Chapter 7 - Depositions and Fractures
The criminal wheels turned with devastating efficiency.
With Carla held without bail in the county detention center, the district attorney upgraded her charges to Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Child, Child Abuse Resulting in Great Bodily Harm, and Destruction of Evidence. Together, the charges carried a mandatory minimum sentence of twelve years in state prison.
Within forty-eight hours of the courtroom hearing, the story broke across local news outlets.
*“Prominent Local Family Embroiled in Barbecue Child Abuse Scandal: Video Reveals Gruesome Attack on 9-Year-Old.”*
The local news broadcast the censored version of Chloe Evans’ video on the six o'clock news. The public backlash was immediate, vicious, and total.
Evelyn’s Facebook page, which had previously been filled with supportive comments from her social circle, was overrun by thousands of furious messages from people across the country. Her country club membership was quietly revoked by the board of directors. Richard was asked to take an indefinite leave of absence from his executive advisory board, and two major commercial clients pulled their contracts from his firm within a week.
Three weeks later, Marcus Vance summoned me to his downtown office for the civil depositions.
We had filed a multi-million-dollar civil tort lawsuit against Carla for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and against Richard and Evelyn for premises liability, negligence, and malicious prosecution.
"They're going to try to settle, Naomi," Marcus told me as we sat in the conference room. "Their personal umbrella insurance policy has a two-million-dollar cap. But I don't want just the insurance payout. I want them under oath. I want their admissions locked down so they can never attempt to appeal the protective order."
At 10:00 AM, Evelyn Hayes walked into the conference room.
She was unrecognizable. The flawless blowout, the designer linen outfits, the haughty country-club posture—all of it had crumbled. Her hair was pulled back into a messy, graying bun. She wore no makeup, revealing deep, dark hollows beneath her eyes. Her shoulders were stooped, and she refused to look in my direction.
Richard was not with her. Marcus had insisted on deposing them separately.
Arthur Pendelton was gone, having officially recused himself to face state bar disciplinary hearings. Sitting beside Evelyn was a young, exhausted-looking public defender who had been assigned to Carla’s criminal case and was sitting in on the civil deposition as a courtesy observer.
The court reporter administered the oath.
Marcus leaned forward, resting his forearms on the glass conference table. "State your name for the record."
"Evelyn Hayes," she muttered.
"Mrs. Hayes, on July 14, at approximately 4:15 PM, where were you when your daughter Carla struck Lily Mercer with a three-foot steel spit?"
Evelyn’s hands trembled against the tabletop. "I was... I was near the patio doors."
"Did you see Carla swing the spit?"
"I... I saw a commotion."
"That wasn't my question, Mrs. Hayes," Marcus said, his voice flat and unforgiving. "Did you see Carla swing the spit?"
Evelyn swallowed hard. She glanced at her lawyer, who simply shook his head, offering no objection.
"Yes," Evelyn whispered.
"Did you see the spit make contact with Lily’s leg?"
"Yes."
"Did you hear the bone break?"
A single tear rolled down Evelyn’s sunken cheek. "Yes."
"And yet," Marcus continued, pulling out a laminated copy of Evelyn’s Facebook post, "at 7:12 AM the following morning, you published a post to over two thousand people claiming that Lily tripped over a garden hose, and that Naomi was suffering from mental illness and parental alienation. Why did you write that?"
Evelyn didn't answer. She stared down at her lap, her lip quivering.
"Answer the question, Mrs. Hayes," Marcus pressed. "Did you write that post to deliberately destroy your daughter Naomi’s reputation in the community?"
"I wanted to protect Carla!" Evelyn suddenly cried out, her voice cracking with hysterical grief. "Carla was my baby! She had everything going for her! Greg was going to marry her! They were going to buy the house on the lake! If anyone found out what she did, everything would be ruined!"
"And what about Lily?" I spoke up, unable to stay silent any longer.
Marcus didn't stop me.
Evelyn looked at me then. For the first time in weeks, our eyes met. But there was no arrogance left in her gaze. There was only hollow, pathetic desperation.
"Lily was nine years old, Evelyn," I said, my voice steady, clear, and razor-sharp. "She was your granddaughter. You heard her bone snap in half. You watched her scream in the dirt. And your first thought wasn't an ice pack. It wasn't an ambulance. It was how to save the monster who did it."
"You don't understand, Naomi," Evelyn sobbed, burying her face in her hands. "Carla was always fragile. She needed us. You... you were always so strong. You always figured things out on your own. You didn't need me!"
"I was strong because you gave me no choice!" I yelled, slamming my open hand onto the table. "You starved me of love my entire life to feed an arrogant parasite! And when she broke my child's body, you tried to steal my child to keep your parasite out of a cage!"
Evelyn wept uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking with dry, rattling sobs.
Marcus leaned back in his chair and looked at the court reporter. "Let the record reflect that the witness has admitted to intentional defamation, filing false reports, and deliberate concealment of a felony."
He stood up, gathering his papers.
May you like
"We are done here, Mrs. Hayes. Tell your husband’s attorneys that our demand is the full policy limit of two million dollars, plus the deed to the downtown condo you bought for Carla, to be placed into a medical and educational trust for Lily. You have forty-eight hours to accept. If you don't, we go to trial, and we will take your home, your retirement accounts, and every single cent you have left."
***
