Chapter 3: The Voice Outside
The courtroom door opened three inches.
Avery screamed.
“Don't!””
Judge Harris immediately stood.
“Close the door.””
The bailiff pushed it shut.
Damon was already on his feet.
“Who was that?””
Nobody answered.
Avery had climbed down from the witness chair and was crouched behind it.
Keisha hurried toward her.
“It's okay, baby.””
“No.””
Avery shook her head violently.
“Don't let him come in.””
Damon looked at Judge Harris.
“Your Honor, who is outside?””
“I don't know.””
Monique's lawyer approached the door.
Judge Harris stopped him.
“Nobody opens that door until we know who is there.””
Damon's breathing became heavier.
He could hear footsteps retreating down the hallway.
Then silence.
Judge Harris looked at Avery.
“Sweetheart, do you recognize the voice?””
Avery nodded.
“Have you heard it before?””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
Avery looked at Monique.
“In her house.””
Monique closed her eyes.
Damon turned toward her.
“You know who it is.””
Monique didn't answer.
“Monique.””
Nothing.
“Who was in your house that night?””
Her attorney stepped in.
“My client doesn't need to answer that.””
Judge Harris nodded.
“Correct.””
Damon looked at Avery.
“Did this person hurt you?””
Avery shook her head.
“No.””
“Did he hurt Mom?””
“No.””
“Then why are you afraid of him?””
Avery's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Dad was afraid of him.””
Damon went still.
Keisha whispered, “Damon…”
He stared at his daughter.
“Why would I be afraid?””
Avery's fingers tightened around her backpack straps.
“You told me to hide.””
The room seemed to tilt.
Damon shook his head.
“I never told you that.””
“You did.””
“When?””
“That night.””
“I don't remember.””
Avery began crying again.
“You told me not to make a sound.””
Damon stepped backward.
A sharp image flashed through his mind.
Not a memory.
Just a sensation.
Cold floor beneath his bare feet.
Rain.
A broken glass.
Avery's tiny hand gripping his shirt.
Then darkness.
He grabbed the table.
Keisha saw it.
“What happened?””
“I don't know.””
“You just remembered something.””
“No.””
“You did.””
Damon looked at her.
“I said I don't know.””
Judge Harris watched him carefully.
“Mr. Carter, sit down.””
He obeyed.
Avery slowly returned to the witness chair.
Judge Harris lowered her voice.
“Let's try something different. Avery, when you said your father told you to hide, where were you hiding?””
“Under the stairs.””
Damon's eyes widened.
There were no stairs in his current home.
But there had been stairs in Monique's old house.
He looked at Monique.
She was crying now.
Quietly.
Without wiping her face.
Damon whispered, “Why?””
Monique shook her head.
“Not here.””
Judge Harris heard her.
“Ms. Carter, what does that mean?””
Monique's attorney grabbed her arm.
But she pulled away.
“I didn't know he would forget.””
Damon stared at her.
“Forget what?””
Monique covered her mouth.
Avery looked at her mother.
“You said he would remember.””
Monique's eyes closed.
“I thought he would.””
Damon stood.
“What did you do to me?””
“Nothing.””
“Then why can't I remember that night?””
Monique looked at him for a long moment.
“Because you weren't supposed to wake up.””
Keisha gasped.
Judge Harris's expression hardened.
“Ms. Carter, explain yourself.””
Monique shook her head.
“I can't.””
“You can.””
“No.””
Avery suddenly reached into her backpack again.
“There's one more thing.””
She pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
Damon watched as she walked toward the judge.
Judge Harris unfolded it.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
“What is this?””
Avery whispered, “I found it inside Dad's coat.””
Damon's stomach dropped.
“My coat?””
Judge Harris turned the paper around.
At the bottom was a handwritten signature.
Damon recognized it instantly.
His own.
But above his signature was a sentence he had never seen before.
*I agree to keep Avery's mother safe, even if Avery has to believe I abandoned her.*
Damon stared at the page.
“I never wrote that.””
Monique began sobbing.
Judge Harris looked at her.
“Who did?””
Monique didn't answer.
The courtroom door suddenly opened again.
A man stepped inside.
Avery looked up.
Her face drained of color.
May you like
And this time, she whispered a name.
“Uncle Marcus.””
