she was their mother.
“I didn’t use it, so you can’t bring that up.
But it was easy enough to get when you grease a few palms. Do people still say that?
Greasing a few palms? Anyway, that’s what I did when I was preparing for this game.
There’s a great deal of work on my end to make this work.
Not to mention money. I had to have my hair dyed a certain color.
Boy, was that hard. And have a tattoo—that caused harm to my person getting that done, but am I suing them for that?
No, I’m not. I’m just saying that they won, and they should be happy that I’ve given up so soon. I just don’t understand these people.”
“Perhaps it’s you that they don’t understand.
” She waved him off. She’d done that several times since he’d been talking to her.
“I don’t understand what that means when you wave me off.
Are you admitting that you were wrong to do this?
Or are you saying that it doesn’t matter how they feel because you’ve declared them the winner?
Of what we still don’t know, but there you have it. ”
“Of course, I’m not going to admit to being wrong about this.
I wasn’t. They were just more stubborn about listening to me.
You know, I had an entire life I was building up just for them.
I had things all worked out on how I didn’t remember certain things.
It was going to be because of a head injury that I had when I was in the accident.
” He told her that she’d not been in an accident.
“You’re stupid, aren’t you? Not myself, but their mother had been in one.
Will you please pay attention?” He only looked at the judge.
“You’re going to keep your opinions to yourself about the attorneys.
I’ve told you this before. Just answer the questions they have, then we can get out of here in a reasonable time.
” There were times when he wanted to shake the shit out of her.
But when he’d gotten nothing from her, he sat down.
She wasn’t going to get away with this, and he was going to do his damnedest to make sure that she ended up in prison for a while.
“Mr. Toddler, it’s your turn to ask questions.
Though I don’t know what you’re going to expect from her.
Mr. Sheppard has been trying for the last several hours. ”
As Toddler asked about the time she pretended to be a long-lost daughter of a couple, he turned them off. He knew that it was going to be more of the same, and he was frankly sick of dealing with her. But he would simply to get her off the streets and out of the way of trying this again.
“You did really well.” He smiled at Rogen when she reached out to him. “We all knew she was off her noodle, but she’s proven that her noodle was wet and without substance, too.”
“If she asks the judge about making this all go away one more time, I think he’s going to hit her with his gavel.
She seems to have a one-track mind about everything.
I wish I could have gotten her to state the rules of her game, but all she did was wave me off again.
I wonder what that means in her mind.” Rogen said that she probably made up the rules as she went along.
Thus making it impossible for her to tell anyone what they were.
“I can see that. She’s been playing this game for the last twelve years, and I don’t see her ending it just because she’s been caught this time.
The rules will change again, and there won’t be any more winners as far as she is concerned. ”
“That’s what scares me. She’s going to go to some family that is desperate for their family member to be alive and hurt one of them badly, and they’ll take it out on her.
” Rogen said that she could only hope that happened.
“I know what you mean. But it won’t stop her.
Not until she’s someplace where she can’t get to others to hurt. ”
He heard his name being called out, and he looked up at the judge. He was asking each of the attorneys who were on his side of the room if they wanted to take a break. That he needed one badly. He’d not realized that it was nearly noon when he sat down and agreed that he could use a break as well.
Once he was out of the stuffy building, he drew in a deep breath of air. It had been raining this morning, and now the sun was out and shining brightly. Fall was fast approaching, and he couldn’t wait for the cooler weather. It was his favorite time of the year.
“How did the estate sale go?” He grinned at his brother, Nash. “That good, huh? I’m happy for you. I’ll help you move it in when you get it here. You did buy enough to fill out more of your home, didn’t you?”
“I bought it all. Even the little salt wells that she had in her China cabinet. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
I even have glasses and silverware that I didn’t think that I’d get when I went up there.
” Nash patted him on the back. “It’s being packed up as we speak and brought here over the weekend.
The delivery company is even giving me a good deal on bringing it to me because they have another load to take back from here.
It saved them money by having a return trip. ”
“What kind of things did you get? Besides silverware and salt wells?” He told him about the bedroom suits that he got, as well as the records that came with the stereo. He had a list of things that he couldn’t believe that he’d gotten for so little money. “You sound like you had fun too.”
“I did. The only thing that I didn’t buy was the car.
It wasn’t anything that I could see myself driving around in, so I declined the offer to purchase it.
” He told him what it was, and Nash agreed that it would be out of place in a town like the one they lived in.
“Yeah, expensive cars would have made me stick out like a thumb with a pie on it. Remember when grandma used to say that?”
“I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately.
Her and Dad. I think that he’d be proud of us all with how we’ve made something of ourselves with what he left us.
” Jameson didn’t remember his dad all that well.
He’d been only seven when he’d been killed over twenty years ago now.
“I forget about that, too. That you were so young when he was murdered.”
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened to us had he not been killed? I mean, do you think that he would have divorced Mother given the chance?” Nash told him that he didn’t think their dad had much of a backbone when it came to standing up to Mother.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. I just wondered if he would have taken us away from her and we’d be better off with him. ”
“I don’t think he would have been able to.
She was a strong force, as you know. I think that even if he had not been killed when he had, if he’d tried to divorce her, she would have killed him then.
She was forever in control of everything that went on.
” Nash patted him on the back again. “I’m proud of you for how you turned out.
I never thought that you’d make it through school with the way that Mother treated all of us.
Grandfather didn’t help either. I still have the scar that he gave me when I was twelve and asked about dinner being put on the table.
He used one of the silverware that was on the table on my arm and stabbed me four times before Archie got him off me. ”
“I remember that. I thought you were going to bleed to death before you could shift and take care of it.” Nash nodded and ordered his lunch for him when they finally made it in line at the ice cream shop.
“They make a good burger here, and I’d gladly eat three of them myself.
But I don’t want to be too full when I have to go back in. I might fall asleep.”
The two of them had a good lunch and were joined by the rest of the family.
They talked about anything but the trial, and he was glad for that.
His mind was working hard enough without adding their opinions to his already overworked mind.
And the way things were going, it was going to be a long day, too.
“I have to leave. I have some things to do today.” He kissed Danielle on the cheek and told her that he loved her when she made her way to the library.
Beau was lucky in his mate because, of all the women, he thought she was the nicest. She sure could make him feel good when he was down in the dumps.