“Oh, but I wasn’t referring to those kinds of details, Your Honour, I would never allow myself to offend this court in that way.”
“The arse-kissers are two,” Paul says again behind my back.
“I was referring to what we did, something that… Something that still keeps me awake at night. Something I am so ashamed of.”
“Please go on,” the lawyer invites him to continue, and I am forced to sit and listen.
“During the wedding reception of my sister and Mr. Graham’s brother, we became, shall we say, closer. We discovered that we had something in common.”
I look at Seth, whose eyes are now closed, tears streaming down his face.
“Addiction, Your Honour.”
“Be more specific.”
“I was addicted to alcohol and painkillers. You see, I had an accident that left me with excruciating back pain.”
“Go on,” the judge prompted.
“Sure, sure… Seth, I mean Mr Graham, on the other hand, confessed to me that he would do anything to be… How shall I put it… elsewhere.”
I don’t know where this story is going, but I have the impression that nothing will remain after listening to it.
“We were both high and drunk. We got… er… closer during the party. And we, well…” He looks at the judge. “Consummated a sexual encounter.”
“And where did that happen, if I may?” the lawyer asks.
I do not have time to stand up to object that Mr McCormack has already opened his mouth. “In the wedding suit.”
I look at the table of the opposing party. The lawyers sitting next to Mrs McCormack are satisfied with their work; she is impassive, in the same position since the beginning of the day, with the same expression.
I wish I dared to look at Seth, too, but the disappointment mixed with anger that takes hold of me does not allow me to do so.“And what else happened?”
“We got high again. And we danced and drank… We were completely wasted and out of control. We decided to leave the reception, which was too boring for us, and continue our private party somewhere else, but we needed money to do that.”
I lean my back against the chair behind me, my arms resting on the armrests, my breath short, anxious to know the end of this story.
“So we stole the wedding gifts.”
In the courtroom, the silence that precedes defeat.
“We spent the cash gifts immediately on a motel room and more drugs and alcohol. We sold the rest to a junk dealer for a little over two thousand euros.”
I can’t look at Seth. I can’t even move. I don’t even know if I’m still breathing or if something is still beating in my chest.
“We stayed in that room for a week. We never went out. We drank and drank ourselves into a state of confusion. And when we recovered, we did it again. And again. And again. We consumed sex during that week. I don’t know how many times, but I know it happened, I know because when I came to my senses…” He looks at the judge again, who slowly shakes his head in denial. “When our supplies ran out, Mr Graham disappeared. I never heard from him again. Let’s just say I haven’t had an easy few years.”
“We can only imagine,” the lawyer says in that tone of mock sympathy.
“I do know, however, that Mr Graham has also been in and out of rehab several times.”
“Your Honour!” I stand up. “My client has been clean for over thirteen years, as you can see from the documents we have submitted. There is no evidence to the contrary. What are we doing here? I don’t understand the point of this testimony.”
“When I heard that the children had been entrusted to Mr Graham…” The witness continues, shaking his head. “You see, Your Honour, I’m no saint, I never have been, and I’ll probably keep falling back into the same spiral of self-destruction I’ve been wallowing in for the last twenty years, but Mr Graham…” He turns to look at Seth. “He is no less. He is just like me.”
* * *
AS MR. MCCORMACK rises to return to his seat, and the judge adjourns the court until tomorrow.
