Was this a desperate attempt to clean house? Had the men wanted it to look as if there was only one person, which would keep them both in the clear? Had Veronica been murdered because she’d stumbled across the truth?
At least they’d found Jude and placed her in a secure environment. She was not only a witness. She was their greatest resource. Hank would work around the clock until he brought this demented person or persons to justice. Slamming the gearshift into reverse, he backed out of the parking space, then gunned the big engine and sped off.
CHAPTER 22
Saturday, October 16—2:30 P.M.
Carolyn had met Marcus and Rebecca for lunch in the food court at the mall, then driven to the Ventura PD to meet Mary Stevens. The two women picked up Jude at the jail to escort her to a three o’clock meeting at the DA’s office.
“I didn’t sleep all night,” Jude complained, a sour expression on her face. “The jailer was an ugly dyke. She went to the bathroom with me and watched me pee. I was afraid what she’d do to me if I went to sleep.”
Mary met her eyes through the rearview mirror. “You’re with me now, so shut up and put up. Wanda isn’t a lesbian. She’s been married for thirty years and has four grandchildren. You got plenty of sleep yesterday when you shot yourself full of heroin. You almost put yourself to sleep permanently.”
“I wanted to die,” Jude said, lacing her fingers through the wire mesh screen. “You people are completely clueless. What am I going to do at the DA’s office? I’ve already told you everything. It really did me good. Now I’m a prisoner.”
Carolyn turned sideways to talk to her. “Detective Sawyer said he would drop the charges against you if you cooperate. What you’ll be doing this afternoon is giving the prosecutor your deposition. Mary and I will be there, as well as a victims’ rights advocate. You’ll have to take an oath that what you say is the truth.”
“Then will it be over?”
If she only knew, Carolyn thought, exchanging glances with Mary. “The next step will be the preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is similar to a minitrial, but there won’t be any jurors.
You’ll testify, and your father’s attorney will be allowed to cross-examine you, as well as call other witnesses to support his case and refute your accusations. Then the judge will decide if there’s sufficient evidence to hold the case over for trial.”
“When this is over, will my father get out?”
“We’re hoping he’ll be held without bail, particularly since your friend, Haley Snodgrass, was murdered. Your father hasn’t been charged with that crime.” Carolyn watched Jude’s reaction, but her face remained the same, no emotional response whatsoever. “The DA, Kevin Thomas, may ask you some questions about Haley today. He’s also going to ask you about your relationship with Reggie Stockton. When was the last time you saw him?”
“I don’t remember,” Jude said. “Why will they be asking me about Reggie? He was Haley’s boyfriend, not mine.”
“You liked him, though, right? We were told that you and Haley stopped being friends over Reggie. Is that true?”
“We got high on pot one night and made out. Haley went ballistic when she found out. I didn’t have sex with him or anything. Reggie is a cool guy. Haley thought he was in love with her. That was a laugh. Reggie had all kinds of gorgeous girlfriends. He was popular and smart. Haley and I were considered losers. We both flunked a couple of classes. That’s why neither of us got to graduate.”
“Haley’s father said she had an ulcer,” Mary said. “That’s why she missed so much school.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jude shot out. “Haley was anorexic. Her mother tried to put her in a hospital, but her father wouldn’t allow it. The last time I saw her at school, I knew she was sick again because her cheeks were caved in, and she wore all these heavy clothes, even when it was hot.”
Carolyn asked, “Did you ever patch up your friendship?”
“Not really,” Jude said, staring out the window. “All she talked about was Reggie. Then she’d get pissed off at me and everything would start up again. Anyway, I knew she was going to die. There was a girl in my junior high who died from anorexia. Haley was an idiot. Her father spoiled her rotten. I don’t know why I stayed friends with her for so long.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Carolyn said. “Haley didn’t die from anorexia. She was murdered, Jude. Whoever killed her buried her in an orange grove. The police found her body last night.”
Jude blinked several times. “I thought I heard you say something about Haley last night. Why would someone kill her? All they had to do was wait a while and she would have dropped dead.” She chuckled. “Maybe she dug her own grave and jumped in. I think she became anorexic because she wanted to make people feel sorry for her. She thought she could get Reggie back that way.”
How could a layman understand Jude’s psychological makeup? Carolyn asked herself. They’d just informed her that a girl who was once her closest friend had been murdered, and she’d responded with insults and laughter. Her callous demeanor must be her coping mechanism. Acting tough was a front to cover all the years she’d been victimized. Of course, some of it wasn’t an act. A child in an ongoing abusive relationship had to toughen up in order to survive. Jude was clearly a survivor.
Mary insisted on cuffing Jude when they reached the government center parking lot. Carolyn took her arm and led her to the entrance, then steered her toward the elevator, hitting the button for the third floor where the district attorney’s office was located. The receptionist bused them through the security doors, and they made their way to the conference room.
Kevin Thomas stood. “Ladies, please have a seat. I’d prefer that Ms. Campbell sits directly across from me.”
Jude’s eyes went to the court reporter, who was unpacking her machine and setting up. “What’s she doing here?”
“Mrs. Hubert will be recording your statement,” Thomas explained, sitting down in his chair at the end of the table. “She uses a form of shorthand, which is imputed into that machine. When we’re finished, she’ll transcribe it, and a copy will be sent to your father’s attorney, Jacob Farrow.”
“She’s going to write down every word I say?”
“Yes.” Thomas glanced at his watch, then turned to Mary. “Is Detective Sawyer coming, or should we proceed without him?”
Mary pulled out her cell phone and called Hank. It wasn’t like him to be late. She said a few words, then disconnected. “He’s in the building. He’ll be here any minute.”
“My name is Kevin Thomas. Is it all right for me to call you Jude?”
“I guess,” she answered. “Can I call you Kevin?”
“Don’t call me by my first name in the courtroom, but any other time will be fine.” He glanced up as Hank entered the room, selecting a seat next to Carolyn on the opposite side of the table from Jude. “The victims’ rights advocate wasn’t able to make it today. That’s one of the reasons I wanted Ms. Sullivan to be present. I understand you’ve been staying with her.”
“Duh,” Jude said. “In case you don’t know, I’m a prisoner now. That dickhead that just walked in charged me with breaking and entering and possession of an illegal substance. It was my own damn house. Is that legal?”
Thomas made a pyramid with his fingers. “We’ll discuss that situation later. It has no bearing on the present matter.”
After Jude was sworn in, the prosecutor asked her name and other pertinent information, then moved to the incidents of abuse committed by her father. He thumbed through a stack of papers. “You informed Detective Stevens that your father made you feign illness on the days he molested you. Is that correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you answer yes or no, instead of using slang?”
“Maybe,” Jude said, taunting him. “Will you promise me the police will drop the charges against me if I tell you what you want to hear?”
Thomas didn’t move, but his face flushed. Everyone b
ut Jude knew he was angry. “In this statement, Ms. Campbell, you should be speaking of your own accord and with no promises of any kind from myself or my agency.”
“So now I’m Ms. Campbell again,” Jude said, turning to Carolyn. “I can’t talk to this guy. He’s a prude who acts like he’s got a rod shoved up his ass.”
“Excuse me,” Thomas said, pushing himself to his feet and leaving the room.
Carolyn got up and followed him, finding him gulping water from the fountain. “She needs therapy, Kevin. You’ve handled sexual abuse victims before. You know the profile.”
“I can’t prosecute a case with a hostile victim.”
“Hank told you about the body they found last night, didn’t he? Haley Snodgrass was Jude’s friend. She may be acting out because she’s distraught. Even before she learned about her friend’s death, she tried to OD on heroin.”
“Perhaps she’d react better to a female. I’ll have the case reassigned.”
“Jude may disappear again,” Carolyn told him. “For Christ’s sake, Kevin, can’t you go back in there and try again? The crimes are what made her this way. As long as you react, she’ll keep at you. Ignore her and you’ll get your deposition. We need to get her on record now. Whoever killed Haley Snodgrass may come after Jude, or he could be out there shopping for a new victim. We’re beyond sexual assault. This was an attempted murder. The killer wanted to bury Jude alive. That’s why her injuries weren’t that serious.” Carolyn ran her fingers through her hair, beside herself. “Are you going to stick your tail between your legs and run off because a girl called you a prick? Jesus, be a man and do your job.”
Without a word, Thomas walked back into the room.
Thirty minutes of questioning went fairly smoothly. Carolyn wasn’t certain what happened, but Jude began to unravel. “What will happen to my dad when this is over?”
“That depends on whether or not we get a conviction,” Thomas told her. “If we file homicide charges, he could face the death penalty. As it stands now, he’ll spend most of his life in prison. May we continue?”
“But what if the jury doesn’t believe me? Then they’ll let him go, right?”
“Yes,” the district attorney said, turning a piece of paper over. “Do you remember what occurred on July ninth, three years ago? You missed school that day. It appears to have been on a Wednesday.”
“I went to the beach.” Jude hadn’t been paying attention. She was nervously twisting the edge of her T-shirt into a knot.
“You told Detective Stevens that you recalled the events of that day, that your father made you bend over the bed and penetrated you. When you cried and pleaded for him to stop, he beat you.”
“Yeah, that’s what he did.” She squinted and tilted her head. “I don’t think I said he made me bend over the bed, did I? He just made me take my clothes off and lie there while he did it to me.”
Thomas’s pen began shaking his hand. “According to your earlier statement, making you bend over the bed when your father wanted sex was an established behavior.”
“Shit,” Jude said, throwing her hands in the air. “My dad’s a jackass, okay? What kind of father would kick his kid out of the house the day after her mother was killed? That was mean. He deserved to get his butt kicked. That doesn’t mean I want them to lock him up forever or kill him. Hell, my mom’s already dead and my sister and brothers have been pawned off to my aunt Emily. She hates kids.”
“When you say your father deserved to be punished,” Carolyn said, “you mean for all the years of abuse you suffered?”
Jude sniffed. “Not really,” she said. “I ditched school because I wanted to fool around with my friends.” Everyone in the room sat there in stunned silence. “School bores me. Why learn all this stupid stuff when I’m never going to use it? Then I started hanging out with a bunch of surfer dudes who smoked pot all the time. Mom and Dad tried to turn things around, but I was already too far gone. Howie getting me knocked up didn’t help. I got pregnant again a few years later. I’d slept with so many guys by then, I didn’t know who the father was. What can I say? I’m a slut and a loser. I’ll probably never amount to anything just like my dad kept telling me.” Her eyes pooled with tears. “I enrolled in school this year hoping I could get my diploma. I was going to surprise them, make them proud of me. No matter what I did, they would never have been proud of me. Mom felt like a baby killer because she arranged for me to have the abortions.”
Kevin Thomas looked as if the top of his head were about to blow off. “Are you saying that you lied about your father sexually abusing you?”
“Ah, yeah,” Jude said, brushing the tears away with her fingers. “Didn’t you read my arrest record? I’m a world-class liar. I bet I could pass a polygraph test. Sucking dick and lying are the only things I’m good at.”
“What about the injuries you claimed your father inflicted?” Thomas said, his face so stiff his lips were barely moving. “Are you denying that he beat you as well?”
“I got into a fight with a wino,” Jude said. “Hey, what can I tell you? Miss Probation Officer over here tackled me on my front lawn. Then she cuffed me and threatened to lock me up in a mental hospital. I would have told her anything to get her off my back.”
Carolyn leaped to her feet. “She’s not telling the truth, Kevin. She’s terrified her father will be acquitted and kill her. You’ve come this far, Jude. Don’t back out now. I know you’re frightened. We’ll protect you.”
“You mean like you protected me last night? Slamming my ass in the jail? No, thanks. I’d rather take my chances on the street.” Jude smiled. “You guys didn’t see the wino. I messed him up really bad. I know how to take care of myself.”
Hank shook his head. “Incredible,” he said. “I should take you to the morgue and let you see your friend Haley. Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
“I’m telling the truth,” Jude said, thrusting her chin forward. “I swore to tell the truth so I’m telling it. You people just don’t want to hear it. You want your big sex case, so all of you can get on TV and become famous. Let my dad out of jail, okay?” She made a square with her finger. “He’s a straight shooter. Dad would jump out a window before he’d have sex with a kid. I don’t think he even had sex with my mom.” She stopped speaking and stared at Hank and Mary. “Do I have to go back to jail now? You said you’d drop the charges if I cooperated and told the truth. I held up my part of the bargain.”
Mary, Hank, Carolyn, and the district attorney huddled in the back of the room. Jude struck up a conversation with the court reporter, asking her what school she went to, and how long it took to become certified. “Maybe I could do that,” she said. “I used to play computer games all the time. I’ve got really fast fingers.”
“Hold her until I can prepare a statement for her signature,” Thomas said. “I’ll withdraw the charges tomorrow.”
Hank grabbed his sleeve. “Forget the deposition for now. Give her some time to accept what happened to her friend. You can’t release Campbell back in the community. There’s a possibility that he’s involved in a pedophilia ring. I’m certain all these crimes are related, especially the Snodgrass girl’s murder. Charley said she’d been sexually active since she was a child, the same thing the doctor said about Jude. I’m preparing a request for a search warrant for the Snodgrass residence. Can’t you hold off until we put this together?”
“Unless you bring me a credible witness,” Thomas said flatly, “the state has no case against Drew Campbell.” He shot Hank a black gaze. “Don’t ever make an under-the-table deal again, Sawyer, or I’ll have you thrown off the force.”
“Whoa,” Mary said, after the district attorney had stormed out of the room. “Where do we go from here, guys? I knew Jude was a problem, but I didn’t think she was going to drop a bomb like this on us. I’ve never seen Kevin Thomas move so fast.” A sly smile appeared on her face. “What did Jude call him? A prude with a rod stuck up his ass. She sized him up right
away, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m not going to drop the charges and let her just walk away,” Hank said, not interested in small talk. “The girl’s in danger. Maybe she thought if she denied the stuff about her father, he’d leave her alone. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Drew may be working with Snodgrass’s father. For all we know, there are more men involved. We’ve got to get the search warrants pushed through so we can seize their computers.”
“I’ll take Jude home with me again,” Carolyn said, deciding there was no other option. “Tell her it’s a provisional release, Hank, that she has to stay with me or go back to jail. And if she runs away again or uses narcotics, you’ll press charges on both counts. Impress on her that she could go to prison. She got a taste of the jail last night and didn’t like it. She wouldn’t last a week at a state prison facility.”
“She’s a girl,” the detective said. “A white middle-class girl, not some hard-core gang chick. No judge is going to send her to the joint. A stint in jail maybe. That’s on the possession charge. She was right when she questioned the validity of the breaking and entering. It was her house.”
“Charge her with auto theft, then?” Carolyn suggested. “She stole Marcus’s Jeep Wrangler.”
“By the way,” Mary said, “patrol found it parked in the shopping center a few blocks away from Veronica’s house. I had them tow it to your place in Santa Rosa. I thought you guys didn’t want to press charges.”
“We don’t. We’re just going to hold a prison sentence over her head. It doesn’t have to be true. We need some way to control her until we figure out what’s going on.”
“Oh, I see,” Mary said, scowling. “She lies. We lie. Then somehow, everything turns out perfect. I’m not so sure about that, Carolyn.”
“I might consider cutting her loose and putting a tail on her,” Hank said. “That way, we might actually learn something.”
“I think she’s involved with Reggie Stockton,” Mary said, keeping her eye on Jude. “Who knows? Maybe she killed off the competition. She didn’t seem upset when we told her that Haley Snodgrass had been murdered.”
Revenge of Innocents Page 21
