There were too many charges against him, some already proven, but his lawyer seemed determined to knock the ones relating to Oakley off the list so who knows what bullshit was about to come out of his mouth.
We sat side by side, and I wondered if I could leave. I didn’t want to be here but I wanted to be able to prepare Oakley if Max’s version of events changed anything. If the jury seemed like they were believing him.
Max looked like he’d aged more than just four years but he still appeared every bit the respectable man. He wore a smart black expensive looking suit, crisp white shirt and pale blue tie. His hair was nearly combed and he was clean-shaven.
He stood confidently, back straight and chin up. My hatred grew. How dare he stand there and pretend he’s not a monster after everything he’d done?
Jasper’s fists were clenched on his knees and he glared at his dad as if a look could murder him.
Max spoke fluently and calmly, the way he’d done when he was running the town committee to raise money for the new park and the church roof. I remembered watching him when I was young, hero-worshiping him because he was the reason our village was getting a skate ramp.
“Mr Farrell, how did you feel when you first heard the claims your daughter had made against you?” Linda asked. She carried herself as if she’d already won the case. I wasn’t sure if that confidence would bite us in the arse or if it was good and would show the jury she was certain Max was guilty.
“Devastated. Shocked. Confused. One minute we’re setting up for a weekend camping and the next she’s taken off and I’m arrested. It still feels like a nightmare.”
“Why did you only take Oakley camping? You have two children, it seems rather strange that you’d only take your daughter.”
Max nodded and very swiftly replied, “I would have taken both but Jasper didn’t want to come in the end.”
“What do you mean ‘in the end’?”
“To begin with Oakley didn’t want him to come. She wanted me to herself, the way she only wanted Sarah – her mother – to take her to gymnastics. Camping became my time with Oakley and my son’s time was football on a Sunday morning.”
“Liar,” Jasper growled under his teeth.
The football part was true, the rest was Max’s fantasy.
“You allowed your five-year-old daughter to dictate who was going on these trips?”
Max smiled his award-winning smile. “She needed one-on-one time and so did Jasper, every child does. We had plenty times together as a family too but they both needed occasions where they had my undivided attention.”
I ground my teeth.
“Mr Farrell, why did you not tell your wife an old friend, Mr Frank Glosser, was joining you on your trip?”
“It was last-minute. Frank called me to say he’d just arrived in town and was about to check in to a hotel. Within an hour he was with us. Sarah knew Frank and knew he’d visited us at the camp site before, I knew she wouldn’t have an issue with it and Frank always stayed in a separate tent.”
“You took a spare tent?”
“He hired one from the campsite. They have a record of the booking.”
Linda smiled briefly. She knew that already. “Of course. And why did Mr Glosser continue to join you on these trips after Oakley stopped talking? Did it not seem odd to you that she stopped soon after you’d been camping?”
“Frank is an old friend and he’d been joining us for a while. My son and daughter liked him and had no issue spending time with him. Frank had been around them both long before Oakley stopped talking and she’d never expressed any unease in his presence.”
“So it never crossed your mind that someone could be forcing her to stay silent? You did say you spent many hours researching and visiting doctors.”
“It was a consideration, of course, but we trusted everyone we had around our children.”
“Still, the one person that saw more of your daughter than your son on a one-to-one basis was Mr Glosser.”
“Frank had spent time with just myself and my son over the years,” Max replied smoothly. He was a picture of calm, as if the questions being asked now were about the weather.
Linda smiled briefly. “How did Oakley’s silence affect you?”
“It was difficult to say the least. We were desperate to help her and put everything in to finding out what was wrong. As a result we suffered physical, emotionally, and financially. I lost work because I was so preoccupied in finding out what was wrong with my child. My ex wife and I fought, both lost as to what to do for the best. We didn’t know how to help. I’ve not had a full night’s sleep since the day she stopped speaking.”
“Probably worrying she’d speak up,” Jasper muttered in disgust under his breath.
“You suffered financially?” Linda asked.
“Yes.”
“Mr Farrell, did you take money in exchange for allowing Mr Glosser to sexually abuse your daughter?”
“No,” Max replied, appalled. “Absolutely not.”
“How was your relationship with Oakley affected?”