Chapter 6 - The Boy on the Screen
The courtroom was dead silent. Due to his age and trauma, the judge allowed Leo to testify via a closed-circuit video link from a private room, with Sarah sitting just off-camera holding his hand.
David sat in the front row of the gallery, his eyes fixed on the monitors. Across the room, Elena sat in a grey pantsuit. Her hair was neatly pulled back. She looked serene, almost bored.
"Leo," the prosecutor, a gentle woman named Ms. Hayes, asked softly through the microphone. "Can you tell the jury what Aunt Elena told you when you woke up in the dark room?"
On the screen, Leo looked down at his lap. He picked at a loose thread on his sweater. "She told me... she told me my mom and dad didn't want me anymore."
A collective gasp echoed through the gallery. David felt a tear hot against his cheek.
"Did she tell you why, Leo?"
"She said I was too loud. That I broke too many rules," the boy’s voice trembled. "She said she was my new mom now, and if I was perfectly quiet, I wouldn't have to go to the bad place. If I made noise, the bad men would come get me."
Ms. Hayes looked at the jury. Several members were openly weeping. "Leo, did she ever let you out?"
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"Once," Leo whispered. "When the police came to search her house. She put a needle in my arm. It made me very sleepy. When I woke up, she gave me a vanilla cupcake and said I was a good boy."
The prosecution rested. The insanity plea was crumbling. But David noticed something terrifying. Elena wasn't looking at the screen. She was looking at the back doors of the courtroom, a faint, confident smirk playing on her lips.
