Justin nervously fidgeted on the bench seat, almost painfully holding onto Brian's hand. He felt so nervous, almost as if HE were about to testify, rather than Brian.
Sensing her son's nervousness, Jennifer automatically reached over to grasp Justin's other hand; she knew he would need the support while his partner was gone temporarily from his side. For once, Justin did not scorn the motherly gesture, instead thankfully accepting her concern.
Everyone looked up as the side door of the courtroom opened and once again, Prescott came in, followed by both attorneys and the jury. As they stood up, the judge's name was called as he, too, took his seat, front and center to the activity.
As everyone sat down in silence, Justin found out that his attorney had been correct – he heard the bailiff announcing Brian as the next witness. Glancing over at his partner, whose hand he was still tightly holding, Brian smiled back encouragingly and squeezed his slender hand briefly; nodding gratefully at Jennifer, he reluctantly let go of his lover's hand and stood up. His tall frame was straight and shoulders were squared back as he firmly walked up to the front of the room, taking his place next to the witness stand to be sworn in. It seemed to Justin that his partner was deliberately not looking at Prescott; he was apparently taking Greg's advice to avoid making any type of hostile overtures toward the man everyone knew he hated and despised, for fear he could somehow jeopardize the case.
Once Brian was asked for his name and address, the crux of the questioning began by Justin's attorney:
"Mr. Kinney, you are Mr. Taylor's personal partner, is that correct?" Greg questioned.
"That's right," Brian answered firmly with any pause.
"And how long have you and Mr. Taylor been in this relationship?"
Justin and Brian both smiled slightly; that was a little harder to explain. Out loud, Brian tried to verbalize it. "That's a little complicated."
"How so?" the attorney asked.
"Well, we've been together, off and on, for about six years now. But I guess officially we've been serious partners for about a year."
"Okay. And I understand you had a business relationship as well with Mr. Prescott?"
Again, Brian did not look at Prescott, well aware of the anger he could barely control toward the asshole that had almost killed the man he loved. "For a while, yes."
"Would you elaborate on that?" Greg prodded.
"I own Kinnetik, an advertising agency here in Pittsburgh. When I first met him, he was seeking a company to advertise his sportswear line. He came to me for assistance. For a short while, I represented him."
"And what happened to that relationship?"
"It was severed. By mutual agreement," Brian added, unable to entirely hide his sarcasm.
"Can you tell me why?"
Brian hesitated briefly, trying to phrase the answer correctly in his head; the last thing he wanted was to give Prescott's arrogant attorney, Sinclair, any ammunition to use against Justin. "Personal differences," he finally stated.
"Can you be more specific?" Matthews knew he had to tread carefully through these questions, lest they create MORE problems.
Brian was a little startled by the query – Greg had not prepared him to answer THIS one. He only hoped the man knew what he was doing and wasn't opening a fucking can of worms. He glanced a little hesitantly toward Justin, who seemed as nervous as HE was.
Speaking slowly, he answered, "Well, I found out the guy was personally interested in my partner, and he turned it into a fu…damn competition," he finally offered in explanation.
"And you didn't feel like you could conduct business with him under those circumstances?"
What was Matthews getting at here? Doesn't he realize this is making me look like an ass? Sighing a little in frustration, Brian softly answered, "Well, I went along with it at first. But I guess you could say that was what happened eventually."
"Okay. And just how did you find out he was personally interested in Mr. Taylor?"
"He anonymously bid on one of Justin's paintings at an art benefit for an outrageous amount of money with the stipulation that Justin have dinner with him the next evening. When I saw the man coming out of a restaurant the next night with Justin, I recognized him."
Matthews urged him to be more specific. "You mean Lane Prescott?"
"Yes."
"Do you recognize the man you saw that night with Justin, and the man you had a business relationship with?"
"Yes."
"Can you point him out for the record, Mr. Kinney?" Matthews prayed that Brian would keep his cool.
Brian steeled himself to look at the man he totally despised. I can do this….for Justin. Taking a fairly deep breath first, he forced himself to turn slightly to his left to look directly at him. Raising his right hand, he confidently pointed his long index finger at Prescott, stating, "That's him over there." The fucker I'd like to ground to a pulp with my bare hands. Brian could no longer hide his intense hatred for the man who had put his partner in such jeopardy, as much as he tried; anyone who was observing his testimony at that moment had no problems discerning exactly how the brunet felt. He subconsciously clenched his fists under the witness chair in anger, and his handsome briefly contorted into a quiet rage. The fact that Prescott seemed to take great relish in returning his glare did not help, either, as both men seemed to issue a subliminal dare to each other.
"Let the record show that Mr. Kinney has identified the defendant as Lane Prescott," Matthews intoned, serving to break the pair's silent duel. He continued, "And when you did next see Mr. Prescott?"
"It was the day after I saw him with Justin at the restaurant."
"And where was that?"
"At Kinnetik. He came into the office to discuss some minor changes he wanted to make to his ad campaign."
"And did you mention to him what you saw the night before?" Matthews asked.
"Yes. I told him I saw him and Justin at dinner."
"And what did the defendant say when you told him about that?"
"He told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted Justin, and wasn't going to stop until he had what he wanted. Like Justin was some trophy or something."
"Please, Mr. Kinney, just answer the question simply." Matthews was afraid Brian was going to erupt if he didn't keep in on a narrow course. That was the LAST thing he wanted. Continuing, he asked, "And is this when you and he severed your business relationship?"
"No, it was actually a few days after that. After Prescott had returned to his corporate offices in New York," he clarified.
After Prescott had pulled that stunt about Justin claiming he wanted to go away with him, it was self-evident that he and Prescott could definitely NOT work together.
He explained out loud, "Well, I never spoke directly to him again to officially end the business relationship. But I received a written communiqué from his personal assistant shortly thereafter, verifying that he no longer wanted to be represented by Kinnetik." Which was just fucking fine with me, you son of a bitch.
Justin listened intently to his partner as he filled in some of the gaps for this unpleasant period in their relationship. He and Brian had discussed vaguely what had happened between him and Prescott, but he had not gone into depth as to what exactly had transpired. The blond found this testimony enlightening to say the least. I never realized Prescott thought of me as a kind of prize to be won! How arrogant. He turned again to Brian's testimony as he heard Matthews speaking again.
"And when did you have an opportunity to speak to the defendant again?"
"Well, it wasn't until just lately, when all this other stuff came up with Justin."
"What type of stuff, Mr. Kinney?"
"Well, the gifts Justin started receiving from some secret admirer." Here goes, Brian thought. This is where we start to NAIL the bastard.
"I see. And when was this?"
"About five months ago," Brian verified.
"And how did it start?"
"Well, Justin started getting gifts delivered from an unnamed courier with notes that were just signed A Secret Admirer."
"And what types of gifts were they, specifically?" Matthews needed to establish the expensive nature of these gifts to try and make the jury realize they could not have come from just anyone.
"Well, the first gift was a box of chocolates that we found out cost over $500 a pound." Brian heard a collective gasp rise from both the jury and the courtroom audience at the outrageous cost, invoking a stern "order in the court" admonishment from the judge.
Matthews wasn't surprised by that statement; he already knew, of course, from previous conversations between him, Brian and his client. "And the other gifts?"
"Then, the next one was a platinum bracelet from Tiffany's. The one after that was a basket of paints," Brian stated. I am NOT going to mention the edible part. Forget it, Prescott. "Then the last gift was a personalized CD of different songs."
"I see. And you said there were messages with each of them, correct?"
Brian squirmed a little, uncomfortably. He did not really want to get into the context of these very personal messages. "Yes," he answered simply.
Brian cringed a little inside when he noticed Matthews reaching over to the exhibit table and pulling out a crumpled note inside a plastic bag. "Would you take a look at this note, Mr. Kinney, and tell me if you recognize it?"
"Yes," Brian replied softly. I'm sorry, Sunshine. I wish there was another way.
"Would you tell the courtroom what it is?"
"It's one of the notes Justin received. The one when the CD was delivered."
"Would you read it out loud, please, Mr. Kinney?"
Brian looked over at Justin, whose face was reddening. There was a distinctive hush over the courtoom as he took a deep breath before he spoke, reading the message: "It says, while you listen to this, think of us and the beautiful music we'll soon be making together forever. Anxiously awaiting our reunion. Your Secret Admirer." Brian could taste the sour bile that immediately rose in his throat as he was forced to relive that day. The anger he felt toward the then unnamed stalker of his partner had not abated; if anything, it had grown even stronger, now that he knew who it was and what the man had tried to do to his lover in the meantime.
"Let the record show that Mr. Kinney was reading from Exhibit E. Thank you, Mr. Kinney," Matthews said, reaching to retrieve the note from the brunet. He really disliked what he had to do, but he felt it was necessary to establish how obsessed Prescott was with his client. Returning the first note to the table, he picked up another plastic bag containing a second note. "Now, Mr. Kinney, please examine this bag and tell me if you recognize the note contained within."
Brian closed his eyes briefly; he felt Justin's humiliation without even having to look at him. "Yes," he sighed. "This was the note that came with the paints." Please don't make me do this, he pleaded to the attorney silently.
"Please read the note aloud," Matthews instructed, silently apologizing to both men for having to subject them to this embarrassment.
Brian took another deep breath. This is so fucking difficult. Damn you, Matthews, you better have a good reason for this. Bracing himself, he didn't dare look at Justin this time. He didn't have to. Softly, he read, "I can't wait to rub these paints all over your delicious body and lick them off, one inch at a time. Your secret admirer." Brian couldn't help glaring over once again at Prescott, who seemed oblivious to the great embarrassment he was causing; rather, to Brian he almost seemed PLEASED with himself. You fucker – let's see how you look when they send your ass to jail for the rest of your life!
Justin pulled his hand from his mom's and covered his eyes in shame; he had never shown these notes to anyone else except Brian and Carl. He could feel the heat from his face as it turned a deep shade of red. How could he face his friends and his mother after this? I wish I could crawl into a hole somewhere. Just as he thought his shame could not be any greater, he heard the words he was dreading to hear. He watched as if in slow motion as Matthews asked the court to verify the second note as Exhibit F, then proceeded to pick up the other two notes in succession and again make Brian read them out loud before identifying them as well. Justin couldn't bear to look at Brian as he was forced to read – he could feel his partner's pain just by his choked, emotion-filled voice.
Brian breathed an internal sigh of relief when Matthews finally moved onto a new line of questioning. "Now, Mr. Kinney, let me clarify something. You did not actually know that Prescott was your partner's secret admirer at first, is that correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"So how did you determine he was behind the gifts?"
"It wasn't until I was coming back from Chicago on business and I called Lee Keller at Everwatch Security to check on the security detail I had set up for the loft. I was concerned because I couldn't reach Justin on his cell phone," he explained.
"It was previously stated by Mr. Keller that you asked him to assign three of his men to watch the loft that you and Mr. Taylor share during your absence, is that correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"So how did you know the defendant was your partner's secret admirer?"
"Well, I found out from Mr. Keller that someone who was purporting to be my comptroller, Ted Schmidt, had called him the day I left to tell him I was cancelling the security detail effective immediately."
"And how did you know it WASN'T Mr. Schmidt?"
"Because I called Ted at Kinnetik and verified he didn't even know that I had placed a security detail at the loft, much less called Everwatch to have it cancelled."
"But Mr. Keller WAS given the correct security code, is that right?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how this man who called him knew about it?"
"At the time, no. I only found out later from the police that there was a wiretap on my landline phone at home. So I assume that is how the man got the security code."
"So to go back to my original question – at what point did you suspect the defendant was behind all the gifts to your partner?"
"When Ted told me about a message I had had delivered to Kinnetik by an unnamed courier. I asked him to read it to me over the phone."
Reaching again toward the exhibit table, Matthews picked up a plastic bag containing a typed, 8 ½ by 11" unfolded, white piece of paper. "Do you recognize this as the letter you received at Kinnetik?" he asked, handing the bag to Brian.
Brian scanned it briefly before nodding. "Yes."
"Would you read it aloud, please?" Matthews once again asked him.
This time, Brian didn't have a problem reading it. I'm about to nail your ass to the wall, Prescott. In a clear voice, he read, "I told you I don't stop until I get what I want. He's where he belongs now."
Matthews prodded him, "So what made you feel the gifts were from the defendant?"
Brian explained, "Because of a previous conversation I had had with him at Kinnetik shortly after I found out he was interested in Justin."
"And just what did he say that made you think he was involved with the gifts your partner was anonymously receiving?"
"During our previous conversation, he had told me in no uncertain terms that if he wanted something, he went after it until he got it. And that he didn't stop UNTIL he got it. I just knew he was behind all of it then," he stated with conviction. "And it turns out I was right," he added pointedly, not bothering this time to avoid looking at the man who had turned both his and Justin's lives into a living hell. Staring at him with barely unconcealed fury, he thought, well, you fucker, this is where YOUR hell begins.
"Okay. So you finally determined that it was Prescott. What did you do then to locate him?" Matthews inquired.
"I finally found out from a friend that Justin had taken an art assignment for someone and had been flown to Lancaster to help set the painting up at this restaurant he was remodeling. I thought that was too big a coincidence. So I did some digging on the internet about this guy, Vince Comisar, and determined which restaurant he owned in Lancaster. Carl Horvath from the Pittsburgh PD and I flew there immediately to confront Comisar at the restaurant. That's when he admitted that he had set up Justin to come there for a reunion with Prescott, who I found out later was an old childhood friend of his."
"And was Justin at the restaurant when you get there?"
Brian hesitated as he attempted to swallow a lump in his throat and avoid thinking of what could have happened to his partner. "No. Comisar told me and Carl that Prescott had carried Justin down to his yacht at the marina, telling him that he had had too much to drink and he was going to let him sleep it off," he said angrily. You asshole. I could kill you for what you did to him.
"Did you go down to the marina to confront him?" Matthews asked.
"No," Brian verified, "because Comisar told us that he had seen his yacht leave the marina shortly after he carried Justin down there."
"So what did you and Detective Horvath do then?"
"We managed to talk some guy who owned a speedboat at the marina into helping us go after him. Comisar had told us which way he had gone. Carl called the Lancaster PD on his cell and proved to them that we were legitimate. They agreed to meet us coming from the other direction."
"And did you catch up with his yacht?" Matthews queried.
"Yes," Brian confirmed. "We found him moored in a cove several miles down the river. The police showed up at about the same time and took him and two of his crewmen into custody."
"And Mr. Taylor was on the yacht as well?"
"Yes," Brian answered, his voice once again choked with emotion. "The paramedic on board the patrol board found him unconscious inside the master cabin." Again he could not prevent his hazel eyes from boring into the man seated at the defense table. Just give me a minute alone with you, asshole. That is all I need to strangle you with my bare hands.
"But Mr. Taylor was taken to Lancaster General Hospital for treatment and recovered fully, correct?" Matthews stated.
The brunet looked tenderly over at his partner, the man who meant more to him than he ever thought possible. He noticed Justin returning his gaze, his beautiful eyes shining more than normal due to the unshed tears that welled up there. "Yes, he did," he verified, smiling in relief.
"And before Prescott was taken into custody, did you have an opportunity to speak with him?"
Brian's voice took on a steely tone as he confirmed, "Yes, I did."
"And what did you say to him?"
"Do you want the exact words?" he asked the attorney pointedly.
"Yes," Matthews verified. He already spoken to Brian before about this conversation, and felt it was important that the jury hear the exact conversation, profanity or not.
As Justin held his breath, Brian repeated the vow he had spoken to Prescott that day. "I told him if I ever got the chance to be alone with him, I would fucking KILL him," he verified, his voice resonating throughout the courtroom, "and that if he really thought in his fucked-up mind that he cared about Justin, he would tell me what he gave him before it KILLED him." Finally, Prescott had the grace to look away embarrassed and somewhat fearfully as Brian repeated his threat to the man who had almost turned his world upside down.
"And did Prescott answer you?" Matthews prodded, as the courtroom held its collective breath waiting for his response.
"Yes," Brian confirmed.
"And what did he say?" Matthews asked.
"He told me it was GHB. That he hadn't meant to hurt him," he added, snorting in disgust now. "That he LOVED him and just wanted to BE with him." The brunet made no attempt this time to hide his utter contempt for Prescott, glaring openly once again at him. This time Prescott simply scowled at him in hatred.
"Thank you, Mr. Kinney. I have no further questions at this time." Matthews then turned to the judge. "Your honor, in light of the time, I would like to ask that we dismiss for the day."
Judge Mason peered at the courtroom clock, which now read 4:15 p.m. "Agreed. The defense attorney will cross-examine this witness tomorrow. Please remember you will still be under oath, Mr. Kinney," he reminded Brian. Rapping his gavel authoritatively, he announced, "This court is now in recess until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow."