The Silver Star(69)
“So you two girls came to Virginia on your own. All the way from California. Did your momma even know you were coming?”
“Not exactly.”
“Brave girls. Has your momma ever done that before? Left you on your own?”
“Just for short periods. And she always made sure there were plenty of chicken potpies for us to eat.”
“Well, that was real responsible of her.” Leland Hayes glanced at the jury. Tammy Elbert had swiveled around to look at Mom, whose face was almost as red as her velvet jacket.
“So your mother is a performer?”
“A singer and a songwriter.”
“And performance is a form of make-believe, right?”
“I guess.”
“Does your mother engage in a lot of make-believe?”
“What do you mean?”
“Has she ever, say, made up a boyfriend who didn’t really exist?”
“Objection!” Dickey Bryson shouted. “Irrelevant.”
Mom was looking over at the jury and violently shaking her head.
“I’ll withdraw the question.” Leland Hayes cleared his throat. “When your mother had her meltdown, she left you to survive on your own. That’s tough. It meant you had to do whatever it took to get by. Even tell lies if you felt you had to.”
“Objection. Argumentative.”
“Sustained.”
“I’ll rephrase. Have you ever needed to lie to get by?”
“Nope,” I said emphatically.
“Did you or did you not lie to your Uncle Tinsley about working for Mr. Maddox?”
“That wasn’t exactly a lie,” I said. “We just decided not to mention it.”
“So you didn’t lie to your uncle, who had let you into his house and was feeding you and taking care of you. You just misled him?”
“I guess.”
“You like your Uncle Tinsley, don’t you?”
“He’s great.”
“He’s looking after you because your mother wasn’t. So you want to make him happy, and you want to try to please him. When you’re not misleading him. Isn’t that correct?”
“I guess,” I said again. I could see another setup coming, but there was nothing I could do about it.
“Has your uncle ever told you that he dislikes Mr. Maddox?”
“He had a good reason to.”
“Because Mr. Maddox recommended that the owners of Holladay Textiles terminate your uncle’s relationship with the mill?”
“Other things, too. Uncle Tinsley thought he treated the workers bad—”
The judge cut me off. “Just answer yes or no.”
“So would you ever lie about Mr. Maddox if you thought it would make your uncle happy?”
“Objection!” Dickey Bryson shouted.
“Sustained,” the judge said.
Leland Hayes looked at his legal pad again. “Just a couple more things,” he said. “Did you eat food from the Maddoxes’ refrigerator without their permission?”
“If I was making the kids sandwiches, I’d sometimes make myself one, too.”
“So you did eat the Maddoxes’ food without their permission?”
“I didn’t think I needed it.”
“Did you also drink Mr. Maddox’s vodka without his permission, which was one reason he had to fire you?”
“What?”
“Yes or no.”
“No!” I shouted.
“Did you steal money from his dresser drawer, which was the other reason he had to fire you?”
“No!”
“Do you have a vendetta against Mr. Maddox?”
“No.”
“Is Joe Wyatt your cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Did you and Joe Wyatt slash the tires of Mr. Maddox’s car?”
I looked down at my hands. “I didn’t do it,” I said.
“So Joe Wyatt did it?”
I shrugged. “How would I know?”
“Maybe because you were there. Remember, Miss Holladay, that you’re under oath. Did you help Joe Wyatt plan or carry out this crime?”
“It’s because Maddox was trying to kill us!” I shouted. “He was all the time trying to run us over with that Le Mans. We had to protect ourselves. It was self-defense—”
“I think we get the picture,” Leland Hayes said. “A nasty little feud. No further questions.”
“But I need to explain—”
“I said no further questions.”
“You’re not giving me a chance to explain!”
“Young lady, that will be all,” the judge said.
Once Leland Hayes sat down, Dickey Bryson stood up again. He asked me to tell the jury what I’d meant by saying Maddox tried to run us down, and I told them how, when we were walking to the bus stop, he’d come barreling down the road in his Le Mans and swerve at us and we had to jump into the ditch to get out of his way.