What matters to them are thefacts. And the fact is, you couldn’t say one way or the other whether I killedhim. Right?”
“She said people might be saying a lot of things. She said Ishouldn’t believe them.”
“Saying a lot of things about Sam Dillon’s death?” Ogren’stone suggests impatience. He knows the answers to his questions, and Jessicaisn’t delivering. “Saying things about her involvement in his death?”
“Yes.”
“But did you ask your mother if she had murdered Sam-”
“She said that we shouldn’t talk about that. That it wouldbe a bad idea to discuss it.”
“Okay.” Roger Ogren takes a step. “But I want to ask youwhether you asked a specific question. Ms. Pagone”-the prosecutor allows for anintake of air; as much as Jessica has fought him, he has been allowed to repeatthis question several times, and her lack of cooperation only helps his causehere-“did you specifically ask your mother whether she killed Sam-”
“Yes.” A flash of anger-frustration, probably, andregret-colors Jessica’s face.
“And how did your mother react to that specific question?Whether or not she had killed Sam Dillon?”
Jessica swallows hard and lifts her chin. Allison holds herbreath. This should be it. This should be the end. In a few moments, Jessicawill be allowed to put this behind her. She will not let her attorneycross-examine her daughter.
“She didn’t,” Jessica answers. “She wouldn’t answer thatquestion. We never discussed it again.”
Jane McCoy turns down the car radio as Harrick reviews hisnotes from the trial today. She likes to think of herself as hip to today’smusic, but she is having difficulty enjoying the violent lyrics and the thrashguitars filling the airwaves these days. That, she figures, is exactly how herparents felt. She is getting old. Forty years old this July and she’s adinosaur. She’s got hair clips older than these idiots on the radio, spoutingabout “bitches” and “forties.”
“Okay,” says Harrick. “She said she got to Allison’s atabout eight-thirty that night. She was studying and doing laundry.”
“And what time did she say Allison came home?”
“Two in the morning, give or take.” Harrick flips throughhis notes. “She said mom threw up when she walked in. She was a mess. She haddirt all over her.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and she said that her mom admitted having an affairwith Sam. That’s pretty much it, more or less.”
McCoy laughs. “Try ‘less.’ What did Allison’s lawyer do withher?”
“Nothing. Didn’t ask a single question.”
“Interesting. Did she get tripped up at all?”
“No.”
“She’s lucky,” says McCoy.
“Oh, I don’t know about ‘lucky.’ That girl knew exactly whatto say.”
“Woman,” McCoy corrects.
“What?”
“Woman. Jessica Pagone’s a woman, not a girl.”
“Oh, well pardon me.” Harrick chews on his ever-presenttoothpick. “That ‘young woman’ knew exactly what to say and how to say it. Shemay have left the puzzle half-finished, but that’s not the same thing asperjury. I didn’t hear a single thing in there that could be proven false.”
McCoy switches to talk radio, which is buzzing about thePagone murder trial.
“Yeah, well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,”McCoy says.
ONE DAY EARLIER…
The university library is the perfect cover for a graduatestudent preparing for final exams. Ram Haroon gets very little done in the wayof studying. Few do at this place. Most people are surfing the internet in thecomputer rooms or sitting on couches and talking over steaming cups of coffee.
Haroon heads over to the book stacks on the top floor of thelibrary. West side, third from the end. He pretends to mull over a series ofbooks about northern Africa. He pulls three books down and places two of themon the next shelf below, opens the other one and begins to peruse it.
A moment later, through the space created by removing thebooks, a note passes through from the other side. Haroon’s eyes move about; noone is watching. No one would bother. He takes the note and reads it.
Things are looking bad for her. Trial starts tomorrow andtheir case is in chaos. Prosecution’s case is strong and she has nothing topoint away from her. She knows she will be convicted.
She doesn’t know about us. There’s no way. I would know ifshe did.
Haroon rolls his head on his neck casually, then removes apen from his pocket and scribbles on the sheet of paper, passes it through.
I still don’t like it. She might know but not want to tell.She might wait to testify at trial to spring it.
The note comes back with new words written beneath hismessage.
She won’t testify. Too much at stake from her end. She wouldrather die. Her words, a direct quote. She’s on edge.
She would rather die. Haroon smiles. He takes the paper andplaces it in the book he has open. He waits two minutes or so before writinghis response and sending it through:
A person looking at the death penalty might find it moreappealing to end things on her own terms. I think it is time for Mrs. AllisonPagone to commit suicide. I will need your help on timing, of course. Will shecontinue to speak freely?
A long moment passes. Probably his partner is just beingcareful. In all likelihood not a single person is paying them any attention,standing in the corner stacks as they are. Still, the notes cannot pass tooclosely together, too many times. Finally, the response arrives:
Of course. If you can’t trust your ex-husband, who can youtrust?
“Exactly,” Ram says, as he crumbles the note in his hand andpicks up one of the books he has pulled. He will read it for a few minutes,then wander out of the library.
ONE DAY EARLIER…
Allison thinks of her daughter as she sits on a swing in herbackyard cradling a glass of wine. Mat Pagone is pacing around the yard,undoubtedly remembering the barbecues on that porch and the games with Jessicain the sandbox. Thinking about things she cannot fathom.
She wonders if there will ever be a time when she can lookat this man and not feel cheated. Will she ever get past this? Will she everlook at Mateo Pagone simply as the father of her child, and not as the assholewho took her for granted and cheated on her and, probably, poisoned theirdaughter’s mind against her? Will she ever be able to look back at the decadeswith him without the words wasted years springing to mind?
No, Mateo Pagone is not a bad man. He is old-school, a manwho thinks that some of the marital vows do not apply. But not a bad person.Probably doesn’t think he has done anything wrong. And they drifted apart.Became less alike the longer they were together. Actually, the better way tosay it is that Mat stayed the same, Allison grew up. Developed. From the momentshe first indicated she wanted to take night classes toward a college degree,Mat was against it. Wanted to keep Allison the way she had been, dependent,supportive, compliant, and she didn’t mean
