“And what happened?”
“We hadn’t gotten much past the kids are fine when Ms. Vila came up and said, ‘Don't tell me you’re too high falutin’ for the electric slide.’”
“What happened then?”
“Richard said he would catch up with me later and went out on the dance floor.”
“And did he? Catch up with you later?”
“He never had the chance.”
“I understand you saw Richard Phillips at the wedding?”
“I did.”
“Did you know him before then?”
“I didn't. I'm a friend of Jake’s, the groom. We went to college together.”
“I see. And how did you come to talk to Mr. Phillips?”
“We were in the bathroom at the same time. He was at the sink wiping his forehead with a wet paper towel. I went to wash my hands and he smiled at me, kind of embarrassed, and said, ‘I'm afraid she's wearing me out.’ ‘There are worse things,’ I said. And he smiled and said, ‘There certainly are.’”
“Did you know who he was talking about at the time?”
“Of course. How could you not?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I mean, well, look at her. Of course I knew.”
“Let the record reflect that the witness is indicating the defendant, Liselle Vila.”
Liselle kept her eyes on the table.
All told, Victoria called eighteen witnesses that day. None of them took much longer than ten minutes. A few testified that they saw Liselle order red wine for Richard, but most of them related some incident where she led him back onto the dance floor or spun him around so fast that it seemed like their feet were barely touching the floor. The last one was a young woman who had been clearing the discard trays.
“And what’s a discard tray?” asked Victoria.
“You know how there's little stands with trays that people put their used glasses on?”
“I do.”
“I cleared them and took them back to the kitchen to be washed.”
“I see. And were you doing that at the end of the reception?”
“I was.”
“And did you see Richard Phillips at that time?”
“I did.”
“How did you know it was Richard Phillips?”
“Well, number one, he's a billionaire. And number two, he was handsome, in a dad kinda way.”
“And what did you see?”
“He asked if I could get him a bottle of water, and I said that I could, so I did. He gave me a tip, in advance, so I hustled and got the water, and brought it back. He smiled and was about to take a drink when that woman—”
“You’re indicating Ms. Vila sitting at the table over there?”
“I am. Ms. Vila came up and said, ‘Come on Richard, you promised me the last dance of the night.’ And Mr. Phillips looked at me and he smiled and he said, ‘I certainly did’ and took a quick sip. Ms. Vila had taken his tie, put it over her shoulder, and started walking towards the dance floor. Mr. Phillips reached out quickly and handed the water back to me, and then he smiled, and I'll never forget what he said.”
“And what was that?”
“He said ‘That woman will be the death of me.’ And then he laughed and followed her.”
“You're certain that's what he said?”
“That's not something you forget.”
“No, I suppose it's not. No further questions.”
I cross-examined all of them of course, some longer than others, but none of it altered the facts of what they saw. And when they were done, all eighteen of them, Victoria Lance stood and said, “Your Honor, that’s all I have today. I expect that we’ll rest to start the day Monday.”
Judge French looked at the clock. “That’s all for today then.”
And on the heels of that avalanche of testimony, Judge French adjourned us for the weekend.
SEEDS
42
We attacked the case with fresh eyes on Saturday morning. Danny and I were already there when Olivia brought Liselle in to the office. “Can you stay for little bit, Liv?” I asked. “I'm interested in your opinion too.” Olivia had been in and out during some of the important testimony.
“All right,” she said. “But I have a class at noon.”
“Poor bastards,” I said. She smiled and she sat and she left her half-mirrored sunglasses on, just like she always did. We all sat around the conference table, everyone in jeans after a week of suits. “We have some decisions to make,” I said. “It's their job to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Personally, I think their case is pretty thin and that we made some headway with just about all of their witnesses. I'm interested in where you all think we stand.”
Liselle sat straight, hands folded. “You’ve all done this before. I'd like to hear your thoughts first.”
I pointed at Danny. He looked at his notes and said, “They've established that the St. John's wort interfered with Richard's medication. I think you were able to raise some doubt as to whether Liselle saw it, but I’d like more.”
“Me too,” I said. “So, the four of us know that you didn’t see the Lopressor in the bathroom. How else can I show that to the jury?”
There was a moment of quiet before Liselle said, “You mentioned that I could have used the bathroom before him.”
“There's another possibility too,” said Olivia.
“What's that?” I said.
Olivia looked at Liselle. “You were what, twenty years younger than him?”
Liselle met her gaze. “Almost thirty.”
Olivia nodded. “Even better.”
I cocked my head.
“Do you really think an older guy wants his younger girlfriend to see his blood pressure medication?” said Olivia.
“I wouldn't think so,” I said.
“I bet if you look at the inventory of his possessions there were some little blue pills in there too, right?”
I nodded. “There were.”
“I assume he didn't tell you about those either?” Olivia said to Liselle.
Liselle shook her head.
“There you go.”
I thought. “I’d have to put Liselle on the stand to establish her lack of knowledge.”
“So put me on the stand,” said Liselle.
“That's not really an option in this case.” I thought about what Olivia had said. “It’s their burden of proof. They have to prove, actually prove, that you knew about the Lopressor. I don’t think they have. Liv has a good thought though, I might be able to make that argument during closing depending on how the evidence comes in.”
I tapped the table. “So I think we can handle the blood pressure medication. I don’t think they’ve established that you knew about it and I like the age difference as an additional argument against your knowledge. What about the St. John's wort though?”
I came back to Danny, who squirmed a little under our attention. “I think there's plenty of evidence that Liselle convinced him to eat and drink things that would spike his blood pressure. That’s a problem regardless of the blood pressure medication.”
I nodded. “Why?”
“The problem is that Richard shouldn’t have been drinking red wine or eating aged meats and cheeses if he was taking St. John's wort. Liselle knew Richard was taking St. John's wort. Therefore, she knew that he shouldn't have had the wine and the high tyramine foods, regardless of the blood pressure medicine.” He glanced at Liselle and said, “Sorry.”
Liselle shook her head. “Don't be.”
“Danny's right,” I said. “Why did you let Richard eat and drink those things?”
Liselle shrugged. “I was too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn't just making the tea for Richard. We were both drinking it.”
“Every time?”
Liselle nodded. “Just about. Certainly every time we were together.”
I cursed myself. That was a big angle and I’d
totally missed it. “So you didn't think anything of it because you were having the same things?”
Liselle nodded. “You know how those warnings are. I'd never had any trouble with it so I never thought twice about it.”
“So the main difference between you and him was the blood pressure medication which you didn't know anything about?”
“And the age difference,” said Olivia.
Liselle turned her hands out. “He was a very healthy, active man. Our age never occurred to me.”
I nodded and I thought. “I can work with that. What did you think of that last run of testimony yesterday?”
“With the dancing? said Danny. “Individually, it wasn’t a lot. Cumulatively, I think it had some traction. So we can’t let the jury lose track of how just how ridiculous this all is as a murder plot. I just don't think they’ll believe that you can dance someone to death.”
Olivia's head twitched but with those glasses it was impossible to tell if she was looking at me.
“That's a good point, Danny,” I said. “I think I'm going to attack that two ways—I'm going to put on a bunch of witnesses that saw Richard ask Liselle to dance and I’ll emphasize in closing that it's a ridiculous theory.”
“I think you need to hammer the family throwing their money at this too,” said Olivia. “You’ve got a billionaire family that’s used to getting their own way and a prosecutor who's pushing a pretty thin case. I don't think you have to explicitly connect the two. I think the jury will get it.”
“Do you?”
Olivia nodded. “I was there for Bre Phillips’ testimony. She didn't make the best impression.”
I ticked the mental box. “So that leaves us with motive. How did you all think the whole environmental activist evidence played?”
“I think it's the biggest hole in the case,” said Danny. “Plenty of people object to fracking on forested land. It doesn't make them murderers.”
“What about the violence at the demonstration?”
“There was nothing linking her to it,” said Danny. “And even if there was, that's a long way away from premeditated murder.”
“Liv?”
“I agree that the fracking demonstration isn't enough,” she said.
We were quiet for little bit, then I looked at Liselle and said, “What do you think?”
Light green pools of uncertainty looked back. “I think I'm too scared to think of much of anything. I'll do whatever you say.”
I thought a moment, then nodded. “I think we have enough. Now we just have to put it together.”
Olivia stood. “That it? My students aren’t gonna hurt themselves.”
I smiled. “That's it.”
“Ready, lady?” she said to Liselle.
“Do you mind if I stay?” Liselle said to me.
I raised an eyebrow. “We’re just going to be squirreled up in our offices banging on computers all day.”
“I know it's just…” she trailed off and looked away. “I'm alone there. I’d rather do work here. With people around.”
I was familiar with months alone in an empty house. “Sure. You can use the spare office.”
She smiled in obvious relief. “I brought some work just in case. The ash borers wait for no woman.”
Olivia left and we set Liselle up in an office that had once been used by a ruthlessly efficient legal assistant from Minneapolis. Then Danny and I got to work on the case.
At the end of the day, I drove Liselle home. As we pulled up to the dark townhouse, she said, “I'm sorry about last night. I don't know what made me break down like that.”
“I do. You're in the pressure cooker of a murder trial and you just saw pictures of someone you cared about that were deeply upsetting. Don't worry about it.”
“It doesn't seem to bother you. The pressure cooker of a murder trial.”
I smiled. “It's my job.”
“I know. But it’s more. You make me feel like it's going to be okay too.”
“I can't promise you that, you know.”
“I know. But that's still how you make me feel.”
“Good. Good night, Liselle.”
Liselle looked up at the house. None of the lights were on. “Would you mind if I came in to work at the office again tomorrow?”
“I have to be in early.”
“I don't mind.”
“Okay. I'll pick you up at seven-thirty.”
She smiled. “Great. I'll see you then.” Then she picked up her file and got out of the Jeep. I waited until she was in the house and the light came on and then I left and went home to my own dark and empty house.
We did the same thing the next day. I picked Liselle up and she worked in Cyn’s old office with her files and maps spread out all over the desk. When the day was done, I dropped her off on the way home. Which brought us to Monday, the sixth day of the trial.
43
Monday morning did not start out great.
We were meeting in Judge French's chambers when Victoria said, “Your Honor, we have one more witness.”
“I thought you were going to rest,” I said.
“We were. But we decided in light of last week's testimony that we needed one more witness.”
“Who is it?” said Judge French.
“Professor Hopkins from Washington University.”
“An expert?” said Judge French.
“A fact witness, Your Honor.”
“Has he been disclosed?”
“It’s she. And yes.”
“I don’t remember seeing her name,” I said.
“We disclosed anyone with knowledge of Ms. Vila’s academic background or education. We thought she was going to be out of the country, but she’s just returned.”
“I object to this witness, Your Honor,” I said.
“What is she going to testify about?” Judge French said.
Victoria slid a glance at me. “About the defendant's academic background.”
“That’s it?” said Judge French.
“That’s it.”
“And then you’ll be done?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Judge French adjusted his glasses. “I’ll allow the witness for the limited purpose of the topic disclosed by the prosecution, Ms. Vila’s academic background.” I started to speak. Judge French raised his hand. “Your objection is noted and will be put on the record, Mr. Shepherd.”
As soon as we went back out, I sat down next to Liselle and said, “Do you know a Professor Hopkins from Washington U?”
Liselle's eyes widened a little bit. “Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“She was my herbal sciences professor.”
Fuck. “Is that as bad as it sounds?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
After the jury was seated, Victoria called Professor Anna Hopkins to the stand. Professor Hopkins had longish red hair and bright green glasses that stood out on her face. I noticed her smiling at Liselle as she took the stand. “Could you introduce yourself to the jury please?” said Victoria.
“I’m Professor Anna Hopkins.”
“And what is your degree in, Professor Hopkins?”
“I have two actually. I have a doctorate in biology and one in herbal sciences.”
“Do you teach?”
“I do.”
“Where?”
“Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.”
“Dr. Hopkins, do you know the defendant Liselle Vila?”
“I do.”
“How do you know her?”
“She was one of my students.”
“Oh? What class of yours did she take?”
“She took two actually. Introduction to Herbal Science and the following semester, Herbs and Body Systems.”
“Are those classes part of a woodland biology degree?”
“No. They do satisfy some biology electives though.”
“Do you actually remember Liselle Vila in your class?”
/>
“I do.”
“And why is that?”
“I'm the head of our herbal sciences department and I thought that perhaps she was going to pursue a major in it so I took an interest in her.”
“Why did you think that?”
“Because she was a very good student.”
“I see. And did she pursue a degree in herbal sciences?”
Professor Hopkins smiled. “Unfortunately, no. It was our loss. She’s very talented.”
“Dr. Hopkins, what do you teach in Introduction to Herbal Science?”
“It's a very basic course. We talk about basic principles of herbal medicine and study the use of botanicals that have been documented through historical times and today.”
“By botanicals, you mean what?”
“Plants and herbs. We also talk about the basics of herbal quality control.”
“What do you mean by quality control?”
“We discuss how botanicals are obtained and used safely.”
“Is St. John's wort one of the herbal medicines that are discussed in your course?”
“It is. We discuss what it's historically been used for and where.”
“And do you discuss its contraindications?”
“Not really. This is an introductory course so it's really more of a laundry list of the various herbs that have historically been used and then which ones are still currently used in modern society.”
“I see. And you said you also teach a class called Herbs and Body Systems?”
“I do.”
“What do you talk about in that class?”
“We talk about the botanicals that are commonly used in Western medicine and their effect on body systems. We also discuss how certain combinations of botanicals are used. Much of that class is focused on disease prevention.”
“And is St. John's wort covered in that class?”
“It is. St. John's wort has been used throughout history so we have a brief discussion of how it works.”
“Professor, what are contraindications?”
“Contraindications are the reasons you shouldn’t take something.”
True Intent Page 27
