Exit Strategy (29 page)

Tristan rolls his eyes heavenward, but then Keisha giggles, and suddenly all is right with the world again. He puts his arm around her and they all wait together companionably for the trial proceedings to begin.

Princess Danai, or Darnelle Anderson’s time on the stand is very brief. Todd has her recite the events as she remembers them from that night and is done. She has no such luck with Ms. Wise. Tristan doesn’t worry about her, though. Princess Danai goes toe-to-toe with Wise, when she gets her bearings.

“Is it true that Keisha Beale flirted with you that night, Ms. Anderson?”

“No. It’s like I told Prosecutor Todd. I invited her to my set, so if anything, I flirted with her.”

“Yet you said she asked if you two could just be friends, so you could front her business. Wasn’t she being friendly with you?”

“I guess so.”

“Yes or no, Ms. Anderson?”

“Yes, she was being friendly with me, but not like a chick who wanted to get with me. You know what I’m saying?”

Tristan finds it exceedingly comical that Wise is trying to paint Keisha as some bisexual flirt. If anyone knows Ms. Beale and her proclivities, he does. She has no desire to even do a ménage.

“So, you’ve been with so many ‘chicks’ you know the difference between a ‘chick’ who wants to get with you and one who doesn’t. Is that what I’m hearing?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you come to know these things. It’s common knowledge the only difference between a straight woman and bisexual woman is four drinks.” The gallery laughs at Princess Danai’s recital of that common joke.

Judge Summers raps his gavel. “Order. Ms. Anderson, this is not Saturday Night Live.”

Ms. Wise continues her cross-examination. “Can you say you would get the same context clues from a heterosexual woman that you would get from a gay woman?”

“A woman is a woman. I know what a flirting woman looks like, no matter what her orientation. Keisha Beale wasn’t doing that. She wanted to do business with me. She didn’t want to mix business with pleasure. So, I took no for an answer. Apparently Byron didn’t.”

“Move to strike!” Juanita barks.

“I’ll have the court reporter remove Ms. Anderson’s last two sentences. This is my only warning to you, Ms. Anderson. You will answer counsel’s questions without any extraneous commentary, or I’ll be forced to hold you in contempt. Please continue, Ms. Wise.”

“Did Ms. Beale kiss you that night, Ms. Danai.”

“She kissed me on the—”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes! A’right. She kissed me! But good. On my goddamned cheek and I came in my pants. Is that what you want to hear?”

Tristan isn’t even fazed, when a collective gasp rings throughout the courtroom, followed by murmurings from the gallery. You would think some of the people in the courtroom had never had sex, based on their reaction. Judge Summers strikes his gavel until there is complete silence.

“Order! Bailiff, please remove Ms. Anderson from my courtroom and put her in a holding cell. You’ll get a call to have your people come and bail you out at the end of the day.”

The brawny bailiff releases the handcuffs from his service belt, takes Princess Danai by the arm, and clasps one wrist first, then whirls her around to clasp the other. When the bailiff turns Danai to face the court again, she’s  laughing maniacally. Tristan shakes his head then glances at Keisha, whose lips twitch, and she struggles hard not to laugh.

“Knowing Princess Danai, she probably considers this as an opportunity to get street cred,” Keisha whispers to him.

“Whatever that is,” Tristan whispers back.

Judge Summers hits the gavel on the bench one final time. “You may proceed, Mr. Todd.”

Prosecutor Todd stands and announces. “The prosecution calls Mr. Tristan Xavier White to the stand.”

Keisha squeezes his hand before he rises. As Tristan makes his way to the witness stand, all he can think of is the fact that the prosecutor has just shared his middle name with the goddamned world.

~*~

Juanita Wise begins cordially enough. “Mr. White, it’s safe to say the whole of Chicago, and maybe the world knows Ms. Beale is your girlfriend. Would that be an accurate characterization of your relationship?”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate that my social stature and Ms. Beale’s success at KSR has made quite a few people interested in the fact that we’re... dating.”

“How long have you been dating?”

“We actually began the very next day after the incident occurred with Mr. McCaskill. I suppose I should thank him for getting us together.”

“That won’t be necessary, nor is it appropriate, Mr. White.”

“Do you have a sense of humor, Ms. Wise?”

“Strike one, Mr. White,” Judge Summers deadpans.

“My apologies, Your Honor,” Tristan says. “I just thought Ms. Wise needed a little loosening up.”

“If there’s any loosening up to be done, I’ll do the honors,” Summers says, then looks to an angry defense counsel who stands with arms folded, tapping her foot. “Proceed, Ms. Wise.”

Juanita Wise paces in front of the Jury box again.

“You testified earlier that you’d met Ms. Beale the previous week regarding a possible investment in her fledgling business. Why didn’t you strike a deal with her that day?”

“Because I wanted to exert more control than she was willing to accept, and she told me in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want a business partner, just my business capital.”

“Is this your normal protocol when doing business with prospective investees of every gender?”

“Ms. Beale asked me that same question. Hers just happened to be a little less politically correct. The answer is the same; my decision making doesn’t change based on gender, Ms. Wise. Had Ms. Beale been fat, hairy, bald, and male, I would’ve told her the same thing.”

“You’ve got jokes like Ms. Anderson had, don’t you?”

“You’re treading the same thin line, Ms. Wise. If Mr. White has to play nice, so do you.”

“I apologize, Your Yonor,” she says, looking distinctly more unapologetic than any person Tristan has seen in quite some time.

“Mr. White, you also testified earlier that you went to Wicked because you knew Ms. Beale would be there, isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Is it just me, or does that strike you as odd?

“No, not in the least. Ms. Beale is attractive in the extreme, and I’m a red-blooded male.”

“Were you stalking her?”

“No. Boy met girl. Boy pursued girl. In my world, they call that twenty-first century courtship.”

“Was Ms. Beale not surprised at your appearance at Wicked that night?”

“Yes, in fact she was.”

“Why is that, Mr. White?”

“Ms. Beale was loath to consort with me due to our business dealings, but we quickly came to an alternate agreement.”

“What did this alternate agreement entail?”

“In the beginning there were no strings. Our options would remain open until our relationship came to a mutual conclusion.”

“And you convinced Ms. Beale to agree to this the day after she was allegedly drugged by my client, her ex-lover?”

“Yes.”

“Enlighten the court how you did that, Mr. White.”

“Objection! Your Honor, either Ms. Wise has some personal curiosity about Mr. White, or she’s delving too deeply into the details of his love life for the purposes of this trial.” Tristan is relieved when Prosecutor Todd finally decides to try to put an end to the Defense Attorney’s farcical line of questioning. He’s skirting close enough to perjury as it is without revealing his lifestyle.

“Ms. Wise, I agree with the prosecutor. Unless you have a point to make quickly, I’d advise you to abandon this line of questioning,” Judge Summers says.

“Of course, Your honor,” Ms. Wise acquiesces. “Mr. White, why did you personally request a copy of the security footage at Wicked? Why not let the Security team at the club go directly to the police with that evidence?”

“As part owner of that establishment the management keeps me apprised of issues that arise. In the case of the night in question, I had personally rescued a young woman who was in distress. Naturally I wanted to know what might have caused her distress.”

“That seems very convenient.”

“Objection! Leading the witness. That is a statement, not a question.”

“Ms. Wise,” Judge Summers admonishes her like a disobedient child. “I know you know better.”

“Let me rephrase that. Did you have reason to believe Ms. Beale was drugged before you stopped my client from carrying her out of the club?

“No.”

“Ms. Beale and Mr. McCaskill had history, yet you, almost a virtual stranger, took it upon yourself to carry her to your home and get her medical attention. I’m just trying to understand your thought process and why you stopped my client from taking his former girlfriend to her mother’s home?”

“I don’t know about Mr. McCaskill, but my father raised me to be a gentleman, and when a woman says no, you shouldn’t force her to do something she has no wish to do. Your client was carrying her out of the club, and she was clearly asking him not to.”

“Might that have been the drugs talking?”

“As I am not a medical professional, I wouldn’t know.”

“I am still not buying why you felt the need to intervene, unless you were the one who actually drugged Ms. Beale’s drink.”

“Objection! Your Honor is she going to just hurl accusations, or do a true examination of this witness?” Prosecutor Todd is exasperated.

As is Judge Summers. “Sustained. You know what to do, Ms. Wise.”

“Were you the one who drugged Ms. Beale’s drink, Mr. White?”

“No, I was not. The security cameras show clearly who drugged Ms. Beale.”

“I’d beg to differ that the grainy security video showed anything clearly. Are you not the one who ended up taking her home? Who’s to say this wasn’t part of your plan. You convinced her from your presentation of the video that my client drugged her drink, then proceeded to have your wicked way with her.”

“Do I strike you as a man who has to drug a woman to sleep with him, Ms. Wise?”

“I don’t know. Are you the type of man who would drug a woman to sleep with him, Mr. White?”

“The news media keeps a fairly accurate account of my dating record. If their reports are to be believed, you’ll find I’ve not had cause to drug any women for sex. Ever.”

“Did you drug Ms. Beale and frame my client for it?”

“Objection! Asked and answered.”

“Overruled.”

“No, I did not.”

“You may not drug women, Mr. White, but you do almost kill them sometimes, don’t you?

“Objection! Counsel is badgering the witness.” Prosecutor Todd trumpets.

Tristan wants to say, “You’re the only woman I’ve had a strong desire to dispose of in such a fashion,” but he doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to support Keisha during her testimony.

Judge Summers comes to the rescue. “You were warned, and I don’t repeat myself. You’re done with this witness, Ms. Wise.”

“But, Your Honor—.”

“Don’t ‘but Your Honor’ me.” Judge Summers points a stubby finger at Prosecutor Todd. “Is there a redirect?”

“No, Your Honor.”

Juanita Wise glowers at Tristan and then stalks off to her seat.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Keisha

Just before lunch, Prosecutor Lance Todd handles me on the witness stand with the kid gloves of a consummate gentleman. He guides me through the events of that night and allows me to tell the story exactly as it occurred.