“I’m extremely disappointed in you, Aidan,” Lisa Walters said.
They were in another cramped interview room, this one in the basement of the courthouse. Aidan had been denied bail and committed to the state prison, charged with the murder of Jason Stark. There hadn’t been anybody in the courtroom to support him. Not Tommy, not Kelly, not even his mother, who’d taken to her bed when she learned of his arrest and hadn’t gotten up yet. Only this lawyer stood up for him, and now she was on the verge of abandoning him, too. He’d thought Caroline would be his salvation. But she was his ruin.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“The only reason I’m not dropping you is that I’m the only person in your corner right now. I noticed your family didn’t come to court. But if you want to keep me, Aidan, you have to listen to my advice. I said very clearly, don’t go anywhere near Caroline Stark. And literally ten minutes later, you attacked her physically in front of numerous witnesses, in the police station. That’s an incredibly stupid and self-destructive thing for you to do. It makes me wonder if there’s a screw loose somewhere.”
“I only wanted to talk to her. I would never hurt her.”
“You heard the testimony in court just now, as well as I did. You physically assaulted her.”
“No. When the guy jumped me, he knocked Caroline down. I didn’t do that.”
“You lunged for her. You grabbed her. It doesn’t matter if a cop who was trying to stop you was the one who knocked her down. You caused that. The judge denied your bail because of it. He wouldn’t even let me make my argument. I don’t know what you were thinking.”
“It was a mistake. I see that now.”
“Too late. There’s nothing I can do to fix that problem. And the gun. You lied to me about the gun. Another breach of trust between us.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You said you don’t own a gun. They found one in your truck.”
“I heard the prosecutor say that in court. And I saw the picture he showed of it. But that’s not my gun. I never saw it before today.”
“If it’s not yours, then what was it doing in your truck?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t put it there. Somebody planted it. Ask Mike Castro. He hates my guts.”
“Hmm, you mentioned that grudge before. I’m no Pollyanna. I believe cops sometimes frame people, and I’d consider arguing that in court if there’s a good-faith basis for it. So, what’s the evidence here? Why does Mike Castro have a grudge against you? Give me something I can use.”
“It’s because of the Bosticks.”
“Who are the Bosticks?”
“Matthew Bostick was my friend who died. The manslaughter charge? Matthew’s dad and Mike are close. Mike thinks I got off too easy for that. He always resented me for it.”
“So, in order to prove to a jury that Deputy Castro has a grudge against you that caused him to plant a gun, I have to tell them that you killed your best friend in a fight over a girl and got off easy for it, when that wouldn’t otherwise be allowed in evidence? I said give me something that works. That doesn’t work. It’s a net negative. It plays right into you killing Jason Stark over his wife.”
“Fine. But it’s still not my gun.”
“Who planted it, then?”
“I said. Mike.”
“And I said, we can’t use Mike. Other than Mike. Who else can we point the finger at?”
“Nobody.”
“I’ll tell you who. Caroline Stark.”
“Why would she plant a gun in my truck?”
“For obvious reasons. She killed her husband and framed you for the murder.”
“Caroline wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Oh, but she’d do it to him?”
“Maybe.”
“You think she’d kill her husband, but she wouldn’t frame you? What a sap you are, Aidan. People will go pretty far to get away with murder. My gut says this lady is no exception.”
“Even if I agreed to use it, we could never prove that.”
“I’m the lawyer here. Leave that up to me. I think there’s a chance we can prove it. After our meeting the other night, I looked into the state of her marriage. There’s a ton of evidence to show they were at each other’s throats. Everybody at that party saw him show up with his mistress. They saw a big argument between the two of them. My investigator has a source at the county clerk’s office who found out that Caroline actually filed a divorce complaint. She withdrew it, but we were still able to get a copy. It says he took all the money. Did you know that?”
“I did know that. That’s why she asked me to kill him.”
“Jason leaves Caroline for his mistress and takes all the money. She murders him and frames some poor schlub for the crime. You being the schlub in question. That’s good. This is turning into a decent defense case. I’m actually starting to believe it.”
“But—”
She pointed a manicured nail at him. “Don’t tell me that you won’t talk bad about your girlfriend. This is our best shot. We’re using it, or else I really will think about dropping you.”