CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Here we have it, contains references to physical and sexual abuse.

"Please state your name for the record." Charlotte says to start with.

"Sarah Gretchen Teller."

"Could you please take us through a rundown of your relationship with the defendant?"

"Sure. Craig and I met about three years ago and started dating casually, after about 6 months he decided he didn't want me seeing anyone else, which I was okay with cause I wasn't anyway. There were a couple of people from one of my courses I'd get coffee with and Craig saw that as me dating them, even though one was married and one was engaged. About 7 months after we became exclusive he started telling me how I should dress and tried to get rid of a whole lot of my clothes, Cam and Al rescued them and stored them in Al's apartment."

"At that stage you'd been together for how long?"

"A little over a year. That went on for about 8 months when he started asking me to move in with him. By this stage we'd been together for over 18 months and he'd decided that we should take another step in our relationship."

"You didn't agree?" Charlotte asks.

"Not really. I was living with Cam in an apartment I loved, in a building that was close to where I worked. Craig lived so far away that I would have had to spend at least an hour on the Subway to get to work. When I mentioned that to him Craig laughed and told me that it wouldn't matter, after I moved in with him I'd be able to give up work. He also said he'd get rid of both my cars so that I didn't have to worry about driving in New York."

"Did you have problems driving in town?"

I shake my head "No. I love New York. Yes driving can be a pain in the backside, but I didn't do it often enough for it to be a chore."

"Okay. Then what happened?"

"When he told me that he expected me to give up work and my cars I broke up with him. I told him that I wasn't going to be a kept woman and if he couldn't understand that then our lives were no longer compatible."

"But you got back together?"

I nod "Yeah." I pull my ponytail in front of myself and twirl the ends around my fingers "I shouldn't have, I know that now but I thought he could change. I thought he loved me enough to want to change."

"What happened?"

"About 3 weeks later he came to my apartment and begged for forgiveness. He told me he realised he was being overbearing and controlling and he was sorry. He said he didn't want me to work so that I'd be there when he went to work and came home. Because he worked during the day and as a chef I worked nights his logic did make sense."

I stop for a minute, my mouth finally catching up with my brain as I think about what happened in the next stage of our relationship "He started looking for apartments for both of us, agreeing on a radius in the middle of both our work places so that we'd each have a commute of about 30 minutes on the Subway. The ones he found were either too small to be practical for two people or too far away for me to continue to work where I was, some of them were anywhere up to a 2 hour trip each way. I started looking and in the couple of months I was looking I found four apartments that were in the perfect spot between our work places but he made silly excuses why he didn't like them."

"What sort of excuses?"

"We couldn't afford it, he didn't like the balcony, we didn't need 2 bedrooms and one that he didn't like the way the neighbours looked at him. I gave up after that and broke up with him a second time telling him that compromise was a huge part of any relationship and it shouldn't have been me doing it all."

"But that wasn't the end of it?"

I shake my head chuckling wrly at myself and my stupidity "No, apparently I didn't learn. He came back and made a grand apology which I accepted again, thinking we could be friends. I didn't want to be in a relationship with him anymore but he convinced me that the third time was a charm." I stop talking for a second and Charlotte reaches over with a box of tissues which I drop into my lap.

"We stayed together another 3 months after that, and they were among the worst months of my life, right behind the time I spent in captivity. He'd show up at my place of work at all hours. I was working from 2pm till 2am most nights. He'd always tell me it was some matter of life or death and so I'd go with him. It would end up being nothing more than his friends doing something that should have appeared on Jackass or Ridiculousness. He started proposing to me every weekend, even though I'd told him right from our first date that I was never getting married."

I start absently shredding a tissue into my lap while thinking about it "He ended up losing his job cause of the amount of time he was spending away from it. He told me he'd never told his parents about being fired cause they'd be so disappointed in him." Sure enough looking over at Deirdre and William they're frowning at the story I'm telling, which is obviously completely different to what Craig told them.

"The last month he stopped acting so strange, he'd started looking for a new job so he was busy with interviews and making sure everything on his resume was right. He asked if I'd go to Maine with him to relax so we could reconnect and get back to the good days right in the beginning. I agreed. We left New York on the 15th of July, intending to be back on the 23rd. I had a huge function at work a couple of days later and I knew we'd be frantically busy.

The entire room is completely silent while I stop speaking; the only sound is the breathing of the several dozen people in the room. "When we arrived in Maine he told me that there was a problem with the place he'd booked so we were going to be in a friends place for the first night, I thought that was fine but the place we ended up at looked like it had been a garage at some point, but was well past needing to be demolished. He apologised for about an hour, then when I finally got him to stop saying he was sorry he pulled out a picnic he'd made. I ended up passing out. I'm not sure if it was from alcohol or if he drugged me."

Donna frowns lightly, I'd told her that it was due to alcohol but of course being on the stand the half-truths I told her I have to expand on bits I'd glossed over, apart from on one issue. Funnily after explaining so many times what happened the tears that well in my eyes stay there, instead of spilling down my cheeks like I thought they would.

"When I woke up the next morning he was standing over me, just watching me as I struggled against the ropes he'd tied me to the bed with. When I eventually gave up fighting he laughed and started looking between my arms. My sleeve was finished but the other arm was completely bare of any ink. He told me that he would have liked me to get laser removal on my sleeve but even that would mean a lot of scarring and he couldn't cut the ink out of my skin cause I'd bleed to death. He said that he'd decided a compromise would be putting his name on my skin to show that I belonged to him I wasn't trying to move any more, I'd realised that my feet and wrists were tied to the bed and it would be pointless. Every time I moved all I ended up with was a horrible burning feeling in my wrists."

Charlotte gestures towards the stack of photos "There's an image there of what her wrists looked like when she was admitted. She had severe infections on top of rope burns on both wrists and one of her ankles."

I frown at the stack of photos, I know exactly what most of them contain and some part of my brain wonders if the photos Craig took are in there as evidence as well. Charlotte nods "Continue, please."

"He sat down on a stool beside my head and started stroking my hair, telling me it was always his favourite part of me, along with my eyes. Then he told me he was going to start writing. I wasn't terribly worried. Craig had a habit of the overdramatic."

I stop and run my hand across my forearm; the slightly puckered skin under my fingertips gives me the strength to continue. "He handed me this shitty rum that he brought and told me I'd be better off drinking it even though rum always made me violently ill. Then he brought out his writing implement and I realised how truly fucked I was. Sorry."

I aim the apology to the judge who just shakes her head. "That's fine. Continue."

I inhale a huge breath "He used a paring knife to write the letters of his name. The C was on the front of my shoulder joint and the letters ran down the inside of my bicep to my forearm where the curve of the g is against my wrist."

"You said the letters ran, like past tense?"

I roll the ¾ sleeve on my arm as high as I can go "It still says his name, but I covered it as best I could."

Charlotte nods "There are photos of what her arm looked like when she was admitted in the photographs as well."

"I was tied to that bed for a month. Every day he would come back from wherever he went during the day and 'clean' my arm."

"What do you mean by clean?" Charlotte asks, already knowing the answer but needing me to specify.

"It depended. For the first week he was just using salt water from the sea. During the second week he started picking all the scabs off it and then using salt water and lemon juice. Towards the end he kept most of the cleaning ritual he'd started. He'd pick of any scabs there were and wipe my entire arm down with a stained rag that he'd found somewhere. He'd then wash my arm with salt water from the sea, the lemons he'd always have were cut in half, their juice squeezed over my arm and then the cut sides were rubbed against my skin so the juice went into every bit of his name. He made some sort of compress out of salt, water and lemon juice that he turned into a slushy mess that he packed against my skin and wrapped with cling film." I shudder at the memory "The first time he did that I almost passed out, but he'd always stop when I almost did and wait till I was coherent again before starting again. That was the point I gave up. I knew my arm was infected and I started hoping that the infection would kill me. That was also the first time I said anything to him."

"What did you say?"

"I asked him why. He told me it was because I belonged to him and everyone needed to know it by looking at me. He told me the only reason he didn't carve his name on my forehead is that he didn't want to mess up any family photos we had with our children."

I sniff lightly, a few of the tears in my eyes finally spilling over "That was also the first night he sexually assaulted me."

Deirdre gasps and I hear Katrina's voice calling me a liar which I ignore, Donna growls and I smile at her softly through my eyelashes, shaking my head. "He did that every night, at least once a night. Sometimes he'd stop and take photos, sometimes he'd talk about loosening the ropes, sometimes he talk about what it would be like when he could let me go and we could go back to New York and start our family."

"After about 2 weeks of that I just gave up. I was sure I was going to die and I figured that by not fighting him and continuing to ignore him he might get sick of me and not come back. He let me up not long after that. I couldn't walk so I wasn't going anywhere. No one knew where we'd gone, I'd said we were going out of town but hadn't specified further than that. About 2 weeks after that he untied me completely but I still couldn't do anything. I couldn't walk more than 20 steps without being on the verge of passing out." Swiping angrily at my eyes I put my hands in my lap and twist my wedding band and engagement ring around my finger. "It was 2 months after we left New York before I was strong enough to leave the shed. He'd come in one night and told me that the fishing work he'd been doing was ending and we'd have to go somewhere else."

Charlotte hands me a water bottle which I accept with a grateful smile "I waited what felt like forever after he left, but was really probably about an hour before I moved. It took me 5 minutes walking that felt like miles to find a house, but I didn't know if anyone knew Craig around the area so I kept going. I saw the sign for York Hospital about 20 minutes after I passed the first house and I made that my destination."

Charlotte nods "We've got the hospital records here. You walked in the door at 1140 on September 29th, managed to get out that you'd been abducted and what your name was before you passed out. Within an hour they had you being hydrated, they'd informed the police and Alice and Camryn were on their way."

I nod and Charlotte smiles over at my friends "Can you tell me about the time between then and when you ended up in California?"

"I spent 31 days in hospital, fighting off the infections I had, seeing a therapist every day and regaining muscle mass. I continued to see the same therapist after I returned to New York."

"Isn't it unusual to have a therapist cross state lines?"

I shrug "Probably, mine was actually a woman based here in New York. Her office is in the same building as Derek, Cam's father, and she came very highly recommended in situations such as mine. I tried to go back to normal, as normal as I could. Al and I covered the scars as best we could and I found a new job."

"Tell me about that?"

"Because I'd been gone so long my boss had seen it as abandoning my position so they'd filled it, even though when everything came out they offered me another role I couldn't take it. I couldn't be out of the house after dark, I was too scared even though I knew Craig was in jail and couldn't get me. I started working in a coffee shop, only during the hours of daylight, but Al or Cam had to be there with me while I was working, normally it was Al during the day. Cam and I shared an apartment and she moved both our beds into the living room so even when I was sleeping I wasn't alone. Between the two of them I was almost never left alone. When I realised what they were doing to their own lives I made them stop and arranged with Derek and his chef and housekeeper that I could go there during the day so I wasn't alone. There's always someone at the Franklin house so it seemed logical."

"Things started to get back to some sort of normalcy until 7 months, 1 week and 5 days after I escaped when Craig was released due to a complication. I had a restraining order that I didn't think I'd need cause he was incarcerated in another state but in the first day he rang me twice. Four days after he was released when the phone calls from him to me and me to the local police had hit triple digits he left a headless cat on my doorstep."

Johnson finally jumps to his feet "Objection, we have no way of knowing if it was Mr Turner that left the decapitated animal."

"We have still photos from the security footage of the animal being left, and Mr Turners face in the same shot, as well as video footage of the delivery." Charlotte gestures towards her table after picking her words very carefully. "And after all of that?" She says to me.

"I left that afternoon. While I didn't find either of the parts of the animal, Cam found the body and Al found the head attached to her door, it was disturbing enough to know that Craig could get through the security in the building. I arrived in California 3 days after I left New York."

Charlotte nods "For the record, Mrs Teller's hospital records have been submitted with the full list of injuries, including the internal injuries she'd sustained from the defendants mistreatment of her."

The judge nods, glancing at the thick folder that holds my hospital record, including all the treatment I'd had. "And how has life been since you returned to California?"

I smile over at Jax "It's been busy but I'm happy, I've only had two conversations with Gayle since I returned."

Charlotte looks up "Who is Gayle?"

"My psychiatrist." I reply. "I spoke to her before I submitted some paperwork to legally adopt my stepson and once briefly before I came out here for the trial."

"Why did you speak to her regarding your stepson?"

I shrug "I wanted to make sure that there would be no way my treatment with her could adversely affect the outcome of the adoption."

"And did it?"

I shrug "I don't know I'm due to hear the final result sometime in the next week."

'You're not concerned about your past making it hard for you to care for someone?"

I shake my head "No. What happened to me wasn't my fault." Lifting my arm I point to a very faint line of script that's been woven between the images on my arm in the scar covering sleeve "There isn't much in the way of words tattooed on me, but this single line I read every day."

"What does it say?" Charlotte asks, cocking her head to the side.

"It says 'Even the darkest night has a dawn' I've been through my share of dark nights." I reply.

Charlotte nods "No further questions."

Johnson stands up and walks around his desk, sitting on top of the dark wood and looking at me "You told my client that you would never get married, correct?"

I nod "I did."

"Yet only 7 weeks after you returned to California from New York you were back in New York getting married?"

I nod "I came back to New York for Derek's wedding with Jackson Teller, my then boyfriend. He proposed during the flight back and I accepted. We were married only a few days later while in town."

"Why did you never accept my clients marriage proposals."

"Objection. Relevance?"

The judge lifts her eyebrow and Johnson smirks "I merely want to find why the witness was so reluctant to get married yet when asked not many months after her traumatic event she accepted."

The judge looks at me "You don't have to answer if you don't wish too."

I nod "I know, but I'd like to." Looking at Charlotte I smile "It's not like it's a secret."

"What's not a secret?"

I shrug "I've loved Jackson Teller since I was 12. Craig knew that there was something in California that had part of me, and always would. I never told him it was a person cause it wasn't fair on him to be competing with a ghost. When I moved to New York I wanted to leave everything from California behind me and I did, mostly."

"Mostly?"

I nod "When you love someone as much as I loved Jax it's impossible to forget that. You can bury it, you can supress it, you can get over it to a certain extent but there will always be a part of you that will love that person till your dying breath."

"You used the past tense there, any reason?"

I smile at Jax and nod again "Of course. I used past tense because I don't love him that much anymore." Jax frowns for a split second till I open my mouth again "I love him more now than I did when I was 12. I understand the difference between the different levels of love. Childhood crush adult love and parental unconditional love."

"But you have no children, how would you understand parental love."

"Objection!" Charlotte jumps to her feet "We have already covered that Mrs Teller is in the process of adopting her stepson."

Johnson turns around "Yes, but a step parent will never love a child as much as a biological parent does."

The judge shakes her head, narrowing her eyes at Johnson "I'm overruling that question as a step-parent myself who loves her stepchildren as much as their biological mother does."

Johnson nods in acceptance turning back to me "Would you say your captivity was emotional?"

I nod "It was."

"And you're sure you can 100% say that my client was the one who held you captive, even though by your own admission the first night you passed out. Is it not possible that it was a figment of your imagination that it was Craig and in fact you'd been kidnapped from New York?"

I almost snort; only digging my fingers into my palm stops the sound "No it's not possible. I was sober when I left New York and drove the 5 hours with Craig, in his car, to Maine. I dated him for 2 and a half years, it's not possible that it wasn't him I looked at each day when he peeled scabs off my body and poured salt into my wounds. And it certainly is not possible that it wasn't him that raped me multiple times." I spit out at him, ignoring each of his attempts to ask me another question.

"You said you've been in love with your husband since you were a young girl?" I nod "Are you aware of his criminal history?"

I do end up snorting this time "Yes, I am aware he did a 6 month stretch for assault over 2 years ago when he punched someone who intentionally used their vehicle to ram his step father while he was on his motorcycle. In case you didn't know my husbands' father was killed when he was struck by a vehicle many years ago. I am also aware that he was given a suspended sentence over the two speeding tickets he got within a week of each other."

"And the smuggling, possession and DUI charges?"

"Each of them was thrown out. The DUI equipment was found to be faulty when the arresting officer failed with the highest reading on record. The possession charge was dropped when the evidence disappeared before it made it to the evidence lock up and the smuggling charge was such a joke that a judge didn't even look twice at the paperwork before tossing it out."

"And the other criminal activities your husband is involved in, are you sure he didn't have anything to do with Mr Turner's disappearance?"

I look up at him blankly "My husband is a mechanic and a member of a Harley enthusiasts club."

Johnson takes his seat again, throwing over his shoulder that he's done with me.

Charlotte stands up and smiles "I only have one more question." I nod and she gestures towards the Turners "Prior to today have you seen any of the Turners since you escaped your captivity?"

I shake my head "No, I haven't." Charlotte nods, letting me take my seat again beside Jax, who immediately folds me into his arms.

The judge calls for a 30 minute recess when the officer who took 'Craig' away returns but orders none of us to leave the building.

None of us leave the room apart from Donna who goes to the bathroom down the hall, but she's back inside 5 minutes. "It's insane out there. There's at least 10 reporters across the hall just hovering. When I opened the door they all sort of leant forward till they realised I wasn't anyone they recognised."

"Fuck!" Derek grumbles looking at me "I guess I have to tell you now."

"Tell me what?" I ask, my attention immediately drawn.

"Among the fact that they've dug up all the criminal history relating to Jax, and they are rehashing the original trial the reporters found out about an incident involving two cars in a garage." Derek says "There's some very sketchy information regarding what actually happened, one of the stories claims that you took a sledgehammer to Jax's ex girlfriend's car then tried to run her over but hit a concrete wall instead."

I laugh, leaning into Jax's side. "If that's all they've got then they're not doing their jobs very well. The incident involving a vehicular assault happened against my car, and anyone who would like to know the details can search the insurance register where they will find my insurance company paid out without any issues and the other party was found completely liable. If they'd like more than that I can arrange a public viewing of the video footage of the incident in question."

Derek laughs "So you're not worried?"

"Nope." I reply, my lips making a popping sound "I've got nothing to be concerned about. When we leave, if I manage to get away without being mobbed, then direct them to Patrick who has a copy of the footage and the reports."

The judge returns with the officer who had escorted 'Craig' out, both of them frowning deeply at Johnson who's still sitting in his seat.

After taking her seat behind the huge desk she looks down "Were you aware Mr Johnson that the man who arrived today claiming to be Mr Craig Turner is in fact Brad Turner, the cousin of your client?"

Johnson looks up and shakes his head once "No ma'am I didn't. Mr and Mrs Turner informed me at the close of yesterdays session that their daughter had finally gotten hold of their son and he would be here this afternoon."

I turn my eyes to the family finding them all sitting very stiffly in their seats, apart from Katrina's husband who's twisted so far sideways in his seat that he looks like he's about to fall off the edge of the bench.

The judge clears her throat bringing everyone's attention back to her "I spoke with Mr Brad Turner during our recess and have clarified a few things. On the information he has provided while still under oath I have no choice but to find Mr William Turner, Mrs Deirdre Turner and Ms Katrina Turner in contempt of court. Each of you will be issued with a notice to appear before me at a later date where I will decide what penalties to impose. Your testimonies are to be stricken from the record and you will be escorted out of this courtroom." The bailiffs appear beside them and each of the stunned Turner's are escorted out of the room before another word can be said. "Bradley Turner is going to be charged with lying under oath and attempted miscarriage of justice."

The judge then turns back to Johnson and Charlotte "Continue please."

Charlotte gets up "I'd like to call Brett Handler to the stand."

The manager from our building makes his way to the seat where he's sworn in quickly. Charlotte smiles at him "I only have a few questions for you Mr Handler. Firstly, can you please state your name and occupation for the record?"

"My name's Brett Handler, I'm the manager of the Lumiere building where Sarah lived before and after her ordeal."

"Thank you. Now, can you explain what happened with the security protocols after Sarah was released from the hospital?"

"Mr Franklin had additional security put in place while Ms Hale, sorry Mrs Teller, was a patient. It included motion activated security cameras in all the common areas of the building, he upgraded the swipe card system for the front doors and hired additional staff so that there was always 2 security staff onsite at all times."

"Was there any particular reason?"

"Mr Franklin saw Mrs Teller as a member of his family, with how close she and his daughter were he was concerned about how safe they both would feel in the building."

"Yet Craig Turner still managed to gain access?"

Brett frowns and looks over at Cam, Al and I with an apologetic look "Yes, it seems that one of the security staff we hired had a gambling problem and he was paid by Mr Turner to leave a door unlocked and look the other way."

"What happened to that staff member?"

"Mr Franklin put him through Gamblers anonymous and then gave him a job working security at a factory out of town where he was part of a four man crew at all times."

"No further questions."

"Mr Handler, who undertook the hiring of the security staff?" Johnson asks, getting to his feet.

"I contracted an outside firm to find me additional guards."

"And did you perform any searches on the recommended people yourself?"

"No, I trusted the firm I'd employed were doing their jobs correctly, when we brought it to their attention they completely changed their protocols and the searches they ran on their potential employee's."

"What did Mr Franklin think of the whole issue?"

"He refused to have any more contact with that particular company, he now hires his security independently and each of them must pass multiple security, financial and medical checks before being offered roles."

"I can understand security checks, but why financial and medical?" Johnson asks, with a curious frown.

"It was a condition Mr Franklin put on the potential employees."

"Thank you, nothing further."

The judge looks over at Charlotte and tells her to call her final witness for the day. Charlotte nods as she stands up, asking Derek to the stand, he's sworn in and takes his seat casually.

"Please state your name and relationship to Mrs Teller for the record."

"Derek Franklin. Sarah is my daughters' friend and former flatmate."

"Further to Mr Handler's testimony can you please explain why you required your security staff to undergo financial and medical checks?"

"Sure. The medical checks were mainly to make sure my staff members stayed healthy, they would get 6 monthly medicals as part of their employment contract. I originally only had financial checks being done on the staff that worked with anything to do with the law enforcement and financial institutes that I was contracted to, but I pushed that to all levels of my business after the oversight at Lumiere. Any existing staff member that didn't want the full financial checks done was given a reference and 4 weeks paid leave to find a new job."

"How many staff members did you lose?"

Derek laughs "Less than one hundred. Out of a staff of over 20 thousand people worldwide."

"Thank you, that's all."

Johnson shakes his head when asked if he wants to ask Derek any questions and Derek returns to the seats with us. The judge closes the day and tells us to reconvene again at 9am the following morning.

Leaving the courtroom I see what Donna meant, there are a few reporters standing against the wall opposite and when they spot me they surge forward. Opie, Hap, Jax and Derek form a sort of circle around me with Derek in the front, the first question that is yelled at me is regarding the accident, but the mention of Tara's name makes me almost freeze in my steps, Jax's arm through mine keeps me moving and Derek chuckles at the question, directing them all to Patrick's office with the casual mention that he has video footage of the incident in question.