Trials

chapter 10

"Thank you for your patience, everyone. Please be seated," the crowd obliged. "Mr. Owens, I have come to two decisions in light of earlier incidents. One, I will not charge Ms. Cuervo with contempt. She was provoked and upset and for that reason only am I granting clemency. I have not yet decided what my permanent decision is on when she may return to this courtroom for observation, however it will not be anytime today. Your next witness, please," The judge did not want to see reaction. He wanted this to move swiftly.

"I call Mr. Kevin Richardson to the stand," Kevin stood from his seat and walked towards the chair he was to be seated in next to the judge. He was affirmed and he sat, not wanting to recall the things he knew Jon was going to ask him about. Jon stood and approached the podium.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson," Jon stated. He literally feared what he had to ask. Normally it was his job to keep this kind of information from leaking - telling so and so to be discreet, everything he had to do. He wasn't in charge of press but it was his job to sue people like the Enquirer and other tabloids for damages. And now there could be no lawsuit.

"Good afternoon," Kevin responded. Damn he didn't want to be on the stand.

"Mr. Richardson, I want to get this over with as soon as possible," Jon knew how nervous Kevin was about revealing the things he was going to ask, "so I am going to be blunt with you in my questioning."

"That's fine."

"On the night in question, had you seen Mr. McLean in his room?"

"Yes. I came out to talk to Eva. He and I had been talking about things. He wanted to go out somewhere - he was bored - and he told me he was going to call later with the time and place," Kevin knew what the next question was. He knew all of them, he'd already had his briefing. But he was still a little afraid to reveal it.

"Did you talk about anything else?" Jon did not want to make Kevin reveal this.

"Yeah. We... talked about ending what we had."

"What you had?"

"Our... affair." The crowd murmured to eachother and Kevin looked down as the Judge called for silence.

"So you and Mr. McLean were... more than just friends." He had to get this out. If the defense tried to use this to their advantage... to soften what AJ had been through, the maximum penalty could be thrown out the window.

"Yes sir, for a short time, we were," Kevin scanned the audience, "lovers."

"Before Mr. McLean, had you been with anyone else of the same gender?"

"No. This was on its own. I was curious."

"Had Mr. McLean?"

"I'm not sure. I never asked him."

"How did you know Mr. McLean was hurt?"

"I was... talking to Eva and we were waiting on AJ. She heard a door open and close and she assumed it was him. The hotel was fairly empty and she told me then that we were pretty much the only people on the first floor, so we both assumed it was him... I looked down the hall to check and it wasn't AJ. But I could see that whomever had left their room had exited right by ours. Eva had told me, earlier in our conversation, that no one was near our room - she'd done that on purpose when we checked in. I... I saw a man, I saw Mr. Crosby leaving the room. He looked back at me for a second, and turned to run. I froze. I was hoping he was just in a hurry... until, as he was running, he put his hand on the wall.. and left a smear of something red." Kevin swallowed hard and broke eye contact with the lawyer.

"What did you do then?" Jon asked.

"I ran. It was hard not to go after the Mr. Crosby, because I just knew AJ was hurt, and he was the one responsible. I heard Eva behind me asking where I was going but I couldn't talk. I just... I went. I got to the door and at first I was afraid to open it, because I thought... I'd find AJ dead," Kevin blinked back tears and finally returned his eyes to Jon. "When I went in I saw him curled up on the floor. He was moaning. I yelled for Eva to call an ambulance and just ... moved without thinking. I ran to him and picked him up. Normally I can't quite lift as much weight as he is but it was effortless. I opened the door with my elbow and ran down the hall... I didn't even notice he was tied up until I put him down. He just looked... he didn't even look like he was hurting, he just looked so scared."

Jon waited a few moments, he knew this wasn't easy. "Please, continue."

"I had the towels Eva had gotten for me against AJ's stomach and I didn't dare look up at his face. I knew if I saw that scared look again I'd go crazy. I could hear him crying and breathing erratically. He would breathe normal then just start gasping. I was afraid he would go into shock, or... well... anyway, Eva got up to leave and I finally looked at her. I didn't want her to leave. I didn't think I could handle it by myself. But she had to go. This was her job, and though I'm sure she didn't want to leave, I knew she had to."

"The paramedics arrived, as Ms. Cuervo testified, shortly after she left. What happened?"

"I kept concentrating on his wounds. AJ is like my brother, almost like a son to me." Holding towels against wounds caused by someone who didn't care at all about AJ had been Kevin's motivation. He still regretted not holding his hand until the medics got there, "I don't really remember much from when she was gone, until the medics came. They asked me to move away and I did. They put an oxygen mask on him and got him on the stretcher. He kept saying 'don't leave me Kevin,' and I asked one of the medics if I could fulfill that. I was afraid he was... I was scared that if I couldn't go with I would show up at the hospital, to have a nurse tell me I was too late."

"So you got angry?"

"It wasn't anger, really, it was fear. I was scared... AJ has always been very apprehensive of hospitals. I didn't want him to have to go alone. I told the EMT that AJ was afraid of where they were taking him and I should be able to go with... it was a big argument. I know the lady would have let me go if there was room. I knew then and still know, there isn't enough room."

"Ms. Cuervo testified that you spoke with a police officer before being allowed to follow him to the hospital. Could you share what was said?"

"The officer asked us what we were doing. I think he knew we were going to chase the ambulance. That isn't exactly legal, so I asked him if there was some way we could ride with him. He explained that it would be better if we followed him to the hospital, since we would eventually have to leave, and would need transportation. I agreed," Kevin had been surprised the officer allowed it to happen.

"Did you mention to the officer, anything about Mr. McLean?"

"Yeah, I gave him the best description I could. He said there was another unit on the way and he would radio them. I figured Mr. Crosby was still nearby. I hadn't seen any cars leave, there was only one exit and you could only get to it if you drove by the front door. I told this to the officer and we were then on our way."

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