The Reversal

and after that I never saw her again. There is no confusion about that at all.”
    I wanted to stand and clap. Instead, I just nodded to myself. It was a fine, fine answer. But Royce moved on, acting as though he had not been hit with the tomato.
    “There have been times in your life when you were confused, however, correct?”
    “About my sister and what happened and who took her? Never.”
    “I’m talking about times you were incarcerated in mental health facilities and the psych wards of jails and prisons.”
    Gleason lowered her head in full realization that she would not escape this trial without a full airing of the lost years of her life. I just had to hope she would respond in the way Maggie had told her to.
    “After the murder of my sister, many things went wrong in my life,” she said.
    She then looked up directly at Royce as she continued.
    “Yes, I spent some time in those kinds of places. I think, and my counselors agreed, that it was because of what happened to Melissa.”
    Good answer, I thought. She was fighting.
    “We’ll get back into that later on,” Royce said. “But getting back to your sister, she was twelve at the time of her murder, correct?”
    “That’s right.”
    “This would have been the same age you were when your stepfather began to sexually abuse you. Am I right?”
    “About the same, yes.”
    “Did you warn your sister about him?”
    There was a long pause as Gleason considered her answer. This was because there was no good answer.
    “Ms. Gleason?” the judge prompted. “Please answer the question.”
    “No, I didn’t warn her. I was afraid to.”
    “Afraid of what?” Royce asked.
    “Him. As you’ve already pointed out, I’ve been through a lot of therapy in my life. I know that it is not unusual for a child to be unable to tell anyone. You get trapped in the behavior. Trapped by fear. I’ve been told that many times.”
    “In other words, you go along to get along.”
    “Sort of. But that is a simplification. It was more—”
    “But you did live with a lot of fear in your life back then?”
    “Yes, I—”
    “Did your stepfather tell you not to tell anyone about what he was doing to you?”
    “Yes, he said—”
    “Did he threaten you?”
    “He said that if I told anyone I would be taken away from my mother and sister. He said he would make sure that the state would think my mother knew about it and they would consider her unfit. They would take Melissa and me away. Then we would get split up because foster homes couldn’t always take two at a time.”
    “Did you believe him?”
    “Yes, I was twelve. I believed him.”
    “And it scared you, didn’t it?”
    “Yes. I wanted to stay with my fam—”
    “Wasn’t it that same fear and control that your stepfather had over you that made you go along to get along after he killed your sister?”
    Again Maggie jumped up to object, stating that the question was leading and assumed facts not in evidence. The judge agreed and sustained the objection.
    Undeterred, Royce went at Gleason relentlessly.
    “Isn’t it true that you and your mother did and said exactly what your stepfather told you to in the cover-up of Melissa’s murder?”
    “No, that’s not—”
    “He told you to say it was a tow truck driver and that you were to pick one of the men the police brought to the house.”
    “No! He didn’t—”
    “Objection!”
    “There was no hide-and-seek game outside the house, was there? Your sister was murdered inside the house by Kensington Landy. Isn’t that true!”
    “Your Honor!”
    Maggie was now shouting.
    “Counsel is badgering the witness with these leading questions. He doesn’t want her answers. He just wants to deliver his lies to the jury!”
    The judge looked from Maggie to Royce.
    “All right, everyone just calm down. The objection is sustained. Mr. Royce, ask the witness one question at a time and allow her the time to answer. And you will not ask leading questions. Need I remind you, you called her as a witness. If you wanted to lead her you should’ve conducted a cross-examination when you had the opportunity.”
    Royce put on his best look of contrition. It must’ve been difficult.
    “I apologize for getting carried away, Your Honor,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”
    It didn’t matter if it happened again. Royce had already gotten his point across. His purpose was not to get an admission from Gleason. In fact, he expected none. His purpose was to get his