Chapter 12 - What Caleb Saw
Caleb testified three months later.
He looked ten years older.
Mother stared at him from the defense table.
He could barely meet her eyes.
The prosecutor asked what happened after Emily demanded an ambulance.
Caleb described the tea.
The dizziness.
The struggle.
The collapse.
Then Emily waking.
“Did Emily ask for medical help?”
“Yes.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
“Did the defendant hear those requests?”
“Yes.”
Mother’s attorney objected.
Overruled.
“What did Mrs. Mercer say?”
Caleb swallowed.
“She said Emily was being dramatic.”
“And later?”
“She said we needed to wait.”
“Why?”
“She said the drug would wear off.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“What happened instead?”
Caleb started crying.
“She had trouble breathing.”
I gripped the bench.
“Did you suggest calling emergency services?”
“Yes.”
“What did the defendant say?”
Caleb looked at Mother.
“She said no.”
“Why?”
“She said if doctors examined Emily, they would discover the drug.”
The courtroom became completely silent.
“And what happened next?”
“Emily stopped responding.”
“Did the defendant attempt CPR?”
“No.”
“Did she call emergency services?”
“No.”
“What did she do?”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“She called Stephen Vale.”
That was it.
The entire case in one sentence.
When Emily needed an ambulance, Mother called the man who could hide a body.
The prosecutor approached Caleb.
“Mr. Mercer, why are you testifying?”
He looked toward me.
Then at Noah, sitting outside the courtroom with Elena.
“Because I was a coward.”
His voice shook.
“And somebody died because I was afraid to tell my mother no.”
Mother finally looked away.
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For the first time, Caleb had done what our father once hoped he would.
He had stopped following her.
