The Pretend Boyfriend novel Chapter 95

Delilah pauses, overwrought. There are tears in her eyes.

Brian's fingernails are indenting his palms. He hasn't realized he was clutching his fists so hard. He remembers Officer Cutter's remark on the night Sam was brought in to the station. All those photos ... merely prove that Ms. Faulkner may indeed have an interest in you. But it still doesn't prove that you didn't rape her.

"He pushed me down onto the floor. And he ... he raped me. Repeatedly." The tears start to run down Delilah's cheeks. "He sodomized me. I tried to fight him all the way, but he was too strong. Finally, he passed out from too much drink, I believe. It was then I gathered my clothes and made my escape."

Norma Hennessey is sober. And very grim. As are the jury and the entire courtroom. Brian remembers what Karen told him about Norma Hennessey - she specialized in prosecuting rapists and convicting them because she was a rape victim herself. This means she is doubly vengeful.

"Did anyone see you flee the premises?" Norma asks.

"Yes. The doorman."

"What happened then?"

"I was very distraught. I was injured. The doorman tried to help me, but I was not in the right state of mind. All I could think of doing was to stumble to my car and drive myself to a hospital."

"Did the defendant follow you?"

"I don't think so. He was passed out."

"Thank you, Ms. Faulkner. There are no further questions."

"Your witness," Norma says to Karen.

Sam steals a look at Angelique Morton's face when Delilah tearfully details her rape at the hands of Brian Morton. Angelique is impassive, her WASP features betraying nothing. Sam can't imagine what it would be like to have a mother like Angelique. Her own mother is ditzy and horny and a tad irritating, but she's basically harmless.

No wonder Brian is so damaged. No wonder he has enough disorders to warrant his own classification in the psychiatric diagnostic manual!

Karen Sandler goes to the witness stand where Delilah Faulkner is drying her tears. Sam has to admit that Delilah put on a pretty good show, if indeed it was a show. That's where her own greatest fear lies. What exactly happened on the night of the opera? They can prove all they want that Delilah was obsessed with Brian, but can they convince a jury of skeptical people that he didn't rape her when he wasn't too sure himself of what exactly happened?

Karen's voice rings out loud and clear in the oak-paneled courtroom. "Ms. Faulkner, you stated that you met the defendant in the lobby of his apartment building on the night of -."

"Yes." Delilah dabs her eyes with a tissue.

"Was that the first time you met him?"

Delilah hesitates. "No."

"Where have you met him before?"

Sam can only see the back of Brian's chestnut head, but she can tell from the posture of his shoulders that he is extremely tense. Her own heart is palpitating away like a drumbeat.

"Yes." Delilah seems composed. Norma nods at her encouragingly. This scenario has obviously come up in their conversations after Sam was caught breaking and entering into Delilah's apartment.

"How long did it last?"

"Four days."

"Four days? Not much of a relationship, is it?"

"No. Brian didn't do girlfriends. He was quite clear about it." Delilah says this as a matter-of-fact, without a trace of bitterness or regret.

"After this relationship ... ended, you took an overdose of sleeping pills."

Gasps run through the audience.

"Not immediately. Some time had passed. I was very ... troubled by a lot of things. But not by Brian. My parents were in the midst of a divorce and I was very ... affected by it. I loved my parents, and it killed me to learn that my Dad was having an affair with another woman."

"So Mr. Morton's rejection of you wasn't a part of it? Because it was public knowledge on campus that he played an April Fools' joke on you in loving you and then dumping you."

Murmurs from the audience. The faces of some jurors wear disapproval. Sam hopes that this line of questioning won't paint Brian in too bad a light. They are going to need the jury to like Brian later. But the truth has got to come out first.