Page 67 of The Right to Remain

“Did Mr. Stafford tell you that he used to be Elle Carpenter?”

“Not at first.”

“Did he tell you he was transgender?”

“No. But—”

The prosecutor waited, but Helena left it there. “But what?” she asked, prodding.

“Honestly, he looked awfully familiar to me,” said Helena. “Mind you, this was several months earlier in his transition therapy, so he looked more like Elle than he does now. So, I would say I started to suspect.”

“Suspect what?”

“That there was something Elliott wasn’t telling me. Especially when I saw the interest he took in Austen. He would sometimes sit with the other parents to observe Austen’s group classes. He would tell me how talented Austen was. He even brought Austen a birthday present.”

“Did that strike you as creepy?”

The prosecutor made a face, cringing, and Jack noted Helena’s put-off reaction. It was as if Weller had gone off script, and Helena didn’t like it.

“It wasn’tcreepy,” said Helena. “I would say it was more caring. Boys often have a hard time in ballet studios. Elliott seemed to understand that.”

It was a surprisingly friendly answer from the prosecution’s star witness. Jack made another note, and the prosecutor shifted the focus of her questions.

“Ms. Pollard, you said earlier that you started to suspect something,” said Weller. “What exactly did you suspect?”

“That Elliott used to be Elle.”

“Did you say anything to Elliott about this?”

“No. I waited.”

“Waited for what?”

Helena sighed, and it appeared that she was about to glance in Elliott’s direction—and then she caught herself in such an obvious way that Jack wondered if the prosecutor had warned her beforehand not to look at Elliott.

“Ms. Pollard,” said the prosecutor, as if to refocus the witness. “What were you waiting for?”

Helena looked at the judge, then answered. “I’ve been a ballerina since I was three years old. I’ve danced alongside men who didn’t even realize they were gay until long after everyone else in the company knew it. Trusting someone enough to tell them you’re trans isn’t exactly the same, but in my experience, people operate on their own timeline when it comes to something as private and personal as gender identity and sexuality. I respect that. I knew Elliott would tell me when he felt ready to tell me. And he did, eventually.”

The more Helena went off script, the more Jack liked her. Her testimony seemed to be having the opposite effect on the prosecutor.

“How very nice, thank you,” said Weller. “Ms. Pollard, let’s focus a bit more on my questions, shall we? I want to hear more about the interest the defendant took in your son, Austen. You described Mr. Stafford as ‘caring,’ correct?”

“Yes.”

“My question is this: Did there come a time when the defendant made it clear that what he really cared about was undoing the adoption?”

Jack sprang to his feet. “Objection. Judge, she’s putting words in the mouth of her own witness.”

“I’ll rephrase,” said the prosecutor. “Ms. Pollard, did the defendant ever ask you to consider changing the adoption from closed to open?”

Helena paused to consider her answer. The fists in her lap appeared to tighten, and finally, she looked in Elliott’s direction. He did not reciprocate.

“Yes,” said Helena. “He did ask me.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him I could possibly be agreeable to the idea,” she said, and then she looked at the judge again. “The truth is, IlikedElliott. And so did Austen.”