— “I… I don’t remember exactly.”
— “It was his eighty-fourth birthday. Three years before he died. You stayed for ninety minutes. You left before the cake was cut. And you didn’t see him again until the funeral, correct?”
— “I suppose so.”
Andrew Vance let that information hang in the air.
— “One last question. You claimed your father withdrew from you after your mother died. But isn’t it true that you stopped visiting when he stopped giving you extra money on top of the monthly allowance? When he retired and told you the monthly checks would continue but the ‘bonuses’ were over, you didn’t visit him once in the following three years. True or false?”
— “He… he was angry with me.”
— “Or you just couldn’t use him anymore?” Vance asked quietly. “No further questions.”
Next up was Steve. He managed to look even less interested than usual. He fidgeted in his suit like a kid forced to go to church. Palmer started with simple questions.
— “Mr. Sterling, describe your relationship with Judge Sterling.”
— “We got along okay,” Steve said. (Translation: they tolerated each other for ninety seconds at a time). “Didn’t see him much because of baseball, lots of travel, but I respected him.”
Respected him. The nerve of a man who avoided entering that house for two decades. Palmer led him through the same victim script: how they tried to be in their daughter’s life, how Grandpa blocked them, how they felt rejected. Steve was less convincing than Diane. He kept checking his watch like he had somewhere better to be. To him, this was just an inconvenience, and it showed.
Andrew Vance’s cross-examination was surgical.
— “Mr. Sterling, you said you wanted to be in Allison’s life.”
— “Yeah.”
— “How many of her school events did you attend?”
Steve blinked.
— “I don’t know. A few.”
— “Can you name even one?”
Silence. Steve looked at Palmer, who couldn’t help him.
— “I traveled a lot.”
— “Your baseball career ended when Allison was eight. After that, you lived two hours away. How often did you see her?”
— “We had visits.”
— “How many?” Vance pressed. “I’m asking for a number.”
— “I don’t remember exactly.”
— “Would it surprise you if I said that according to Allison’s memory, you entered Judge Sterling’s house less than five times in twenty-four years? That you mostly stayed in the car?”
Steve’s jaw tightened.
— “It was a tense atmosphere in that house. Judge Sterling didn’t like me.”
— “Why didn’t he like you?”
— “I don’t know. He was very… judgmental.”
— “Or perhaps,” Vance said, pulling out more papers, “he judged you for abandoning your daughter and then asking him for money when your businesses failed? Let’s talk about those failures. Three businesses. Three bankruptcies. And each time, you asked Judge Sterling for financial help. Correct?”
Comments are closed.