You’re my goal. I’m yours. We’re in this together
Alexis: Ms. Zacchara, is it true that you visited your father at Shadybrook institution yesterday?
Claudia: I did.
Alexis: And at any point in your interaction with your father did he threaten your life? Did you understand the question, Ms. Zacchara?
Claudia: I’d rather not answer that.
Alexis: You’re under oath. You don’t have a choice.
Alexis: All right, let’s approach this from another direction. After you left your father, did you find the brakes in your car had been tampered with?
Claudia: I had a little car trouble.
Alexis: Do you have reason to believe that Anthony Zacchara tampered with your brakes, that he in fact engineered this car trouble?
Claudia: Not at all. No, see, I don’t really want to get into it. I mean, it’s personal stuff. I — after I left my father’s, I had a date.
Claudia: I’m sorry, Ms. Davis apparently completely misunderstood me. No one tried to kill me last night. I — I did go and see my father, and then I dropped out of sight for a couple of hours, but —
Alexis: When you had car trouble.
Claudia: Mm-hmm. I’m not the best at maintenance, but I got it started eventually.
Alexis: Can I have a recess with my client please?
Ric: Objection, Your Honor. The D.A.’s case is predicated on the assumption that Mr. Zacchara attempted to murder his own daughter as recently as last night. Ms. Zacchara’s testimony, uninfluenced by counsel, is directly relevant to the outcome of these proceedings.
Judge: The objection is sustained, but stay on topic.
Claudia: Sure. Like I said, my car wouldn’t start, and I met up with a friend, and we had a little date in a log cabin in the woods. He’s a little weird, but surprise, surprise.
Alexis: Okay, I’m gonna have to object, I guess.
Trevor: Counselor, she’s your witness.
Claudia: He was compelling, certainly, and exciting. And —
Judge: There’s an objection on the table, Ms. Zacchara. That means you stop until I rule.
Claudia: Oh, I’m sorry.
Judge: Perhaps you can enlighten the court. How do you see your character assessment of your date as being relevant to this case?
Diane: It isn’t, and we would like to withdraw the objection and proceed with a different line of questioning.
Judge: Good idea.
Diane: Ms. Zacchara, on what date did you return from Milan to New York?
Claudia: Date?
Diane: Yes, date, as in month of the year, day of the month.
Claudia: I mean, I don’t know. I don’t keep track of time. It’s like trying to catch running water. It’s here today, here tomorrow, unless it’s not, and then it’s gone and doesn’t matter, so —
Diane: Thank you for that fascinating insight, for sharing that. Is there any possibility now that you might answer my question?
Claudia: I came back from Italy in the beginning of January.
Diane: And in that time has Anthony Zacchara ever threatened your life, either directly or indirectly?
Claudia: Of course not. My father loves me. Right, Dad?
Judge: I’ve heard enough, Ms. Zacchara. You may step down.
Claudia: Thank you, Your Honor.
Anthony: Aren’t you gonna congratulate your old man?
Johnny: Way to go.
Claudia: Congratulations, Daddy. I knew the system couldn’t hold you for long.
Claudia: John, what’s the point of making me chase you and race you home?
John: I needed to drive fast. You shouldn’t have tried to keep up.
Claudia: I need to talk to you before they get here.
Johnny: I don’t want to hear a damn thing out of your mouth. You set him free.
Claudia: It was the only way I had to make him trust me.
Johnny: Why would you want to?
Claudia: Well, if you calm down a minute, I will tell you. Look, I could see from opening arguments that Daddy was gonna be set free. There was nothing that I could do to stop that. You know he tried to kill me. I know he tried to kill me. But where’s the proof, John? Where? Floating in the lake somewhere? There is none. So I made a strategic decision to appear to support Daddy. It is so infinitely much better than some act of defiance that’s gonna get me killed.
Johnny: I spent most of my life as that man’s prisoner. I’m not about to go back there.
Claudia: I would never ask you to go back there. I would never, ever ask you to do that. Nothing’s changed, John. You and me, we’re gonna destroy that crazy old man. He’s never going to hurt either one of us ever again. Do you want to hear how?
Claudia: Ric and Trevor are gonna be jockeying for position as consigliore. We need to outmaneuver them. We need to play our father like a Stradivarius. He should never have any reason or see any reason to question our loyalty to him. But to each other, it’s a different story.
Johnny: You want dado think there’s some sort of rift between us?
Claudia: Yeah, because if he thinks he’s getting what he wants, which is a house divided, he’ll never see us coming, John. But we need to make a promise to each other right here and right now.
Johnny: What?
Claudia: It’s you and me. This is all pretend. You’re my goal. I’m yours. We’re in this together. You and me against the world, no matter what.
Johnny: No matter what.
