Caught with Consequences Ch. 02

"And it was here that Lieutenant Commander Palmer was forensically examined and the aforementioned Form 2911 was completed?" Adele was leading the witness again but she made the most of the latitude afforded her.

"What condition was she in when she arrived?"

Now the jury were very alert again.

"Her uniform was dishevelled and her blouse had been torn open. Her skirt appeared to be spattered with semen and her pantyhose and undergarments were torn. I stayed with her while the medical officer examined her and completed the SAFE report. Her clothes were sealed in evidence bags for further forensic examination," Master Sergeant Jessica Long explained.

"She changed into in a hospital gown. While she was undressed I observed bruises on her hips, thighs and buttocks but you have the full SAFE report provided to you by the JAG," Senior Master Sergeant Jessica Long sat with her back straight, confident that she had done her duty.

Adele handed her witness over to Weldon Jennings.

"Master Sergeant Long, is it true that had Amanda Palmer undertaken her SAFE examination at a civilian hospital, her alleged assault would have had to be reported to civilian authorities who could investigate the offence regardless of her wish not lodge a complaint with the police?" Weldon went for the jugular.

"Objection your honour, the witness is not a legal practitioner," Adele sprang to her feet.

"No she's not your honour but in her role as a military sexual assault response coordinator and uniformed victim's advocate she would know that if the Form 2911 was completed at a civilian hospital, the plaintiff would not have the option to make a Restricted report," Weldon countered.

"Overruled, the witness may answer," the judge grunted.

"Yes sir, you are correct," it was obvious that Jessica Long disliked Weldon Jennings.

"But this Restricted report, with its very limited distribution, was provided to the plaintiff's counsel." Weldon continued.

"Is there a question there your honour?" Adele called from her seat.

"The question was implied counsel; you are not auditioning for The Good Wife here," the judge snapped at Adele.

"Lieutenant Commander Palmer requested that the DoD provide the SAFE report to her civilian attorney, which is her right," Jessica replied smugly.

"So Amanda Parker did not want the JAG to investigate the alleged offence, nor did she want the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate the offence but was happy to provide all of her private information to her civil attorney for the purpose of a civil lawsuit in order for her to make money," Weldon snapped back.

"Objection!" Adele flew to her feet.

"Sustained! The jury will disregard the defence counsel's question and you will be careful Mister Jennings," the judge growled at Weldon Jennings but Weldon had made his point regardless.

"During the SAFE examination, did anyone search Amanda Palmer's handbag or was it taken into evidence?" Weldon continued as if nothing had happened.

"No. Only exhibits deemed relevant to the attack were taken into evidence," Jessica replied, looking a little confused at the question.

"No further questions for this witness your honour," Weldon sat down, satisfied that he had damaged the plaintiff a little.

Adele was about to call her next witness, Doctor John Littlewood a forensic expert, when Judge James Duncan Payton Chatsworth III called it a day and adjourned the court.

Adele spent precious moments with Amanda Palmer telling her that today had been a victory for the plaintiff, something she wasn't entirely confident of. Then she and Sandra Cochran had a quick strategy meeting and talked about how they would present their witnesses the next day.

*****

The thought of going back to the empty apartment she shared with Celia and where they had nurtured Kimberly through adolescence after she and Celia had adopted her depressed Adele. She decided to get a drink and eat out. If she went to their favourite restaurant it would only remind her of Celia so instead she went to O'Malley's, an Irish pub close to home that served traditional Irish dishes, she was suddenly ravenous.

It was early so Adele was able to get a booth in back away from the crowded bar; she was not in the mood for people. She carried her pint of Guinness to the booth having placed her dinner order with bartender. She set up her laptop and arranged a legal pad and a pen on the table, effectively claiming the booth as her own and then she used the conveniences.

When she returned she found Cassie Rivers sitting in the booth across from where Adele had nested. Cassie also had a pint of Guinness in front of her. A waitress came over carrying two plates.

"One Irish stew and one colcannon," the girl said with a broad Irish accent.

"I'm the colcannon," Cassie raised her hand.

Cassie moved Adele's laptop and legal pad out of the way so the waitress could set down Adele's dish. Adele was still standing watching the waitress arrange cutlery and napkins.

"Do you mind if I join you for dinner?" Cassie looked up at Adele.

"Looks like you're settled in," Adele replied scooting across the bench.

Adele took a long pull on her Guinness and then began to tuck into her stew. It was only when she began to bolt down her food that she realised that she hadn't eaten all day.

Cassie chinked her glass against Adele's and tucked into her colcannon. Neither spoke until they had finished eating.

"Sorry; I was ravenous," Adele burped discreetly into her napkin.

"Me too, but I'll have to put in an extra five miles tomorrow to burn up all these carbs," Cassie smiled at Adele.

"You're a runner? You look like a runner,' Adele replied.

"My partner got me into it when we first met and it just stuck. It's addictive I suppose," Cassie smiled.

"You didn't join me for dinner to talk about your exercise regime," Adele wished she still smoked; a cigarette would be the perfect ending to her meal.

"May I?" Cassie pointed to the bench seat beside Adele and Adele nodded.

Cassie slipped into the seat beside Adele. Cassie was wearing a suit similar to what she had worn yesterday: black pencil skirt with a side kick-pleat, a pristine white satin blouse, nearly-nude fifteen denier hosiery and patent-leather black high heels. Adele was acutely aware of the proximity of Cassie's body and the Fracas eau de parfum she wore smelled exotic. The side pleat of Cassie's skirt had opened exposing her leg and because Adele insisted on wearing short skirts, their thighs were touching, their nylons rubbing sensuously together when they moved.

"Two Jack Daniel's on the rocks," Cassie smiled at the pretty waitress who was clearing their table.

"How do you know I drink Jack Daniel's?" Adele asked.

She didn't know why but she resented that Cassie knew where she was and had just invited herself to dinner.

"I know all about you Adele. You're my client so I need to know everything there is to know about you so that I can best serve you," Cassie smiled sweetly but her eyes were cold.

"But I know nothing about you," Adele countered.

"A search of the web produced nothing; it's like you don't exist. Now if you were some schmuck housewife or secretary I'd expect that. But even housewives and secretaries exist on social media, most likely on Facebook or LinkedIn. But there is nothing anywhere on Cassandra Rivers; unless of course this is you?" Adele spun her laptop around and clicked on a jpeg image.

Cassie looked amused at the picture on the screen.

A tall attractive young woman with long thick black hair wearing heavy makeup, clad in tight black denim, a leather jacket and a pair of Falco Ayda calf-high leather boots sat astride a Harley Davidson Dyna Super Glide motorcycle. Over the leather jacket the young woman wore a denim vest embroidered with a 1% badge high on the right breast and below in gold on black embroidery was a patch that read 'Original' and above that another that read 'Men Of Mayhem'. On the left beast was a stylised emblem of a woman riding a motor cycle with the words 'Biker Bitch' above and 'Don't Fuck With Me' below.

"Where did you find this?" Cassie looked intently at the picture.

"I just typed Cassie Styles into the search engine but this is the only thing that came up that even resembles you. That isn't you is it?" Adele asked.

"Not anymore," Cassie said wistfully.

"Look Adele I didn't join you for dinner for social intercourse, I have an update for you. I'm going to show you something and I want you to keep calm; we're in a public place and what you are about to see might be disturbing," Cassie put her hand over Adele's to comfort her.

The closeness of Cassie's body, her hand touching hers and their thighs pressing together was disconcerting to Adele. Her wife had only just left for Missionville that morning and her daughter was being held hostage, the intimacy she was feeling seemed inappropriate.

Adele nodded almost imperceptibly.

Cassie reached across to put a thumb drive into a USB port on Adele's laptop and her hair brushed Adele's face. Cassie smelled wonderful.

"Ok here we go," Cassie bought up a video file and played it.

The imagery was grainy but still sharp enough to perceive everything. It appeared to be taken from overhead, likely a surveillance or security camera.

Adele gasped and then held her breath.

A white woman and black woman were walking down a pathway near a park. Even from the distance that the video was taken you could see that they were young and pretty, they were wearing spandex workout clothes, carrying gym bags with suit carriers slung over their shoulders, they appeared to be engrossed in conversation.

A white van pulled up beside them and a door was flung open the door and two masked men wearing dark clothing leapt out and grabbed the girls, pressing something over their faces. The girls dropped their suit carriers and gym bags and struggled briefly but they became unconscious almost immediately.

The men manhandled the girls into the Econoline and quickly drove away.

"Breathe Adele," Cassie squeezed Adele's hand.

Adele gasped.

"It's them," Adele whispered.

"I know. This video was taken from a security camera covering Bruin Walk at UCLA but something's not quite right," Cassie closed the program and unplugged the flash drive.

Adele looked at Cassie questioningly faintly aware that Cassie still held her hand.

"As you would expect on a university campus there are security cameras everywhere. We have our ways, as I've made you aware, of accessing almost any data stored on any platform. Both the UCLA PD and LAPD have cameras covering that area and all footage taken during the time of the abduction except for this has been wiped clean," Cassie held up the flash drive.

"The kidnappers infiltrated the systems and deleted the video but left this there for us to find I'm sure of it. As soon as we found the video and downloaded it, it was automatically deleted from the police servers. These guys are really good Adele. They wanted us to find the video but they don't want the authorities to see it," Cassie explained.

"More proof that they really have my daughter and Alisha," Adele whispered.

Cassie nodded.

The women sat in silence for a while then Adele gulped down her drink and slammed the glass back down on the table. She waved at the waitress for two more.

"What now?" Adele asked.

"We have somewhere to start. We know where the abduction took place and we accessed every security camera in the area and were able to follow the Ford Econoline van the kidnappers were using. The trail ended at Central City North, the warehouse district in downtown Los Angeles. There are literally hundreds of security cameras in that area but stored video footage for the time in question has been deleted," Cassie said.

"The kidnappers," Adele muttered unnecessarily.

"At least we know they are still in the city. The BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad lines run through that area but we doubt the kidnappers would risk transporting the girls by train," Cassie smiled at the waitress who bought their drinks.

Adele was aware that Cassie was still holding her hand and she disengaged and reached for her drink.

"You have to be strong Adele. You have to believe that the kidnappers are keeping the girls safe; it's in their interests to do so," Cassie said.

"That's easy for you to say. It's not your daughter," Adele hissed.

"Adele. I know that you're strong. I told you that I know all about you. I know what you went through in college, your transition and coming out to the world as a transgender woman. You are proudly transgender but you don't push it in people's faces," Cassie reached for Adele's hand again and squeezed it.

Adele snatched back her hand.

"You don't know what I went through in college. You could never know what happened to me. How it affected me. What it's like to be me," Adele snapped.

Cassie reached for Adele's laptop and bought up the picture of the woman on the motorcycle and tapped the screen.

"When I was twenty-one I spent four days chained to a billiard table in the Beasts of Burden Motorcycle Club clubhouse. I was continually gang raped over those four days and when they'd finished with me they took me out into the desert and threw me in a hole and left me for dead," Cassie said wistfully.

"I was rescued... well sort of... it's a long story, but I returned to the Club and claimed what was rightfully mine: a full-patch membership, the respect of the other members and revenge on those who had wronged me. That was a long time ago. The woman seated on that motorcycle has long gone, but that was me," Cassie took a sip of her drink.

"It's not the same," Adele whispered.

Cassie leaned into Adele and whispered in her ear.

"They chained me to that billiard table because I used to be the son of the founding father of the MC. They found me dressed as a girl, dragged me to the clubhouse and abused me because they hated what I had become. It made me stronger. I wouldn't be the woman I am today if those terrible things hadn't happened."

Cassie picked up her pocket book.

"It's the same," Cassie said and eased herself out of the booth.

*****

The court reconvened for the second day of trial and Judge James Duncan Payton Chatsworth III quickly bought matters to order; the judge was a staunch supporter of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution which asserts the right to a speedy trial. He was not one to allow his docket to become congested.

Adele called her first witness, Doctor John Littlewood, a forensic science examiner.

Adele spent some time establishing Doctor Littlewood as an expert witness to the satisfaction of the court. While this was going on exhibits were arranged on a table and the large screen was once again positioned so it could be seen by the judge, the jury and the defence team.

Adele couldn't help thinking that it would most likely be Kimberly assisting her co-counsel with the exhibits and preparing the evidence for her. It was one of the duties Adele allowed Kimberly to perform as a paralegal so she could get exposure to court proceedings. She put her daughter out of her mind and addressed the witness.

John Littlewood was an expert in his field and Adele had used him many times before in sexual assault cases but he had a tendency to become pompous and wonder off point, labouring in minutiae that sometimes tested the jury's patience. Adele had briefed him to keep his testimony short, sharp and simple unless she directed specific questions to him.

Once again Lieutenant Commander Palmer's SAFE report was projected on the screen.

"Doctor Littlewood, are you familiar with the Department of Defense Form 2911?" Adele asked.

"I am very familiar. Its title is in fact DoD Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Report and forensics is my field of expertise," the doctor sounded a little self-congratulatory so Adele moved him along.

"We will move on from the general information and consent parts of the form and examine the patient history and activity," Adele nodded to the court clerk who gave copies of the form to the judge, the defence and the members of the jury so they could follow.

"I object again your honour. This is a Defense Department document and this is a civil trial not a military court," Weldon Jennings was quick to his feet.

"We had this out in pre-trial motions Mister Jennings and once again your objection is overruled," the judge didn't even look up from the form he was studying.

Weldon Jennings knew the contents of the form were inflammatory and had tried to get it excluded from the trial without success but he made the objection to once again to remind the jury that Amanda Palmer had foregone a criminal investigation and gone straight to civil litigation.

"The defendant has stipulated on the form that prior to the alleged attack that she had not participated in any sexual activity for five days and had not cleaned herself prior to the forensic examination," the doctor began to give his evidence.

"It is then recorded that the defendant's vulva was swollen and she had bruising on her buttocks, thighs and hips. I examined the forensics photographs taken by the examiner. The swelling to the vulva and perineum in my opinion are consistent with violent sexual penetration. The examiner used toluidine blue dye in the area which gave a positive indication for semen which concludes that at some stage of the attack she was penetrated by a penis," Doctor Littlewood said as the forensic photographs were passed around the jury.

Amanda Palmer looked humiliated as the members of the court examined pictures of her intimate body parts.

"And the bruising?" Adele raised her eyebrows indicating for her witness to continue.

"The bruising on the hips is consistent with someone being held forcefully, the bruising on the buttocks and thighs are consistent with someone undertaking vigorously physical activity. They are common on women who have been sexually assaulted."

Weldon Jennings was tempted to object but he kept his powder dry. He would have his chance to rebut the evidence during cross.

"What other parts of the form are relevant to your specific field?" Adele asked.

"As you can see on the form, there were toxicology examples taken, a vaginal speculum exam was conducted and samples taken, and her clothing was taken into evidence," the doctor said while Adele followed him down the form on the screen with her laser pointer.

"Did you have access to all evidence and specimens taken during the exam and if so what did you find?" Adele was now prepared to allow John Littlewood to prattle on because what he was about to say was damning to the defence.

"Amanda Palmer's toxicology report proved negative for alcohol and drugs. There was semen found in and around her vagina and on her thighs. There was saliva around her mouth, neck and breasts and her uniform skirt returned a positive result for semen," the reports were passed around the jury but they had little interest in the paperwork.

They were however very interested when Amanda Palmer's navy blue uniform skirt was passed around; the numerous chalky semen stains on the front of the skirt were obvious.

"Did you conduct a DNA test on the semen and saliva samples Doctor Littlewood?" Adele held her breath for the answer.

"The samples were all determined to belong to the defendant, Mister Oliver Randal," the jury murmured at the witness's response.

"And how accurate are current DNA testing techniques?" the cherry was about to be placed on the cake.

"My tests are 99.9 percent accurate," Doctor John Littlewood couldn't help a smug grin.

"Finally, is it your belief that from your examination of the evidence and the findings of your forensic analysis that Lieutenant Commander Amanda Palmer was sexually assaulted?" Adele had coached the doctor to pause for dramatic effect and he did.