Chapter 4: FOUR

The next witness identified herself as Marie Beauchamp, a friend of Lana’s. Sendrhea found the pronunciation of the name fascinating. Beecham. That sure didn’t sound anything at all like it was written.

And humans think our names are complicated, Fharezhan sent.

Marie took the stand, swore to tell the truth, so help her God. The truth, Sendrhea decided, was heading to the door, and it would leave in a few moments, to be replaced by lies. Marie would tell a story that would help her friend, and whatever god these humans believed in would be nowhere in sight to punish her.

“Could you please tell us your full name,” Aaron Farrow said.

Farrow’s request puzzled her. What had Senha Beauchamp’s full name to do with giving testimony? He hadn’t asked Dr. Hallman’s full name.

“Marie Louise Danielle Beauchamp.”

“You’re pronouncing your name ‘Beecham.’ ”

“That’s the way my mother wants it. She and my father are divorced, and he’s French Canadian, and he insists the name should be pronounced the proper way.”

“Mr. Farrow,” Kingsley said, “let’s get on with the questioning. If Miss Beauchamp wants her name to be pronounced a certain way, that’s the way we’ll pronounce it.”

“Let’s get to the evening of April 22^nd, Miss Beauchamp. Can you tell the court what happened.”

He forgot to add ‘In your own words,’ Fharezhan sent.

“I received a call about.. eight thirty, maybe a little later, and it was from Lana. She sounded really distraught so I asked her what happened, and she told me one of those furry aliens attacked her.

One of those furry aliens. That sounded familiar.

“She wanted me to come and pick her up,” Marie continued. “I don’t have a car so I decided to walk over to the park, which isn’t too far from where I live. When I saw her...” She buried her face in her hands, sobbed like a lost child. “It was horrible.”

“If it’s all right with the court,” Farrow said. “I don’t think we need to hear the details. They have already been adequately described by Dr. Hallman.”

She’s not going to get away that easily, Sendrhea sent.

Are we going to ask her about...?

Yes.

“I called 911, and an ambulance showed up. They got there as quick as they could and took her to Westover General.”

“My next question concerns your personal observation of Miss Northwood. What was her mood when you first saw her in the park?”

Marie leaned forward. “What kind of question is that? What kind of mood do you think she was in? She just got scratched by an alien.”

“Bear with me, Miss Beauchamp. Was she crying... angry...?

“You got it. She kept saying, ‘Why?’ She hadn’t done anything to the alien, so why did she get scratched?”

“Did you visit Miss Northwood at the hospital?”

“Objections, Your Honor,” Sendrhea said. “What happened at the hospital afterwards has no bearing on this case.”

“Your Honor,” Farrow said. “Miss Northwood’s demeanor both during the attack, as well as afterwards should be relevant to this case.”

“During this attack?” She stood. “Miss Beauchamp wasn’t there during the... alleged attack, so how could she know what Miss Northwood’s demeanor was during this... alleged attack.”

“I will overrule the objection,” Kingsley said. “Answer the question, Miss Beauchamp.”

“The question?”

“Did you visit Miss Northwood at the hospital?” Farrow asked.

“Yes. She was still angry.”

“Had she calmed down?”

“Somewhat.”

Sendrhea wanted to object to this line of questioning. What was Farrow doing, dragging it out in order to gain favor with the jury? Yes, Miss Northwood was angry, yes, she was crying those crocodile tears.

“I have no more questions for this witness,” Farrow said.

Sendrhea stood up, checked her notes. The ambulance bothered her, but she hadn’t had the foresight to have the ambulance drivers subpoenaed. Yes, there was an ambulance, Dr. Hallman had said so. Marie had called 911, and an ambulance showed up at the park.

What are you doing? Fharezhan asked.

Thinking about the park. “Miss Beauchamp, how much do you know about Tereskàdians?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you know about my species? You’re a college student, aren’t you? Are you learning anything about us at college?”

“I’m not interested in aliens.”

“Your Honor,” Farrow said, remaining in his seat, “is Sendrhea going to ask an actual question.”

“I will get to the questions in a moment, Your Honor. Miss Beauchamp, why are you lying?”

“What...?”

“Everything you’ve told this court is a lie, isn’t it? When Miss Northwood sits on the witness stand she will lie as well, won’t she?”

“I am NOT a liar,” Marie yelled. “You can ask the others, they will tell you the same thing. They saw Lana’s wounds.”

“Miss Beauchamp,” Kingsley said, “please compose yourself. If you need a moment...”

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“I’m... fine.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Sendrhea send, trying to keep her voice even, “back up there one minute. The others? What others?”

“Our friends... classmates.”

“So where did they see Miss Northwood’s wounds. In the park? At the hospital?”

“We all visited her at the hospital.” The answer emerged too quickly.

“Would you like me to check at the hospital? There must have been someone there who saw... how many of you?”

Marie shrugged. “Five... six, I think.”

“You think? These are your friends, and you don’t even know?”

“Five. Tony was with us at the park. He wanted to come, but then he changed his mind, said he had to be home by 9:30.”

“Before we get back to the ambulance,” Sendrhea said, “where in the park did Miss Northwood get scratched... allegedly scratched? And I want to let you know that I’m familiar with the park.”

“By the fountain... you know, that new one they put up last month.”

“So I’m wondering how an ambulance could possibly get there. That is a path for pedestrians only.”

“You must be dumb. There’s another path that leads away from that path to the main road. We took her there, and the ambulance was waiting to pick her up.”

“Watch your language, Miss Beauchamp,” Kingsley warned.

“What time was it when they arrived?”

“Nine.”

“You’re sure about that.”

“I looked at my phone. It was 9:02.”

“Hmmm.”

“Your Honor,” Farrow protested, “once again, Sendrhea is leading us down the garden path, asking questions that have no bearing on this case.”

“I think you should go on to something else, Sendrhea,” Kingsley said.

“Sorry, Your Honor. Miss Beauchamp, when you saw Miss Northwood, what was she wearing... above the waist, I mean?”

Marie looked at the judge who indicated she should answer the question.

“Just a shirt with one of those anime characters,” she said. “I’m not much into anime, so I don’t know.”

“Was it torn?”

“No.”

“Well, according to Dr. Hallman’s testimony, Miss Northwood was scratched in the abdominal region in a... what was it? Crisscross manner. Now how could this furry alien have done that without tearing Miss Northwood’s anime-covered shirt? I assure you we are not magicians.”

“She told me she was scratched there.”

“She showed you.”

“Yes.”

“She lifted up her shirt and she showed you her belly, and there were crisscross scratches on there.”

“Yes.”

“Could you tell the court how deep they were?”

“Objection,” Farrow called out. “Calls for speculation on the part of the witness.”

“Overruled,” Kingsley said.

“They looked serious,” Marie said.

“Serious? That’s rather vague, isn’t it? Were they deep? Was there a lot of blood?”

“There was blood.”

“A lot?”

“I guess so.”

“What about blood on her shirt? Was there blood on her shirt?”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“You have no idea about Tereskàdian claws, do you, Miss Beauchamp?” Sendrhea asked.

“Not really.”

“I thought not. You know what, Miss Beauchamp, instead of gaping at Facebook and YouTube and TikTok all the time, and listening to Justin Bieber or whoever the latest idol is, you should learn more about us. You have no idea what Tereskàdians are like, you have no idea how we live, you have no idea about our claws. Stick around, Miss Beauchamp. You’re going to learn something, and I’m sure the entire courtroom will learn something as well.”

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