The next morning Linda woke to find Edward lying beside her staring up into the dimness of early morning. ‘Did you sleep?’
‘Must have.’
It didn’t look like it. She sat up on her elbow. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘After last night I’m probably going to be cross-examining Diana Greene today or tomorrow.’
Linda laughed. ‘Thinking of what you can ask her?’
He answered seriously. ‘Yes.’ That’s what he’d been lying there trying to decide. Go into everything he knew about her private life this early in the trial, during the prosecution’s case, trying to wreck that case from near the start, or hold off to use it as the big finish? There was no science to trial work, it was instinct. Art. He was trying to picture this scene as he composed it.
Linda was scrambling out of bed. She was so conscientious these days. ‘You’ll be brilliant, Eddie, you know that.’
‘That’s a relief. I was briefly worried.’
Linda chuckled and padded away to start her day. For a minute Edward lay there thinking about that. Their days were remarkably similar now, going off to the Justice Center, coming home together. But Linda would be there in the center of justice after Edward’s brief re-emergence was over. She’d helped bring him back to life after prison and then had come completely into his world.
He rose and went after her.
The once-pristine Civil Justice Center now hosted the same grime and smells imported from the nearly defunct criminal courthouse next door. Smells of sweat and fear. And it took as long to get up to the courtroom on the fourteenth floor as it used to take in the criminal courts building. The few civil lawyers and judges one saw in the hallways looked horrified still. Edward popped out of the elevator doors and headed for the court, comparatively on time.
Going down the aisle, he glanced over the crowd. The seats were no longer packed, but it was a much bigger crowd than for an ordinary criminal trial. Sterling Greene was in his place near the front and his glare was in its place too, aimed at Edward. But it was much easier confronting that face in here than it would have been in Greene’s hallway. Edward resisted the urge to grin at him.
Then he looked past Sterling and frowned, seeing a face he knew. Edward crossed seats to her and said, ‘Melanie?’
She glanced up at him nervously, which was odd. A lawyer shouldn’t be nervous in a courtroom. ‘Hello, Edward. Is this all right?’
‘I’m not the bailiff.’ But he did make a slight head gesture, asking her to come out with him. He heard her breathing as they went back up the aisle. Melanie Bass was a family lawyer he’d met while in private practice. While Edward had specialized in criminal defense, there were so many family law cases available – divorce, child custody – that lawyers new to private practice almost inevitably took on a few of them. He and Melanie had also had a brief flirtation, amounting to no more than a couple of lunches and meeting for drinks. Which may have meant more to her than he’d realized, since she was here to watch him perform.
She was a willowy blonde who looked good in a suit. ‘Interested in this trial?’ he asked without preliminaries, setting his briefcase down on a bench out in the hall.
She shrugged. ‘You know, it’s gotten a lot of publicity. I’ve got a temporary orders hearing this afternoon across the street, so I thought I’d look in on this for a while.’
That wasn’t how Melanie practiced. Edward knew from his brief experience of her that the morning of a hearing she’d be in her office furiously going over every document again, and on the phone with her client rehearsing again. He just studied her. She actually blushed.
‘Melanie, do you know something about this case I should know?’
She looked him in the eye. ‘I can’t say anything.’
That was carefully worded, demonstrative of the good lawyer she was. ‘Can’t’ meant she was forbidden from saying something she did think he’d want to know. Or thought she was.
Edward could only think of one reason for that. Attorney–client privilege. ‘Did Mr or Mrs Sterling Greene hire you for something?’
He could see her thinking. Did acknowledging she had an attorney–client relationship with one of the Greenes violate that privilege? Edward decided to make it easier for her.
‘Melanie, the presumption of innocence and the right to present a defense in a criminal trial trumps any attorney–client privileged information.’
She grew a pretty set of lines between her eyes as she tilted her head toward him. ‘Is that true?’
He had no idea. ‘Absolutely.’
Relief coursed through her. ‘Mrs Greene hired me to review a pre-nup she’d signed. Actually a post-nup, signed after they’d been married for several years. Sterling hired a lawyer to draw it up and she didn’t consult one before she signed it. She came to me with it to ask if it could be undone somehow.’
‘When was this?’
‘Maybe a year ago. Sometime around there.’
Well before the kidnapping. ‘What did you tell her? Was there a way to undo it?’
Melanie frowned. ‘No! I’m not a miracle worker. It was a very standard agreement and she signed it voluntarily. If she’d consulted me beforehand – but she didn’t. She’s stuck with it.’ She was obviously still pissed about the client bringing her an insoluble dilemma.
‘What does the agreement provide?’
‘In the event of divorce, if he even alleges she’s at fault, she gets almost nothing. Six months of spousal support, a small percentage of whatever they have in savings. Much less than a normal divorce agreement would get her. His businesses are all his.’
‘Wow.’
Melanie nodded. Now that Edward had released her from her obligation to this client, she had obviously been dying to dish. ‘Diana must have been a naughty girl.’
Edward nodded. There was no other way to see it. Sterling must have had something big to hold over her to get her to submit to such a harsh agreement.
‘Thanks, Melanie.’
‘So I was interested to see her testify in this trial.’
Edward looked back at her and gave her a little self-deprecating smile. ‘I can’t promise it will be entertaining. I’m a little rusty.’
She ducked her head, giving him a look saying both she didn’t believe that and didn’t think he did either.
Edward shrugged and returned to the courtroom, this time going down the aisle much more thoughtfully.
‘What’s up?’ Donald asked, already in his place at the defense table.
‘Not sure. What about you? Doing all right?’
‘You tell me, Edward. Am I doing all right?’
‘Is that you reminding me of the “I’m an innocent man on trial” thing? Like I’d forget?’ Edward relented and put a hand on Donald’s forearm. ‘I’m doing my best, man. And I think it’s going OK.’ He turned and looked back out into the spectator seats. Melanie watched him closely with an odd expression, all big eyes and hopefulness. Sterling Greene, on the other hand, was watching him with a stare like a club.
‘I am about to do something weird, though,’ Edward warned his client.
‘Man, why you even tell me that? I’m no lawyer, I wouldn’t even know it was weird if you didn’t tell me.’
The special prosecutor was watching Edward closely, sensing trouble, or at least drama. Edward smiled at her. Veronica’s expression didn’t melt. She turned back to her legal pad and started making rapid notes. No one was testifying, so the subject of her notes wasn’t apparent.
Judge Roberts took the bench and immediately told the bailiff, ‘Bring the jury.’
Edward stood and said, ‘I have something preliminary, Your Honor. It will be very brief.’
With a hand gesture the judge told the bailiff to go ahead, and the deputy went out to get the jury. Edward said, ‘I just want to inform the court I release Mrs Diana Greene from the Rule. She can come in. I’m sure she’ll be testifying very shortly and I’m sure she’d like to have the support of her husband here.’
Veronica Salazar was standing a few feet to his side, staring at him. Edward didn’t turn, but he could feel it. Judge Roberts’ stare he could see, because it was coming at him full frontal. The judge said slowly, ‘That’s your prerogative, counsel. If you’re sure …?’
Edward said casually, ‘I am, Your Honor. It’s fine. Her husband already testified, and he was her main corroborating witness.’
The judge’s face was still willing Edward to take back this pronouncement, but when that didn’t work Judge Roberts lifted his gaze to the audience. ‘Mr Greene, you may tell your wife she can join us if she wishes.’
‘Thank you, Your Honor.’ Sterling immediately pulled out a cell phone and started texting.
Edward resumed his seat and started looking over his notes, feeling the center of attention to varying degrees. His client leaned over him. ‘OK, even I know that was weird. I haven’t seen too many trials, Edward, mainly just my own two, but I know you don’t let the victim watch other witnesses testify. What’s going on?’
‘It’s fine, Donald. I know what I’m doing.’
‘Everybody knows what you’re doing, man, it’s right out here in the open. But what’s it mean?’
Edward turned his head to look his client in the eye. ‘It’s fine, Donald. She’ll be testifying soon. Let her sit here and watch a couple of cops or something. Let her get comfortable.’
False comfort, Edward hoped. But that wasn’t why he’d done what he’d just done.
Veronica didn’t call a cop for her next witness. She called a nurse.
They were called SANEs. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. Edward had already seen her report, so knew essentially what her testimony would be. Nurse DeShaunte Taylor was a dark-skinned African-American with a strong nose and straightforward eyes difficult to read, at least for Edward. She sat very straight but also apparently at ease in the witness chair. A woman in her profession would have testified many times. SANEs examined alleged victims of sexual assault specifically to collect evidence for criminal cases. It was a little surprising one had examined Diana Greene. Edward was eager to hear her testimony but also a little terrified the jury was going to hear it.
As Veronica went through the preliminaries of having Ms Taylor elaborate her training and experience, he heard a stir behind him and turned to see Diana Greene coming down the aisle. The steps slanted down toward the well of the courtroom, as in a movie theater, so anyone entering was briefly on display. Diana walked as if aware of that, head ducked and stepping carefully. She looked up, caught Edward’s eye, and looked away at once. She was dressed differently from the last time he’d seen her, which was to say she was dressed. In a conservative navy-blue dress with a coral-colored collar. Her hair was pulled back, not into a bun exactly, but held from her face.
Her husband watched her come, not rising to assist her. Diana scooched across the seats and sat quickly beside him, immediately taking his hand and holding it in her lap. Edward kept watching her, his back almost turned to the judge. He felt others at the front of the courtroom gazing in that direction too, as if there were a tiny bit of drama in the audience.
‘Nurse Taylor, did you examine one Diana Greene last April?’
‘I did.’
‘How soon was that after she was rescued from a house in the Third Ward by SWAT team officers?’
‘An hour or so later. My understanding is the officers brought her directly to my hospital.’
Why? Had Diana said something to the cops? Probably not. Edward resisted looking at his client, because he didn’t want the jurors doing that, glaring at him thinking, What else did you do, you bastard?
‘How thoroughly did you examine her, Nurse Taylor?’
‘Head to toe, plus probing and taking samples, determining whether she had someone else’s DNA on her, for example.’
‘Tell us your findings, please.’ Veronica was all business this morning, staring down at her notes.
‘She was a well-developed forty-two-year-old woman in good general health. Five foot six, one hundred and twenty-two pounds. Good muscle tone. Slightly hoarse from airborne allergens. Welcome to Houston.’ She smiled briefly, looking up from her report. Jurors chuckled.
‘Any prominent injuries?’ Veronica called them back to order.
The nurse looked back down at her report and shook her head. ‘No significant bruises or contusions.’
‘What was her emotional condition?’
Edward stood. ‘Objection, Your Honor. This witness isn’t a psychologist.’
‘So your objection is …?’ Judge Roberts stared at Edward, obviously doubting Edward’s competence after his stunt of releasing the victim into the courtroom.
‘Lack of foundation for expertise in this subject area,’ Edward said flatly, staring back.
Veronica rose to respond, but the judge cut her off by saying, ‘Sustained.’ Veronica still came to her feet, so Judge Roberts felt compelled to add, ‘Your complainant can testify to her own mental state.’
You don’t get to paint your portrait of distraught victim with this witness, Edward heard, and gave Veronica a brief glimpse of satisfaction. She sat back down very stiffly.
‘Did you examine Mrs Greene internally? I don’t mean stick a needle in her, but did you—’
Veronica seemed to be having trouble with a simple question she should have anticipated asking. The meat of her examination, as it were.
‘I examined her vaginally and anally,’ the nurse answered coolly, giving the prosecutor a look.
Edward turned to see the Greenes. Diana’s head was tucked into her husband’s shoulder. Odd she’d taken the opportunity to come watch but now didn’t seem to want to be here.
Veronica had gotten very stiff in her questioning. ‘What did your vaginal exam discover?’
Edward continued to watch the Greenes, turned almost completely around in his chair. His client whispered, ‘Are you payin’ attention, man?’
He absolutely was.
‘There was no semen. But there were signs of recent sexual activity.’
At the words ‘recent sexual activity,’ Sterling Greene glared furiously. But not at Donald. At his wife. He pushed her away and tried to catch Diana’s eye, but she kept her head turned.
Edward continued to watch. It was a rare instance of more drama in the audience than from the witness stand. Sterling Greene obviously hadn’t gotten the ‘don’t blame the victim’ sensitivity training. It was also obviously the first time he’d heard this information, even though Edward had seen the nurse’s report weeks ago, as had the prosecutor and so, presumably, the victim, i.e. Diana.
Diana raised her head and held her chin up, staring defiantly outward. But not at her husband.
‘Can you define “recent”?’ Veronica asked.
‘A vaginal exam isn’t that precise,’ the nurse replied in a calm, professional voice. ‘There was some slight swelling. If I had to pin it down—’
Donald whispered, ‘The judge is looking at you, man.’
Edward turned to find that to be true. The nurse was about to speculate, which is forbidden from a witness if anyone objects. Edward looked back at the judge and didn’t.
‘I would say earlier that day, hours before my examination.’
Veronica looked at the defense table, obviously hoping to draw the jurors’ attention toward Donald. Edward turned and looked back at the Greenes. Sterling was still glaring at his wife. Insensitive bastard.
‘Did you ask the victim about that?’
This was hearsay, but the rules of evidence in Texas said medical professionals could testify to ‘medical history’ information patients they’d examined had given the professional, including the name of any accused sexual assaulter. Which was ridiculous, but also the law.
‘Yes, she said there’d been no sexual activity that day. It must have been with her husband the night before.’
Now Edward’s attention was riveted on the nurse, even though he was dying to turn and look at the Greenes. He shot a glance at the jury box and saw some of the jurors looking up that way. It was as if someone were standing on a ledge threatening to jump while a robbery was happening in the street below. Drama all over the place.
Veronica hesitated. She was looking down at her notes like they were a treasure map and she’d lost the thread. Bridge burned out. ‘Um,’ she said, and Edward let her hang, now dropping his casual stare on her.
‘Were there any other significant findings from your medical history, Nurse Taylor?’
The nurse shrugged. ‘You might have to define “significant” for me, but no, I can’t think of anything. My findings of the victim’s body comported with what she reported.’
Edward almost objected to that, because it sounded so favorable to the prosecution – Yeah, I found evidence of everything she said – when in fact she hadn’t, but he thought the jury could get that on their own.
‘Pass the witness,’ Veronica said. A lawyer’s easy out when she got lost. Edward glanced at the prosecutor but then immediately turned his stare on the nurse.
‘What does that last observation mean, Ms Taylor? Your findings comported with what Mrs Greene told you?’
The nurse’s eyes widened a bit. ‘I just mean I didn’t find anything to contradict what she reported.’
Edward let a bit of his exasperation show. ‘What could possibly have done that? Did you examine her shoes to determine whether she’d walked as far as she said through the areas she said?’
She stared. ‘I’m not a detective.’
‘No, you’re not, are you?’
As Veronica objected to the sidebar remark and was sustained, Edward wondered briefly why he was so pissed off by the nurse’s simple statement. But he realized the answer quickly and thought how to turn it to his use as a lawyer.
‘Let’s turn your answer around and examine it, Ms Taylor. Did you find anything to corroborate Mrs Greene’s story?’
‘I don’t …’ The poor nurse floundered now. ‘I don’t know what I could have found to corroborate her story.’
Edward gave her a See what I mean? tilt of the head. But his tone was gentle for his next question. ‘For example, Mrs Greene told police she had a bag over her head part of the time. Did you find any fibers in her hair?’
‘No.’
‘She said she had her hands bound for a while. Did you find any rope burns on her wrists?’
‘No, sir, I wasn’t told to look for that.’ Now the nurse sounded very defensive.
‘But you said you examined her from head to toe. Note anything about her wrists?’
‘No,’ she said flatly, staring at him the same way.
‘Did you find anything in your comprehensive examination of Mrs Diana Greene to indicate she’d had anything other than a perfectly normal day?’
The nurse’s eyes actually moved now, trying to think. ‘I didn’t have any baseline to compare to,’ she said slowly. ‘I don’t know her normal physical condition. So I have to say no, I didn’t.’
‘Looking at your chart, I see something here marked on the right side of Mrs Greene’s neck. Can you tell me what that was?’
‘Just a mark of some kind. Reddish mark.’
Love bite? Edward wanted to ask, but he didn’t see that helping his client. Instead he asked, ‘Did it look to you permanent, a birthmark, or just as you said some sort of temporary abrasion.’
‘More the latter, I’d say. It wasn’t a birthmark.’
‘Did you take a picture of it?’
The nurse shook her head. ‘It didn’t seem related to the crime.’
‘We won’t know now, will we?’
‘Objection.’ Veronica was glaring down at him. Edward didn’t bother to look back. After the judge sustained her objection Edward just said, ‘Pass the witness.’ Looking at said witness as if she couldn’t be of use to anyone.
He had calmed down now, but Edward had understood why this minor witness had so pissed him off. Witnesses tailored their testimony to aid the prosecution in damned near every criminal trial. So the testimony wasn’t I didn’t find any evidence to support the State’s theory. It was, I didn’t find anything to contradict the victim’s account. He saw Veronica’s eyes darting as she tried to figure out how to make use of this witness and came up with nothing.
She turned to the pages in front of her and said, ‘Nurse, I’ll call your attention to page two of your report, about halfway down. You did observe an anomaly on the victim’s left forearm, didn’t you?’
‘Oh. Yes. I’d forgotten that. She did have bruising on that arm.’
‘As if someone had grabbed her?’
‘I’m not expert on that.’ Edward had made the witness gun-shy about expressing an opinion. She glanced at him as she denied her expertise. ‘But there was definite bruising, more than one.’
‘As if made by fingers?’
‘Object to leading,’ Edward said.
‘Sustained,’ Judge Roberts said quickly. ‘Don’t answer that question.’
But the question itself had planted the idea. As Edward sat down he saw the jurors’ attention returned to his client. Donald sat there with his hands folded in front of him, a study in worried innocence. As much as he could pull that off. Look at him.
They were done with the nurse, and she was glad to leave. Veronica looked down at a list on which she’d crossed off nearly every name, and rose and said, ‘The State calls Diana Greene.’
Edward turned, like nearly everyone else in the large room, to look at the happy couple. Sterling Greene, doing his best impersonation of a loving husband, put out a hand to help his wife to her feet. She gave him a worried look from under lowered lashes and hurried out to the aisle.
On the stand she answered a heartfelt, ‘Absolutely,’ in response to the judge’s asking whether she’d tell the truth, the whole truth, etc., and turned her tight gaze on the prosecutor.
‘Are you nervous, Mrs Greene?’
Diana nodded her head tightly. ‘Very.’
‘First time to testify?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, we’re going to take it very slowly, Diana, and just go through your day that this trial is about. OK?’
Diana’s head bobbed in small nods again.
As Edward watched the tightly wound woman on the stand, he appeared to relax, slumping in his chair, hands folded across his abdomen. This was the crux of the trial. If Edward called his client as a witness that would be a second act highlight, but the victim testifying was the beating heart of any trial.
‘I was at the drugstore on West Gray, I think it’s a CVS.’
‘Why West Gray, Mrs Greene? Had you just gone out to a pharmacy?’
‘No, I was meeting a friend at a restaurant there. It’s called Board and Bread? We’d heard about it and wanted to try it. I was early so I stopped into the drugstore.’
‘Did you buy anything?’
‘Some nail polish. And I think a decongestant. I have the receipt, I put it in my purse to give to Sterling.’
‘We’ll get to that, thank you. What time was it when you came out of the CVS, ma’am?’
‘Eleven thirty? I’m not sure. I know I had time to go home before lunch.’
Veronica’s slow strategy was succeeding in calming her witness. But her next question tightened her down again. ‘Did you drive away from the CVS, Mrs Greene?’
‘No. I had parked around on the side, and as I turned the corner of the store I was a little distracted, looking down into my purse for my keys, when I practically bumped into that man there.’
‘You’re looking at the defendant, Donald Willis?’
‘I didn’t know his name, but yes.’
‘Can you please describe him and something he’s wearing.’
‘He’s the large, uh, African-American man wearing a dark suit and a’ – she squinted slightly – ‘pink tie?’
‘Let the record reflect the witness has identified the defendant,’ Veronica said from her feet. Words Edward had heard a hundred times or more. Words he had said himself. He’d never been part of a trial where those words weren’t said.
‘What happened after you almost bumped into Mr Willis?’
‘I said excuse me and tried to go around him, but instead he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward my car.’
‘Did he say anything?’
‘Maybe. I don’t think so. My heart started beating so fast immediately I don’t think I could have heard anything else.’
‘Did you scream, call for help, anything like that?’
‘I was just so startled.’ Diana sounded apologetic. ‘I don’t think I said anything, I just let myself get dragged to my car.’
Edward turned and looked into the audience again, wanting to see Sterling Greene’s reactions to his wife’s testimony. Instead his attention caught on Julia Lipscomb, the district attorney, sitting up very straight on the front row and staring at her sister. Edward tried to catch her eye, but Julia appeared laser-focused on Diana. Julia’s hands were tangled together in front of her. Edward turned back to see her sister’s hands enfolded in the same tangle.
‘What happened then, ma’am?’
‘He demanded my keys, I handed them over, and he almost threw me into the back seat, then he went around and started the car and drove away.’
‘Didn’t you have a moment there when you could have jumped out of the car?’ Veronica, a good trial lawyer, had anticipated Edward’s question.
‘I guess someone with sharper reflexes could have done that, but I was just petrified. I didn’t even scream, I don’t think.’
‘So Mr Willis drove. Do you know where he went?’
‘I think it’s called the Third Ward. A neighborhood over near the University of Houston.’
‘You can say it,’ Veronica said kindly. ‘How did you start to describe the neighborhood?’
‘Mostly black,’ Diana said softly. She glanced over at the jury with its four African-American members apologetically. It’s OK, Edward thought. They know they’re black.
‘Did you notice the name of the street? The address?’
Diana shook her head and said quietly, ‘No.’ Like many victims, she sounded apologetic. I’m so sorry for all this trouble I caused.
Edward leaned over and whispered to his client, ‘Any of this accurate so far?’
‘Yeah. The CVS.’ Donald answered quickly. ‘That’s where I picked her up. And the Third Ward.’
Edward put his hand on his client’s arm. ‘Take it easy, big guy. Look worried.’
Donald turned to him, his face fierce. ‘You think I have to fake that, man?’ he whispered.
Edward patted his arm again and sat up straighter, watching the witness intently. She inclined her head as if she felt the heat of his stare.
Veronica asked to approach the witness and did so with her lithe stride. She handed Diana a photograph already in evidence. ‘Was this the house, Mrs Greene?’
Diana actually studied the picture, then nodded. ‘Yes, this is the one.’
‘How did you get in? Did he have a key?’
‘Key? I don’t remember that. It seems to me we just walked in the back door.’
‘Could you see what was happening?’
‘No. He had … he had a cloth bag he put over my head almost as soon as we got in the car. He told me to keep quiet or he’d hurt me.’
‘So you went into the house. Then what happened?’
‘Well, we went inside. I could feel that. Then he tied my wrists behind me and pushed me down onto a wooden chair. Told me again to keep quiet.’
‘Did you?’
‘No. I was babbling. Telling him he could keep my car, telling him I’d get him money, telling him anything I could think of to let me go.’
‘How did Mr Willis respond?’
‘He sort of slapped me, almost gently, through the bag, and he told me again to keep quiet. Just kind of showing me what he could do. After that I did shut up.’
‘Could you hear?’
‘Oh yes. He didn’t seem to try to keep anything from me. He got my cell phone out of my purse and called my husband. He told him he had only a few hours to get a lot of money to the house where we were. Then he said Sterling had to leave for half an hour, but then he could come back and get me if he came alone. He had me say hello to Sterling to prove he had me.’
‘Did your husband respond?’
‘He called my name and I think he asked if I was all right, but Mr … Mr Willis snatched the phone away right away.’
‘Then what?’
‘Then we waited. For hours. I was so uncomfortable. And terrified. I asked if he could at least take the bag off my head so I could breathe and he said no. I heard Mr Willis go into another room and call someone else, an associate, it sounded like. He must have used his own phone, not mine, because I didn’t have a record of the call afterwards.’
She’d headed off that line of inquiry, very smart. Edward was sitting forward now, pen in hand, still watching Diana closely. She couldn’t help shooting a glance at him.
‘Mrs Greene, did he – your abductor – do anything to you? Touch you?’
Diana hesitated. ‘He … Sometimes I’d feel him close to me, just standing there, and a couple of times he touched my shoulder. Just letting me know he had me, I think. I flinched so hard. But he never … he never offered me violence, if that’s what you’re asking.’
‘I’m just asking you to tell us what happened, Diana. Don’t worry. So what finally happened?’
‘After several hours he – Mr Willis – got a call and from what I could hear it sounded like Sterling. Mr Willis gave him the address and told him where to come, warned him he’d better come alone. Then he spoke to me for a minute. He said I’d be all right until my husband came. He was leaving, on his way out, I heard his voice receding toward the back door. Then he said – he cursed – and ran back past me again. Police had gotten there in less than a minute after he gave Sterling the address. They must have been close by already. Mr Willis clearly hadn’t anticipated that.’
Edward shot a quick glance at Donald, whose brows were drawn down. He felt Edward’s glance and turned to him and whispered, ‘I ain’t that bad a kidnapper, man. I ain’t that stupid.’
Veronica’s questioning continued, very gentle now. ‘Were you in the chair the whole time, ma’am?’
‘He let me walk around a little. And after he got the phone call I told him I needed to go to the bathroom. He said all right, and I said I couldn’t do that with my hands tied. He almost balked, but then untied me. I could hear him standing outside the bathroom door while I was in there, but he did let me close the door. I took the bag off my head and I could breathe freely for the first time in a long time.’
‘Was there a window in the bathroom?’
‘Yes, and I tried to open it but it was painted shut or nailed shut, I couldn’t tell. I thought about breaking it but there was no good way for me to climb over the broken glass, and I was sure he’d be in the bathroom faster than I could get out if he heard the glass break. So I just went about my business and walked back out.’
‘With the bag back over your head?’
Diana shook her head. ‘No. I just walked out. I wanted to try to connect with him on a human level. So I walked out. I kept my head turned so he could tell I wasn’t trying to memorize his features, but once I did lift my head and look right into his eyes. I begged him to let me go. His money was on the way, he’d accomplished what he wanted. I said I’d just walk out of the neighborhood, he could keep my car as well as whatever money Sterling had for him.’
‘How did he respond?’
‘He let me talk but he was shaking his head the whole time. I started getting more frantic. I was crying. I put my hand on his arm. I told him I’d do anything if he’d let me go. But he just said no.’
Veronica was sitting, watching her star witness closely, not taking notes. Edward was by this time. Writing quite a bit. That always made witnesses nervous, to think the lawyer on the other side had found something notable in her testimony, and this time was no exception. Diana’s eyes were darting at him regularly. But that also looked as if she was casting fearful glances at his client.
‘But you did get away, right, Mrs Greene?’
‘At the end, yes. As I said, the police arrived almost immediately after Mr Willis’s last call to Sterling.’
‘Inside the house, did you and Mr Willis become aware of that?’
‘At some point we did. Mr Willis went to the window and looked out and cursed. Then he dragged me to the back door and looked out and saw police there too.’
‘Were you tied up again at that point?’
‘No. He left me untied after I came out of the bathroom. He at least did that.’
‘And it sounds like you didn’t have the bag over your head either?’
‘No. He didn’t make me put that hateful thing back on. I guess he thought – well, I don’t know what he thought. I thought we were at the end and there wasn’t any point in keeping me tied up or blindfolded.’
‘But then he did need you as a hostage once police were there, right?’
‘Objection, leading,’ Edward said from his feet, to which he’d risen automatically. He was surprised to realize this was his first objection during the primary witness’s testimony. ‘It also calls for speculation, Your Honor.’
‘Sustained, both objections. Don’t answer that question, ma’am.’
Diana acknowledged the instruction with a penitent nod, as if she’d done something wrong.
Veronica raised her chin. Elegant jaw and neckline. ‘How did you get out of the house, Mrs Greene?’
‘There was a person – someone from the police – talking to Mr Willis from outside, just constantly negotiating with him to come out or let me out. He was hanging onto me most of the time, dragging me around the house. At one point I fell down and he didn’t bother to pick me up. He was at the window looking out. I saw my chance and I just ran past him and yanked the front door open and ran out. I screamed just before I went out because I thought I felt his hand on my shoulder, but I managed to pull free and run. Thank God the police were professional enough not to shoot me.’
Edward was drawing a diagram blindly, his eyes still on the witness. She obviously felt that stare too, like a nightlight barely noticeable until the other lights are gone, when it pierces the eye. Diana kept her stare on the prosecutor, as if that connection were a lifeline.
Veronica, though, was looking down at her notes. She was at the end of her tale and clearly wondering what she’d forgotten. Edward cleared his throat.
‘Did you and your husband ever recover the money he paid for your release, ma’am?’
‘Objection, hearsay. She had nothing to do with that transaction, if any.’
Judge Roberts hesitated. Edward added, ‘It also calls for speculation, because she doesn’t know of her own knowledge whether any ransom was actually paid.’
That satisfied the judge. ‘Sustained.’
Veronica didn’t want to end on that loss. ‘How long did you spend with the defendant all told, Mrs Greene?’
‘Hours.’ Diana shot a glance at Donald. ‘It felt like days.’
‘And how did you feel during that time? Emotionally.’ Edward found himself on his feet again. ‘Objection, Your Honor, relevance.’ As the judge hesitated again, drawing Edward’s curious stare, Edward added, ‘How she felt isn’t an element of the offense, Judge.’
‘I’ll let her answer this one question.’
Veronica nodded to the witness and Diana immediately said, ‘Terrified. The whole time. I never calmed down.’
Edward was still standing, looking at the judge, who wouldn’t look back. Edward slowly sat.
‘I’ll pass the witness,’ Veronica said.
‘How do you think my client feels now?’ Edward asked immediately. As Diana stared at him and Veronica was rising to object, he added, ‘Never mind. Let’s get to the substance of your testimony. Do you claim my client had a gun?’
‘No. I never saw one.’
‘Yet you never had an opportunity to get away?’
‘Not that I felt I could take. He didn’t need a gun to control me.’ Diana pointed her chin at Donald. Look at him. Yes, damn it. Edward didn’t even have to hear the words any more to hear everyone thinking them.
‘In the car ride he hadn’t tied your hands yet, had he?’
‘No. I did have the bag over my head.’
‘Yet you said he drove you from West Gray to the Third Ward? You knew where you were going?’
Diana hesitated, but kept her eyes on him. ‘I knew where we started, and which way we set out. I could feel the turns. And you can tell whether you’re riding on the city streets or the freeway. I could tell roughly where we were going.’
‘Let’s talk about the streets. Did he have to stop for red lights?’
‘Once or twice.’
‘While you were still in the West Gray area there were stop signs, weren’t there?’
‘Yes.’ Diana saw where he was going. She swallowed.
‘You had your chances to jump out of the car, didn’t you?’
‘Theoretically, I suppose.’
‘When you exited the freeway—’
‘But that takes a careful judgment and good reflexes and I just—’
‘Objection, non-responsive, Your Honor. I hadn’t asked a question.’
‘Sustained.’
‘Request the jury be instructed to disregard that response.’
‘Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you are instructed not to consider that statement.’
Sure they wouldn’t. Edward sat, a little wearily, and regarded the witness. Now battle had been declared. He wasn’t going to be able to sneak up on Diana Greene. Nor certainly to befriend her.
He could feel her sister’s stare on the back of his neck. For a moment Edward felt a sense of dislocation. It was so strange to be sitting here, from prison inmate to lawyer questioning the district attorney’s sister, in a couple of years. His life track had not led here.
But on the other hand, yes it had. ‘You identified that photo of the house in the Third Ward, correct, Mrs Greene?’
‘Yes. I’ll never forget it.’
‘But in fact according to your account you never saw it, did you? Didn’t you say you already had the bag over your head when you arrived there?’
She was ready for that one. ‘I saw it once I was out. I was looking back at it when Mr … your client came out. And I saw some of the interior after I took the bag off my head.’
‘Yes, after my client let you go to the bathroom, according to you. Which brings up a point. You spent hours there. Didn’t he ever go to the bathroom?’
‘I suppose. But he didn’t announce it. I couldn’t tell—’
‘I didn’t ask a question, ma’am. This isn’t open mic night. You don’t get to spin a narrative. You just—’
Veronica was rising hastily to her feet, but before she could get there Judge Roberts said, ‘Counsel.’ Very sternly.
Edward cut off his instruction, wondering why he was suddenly so furious at this mousy little victim. ‘All right. Diana. You said you offered my client anything he wanted if he’d let you go. Can you be more specific?’
She suddenly blushed. ‘Not … not anything personal. Of course I told him he could keep everything I had on me. My purse, my jewelry. The car. I even told him I’d try to get him more money than whatever Sterling had brought.’
‘And what was his response?’
‘Mostly he didn’t answer at all. A couple of times he told me to stop talking.’
Edward stood. ‘Your Honor, may we approach the bench?’
The request seemed to take Judge Roberts by surprise, but he motioned the lawyers forward. Veronica came buttoning her jacket. She stood close beside Edward looking at him curiously. Edward ignored her, leaning close to the judge and whispering, ‘Your Honor, may we have the jury removed for a few minutes? I need to arrange for a demonstration.’
‘Demonstration of what?’ Veronica said in a normal tone of voice.
‘Demonstration I will explain outside the jury’s presence,’ Edward said to the judge.
The judge turned to the jury and said, ‘We’ll take a ten-minute break. Bailiff, escort the jury.’
The bailiff did so. Edward watched them all out the door behind the judge’s bench, always curious what these fascinating creatures were thinking. They gave no clues, not looking back, just shuffling to make sure they didn’t step on the back of the feet of the jurors in front of them. Looking rather like prisoners on a chain, he now saw.
‘Well, Mr Hall?’
‘May the witness be excused for a moment, Your Honor?’
Judge Roberts remained impassive. ‘Yes, please, Mrs Greene. To the hallway, if you don’t mind?’
Diana scrambled down, quickly obeying. Veronica turned to Edward and said, ‘Set nicely enough decorated for you yet?’
He ignored her. ‘Your Honor, I want to briefly re-enact the witness’s supposed escape as she described it.’
‘Because …?’
‘I’d like the jury to see how unlikely it is.’ As the judge continued to hesitate, Edward turned to his client. ‘Donald, stand up, please.’
That took a moment, for Donald to rise to his full height. Edward turned back to the judge. Now it was his turn to say a silent Look at him. What mousy little society matron, as Diana had chosen to portray herself, could dodge around that monument?
‘This is the heart of my defense, Your Honor. If I’m not allowed to portray it my client will be deprived—’
‘Fine.’
As both the judge and Veronica started to turn away from him, Edward said, ‘There’s one other thing, Your Honor. Needless to say, I don’t want my client to be the one to act out her little scenario. That would be extremely prejudicial. I was hoping the court could stand in for him.’
Judge Roberts stared. ‘You want me to play the defendant?’
‘Judge, looking around the court, you’re the only one of similar enough appearance to my client to make the demonstration realistic. I’m asking because you’re the only person here who’s …’
‘Black and handy?’
Edward shook his head strongly, then said, ‘Yes, sir.’
Judge Roberts’ bailiff, a short, pudgy white guy who wouldn’t do at all, had returned by this time. ‘Bailiff?’ the judge said.
Was Edward about to be arrested again? Always a possibility when he was in a courtroom.
Without taking his eyes off Edward, the judge said, ‘Bailiff, please go down the hall to the 235th and exchange places with Bailiff Johnson for the afternoon. With his judge’s permission, of course.’
The bailiff hurried to obey. The judge sat leaning forward on his forearms, continuing to stare. Edward busied himself with papers at his table.
Jurors returned to find Diana Greene back on the witness stand and a new face at the bailiff’s desk. Bailiff Johnson would do nicely. He was maybe an inch shorter than Donald, but with the same solid build. He was wearing a short-sleeved uniform that showed his well-muscled forearms. His eyes moved continually, taking in everything.
‘With the court’s permission, Your Honor.’ The judge simply nodded. ‘Mrs Greene, if you could step down here, please?’
Edward approached her in case she needed assistance, but didn’t touch her. That close, he had flashbacks to the glimpses he’d had of Diana in her home, moaning at the desk and naked in bed. He looked out into the audience. Sterling Greene was staring a hole into Edward.
‘Look at this space between the counsel tables, please, ma’am. Is that about the width of the doorway you escaped through?’
Diana studied the space, beginning to see what was coming. ‘A little narrower.’
Edward went to the far end of the table and pulled. Donald started to help and Edward shook his head at him. He didn’t want Donald any closer to the supposed victim than he already was. He moved the table a few inches and Diana said, ‘That’s good.’
Edward strongly doubted that little house in the Third Ward had that wide a front door, but maybe the jury would see Diana was trying to cheat on the demonstration.
‘Bailiff?’ The other actor entered the scene.
‘Now how far away from the door was your chair, ma’am?’
‘It was about back here. But I wasn’t in the chair when—’
‘We’ll get to that.’ Edward placed his own chair in the space, about twenty feet behind the ‘door.’
‘Now, how far is the front window you said Donald was looking through when you made your move to get away?’ Edward stood right next to the space between the tables, where he remembered the front window to be.
‘About three feet farther to the side.’
Edward just stared at her with his hands folded. ‘Ma’am, I’ve been in that house and the jurors have seen pictures. Wouldn’t you—?’
Veronica, who’d sat fuming during this whole set-up, finally found a reason to jump to her feet. ‘Object to counsel testifying, Your Honor. Also to arguing with the witness.’
‘Move on, counsel,’ the judge said to Edward.
‘Yes, sir.’ But he continued to stand there.
‘You may be right,’ Diana said. ‘Maybe a foot closer.’
Edward waved Bailiff Johnson into that space. The sturdy bailiff took his place and looked out at the audience, unperturbed by their stares.
‘Now, Mrs Greene, you said Donald was distracted, looking out the window shades when you darted out the door?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So about here where I’ve positioned the bailiff?’
‘A little more to the left.’
‘You’re saying my client was standing in the middle of the window, the most vulnerable spot in the room, with a SWAT team outside?’
Veronica said, ‘Argumentative again, Your Honor.’
‘Sustained.’
‘About there,’ Diana said. Her tone was growing a tiny bit defiant, a bit of steel spine showing through her timid routine.
‘All right, let’s show how you escaped. Please remember there’s a door there you have to open and that you said you screamed just before you jumped outside.’
‘Your Honor?’ Diana said, looking up at him.
‘Please, ma’am.’
‘And Deputy Johnson, you of course realize your role is to prevent her from getting through that space.’
‘Understood, sir.’
‘I was only a few feet from the door,’ Diana said.
Edward waved a hand. ‘Pick your spot.’
She came close, closer than any reasonable person could think a professional kidnapper would have let her get to escape. Edward let her get away with it. ‘Any time you choose,’ he said.
Diana took a deep breath and darted forward with surprising speed, pausing to yank open an imaginary door, giving a little shriek as she did so.
Deputy Johnson was gripping her arm tightly. No part of Diana crossed the imaginary threshold.
He gave her a couple of more tries. She didn’t get close to getting through that space. After the third attempt Diana stood a little breathlessly, staring balefully at the bailiff. ‘He knows what I’m about to try to do.’
‘So would my client have known, Mrs Greene. Especially with the scream.’
‘Objection, Your Honor!’ Veronica said, obviously mad at herself for letting Edward get the whole answer out. ‘Argumentative again and counsel is testifying.’
‘Her answer was non-responsive, Your Honor,’ Edward said calmly. ‘There was no question before the witness.’
‘I’ll instruct the jury to disregard that entire exchange. None of it is relevant to your decision. Are we done, counsel?’
‘Yes, sir.’
The courtroom resumed its normal configurations. Edward stared at Diana, back on the witness stand. Now she was glaring at him as well as her husband. Caught in the crossfire of stares. ‘Had you ever seen my client before that day, ma’am?’
‘Not that I recall.’
‘Are you positive? Will you look closely at him, please?’
Edward hadn’t prepared Donald for this, it had just come to him, but he had confidence in his client’s usually mild demeanor. Donald stared back at his accuser with damp eyes and a mournful downturn to his mouth. Diana stared at him for a few seconds. That was all Edward wanted, for her to look closely at the man she was accusing, possibly see him as a human being for the first time.
‘I don’t remember ever seeing him before,’ Diana said quietly.
Edward watched her for a moment. ‘Pass the witness.’