Chapter 6

The next few weeks were hectic. The motion for custody of Sarah was filed and then social services started investigating and questioning me. They paid several unannounced visits to my home and inspected every nook and cranny in my home. As Bob promised, the county immediately tried to have the petition squashed. The judge denied the county's petition and ordered the trial to go ahead.

Bob filed petition after petition. I began to notice that I was followed constantly and I was sure that my phone was tapped. I pulled up my credit report and it had a notation "Legal Proceedings In Progress." I complained to my father and my father went to court to have it removed from my credit report.

I avoided going to my parent's house because Sarah was living there. I saw my father in his office almost weekly because of the custody case. As the date of the trial neared I began spending more and more time at my father's office. I was glad that my father had picked Bob Petter to handle the case. Bob was very competent.

On the morning of the trial I, Bob Petter and my father met at the courthouse. Sarah was kept in a room off of the courtroom. They were sitting at the table when the judge walked in the room.

Everyone stood and then sat after the judge did.

The judge read the brief summary of the case on his desk and then looked around the room. "Where is the juvenile, Miss Sarah Teague?

Bob Petter stood up, "Miss Teague is in a room away from the courtroom, your Honor. We wish to put the county's mind at ease and wish to convince the county that Miss Teague will not be intimidated by the presence of Mr. Tom Orson. Mr. Orson will agree to vacate the room if and when Miss Teague is required to testify.

The judge nodded and the trial began. The lawyer for the county immediately got up and asked that the case be dismissed for, what they called, obvious reasons. The judge denied the motion. And the young woman that was the lawyer for the county sat down deflated. Apparently she thought that this would be a slam dunk.

The judge called me to the stand and Bob Petter began to question me. They went over when I had met Sarah and what my relationship with her was and why I felt the custody of Sarah should go to me. When I was finished testifying for Bob the county lawyer took over. It was clear that she was going to try to castrate me on the stand.

"Mr. Orson, would should the county allow a single young man to raise an impressionable young teenager?"

I thought for a minute, "Because I care is the main reason. Sarah needs special care. She has been dealt a bad hand by life and she needs a lift up. I have the financial assets to give her the help she needs. I can give her much more than the county could ever afford to give."

The county lawyer went on, "You're single are you not?"

"Yes, I'm single."

"Suppose you decide to marry or even have a girlfriend, how would Sarah fit into that equation?"

Fire came into Tom's eyes, "That's sick. If you're suggesting that I'd want Sarah in a three way you're a sick woman."

Bob Petter jumped up and objected and the courtroom became chaotic and the judge rapped to regain order. After order was restored the county lawyer said she had no more questions and sat down. She was unnerved.

Bob Petter stood up and the judge recognized him, "Your Honor, I have a tape recording that I made without Mr. Orson's knowledge. If he agrees I'd like to play it for the court."

The county lawyer objected on the grounds that it might have been staged but the judge allowed it. I indicated that I had no objections. Bob played the tape where he asked me why I would want to take a teenager into my house. The judge ordered it into the transcript.

Finally it was Sarah's turn to testify. I stood up and left the courtroom without seeing Sarah.

Bob began questioning Sarah by having her testimony given to the social services investigator read into the record. The county lawyer had no objections.

"Sarah when did you first meet Tom Orson?"

"When my father started working for him building his house."

"How did you come to live at Tom's house?"

"My father brought me there because he said that he was dying and he wanted someone like Tom to take care of me."