Chapter 3
"Linda? You're the plaintiff? Your friend's daughter is the one who made the false accusation?"
David's expression soured as soon as he spotted me.
It hit me like a ton of bricks.
'Oh,' I thought, my heart sinking.
The bastards who murdered my daughter were the same kids David claimed were wrongly accused.
Now my daughter, who died so tragically, was branded as the one who made it all up.
I laughed, the sound sharp and sarcastic.
"So, who do you believe? Her, or me?" I asked.
David was silent for a moment.
He finally said, "Maybe your friend wasn't telling you the truth." His voice was calm, almost indifferent.
He might as well have said it all, even though he barely said a word.
As expected, we lost the case.
David was a devil of a lawyer. He is my husband. I knew all too well just how terrifyingly good he was.
He never lost a case. Not a single one.
The lawyer I hired for triple the usual fee got steamrolled. He didn't even last a round against David.
All the evidence I painstakingly dug up? David just tore it apart, claiming it wasn't enough.
He hadn't even witnessed any of it himself. He just took Emily's word for everything, and he couldn't even be bothered to remember the victim's name.
But that didn't stop him from tearing me down in court, publicly branding my daughter as a liar and nailing her to the cross of shame.
The trial was over.
The monsters I spent three days tracking down walked free, not even a single charge stuck, not a day behind bars.
I dragged my feet back home, every step feeling like a burden.
Lying there surrounded by Sophie's things, I just couldn't hold it together anymore. I lost it and cried my eyes out.
I don't know how long I'd been out, but the bright overhead light snapped me awake.
I looked up. It was David.
He'd just gotten back, and he was holding something in his hand.
"Why are you sleeping in Sophie's bed?"
He spoke offhandedly, not bothering to dig any deeper.
"After the trial, Margaret wanted to thank me for helping Emily, so she invited me to dinner," he said.
"She thought you'd be upset about losing, so she told me to bring you a strawberry cake to cheer you up. Margaret and Emily both love this flavor. They highly recommend it."
With that, he slid the strawberry cake toward me.
I didn't take it.
When Sophie was five, she ate strawberries tainted with pesticides and almost lost her life.
Ever since then, strawberries were totally off-limits in our house.
He could remember every single thing Margaret and Emily liked, but never cared about the things Sophie and I couldn't stand.
When I didn't move for a long time, David raised an eyebrow.
"Still hung up about the trial this morning? Emily said her classmates are innocent. Maybe that girl was just loose, you know? Maybe they just couldn't settle on the money, and that's why things blew up..."
Smack!
The sharp sound of a slap echoed in the room.
My hand trembled, my voice hoarse, almost screaming.
"Do you even realize that the girl you're calling a slut is..."