office. She hardly remembers what he looks like and doesn’t want tobe reminded of anything that happened that day.
Ogren starts with the basics. Thompson is a full-timelegislative research assistant for Dillon amp; Becker who works exclusively atthe office in the state capital. On Fridays, when the receptionist doesn’twork, Thompson also keeps an eye on the front door.
Roger Ogren takes a breath. “Mr. Thompson, let me take youback to Friday, February sixth of this year. Do you recall working that day,that afternoon?”
“I remember.”
“Did your office have any visitors that afternoon?”
“Yes. Jessica’s mom,” says Thompson. “Mrs. Pagone.”
“We’ll stipulate to the identification,” says Ron McGaffrey.
“Thank you, Counsel.” The prosecutor opens a hand to thewitness. “Mr. Thompson, what time was this? When the defendant came to thefirm.”
“It was, oh, just after lunch. A little after one.”
“And tell us, Mr. Thompson, if you can. How far a drive isit from the city to the state capital?”
“It runs about ninety minutes, if you avoid rush hour.”
Allison sighs. The point here, now clearly made, is thatAllison went to Sam’s office downtown and then, when he wasn’t there,immediately drove straight down to the capital.
And that is exactly how it happened.
“It was just me and Mr. Dillon that day,” the witness says.“Y’know, Fridays, there isn’t much happening, and Mr. Dillon had been away mostof that week so he was catching up.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine. And what happened, sir?”
“I-well, the front door to our office opened, so I stuck myhead out. I saw Mrs. Pagone. I started to say hi and she said to me-”
“Where is he?” Allison demanded. “Where’s Sam Dillon? Don’tlie to me, I know he’s here.”
“I told her that he was in the back office and I would tellhim she was here.”
“How did she respond?”
“She didn’t. She just started walking back there. Walkingvery fast.”
“Can you describe the defendant’s appearance, Mr. Thompson?”
“She was-well, out of breath, I’d say. Her face was all red.Her eye makeup was smeared. She was moving very quickly. She looked-reallyupset, actually.”
“Then what happened?”
“Well, I followed her back there-y’know, so I could tell Mr.Dillon. But by the time I got back there, she was slamming the door behindher.”
“She slammed the door,” Ogren repeats. “And so what did youdo?”
“I-nothing at first. I didn’t want to stand outside the dooror anything. I heard some yelling. It was her voice but I don’t know what shesaid, exactly. I wasn’t standing right by the door or anything. So-the wholething was kind of awkward. I walked away and went back to what I had beendoing.”
“What happened next, sir?”
Allison peeks at the witness for the first time. His face iscolored slightly, his eyes downcast.
“Then I–I probably shouldn’t have, but I went back to thedoor. Y’know, it was like, part concern and part natural curiosity.” He takes abreath. “I stood with my ear next to the door of Mr. Dillon’s office andlistened.” The witness blushes. No one likes admitting such things.
“What did you hear?”
“I heard Mr. Dillon.”
“What was he saying?”
“He was saying, ‘It isn’t going to work out. Mat’s a friend.This is crazy. You know that.’ That kind of thing. That’s the best I remember.”
Allison looks forward, trying to remind herself that thejudge may be watching her. The witness, surprisingly, got it almost right. Mostwitnesses think they recall dialogue verbatim and events with a photographicmemory, but it isn’t so, there have been studies on such things, and Allison’sjob, when she was a public defender, often consisted of hammering home minorinconsistencies and elevating them to major discrepancies.
But this man on the witness stand came pretty close. Allisonwill never forget the words awkwardly spilling from Sam Dillon’s mouth. Hisslumped posture in his chair behind the desk, a hand on his forehead, his eyeson Allison.
This isn’t going to work out. Mat-Mat’s a friend. You knowthis is crazy. It always was.
“Mr. Thompson, you mentioned the name ‘Mat.’ ‘Mat’s afriend,’ you said. Let me ask you, do you happen to know the name of thedefendant’s ex-husband?”
“His name is Mat,” he answers. “I know him ’cause he’s alobbyist, too.”
“Okay. What did you do next? What happened?”
“I moved away from the door. Because, I mean, it was apersonal thing. It was none of my business. What can I say? I eavesdropped. Imean-she seemed so mad, I didn’t know. You hear stories, people coming into anoffice and opening fire or something, irate clients, that sort of thing. Butonce I realized-it was, like, personal, he was breaking up with her-I movedaway.” He raises his hands. “I-didn’t even know they were dating.”
Ronald McGaffrey rises.
“I was there like a few seconds and then went back to myoffice,” the witness concludes.
“Objection,” McGaffrey calls out. “Move to strike anycharacterization that the decedent was ‘breaking up’ with my client or thatthey were dating.”
“Sustained,” the judge says, without bothering to hear RogerOgren’s response. “That comment is stricken from the record.”
“What happened next, Mr. Thompson?”
“Mrs. Pagone came out about-gosh-maybe a minute later. Shewalked straight out of the office.”
“Did you speak with Mr. Dillon about it?”
The witness thinks about that a moment, his eyes driftingoff. “No. I left about five-maybe a little before five. I went by his office.He was looking out his window. I said I was leaving. He said, ‘Have a goodweekend,’ without turning around. That was-” Troy Thompson swallows on thatsentence.
“That was the last time you saw Mr. Dillon alive.”
The witness nods.
Detective Czerwonka,” asks Roger Ogren, “did you in factspeak with the defendant?”
“Yes, we did. This was Wednesday, the eleventh of February.”
“Where did you speak with her?”
“At headquarters. We called her and asked her to come.”
“Did she come with a lawyer?”
“No.”
“Did you advise her of her rights?”
“We did. She waived her right to counsel in writing.”
Roger Ogren admits into evidence Allison’s signed waiver.
“What did you ask her?”
“We asked her if she was aware that Sam Dillon was dead. Shesaid that she was. We asked her if she was involved in a romantic relationshipwith Sam Dillon. She said that she was not.”
Roger Ogren looks at Judge Wilderburth. His Honor must besure, at this point in the trial, that this was a lie.
“She denied being romantically involved with Sam Dillon?”
“Yes. In fact, I asked her that question at both interviews.Wednesday the eleventh and Friday the thirteenth. Both times, she denied beinginvolved with Mr. Dillon.”
“Okay. Let’s stay with the eleventh. Did you follow up withher?”
“We asked her if she had gone to Sam Dillon’s offices, lookingfor him, the previous Friday.”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t answer, initially.”
