By the time John had come out of his angry haze, he heard Lou say, "The prosecution calls Moira Aherne." He looked up to see a court usher escorting Moira to the witness stand. She wore a dress, the first time John had ever seen her in one, and with her free arm clutched Brownie tightly to her chest. Before sitting down, she looked out at the crowd. John remembered that she knew he'd be there and smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. She must have seen him, because a smile flickered across her face as she sat down.
After she was sworn in, and Lou had come to stand next to the witness stand, Judge Foster turned to her and said, "You just have to answer the questions you're asked. If you don't know the answer, say you don't know." She nodded.
Lou greeted her in a cheery tone. "Good morning, Moira."
"Good morning," she said cautiously in response. She pulled Brownie closer to her.
"What's your bear's name?"
"Brownie."
"How long have you had him?"
"Since I was born. Me mum gave him to me. He was hers first."
"When did you move to London?" Lou asked, transitioning into more painful subjects without a beat.
"Last year. February." Her entire body had gone rigid.
"Do you know why you moved here?"
"Me dad got a job here. He said it was better than the one he had in Donegal."
"And you don't have any family in London?"
She shook her head. "No. Me mum and me dad were both in care when they were little, so there's just us."
"What happened after you moved here?" Lou's cheeriness had turned somber.
"The school is really big. And the flat didn't have a garden. The school was so big that I got lost." She shifted her gaze from Lou to the ground. "I was too scared to talk to the other kids, most of the time. They didn't seem to notice me."
"So you didn't make any friends?"
"No. I had my brother and our dog Rory to play with but no one else. Sometimes Kieran wanted to play alone though, and it's my job to take care of Rory, so I took him for a lot of walks."
"You are supposed to walk Rory?"
"Yeah. Ever since me dad taught him not to pull on lead I've got to walk him."
"Is there anywhere in particular you liked to walk him?"
Moira went even more rigid, if such a thing were possible. Her eyes widened. After a moment of silence she whispered: "The park near our flat with the play yard."
"Was there anyone to play with there?" Lou gently asked.
"Not at first." If it hadn't been for the microphone there, John was sure no one would have heard her.
"Do you mean someone else eventually showed up?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me about that person."
Moira looked out at the crowd and John, figuring that she was once again looking for him, sat up as straight as he could and smiled at her again. Apparently this was enough, as she began to talk again. "I'd gone to the park with Rory that day. It was me mum's birthday and me dad was sitting at home all sad and Kieran yelled at me to go away. I started telling Rory about her and I got so sad I cried. The next thing I remember is this lady asking me what my dog's name was. I told Her about Rory and She asked why I was crying. I said it was me mum's birthday and she was in heaven now." John had heard her tell Sherlock of the time she'd first met K, of course, but her story now had far more detail. He suspected the first version had been heavily edited to make sure she wouldn't expose K's identity. "Then I said we'd just moved here. She sat down next to me and we talked for a while. When I talked to Her I could pretend me mum was there because I missed her so much. While we were talking She put her hand on my leg."
"What did you do then?" Lou patiently asked.
"Nothing. I liked talking to Her so I didn't want to say anything even though it felt weird. After a little bit of that I told Her I needed to go home. Then She said that She didn't even know my name." As soon as she said that, she looked down, like she was being scolded. Brownie migrated from under one arm to clutched protectively to her chest.
"What did you say?" Lou had to know what was coming next, but still radiated calm.
"I didn't say anything." Moira sounded close to tears.
"Did she say anything?"
"Yes," she squeaked out.
"What did she say?"
After a silence so long John expected the judge to intervene, Moira managed to say: "She asked me 'Are you a boy or a girl?' and then moved Her hand to the top of my jogging bottoms."
A few audience members gasped, but Lou went on as if nothing were amiss. "What did you say then?"
"I said I was a girl." Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"What did she say?"
"'Are you sure? Let me check.'" That admission seemed to be too much for Moira; she brought Brownie to her face and started to cry. Several of the people watching had the same problem. John could hear sobs from several different directions.
"What happened then?" Lou said once he could see her face again.
"She put Her hand down my jogging bottoms and rubbed between my legs. It felt hot and it was kind of nice but I didn't know if I liked it." Moira wasn't crying anymore, but the sobs in the audience had only gotten louder. "Then She said I was definitely a girl. Said that you could smell it and She smelled the fingers on that hand. Then She asked me if that felt good. I said yes because it kind of did and maybe if I said it did She'd be my first friend in London. She told me that if I came back the next day I'd get a surprise." Even though John had heard it all before, he still got a lump in his throat.
"Did you go back there?"
"Yeah," she whispered.
"What happened?"
"I did get a surprise. She had this book about dogs with big photos of them and She let me look at it. Then She said it was cold out here and wouldn't it be better if we went to Her flat? Rory wasn't with me this time so I went."
"For how long did you keep meeting her?"
"A long time. If Rory was with me we'd stay in the park but if he wasn't we usually went to Her flat."
"Did she try to touch you again?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me about that."
"The first time we went back to Her flat I looked all over it and then I went into the bedroom. It had this really big bed, even bigger than me dad's, and I lay down on it. She came into the room and asked if She could lie down there too and I said yes. She took off the blouse and skirt She was wearing first, though. I looked at Her more than I should have because I'd never seen a grown lady in underwear except me mum and she doesn't count, really. She didn't say anything, just smiled at me. There was all this hair near Her knickers. You could see a lot because they weren't very big, just sort of made out of string. I knew that happened when you grew up but I didn't think it was going to be that much. I asked if it hurt when it grew in, like with teeth. She said no, it was just like normal hair, and I could feel it if I wanted." Even now, Moira looked haunted. "I did and then She said I should take my clothes off too. I did and She rubbed between my legs some more and..."
"What happened next?" prompted Lou after a long silence.
"She took her fingers and spread out the place between Her legs and let me look and told me to put a finger of mine up there."
"Did you do that?"
"Yeah. Then She did the same thing with me."
"Did anything else happen when you were there?"
"I don't remember," Moira quickly replied, making it obvious that whatever it was she didn't want to discuss it.
"For how long did you see her after that?"
"A few times each week. We'd meet at the park and sometimes we'd stay there and other times we went to Her flat."
"What would you do on those occasions?"
"We'd talk about things. She liked it when I showed Her all the tricks Rory could do. Sometimes She'd give me sweets or lemonade."
"Was that all you did?"
"No."
"What else did you do?"
"She liked to touch me." Moira brought Brownie up so he half covered her face. "Sometimes She just wanted to kiss me. On the lips, with Her tongue. Other times She wanted to touch me between my legs. Sometimes She..." She brought Brownie down and hung her head. "She'd stick fingers in me. In my bum or in my, um, vagina. Or lick me there."
The crying from the audience had quieted some, but Moira's most recent statement made it start up all over again. "She just wanted to touch you?" Lou asked, as if he didn't hear the crying at all.
"Sometimes. She liked me to touch Her too. The same things She did to me, except She liked me to touch Her breasts. And She had these things She liked me to put in Her."
John had known things like that were coming, and he still had to swallow the lump in his throat. At this point, the only person who seemed calm was Lou. (K might have been calm but John didn't dare look back to see.) "Were those the only places you met? The park and her flat?"
"No."
"Where else did you meet?"
"Sometimes She'd come in through my window."
"Had you told her where you lived?"
"No. She said She'd looked it up."
"Had anything happened before she came through your window? With the two of you, I mean."
"Yeah," Moira said and then buried her head in her arms. Lou walked over to the witness stand and talked quietly with her and the judge.
"The court will adjourn for five minutes," the judge said once the conversation finished. One usher led the jury out while several others led the audience to the doors. John went with the rest of them and they got herded back into the court five minutes later. Moira looked like she had been crying, but seemed composed enough now.
"Okay. I'll ask you again. Did anything happen between the two of you before she came in through the window?" Lou said for a second time.
"Yeah."
"Tell me about that."
"The day before at Her flat we had a fight. I'd seen Her for a couple of months and everything we did was starting to get scary. It was scary before too but now it just got worse. Things I'd had to put in Her She wanted to put in me. I finally said I was going to tell me dad about Her. She said She knew where I lived and if I told him She'd kill him. I said She was lying and I left. The next night I heard Her tap on the window. I opened it and She gave me a meatball I was supposed to give to Rory and I let him eat it. She came in through the window then and said if I yelled She'd put poison in me dad's sugar for his coffee." A few people actually gasped as they heard this, and John heard someone head up the aisle and out the door.
"Did she do this a lot?"
"Sometimes."
"What was she like at other times?"
"Different. Sometimes She'd say She loved me and She wished I was Her little girl. She'd hug me and kiss me and all that, like me dad does. Sometimes She'd say She knew She was special to me since She was my only friend and She'd give me gifts and sweets and stuff. Other times She'd say that if I didn't do what She wanted She knew where I lived and could kill me dad if She wanted to. A few times when She was nice to me She'd said She took kids in from care like me parents had been and if anything happened to me dad She'd be able to take care of me." The short break had seemingly done a lot to calm Moira; she spoke with no hesitation or fear.
"You were in hospital last February. Can you tell me about that?" Lou hadn't lost his composure at all while questioning her and still seemed relaxed.
"Yeah," Moira said and she proceeded to tell the same story she had told Sherlock a few months ago. Since John had heard it already he only felt somewhat sad, but the rest of the court had not and the tears and gasps seemed to have gotten louder.
When she finished the story, Lou said, "No further questions," and went to sit next to Susan again. Clark then came up to the stand. He didn't seem nearly as relaxed as Lou was and John wondered if that was a result of Moira's testimony.
"Hello, Moira, I'm Mr. Clark and I'm just going to ask you a few questions," he said in a falsely cheerful tone.
"Hi," she said cautiously.
"You've got a brother?" he said in the same tone.
"Yeah, and a sister."
"What are their names?"
"Dierdre and Kieran."
"Are you the oldest?"
"Yeah. Kieran's half an hour younger and Dierdre's almost seven."
"How do you like London so far?"
"It's big. We can get lots of kinds of takeaway though." This caused the audience to laugh.
"Is your dad busier than he was in Ireland?"
Moira shook her head. "No. He's got more time because he works for some other people instead of by himself so he doesn't have to do everything."
"When your father took you and your siblings to the hospital, you told him and the police that nothing had happened and no one hurt you." Clark's segue seemed abrupt, unlike Lou's smooth transitions.
"Yeah," Moira said, her whole body going rigid.
"Why did you say that if someone did?"
"Because I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
"But if you were hurt then someone was already hurt, right?"
"Someone besides me," she clarified.
"Like who?"
"Me dad and brother. And K."
"K is Dr. Martin?" Unable to speak, she merely nodded. "Why?"
"Because," she finally whispered.
"Because of what?" Clark pressed.
"Because of the poison in the sugar bowl and Rory and his meatball."
"Why didn't you say anything to Sergeant Donovan when she questioned you?"
"The poison," she repeated.
"But you talked to Mr. Holmes, didn't you?"
"Not all at once."
"Why did you talk to him if you were so worried other people would get hurt?"
Moira clutched Brownie to her chest and slouched in her seat. "He didn't ask the same things other people did. And he knew about Her before I said anything."
"Knew about her? Did he mention her to you when he questioned you?" Clark seemed delighted with this bit of information.
"He said he'd known someone like that, but he didn't say who it was. Is it Her too?" Moira's confused tone made it clear that this question had backfired; she really hadn't known that Sherlock had been abused by K as well.
"Are you close to your dad?" Clark obviously knew that line of questioning was going to hurt their case; he switched the subject without a second thought.
"Yeah."
"Do you tell him everything?"
"Not everything." The audience laughed again.
"But most things?"
"Most."
"So you never told him you had a hard time making friends?"
"I did," Moira said angrily.
"What did he say when you told him that?"
"That he knew I was shy and it'd just take some time. He asked if they were teasing me and I said no because they really weren't. The other kids just ignored me."
"But when you did make a friend you didn't tell him. Why?" He sounded accusing.
"She's an adult and I'm a kid. He wouldn't have liked it."
"You didn't like what was going on though, did you?"
"Not all of it."
"Why didn't you tell him about the bad parts, then?"
"Because I wanted to still have a friend! No matter what She did it was better than being lonely!" Moira shouted at him.
Clark looked somewhat stunned at the fact she was yelling and said simply: "No further questions."
Susan walked confidently up to the witness stand as the usher led Moira out through a side door. "The prosecution calls Kieran Aherne." Another usher led him to the witness stand. Kieran was wearing a linen shirt, khaki trousers, and a tie. He looked as uncomfortable as Moira had in a dress. He sat down and looked up at Susan. "Hello, Kieran," she said once he was sworn in.
"Hello," he replied.
"Last January you went to the park to bring your sister home. Can you tell us about that?" she asked without the banter used on Moira.
"Yeah, I can," he said, and related the story he had told Sherlock, without once pausing.
"Is the woman you saw kissing your sister in court today?"
"Yeah."
"Can you point her out?" Kieran pointed without hesitation to the dock where K sat. "No further questions," Susan said as soon as he was done.
Mrs. Harvey came up to the stand as Susan left. Unlike Clark, she didn't seem anxious or uncomfortable. "Does your father kiss you, Kieran?" It was clear she wanted to trim the testimony to the essentials.
"Yeah, he does. But not like that woman did. On the cheek or the forehead."
"Did you think something was wrong with the way she kissed her?"
"Yeah, it was like you see in those romance movies."
"On the mouth?"
"Not just that. With her tongue out."
"And you thought there was something wrong with that?"
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't you tell your father about it?"
"Moira told me not to tell him."
"And that was that?" Harvey asked, sounding skeptical.
"That was that," he confirmed.
"Why?"
"Because she's my twin and we keep each other's secrets."
"So if Moira told you she'd killed someone and not to tell anyone, you'd never tell anyone?"
"Yeah," Kieran replied, and the audience laughed.
Just like Clark had been before, Harvey seemed surprised at his candid response. "No further questions," she said, sounding like she thought the best thing to do was to cut her losses.
"The court will adjourn for one hour," Judge Foster said before Harvey could sit down again. John looked at his watch and saw it was past noon already. He filed out of the courtroom with everyone else, feeling as proud of the Aherne children as if he were their own father.