Chapter 8 - THE HEARING WHERE MARGARET SPOKE
Margaret testified at the preliminary hearing eleven months after the station.
She wore blue.
Casey sat in the back.
Not counsel table.
Not government section.
Daughter.
Dana’s attorney tried to portray Margaret as forgetful.
“Mrs. Peterson, you sometimes misplace things?”
“Yes.”
“You once forgot a doctor’s appointment?”
“Yes.”
“You have called your daughter twice in one afternoon asking the same question?”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“I’m sixty-seven. I also remember who bruised my arms.”
The courtroom went quiet.
The attorney continued.
“You were upset about family finances.”
“Yes.”
“You raised your voice.”
“Yes.”
“You reached toward Dana.”
“Yes.”
“Could that have been perceived as an attack?”
Margaret thought.
“I reached for my phone.”
“According to you.”
“According to the phone found under Dana’s foot in the kitchen photograph.”
Casey almost smiled.
Her mother had done her homework.
Then Margaret was asked about Colton.
Her voice changed.
“He was my little boy.”
Past tense.
That was harder than anger.
“He watched.”
She looked toward him.
Colton began crying.
Margaret continued.
“I don't know which hurt more. Dana grabbing me or my son deciding it was useful.”
The judge found sufficient cause to proceed on multiple fraud and obstruction counts.
The false-assault case against Margaret had already been dismissed months earlier.
Her arrest record was expunged.
The cuffs were gone.
May you like
The bruise had faded.
The damage inside the family had not.
