Part 19 (1/2)
”Smart? Good-looking?”
”Yes,” she said. ”And he seemed to care about everyone.”
Stefan glared at a legal pad during this entire exchange, scribbling with a pen and shaking his head.
”He seemed to care about everyone,” Strong repeated.
”Yes.”
”But especially you?”
Lawrence said, ”I guess so. Yes.”
”What happened?”
”Nothing for a while. It was just like flirting with each other.”
”And then?”
”It went further,” she said quietly.
”When was this?”
”Like, a few months after Billy Jameson and Tyler Marin overdosed and died, and a week before Stefan killed Rashawn.”
”Objection!” Naomi cried.
”Sustained,” Judge Varney said. ”The jury will ignore that.”
”So tell us what happened,” Strong said.
You could see Sharon Lawrence wanted to be anywhere but in the courtroom as she mustered up her energy and said that after the two overdoses, my cousin became obsessed with finding out who the drug dealers were.
”He talked about it in cla.s.s,” she said. ”Asking anybody who knew anything to come forward.”
”Did they?”
”I don't know. And it didn't matter anyway, it was all a bunch of lies.”
”Objection,” Naomi said.
”Overruled,” Judge Varney said.
Strong said, ”Can you tell us why you think they were lies?”
”Because Coach Tate was the one dealing the drugs,” Lawrence said.
”Objection!”
”Your Honor, with the court's indulgence, Miss Lawrence will explain the basis of her contention.”
”Proceed, but you're on a short leash, Counselor.”
”What makes you think Coach Tate was dealing drugs?”
”He told me,” Lawrence said. ”He showed me.”
”Where were you when this happened?”
”At his place.”
”How did you come to be at his house?”
”At school that morning, he'd asked me to stop by,” Lawrence said. ”He said Ms. Converse would be down in Raleigh at a doctor's appointment.”
I glanced over at Patty Converse, who looked stricken.
Strong said, ”And Coach Tate showed you drugs?”
”Yes.”
”Did you do drugs with Coach Tate?”
”Yes.”
”What kind of drugs?” Strong asked.
Lawrence bit her lower lip, which was trembling. ”I don't know all of it. Cocaine for sure. And, like, maybe some meth. He called it a speedball. But I think he put something in my soda too.”
”Why do you think that?”
”I woke up a couple of hours later in his bed,” she said, looking at her lap again. ”I don't remember how I got there. But I was naked and ... sore.”
”Sore where?”
”You know,” she said, and she started crying.
Strong approached the box, gave her a tissue, said, ”You're doing fine.”
Lawrence nodded, but she wouldn't look up.
”Was the accused there when you woke up?”
”He came into the room.”
”Did he acknowledge having s.e.x with you?”