I didn’t have to be in court today, but I wanted to. I wanted to see and hear what was being said about me and Liam throughout most of the proceedings. My mum sits with me at the back of the courtroom, holding my hand. I am glad she is with me and offering me her support. I think if it wasn’t for the fact that I had Easton to look forward to tomorrow I would be a complete mess. Two days ago I finished my last exam, and what followed was a bottle of champagne and cake courtesy of my mum and Eric. I’m still wary of Eric, but only because of the reason why I’m here now.

“Mr Devenport, would you like to proceed with your opening statement?”

The prosecuting solicitor stands up. “I will, Your Honour.”

The judge motions with his hands to proceed and Mr Devenport thanks him before turning towards the jury.

“Ladies and gentleman of the jury, over the course of the coming days you will hear the defence tell you that Ray Jackson was infatuated with the defendant, Liam Waters. You will hear how she begged and pleaded with him to run away from home with her. The defence has prepared a fanciful tale of a young girl manipulating a single man whom she had slowly broken down by her womanly wiles until he was willing to do whatever she commanded.” He stops a moment, and I grit my teeth. “But … and there is a big but here … Ray Jackson was not a woman on the day she disappeared. She was a fifteen-year-old child. Additionally, she was not the one who pursued him—quite the contrary in fact. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, I will bring forth witnesses who will tell a much different story from the one the defence would have you believe. Witnesses who saw Liam Waters watching Ray Jackson so closely that stalking may in fact be a more accurate term. Witnesses who were so spooked by the occurrence that they called the police to report what they saw. Unfortunately, Liam Waters was not seen behaving that way again after those initial sightings because he had already inserted himself into the family by the time law enforcement knew to look out for someone matching his description and behaviour. Otherwise, this tragic outcome may have been a vastly different one. What ensued over the following months was an insidious insertion into their family, which began with a false friendship with Ray’s mother. As part of this “friendship,” he made himself useful with offers to help around the house and even to go shopping whenever they needed something from the store. He had in fact become such an indispensable part of the family that they began to truly rely on and trust him. As a result, they saw him on an almost daily basis. Neither Ray nor her mother ever had the slightest reason to believe that he was secretly devising a plan to kidnap and keep Ray. When he did eventually drug and kidnap her, Liam Waters kept Ray locked up in the room he had designed especially for this purpose for months—until the day of her sixteenth birthday. During this time, he lavished her with gifts to help keep her compliant and displayed nearly infinite patience with her when she became angry with him and her situation. More than anything, he made an art form out of lying to her. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, you will hear the heartbreaking tale of how Liam Waters manipulated Ray Jackson into believing that not only had her mother died, but she had been left with no one to turn to aside from him in the whole world.

“You will be told that she started a sexual relationship with the defendant and had been the one to instigate it. You will be told Ray Jackson had fallen head over heels in love with him. But, please, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I beg you to avoid being taken in by his gift for deception like the poor victim was. Please see through his lies and look behind that carefully contrived mask of his. He has, over time, manipulated and fooled many people. With your help, I hope to make his latest victim, Ray Jackson, his last.” He then turns to the judge and bows. “Thank you, Your Honour.”

The judge nods and then my stomach flips when I see the judge turn to the defence. “Mr Raven, do you wish to proceed with your opening statement?”

He stands making my nausea kick in. I just know everything he says now will be all lies, but the thing I’m most nauseous about is the fact that some won’t be.

“I am, Your Honour.”

The judge motions for him to stand and he does so, his attention on the jury. He clears his throat. “Ladies and gentleman of the jury, you have heard Mr Devenport speak of a kidnap that never happened, a false imprisonment that never happened. He wants to sway you from the fact that Ray Jackson did in fact live willingly in his residence for close to three years. She started a relationship with him, slept in his bed, and she even went to work for him.”

I feel my mum squeeze my hand, so I squeeze back. This can’t be easy for her to hear as much as it can’t for me. Some of what he says is true. I may not have gone with him willingly, but over time I did do all the things he said.

“They were even going to have a baby together until she sadly lost it in the hospital the day she had been found.”

My stomach rolls at the mention of the baby. I had hoped it wouldn’t be brought up, but of course it would be.

“And I say found because she had gotten caught by a pharmacist who recognised her from a photograph that her mother gave to the news reporters in the hope of finding her daughter. But, ladies and gentleman of the jury, Ray Jackson didn’t want to be found. She had managed to break down my client’s walls, and by his better judgement was eventually seduced by her. All my client ever wanted to do was take care of her. He knew she would have run anyway, so set up a home with the promise to take care of her. And he did keep that promise right up until the very end.” He then looks around the courtroom before turning back to the jury. “Ladies and gentleman of the jury, the only thing my client is guilty of here is falling in love. And over the coming weeks you will get to hear evidence of that fact. Thank you."

The judge then addresses the jury giving a little speech about the law before turning to the defence. “You may call your first witness.”

Mr Devenport nods, and then stands. “Your Honour, I call Kate Barker to the stand.”

I frown as I had never heard that name before. I look to my mum to see if she knows, but she’s wearing the same perplexed look as I am. She shrugs her shoulders, so I look back to the courtroom to see a young woman in her twenties walk up to the booth, sit, and then take the oath.

“Miss Barker, can you state your full name, age, and occupation, please?”

She leans forward to the microphone. “My name’s Kate Barker, I’m twenty-three years old, and I am trainee doctor.”

“Thank you, Miss Barker. Before you became a trainee doctor you worked for a café in London called The Bridge, is that correct?”

“Correct. I had been working there part-time to try and pay as much of my university fees as possible.”

Mr Devenport nods. “In that time you had been working there, did you ever encounter Ray Jackson and her mother?”

She nods. “I had. They did come in a few times over a period of about a week, I think. I believe it was during school holidays as there were a lot of kids around.”

“Considering there were a lot of customers you dealt with on a regular basis, how come Ray and her mother stood out?”

She sighs before looking in Liam’s direction. “Because I remember him watching them.”

“To confirm to the court who you are talking about can you please point to the man in question.”

She raises her hand and points directly to Liam. “It was him.”

“Thank you, Miss Barker. Now, can you tell me whereabouts Liam Waters was at the time he was watching them?”

“Over the course of the few times they came in, I saw him on the other side of the street looking directly at them.”

“Did he ever approach them at all?

She shakes her head. “No. He would just stand there staring.”

“Did you ever think to say anything to Ray and her mother at the time?”

She bites her lip. “I had hoped I was wrong, but after three days he was still there watching them. I had planned to tell them the next day, but neither one of them turned up. I had phoned the police that morning too, because after speaking with my best friend, she suggested I phone them just in case he was a registered sex offender.”

“But by the time you called, Ray and her mother were gone, and Liam Waters never showed up again?”

She nods her head. “That’s correct.”

“Thank you, Miss Barker. I have no further questions.”

The judge nods his head and then turns to the defence. “Mr Raven, do you wish to question the witness?”

He stands up. “I do, Your Honour.” The judge nods and motions for him to proceed.

“Miss Barker, can you remember what the weather was like during that school holiday week?”

She takes a moment to ponder his question. “I believe it was sunny.” She thinks on this further before adding, “Yes, I’m certain it was sunny because I remember wearing shorts to work instead of trousers. It had been cold the week before, but it was unseasonably hot that particular week.”

“And on the times you say you saw my client, had he been wearing sunglasses?”

She looks away a moment and I can tell she’s trying to think back. “I believe he was, yes.”

The defence smiles, looks towards the jury before saying, “Well, then, how can you be sure he was looking in the direction of Ray Jackson and her mother? He could have been looking at you, for all you know.”

He lets out a laugh and some follow suit. I don’t think this is a laughing matter, but he’s trying to make it one.

“I know what I saw.”

“Yes, well, it was also a long time ago, Miss Barker. How can you be certain it was even Liam Waters? There are a lot of men around with blond hair who wear sunglasses. It could have been anyone. How far would you say the distance was in feet from the café to where you saw this man standing?”

“I would say around thirty feet.”

“Thirty feet. That’s quite a lot. And do you wear glasses, Miss Barker?”

“Yes, but only for reading.”

“Even still, from a distance of thirty feet away from the café toward a blond man wearing sunglasses, he could have been James Bond and you would have said he was my client.”

Mr Devenport stands. “Objection, Your Honour. Inflammatory.”

The defence puts his hands up before the judge can say anything. “It’s okay, Your Honour. I apologise.”

From the look on his face he’s not sorry. He may not have that officially on record, but he’s got what he came to do and that’s putting doubt into the jury’s minds.

After Kate Barker is asked to step down, another two witnesses who saw Liam with us on several occasions take the stand. They are all asked how he was with us, specifically me, and how we in turn were with him. They all told the truth. We seemed like a family. Happy, healthy … trusting.

On the way home, my mum and I are silent. We both know that today didn’t start off well, but I’m glad it’s over. It continues tomorrow with more witnesses, but I won’t be there. I have more important issues to attend to.

After eating a meal, I go back to my room and spend an hour or so listening to music and dreaming about seeing Easton tomorrow.

As I gaze upon my pink helmet that Easton bought all those months ago, I can’t help the loony smile that comes up on my lips. He had kept his promise all this time, and so did I. Tomorrow, however, will be the day that all changes.

And I just couldn’t wait.