Page 103 of The Proving Ground
“Yes, they did. They told me they had accessed Aaron’s laptop and that there were conversations with the AI thing that indicated it encouraged him to hurt Becca.”
Once again there was an objection from the defense, and once again it was overruled.
“Brenda, why did you file this lawsuit against Tidalwaiv?” I asked, my final question.
“Because I believe they are responsible for turning Aaron Colton into a killer,” Brenda said. “I believe Tidalwaiv is therefore responsible for my daughter’s death.”
I nodded as I drew a line through the question on my pad.
“No further questions, Your Honor,” I said.
I expected the Masons to hold their fire and not conduct a cross-examination of the grieving mother, but Mitchell Mason immediately went to the lectern as I stepped away.
“Just a few questions, Your Honor,” he said. “Mrs. Randolph, I am very sorry for your loss. Can you tell the court, did your daughter tell you that Aaron Colton had been suspended from school while she was in a relationship with him?”
Brenda threw a quick glance at me before answering.
“Yes, she told me,” she replied.
“Did she tell you why he had been suspended?” Mason asked.
“She said that there had been an argument when Aaron got accused of cheating and he shoved the teacher in front of the whole class.”
“Were you concerned for your daughter’s safety when you heard about this violent outburst?”
I could have objected to Mason’s description of the incident, but it wouldn’t have mattered. The jury had already heard it.
“No,” Brenda said. “Because I didn’t think it had anything to do with Rebecca or their relationship.”
“So you did not tell her to break up with him after he assaulted a teacher?”
“No, I did not.”
“Do you regret that now?”
“I regret everything, Mr. Mason. But if you are asking if I think things might have been different if my daughter had broken up with Aaron back then, my answer is I’ll never know. I mean, how could I? It was before he had Wren telling him what to do, so maybe—”
“Thank you, Mrs. Randolph, you answered the question. Let me now ask you this: When the detectives talked to you about the focus of their investigation, did they tell you that they were also looking at the possibility that Aaron had acted in a fit of jealousy over your daughter having a new boyfriend?”
“No. She didn’t have a new boyfriend.”
“Was she not dating a fellow student named Sam Bradley?”
“She had gone to a football game with him. That didn’t make him a boyfriend.”
“Is it possible that you didn’t know about your daughter’s new boyfriend?”
Now I objected.
“Your Honor, the witness has already stated that this other boy was not considered a boyfriend at the time counsel is asking about,” I said. “Then counsel turns around and immediately calls him a boyfriend.”
“Sustained,” Ruhlin said. “Mr. Mason, rephrase your question.”
Instead, Mason asked the judge for permission to show Brenda a photograph of property the coroner’s office had removed from her daughter’s body. Over my objection, permission was granted. Mason handed me a copy before delivering another copy to the clerk and a third to Brenda. It was a photo of a beaded bracelet. Three of the beads spelled outS-A-Mand were followed by a bead with a heart on it.
“Mrs. Randolph, were you aware that your daughter was wearing that bracelet at the time of her death?” Mason asked.
“She had a lot of bracelets like this,” Brenda responded. “They were friendship bracelets that fans of Taylor Swift exchanged all the time.”
