Dear Bridget, I Want You(68)

“And this co-worker, your boyfriend, was he married?”

Her eyes pointed down. “Yes.”

“Was he separated from his wife at the time of the accident?”

“No.”

“And how long were the two of you a couple?”

“I don’t know exactly. Around a year, I guess. Maybe a little less.”

“So, you had an ongoing relationship with a married man for an extended period of time prior to the accident.”

“Yes.”

“And you were aware he was married during this relationship?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. And where were you coming from on the evening of the accident?”

“We’d just had dinner at a restaurant, Carmine’s.”

“And where were you heading?”

“To my house.”

“To be clear, you and your married boyfriend were not working at the time of the accident. This was strictly an evening of a personal nature?”

“Yes.” A tear fell from Gina’s eye. She used the back of her hand to wipe it away, rather than take one of the tissues that Arnold had pushed toward her. I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t have taken anything from the jerk, either. This entire thing was wrong, and regardless of whether she was dating a married man, Gina deserved some privacy. The least I could do was not gape at her while she cried. I folded my hands on top of the table and stared at my clasped fingers.

“What was the location of the accident?”

“We had just come off Exit 15 on 95 and onto Jefferson Boulevard.”

“And what caused the accident?”

“A car had been stopped in the shoulder and unexpectedly merged into traffic just as we were about to pass. We swerved to avoid the car, going into the lane to the left of us, and sideswiped a car that was already in that lane. Our car lost control and bounced around before being spun into oncoming traffic.”

“And that is your own personal recollection of the accident?”

“No. I don’t remember any of it. That’s what I learned afterward from the police and witnesses.”

“What’s the first thing you’re able to remember from that evening?”

“I remember waking up, and our car was upside down. A truck was smashed into the driver’s side, and people were yelling that everything was going to be okay.”

The woman paused and then her voice broke when she started again. “There was so much blood. So much blood, and he wouldn’t wake up. Everything wasn’t okay.” I kept my eyes trained on my hands out of respect.

“Thank you,” Arnold said. “I’m sorry. I know this must be difficult for you to talk about.”

The woman sniffled. “It is.”

“Would you like to take a moment?”

“No. It’s fine. I’d rather just get this over with.”

“Okay then. So, the cause of the accident, you’re saying, was a car cut you off. But you don’t recall seeing that car actually cut you off?”

“Yes.”

“So that I’m clear, you don’t remember seeing the car, or you weren’t able to see the car from where you were seated?”

“I don’t remember.”

I tried to tune the rest out, knowing where Arnold was going with his questioning and wanting nothing to do with it. “Let’s talk about where you were seated during the accident? Were you seated in the front passenger seat?”

“I was.”

“Were you wearing a seatbelt?”

“No.”

“No seat belt. Why not?”

“I’d just taken it off for a minute.”

“Were you upright in the passenger seat, Ms. Delmonico?”

“I don’t understand the question,” she sounded panicked.

“From the nature of your injury and the angle of the impact, it appears that you weren’t facing forward as one might assume is normal when you’re seated in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle.”

The woman’s lawyer jumped in. “This is a new low, even for you, Arnie. My client lost someone she cared about and was injured. None of this is relevant and you know it.”

“This is a deposition. Keep your relevance objections for the judge, Frank.”

The other lawyer grumbled something I didn’t catch.

“I’ll go back to my original question,” Arnold said. “Were you upright in the passenger seat prior to the accident, Ms. Delmonico?”

There was quiet and then a low answer. “No. I was lying down.”

“You were lying down? Where was your head?”

“On the driver’s lap.”

“So, it wasn’t possible to know if a car cut you off or not, even if you remembered that actual accident?”