What No One Else Can Hear (20 page)

“I don’t think Stevie even knows what I’m trying to ask, Mr. Liston,” the DA answered just as quietly.

“Of course he doesn’t. He’s autistic.”

“That’s not what I mean. He seems lucid enough to me. He knows what has happened in the past. He knows how Mr. McKinnon has interacted with him. I think if anything at all untoward had happened, he’d at least hesitate at the questions. Something.”

“They’ve probably coached him.” Liston kept on, keeping his voice quiet but getting angrier. “You need to get through all that and find the truth.”

What he didn’t see, or didn’t care to see, was that his emotion was causing Stevie distress.

Stevie was standing inside the witness booth and prancing from one foot to the other. He started whining and slapping at the rail in front of him.

I quickly handed Kyle Stevie’s bag of blocks, knowing I wouldn’t be allowed to go to him. Kyle gave them to Stevie, but didn’t seem to know what to say.

Stevie grabbed the bag in one hand but was still all but slapping the rail with it, bag and all. He managed to pull some blocks out of the moving bag and at first just slapped them on the rail. His whining became louder and I was afraid he was going to have another crisis.

But, just then, he looked at me. I mouthed, “Build a wall, Stevie.” When it didn’t look like he could, I mouthed, “I love you, big guy. You can do it.”

I don’t know if he really understood what I was saying, or if the act of talking about my love for him also projected it, and therefore calmed him. Whatever had happened, it worked. Stevie pulled some more blocks out of the bag and started laying them on the railing, this time trying to build a wall.

He only needed a couple of rows of real blocks to get his mental wall mostly back together. Then he glared at his father, who was still fussing at his lawyer and giving off all but visible waves of anger that I’d be surprised if everyone in the room couldn’t see. When Stevie saw Liston still hadn’t stopped, he slammed down another block. Then he climbed up onto the seat in the witness box, reached onto the judge’s desk, and grabbed the gavel. I thought he was going to bang it himself, but he handed it to the judge and said, “You can be noisy now. Make that man stop. He’s too loud!”

The judge looked puzzled. Liston wasn’t really being that loud, but the judge had been listening when we described how Stevie could “hear” emotions, and he seemed ready to believe it now. The other spectators had started talking about all that was going on, so the physical noise was increasing just enough to give the judge an excuse to use the gavel. He banged it once and then had to bang it again as Mr. Liston and the others were slow quieting.

Most of the spectators were murmuring about Stevie referring to his father—to whom he was supposed to be so close—as “that man,” but still Kyle didn’t say anything. Dottie leaned over again. “More leverage?” Kyle just nodded and grinned.

Liston, for his part, still wasn’t shutting up. He glared right at Chuck. “You said that man hurt the boy. Why isn’t the kid saying anything about it?” He turned to his lawyer. “That man must have coerced my poor baby—threatened to hurt him again if he told.”

His lawyer just sat down and said, “That boy doesn’t sound coerced. I’m not sure anyone could coerce that kid. He definitely has a mind of his own.”

The audience erupted in a fit of giggles, but when Stevie clapped his hands over his ears, they immediately silenced themselves. Stevie climbed up on the seat again, pointed to the gavel, and said to the judge, “That thing really doesn’t work very well, does it?”

It was obviously all the audience could do not to give in to another eruption of laughter. Stevie had worked his magic again. I was beginning to think it was simply impossible
not
to fall in love with him.

E
ACH
LAWYER
made closing statements and dismissed the jury to deliberate on the verdict. Drew took Stevie back to the quiet room to wait. Stevie wanted me to come too, but Mr. Liston insisted the restraining order was still in effect and I was to go nowhere near that room. Stevie seemed to be okay with me not going as long as he was right next door. I had a feeling Drew would have his hands full if he tried to get him to leave without me.

The jury was back in record time. I don’t think anyone in the room, except maybe Chuck and Mr. Liston, was surprised when the foreman announced, “Not guilty.”

The room erupted, making no effort to stifle their applause. Even the reporters were applauding. Several were eyeing Chuck and Liston suspiciously. Pictures were snapped. Tape was rolling and would no doubt be on the news as soon as the reporters left if it wasn’t being fed live.

Everyone made it a point to come by and congratulate me before leaving—even the reporters. Several of them asked for interviews, but Kyle told them they would have to wait until we moved outside the courtroom. He asked for them to please allow me to celebrate with my friends for a moment and we’d be in the hall shortly to give a statement.

As the last of the reporters and spectators left the room, Kyle plucked a large envelope from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He turned to Dottie, and said, “Time to use all that leverage,” and he approached Mr. Liston and his lawyer.

Chuck had somehow managed to slink out of the room with no one noticing.

William Liston visibly paled, the lawyer sighed as if he had expected something like this, and Kyle looked like the proverbial cat after a canary dinner. Dottie simply smirked. Sara looked as proud as could be, and I wondered—not for the first time—if her relationship with Kyle might be more than just friendship. Then the look was gone, and she was congratulating me yet again—presumably for whatever feat Kyle had just accomplished.

When he returned to the table, I asked what all that was about.

“Oh, not much, really. I just informed the ‘venerable’ Mr. Liston he was being sued for defamation of character, slander, libel, misrepresentation of facts, misuse of a position of power, perjury, endangering a minor child—though those last two are actually more legal charges than ones for a lawsuit—and anything else I could think of between now and tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., when we will meet in my office to discuss the possibility of settling out of court—and off camera.”

We all glanced over to Mr. Liston, who looked decidedly peaked. Dottie started laughing, and I attempted not to—I really did—but I couldn’t help it. After all these weeks, this mess was finally over. To have turned it around on good ole Mr. Liston was just icing on the cake.

T
HERE
WAS
still an air of celebration as the four of us exited the courtroom. Dottie said she was off to tell Drew and Stevie the good news. Kyle told me to be ready for cameras and mics, and he and Sara stood on either side of me as we stepped into a media circus.

Microphones were thrust into my face, and everyone shouted questions at me simultaneously. At least this time no one seemed to be out for blood. These were the same reporters who had seen all the evidence just presented in the courtroom, and everyone appeared to be at least somewhat convinced I was innocent. Questions were shouted about Chuck and Mr. Liston, which Kyle fielded nicely, sounding quite forthcoming while actually saying nothing at all.

They asked about my past relationship with Stevie, which I answered truthfully. Others asked me about plans for the future, which I answered in vague terms since I really didn’t have any detailed answers yet. Sara took care of the questions about the likelihood of my returning to work. She still had to clear it through the board of directors, but as far as she was concerned, I could start again tomorrow. They asked about the restraining order, and none of us had answers to that yet. Kyle equivocated expertly.

D
REW
FILLED
me in later on what had happened in the room with Stevie during the same time period. Stevie had felt a rush of emotion from the courtroom when the verdict was read, even with his walls, and asked Drew about it. Drew had to ask him what it felt like because, not being an empath, he couldn’t sense anything one way or the other. By the time he tried to give possible explanations for the feelings Stevie described, Dottie had arrived to tell them what had happened.

Stevie had asked if I could come home now, and neither were sure how to answer, except to say that, as far as they knew the restraining order was still in effect, so it would probably be a little while yet.

By that time, Stevie had heard my voice in the hallway outside, and before either Drew or Dottie could guess what he was going to do, he was out the door like a shot. The reporters swung their cameras around to film him, and many with mics left me to go to him.

I tried to call out a warning. Whether to Stevie, to Drew and Dottie, or to the reporters, I wasn’t really sure. All I could get out was “Stop!” before Stevie dropped to the ground.

With emotions running this high, the noise in Stevie’s head had to be intolerable. The reporters refused to back down, insisting on filming the entire incident, which was aired later in the day along with the footage of Stevie and me during the trial. After what seemed like an eternity, Kyle finally came with building security guards and managed to clear the reporters out of the immediate area, though they wouldn’t leave the building altogether.

Stevie was exhausted, as he usually was by the time we had his wall completely built again.

“The judge said I could have you back, right?” He sounded so confused. “That’s what the good tingles was about, right?”

“Yes and no, buddy.” I tried to explain. “The judge and the jury decided that I didn’t do anything to hurt you. There’s still an order that says I can’t be around you. Kyle is going to work on getting rid of that tomorrow. So for tonight, big guy, I still need to stay away, okay?”

“
No
. Not okay. I want you
back
.”

“I know, buddy. Maybe tomorrow. Can we meet in the forest tonight, do you think? You want to try to meet there later?”

He collapsed against me, crying. “No, Bear. It’s too hard. I want to see you for
real
.”

“Aw, buddy. One more night.”

Kyle interrupted in a quiet. “Jesse, don’t promise him that. I
think
I can get the restraining order dropped easily enough. Most likely Liston will do just about anything we ask to avoid all the bad PR we can bring to bear, but until it’s actually done, I don’t want to take a chance of making you break a promise.” He understood how important it was to be able to keep my word to Stevie.

It took almost another half hour to convince Stevie to let me go so that Drew and Sara could take him back to the center.

This close to the whole mess being over, and I still felt helpless.

I
MET
Stevie in the forest later that evening, and we spent the whole night together. Neither of us had a lot to say, but just being together was cathartic for both of us. I found out later the poor kid slept until lunchtime the next day after spending the whole night in what amounted to a trance.

I definitely got the better end of the deal in those forest meetings. I was asleep, so I felt rested the next day. Stevie had to give up his sleep for us to meet. No wonder he said it was too hard and would rather meet in person.

D
REW
HAD
spent the whole night with Stevie, even after working all day, but when he left the center, he went straight to my apartment instead of going to the spare bedroom in Dottie’s house. I was surprised to see him. I thought he would have been exhausted.

When I opened the door, he swept in, grabbed me around the waist, and gave me a sound kiss. I was dumbfounded.

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the decision yesterday at the courthouse.” He pushed me away just a little so he could see me as he spoke. “Congratulations.”

“Stress kissing is off limits but celebratory kissing is okay?” I asked, only half-kidding.

He laughed. “If you’re still interested, yes. I’d love to do a whole lot more than just kissing to celebrate.”

I didn’t quite know how to take the zero-to-sixty change in the situation, so I just stood there.

He chuckled again. “We’ll take it as slow as you need, Jess. Just kissing is fine.”

When I still didn’t say anything, he started to backpedal.

“If you still want anything at all, that is.”

I grabbed his face, pulled him to me, and gave him the biggest, wettest kiss I could manage.

He just giggled into the kiss and then held me for the longest time. If I hadn’t had to be at Kyle’s office that morning, I would have been very content to stay like that forever.

I
HAD
originally wondered if settling out of court was a good idea. I really
needed
the public rebuttal of the charges, and I was just plain angry enough that I would have loved to see Mr. Liston’s political career ruined as well as having him possibly serve jail time for the criminal charges. Kyle convinced me, though, that we might have more leverage for some of the things I wanted to happen if we went the route of an out-of-court settlement instead of bringing it all in front of a judge. Mr. Liston might be willing to do more to ensure our continued silence than any court could ever order him to do, and we could quite possibly manage it a lot sooner than waiting for another court case.

So, when the time for the morning meeting finally arrived, I was surprised at how calm I was. I knew we were in the right and had plenty of leverage to obtain a good settlement. Liston had already proven he would do anything for good publicity, but he had also proven that he wasn’t beyond twisting the truth or downright lying, so I felt a little apprehensive about giving him any say in what would be decided today. Kyle convinced me, though, that if we didn’t like what Liston was willing to agree to, we still had grounds for a very public lawsuit and even had a couple of criminal charges we could press. So even though I
should
have been somewhat nervous, I wasn’t.