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Dan didn’t let a second pass between the time Jazlyn sat and the moment he stood. He marched straight to the witness stand and stopped barely a foot away, as close as he thought the judge would allow. He wanted the jury to feel his contempt for Frank Esposito.
“Mr. Esposito, who’s paying you off?”
The witness blinked several times. This was probably not the opening question when Jazlyn rehearsed him. “I—I don’t know what you mean.”
“Are you being paid to testify today?”
“No.”
“You just volunteered?”
“I was subpoenaed.”
“But your story has changed dramatically since I spoke to you.”
“I’m not aware of any changes.”
“I am. I’m also aware that you keep glancing out into the gallery. Why is that?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is someone watching you? Making sure you deliver?”
At this point, Jazlyn intervened. “Your honor, I have to object. If Mr. Pike had some evidence of witness tampering, he’d put it on. But he doesn’t. He just doesn’t like what the witness said.”
“I didn’t like it because it was a tapestry of lies.”
Judge Hayes pointed a gavel. “She’s right, counsel. You may attempt to impeach all you want. But the man has said he’s not being paid to testify and you have no evidence to the contrary, so move on.”
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He probably wasn’t doing Camila any good here, but he was convinced this man was lying and he wanted the jury to get that. Whether they shared his belief or not, they were going to observe his outrage. “When we spoke before, you didn’t mention the alleged relationship with Sean Callahan.”
“I don’t believe the police had identified that victim yet. I didn’t know it was relevant.”
“Do you have any actual evidence that those two did anything? Other than supposedly holding hands?”
“I didn’t see it with my own eyes. But I definitely got the vibe.”
“I don’t want to hear about your vibes. Did you see them act romantically toward one another?”
“I only saw what I testified about.”
“For all you know, the argument on the video was about plumbing. Not romance.”
Esposito craned his neck. “If that’s how she reacts to bad plumbing, I’d hate to see what she does to a cheating lover.”
“Motion to strike.”
“Sustained.”
“Mr. Esposito, do you know what happened before the fight?”
“Not sure what you mean.”
It was always dangerous to ask a question on cross when you didn’t know the answer. But if there was a chance he could learn more about that video, he had to take the risk. “The metadata indicates that about a minute of footage was trimmed from the start of the video. Since you were there, do you know what happened during that minute?”
“All I remember was the shouting.”
“And nothing more?”
“Maybe she came on to him. Tried to get something going in the storage closet.”
Once again, his remarks seemed calculated to characterize Camila as sexually loose. Maybe he was just capitalizing on the fake news stories and slanderous social media. But wasn’t that what men like Sweeney always did when they wanted to tarnish a woman’s reputation? Never mind the facts. Make her look like a whore. “I didn’t ask you to speculate. Your eagerness to do so, to trash the defendant at any opportunity, undercuts the credibility of your testimony.”
“Objection,” Jazlyn said. “Let’s let the jury weigh the evidence for themselves.”
“Sustained,” Judge Hayes said. “But I will, once again, ask the witness to restrict his testimony to personal observations, and I will instruct the jury to disregard any statements that are not based upon personal observations.”
He plowed ahead at line-drive speed. Surely if he kept at this liar, something would give. “And then we have Jonathan Primo, the third victim, who you claim also had an alleged dispute with my client.”
“There’s nothing alleged about it. Pérez came to me and told me about it. But for her, I wouldn’t know that guy’s book even existed.”
“Being upset about a book hardly proves she killed the author.”
“Gives her a motive.”
“To hire a lawyer. Not to murder someone.”
“Sure. It’s just a coincidence she had a motive to kill at least three of the victims, and they all ended up frying in an oven.”
“Objection!”
Judge Hayes waved Jazlyn to the bench. All three huddled.
The judge covered the microphone. “Madame Prosecutor, if you can’t get your witness under control, I’m taking him off the stand.”
“I’ve tried your honor, but—”
“Don’t give me that weak-sister crap. You want to play with the big boys, then strap on a pair and grow up. One more outburst and I’ll instruct the jury to disregard everything the man said.”
The judge became more offensive with each conference. But if there was any chance he might shut down this witness, he couldn’t get in the way.
“May I speak to the witness, your honor?” Jazlyn asked.
“Briefly. And not about any substantive matters.”
“Understood.” He couldn’t hear what was said, but he did notice that Esposito was more subdued afterward. For about fifteen seconds.
He resumed cross. “Do you have any personal knowledge whether the claims Mr. Primo made were true?”
“No. Like I said, I care where the money goes, less so where it comes from. But of course, the mayor’s connections to gang money are well known.”
“In the past. Not the present.”
“If you say so.”
“And that wasn’t the cause of the problem with the DA’s office?”
“No. They were concerned about a sketchy loan and some PAC collusion.”
“And you have no idea what happened to the missing funds, do you?”
A second after he asked the question, as soon as he saw the expression on Esposito’s face, he wished he could take the question back. But he couldn’t.
They’d laid a trap for him. And he fell right into it.
“Actually, I believe I do. She spent the money on a demolition team. To take out the bakery.”
A leaden silence blanketed the courtroom.
“But—I thought she was planning to remodel and reopen.”
“So did I. And then I got this bill. Not for renovation. For demolition. Seems she hired guys to raze the joint. Told them she was going to rebuild from the ground up.”
“But—when—”
“Demolition was scheduled to start on Monday. Of course, that ended when the place became a crime scene. But that’s why all that scaffolding was there. She was tearing the place down.” He paused. “Including the oven.”
And the corpses within it. He knew how the jury would see this. First she killed those men. Then she planned to destroy the evidence.
“If that cop hadn’t wandered in beforehand, the demolition would’ve started on Monday morning. There would be no crime scene to be found.”
“The demolition team would’ve found the bodies.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe she would remove them first. She’s a cold character. You asked me what came before the video started. You should’ve asked what happened after. She practically broke Callahan’s arm. And when he threatened to file a complaint—she got right up in his face and said, ‘You’ll be sorry you treated me like this. You’re gonna burn.’”
His lips parted. “Your honor, I object. This is entirely new—”
The witness continued, not waiting for a ruling. “Course at the time, I thought she meant he was gonna burn in hell. But now I realize different. She was creating her own hell. She was gonna burn him in the oven. Him and all the other men she hated.”