she got pregnant and that was that. She and Gil were married the day after graduation and they moved in with his parents. That's when the trouble started.
Gil couldn't handle life after high school. He wasn't important anymore. He always drank a lot, but that was boys-will-be-boys stuff while he was the big man on campus. After high school he was just another town problem when he got tanked up.
The real trouble began when he started taking out his frustrations on Justine. One night Gil beat her up so bad she lost the baby. I tried to get her to tell the truth about what happened. It was pretty obvious that she hadn't fallen down any stairs. But Gil was at the hospital, hovering over her, real solicitous, and she wouldn't speak against him.
Knoll shook his head sadly. Justine had always been so pretty and so bright, but the woman I saw at the hospital looked dragged out and used up, and she was only eighteen. It would have given me great pleasure to haul Gil's sorry ass to jail, but we had no case without Justine.
Knoll paused to take a bite from his sandwich.
Two months later we got a nine-one-one from the Manning place. It was Justine, scared to death. She was gulping air and could hardly speak. I got there about one in the morning. Gil was stretched out by the front door, facedown. She' d killed him with his hunting rifle, one shot, right through the heart. When I got to the farm Justine was sitting at the kitchen table. She was still holding the phone. Dispatch had told her to stay on the line until we got there. I had to pry the receiver out of her hand. She was shaking like a leaf.
Did she tell you what happened?
Oh, yeah. We talked about it once I got her settled down. Gil had insisted she go drinking with him. She didn't want to, but he made a scene. Gil got drunk and nasty at Dave Buck's tavern, and Dave tossed him after he tried to start a fight with some kid from a rival high school. On the way home Gil started blaming her for his life being shit. He said she was a fat pig, claimed she was holding him back. Knoll shook his head. From what, I could never guess. Then he cracked her on the jaw. There was a bad bruise. We took pictures. He hit her in the eye, too. Then he pushed her out of the car and tried to run her down.
Justine ran away, and Gil was too tanked to catch her. When he stopped looking she headed home in the dark. By the time she reached the farm she was hysterical and scared to death. She said that she was certain that Gil would kill her when he came home. Gil's folks were visiting their other son in Connecticut, so she was all alone. She grabbed Gil's rifle and sat on the couch in the front room.
Meanwhile Gil had crashed the car. He wasn't hurt, but the car was totaled. Gil got a ride home from Andy Laidlaw, one of his drinking buddies. Andy told me that Gil admitted trying to run down Justine, but he also said that Gil was real remorseful about what he' d done. When they got to the farm, Andy offered to go inside with Gil, but Gil sent him off. Andy said that Gil was standing in the front yard when he drove away.
How did Gil end up dead?
Justine said she heard the car drive in and thought it was Gil' s. She didn't know he had wrecked it. When he came through the door, she told him to leave or she would shoot him. He took a step forward, she fired and that was that.
How close to town was Justine's parents' house?
Closer than the farm, but she said that she was so scared after Gil tried to kill her that she just ran back to the farm without thinking. She didn't want her parents to know, anyway. She was ashamed that the marriage wasn't working.
Didn't she cool down while she was sitting there with the gun?
Didn't have time.
When did they leave the bar?
About eleven o' clock.
When did she phone in the nine-one-one?
About one.
That means there was probably an hour and a half between the time she ran away from her husband and the time she shot him.
We knew that, but you have to remember that she ran the four and a half miles from town. It took her close to an hour. During that time, Gil was wrecking the car, going to Andy's house and getting a lift. Justine said that Gil walked in about five to ten minutes after she got home.
So you figured the shooting was justifiable?
I talked it over with the county prosecutor, and he didn't want to go with it, Knoll said, not answering Herb's question. Justine was a good girl who was stuck with a bad man. Everyone knew it. Everyone knew about the baby, too. There wasn't much sympathy for Gil. The only ones who wanted Justine prosecuted were Gil's parents, but that's to be expected. They claimed that Justine murdered Gil to get the insurance.
Cross raised an eyebrow. How much was that?
About a hundred thousand dollars, if I recollect correctly.
That's a lot of money for a farm girl.
That's a lot of money for anyone.
Cross watched Knoll carefully when he asked his next question.
Did you believe Dr. Castle's story?
Knoll never broke eye contact. I never had any reason not to, but then I never pushed much to prove she was lying. It was one of those times when no one wanted me to be much of a detective.
Chapter 21
The Cardoni case had created big-city parking problems in Cedar City, and Amanda drove around town for fifteen minutes looking for a space. At the courthouse, Amanda went to the head of the line of people waiting for the first available seat in Judge Brody's courtroom and showed her bar card to the guard. Frank was conferring with Cardoni at the defense counsel's table while they waited for the judge to make his entrance. Their client was wearing a charcoal gray business suit, a white silk shirt and a blue tie with narrow yellow stripes. Amanda could understand why someone as sophisticated as Justine Castle would fall for the surgeon. He had rugged good looks and broad shoulders. He also looked dangerous, leaning slightly forward, tense, like a hunted animal.
You made it, Frank said with a smile.
I almost didn' t. There isn't a place to park in the whole town. I got lucky over by Stokely' s.
Vince, you remember my daughter, Amanda? She helped me research the motion, and I wanted her as second chair in case we're faced with a tricky legal issue.
Cardoni barely acknowledged Amanda. She forced herself to smile at him and took her seat. She was glad that her father was sitting between her and their client.
Amanda had barely gotten her papers out of her attachT case when a door opened behind the dais and the judge entered the courtroom. The bailiff rapped his gavel, and everyone stood until Judge Brody indicated that they could be seated.
Are you gentlemen ready to proceed? Brody asked. Scofield nodded from his counsel table.
Ready for Dr. Cardoni, Your Honor, Frank Jaffe said.
Opening statement, Mr. Jaffe?
A brief one, Your Honor. We are seeking to suppress every piece of evidence gathered at a cabin in Milton County and Dr. Cardoni's home in Multnomah County. The state searched the Milton County house without a warrant, so it bears the burden of convincing the court of the existence of an exception to the state and federal rules requiring government agents to procure a warrant before searching a citizen's home.
The search of Dr. Cardoni's Portland residence was conducted pursuant to a warrant, but the warrant was issued because of information in an affidavit. We contend that the evidence discussed in the affidavit was obtained during an illegal warrantless search of the Milton County home. If the court agrees, we ask you to suppress the evidence gathered in Portland under the ' fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine, which I have discussed in the memorandum of law submitted by me in support of this motion.
Very well. Mr. Scofield, what is your position?
Scofield rose slowly. He rocked in place as he spoke.
Well, Judge, Detective Robert Vasquez, a Portland police detective, received an anonymous tip informing him that the defendant was holding two kilos of cocaine in his home up here in Milton County. He'll tell you that he corroborated the tip, then had to act fast because he learned that the sale of the coke was imminent. He rushed up
