'Right before Booth was set on fire.'
'And ... and you kept this to yourself) You made that poor bastard and his family go through a trial for e murder when you knew h wasn't guilty` Ridgetv asked as he looied at O'Shay with disgust.
'I didn't know that. Steve denied killing Whiley-and I believed him. I still think Gary committed the murder.'
'How could you?' Ridgely demanded. 'Whiley was blackmailing Mancini, he was at the park with her at the time of the killing. My God, are'you an idiot?'
'No, Earl. I'm sure he didn't kill her. I remembered the suit he was wearing when he came to my house. I'd seen him in it earlier in the day. It was the same suit and the same tie. The same shoes. I confirmed that he was wearing the suit at the Stallion by checking with Karen Nix, the bartenders and some other witnesses.'
O'Shay paused and breathed deeply. She stared at the floor when she spoke.
'I ... I undressed Steve that night. I saw his shirt, his suit. The killer would have had blood all over him and there wasn't a drop of blood on Steve Mancini.'
Chapter THIRTY-ONE.
The Harmons sat in the front row of the courtroom.
Peter had told them to come to court, but little else, because he did not want to get their hopes up. Steve Mancini sat in a row behind the Harmons on the other side of the courtroom. A deputy sheriff had served him a subpoena while he was eating breakfast. Mancini wondered why Earl Ridgely was sitting alone at thep'rosecution table. He was not aware that Becky O'Shay was in a jail cell charged with tampering with a witness and official misconduct.
Gary Harmon looked desperate when the guards led him into judge Kuffel's courtroom. He was twitching from nerves and had not slept.
'Please get me out of 'all, Pete,' he begged as soon as he was seated between Peter and Amos Geary, 'I'm scared there. I just want to go home.'
'Wellyou might be doing just that, Gary. So, try to calm down.'
While Peter was talking to Gary, judge Kuffel emerged from chambers carrying the motion for a new trial that Peter had hastily prepared after the meeting in judge Staley's chambers. He looked perplexed.
'You're joining in this motion, Mr. Ridgely?' the judge asked to make sure he understood correctly what he had just read.
'Yes, Your Honor. In light of certain matters that have come to my attention, I believe that the interests of justice require the court to set aside the guilty verdict against Mr. Harmon.'
The judge still looked puzzled. He wondered where Becky O'Shay was and why Amos Geary was sitting with Peter Hale.
'What's the basis for this motion, Mr. Hale?' judge Kuffel asked.
'I think my first witness will clear up your confusion, Your Honor.'
'Very well, call the witness.'
'Mr. Harmon calls Kevin Booth.'
Yesterday afternoon, after the meeting in judge Staley's chambers, Earl Ridgely, Peter Hale, Amos Geary and a detective from the Oregon State Police had interviewed Booth at the hospital. Booth was brought into court in a wheelchair and allowed to testify from it. He was wearing a hospital gown and a bathrobe.
'Mr. Booth,' Peter said, after the witness was sworn, you have already testified in the case of State v. Harmon, have you not?'
'Yes.
'Was the testimony that you gave in Portland truthful testimony?'
'One second here, Mr. Hale,' judge Kuffel said.
'You're asking this man if he committed perjury. If he says he lied, he's admitting to a crime.'
'That's true, Your. Honor. But Mr. Booth is also testifying under a grant of immunity from prosecution for any false testimony given in Mr. Harmon's case, a promise that he will not be prosecuted for his part in the incident at Whitaker State College and a promise from state and federal authorities that he will not be prosecuted for his part in the crime that led to his arrest at his home.'
Peter did not tell the judge that the cooperation from the feds had been obtained when Earl Ridgely threat- T ened to go public with what he knew about the rigged preliminary hearing and the undercover operation against the Colombian cartel.
'Very well. Proceed.'
'Mr. Booth, I repeat, did you testify truthfully in this case?'
'When you said that Gary Harmon discussed his case with you at the Whitaker jail, was that true?'
'Yes.'
'Did.Mr. Harmon ever tell you that he murdered Sandra Whitey?'
'No. He said he didn't do it.'
'Why did you lie about what Mr. Harmon told you?'
'I was scared I'd go to prison on my federal drug charge, so I had to make a deal. It was my only way out.'
'The prosecutor in Mr. Harmon's case is Rebecca O'Shay. Did you worry about her learning that you were lying about Mr. Harmon's guilt?'
'No. She wanted Harmon convicted.'
'Mr. Booth, did Ms. O'Shay instruct you to conceal from the defense certain information that would have cast doubt on Mr. Harmon's guilt, if made known to the jury?'
'Yeah.'
'What was one thing she didn't want you talking about?'
'Whitey was a cokehead and she bought from me.
She didn't have a lot of money, so sometimes she had to work off her debt. On the evening I was busted at Whitaker State with Chris Mammon, Whitey was late bringing thirty thousand dollars to the meet. When we were arrested, Mammon thought Whitey set us up. He told me he was going to kill her, if he found out it was true.'
'And you told Ms. O'Shay about the threat?'
'Yeah. She knew Mammon was at the Stallion at the same time as Whitey on the night of the murder. I thought she'd be interested, but she said Harmon did it and I wasn't to tell anyone that Mammon knew Whiley.'
'Did Ms. O'Shay tell you to keep quiet about anything else?'
Booth located Steve Mancini and his scarred lips twisted into a malicious grin.
'Yeah. I told her I saw Steve Mancini drive off with Sandra Whiley from the Stallion on the evening that Whiley was killed.'
Donna put her hand over her mouth. Jesse Harmon fixed Mancini with a look of pure hatred. Mancini looked around nervously. He started to stand, but stopped when he noticed the armed guards that Earl Ridgely had stationed inside the courtroom doors.
'What happened when you told this information to Ms. O'Shay?'
'She said I'd better forget about it or she'd see I spent therest of my life in prison.'
'Did Mr. Mancini know Sandra Whiley before the evening of the murder?'
'Sure. Mancini bought cocaine from me. Whiley delivered it to him at his office and his house a few times.
One time, she told me she had sex with Mancini for some of the blow.'
Mancini had broken out in a sweat. His eyes darted around the courtroom, desperately seeking a way out.
'No further questions, Mr. Booth.'
'Mr. Ridgely?' the judge asked.
'No questions.'
'Do you have another witness, Mr. Hale?'
Peter faced the spectator section and said, 'We call Steve Mancini, Your Honor.'
'I didn't kill her,' Mancini shouted.
judge Kuffel pounded his gavel. Mancini froze. The judge glared at him, then said, 'You've been called as a
