AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But we’ve heard from your psychologist and your social worker, both of whom stated, under oath, that you have developed close relationships with them. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“But it wasn’t the professionals you had difficulty with while inside Alleghany, was it?”
“No.”
“Who did you have trouble with?”
“The other kids.”
“Can you tell us about those troubles?”
“Inside Alleghany, you need to make friends to survive. Everyone is in these sort of cliques, like these groups, and you have to get in one for protection.”
“Did you make friends?”
“Yes.”
“And did those friends protect you?”
“When they could.”
“But there were times they could not, am I right?”
“Yes.”
“What were some of the things you were forced to deal with inside Alleghany?”
“Some of the other kids found leaked photos of the crime scene and taped them to the door of my room.”
“Photos of your family from the night they were killed?”
“Yes.”
“They hung those pictures on your door to torment you?”
“I guess I’m not sure why they did it, they just did it.”
“Was the person who leaked the photos identified?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
“Detective Alvarez. That’s what I was told.”
“The detective who illegally interrogated you the night your family was killed?”
“Yes.”
“I would have loved to call Detective Alvarez to the stand to question him about this but that became impossible after the detective took his own life just prior to the start of this trial. It appeared Detective Alvarez knew how badly he had mishandled your case, even if his superiors failed to admit it.”
“Objection.”
“Sustained. Move on, Mr. Lancaster.”
“Alexandra, it doesn’t matter how well the state of Virginia or the McIntosh Police Department did in the days and weeks after they traipsed you out of your house in handcuffs while news cameras recorded every detail. It doesn’t matter how well they did after they publicly accused you of killing your family. It doesn’t matter how well they did after weeks of headlines labeled you as the empty-eyed girl who slaughtered her family. It doesn’t matter how well they did after forensic evidence proved that you were not the one who pulled the trigger that night. None of what they did after all that matters because the damage had already been done, hadn’t it?”
