“Mario. Mario Lopez, that’s right.”
“In fact, you had established an alibi, which the police seemed to believe.”
“That broke down when those women said they saw me at the campground.”
“Made you mad, didn’t it?”
“Well, let’s face it. I knew I didn’t hurt Phoebe. I was just trying to save everybody the trouble of getting confused about what happened. I knew it would look bad, me being at the campground that night later. If I could, I would have kept my alibi.”
“Not only did it make you mad, it attracted the police’s attention.”
“Right. It looked like, up to that point, they didn’t think I was involved.”
“In fact, you were arrested as a result of the information Brandy Taylor and Angel Guillaume gave to the district attorney’s office. You must have seen that coming. You must have been upset.”
“Your Honor,” Jack said, “asked and answered.”
“Let’s not belabor the point,” said Brock. “Con-tinue.”
“What specific information did that person who called give you regarding the identity, whereabouts, and intentions of these witnesses?”
“He gave me their addresses, including one for a beauty salon where one of them worked, and the Ford guy’s office. Told me they were planning to go to the D.A. to say things about me.”
“When you received this information, what was your reaction?”
“I wanted to talk to them.”
“You wanted to talk,” Nolan repeated, eyes rolling slightly. “Mr. Stinson”-Nolan waved a stapled pile of papers at him-“isn’t it true that you stalked and assaulted these two women on at least two separate occasions with the intention of scaring them so completely they would never testify against you?”
“That’s sheer bullsh-they jumped me!”
“And, Mr. Stinson, in between surprising the two women on the beach and again at the women’s shelter at Tahoe, where you broke a window, frightening and disturbing the residents, you took the time to drive to Palo Alto and use these terrifying tactics, verbally abusing and attempting to assault Brandy’s fiance, Bruce Ford?”
“What is this? I thought this was about how bad she was, not how bad I am! I didn’t attack nobody, not Phoebe, not those women, not that wuss Ford. I just wanted to straighten things out with them.”
“By straightening, do you mean you wanted them to leave town and not testify against you?”
He folded his arms. “That would suit me, yeah. Because they were lying.”
“Uh huh,” said Nolan. “If you had not received that anonymous phone call, would you have known about the potential witnesses?”
“Probably not. No.”
“You would not have gone after them?”
“To talk to them! No.”
“That’s all.”
Jack stood while Nolan sank back into her chair.
“Mr. Stinson, tell us more about what happened at the beach that day that you came upon Brandy Taylor and Angel Guillaume. What was your intention on that day?”
“I went there to talk to them, I swear. How many times do I have to tell you people?”
“Did you take a knife along?”
“No!”
“A gun?”
“No.”
“A weapon of any kind?”
“I didn’t take a weapon. These were women. I didn’t go looking for trouble.”
“Yet you ended up in a fight, didn’t you?”
“Like I said before, they jumped me first. Of course I’m not going to just take that. I pushed ’em off.”
“And at the women’s shelter?”
“Christ, I even knocked! Next thing I know, there’s a lady I never saw before waving a rifle at me.”
“When you went to Bruce Ford’s-”
“Okay, I was a little drunk. I said a few things. He’s a man, supposedly. I didn’t expect him to give in easy. I was just trying to be forceful, but I never laid a hand on him.”
Jack shifted gears. “Mr. Stinson, were there many people camping nearby the night that Phoebe Palladino died?”
“The place was packed.”
“Isn’t it possible someone else at the campground saw something that night, even saw Brandy and Angel leaving their tent, and you leaving Phoebe’s tent?”
“Sure. Anything’s possible. Who would have thought those two would happen to need to pee just the very second I was leaving the tent, huh?”
“Are you hard to find?”
“What?”
“Are you listed in the local directory?”
“Yes.”
“So anyone, anyone at the camp that night, might have called you?”
“Anyone can call me.”
“So an attorney’s missing files aren’t the only way someone might come to know about you or your return to the campground later that night?”
“You’re good, man,” Cody Stinson said. “That’s right except for one thing. How would anyone know my name?”
“Did the ranger take your name?”
“Well, yeah, but-”
“Who was there when he took down your name?”
“We had quite an audience, yeah, we did. You’re right! Maybe it was the old guy from Cambria at the campsite on the other side who kept hollering at us to shut up who saw and heard everything. Maybe he called me.”
“Thank you. That’ll be all,” Jack said.
On the way out of court, Nina walked over to Cody Stinson, who was sitting at the small round table in the reception area leafing through a magazine. “Thank you for your testimony,” she said. “I think you tried to be very honest,” which was a way of flattering him without saying he was honest, since she didn’t know.
He put his magazine down. “You’re the first to say so.”
“I’ve been wondering about the woman who alibied you,” she said. “My investigator tells me her name is Carol Ames.”
“She doesn’t know anything. Anyway, she’s out of the picture now.”
“You haven’t spoken with her lately?”
“No. Why?”
Nina smiled. “I don’t know why I thought about her. I guess I wondered if she was a girlfriend or something.”
“Not that it’s your business,” he said, “but I loved Phoebe. Everyone forgets I lived with her for nearly a year before Mario got out.”
“Oh, well. It’s probably nothing-”
“What?”
“Forget it,” she said. “I just-you don’t know where she is?”
“Not at the moment. But I could find her easy enough if I wanted to.”
“Hmm. Well, thanks anyway.”
She walked away, feeling his eyes on her back, a thought forming in her mind. She felt like a girl plucking daisies to determine her lover’s deepest feelings, impractical, but she couldn’t sit back and do nothing.
22
“T HANKS FOR PICKING ME UP,” Nina told Paul. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. I couldn’t face a two-hundred-mile drive all the way back to Tahoe tonight, and anyway, I left my car there. Wish dropped me here this morning. He said he wanted to play in the city, but I know he just wanted to help.”
They walked side by side through the evening crowd toward a nearby parking lot to retrieve his Mustang. “We’ll be efficient,” Paul said, “make this a nonstop run if you like. But why are you going back tonight? You’re going to have to leave very early in the morning to get back here in time for court.”
“I have to get back to Bob. I spoke with Matt at lunch. He’s spending the night at the hospital with Andrea, and his kids are staying with friends. I couldn’t manage to organize anything else for Bob on such short notice.”
“Is Andrea okay?”
“Fine, I’m told, except her blood pressure’s up. She needs some bed rest. It’s tough when you’ve got two kids already and you’re nearly nine months along.”
“What are you going to do about Bob?”
“Well, after tonight, he could stay with Matt, although it’s a bad time for them.” She fretted. “Maybe I’ll just pack him and his books up and bring him back here. He could stay at the hotel with me or at Jack’s until we’re through.”
“Good plan.”
“Paul, today at court-Brandy mentioned some woman in the campground bathroom at about the same time Cody Stinson returned to the tent. And then Stinson testified and mentioned this woman, Carol Ames. What do you know about her?”
“You mean Cody Stinson’s alibi?”
