Chapter 13 - Keep Him Talking
Daniel testified against his attorney’s advice.
I knew he would.
People who build entire lives around controlling narratives eventually believe nobody can tell the story as well as they can.
His new attorney, David Ross, tried to stop him.
Daniel insisted.
He took the stand wearing a dark suit.
No handcuffs.
No jail uniform.
For a moment, he looked like the man from our wedding photographs.
Then he began speaking.
He described our marriage as “increasingly difficult.”
He said pregnancy intensified my anxiety.
He admitted the backyard incident.
But called it “a misguided family intervention.”
Allison let him talk.
That was the first thing I noticed.
She did not interrupt his softer lies.
She allowed him to build.
Daniel said I agreed to remain in the yard.
Allison asked, “Buried?”
“Partially.”
“Up to your wife’s neck?”
“Yes.”
“While pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“But voluntarily?”
“She was emotional.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Daniel looked at the judge.
“She initially consented.”
“Where is that consent documented?”
“It wasn’t.”
“Audio?”
“No.”
“Video?”
“No.”
“Text message?”
“No.”
“Witness?”
“My mother and sister.”
“Both charged in connection with the incident?”
Ross objected.
The judge sustained.
Allison nodded and moved on.
“Why did your wife need a breathing straw?”
“For comfort.”
A strange sound moved through the courtroom.
Not laughter.
Disbelief.
Allison remained expressionless.
“Why couldn’t she simply stand up?”
“She could have asked to.”
“She was buried.”
“We would have helped.”
“When?”
“When she admitted she understood.”
There.
I saw Ross close his eyes.
Allison tilted her head.
“Understood what?”
Daniel hesitated.
“That her behavior was damaging the family.”
“So she could leave when she agreed with you?”
“That’s oversimplified.”
“Yes or no?”
“We wanted acknowledgment.”
“And until then?”
“She remained there.”
“Unable to leave?”
“She could have cooperated.”
Allison looked toward the judge.
Then back.
“Mr. Mercer, if someone is physically unable to leave until they comply with your demand, what do you call that?”
Ross objected again.
The judge allowed the question.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“A family matter.”
I felt something inside me settle.
He still believed the phrase protected him.
Allison moved to the documents.
“Did Claire authorize you to apply for a two-million-dollar life insurance policy?”
“We discussed insurance.”
“Did she authorize that application?”
“I believed so.”
“Did she create the email account used?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your recovery phone number was attached.”
“Lots of accounts use my number.”
“Did Claire sign the guardianship agreement?”
“Yes.”
My breath caught.
Allison paused.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My office.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
Allison handed him the document.
“Read the notarization date.”
Daniel looked down.
“March fourteenth.”
“And time?”
“Seven forty-five p.m.”
“Where was Claire at seven forty-five p.m.?”
“I don’t know.”
Allison displayed hospital records.
“Mercy Women’s Center.”
Daniel shifted.
“She could have left briefly.”
Dr. Patel had already testified.
I had been connected to monitoring equipment continuously.
Allison showed the record.
“No.”
Daniel stared at the page.
“Records can be wrong.”
“Is the notary wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is the hospital wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is Claire wrong?”
“Yes.”
“Are the audio recordings wrong?”
“They’re manipulated.”
“The video?”
“Missing context.”
“Your office records?”
“Misinterpreted.”
“The trust documents?”
“Misunderstood.”
“The jail call?”
“Altered.”
Allison paused.
“So everyone is wrong except you?”
Daniel smiled.
“That’s not what I said.”
“No. But it is what you need this court to believe.”
Ross objected.
Sustained.
Allison walked back toward the table.
Then turned.
“Did you spend eleven years on this?”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“No.”
“You said that on a recorded jail call.”
“I was angry.”
“Body-camera footage shows you telling your attorney to make that call disappear.”
“I was joking.”
“You joke about destroying evidence?”
“No.”
“You just said you did.”
Daniel looked irritated now.
I recognized the shift.
His public voice was tiring.
Allison recognized it too.
She changed subjects.
“Why did you install a backyard camera?”
“Security.”
“Why point it toward the hole?”
“I didn’t.”
Video showed him adjusting it.
Daniel said he was adjusting the light.
Video showed him checking the camera feed.
Daniel said he was checking home security.
Allison played audio.
Daniel’s own voice:
Make sure it catches her face when she apologizes.
Silence filled the courtroom.
“What did you mean?”
Daniel looked toward me.
For the first time, the judge noticed.
“Mr. Mercer, answer counsel.”
“I wanted documentation.”
“Of what?”
“Her agreeing she had behaved irrationally.”
“While buried?”
“Yes.”
“So you intended to record a statement from your immobilized pregnant wife?”
“She wasn’t immobilized.”
Allison stopped.
Then quietly:
“Could she stand?”
Daniel did not answer.
“Could she walk away?”
Nothing.
“Could she use both hands?”
Nothing.
“Could she remove herself from the dirt?”
His jaw clenched.
“No.”
Allison let the answer sit.
Then she picked up my phone transcript.
“Claire secretly recorded you asking whether she was ready to behave.”
“Yes.”
“She secretly recorded your mother discussing the baby.”
“Yes.”
“She secretly recorded Mara discussing insects.”
“Yes.”
“Why did she need secret recordings?”
“Because she was planning to frame us.”
Allison walked closer.
“When did she begin planning?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before you locked her in the basement?”
“That never happened.”
There it was.
Allison had the voicemail ready.
My mother’s January recording played.
My voice:
Unlock the door.
Daniel:
Say you’re sorry.
My voice:
No.
Daniel:
Say it.
The courtroom was silent.
Allison turned off the audio.
“You testified that never happened.”
Daniel’s face reddened.
“I meant not the way she says.”
“You said it never happened.”
“She twists everything.”
Allison waited.
Then:
“Did she twist the door lock?”
Daniel stared at her.
“Did she twist your voice onto that recording?”
No answer.
“Did she twist herself into the dirt?”
Ross objected.
Overruled.
Daniel looked at me again.
And finally, I saw the real voice arrive.
“You have no idea what she put me through.”
The courtroom became completely still.
Allison did not move.
“What did she put you through?”
Daniel pointed at me.
“She refused everything.”
Ross stood.
“Daniel.”
“She questioned every decision.”
“Mr. Mercer—”
“She embarrassed me in front of my mother. She hid money. She refused the paperwork. She threatened to take my daughter.”
My daughter.
She had not been born.
She had never belonged to him as possession.
But he continued.
“You spend years building a family and then one person decides none of the rules apply to her.”
Allison’s voice became soft.
“What rules?”
Daniel realized.
Too late.
Ross whispered, “Stop.”
Allison asked again.
“What rules, Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel breathed hard.
“The rules we agreed on.”
“Such as?”
His eyes remained fixed on me.
“She was supposed to trust me.”
“And if she didn’t?”
“She needed consequences.”
The word echoed.
Allison took one step closer.
“What kind?”
Daniel’s breathing changed.
Ross stood again.
“I advise my client not to answer beyond—”
Daniel interrupted him.
“You all keep acting like I wanted to hurt her.”
Allison said nothing.
“I wanted her to stop fighting.”
Still nothing.
“We tried talking.”
Keep him talking.
The dispatcher’s words returned to me.
Keep him talking.
Daniel continued.
“She wouldn’t listen.”
Allison waited.
“So what did you do?”
He looked at me.
“We made her listen.”
“How?”
“You know how.”
“Say it.”
Ross objected.
The judge overruled.
Daniel’s face twisted.
“We put her in the ground.”
The courtroom held its breath.
Allison asked one final question.
“And when was she allowed out?”
Daniel answered without thinking.
“When she agreed.”
Silence.
Then he understood.
His face changed.
Allison returned to her table.
“No further questions.”
I looked down at my hands.
They were shaking.
For months, Daniel told everyone I became confused when upset.
He built files.
Edited videos.
Bought witnesses.
Forged signatures.
Created diagnoses.
He did all of it because he believed memory belonged to whoever told the story most confidently.
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But in the end, Allison did not defeat him with my words.
She gave him enough room to use his own.
