Whoa, Owen thought. Impugning his honorable service to the air force will make the old man mad as hell. Sure enough, he caught a glimpse of his father’s face and saw it was red and flushed. Good thing he and Tom weren’t squaring off in a bar rather than a courtroom. Otherwise, Tom might get an actual demonstration of what Mark Lawry was capable of after that statement.

Sarah squeezed his hand, letting him know she was thinking the same thing. Her comical grimace nearly made Owen laugh out loud. He certainly hadn’t expected to laugh this morning, but he had to admit it felt pretty damned good to have most of the power for a change. He and his mother had the truth on their side, and there was comfort in that.

Over the course of the morning, Tom called Slim, David and Blaine to the witness stand to testify to Sarah’s condition the night she arrived on Gansett Island bruised and battered.

“Did Mrs. Lawry tell you how she came to be so egregiously injured?” Tom asked Blaine, who was the last to testify.

“Yes, she said her husband beat her after she served undercooked chicken for dinner.” Blaine had worn his dress uniform to testify. “From what she said, a verbal altercation escalated into a physical confrontation that left Mrs. Lawry severely injured.”

“The defense will ask how a woman so badly injured could’ve managed to travel hundreds of miles,” Tom said.

“We all wondered that, too,” Blaine replied. “Personally, I think she was fueled by fear and a desire to get to her son, where she knew she’d be safe.”

“Objection,” the defense attorney said. “Speculation.”

“Withdrawn,” the prosecutor said. “Nothing further.”

Blaine held up well under questioning from the defense attorney before he was dismissed from the witness stand. The judge then called a recess for lunch.

As he watched the proceedings all morning, Owen’s nerves had been stretched nearly to the breaking point. Laura had held his hand the whole time, her support never wavering.

“That went well,” Dan said of the morning’s testimony. “Slim, David and Blaine were very credible and held up well under cross.”

Tom agreed when he joined them. “I’m feeling good about this. With Sarah’s testimony and Owen’s, we paint a pretty good picture of what went on.”

“We still don’t have anyone outside of our family who was aware that this had been happening for years,” Owen said.

“I wish we did,” Tom said frankly. “It would definitely cement our case. But I think we’ll be okay without it.”

The words “I think” didn’t do much for Owen’s nerves.  He turned to leave the courtroom and thought he was seeing things when his grandparents appeared in the doorway. “Mom. Look.” He directed Sarah’s attention to the older couple waiting for them.