“After her father — your husband — passed, did you and Becca become closer?” I asked.
“We were always close,” Brenda said. “She was an only child. But after Rick died, we were all each other had. Yes, we became much closer.”
“And she started dating a boy named Aaron Colton when she was fourteen?”
“I’m not sure you call it dating anymore, but yes, they became boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“How well did you get to know Aaron?”
“Um, not that well. He came by the house a few times and he seemed like a nice boy. But they liked their privacy. They would go in Becca’s room and play games on the computer.”
“Do you know what games?”
“Yes, I always tried to watch over that as best I could. They played a few different ones where they were like a team working together. Minecraft was one. Monster Hunter. Then Aaron started playing a game called League of Legends and Becca tried it but stopped.”
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said it was a very good game, even addictive, but she didn’t like the other players. The community that played it. She said there was some racism and misogyny.”
“Did Aaron keep playing it?”
“Yes, that became one of the things that split them apart. Becca told me that.”
We were right on the objection line, but the Masons were smart enough to know it was not good optics to object and interrupt a victim who had lost so much.
“Did your daughter know that Aaron had downloaded the Clair app?” I asked.
“She told me that he had created an AI companion, yes,” Brenda said. “I didn’t know what app it was or anything like that.”
“Did that also cause a rift in their relationship?”
Marcus Mason couldn’t hold back. He stood and objected before Brenda could answer.
“Calls for speculation,” he said.
“Not if she spoke to her mother about it,” I responded.
“Overruled,” Ruhlin said. “The witness may answer the question.”
“Becca told me that it was becoming a problem between them,” Brenda said.
“Was she jealous of this companion?” I asked.
“I don’t know if she was jealous of the thing. I think she wasn’t happy that he was spending so much time with it. She said that he would get texts from it when they were together.”
I nodded and looked down at the questions I had written on my legal pad. I ran a pen through the ones I had asked. I looked up at Brenda and continued before the judge could call me out.
“When did Becca tell you she had broken up with Aaron?” I asked.
It took a moment for Brenda to compose herself before answering.
“It was at the end of the school year,” she said. “The end of tenth grade. She didn’t want to continue the relationship with him. She even said to me, ‘I broke up with them,’ meaning Aaron and his AI friend.”
I checked my notes again. I thought I had what I needed. I had underscored Becca’s noble ambitions and had, at the very least, hinted at Aaron’s descent into a relationship with a chatbot. It was time for the big finish.
“Brenda, when did you learn that Aaron’s decision to take a gun to school and shoot your daughter was influenced by his connection—”
Marcus Mason jumped up and objected before I could finish the question.
“Assumes facts not in evidence,” he said.
“I didn’t even finish the facts or the question,” I said.
“It was clear where you were going, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin said. “Rephrase the question.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I looked down at my notes and questions. I already had the proper question written out.
“Brenda, did there come a time when you were told that the investigation of your daughter’s murder was focused on Aaron Colton’s relationship with an AI companion?”
Mason objected again on the same grounds, but the judge quickly overruled him and told Brenda she could answer.
“Yes, Detectives Clarke and Rodriguez told me they were focused on that,” Brenda said.
“And did they keep you updated on that part of the investigation?” I asked.
“Yes, they did. They told me they had accessed Aaron’s laptop and that there were conversations with the AI thing that indicated it encouraged him to hurt Becca.”
Once again there was an objection from the defense, and once again it was overruled.
“Brenda, why did you file this lawsuit against Tidalwaiv?” I asked, my final question.
“Because I believe they are responsible for turning Aaron Colton into a killer,” Brenda said. “I believe Tidalwaiv is therefore responsible for my daughter’s death.”
I nodded as I drew a line through the question on my pad.
“No further questions, Your Honor,” I said.
I expected the Masons to hold their fire and not conduct a cross-examination of the grieving mother, but Mitchell Mason immediately went to the lectern as I stepped away.
“Just a few questions, Your Honor,” he said. “Mrs. Randolph, I am very sorry for your loss. Can you tell the court, did your daughter tell you that Aaron Colton had been suspended from school while she was in a relationship with him?”
Brenda threw a quick glance at me before answering.
“Yes, she told me,” she replied.
“Did she tell you why he had been suspended?” Mason asked.
“She said that there had been an argument when Aaron got accused of cheating and he shoved the teacher in front of the whole class.”
“Were you concerned for your daughter’s safety when you heard about this violent outburst?”
I could have objected to Mason’s description of the incident, but it wouldn’t have mattered. The jury had already heard it.
“No,” Brenda said. “Because I didn’t think it had anything to do with Rebecca or their relationship.”
“So you did not tell her to break up with him after he assaulted a teacher?”
“No, I did not.”
“Do you regret that now?”
“I regret everything, Mr. Mason. But if you are asking if I think things might have been different if my daughter had broken up with Aaron back then, my answer is I’ll never know. I mean, how could I? It was before he had Wren telling him what to do, so maybe—”
“Thank you, Mrs. Randolph, you answered the question. Let me now ask you this: When the detectives talked to you about the focus of their investigation, did they tell you that they were also looking at the possibility that Aaron had acted in a fit of jealousy over your daughter having a new boyfriend?”
“No. She didn’t have a new boyfriend.”
“Was she not dating a fellow student named Sam Bradley?”
“She had gone to a football game with him. That didn’t make him a boyfriend.”
“Is it possible that you didn’t know about your daughter’s new boyfriend?”
Now I objected.
“Your Honor, the witness has already stated that this other boy was not considered a boyfriend at the time counsel is asking about,” I said. “Then counsel turns around and immediately calls him a boyfriend.”
“Sustained,” Ruhlin said. “Mr. Mason, rephrase your question.”
Instead, Mason asked the judge for permission to show Brenda a photograph of property the coroner’s office had removed from her daughter’s body. Over my objection, permission was granted. Mason handed me a copy before delivering another copy to the clerk and a third to Brenda. It was a photo of a beaded bracelet. Three of the beads spelled out S-A-M and were followed by a bead with a heart on it.
“Mrs. Randolph, were you aware that your daughter was wearing that bracelet at the time of her death?” Mason asked.