by Joel Goldman
“Simon Alexander. He does forensic IT investigations. He helped me out with something last night.”
“What?” Claire asked.
“Sorting through the stuff on Gloria Temple’s cell phone.”
“How in the hell did you get that?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Claire said, hands on her hips, “how did you manage that?”
Mason grinned. “Do any of you really want to know?”
Claire shook her head. “I don’t know which is worse: you losing your license or me still having mine so that I have to give you a job. I’m going to find a quiet place to look over my notes for Odyessy’s cross-examination.”
Mason showed Alex the picture he’d taken of Gloria. “I took this last night. You recognize her?”
Alex shook her head. “Is that Gloria Temple?”
“The one and only.” He handed the flash drive to Alex. “I’ve got some calls to make during the lunch break. Why don’t you have a look at this and see if there’s anything that might help us.”
“I’ll need a laptop.”
“We can use mine,” Kate said. “My hotel is six blocks from here. We can order room service and see what’s on the flash drive.”
Alex couldn’t wait to find out what was on the drive, but she didn’t want to share the moment with Kate Scranton. She didn’t buy Kate’s claim that she could divine the truth from micro facial expressions, but Claire and Mason trusted Kate and would believe whatever Kate told them about her. That’s why she’d avoided spending much time with Kate or talking with her about the case. Now she didn’t have a choice.
“Sounds great,” Alex said.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“YOU KNOW,” KATE SAID as she set up her laptop on a table in her hotel suite, “we really haven’t talked much about the case.”
Alex nodded, standing and looking out the window to the south and west, the city disappearing over the horizon. It was either late winter or early spring depending on your point of view. The sky was tossed with patches of blue and gray, the distant trees still brown, a scene that could go either way.
“We’ve both been pretty busy.”
“I’m on your side,” Kate said as she sat in a chair on one side of the small, square table. “You know that, don’t you?”
Alex took the opposite seat, the laptop between them. “Yeah, I know that.”
“Not all my clients do, or if they do, they don’t quite believe it. You know why that is?”
Alex shrugged, resting her arms on the table. “They’re probably afraid that you’ll catch them in a lie.”
“That’s right. And you know what? That happens all the time, because we’re all liars. But here’s what my clients forget. My job isn’t to judge them. My job is to help them get the best possible result. But I can’t do that unless I know everything there is to know.” Kate paused, studying Alex and smiling. “Listen to me giving you the same speech you must have given hundreds of times to your clients.”
“It did sound familiar.”
“Does it work? Do your clients tell you everything?”
Alex chuckled. “Almost never.”
“So what do you do when you think your client is holding something back?”
“The best I can with what I’ve got.”
Kate leaned forward, reaching her hand toward Alex. “Is that what you want me to do for you?”
Alex pulled back, dropping her hands in her lap, deflecting Kate’s question. “I’m sure that’s what you did when you helped pick the jury and I’m sure that’s what you’re doing when you tell us how the jury is reacting to the evidence.”
“That’s only part of my job. I also evaluate the witnesses whether the prosecution calls them or we do.”
“And I’m sure Claire and Lou think you’re doing a great job of that too.”
“Thanks for that, but I’m more concerned about being able to do my job if you take the stand. Both of us need to be ready for that, and I’m not sure we are.”
“Well, if I decide to testify, I promise you, we’ll be ready.”
Kate let out a breath, smiled again, and straightened, tapping the table with her palm. “Good enough. Let’s have a look at that flash drive.”
Simon Alexander had organized the contents of Gloria’s phone into folders for e-mail, text messages, phone calls, photographs, and video. They started with the e-mail, taking their time, Kate using her iPad to create a spreadsheet for the names of people that appeared in the messages. Half an hour later, nothing had jumped out at them. Kate looked at her watch.
“We better get back to court.”
“E-mail the files to me so I can go through them tonight.”
“Sure.”
Kate sent the e-mail and they left.
“Whose idea was this anyway?” Alex asked when they were in the elevator.
“What are you talking about?”
“Getting you and me alone in your hotel room for a heart-to-heart chat. Was it Claire or Lou? Or was it your idea?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that whatever is on Gloria Temple’s phone is too important for Lou not to have been through it the first chance he got. And there’s no way he was going to let us have the first look while he made some phone calls. I can’t believe what a lame excuse that was.”
Kate grinned and shook her head. “I told him it wouldn’t work, that you’d see through it.”
“So Lou thinks I’m holding something back and he asked you to find out if I was by gazing into my eyes over a club sandwich.”
The elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened, Kate following Alex into the lobby, taking her arm.
“Is he wrong?”
“Absolutely,” Alex answered, her face flat and her eyes steely.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“MS. SHELBURNE,” CLAIRE BEGAN HER CROSS-EXAMINATION, “I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to lose a child.”
“You got any kids?” Odyessy asked as she fidgeted, her arms shaking slightly.
“No, I don’t.”
Odyessy wrapped her arms around her middle, her voice rising unsteadily. “Then you don’t know nuthin’ ’bout it!”
Claire was pleased with Odyessy’s answer, using it to her advantage. “You seem very angry.”
Odyessy stuck her chin out. “Course I’m angry.”
“How angry?”
“Whadda you mean, how angry am I?”
“Are you angry enough to have lied to the police and the prosecutor and the jury about what happened just so Alex Stone would go to jail?”
“She shot my son and everybody know it! Ain’t no need to lie ’bout that.”
“And it would be hard for you not to want to punish her, wouldn’t you agree?”
Odyessy narrowed her eyes, sensing that she was losing her footing, uncertain what to say, snapping her answer. “She had no call to murder my boy.”
“That’s what you want the jury to decide, isn’t it, that Alex Stone murdered your son?”
“That’s right. That’s what I want,” she said, repeating her answer, drawing out each word. “That. Is. What. I. Want.”
“And you want it badly enough that you’ll say anything to convince the jury to find Alex Stone guilty, isn’t that so?”
Ortiz jumped to his feet. “Objection. Counsel is badgering the witness.”
“Your Honor,” Claire said, “I’m doing nothing of the kind. It would be hard to find a more hostile witness. I’m just trying to get to the truth.”
“Overruled, but if you’ve got something more than that, get to it, Ms. Mason.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Ms. Shelburne, please answer my question. Are you so angry over your son’s death that you’ll say anything if it will help convict Alex Stone?”
Odyessy squirmed, shifting her weight. “I ain’t lyin’. My boy waddn’t doin’ nuthin’, and she jus’ shot him.”
&n
bsp; “And you were in your room upstairs when you heard the gunshots, weren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Odyessy said before catching herself. “I mean no, I was comin’ down the stairs like I said before.”
Claire smiled. “My mistake. You were in your room when you say you heard Alex threaten to kill your son.”
Odyessy nodded, her head bobbing up and down. “Yes, I was.”
“There are three bedrooms on the second floor of your house, aren’t there?”
“That’s right.”
“And your bedroom is the one at the back of the house and farthest from the stairs. Isn’t that so?”
“That’s right.”
“What were you doing in your room?”
“Nuthin’.”
“Were you watching television?”
“No.”
“Reading a book or magazine?”
“No.”
“Listening to music?”
“No.”
“Taking a nap?”
“No.”
“Well, what were you doing?”
“Like I said, nuthin’.”
“Were you taking drugs?”
Odyessy’s eyes popped wide open. “No, ma’am, no way. I was clean and sober.”
“You testified this morning that you’ve used drugs since you were ten years old.”
“I was gettin’ clean. Dwayne was helpin’ me.”
“He was helping you because you’d been using drugs a lot while he was in jail for allegedly killing Wilfred Donaire. Isn’t that so?”
“I ain’t proud of it.”
“In fact, three days before he died, he was arrested and the police found vials of crack cocaine in his pocket that he claimed belonged to you. Isn’t that so?”
“That’s what I mean. He was keepin’ me clean.”
“Every drug user I’ve ever known always kept a little stashed away for emergencies. Did you keep your stash in your bedroom?”
“I done tol’ you! I was clean and sober and I saw what I saw!”
“And you’re clean and sober right now?”
Odyessy shook her head like she’d been slapped, stuttering, “C-c-course I am.”
“Tell me, Ms. Shelburne, what did you do during the lunch break?”
“I went to a meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“Narcotics Anonymous,” she said, tossing her head.
“And if I told you that my investigator followed you during the lunch break and observed you in an alley a few blocks from here buying crack cocaine and getting high, what would you say?”
Her eyes popped wide open as she clutched the top of her blouse tight against her neck. “I’d say he’s a liar.”
“And if I told you he videotaped you buying crack and getting high and that I am prepared to show that videotape to the jury, would he still be lying?”
She hung her head, her voice soft and low. “No.”
“So, a moment ago, when you told the jury that you’re clean and sober, that was a lie, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” she said, chin down.
“And when you told the jury that you weren’t getting high in your bedroom when your son was shot, that was also a lie, wasn’t it?”
She nodded.
“Ms. Shelburne, you have to answer out loud,” Judge West said.
“Yeah.”
“And when you told the jury that you were coming down the stairs and saw Alex Stone shoot your son, that was also a lie, isn’t that so?”
She lifted her head, her eyes red and tears streaming down her cheeks. “He was my baby. I shoulda been there. I shoulda done somethin’.”
“But instead you were in your room getting high and didn’t see a thing that happened in your living room. Isn’t that so?”
“Yes,” she said and buried her face in her hands.
“Nothing further,” Claire said.
“May we approach the bench?” Ortiz asked the judge after Odyessy Shelburne left the courtroom.
“Come forward,” Judge West said.
Ortiz wasted no time, giving no indication that he’d just taken a beating. He was bright-eyed and jaunty, as if he’d enjoyed Claire Mason’s takedown of Odyessy Shelburne as much as Claire had. He was engaged in the trial lawyer’s time-honored masquerade, pretending that no matter what happened, it was all part of his plan.
“Your Honor, we have one more witness, but we won’t be ready to put her on until tomorrow morning, so we’d like to recess for the rest of the day.”
“Ms. Mason?”
“Who’s the witness?” Claire asked.
“Gloria Temple,” Ortiz said.
“I object to her being allowed to testify, Your Honor. I haven’t had an opportunity to depose her.”
“Her nephew, Lou Mason, spent over an hour with her last night,” Ortiz said.
“Is that so, Counsel?”
“Yes, Your Honor, but—”
“No buts, Counsel. Lou Mason was one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the city before he lost his license. I’d say you’ve had your crack at her. Objection overruled. I’ll see all of you at nine o’clock tomorrow morning,” Judge West said and raised his gavel.
“Wait a minute,” Claire said. “I’m the lawyer trying this case, not my nephew. I’m entitled to talk to her, and Mr. Ortiz is obligated to tell me where I can find her.”
Judge West took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, as if he was defusing an internal bomb. “Mr. Ortiz, tell counsel where to find Ms. Temple.”
“She’s in my office at the moment.”
“Is she under arrest?” the judge asked.
“No, sir.”
“Then when you’re finished with her, give Ms. Mason a call and let her have a turn. Satisfied, Ms. Mason?”
“Almost. In order for me to prepare to talk with her, I’m entitled to know the substance of what she’s going to say on the stand.”
Judge West nodded. “Fair enough. Mr. Ortiz?”
“Gloria Temple was a friend of the deceased, Mr. Reed. She went to his house to visit him the day he was killed. She entered the house through the back door, which leads into the kitchen. She was in the kitchen when the defendant shot Mr. Reed.”
“Judge,” Claire said. “What’s the point of letting her testify? She’s just another witness who didn’t see what happened.”
“Except for one thing,” Ortiz said. “She saw the defendant pull Mr. Reed’s gun from his waistband after she shot him, put the gun in Mr. Reed’s hand, and fire a round into the ceiling.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
CLAIRE WHISPERED ORTIZ’S DISCLOSURE TO LOU while they were packing their briefcases before leaving court, and he briefed Kate and Blues on the way to his office. Claire waited until they’d all gathered there to drop the bombshell on Alex.
Lou was sitting behind his desk. Blues was standing at the window overlooking Broadway. Kate and Claire were standing on either side of Lou’s dry-erase board. Alex was sitting on the sofa. Anyone who walked into the office at that moment would have said they were looking at one another. But they weren’t. They were looking at Alex.
“Alex, we’ve got a problem,” Claire began. “Gloria Temple is going to testify that she saw you shoot Dwayne and that after you shot him, you put his gun in his hand and fired a round into the ceiling.”
Alex jumped off the sofa, arms in the air. “That’s bullshit!” She slapped her thighs and spun halfway around. “That’s fucking unbelievable! You blew Odyessy Shelburne out of the water, so Ortiz had to come up with something, but this is too much, way too fucking much!”
She planted her hands on her hips, first staring and then glaring at them as they watched her in silence until she realized what was going on.
“Oh, c’mon, you guys!” she said. “You can’t seriously think she’s telling the truth. She’s got to be another junkie peddling a story to get a break because they’re about to charge her with something. So she’s going to testif
y against me in return for immunity. C’mon! I can’t be the only one in the room who can see that!”
“It’s possible,” Lou said. “Rossi and one of the CSI techs testified that that’s the way it could have gone down, but they both said there was no proof. Rossi could have put the idea in her head, let her know what they needed, and she agreed to go along to get along.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Blues added.
“You see,” Alex said, her hands chopping the air. “That’s the only way it makes sense. What do we even know about Gloria Temple? I’ve thought all along that she was the girl who gave Dwayne a gold necklace that belonged to Wilfried Donaire, but that’s just speculation.”
“She used to stay with a woman named Virginia Sprague, who was Kyrie Chapman’s grandmother. Grace Canfield talked to Virginia, and that’s how we found Gloria.”
“I tried talking to her last night,” Lou said, “but I didn’t get anything out of her.”
“Well,” Claire said, “she’ll have to talk to me. Ortiz will see to that. He doesn’t want me to start my cross-examination by having her tell the jury she refused. We’ll know more in a little while.”
Alex calmed down enough to reclaim her seat on the sofa. “Okay, then. What’s the plan besides you talking to Gloria?”
“It begins with you,” Claire said. “We need to know everything that happened in that living room before you shot Dwayne. Everything.”
Alex took a deep breath and nodded, pressing her back into the sofa, feeling staked out.
“Okay,” she said. “For starters, if Gloria was there, I never saw her.”
“Start at the beginning, from when you walked into Odyessy’s house.”
“We’ve been over this a hundred times.”
“And we’re going to go over it as many more times as it takes. I’ve got nothing on Gloria. If I can’t shake her on cross, you’ll have to testify. So tell us everything that happened.”
“Fine. I went there to tell Dwayne that I was withdrawing from his case because he’d threatened Bonnie. I took my gun because I was scared of him. When he let me in, I could tell he had a gun in his waistband. My gun was in my right jacket pocket. I put my hand in my pocket and held on to my gun just in case.”
