As we walked through the station, thinking about what to do next, I felt my phone buzzing incessantly. I had turned it off when we were in the restaurant and the bar, because I didn’t want to be disturbed. I wanted to turn off what had happened in court, and just relax a little bit. There really was nothing that I could do to turn things around at this point, so there wasn’t a reason to try to put my all into it.
“Excuse me,” I said to Axel. “I need to take this. But I’ll be right back.”
I, shockingly, had about ten messages from Pearl, Anna and Fred. All of them told me to call them.
The first person I called was Pearl.
“Harper,” she said breathlessly. “You gotta come to the office. Yesterday.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Anna found Louisa. And, girl, you’re not going to believe how.”
“How?”
“She’s Heather’s birth mother.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
“What?” I found a bench and sat down on it. “Her birth mother? I don’t understand.” I did understand, but it was just too weird to be believed. I mean, what were the odds? Louisa gives up a baby, the adoption is closed, so she doesn’t know who adopted the baby, and she ends up having an affair with the adoptive mother? To say that was a weird coincidence would be understating it. I had heard of weirder coincidences, but not many.
“Yeah. Heather was born in Georgia to Louisa. We don’t know who the birth father was, however, because the birth certificate was left blank. She immediately put Heather up for adoption, and it was a closed adoption, so she never found out who adopted her. Connie and her husband, Frank, adopted Heather from Georgia. They were matched with her after being on the waiting list for several years.”
My heart was pounding. “Okay, so where is Louisa now?”
“She’s staying with her mother and father, who currently live in San Diego, California. Her family moved from Savannah, Georgia to California after her father retired. They own an almond ranch out there. 50 acres.”
“How did Anna find all this out?”
“She finally figured out how to hack into the closed adoption records, which led her to Louisa’s residence in Georgia. The records showed the names of her parents, and it also showed Louisa’s date of birth. That gave Anna enough information to locate Louisa’s parents in San Diego, and it also gave Anna enough information that she was able to find the phone number of Louisa’s parents. She called the parents, asked for Louisa, and the parents handed the phone to her. That’s how Anna was finally able to find out where Louisa is.”
I nodded my head. “This is good, this is very good. We need to get her on the stand. She’s on my witness list.” But how was I going to do that? How could I possibly get out there, persuade her to come in or get her under subpoena, all before tomorrow morning? I couldn’t. There wasn’t any way. I would have to try for a continuance, but I knew that Judge Reiner would never approve of it. Not with the jury all seated. There wasn’t any way that he would agree to a continuance.
Yet I knew that I had to talk to her. I had to convince her to come in. Maybe if I told her that Heather was the baby boy that she gave up all those years ago, she would go ahead and come in and testify willingly. Surely she wouldn’t want to see her child go to prison. I still didn’t know if she had the butcher knife, but I had a pretty good hunch that she did. No doubt about it, Louisa was my last, and only, hope for an acquittal for Heather.
I couldn’t do all this over the phone, though. I had to go there. If I called her, she was liable to run, and then I would never find her again.
“Harper?” Pearl said. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah. How am I going to do this? I have to be back in court at 9 AM tomorrow, and I think that Vince is getting ready to wrap things up by early morning. He doesn’t have many witnesses on tap for tomorrow. I could ask for a continuance, but no way is Judge Reiner going to approve of that.” My heart raced faster and faster as I tried to think my way around this.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Pearl said. “But you gotta think of something. You think that Louisa knows about the butcher knife, right? That’s your suspicion?”
“Yes. She might also know other things, too. She was high up in the church, after all, and she was having an affair with Connie. Maybe she witnessed the Reverend talking to Connie, telling her to kill Heather. Maybe Connie told her that the Reverend wanted her to kill Heather, and maybe Connie said that she was going to do it. I can get a statement like that in through the admission exception to the hearsay rule.”
“Well, then, we need to figure out how to get her on the stand.”
“Yeah. Listen, I’ll let you go for now. I have Axel here, and maybe he can give an idea on how we can get this done before tomorrow.”
“Call me back,” she said. “I’ll call Anna and Fred and tell them that I talked to you. They’ve been trying to call you to tell you about this.”
I hung up and looked at Axel. “Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is, Anna finally located Louisa. She’s absolutely key to this case. I have a hunch that she knows a lot, and I also have a hunch that she has that butcher knife.”
“That sounds great,” Axel said. “What’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is I have to be court tomorrow for day two of our trial. I think that the prosecutor, Vince, will be wrapping up by the afternoon, which means that I have to put my evidence on immediately. At this point, Heather is the only evidence I have. Her testimony is all I have.” Heather’s boyfriend, Charlie, was also on my witness list, as she told Charlie what had happened. That mattered, because his testimony would be somewhat believable, as what Heather was thinking at the time she killed her mother was highly relevant. Other than that, however, I didn’t have much. All of Heather’s friends, as well as Connie’s, were already called by Vince, because their testimony was unfortunately more damning than exonerating.
I didn’t want to call Charlie, however, because was he was a drug dealer and a convicted felon. That was going to come in, and it was going to make Heather look even worse in front of the jury. She fled after killing her mother and went to stay with her convicted felon boyfriend. I didn’t want to get him on the stand for that reason.
I got up and started to pace around. “She’s in California. Fucking California.” I looked up at the clock. It was 10 PM. “Fucking California. She might as well be in Thailand.”
“Won’t the judge continue the case so you can bring her in?”
“No. I mean, I’m obviously going to have to ask for that, but no way is he going to approve a continuance. He’s an impatient judge to begin with – he made us try this case just three months after we got it. The jury is sat, the jury wants to go home. I just can’t see him approving a continuance unless there’s some kind of major emergency.”
I sat down. “The only thing I can think of is that I drag out Heather’s testimony for several hours in the afternoon. God knows how I’m going to do that, however.”
“Why do you have to drag her testimony out?.”
“Well, let’s just say that Vince wraps up his side of the case by lunchtime tomorrow. He has several more witnesses that he’s going to call, all of whom are more friends of Connie and Heather. I doubt that’s going to take very long. So, that would mean that I would have to put Heather up there after lunch, at 1:30, which is when the afternoon testimony would begin. I would have to drag her out until the end of the day. Otherwise, I’m going to have to wrap up my defense say around 3 PM. That would mean that the judge would make us do our closing statements immediately, and the case is over. But if I can drag her testimony out until the end of the day, then the case will carry over until Thursday. I could maybe, in the meantime, send Anna out to California to get Louisa, and maybe I can get Louisa on the stand Thursday morning.”
Doing it this way meant some huge risks. Number one, I just couldn’t see how I could drag out Heather’s testimony for th
at long. She could testify to what happened, she could testify about why she would never kill her mother, she could testify about the pillow case incident, she could try to rebut the witnesses who painted her as some kind of a psycho – she could give her side of the story for all those fights her’s and Connie’s friends witnessed. Could I drag all that out for three hours? I could, I guessed, drag out my side of the case if I called Charlie. I didn’t want to have to call him, but I would. I would call him if I had to.
The second risk was that Vince might decide to wrap up early. All the witnesses he had lined up for tomorrow were essentially duplicative testimony from many of the other witnesses he had called today. I knew that by looking at his list. If that happened, if Vince decided to stand up in front of court tomorrow and say that he rests his case…it would be all over at that point. No way could I drag out Heather and Charlie for an entire day.
The third risk would be if Louisa wouldn’t come with Anna. I was going to have to issue a subpoena for her, which was going to have to take some time. I also had the feeling that she would come to testify if I went there to ask her personally. I knew, when I saw her in the church, that she was close to doing what I needed her to do. If I could get out there, and tell her that Heather was her biological child, she might come. Her coming willingly would be the only way I could get her on the stand on time.
I suddenly got an idea. “Shoot me,” I said. “Shoot me in the leg.”
Axel furrowed his brow. “What? Why would I do that?”
“You know how to shoot to wound, don’t you? You have a suspect, you don’t want to kill him, but you want to slow him down. You’d shoot him, wouldn’t you? In the leg, and you probably know just where to shoot him so that you don’t hit any major arteries or veins. Right?”
“Harper, I’m not going to do that,” he said, shaking his head.
“If you don’t do it, I will. I have a gun at home. I’ll do it to myself, but who knows if I’ll do a decent job at it. I might go ahead and hit a major artery and I’ll end up dead.”
Axel shook his head. “You’re crazy. You’re talking like an insane person.”
“Nope. Not crazy. I just see my getting majorly injured in a firearms accident as the only way I’m going to make this Heather case work. Listen, Axel, if I don’t get Louisa on that stand, Heather is a dead woman. Literally. Literally. Her case is going south, and it’s going there quickly. Now, I have a strong suspicion, and I mean a strong suspicion, that Louisa knows where that butcher knife is. She almost told me as much when I went to see her at the church. There’s no way I can get her on that stand by tomorrow afternoon. The judge won’t give me a continuance. I would be willing to bet a million dollars on that one. There’s only one way to salvage this sinking ship, and that’s for you to shoot me. Either that, or I drive my car into a tree.”
Somehow, someway, I was going to end up in the hospital tonight. That was the one and only thing that I could think of.
“Harper-“
At that, I took his gun out of his holster and put it into my purse. We were in a public place, so there was no way I was going to do anything with the gun right at that moment.
“Harper, give me back my gun.”
“I won’t.” I lied to him – I didn’t really have a gun at home. I wasn’t going to keep one with two small children around. I needed a gun, though, so I took his.
“Harper-“
“I’m not going to give it back.” I raised an eyebrow.
“You have to give it back to me.”
“Arrest me,” I said, suddenly thinking that was a better option anyhow. I really didn’t want to shoot myself or have him shoot me. I knew that was bound to hurt. A lot. But going back to jail? A piece of cake.
“Harper-“
“I’m serious. Arrest me. Arrest me. I’ll make sure that I don’t make bail right away, so I’ll be in jail until the weekend. Then I can bail out Friday evening and be on the plane to San Diego on the red-eye Friday night, which will give me two entire days to try to convince her to come out here.” Judge Reiner was going to be pissed as hell, of course, but what could he do? If I was in jail, I was in jail. I wouldn’t be able to try the case, and Heather couldn’t go forward without me.
“Arrest you? Harper, I can’t.”
“You will. Because I’m not giving you back your gun unless you do.”
He sighed. “You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack.” I stared at him, trying to convey to him, through my expression, just how serious I was. “If there was some other way, other than my getting arrested or seriously injured, I would take it. But I can’t chance it. I can’t chance that I’ll be forced to wrap up my case tomorrow without Louisa taking the stand. As I said, you have to help me out here. If you don’t, then I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands, and it won’t be pretty.”
He finally sighed. “Okay. You have a right to remain silent….”
I smiled. I was going back to jail, but that was a small price to pay for the chance to win this case for Heather.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Three Days Later
“Thanks for bonding me out,” I said to Tammy, who had arrived at the jail with the $1,000 bond that was assigned to me for the crime of taking Axel’s firearm. I had been in there for almost three days, and I was going stir-crazy behind bars. I had felt like a caged animal, and all I could think about was Heather’s case. I just wanted to get out of there and go and do something.
“How was jail?” Tammy asked, an amused expression on her face.
“Eh. I’m getting used to it, to be honest. It sucks, and the food is horrendous. But I picked up a couple of new clients in there, so there’s that.”
“You are nothing if not resourceful.” Tammy seemed amused by it all, and I could see why. It was kinda funny, or it would be, if it weren’t so serious.
“How angry is everybody. By everybody, I mean Judge Reiner?” I asked Tammy.
She shook her head. “When I went in there to talk to him about what had happened, I think that he was ready to have my head on a pike. He was infuriated, I’ll tell you that. He threatened Heather and tried to tell her that she was just going to have to finish the case without you. He said that you were costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars with your shenanigans, except he used a stronger word than shenanigans. He also said that he’s going to file a bar complaint against you.”
“Ugh,” I said. “I hate bar complaints, especially one filed by judges. What else did he say?”
“He threatened to dismiss the jury and call a mistrial. Vince convinced him not do that, though. He said that it wasn’t fair to him, because he prepared for months for this and he wants to get the case finished.”
“So, what’s the upshot?”
“The upshot is, you have to be back in court by Monday. If you’re not, then he’s going to go ahead and call a mistrial and fine you $10,000, which is the amount he says you are costing the taxpayers. He also issued an order that you are to be back in his courtroom, ready to finish your case, by Monday, which means that, if you’re not back in court, he can put you in jail.”
“Sounds like he’s pissed,” I said. “But that’s just as well. I need to get this witness on the stand, and if I get her, and her testimony is what I think it’s going to be, it’s all going to be worth it.”
We arrived at Tammy’s car. She was going to head straight to the airport and put me on the red-eye flight to San Diego. I had the address, courtesy of Anna, and I had a car lined up for me when I touched down. The plan was to find a hotel tonight and find Louisa early tomorrow morning.
“And if you can’t get her to testify?”
“I’ll subpoena her,” I said.
“She can quash that because she’s out in California. It would be unduly burdensome for her to come. Even if she has the knife and has the knowledge, all she has to do is lie to you and quash your subpoena, and you’re back at square one. You’re back at square one,
with an irate judge, jury and prosecutor. The judge is liable to take his fury out on your client during the sentencing phase. You’re going to have to answer to the Bar for this, too.”
“So be it. I have to try. This is a Hail Mary to end all Hail Marys, but it’s either this or Heather dies in prison.”
We were at the airport. “Thanks, Tammy,” I said. “I owe you big for all you’ve done.”
She sighed. “I hope this works out.”
“Me too.”
At that, I ran into the airport, picked up my tickets and waited for my flight.
Tammy was right. This was still a long-shot. If it didn’t work out, I would be much worse off than I was before. Heather might also be, but I prayed that the judge didn’t take out his fury on her. Tammy thought he might, because he was that angry.
When I finally boarded the flight, I felt myself coming down off my adrenaline high. I watched the city disappear underneath me, and I closed my eyes and did something I hadn’t done in many, many years.
I prayed.
THE PLANE TOUCHED down in California several hours later, and I immediately went in to get my car. I was going to stay in a local Hilton, and then go on over to Louisa’s the next day. I was nervous, extremely nervous, about this.
Tammy was right. Louisa could just lie to me about what she knows. Could lie to me about whether or not she has the butcher knife. If she did so, I couldn’t very well subpoena her. It wouldn’t do any good.
If she chose to lie, then there would be little that I could do. I would have to go back to Kansas City empty-handed, and face a judge who was more pissed than a nest full of hornets. He could be as dangerous as that nest of hornets, too. He could slap me with a contempt suit, and he could hit Heather with a giant sentence, just because he’s angry with me. He could drag me in front of the Bar. Plus, I now had a theft charge to go with my now-dismissed kidnapping charge. That was what I was charged with – theft of a firearm from a law enforcement officer. Axel assured me that he was going to work with the police department to drop the charges, but I put him into an awkward position, too.
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