After the shock wore off, two thoughts wrestled for dominance in Isobel’s mind. The first was that being a witness to the crime had to be the only excuse not yet known to man that could get you off grand jury. How could she possibly render an impartial judgment? She had information none of the other jurors had. Her second thought was that this was luck of a spectacularly different order than the unfortunate annoyances she’d battled since she first pulled the jury duty summons off her door. The temptation to recuse herself vanished as she recognized the gift she’d been handed: a prime seat as the case she’d been trying desperately to solve wrapped itself up right in front of her. Now, that was luck.
She couldn’t let Peter see her, at least not until she’d had a chance to hear the prosecution’s case. Landing in the back row was another stroke of luck. She slumped down as far as she could in her seat, which, fortunately, was behind a rather wide, grandmotherly black woman. The ADA stepped forward.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Assistant District Attorney Helen Foster.” She gestured to Peter. “Peter Catanzaro stands before you accused of killing Judge Willard Harrison on the night of September fifteenth. The county feels it has sufficient evidence to bring a charge of murder against Mr. Catanzaro. I would like to present the first witness, Detective Paul Vitelli.”
Vitelli entered the room, and Isobel sank down farther in her seat as he was sworn in.
“Please explain your involvement in this case,” Foster instructed.
“I was called to the scene of the crime, and I’ve been running the investigation.”
“Can you give the jury some background?”
Vitelli nodded. “Mr. Catanzaro has two careers. He’s a criminal defense attorney, but he’s also a theatrical producer. Relevant to this case, he produces an interactive murder mystery dinner show that he also directs and stars in. If you’re not familiar with this type of entertainment…”
“Oh, I’m familiar with it,” Isobel muttered. Chloe shot her a curious look.
“…actors masquerade as guests at an event, until one or more of them are ‘killed.’” He used air quotes for emphasis. “After audience members try to guess whodunit, Mr. Catanzaro reveals the solution. His company was hired to perform at a dinner honoring Judge Willard Harrison at The Hostelry in Central Park on the night in question. He accepted the assignment, because he knew the judge from his years defending juvenile offenders. Knew him and resented him. Hated him, in fact. Why? Because he lost many cases in front of Harrison.”
Isobel snuck a glance at Peter. He was staring straight ahead, his jaw clenched. She wondered why he was present when he wasn’t required to be.
Vitelli continued, “His hatred ran so deep that he used Harrison’s son to get hired for the event. Harrison’s son is also an actor, and Catanzaro hired him for two reasons: one, to ensure his company was hired, and two, so he could frame Andrew Harrison for his father’s murder. And it almost worked.”
Isobel’s fellow jurors were listening keenly, soaking up every word. But so far Vitelli’s case made no sense to Isobel. For one thing, she knew why Peter resented Harrison, and it went far beyond a losing streak. Did Vitelli even know that Harrison had sent his own kid to jail? Did he know about Empire State at all? And, most importantly, did he know about Harrison’s financial interest in it? Besides, she knew how Peter had gotten the gig: Maggie had found him online. Why would she lie about that?
“On the night in question, Mr. Catanzaro made a very unusual curtain speech,” Vitelli continued. “He announced that if the guests saw someone waving a gun, they should do nothing. They should not alert anybody, and they should not try to disarm the person. He claims that the reason for this announcement was to keep the guests safe, because the only people waving guns would be actors, and furthermore, while the guns were real, they were loaded with blanks.” He paused for effect. “Except one of the guns had a bullet. And Mr. Catanzaro was holding it.”
Isobel blinked. Was he? Was it as simple as that? Her eyes had been fixed on Delphi so they could time the shot off each other. Isobel suddenly realized she couldn’t picture where Peter had been standing when it happened.
“The actual murder was very carefully timed with the climactic moment of the show. Just before the pretend murderer’s gun went off, Mr. Catanzaro fired his weapon and hit the judge. With the play going on at the same time, it took a moment before the guests realized that a real murder had taken place.”
Vitelli cast a satisfied look at the jury. Isobel followed his glance and saw they were riveted. This was clearly going to be a slam dunk.
“Thank you, Detective Vitelli. You may step down,” said Foster. “I’d like to call the next witness, Officer José Gonzalez.”
The two policemen didn’t acknowledge each other as they traded places. Foster returned to the prosecution table and picked up a plastic evidence bag. It contained a revolver.
“Officer Gonzalez, you vouchered this weapon.”
“That’s right.”
“You recovered it, sealed it, and sent it to the lab for testing. To whom is this gun registered?”
“Peter Catanzaro.”
“Were there fingerprints on it?”
“There were.”
“And whose were they?”
“His—and nobody else’s.”