Lisa nodded, but her thoughts seemed far away.
'Who is Nancy Gordon?' Betsy asked Darius. They were sitting next to each other in the narrow confines of the courthouse jail visiting room.
'One of the detectives on the task force. I met her the night Sandy and Melody died. She interviewed me at the house. Gordon was engaged to another cop, but he was killed a few weeks before the wedding. She was still grieving when I joined the task force and she tried to help me deal with my grief.
'Nancy and I were thrown together on several occasions. I didn't realize it, but she took my friendliness as something else and, well…'
Darius looked into Betsy's eyes. Their knees were almost touching. His head bent toward her. 'I was vulnerable. We both were. You can't understand what it feels like to lose someone you love like that, until it happens to you.
'I became convinced Waters was the rose killer and I did a stupid thing.
Without telling anyone, I started following him. I even staked out his house, hoping I'd catch him in the act.' Darius smiled sheepishly. 'I made a mess of things and — almost blew the investigation. I was so obvious, a neighbor called the police to complain about this strange man who was camped outside their house. The police came. I felt like an idiot. Nancy bailed me out. We met at a restaurant near the police station and she let me have it.
'By the time we'd finished eating, it was late. I offered to drive her home because her car was in for repairs. We'd both had a few beers. I don't even remember who started it. The bottom line is, we ended up in bed.'
Darius looked down at his hands, as if he was ashamed. Then he shook his bead.
'It was a stupid thing to do. I should have known she would take it too seriously. I mean, it was good for us to have someone to spend the night with. We were both so lonely. But she thought I loved her, and I didn't.
It was too soon — after Sandy. When I didn't want to continue the relationship, she grew bitter. Fortunately Waters was caught soon after that and my involvement with the task force ended, so there was no reason for us to see each other. Only, Nancy couldn't let go. She called me at home and at the office. She wanted to meet and talk about us. I told her there was no 'us,' but it was hard for her to accept.'
'Did she accept it?'
Darius nodded. 'She stopped calling, but I knew she was bitter. What I can't understand is how she could possibly think I killed Sandy and Melody.'
'If the judge lets Page testify,' Betsy said, 'we'll soon find out.'
Chapter Twelve
'Let me tell you how I see it, Mrs. Tannenbaum,' judge Norwood said. 'I know what the Constitution says about confronting the witnesses and I'm not saying you don't have a point, but this is a bail hearing and the issues are different at trial. What Mr. Page is trying to do is convince me he's got so much evidence a guilty verdict at the trial is almost a sure thing. He thinks some of this trial evidence is going to come from this missing detective or from someone else in New York. I'm going to let him tell me what the evidence is, but I'm also going to take into account that he doesn't have his witness and may not be able to produce her, or these other detectives, at trial. So, I'll decide what weight to give to this testimony,]) I'm going to let it in. If you don't like my ruling, I don't blame you. I might be wrong. That's why we have appeals courts. But, right now, Mr. Page can testify.'
Betsy had already made her objections for the record, so she said nothing more when Alan Page was sworn in.
'Mr. Page,' Randy Highsmith asked, the evening before the bodies of Victoria Miller, Wendy Reiser, Laura Farrar and an unknown male were unearthed at a construction site owned by the defendant, did a woman visit you at your residence?'
'Yes.'
'Who was this woman?'
'Nancy Gordon, a detective with the Hunter's Point Police Department in New York.'
'At the time of Detective Gordon's visit were the details surrounding the disappearances of the three Portland women widely known?'
'To the contrary, Mr. Highsmith. The police and the district attorney's office weren't certain of the status of the missing women, so we were treating them as missing persons cases. No one in the press knew of the links between the cases and the husbands were cooperating with us by not divulging details of the disappearances.'
'What were the links you spoke of?'
'The black roses and the notes that said 'Gone, But Not Forgotten.'
'What did Detective Gordon say that led you to believe she had information that could be useful in solving the mystery surrounding these disappearances?'
'she knew about the notes and the roses.'
'Where did she say she had acquired this knowledge?'
'Ten years ago in Hunter's Point, when an almost identical series of disappearances occurred.'
'What was her connection with the Hunter's Point case?'
'She was a member of a task force assigned to that case.
'How did Detective Gordon learn about our disappearances and the similarities between the cases?'
'She told me she received an anonymous note that led her to believe that the person who was responsible for the Hunter's Point murders was living in Portland.'
'Who was this person?'
'she knew him as Peter Lake.'
'Did she give some background information on Peter Lake?'
'She did. He was a successful lawyer in Hunter's Point. He was married to Sandra Lake and they had a six- year-old daughter, Melody. The wife and child were murdered and a 'Gone, But Not Forgotten' note and black rose were found on the floor near the mother's body.
Lake had a lot of political clout and the mayor of Hunter's Point ordered the police chief to put him on the task force. Lake soon became the primary suspect, though he was not aware of that fact.'
'Have the prints of Peter Lake been compared to the fingerprints of Martin Darius?'
'Yes.'
'With what results?'
'Martin Darius and Peter Lake are the same person.'
Highsmith handed the clerk two fingerprint cards and a report from a fingerprint expert and introduced them into evidence.
'Mr. Page, did Detective Gordon tell you why she believed the defendant murdered the Hunter's Point women?'
'She did.'
'Tell the court what she told you.'
'Peter Lake had a connection to each of the women who disappeared in Hunter's Point. Gloria Escalante sat on one of Lake's juries. Samantha Reardon belonged to the same country club as the Lakes. Anne Hazelton's husband was an attorney and the Lakes and Hazeltons had been to some of the same Bar Association functions. Patricia Cross and Sandra Lake, Peter's wife, were both in the junior League.
'Detective Gordon met Lake the evening Sandra and Melody Lake were murdered. This was the first time a body was discovered. In all the other cases, when the women disappeared, the note and rose were found on the woman's pillow in her bedroom. None of these notes had fingerprints on them. The note found at Lake's house had Sandra Lake's prints on it.
The detectives believed that Sandra Lake discovered the note and was killed by her husband so she would not connect him to the disappearances when the notes were made public. they also believed Melody saw her mother killed and was murdered because she was a witness.'
'Was there a problem with the time that Peter Lake reported the murders to the police?'
'Yes. Peter Lake told the police that he discovered the bodies right after he entered the house, that he sat
