Part 29 (1/2)
”Lydia,” he said, ”I swear-I'm sorry. I really am.”
”Objection,” said Sansom.
”Sustained. Strike that,” said Burke. ”Do you have any further questions of this witness, Mr. Wood?”
”No, Your Honor.”
”Mr. Danse,” said Owen Sansom, ”I believe you just told us that you noticed in the car that Robert was acting as though he had a hard time sitting there, and that then when you hit this pothole you thought he was actually hurting. Am I right?”
”Yes.”
”And you asked him what was wrong and he said nothing, that he was only concerned about being punished by his mother for being late.”
”That's right.”
”And you believed him on this?”
”I didn't see any reason not to. Yes, I guess I did believe him.”
”Didn't you say you thought he was actually hurting? Physically hurting?”
”Yes.”
Sansom was sweating. She could see it from here and so could the judge. She knew the effort this was costing him with what was going on in his own life, but she thought that so far he was managing to do this right.
”And isn't there an obvious difference between what a person would look like if he were simply worried about the loss of a few privileges, say, as punishment for being late, and what he'd look like if he were physically in pain?”
”Speculation, Your Honor. My client's neither a doctor nor a trained psychologist.”
”Sustained.”
”Let me put it another way, then. Why did you so quickly dismiss the notion that his discomfort was physical, after seeming to observe exactly that?”
”I believed what he told me.”
”You observed what appeared to be a physical discomfort in your son, and then dismissed it, said to yourself, fine, no problem, he's just worried about his mother punis.h.i.+ng him for being late-you dismissed these observations simply because you believed what he told you. Is that correct?”
”Asked and answered, Your Honor.”
”This conversation didn't occur at all, did it Mr. Danse? Nor these 'observations.'
”Objection. Argumentative.”
”Sustained. Please, Mr. Sansom, get on with it.”
”What sort of paperwork were you doing in your office that day, Mr. Danse?”
Arthur shrugged. ”Bills. Orders. s.h.i.+pment records. The usual.”
”And were these very ... engaging?”
He smiled. ”I wouldn't say engaging. Pretty dull stuff, actually.”
”But they were absorbing enough so that you never heard Robert leave the bathroom. All these boring bills and orders had that much of your attention.”
”Sure they're boring. But they still take concentration.”
”Were you aware of hearing the toilet flush? Water running in the sink? The bathroom door opening and closing?”
”No. Not really.”
”You have hardwood floors over there, don't you?”
”Yes.”
”Was Robert wearing shoes?”
”I don't remember.”
”But this is a hall we're talking about, correct?”
”Yes.”
”What else is down that hall?”
”Excuse me?”
”What else is down the hall aside from the bathroom?”
”There's a deck leading out through a door to the backyard, and then if you turn the corner and go around the other way you're in the dining room and then beyond that in the kitchen.”
”So you don't really know that he went to the bathroom at all that day, do you? You heard nothing. Saw nothing. He might have been going to the deck, or to the dining room, or to the kitchen.”
”He was jiggling.”
”He was what?”
”He was jiggling. Standing there jiggling. You know, the way kids do. When they've got to go to the bathroom.”
”So you a.s.sume he went to the bathroom because he was jiggling.”
”Yes.”
”You didn't tell us that earlier, though, did you?”
”It didn't occur to me.”
”Isn't it true that it didn't occur to you because this is just another lie, Mr. Danse? Like your conversation with Robert in the car and your observations in the car?”
”Absolutely not.”