21st Birthday

by Patterson, James

  Gardner smiled and tipped his head in greeting. Yuki nodded back. There was no point in taking anything Gardener said or did personally. Yuki’s phrase for the day was “Steady, girl. You’ve got this.”

  Nicky Gaines wrote on his tablet. What a creep.

  She nodded, added to the note, Yeah and he’s not even the killer.

  That said, Lucas Burke, the accused, looked the part of the villain. He had shaved badly, like he wasn’t used to plastic razors after the sharp steel he formerly used. He was allowed a suit, shirt, and tie, rather than the orange jumpsuit that could unfairly prejudice the jurors. Still, his rumpled tweed jacket and dingy dress shirt didn’t support a look of innocence.

  Yuki also observed that he had aged since the murders. He had more wattle under his chin probably because of the weight he’d lost. His hair had gone from auburn to gray. His attorney leaned toward him and whispered in his ear. Burke then sat up straighter, as if good posture would acquit him of triple homicide.

  Yuki took some deep breaths, released them silently, and with eyes closed visualized this blond-wood-paneled courtroom as Baker Beach. She’d seen photos of the baby at the shoreline, and that was the image that she would implant in the jurors’ minds.

  Nick nudged her with a knee under the table.

  The gallery that had been buzzing softly went quiet.

  Judge Passarelli said, “Okay everyone. Settle down. No talking to each other or anyone on pain of removal from the courtroom. There will be a lunch break at around noon. Anyone who thinks they will need a bathroom break should leave now and come back at one. Any questions? Good.

  “ADA Castellano. Ready with your opening statement?”

  CHAPTER 76

  CINDY THOMAS HAD BEEN WAITING for this day since Kathleen Wyatt had crashed into her office, wild-eyed and shrill, demanding attention for her missing daughter — who had only been missing for a few hours.

  Kathleen’s instincts were sharp.

  Cindy had done the right thing by getting Lindsay involved.

  And the whole rotten story had unspooled from there: Lorrie, Misty, Wendy, Susan, and last, Tara with her throat slashed and still strapped into the passenger seat of her Volvo.

  Starting today, Cindy’s job was to report this trial daily. She knew her column would be lifted and reprinted elsewhere or rewritten and rerun in all forms of media around the globe. If Yuki’s argument won over the jury, Lucas Burke would be convicted on three counts of murder.

  He would never be free again.

  The judge called on Yuki to make her opening statement, and Cindy had a pretty good view of her dear friend walking over to the jury box.

  Yuki said good morning and introduced herself to the twelve jurors and three alternates, a total of eight women and seven men. Cindy thought the more women the better, and in this case the foreman was also a woman.

  Yuki stood in front of the jury box, her hands at her sides and said, “I want to bring you to a Monday morning in Lucas and Tara Burke’s small house on Dublin Street. According to the defendant, he and his wife have a fight. Lucas is angry that Tara is spending too much money on clothes and trifles. Afterwards, he describes this altercation to the police as a shouting, door-slamming kind of fight. Nothing physical.

  “There’s a security camera mounted above the front door of the Burke house, and when we show you the footage you will see that on the morning of this fight, Mr. Burke gets into his silver Audi and drives north on Dublin Street at high speed. Twenty minutes later, Tara Burke, age twenty, leaves the house with their sixteen-month-old baby girl, Lorrie Annette Burke. She also has three bags; computer, diaper, and an overnight-sized bag. The tape shows Tara getting into her red Volvo, and after she secures the baby into the car seat and buckles herself into the driver’s seat, she drives south on Dublin Street, in the opposite direction her husband has taken.

  “Once Tara drives out of sight of the camera, she and Lorrie are never seen alive again.”

  Cindy watched as Yuki paused to take in the jurors’ expressions, and then she continued her gripping narrative.

  “Records and witnesses tell us that Lucas Burke arrives at Sunset Park Prep before eight that morning. He remains at the school, teaching his classes, meeting with students. Records also show that at ten after eleven, he calls his wife from his cell phone and she answers. Their call lasts just under three minutes.

  “What was said? Were apologies exchanged? Were they accepted? Did Mr. Burke arrange to meet his wife after school, and did they in fact meet? Mr. Burke has told the police that he apologized to Tara and said he would see her at the end of the day, but that Tara and Lorrie did not come home.”

  A bout of coughing came from the gallery, reverberating around the room. Yuki used the moment to return to the counsel table, where she sipped from a glass of water and let the last sentence hang.

  Cindy wrote down, “Tara and Lorrie were not seen alive again.” She was recording the entire proceedings on her phone, but that last known communication was a standout subhead. And it bracketed Tara and Lorrie’s last living moments that morning.

  The coughing had stopped and Yuki again addressed the jury. “Tara and Lorrie did not come home that night or ever again. At six fifteen on Wednesday morning, Lorrie’s small body was found washed up on Baker Beach.”

  CHAPTER 77

  YUKI’S EYES WERE DRAWN to the female juror in the second-row left side of the jury box.

  Five minutes into the opening, the pretty young woman had a wad of tissues in her hands and tears in her eyes. Yuki knew from questioning her during voir dire that juror number three had a baby at home.

  Colossal overconfidence on Newt’s part not to exclude her.

  Yuki dropped her eyes to the front row and, having summarized the last known sighting of Tara and Lorrie Burke, said, “The same day, after the discovery of Lorrie’s body, Mr. Burke tells the SFPD that the house was empty when he came home the night before, that he watched TV and turned off the lights at ten.

  “So, I ask a question that has not been satisfactorily answered. Where was Mr. Burke after three thirty on Monday when he left school? He says he took a long drive down the coast so he could think about his marriage and his life.

  “Tara and Lorrie Burke died that night and their bodies later washed up from the ocean. The water washed away most of the evidence, so we will never know exactly what happened. But this we know for sure …

  “When Lucas Burke comes home Monday night, Tara and Lorrie are not there and they are absent all night and the following day. Yet we know that Mr. Burke does not call his wife beyond the one three-minute call I’ve cited. He does not call the police to report Tara and Lorrie missing. Wednesday morning, he goes to work and is interrupted in class by the head of school, who has to deliver terrible news. A baby girl, about sixteen months old, has washed up on Baker Beach.

  “Burke leaves Sunset Park Prep and arrives at the crime scene by nine o’clock. The public parking area is already packed with bystanders, reporters, and police and a cordon has been strung up separating the lot from the road. Police are shooing the bystanders away, getting drivers to remove their cars.

  “A distraught Lucas Burke identifies the deceased as his daughter. But when he was interviewed by SFPD investigators the day before, on Tuesday, he’d told them that he was unconcerned that Tara and Lorrie hadn’t come home. He described Tara as manic, impulsive, ‘crazy,’ and claims that she’s run away before.

  “He says he assumed that Tara went shopping and was still angry with him, and despite his sincere and ardent apology for the fight, he guessed that she checked into a motel or bunked with a friend. He had canceled her credit and debit cards prior to the fight, and Tara doesn’t have much cash, so he figures she’ll run out of money soon and come home.

  “But, ladies and gentlemen, Tara doesn’t come home, not even after her daughter is discovered dead. Her car hasn’t been sighted. She hasn’t called her mother or any of her friends, and she hasn’t c
alled her husband.

  “So, Mr. Burke is held as a material witness and questioned. He is enraged during questioning. He is sure that his wife has done something ‘crazy.’ That the police should keep looking for her. Twenty-four hours later, after Mr. Burke is released, a warrant has been signed to search his house for evidence of foul play. While his house is being searched by police and the Forensics team, Mr. Burke takes off in his car and is not seen or heard from for the next two days.

  “Where does he go?

  “He drives to Sacramento, where his ex-wife, Alexandra Conroy, lives, and the two of them go to a resort in Carmel-by-the-Sea. According to Mr. Burke, what brings him back to San Francisco is a newspaper with a headline reporting the murder of his teenage student and mistress, Melissa Fogarty, known as ‘Misty.’

  “How can the People charge Mr. Burke with Ms. Fogarty’s murder when he was out of town?

  “Because although he cannot be in two places at once, we believe his alibi was either intentionally or unintentionally falsified. We believe that Mr. Burke’s ex-wife is incorrect about Mr. Burke being with her the whole time they were in Carmel, and that he returned to San Francisco to kill Ms. Fogarty on Friday evening.

  “We will show video of Ms. Fogarty waiting for Mr. Burke in the parking lot of Sunset Park Prep at about eight that Friday night. Misty attends this school. It is where Mr. Burke teaches and where they met and began their affair. That night, as she waits for him, you will see Mr. Burke get into the back seat of Ms. Fogarty’s car. You will see the movement of his arm as he draws the blade across this teenager’s throat. It was quick, done from behind, from left to right.

  “Moments later, as Ms. Fogarty bleeds out, Mr. Burke leaves the car. He disposes of the murder weapon by tossing it over the fence that separates the school parking lot from a field of unmown weeds and car parts. Still, due to diligent police work and additional reviews of the video taken of the murder, crime scene investigators find the weapon, a straight razor belonging to Mr. Burke.

  “The Forensics lab has determined that Lucas Burke’s fingerprints and Ms. Fogarty’s blood are both on the razor that was used to slash her throat.

  “Circumstantial evidence combined with the physical evidence all points to one person only.

  “The defendant, Lucas Burke.”

  CHAPTER 78

  YUKI WAITED OUT the crying in the gallery; Misty’s parents and friends were sobbing uncontrollably.

  The gavel came down hard and several people got up from their seats in the gallery and, without being asked, left the courtroom. Some spectators used the opportunity to move from the rear of the room to the front.

  At the defense table, Newt Gardner was whispering to his client, who looked as though his brain was in park. No wheels appeared to be turning at all.

  Judge Passarelli asked Yuki to continue.

  Yuki said, “That Sunday, four days after Lorrie’s body washes up on the beach and two days after Misty Fogarty is murdered, Tara’s red Volvo surfaces at low tide off China Beach. Her body is strapped into the passenger seat. Her throat has been slashed. A rock the size of a loaf of bread, weighing eight and a half pounds, has been placed on the car’s accelerator to keep pressure on the gas. The baby’s diaper bag is wedged under the driver’s seat, and Tara is wearing the same clothes she was wearing the morning she left her house for the last time. No sign of her computer, her handbag, or her overnight bag.

  “So what has happened?

  “Mr. Burke denies any knowledge.

  “According to San Francisco’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Claire Washburn, Lorrie was smothered, but Tara’s cause of death was a clean cut by a sharp blade across her throat, and Dr. Washburn will also testify that Melissa was killed the same way.

  “We will show you the murder weapon, Mr. Burke’s razor with his fingerprints on the handle, and Melissa Fogarty’s blood on the blade.

  “It’s direct evidence, ladies and gentlemen, and the murders of these three completely innocent victims will be proven to you beyond reasonable doubt.

  “Thank you for your attention and your service.”

  Yuki returned to her seat. The gallery began to buzz. She glanced at Cindy and saw that Brady had vacated his spot. Nick Gaines’s tablet was in front of her with a note.

  Great damned job, Yuki. Flawless.

  She thought so, too.

  The defense was called to make its opening statement, and Yuki’s sense of a job well done was about to come undone.

  CHAPTER 79

  CINDY STRUGGLED WITH her phone charger, trying to insert it into the electric socket on the baseboard behind her seat, eventually completing the task.

  The judge had asked if defense counsel was ready with his opening statement, and he said he was. This would be a bad time for her phone to run out of juice. Cindy watched as the battery icon showed the phone charging. She picked her notebook off the floor and — along with all 140 people in the courtroom — focused her gaze on Newt Gardner. He was known for his showmanship, and although Cindy was with Yuki all the way, she was a working reporter, and where there was Newt Gardner, there was news.

  Gardner stood and moved his chair back so that it rested against the bar. He put his hand on his client’s shoulder familiarly, showing what a good guy Lucas Burke really was. He stood behind his table for a moment, letting the suspense build. Then Gardner walked across the well to the lectern in the center of the floor, where he could speak not only to the jurors but all of the spectators as well.

  He introduced himself, casually stating that he had been a defense attorney for thirty years. It was the definition of false modesty, Cindy thought. He might as well have said, “I know I need no introduction,” but he said his name and that he was representing an innocent man.

  “I’m glad to be representing Lucas Burke, who has never committed a crime or a misdemeanor; not parking in a no-parking zone, never arrested for vandalism or disorderly conduct, and certainly not murder. The prosecution is asking you to connect dots.

  “Anyone see any dots?

  “There are no dots. Terrible events happened and Lucas is one of the victims. His daughter, his wife, and yes, his girlfriend, have all been killed in the space of a week.

  “But the killer is not on trial.

  “The murderer is a serial killer who is still at large. If Ms. Castellano had him in the dock she’d be telling a different story. She would say that this killer has been sought by the FBI for decades. That he is a psychopathic killer. That he was the subject of a manhunt for killing his own wife and daughter, as well as many other innocent young women.

  “And the person he hates most in the world is my client.

  “His vanity is at stake. His narcissism is in a fury. He may have other reasons for his actions, but we can’t begin to understand a man like this. Top law enforcement have sought him for decades, always missed catching him by a hair that he has never left behind. He has military training. He’s adept at killing by hand.”

  Gardner paused to look around at the spectators and swung back to face the jurors.

  “In the last twenty years or so, this murderer has been known by many names: the Ghost of Catalina. Quicksilver, for the liquid metal we call mercury. You can’t grab mercury. It slips out of your hands. The killer has had other names but the most powerful one, that one that will grab your heart and squeeze it, is the name my client has called him his whole life.

  “Lucas has called him ‘Dad.’”

  There was a lengthy rolling gasp throughout the courtroom. Cindy took it all in, the shock on the judge’s face, the way the defendant collapsed onto the counsel table as Yuki sat stone-faced.

  Time went by until Judge Passarelli said, “Mr. Gardner?”

  “Sorry, Your Honor.”

  Gardner walked to his table, lowered his mouth to his client’s ear. Lucas Burke nodded, wiped his face with a pocket handkerchief, and, gripping the arms of his chair, sat more or less erect. Cindy wrote, “Lucas Burke seems bro
ken.”

  Newt Gardner went back to the podium and said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m not making up this shadow individual. He is real in every way, and according to my contacts with government investigators we don’t know a fraction of the women this man has killed.

  “But for the purposes of this trial, we are concerned with three individuals. Tara Burke, Lorrie Burke, and Melissa Fogarty, an eighteen-year-old high school girl who loved Lucas, and who loved her, too.

  “I swear to you. Lucas didn’t kill any of them. He’d rather have killed himself.”

  CHAPTER 80

  YUKI WAS BOTH shocked and awed by Gardner’s presentation.

  He made sure when he looked around the small courtroom, to look directly at her, to unnerve her, to loosen her grip.

  He was asking the jury to believe that Evan Burke, who did not even appear on the witness list because he was in the wind, was guilty of murdering three actual people.

  Yuki knew where Gardener was going with his theory, but she was counting on the jurors to see through the flash of smoke and mirrors to the real flesh-and-blood killer sitting only yards from them and to find him guilty, guilty, guilty.

  Tara. Lorrie. Melissa.

  Means, motive, opportunity, and a murder weapon with his prints on the handle.

  Gardner went on.

  “The prosecution has, of course, provided the defense with the same videos they will show you.

  “First, you’ll see the images of Lucas leaving his house one Monday morning after a fight with his wife. Thirty-two minutes later, his wife, Tara, leaves with the baby. As ADA Castellano told you, she is carrying some belongings and likely plans to spend the night away from home.