I expect Dr. Brant to call on Elliot or Jennifer, but instead she calls a Dr. Nadine to the stand. I’m confused because I have no idea who he or she is, but then the doctor from quarantine, Kevin, walks past me and my jaw drops. I’d assumed the trial would focus on everything that happened with the bees, but she’s clearly dug much deeper than just that. I’m helpless to do anything but listen as the two of them slowly pick apart every bit of my character.
When Dr. Brant finishes, a hush settles back over the room. I wait for the chairman to dismiss Kevin, but instead he looks annoyed and clears his throat.
“Miss Bradbury, Mr. Traven do you plan to question the witness, or are you waiving your right to cross-examine him?” I stare in frozen shock. I’m not prepared to represent myself. I expected to be in a room with Dr. Brant and a few other field managers and I figured all my friends would be suck outside in some hallway as they waited for the outcome, not here to witness my humiliation. My throat tightens in desperation as a phrase about a fool being his own lawyer plays through my mind. I feel the warmth of Ryan’s touch. He lightly squeezes my wrist and stands up.
“If it’s all right with you, Mr. Chairman, may I question the witness for both of us?” I watch with a mix of awe and admiration as Ryan casually approaches the stand. He seems completely composed. “Dr. Nadine, you stated you restrained Miss Bradbury because she had become defiant and refused to allow any more tests, correct?” He sounds so much like a television lawyer that I cover my mouth to stifle a laugh.
Kevin looks nervously from Ryan to the chairman. The chainman gives a curt nod and Kevin answers. “That’s correct.”
Ryan slowly walks across the room and back, making eye contact with every field manager as he paces. “Isn’t it true that before Miss Bradbury refused further testing, she spent the morning asking, pleading for information on both her health status and mine? And, isn’t it also true that her questions went unanswered because you had instructed the doctors to avoid any verbal interaction with her?”
Kevin shakes his head, unwilling or unable to answer.
Ryan continues without waiting for an answer. “It sounds to me as if Miss Bradbury’s behavior was an act of desperation, not defiance. Desperation brought on by your malicious desire for revenge after Miss Bradbury asked to speak to your supervisor when you continued to relentlessly question her for information she couldn’t provide.”
Kevin’s face contorts. “But she was lying,” he blurts. “She blatantly refused to tell me what foods she’d eaten.”
“Oh really?” Ryan smiles at the field managers, really turning up the charm. “So tell me Dr. Nadine, what did you have for lunch three days ago?” When Kevin hesitates Ryan asks, “Two days?” As Kevin chews his lip, obviously thinking, Ryan turns and winks at me. “Okay, then how about breakfast this morning?”
Kevin straightens in his chair. “Eggs. I had scrambled eggs and pancakes this morning.”
“Good for you, you finally got one,” Ryan says somberly. “Did you ever stop and think how hard it is to remember and describe an unknown food you ate three weeks ago, when someone refuses to give you to the time to think?”
“I…I…I—” Kevin stutters than drops his head and falls silent, but I don’t feel bad for him, not the slightest bit.
Ryan finishes his questioning, and Dr. Brant calls more witnesses. Ryan easily tears each one’s testimony apart. I begin to feel hopeful. Because of Ryan, I appear more as a misunderstood victim, and so far, Ryan’s come out looking squeaky clean. Then Dr. Brant calls Chad to the stand. Dr. Brant avoids any questions about my time in quarantine and skips straight to questions about my request for the sleeping pills. Chad wastes no time portraying me as fragile and depressed. I’m hurt with the ease in which he willingly trashes my reputation. Despite what happened with the kiss, I still considered us friends.
Then Chad shifts all of the blame for my mental state onto Ryan. By the time he’s finished testifying, Ryan looks like a two timing womanizer. Ryan’s knuckles have turned white from his grip on the table. He swallows hard and starts to stand, but I push him back down. It’s my turn to defend Ryan.
I’m not nearly as confident as Ryan when I walk to the stand. My voice quivers. “Dr. Lambert, before I begin my questions, I want to clarify our relationship with each other.” I swallow a bubble of laughter. The formalness of my words feels phony. “Is it true that you tried to kiss me?”
Chad does not seem surprised by the question. “I did. You should remember. You kissed back.”
“I did not!” I sound too defensive and hope the council doesn’t take my reaction as a sign of guilt. I take a steadying breath. “I believe my exact response to your kiss was ‘You have a girlfriend’.” I try to glance at the field managers whose expressions only increase my nervousness. “I…Um…I think your feelings for me and my subsequent rejection has jaded your testimony.”
The deep chastising voice of the chairman interjects. “Do you have an actual question for the witness Miss Bradbury?”
I look around the courtroom. I know I’m failing miserably, but then I see someone I hadn’t expected sitting amongst my friends. “Mr. Chairman, can I call a rebuttal witness once I’m finished with Dr. Lambert?”
“Yes, that would be acceptable.”
“Thank you.” I turn my attention back to Chad. “Isn’t it true that when I asked for sleeping pills I said I was having trouble winding down enough to want to go to sleep, and isn’t it true that you immediately jumped to a diagnosis of depression? You didn’t question me further and you didn’t first suggest exercise, yoga, meditation, or avoiding caffeine late in the day?”
Chad hesitates before answering. My drastic change of topic must have thrown him for a loop. “You might have said something like that, but that doesn’t mean that my diagnosis was incorrect.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on your diagnosis.” I continue before he has a chance to elaborate. “Isn’t also true that we settled on a one week supply of a sleeping aid, and if that didn’t work, I’d return to the hospital?”
Chad nods. “Yes.”
“Did I return to the hospital?”
“No.”
“So a safe assumption is either I’m still suffering from insomnia, or I’ve dealt with the stress that was disrupting my sleeping pattern.”
Chad squirms in his chair. “I couldn’t answer that without an exam.”
“Of course you can’t.” I gesture to my eyes. “However, I’d like to note that I’m not wearing any makeup. Do you see any circles under my eyes, Dr. Lambert?”
His lips tighten into a thin line. “No,” he answers with some reluctance.
“Thank you.” I turn back to the chairman. “I’m finished with this witness. May I call Ms. Kelly Rand to the stand?” A murmur of laughter runs through the room. I blush at my unintended rhyme.
Kelly looks startled but saunters to the stand. I pray my plan works. “Ms. Rand, is it true—” I suppress another uncomfortable laugh and apoplectically look at the field managers. “I’m sorry but this formal speak just isn’t me.” I look back over at Kelly. “You don’t like me.”
A rueful snare twists her mouth. “No. I hate you.”
“Why do you hate me?”
Kelly holds her head up high and meets the eyes of everyone in the courtroom. “Because you stole my boyfriend.”
I ignore the soft gasp and disapproving headshakes. “Do you hate Ryan?”
The gleam in Kelly’s eyes and the almost imperceptible nod of her head tells me that Kelly knows where I’m going. “No.” Another murmur makes its way through the crowd. “I tried to hate him, but he was upfront with me when he returned to the base. He told me he needed time and space to figure out his feelings. He didn’t mention you by name, but I easily figured that part out on my own.”
I’m tempted to end my questions right there, but Dr. Brant still has her cross-examination. I need to make sure I tie up all loose ends and that means asking a question to which I may not want to hear the answer.
“Ryan kissed you more than once since returning to the base. You’re telling me you don’t feel cheated or led on by his behavior?”
Kelly’s snide laughter catches me off guard. “You saw us kissing, but that’s only because I knew you were there. You never stuck around long enough to see him pull away.”
My vision blurs with tears.
Kelly’s eyes go wide. “Wait. You took Ryan back thinking he’d been spending all this time with his tongue in my mouth. You’re more pathetic than I thought.”
“I have no further questions,” I quickly say.
Dr. Brant declines to question Kelly and returns to her list of witnesses. For a while there’s not much more cross-examination needed. The witnesses Dr. Brant calls are our friends. She tries her best to twist their testimony against us, but in the end, they say nothing particularly damning. In fact, most of their testimony backfires on Dr. Brant. Our friends fiercely defend us and without prompting, they point out all the research we’ve done on the honey and the work we’ve done on the database. The field managers seem impressed as they scroll through the database on their tablets.
When Dr. Brant calls Elliot, my heart sinks. After he’s done trashing us, no one will believe a word we say. I almost wish I hadn’t gone back for him.
A smile twists across Dr. Brant’s lips. “Elliot, can you please give the council you’re account of the incident.”
Elliot loudly clears his throat and looks at each of the council members. A bead of sweat rolls down his forehead, and I wonder if he’s nervous. “None of what happened was Brett’s or Ryan’s fault. In fact, they warned me that I was being reckless. I was too proud and stubborn to listen. I endangered my team and almost got myself killed.”
I gasp and everyone behind me loudly voices disbelief. The chairman repeatedly bangs his gavel before everyone finally quiets.
Elliot wipes a shaky sleeve across his forehead. “Brett and Ryan have been unfairly blamed. I was jealous of everything their team accomplished in such a short amount of time before they got caught in the flood. When they returned, I felt threatened and did everything I could to make them look bad. They had every reason to leave me for dead, but they chose to disobey the rules and came back for me. They rescued me and managed to make an incredible discovery. They should be praised, not punished for their actions.”
A strained silence fills the room. Elliot’s testimony is not what anyone expected. Dr. Brant furrows her forehead and purses her lips. As much as I’ve grown to dislike her, I share her confusion. Elliot’s admission is completely out of character. I guess his near death experience affected him more than anyone realized. I’m as grateful as I am surprised.
Ryan squeezes my hand. I see my own feelings of hope reflected in his eyes. Because of Elliot, we stand a chance of keeping our jobs. I may not spend the rest of my life washing dishes after all. The chairman dismisses Elliot, and Dr. Brant calls up Gabriella. One by one, each member of Elliot’s team and our team takes the stand. Everyone except Cam praises our actions, but the worse Cam says is that we seem stuck up.
Even if the council doesn’t reinstate us, I’m overwhelmingly grateful to everyone that has supported us. At least the council’s decision will be based on the truth.
Finally, Ryan and I are the only people left who haven’t testified. The chairman dismisses Cam from the stand and faces Ryan and me. “Unless you want to add or dispute anything, I think we have all the facts. I don’t think it’s necessary to hear you reiterate what’s in your written accounts.”
The councilman’s request is odd, but I don’t see how arguing with him will benefit us. I quickly glance through my copy of the reports. “No, the written accounts are accurate,” I admit. “But if I can, I’d like to say something.”
The chairman motions for me to continue.
“Ryan and I understand that rules are made to keep everyone safe. We didn’t haphazardly disregard the exposure and quarantine rules. We couldn’t just leave a team member out there, regardless if he was alive or dead. So, we broke the rules, but we took steps to ensure we didn’t endanger anyone other than ourselves. I hope you rule in our favor, but please don’t ask me to apologize. I can’t say I’m sorry for my actions, because in the end I know I did what was right.”
The chairman brings his hands together in front of his face, his fingers forming a triangle. Tapping his fingertips together, he looks down at us and says, “Ryan, do you have anything to add?”
“No. Thank you. I think Brett’s words pretty much sum up my feelings.”
“Very well.” The chairman stands and seems impatient to leave. “Everyone is dismissed. We will apprise you of our decision.” He leaves the room without so much as a glance in our direction. I have no idea if that’s a bad or good sign.
Ryan releases a long, deep sigh. “Well, there’s nothing to do now but wait.” placing a hand on the small of my back, he guides me toward the door.
Elliot blocks our path. “I meant what I said up there. I’ve been a total jerk when neither of you did anything to deserve it.”
Ryan holds out his hand. “Thanks. You did what was right in the end.”
Elliot claps Ryan’s hand. “I just hope everything works out now.”
Kelly squeezes her way past us. I hastily excuse myself and rush after her. “What you said about the kisses, was that just for the sake of the hearing?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kelly stares at me with an amused expression. “If I tell you, we’re even, got it?” I nod vigorously. “You may be a pathetic bitch, but you’ve got yourself a seriously sweet and standup guy. Lucky for you I’m not into that type anymore.” Kelly flips her hair which smacks me in the face as she leaves.
Chapter 20
The field managers and the chairman take their time deciding. Almost a week passes before we receive notice to appear at the chairman’s office. Oddly, his office is located in the warehouse area, a scarily short distance from “the warehouse” that Dean brought me. When I walk inside the chairman’s warehouse, I discover the exterior may be plain, ugly brick and concrete, but the interior is ornately decorated.
A soldier greets us at the main entrance and leads us to a large waiting area just outside of the chairman’s office. The secretary announces our arrival, but lets us wait, and keep waiting. Fifteen minutes past my scheduled appointment time, the secretary announces that the chairman is ready to receive me. I push open the large mahogany doors and walk into a plush office decorated in shades of red and gold. I wonder if he intentionally kept us waiting to exert some control.