Chapter 17 - ALEX TAKES THE STAND
The prosecution originally planned not to call Alex.
His recorded psychological interview was already admitted.
But the defense repeatedly suggested adults had taught him what to say.
Alex heard about it from another child at school.
That evening, he approached Andrew.
“I want to tell them myself.”
Andrew immediately said no.
Alex did not argue.
He simply asked, “Do you think I can?”
Andrew looked at him.
That question changed everything.
The next day, the prosecutor met with Alex’s psychologist.
They agreed that testifying could be done safely under special conditions.
Alex would sit in a smaller room.
The judge and attorneys would appear by video.
Andrew would remain nearby but outside Alex’s view.
When the day arrived, Andrew felt more frightened than he had at any other point in the trial.
Alex wore a navy sweater.
His stuffed rabbit waited on a chair beside the camera.
The prosecutor began gently.
“Alex, do you know why we’re talking today?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my mommy died.”
“Do you remember that night?”
“Yes.”
Alex’s hands tightened.
“Tell us what you remember.”
He did.
He described waking up.
He described voices.
He described Lucinda holding scissors.
He described Caroline running toward the balcony.
He described the green necklace.
Then the prosecutor asked, “What happened next?”
Alex swallowed.
“Aunt Lucinda pushed Mommy.”
Andrew lowered his head.
The defense attorney began cross-examination.
“Alex, Elizabeth talks to you about your mother, doesn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“She told you Lucinda was dangerous?”
“After.”
“After what?”
“After I talked.”
The attorney paused.
“Did Elizabeth ever tell you to say Lucinda hurt your mother?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“No.”
The defense attorney leaned closer to his camera.
“Sometimes dreams can feel real.”
Alex stared at him.
“It wasn’t a dream.”
“How do you know?”
Alex looked toward the rabbit beside him.
“Because Aunt Lucinda cut Bunny’s ribbon.”
The attorney frowned.
“What does that have to do with your mother?”
Alex answered slowly.
“Mommy grabbed the same sewing basket.”
The prosecutor looked up.
Andrew froze.
This detail had never appeared in Alex’s earlier interviews.
The judge allowed follow-up questioning.
“What did your mother do with the sewing basket?”
“She threw it.”
“At whom?”
“At Aunt Lucinda.”
“Why?”
“Because Aunt Lucinda had the scissors.”
Andrew suddenly remembered the crime-scene photograph.
A sewing basket had been found overturned near the balcony door.
Police assumed it was unrelated household clutter.
The prosecution reopened forensic examination of the basket.
One pair of large sewing scissors was missing.
The same style Lucinda had used months later to cut Alex’s ribbon.
Investigators searched Lucinda’s belongings seized from the lodge.
At the bottom of a locked tool chest, they found an old pair of sewing scissors.
The blades had been aggressively cleaned.
But microscopic testing detected material in the hinge.
Green synthetic fiber.
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And traces of Caroline’s blood.
Lucinda’s defense had run out of explanations.
