Page 52 of Ashes of Us
“Whether or not they fought often shows the state of their marriage and how much trouble it was in,” Mathers responded quickly.
“I'll allow it.” Perella overruled David's objection with a wave of his hand. “Answer the question, Mrs. Preston.”
“Define often? We were together seven years and married for five, of course, we fought.” Danica held out her hands helplessly; she honestly didn't know how to answer his question. “I would nag him about keeping the house tidy and the fact that he often spent his entire check before his next payday and would have to ask me to cover his part of the bills. He disliked that I'm a work-a-holic who struggles to relax and that I refused to quit and find a job in another hotel. But they weren't serious fights, they were...” She trailed off as she tried to find the word to describe their disagreements accurately. “Little... spats.” She ran her hand over her head, smoothing her hair down before rubbing the back of her neck. “We would step back before things escalated and come together when we were calm to find a compromise or solution that worked for us.”
Mathers frowned, his shoulders slumping as Danica described the way they handled their fights. “No further questions.” His voice was dejected, and he turned to sit back down. Perella turned to David and asked if he had anything he wanted clarified. David said no, and Perella thanked her for hertestimony and told her she could go back to her seat. When she sat back down, David smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder.
“You did great.” He praised her quietly as Perella called Dr. Lin back to the stand and gave her a rundown on what she was allowed to speak about now that they had the context for why Danica and Jasper were fighting.
“Mr. Mathers, you may ask your questions but remember to keep them limited to what happened following their fight on the night in question.” Perella sat back and waited as Mathers checked his notes, then stood up and approached the witness stand.
“Dr. Lin, did you and Jasper Preston discuss the fight in question and what happened after he left his house that night?”
Danica noticed the doctor looked very uncomfortable and felt her heart sink as the woman nodded briefly. “Yes, we did.”
“And did Jasper's retelling of the event match Mrs. Preston's?” He pressed when she didn't elaborate. Danica had a feeling Dr. Lin was going to be a difficult witness for Mathers. She seemed determined to protect Jasper's confidentiality, which Danica was grateful for. She wouldn't let Mathers try to sneak around the Judge's rules.
“Yes, it matched almost perfectly.”
“Almost perfectly?” Mathers folded his arms and raised his eyebrow. “Care to expand on that?”
“I meant I heard the story from Jasper's perspective, so it wasn't exactly the same as Mrs. Preston's, but the major points all matched. He found out about the inheritance and when he heard the amount, he accused her of cheating, she tried to walk away, he grabbed her, she slapped him and then left the garage. He couldn't believe what happened and froze for a while, then left. He was planning to go to his parents' house but changedhis mind on the way and went to his cousin's place instead.” Danica could hear very faint irritation in the doctor's voice as she elaborated on what she meant and glanced worriedly at the Judge, wondering if he was going to say something about her hostility, but he either didn't notice or didn't care and was watching carefully.
“So, he admitted he thought she was cheating based on the amount?” Mathers seemed to realize she wasn't going to give him much more without very specific questions and decided to move on.
“From what Jasper described, it seemed Danica's relationship with the Wests was under almost constant scrutiny from a few family members, and most of his issues with their closeness stemmed from the things they were saying, even if he always defended her when they would say things. When he heard the amount, everything those family members kept saying to him came back, and he accused her of having an affair in a fit of insecurity.” Dr. Lin didn't name the family members, but Danica had a feeling she knew who it was, and the way the doctor's eyes rested briefly on Amy confirmed it. Of course, Amy, Geri and Frannie were behind the remarks. She sighed and shook her head in disappointment, wondering what Amy's endgame was. She was always so open and welcoming to Danica's face, and hearing she was secretly undermining her and Jasper's marriage and relationship was like a kick to the stomach.
Chapter Forty-One: Cracks
Mathers didn't continue the line of questioning, and Danica knew it was because it would make Amy look bad if she was revealed as the one making comments about Danica's relationship with Alexander, which she thought was a stupid decision, because David would absolutely ask. Instead, he turned his attention to what happened at Jimmy's apartment. “Did you and Jasper talk about what happened at his cousin's apartment?”
To Danica's surprise, Dr. Lin shook her head. “Not in detail. He told me he went there because he felt Jimmy wouldn't be as biased as his parents.” She glanced at Danica almost apologetically as she spoke. “He knew he messed up badly and he wanted to figure out how to fix it, not hear how he should leave her and take half her inheritance to get back at her for having an affair.”
Mathers shifted, and Danica could see how uncomfortable he was with the direction of Dr. Lin's testimony. She glanced over at Amy, curious about her response to what Dr. Lin was saying and wasn't surprised to see she was sitting with her arms folded over her chest, no sign of remorse in her facial expression or body language. “So, he didn't mention anythingabout Ms. Gamache and Miss Sheridan joining him and his cousin that night?”
“It was discussed, but I saw no reason to dive too deeply into it. Jasper was very dismissive about them being there and was more annoyed by Jimmy putting his... desires over Jasper's comfort than anything.” Danica knew Dr. Lin was trying to be as tactful as possible because that was not how Jasper would have described Jimmy's actions. She was pretty sure the conversation went more like:”I can't believe Jimmy left me alone with that psycho so he could get his dick wet!”
“He didn't say what he did with Ms. Gamache when he was left alone with her?” There was a slightly desperate edge to the lawyer's voice now, and Danica had a feeling he felt like his case was crumbling and there was nothing he could do to hold it up.
“He said he finished playing his video game and decided to go to sleep so she would stop trying to talk to him.” Dr. Lin's lips twitched slightly as she spoke, but other than that, she managed to maintain her professional demeanour. “He woke up with her all but naked on top of him a few hours later, threw her off him and left the apartment. He drove around for an hour or so and then decided to go home to try to convince his wife to forgive him.”
“I bet he's wishing he could have her testimony stricken from the record right about now,” David murmured to Danica as he wrote something on his notepad. Danica had to agree, Mathers looked absolutely dismayed that Dr. Lin hadn't been able to confirm Jasper had cheated. His shoulders slumped, and he returned to his seat, shaking his head.
“No further questions.”
When Judge Perella told David she was his witness, he stood up and approached the bench with a friendly smile. “I only have a few questions for clarification purposes, and you'll be free to go.” He assured her. “First, you stated that some of Jasper's family members were suspicious of my client's relationship with her employer and used to tell him about it?”
“That's correct.” Dr. Lin nodded, looking more relaxed with David's friendly, personable approach.
“Did he ever tell you who?”
“Objection!” Mathers stood up quickly. “Does not pertain to the night in question.”
“I think it does, considering Dr. Lin referred to it as the reason why Mr. Preston accused my client of having an affair, which is why all of this started in the first place.” David responded mildly as Danica glanced at Amy, wanting to see her reaction to indirectly being accused of causing the sequence of events that led to her son's death, but she kept staring straight ahead and didn't have a reaction. She heard the judge sigh and looked back to see him pinching the bridge of his nose, before taking off his glasses and rubbing his face.
“I'll allow it.” He said after a moment of deliberation. “It may not have happened during the fight, but it does pertain to why the argument happened in the first place.” He turned to Dr. Lin and gave her a small smile. “However, I'm leaving it up to your discretion if you feel the answer is relevant to the night in question, and you can decline to answer if it doesn't.”
“It was his mother and two of his aunts.” Dr. Lin answered immediately, confirming Danica's suspicions. “And it's why Jasper went to his cousin's place instead of his parents' house that night.”
