'You mentioned a stereo and a big-screen TV in the bedroom.
Did you guys listen to music or watch TV?'
'Well, sure.'
'You didn't go to the police after you killed Mr. Phillips, did you?'
Griffen asked, quickly shifting the subject.
'No, I was too scared.'
'Where did you go?'
'I went back to John John.'
'And that's the gentleman you were staying with when we arrested you, a week and a half after you killed Mr. Phillips?'
'Yes.'
'You were John John's girlfriend before you took up with Mr. Phillips, weren't you?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'And he was a rival of Mr. Phillips in the drug trade?'
'Yes.'
'When did you take the money, Miss Harwood?' Griffen asked without missing a beat. 'What?'
'The thirty thousand dollars.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Do you know Roy Saylor?'
'Sure. He was Vince's friend.'
'His crime associate.'
'Whatever.'
'Roy's going to testify that Vince was planning to buy two kilos of cocaine from his connection that evening for fifteen a kilo.'
'He never mentioned that. He was too busy beating and raping me to mention business,' Harwood answered bitterly.
'Roy will also testify that Vince went to the bank at four to take the money out of a safety-deposit box.'
'That could be, too. I just never seen it.'
'That's fair. But if you took it, we'd understand. You're terrified.
He's dead. You know you might have to run, so you take the money with you.'
'Man, I wasn't thinking about money. I just wanted out of there. If I wanted money, I'd've stayed. Vince was always generous with money. It just wasn't worth it to me.'
'He really scared you?'
'You bet he did.'
'In fact, as I recall your testimony, Mr. Phillips abducted you, dragged you inside his house, stripped you right away and forced you to perform oral sex.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Then he raped and beat you repeatedly and fell asleep?'
Harwood nodded.
'This was one right after the other? He was either beating you or raping you?'
Harwood's eyes were on the rail in front of her. Her nod was barely perceptible.
In her trial practice classes in law school, Tracy had been taught that you never gave an opposing witness a chance to repeat her testimony during cross-examination because it reinforced the story in the jurors' minds. Tracy could not understand why Griffen had just repeated Harwood's pathetic tale three times. She glanced over at Reynolds to catch his reaction. The defense attorney was leaning forward and his eyes were riveted on Griffen.
'There wasn't a moment when you weren't scared silly from the time he abducted you until you escaped, was there?' Griffen asked, giving Harwood yet another chance to tell her story.
'That's true.'
'Either he was raping you or beating you or sleeping. How long do you figure this went on?'
'I don't know. I wasn't watching a clock.'
'Well, there was a clock on the VCR on the big TV.'
'Yeah, but I didn't look at it.'
'That's a cable hookup Vince had, wasn't it?'
'I guess.'
'HBO, Pay-per-View, Showtime?'
Harwood looked uncomfortable. Tracy caught Reynolds out of the corner of her eye. He was frowning.
'You've watched that big TV with Vince, haven't you?' Griffen asked.
'I told you he was beating me up.'
'I'm sorry. I meant on other occasions.'
'Yeah. He had all those movie channels.'
'What's your favorite movie, Miss Harwood?'
'Your Honor,' Knapp said, playing to the jury, 'I fail to see the relevance of this question.'
'Miss Harwood does,' Griffen answered.
Tracy studied the witness. Harwood looked upset. When Tracy looked over at Reynolds, he was smiling, as if he had just figured out an in joke that only he and Griffen understood.
'This is cross-examination, Mr. Knapp,' Judge Dial said. 'I'm going to give Ms. Griffen some latitude.'
'Can you please answer the question?' Griffen asked the witness. 'What is your favorite movie?'
'I . . . I don't know.'
The prosecutor took a letter-size sheet of paper out of a file.
'How about Honeymoon Beach? Have you seen that one?'
'Yeah,' Harwood answered cautiously.
'Tell the jury what it's about.'
'Your Honor, this has gone too far,' Knapp shouted as his client shifted nervously in the witness box. 'This is not the Siskel and Ebert show.'
'I promise I will show relevance,' Griffen told the judge, her eyes never leaving Marie Harwood.
'Overruled. You may continue, Ms. Griffen.'
'Is Honeymoon Beach a comedy?' Griffen asked.
'Yeah.'
'About two honeymoon couples who swap mates at a resort?'
'Yeah.'
'Where did you see it, Miss Harwood?'
'In the movies.
Griffen walked over to Harwood. 'Then you saw it twice,' she said, handing the paper she was holding to the witness.
'What's this?' Harwood asked.
'It's a billing record of all the movies ordered on Pay-per-View from Vince Phillips's phone. Honeymoon Beach showed from five-thirty to seven on the day you killed him. Someone ordered it at four-fifty using Mr. Phillips's phone. Did you watch the movie before or after you slit his throat?'
'I didn't watch any movie,' Harwood insisted.
Reynolds stood up quietly and slipped out of the courtroom just as Griffen said, 'Someone watched Honeymoon Beach, Ms. Harwood. According to your testimony, only you and Vince were in the house and the only Pay-per-View converter is in the bedroom. Did Vince order the movie while he was raping you or while he was beating you?'
'Never,' Harwood shouted. 'I told you we didn't watch that movie.'
'Or was it you who watched it while John John was torturing Mr. Phillips to find out where he hid the money?' Harwood glared at Griffen.
'Did you arrange to meet Vince after John John found out about the money? Did you get him in bed and slash his throat while he was watching Honeymoon Beach?'
