The Perfect Emma

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Emma Carroll

Emma sat uncomfortably with her eyes in her lap. She stroked the dog in front of herself repetitively. Having the dog here was definitely helpful. It gave her something else to think about and focus on aside from the fact that there was a camera pointed on her that was recording to the courtroom. More specifically, Aaron. Watching her through a screen. Again.

Since she wasn't told that she had to look up, she didn't. Emma merely focused on the dog and tried to not think about what was happening. The questions hadn't even started, yet she was panicking about all of the memories that would be pulled back up. Then, the questions began starting with the lawyer that was apparently on her side.

At the moment, she felt like neither of them were.

"Miss Carroll; can you describe for the court what you saw on the evening of December 6th, 2016?"

Emma furrowed her eyebrows together in thought as she tilted her head. December 6th... was... "I found a body." Emma said, pressing her lips together slightly as she recalled what had happened all too long ago. "I was going to dinner with my husband at the time, Arthur, and I was early. I went for a walk and saw... her." Emma glanced up hesitantly to meet McFee's gaze. Though she assumed his look was intended to be calming, Emma felt intimidated and glanced back down. "I don't remember her name. I didn't really know her. I just remember that she had short brown hair and was in a dress. Then I called 9-1-1."

McFee cleared his throat and nodded his head. "Miss Carroll is currently speaking about Lara Akers, who went missing nine months prior to her body being found." McFee shifted his body slightly and continued to speak. "Can you tell me the names of the detectives that arrived to investigate the case?"

Emma nodded her head and ran her finger through the dog's hair softly. He was well trained, she could tell. He merely rested his head on her lap as she spoke. "Detective Todd and..." Emma pressed her lips together as she paused. It was going to be a long, long trial. "Aaron."

"Aaron Matthews?"

"Yeah." Emma said, nodding her head slightly.

"Tell me, Miss Carroll; how did the detectives act as they were questioning you? What was their conduct like?"

Emma opened her mouth to respond but jumped slightly in surprise to hear Aaron's lawyer state, "Objection, relevance."

"Overruled."

Emma blinked her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows together in slight confusion. Everything that was just spoken went right over Emma's head - was she supposed to speak? Given the fact that McFee nodded his head encouragingly towards Emma, Emma spoke. "Detective Todd acted... how I'd expect a detective to act?" Emma tilted her head slightly trying to recall but continued. "He was calm and asked questions that came to his mind." Frowning slightly, Emma shook her head. "Aaron was... watching me from behind Grayson. I felt like a zoo animal."

"Can you describe what happened to you later that night, Miss Carroll?"

Emma didn't want to. She swallowed and took a deep breath, like Doctor Simon had told her to do, before looking up slightly at McFee. "I went outside on my deck to look at the sky." She started and frowned. "Aaron started to approach and I was... confused why the detective was here to begin with." Emma closed her eyes. "Then he started to... attack me. He kept wrestling me and eventually put," Emma raised her hand up to her mouth as if recalling. "...chloroform over it until I passed out." Emma still felt like she was relatively in control. It was difficult, but she was still sane.

It was the parts after that were more difficult. "When I woke up Aaron kept calling me Emily." Emma started with a frown. "He cut my hair and he dyed it brown - though he did that about every month." She said, taking a deep breath. Breathing was becoming slightly more difficult. "If I did something wrong, he would hit me or attack me." Emma shifted her hand over from her mouth to the scar on her cheek. "He carved broken glass into my face for this scar."