Chapter 12 - When The Stars Fall From Your Sky

 

 

 

As fast as Beth stood up she sat back down, with her hand over her mouth.  "What the hell is he doing here?"   she mumbles to Jon.  Jon can see that she's white as a sheet and that she's starting to shake.  He puts his arm around her, while watching Dalton walk in.

 

He asks Peter,  "Did you know about this?"

 

Peter shook his head no and stood up, "You're honor, I wasn't informed of this witness.  I haven't had time to prepare a line of questioning.  Quite honestly, I have no idea how he ties into the patients possible release."

 

Melissa's attorney stand and responds to Peter's objection, "I will state my case and all of that will come out.  And to be fair, we had no idea that Miss Adams would be available for questioning."

 

"Your honor, this man brutally attacked Beth and has been in prison in California.  There can't be any way that these two are tied together that wouldn't be criminal.  Both a psychopaths and anything he could potentially say would be biased and quite possible all lies."

 

Dalton stops, standing next to the attorney, and looks over to Jon and Beth.  Beth's face is buried in her hands, she's leaning in on Jon.  His arms are around her holding her tight.  Dalton makes eye contact with Jon and says, "Hi Jon.  Hi Beth."  The sound of his voice makes Beth feel sick to her stomach.  She keeps her face buried in Jon.  Jon gives Dalton the stink eye and looks away.  He wasn't going to engage him, he had nothing to say to the man.

 

Melissa's attorney replies to Peter's objection, "He can testify to the relationship that Jon and Melissa had.  He can testify to the fact that Jon and Melissa were more than friends and he can testify to the fact that after McKenna was born, Miss Adams went directly back to work, worked so much that the newborn baby was left in the care of Melissa and Jon for several hours a day.  They played house while Beth was away."

 

Jon, unable to stay quiet, "How can he testify to something that isn't true, and how can he testify to anything if he was in prison on the other side of the country?" 

 

Beth can't deal with it anymore, she gets up and leaves the room, looking at no one.  Jon stood to go after her, first he tells Peter, "Do what you have to do, but don't let her out.  Call me when this is over."  and he exits the makeshift court room. 

 

He finds Beth outside on the hospital steps, crying uncontrollably.  He sits next to her, paying no attention to the paparazzi that were snapping their pictures as they sat there.  "Hey.  Let's get out of here."

 

"No."

 

"Babe, we don't need to stay here.  We can leave.  Peter is calling me when it's over, let's go."

 

She shakes her head no, takes a deep breath and tries to clam down.  She needs to calm down.  "What the hell is going on?  Why does it feel like I can never catch my breath?  Why can't people just leave me the hell alone."  She's getting angry.  She gets to her feet and says over Jon, "What did I ever do to anyone to deserve all of this bullshit?  What makes you so fucking special that people kill to be with you?"  She can't take it, she can't believe that she is in a situation where she is fighting to keep a crazy person in jail and the big witness for the crazy lady is the man that brutalized her? 

 

She stops herself and thinks for a second, she stops and regroups her thoughts and tells herself that if she was going to keep Jon, his family and herself safe - she couldn't do it outside.  She leaves Jon sitting on the stairs and goes back into the hearing.

 

Taking a seat next to Peter, she reaches over for his notepad and takes his pen.  Dalton has been sworn in and has just given his full name.  Beth looks at him, giving him a blank stare and starts to write on Peter's notepad.  Melissa's attorney starts questioning Dalton when everyone hears the door open.  All look back and see that it's Jon.  The questioning keeps going. 

 

"Mr. Patterson, how do you know Melissa?" her attorney asks, making it all part of the record. 

 

"We met a few years ago at a fundraiser I had.  I hired her to photograph the event."  he flatly states.

 

"How did you meet Miss Adams?"

 

"Her firm was employed by myself to take care of some employee investments, when she worked at Deloitte."

 

"When did you relationship become romantic?" the attorney asks, Beth looks up to see this answer. 

 

Dalton smiles, looking at Beth, "Almost immediately."

 

Beth scribbles on the notepad we were never intimate and slides it to Peter.  Peter gives her a nod, affirming that he seen what she wrote.

 

"How long were you and Miss Adams involved, romantically?"

 

"About a year."

 

"Who did you meet first?  The patient or Miss Adams?" Beth can see what he's trying to do, she can see that he's going to try to make her look bad. 

 

"I've known Melissa longer."

 

"You were friends?"

 

"Yes."

 

The attorney stops and looks at Jon while asking his next question, "Were you ever intimate with Melissa?"

 

"Yes."

 

"What about Miss Adams?  Were the two of you ever intimate?"

 

"All the time."  Dalton watches Beth tense up and write another note to Peter.  Jon could see that she was tense, he reaches up and puts his hand on her back.  She looks at Jon and shakes her head no.  Jon has to believe that she has never been intimate with Dalton, they never had consensual sex.  Never.  Jon winks at her, he knows the truth about Beth, but they all are shocked that Dalton and Melissa have been together.

 

The attorney continues with a line of question that tries to make Beth look like she had no idea what was going on with her life.  The attorney is able to lay out reasonable doubt as to the openness and honesty between Jon and Beth.  He made it easy for the judge to get to it was possible that Jon and Melissa were in a relationship. 

 

The timeline was laid out, Beth and Jon were dumbfounded at how it all came together.  They see the plan that Dalton and Melissa put into motion years ago and worked it all out to the letter.  The last question that the attorney asks Dalton is, "Do you think Melissa is ready to be released and put back into society?

 

"I do.  She's paid for her crime, she's done her time."

 

Dalton looked to Peter, it's now Peter's turn to talk.  Peter stood up, played with his tie and started, "Dalton, when were you released from prison?'

 

"A week ago."

 

"What were you in prison for, for the record?"

 

"I was convicted of rape, although I was innocent." he feels a little pressure now, knowing that the tables were quickly going to be turned.  "I didn't rape her."

 

"Are you referring to Miss Adams, you didn't rape Miss Adams.?"

 

"That's right.  She wanted me."  he shoots her a look that makes her sick.  She's looking at him wondering how she could, again, be such a bad judge of character. 

 

"Is that why you beat the hell out of her?  Because she wanted you?" Peter starts to pace, "Never mind, don't answer that.  Mr. Patterson, how long were you in prison?'

 

"For a few years."

 

"For rape, right?"

 

"Yes!!!"

 

"And Melissa has only been incarcerated for just a short while, do you think that that is enough time for the crime of murder?  For murdering a baby."  Peter stops the pacing and looks at Melissa.  As he said those words and made it a rational thought, she didn't like what she heard.  She hasn't looked at it like that. 

 

"I don't know." Dalton barks, feeling a little heat.  "I know her well enough to know that in her mind she had no choice."

 

"No choice but to murder a poor defenseless baby, leaving her mother and father devastated."

 

"In her mind."

 

"Mr. Patterson, please explain your relationship with Melissa and how the two of you set out to destroy Beth Adams.  What was your motive?"

 

"I met Beth years ago when she was engaged to Brian.  I was new to the area and I ran into her in a park one day where she was jogging.  She ignored me and my advances, which drove me to want her more.  I would see her day after day and she would continually run by me as if I were invisible.  Until one day, she walked by me."

 

"And then what?"  Peter is wanting a long drawn out story, he wants him to cut to the chase and make his point. 

 

Dalton, taking  his eyes off of Beth for a second, looks at Peter, "One day she walked passed me and we started to talk."  Jon looks at Beth, Beth looks at Jon.  She has no idea what he's talking about until he says, "She loved my dog, I think she stopped because of my dog."

 

"Mr. Patterson, please tell us what prompted you to conspire with Melissa to destroy Beth's life.  What did she do to you to where the two of you think that she deserved the heartache and terror that you two are responsible for." 

 

"It's pretty simple, this woman, Miss Beth Adams, walks around treating everyone like she is better than them.  It took me a long time to break her down, but when I did, she was almost putty in my hands.  If you use the word money around her, that gets her attention."

 

"What do you mean by that?" Peter wants further explanation.

 

Dalton puts a leg up on his knee cap, adjusting him self in his seat.  He takes a sip of water and goes on with, "She wanted nothing to do with me when I was just a jogger in the park.  But as she got to know me, and knew that I had money - she took notice."

 

"Meaning that she wanted you for your money?"

 

Beth is getting to the point where she really has heard enough.  She is floored by the words coming out of his mouth.  She really had no idea who he was, he was even more of a monster to her now.

 

"No, she didn't want me for my money.  She wanted me so she could play with my money."

 

"You mean invest your money, do her job?"

 

"I guess."

 

"So you hated her because she wanted you as a client?"

 

"She wanted my money.  It had nothing to do with me." Dalton is getting irritated by the grade school questions that Peter is asking him.  Jon and Beth are watching it all unfold, having no clue what would come out of his mouth next. 

 

"And that's why you dated for a year?  So she could just invest your money."

 

"You don't get it.  This women walks around acting like she's better than everyone else.  Yes, she's smart and gorgeous, but she walks around on her high horse.  When she cheated on me with that asshole" pointing to Jon, "I knew I needed to get even."

 

Peter stops and looks at Dalton, "You needed to get even with her because she made you millions or because she cheated on you with Mr. Bongiovi?"

 

"Both."

 

"And you incorporated the help of a photographer you had met years earlier?"