Eighteen

ALL THE air seemed to be sucked out of the room with those few simple words. What happened when you got to the garage? His whole world had been destroyed. They took the guy he’d once been and murdered him, leaving an empty shell in his place. He wanted to scream it, but Mr. Sorensen said not to get angry, just to describe what happened as well as he could.

“The brown-haired man with the scar dragged me into the garage. I was kicking and screaming behind his hand over my mouth. I heard Juliette screaming and fighting beside me. They had the driver get the door for them. He opened it with a key.” Aaron hadn’t remembered that in any of his prep sessions. It just came to him then as he relived the memory in his head.

“And what happened once you were inside?”

Oh God.

Time blurred, one hour into the next, as Aaron answered all of her questions, detailing each and every atrocity they’d forced on him. The monsters tried to draw his gaze, but he never looked at them. Instead his gaze fell on Spencer, who, rather than looking disgusted, seemed proud. Spencer stayed with him through every act he described. The afternoon dragged on, sapping Aaron’s strength. They had to stop several times for him to get something to drink because the panic dried him out.

Finally, finally they reached the end.

“After the men left, what did you do?”

“My jeans were lying on the floor next to me, so I fumbled for my phone. It had been off during debate practice. I tried not to look at Juliette as I turned it on and held three to speed dial my house. I heard my mother’s voice, but things started to go dark. I couldn’t speak.”

“What is the next thing you remember?”

“I remember waking up the hospital screaming and having to be sedated. I remember the look on my mother’s face when she saw the damage they’d done. I remember that my father wouldn’t meet my eyes.”

“How has your life changed since the attack?”

“Everything changed. I had to be homeschooled for my last two years of high school because I can’t be around people. I don’t like to be touched. I can’t hold down a job. I’m medicated a lot of the time just to function. They took everything from me.” Aaron half expected the defense lawyer to object to something during his tirade, but he didn’t. He just sat, watching Aaron and looking a little sick.

“Your witness,” the prosecutor said and took her seat behind the table. It took a long moment for the defense lawyer to stand up and grab his little yellow legal pad. He approached the witness box and looked down at the paper.

“You said that you take medication. What kind of medication?”

“In the beginning, they prescribed different kinds of tranquilizers and antianxiety meds. Now I just have one tranquilizer.”

“Are you on drugs now?”

“No, I stopped taking them on Friday to prepare for the trial.”

“Was it after dark when the men in the van picked you and your girlfriend up?”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend, and yes, it was after dark, but the van parked under a lamppost, and the garage was lit.”

“It’s been five years since the alleged attack. Do you look the same as you did five years ago?”

“No, now I have a horrible scar on my face.”

“But you’re older, and you’ve changed?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be sure my clients are the men who abducted you?”

“First, I looked at them for hours while they raped and tortured me and Juliette. And second, I see them every time I close my eyes. They are the men who raped us, sir.”

The lawyer looked resigned for a moment and then asked a few more questions Aaron didn’t find relevant. Maybe he got paid by the hour. Anyway, after a while he finally gave up and let Aaron off the stand. Aaron stood tall, not looking at the men sitting near their defense lawyer, and walked past his parents and out of the courtroom. He didn’t want to listen to the rest of it. The layers of grime and sweat on his skin, the filth of reliving all of it clung to him, and he just wanted to shower. His mother followed quickly and sat on the bench with him to wait.

They didn’t have to wait long.

“The judge called it quits for the day,” his father said as he wrapped his arms around Aaron’s mother and then around him. “I didn’t know how to process what happened to you. It was never because of shame or pity. I didn’t know what to do.”

“I know, and it was a long time ago. I just needed to make them understand, you know?” Aaron asked as he hugged his father.

“Yeah.”

The courtroom doors opened again to reveal Dr. Thomas and Spencer. Aaron launched himself at Spencer, wrapping his arms tightly around his boyfriend’s neck and clinging to him. Spencer held him tight, and all thoughts of Spencer walking away vanished in an instant. Spencer loved him. He’d proven it time and time again.

“I’m going home with my parents tonight,” he told Spencer, brushing his cheek with gentle fingers. “I’m going to take a tranquilizer before bed because I can’t handle the dreams I’ll have tonight. But I’ll come over tomorrow. I doubt they’ll need me again for a few days. The prosecutor just wants me here when the jury comes back with a verdict.”

Spencer pulled Aaron closer and rubbed his back with long, sure strokes. He didn’t seem to need words right then, just to be close. Aaron liked that. He liked that a lot.

“HELLO?”

“Hi, Aaron, this is Karl Sorensen. How are you?”

Aaron didn’t think he’d ever heard Sorensen’s first name until that moment, and it threw him for a loop. Prosecutors should have serious names like Richard or Benjamin, not Karl. The medication surged through his system, and he focused on the question as Spencer sat rubbing his back.

“I’m okay, Mr. Sorensen. How is the trial going?”

“The defense didn’t have much of a fight to put on. None of the defendants testified, just the mother of one of them, saying that her son was home with her. Everyone saw through the lie. They tried to hit the DNA evidence, but it’s pretty unshakable. And finally, they put a shrink on the stand to say you’re too traumatized to pick out your attackers. That didn’t work either. The jury went to deliberations tonight. They’ll probably come back tomorrow or the next day, so be ready for the call. Okay? How long will it take you to get to the courthouse once the verdict comes in?”

“About fifteen, maybe twenty minutes,” Aaron answered as he sat playing with Spencer’s fingers where they rested on his stomach.

“Good. Wait for my call, and hopefully this will be over before the end of the week.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sorensen.”

“No, thank you, Aaron.”

ONLY IT didn’t turn out to be days. The jury came back with a verdict within two hours the next morning. Aaron hadn’t even gotten dressed. He’d showered, thank God, but still sat in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt in his room. Spencer wouldn’t be there for another hour, so he’d been lazy. No one expected the jury to come back that fast.

“Get here as soon as you can for them to read the verdict,” Sorensen had told him. Aaron rushed to tell his parents, who got ready while he called Dr. Thomas. It took a little work, but they all stood on the steps of the courthouse less than an hour later, waiting for Juliette’s parents and brother, who arrived five minutes after they did. They went through security as a group and then made their way up the hallway to the courtroom, where Mr. Sorensen and his associate, Ms. Landry, waited for them.

“What’s going to happen now?” his mother asked Sorensen as they all gathered around to listen.

“The jury will give the verdict to the judge, who will read it. No matter what it says, don’t react. If they are found guilty, he will set a date for sentencing and they’ll go back to jail. If not, then it will take a while for them to be processed and released.”

“Is that likely?” Juliette’s father asked with one arm carefully around his wife. It seemed more like he held her up than comforted her. Juliette’s brother stood behind her, and Aaron wondered if he did so to catch her if she fell.

“I don’t think so, but sometimes juries can surprise you. We put on the best case we could, and now it’s up to them to do the rest.” Sorensen held the door open, and Aaron’s parents went through first, followed by Aaron, Spencer, and Dr. Thomas. Juliette’s family came in last, and they all filed into the first row as a group. Mr. Sorensen and Ms. Landry took their places at the prosecutor’s table. It took just a few more minutes for the prisoners to be escorted to the room in chains. Aaron didn’t pray often, but right then he asked Juliette for a little help keeping the men in chains.

They all stood while the judge and jury came in, and then it was time.

“Would the foreperson of the jury please stand?” the judge asked, and Aaron watched as a middle-aged woman with short brown hair rose with papers in her hand. Her dress clothes looked uncomfortable and her face grave. She handed the papers to one of the court officers, and the judge asked her to sit down again. He read over the papers and then told the defendants to rise.

“For defendant Peter Godfrey,” the judge said, and Aaron finally looked over. The man with long brown hair was the only one looking up. “As to count one of the indictment, murder in the first degree of victim Juliette Martin, the jury finds the defendant guilty. Count two of the indictment, attempted murder of the victim Aaron Downing, the jury finds the defendant guilty. Count three of the indictment, sexual assault, the jury finds the defendant guilty.” The judge kept reading, for defendant Eugene Maldon, the same verdict, and for Justin Phelps, whose mother cried silently for him, the same verdict. All three men convicted on all counts. Tears streaked down Aaron’s cheeks in stunned disbelief. It was over. He had won. They would go to jail. He hugged Spencer, who stood on one side of him, then his mother on the other, until the judge tapped his gavel for silence.

The second defense lawyer, standing at the center of the table, called for the judge to poll the jury. Aaron didn’t know what he meant, but after a moment, the judge told the people in the courtroom to be seated. Then he asked each member of the jury, one after another, what their verdict was. Each one, with their faces turned to the judge, answered that the defendants were guilty.

And then it was over.

“The defendants having been found guilty on all counts, counselors, we will set a date for sentencing.”

Aaron barely heard. Only one word rang in his ears, over and over again.

Guilty.

They were guilty.

Finally, the judge dismissed them, and Aaron watched as court officers pushed his monsters out of the room, still chained like animals, and they disappeared through the little door.

“Are you still asking for life without parole?” his father asked, his eyes on the door they’d just taken the prisoners through.

“Yes. We have a much stronger case with another set of victims, since that’s the scene they were caught at. Stronger evidence and no variables. Now that they’ve been convicted, they’ll be more likely to deal on the other charges and save the taxpayers money without ever getting out of jail.”

“Thank you,” Aaron’s mother said, shaking hands with Mr. Sorensen. “Thank you so much for keeping them away from my son forever.”

“I’ll want you and Aaron to come back and give victim impact statements at the sentencing.”

“We understand.”

Aaron and Spencer walked out of the courtroom arm in arm, leaving the weight of the trial behind them on the steps. For the first time in five very long years, Aaron felt like celebrating.

“Hey, Mom, let’s go out for ice cream.”

“I think that’s a great idea.”