Page 68 of The Right to Remain

Weller looked very annoyed. “Judge, I move to strike that last sentence as nonresponsive.”

Jack was loving it. “Judge, it sounds like Ms. Weller is asking the court to strike the answer of the prosecution’s own witness to the prosecutor’s own question.”

“The motion to strike is denied,” said the judge, taking Jack’s point.

Weller was unfazed. “Ms. Pollard, you said you ‘could possibly be’ agreeable. Did you and Mr. Stafford ever actually agree to an open adoption for Austen?”

“No.”

“What stopped you from agreeing to an open adoption, Ms. Pollard?”

Helena cast a downward gaze and answered in a soft voice. “In a word, Owen.”

The prosecutor paused to let that “one word” linger. Jack cast a subtle but firm glance in his client’s direction, sending a clear message: This was precisely the kind of information he should have heard first from his client, not from a witness in open court.

The prosecutor forged ahead. “Ms. Pollard, is it your testimony that your husband, Owen, rejected Mr. Stafford’s request to change the adoption from closed to open?”

“Owen forbade it.”

“Did you discuss your husband’s views with the defendant, Elliott Stafford?” she asked, pointing at Jack’s client.

“Yes.”

“Tell us more about that, please.”

“I told Elliott that Owen had no clue he used to be Elle Carpenter. Partly because Elliott did most of his work for Mr. Vandermeer, but mostly, Owen never noticed much of anything. He lived very much inside his own head. Someone like Elliott would be completely invisible to him.”

It was another answer that Jack found interesting—and that annoyed the prosecutor.

“Ms. Pollard, please, let’s focus on the question,” said Weller. “Whatdid you tell the defendant about your husband’s response to a request for an open adoption? I want to know precisely what information was inside the head of this defendant,” she said, pointing again, “Elliott Stafford.”

The last statement was not gratuitous. Weller was eliciting evidence of the defendant’s “depraved mind,” which erased any legal basis for Jack to object.

“I told Elliott it would be very difficult to persuade Owen to make the change to an open adoption.”

“Did you tell him why it would be difficult?”

“Well, obviously, we would have to tell Owen that Elliott used to be Elle.”

“Ms. Pollard, please. Once again, listen to my question. Did you tell Mr. Stafford why it would be difficult?”

“I—I told Elliott that Owen would never let his son anywhere near a person who was transgender.”

There it was: the “strong presumption of guilt” that would probably keep Elliott locked up through trial. Jack wrote the word “MOTIVE” in all caps on his notepad. The worst part was that Helena was so completely believable that it didn’t matter that Elliott refused to speak in his own defense.

“What was Mr. Stafford’s reaction?” asked the prosecutor.

“Elliott asked if I thought it would make any difference if he approached Owen himself.”

“How did you respond?”

Helena shook her head slowly. To Jack, she seemed suddenly distant, as if her thoughts were taking her to another place.

“I told Elliott that would be a disaster,” said Helena. “This was just a couple of days after Owen and I had a huge argument over Austen’s dancing.”

“Tell us about that,” said the prosecutor.

Again, Jack noticed that distant, almost vacant look in her eyes. He sensed that Helena didn’t want to talk about it. But she did.