Chapter 17 - Pretrial
Callum would not testify live unless absolutely necessary.
The prosecution built around:
Video.
Notebook.
Keys.
Adult witnesses.
Ambrose admissions.
Limited child forensic statements where legally admissible.
Good.
No courtroom child as spectacle.
Then Ambrose’s psychological expert.
Not to say he was insane.
He wasn’t.
To explain:
He believed in behavioral exposure.
No sadistic motive.
No sexual motive.
No desire to abandon child.
No major cognitive impairment.
That might mitigate sentencing.
Not conduct.
Then Dr. Bell for prosecution/court:
She would not diagnose abuse from one scene.
She explained why forced confinement can worsen anxiety and why therapeutic exposure requires different structure.
No melodrama.
Then my own case closed.
Diversion completed.
Misdemeanor dismissed.
I had done twenty hours at a community food pantry.
Ironically unrelated.
Anger course.
No new issue.
Callum asked:
“Done?”
“Done.”
“Can you slap Grandpa now?”
I stared.
He grinned.
A joke.
“Absolutely not.”
“Good.”
Then:
“Grandpa court?”
“Yes.”
“Will he go jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want?”
I thought.
“No.”
He looked confused.
“Why court?”
“Because courts decide consequences for some serious things.”
“Not us?”
“Not by ourselves.”
He nodded.
Then:
“Can I not see him?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“As long as it needs to be safe.”
He accepted.
The question of whether Ambrose deserved relationship was adult-centered.
The real question:
May you like
Did Callum want and safely tolerate one?
Not yet.
