Chapter 15 - The Witness Chair
Mason hated the courthouse.
Everything was designed to make people feel small.
High ceilings.
Hard benches.
Quiet voices.
Doors that only certain people could open.
The prosecutor, Elaine Brooks, prepared him carefully.
“Answer only what you’re asked.”
“Okay.”
“If you don’t know, say you don’t know.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t guess.”
“I won’t.”
“Her attorney may be aggressive.”
Mason swallowed.
“Okay.”
Daniel sat nearby.
He wanted to interrupt every uncomfortable question.
He knew he couldn’t.
The trial combined several allegations involving records and the classroom incident.
Some financial charges against Patrick were handled separately after his cooperation agreement.
Mrs. Holloway entered wearing a dark suit.
Mason had never seen her look so ordinary.
That unsettled him.
In school she had authority built around her.
A desk.
A grade book.
A classroom.
Here she was simply one person at a table.
Mason testified about the camera.
The command.
The kneeling.
The humiliation.
Caleb stepping forward.
The strike.
Daniel appearing.
Brooks asked:
“Why did you obey?”
Mason stared at the microphone.
“Because she was my teacher.”
Nothing else needed saying.
Then came cross-examination.
Holloway’s attorney, Richard Cole—not related to Ethan—spoke gently.
Too gently.
“Mason, you disliked Mrs. Holloway before this incident, correct?”
“No.”
“You had disagreements.”
“Yes.”
“You photographed her documents.”
“Yes.”
“Without permission.”
“They were visible.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mason paused.
“No, I didn’t ask permission.”
“You were suspicious of her.”
“Yes.”
“You had been discussing those suspicions with Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“So this wasn’t simply an innocent student suddenly targeted for no reason.”
Brooks objected.
Sustained.
But the words landed.
Mason felt heat rise.
Then he saw Mrs. Holloway.
She was watching him.
The old look.
The look from Room 214.
She knew embarrassment was his pressure point.
Cole continued.
“You chose not to participate in a program that benefited your classmates.”
“I chose not to participate because I thought the records were wrong.”
“You were fifteen.”
“Yes.”
“You believed you understood grant administration better than trained adults?”
Mason almost answered defensively.
Then stopped.
“I understood that I didn’t attend.”
Silence.
Cole blinked.
Mason continued.
“And the record said I did.”
Brooks looked down to hide a smile.
Cole tried again.
“Mrs. Holloway never physically forced you to kneel, did she?”
“She ordered me.”
“You could have refused.”
Mason looked at him.
“Students can refuse teachers?”
“You had a choice.”
Mason thought of Daniel.
You never kneel for someone who humiliates you.
At the time, he had not known that.
“No,” Mason said.
“I didn’t feel like I had one.”
Cole moved on.
When Mason stepped down, his legs shook.
Daniel hugged him in the hallway.
“You were great.”
“I hated it.”
“Both can be true.”
Mason laughed weakly.
Caleb testified next.
His cross-examination was rougher.
The defense suggested he moved aggressively toward Holloway.
Caleb admitted being angry.
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
“You said you would tell Mason’s parents.”
“Yes.”
“You raised your voice?”
“Yes.”
“You stepped toward her?”
“I stepped between her and Mason.”
“Because you were angry.”
“Yes.”
“Could Mrs. Holloway have believed you might attack her?”
Caleb looked toward the jury.
“I had both hands down.”
Then toward Holloway.
“And after she hit me, I still didn’t touch her.”
That mattered.
Maya testified.
Then Ethan.
Ethan’s voice broke while describing leaving school.
The defense attacked his attendance problems.
He answered quietly:
“My attendance got bad after I became afraid to go.”
Grace cried.
Even Bell looked down.
The most damaging witness was Sloan.
She admitted everything.
Her failure to act sooner.
Her secret archive.
Her acceptance of reimbursements.
Her fear.
The defense tried to destroy her credibility.
“You hid evidence for eleven months.”
“Yes.”
“You participated in confidential settlements.”
“Yes.”
“You failed students.”
“Yes.”
The attorney paused.
Sloan looked at the jury.
“I’m not asking anyone to believe I was brave.”
The courtroom went quiet.
“I’m telling you what I saw because I should have told people sooner.”
The defense had nowhere comfortable to go after that.
Then came Patrick.
Mrs. Holloway refused to look at him.
He described the fake attendance.
The pressure.
The signatures.
The profiles.
His own role.
He did not pretend innocence.
Brooks asked:
“Why are you testifying?”
Patrick answered:
“Because I’m hoping for a lighter sentence.”
The courtroom stirred.
Brooks nodded.
“So you benefit.”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you’re lying?”
“No.”
“How can the jury know?”
Patrick looked toward Melissa.
“Because most of what I’m saying is in writing.”
The jury later saw the texts.
Reed never signed.
Use existing.
Fine.
Mrs. Holloway’s face finally changed.
For the first time, Mason saw fear.
But the trial was not over.
The defense announced that Melissa Holloway would testify.
May you like
And when she took the witness stand, she did something nobody expected.
She apologized to Mason.
