Chapter 14 - Garrett Takes the ChairGarrett testified during the combined civil hearing over farm control and protective conditions involving Elias.
He looked composed.
He admitted the barn punishment.
“It was too harsh.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I believed Elias had failed to monitor Clover.”
“But you saw Clover sick before Elias returned from school.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could he have failed to notice something before arriving?”
Garrett hesitated.
“I believed he should have noticed earlier.”
“When?”
“Before school.”
“Did you know when Clover became ill?”
“No.”
“So you did not know Elias had missed anything.”
Silence.
The attorney continued.
“Why create an animal-neglect report before the veterinarian examined Clover?”
“Routine documentation.”
“Why mention his trust interest?”
Garrett’s jaw tightened.
“Farm risk.”
“Was the illness a business event or a parenting event?”
“Both.”
“Did you have a financial interest in reducing Elias’s voting position?”
“No.”
The Vale Agricultural agreement appeared.
$150,000 potential compensation.
Garrett’s face changed.
“That was consulting income.”
“Dependent on the Blue Ridge transaction?”
“Yes.”
“Which required restructuring?”
“Not necessarily.”
“But your proposed restructuring reduced Elias’s voting interest.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to create a sustainable family structure.”
Counsel paused.
“Family.”
Garrett nodded.
“Did you believe it was unfair that Elias owned twenty-five percent while your son Mason owned zero?”
Garrett looked toward the floor.
“Yes.”
The admission landed softly.
More powerful that way.
“What did Elias do wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why was he the one being punished?”
Garrett looked up.
“For Clover.”
Counsel waited.
Garrett realized he had circled back into the same answer evidence had already damaged.
Then came the bottle.
“Did you use this bottle on Clover?”
“No.”
“On Atlas?”
“No.”
“Why did you take it into the barn?”
“For routine farm work.”
“What work?”
Garrett’s lawyer objected.
After argument, he answered generally.
“Animal care.”
No details.
No confession.
No dramatic collapse.
But then counsel asked:
“Why hide it from Sarah?”
Garrett stopped.
“Did you tell her you had it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Dr. Wilson?”
“No.”
“Did you preserve it when Clover became sick?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Garrett’s composure finally cracked.
“Because everything I did became evidence!”
The room went quiet.
Counsel replied:
May you like
“Only after Elias was punished for something you could not prove he did.”
Garrett said nothing.
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