Chapter 13 - GWEN TOOK THE WITNESS STAND
The courtroom was full.
Gwen hated that.
She hated the reporters.
The sketches.
The whispers.
But when she took the oath, her hands were steady.
The prosecutor began simply.
“Did Brenda Dawson ever tell you where you were allowed to eat?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Sometimes standing in the kitchen.”
“And on December twenty-fourth?”
“Under the dining table.”
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Why did you comply?”
Gwen breathed.
“Because by then I believed my husband wanted it.”
Brenda looked toward Lucas.
He stared straight ahead.
Gwen described the fake messages.
The divorce petition.
The pills.
The threats.
The trust document.
Then defense counsel stood.
He was skilled.
Polite.
Dangerous.
“Mrs. Dawson, you are an educated adult?”
“Yes.”
“You had a phone?”
“Yes.”
“A car?”
“Yes.”
“Access to money?”
“Some.”
“You could leave the estate?”
“Physically, yes.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Gwen looked at him.
“Because I believed leaving meant losing my husband and possibly my child.”
“Did Mrs. Dawson explicitly say she would take your baby?”
“She said Dawson children belong to the family.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“No.”
The attorney smiled.
“So no direct threat.”
Gwen answered:
“Not every cage has a lock.”
The courtroom went silent.
He shifted.
“You voluntarily swallowed medication?”
“I swallowed what I was told were supplements.”
“You never checked?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I trusted the person giving them to me.”
“Brenda?”
“Yes.”
“Even though you claim you feared her.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
The prosecutor objected.
Sustained.
The attorney then introduced Gwen's therapy notes from before the marriage.
Anxiety after her father's death.
He tried to suggest she had longstanding emotional instability.
Gwen did not deny it.
“I have had anxiety.”
“Before Brenda.”
“Yes.”
“So anxiety wasn't caused by her.”
“No.”
The attorney smiled.
Then Gwen continued:
“But having anxiety does not mean people are allowed to lie to me.”
The smile vanished.
Specific truth again.
No need to be perfect.
The defense called Dr. Kline.
He denied intentional wrongdoing.
Admitted poor boundaries.
The medical board had already suspended parts of his practice pending review.
His testimony helped Brenda less than expected.
Then Brenda testified.
Against advice.
She was magnificent at first.
Controlled.
Elegant.
Maternal.
She described sacrifices.
Lucas's childhood.
Charles's death.
Her fear that Gwen isolated Lucas.
Her concern over pregnancy.
Then the prosecutor asked:
“Did you tell Gwen she belonged under the table?”
Brenda paused.
“It was a figure of speech.”
“Did you throw a bone beneath it?”
Silence.
Miriam's video played.
Brenda's own voice filled the courtroom.
UNDER THE TABLE IS WHERE FREELOADERS EAT!
The prosecutor asked:
“Is that your voice?”
“Yes.”
“Was that maternal care?”
Brenda's jaw tightened.
“She needed humility.”
There.
The worldview.
The prosecutor waited.
Then:
“At eight months pregnant?”
Brenda answered:
“Pregnancy does not make a woman above correction.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
The jury heard everything they needed to understand who Brenda believed herself to be.
Not a monster.
May you like
An authority.
That was worse.
