Damned in Paradise

Kelley, seeming for the first time flustered, returned to his seat.

Darrow patiently took Tommie through the formation of the abduction plot, from discussions with his mother- in-law to his first meetings with Jones and Lord.

“Was the purpose of your plan to kill the deceased?”

“Certainly not!”

Finally Darrow had reached the point in Tommie’s story where, back on the Alton in that first interview, C.D. had refused to let his client continue.

Now, here in court, I would finally hear the “true” story.

“I drove to Mrs. Fortescue’s house, up into the garage,” Tommie said. “When I got inside, in the kitchen, I took Jones’s gun from the counter.”

“That was a .32?”

Tommie was almost motionless, and machine precise as he testified. “A .32, yes sir. And I called out and said, ‘All right, come in—Major Ross is in here.’ Kahahawai still believed he was on his way to see the major. I took off my dark glasses and gloves—the chauffeur apparel—and then we were all in the livin’ room, Kahahawai sittin’ down in a chair. Mrs. Fortescue and Lord came in. Stood nearby as I went over and confronted Kahahawai. I had the gun in my hand.”

“And where was Jones?”

“Mrs. Fortescue told him to wait outside and see that we weren’t disturbed. I pulled back the slide of the gun and let it click in place—I wanted to scare him. I said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ He said, ‘I think so.’ I said, ‘You did your lyin’ in the courtroom but you’re going to tell the whole truth now.’ He looked nervous, tremblin’. He said, ‘I don’t know nothin’.’ I asked him where he was on the night of September twelfth and he said the Waikiki dance. I asked him when he left the dance and he said he didn’t know, he was drunk. I said, ‘Where did you pick up the woman?’ He said, ‘We didn’t have no woman.’ I told him he’d better tell the truth. Who kicked her? ‘Nobody kicked her.’ I said, ‘Tell me how you drove home,’ and he rattled off a bunch of streets and I don’t know their names but I let him go on awhile, then I said, ‘You were a prizefighter once, weren’t you?’ And he nodded, and I said, ‘Well that explains how you knew where to hit a woman one blow and break her jaw.’ He looked really nervous now, he wet his lips, he was squirmin’ and I said, ‘All right, if you’re not goin’ to talk, we’ll make you talk. You know what happened to Ida out at Pali?’ He didn’t say, but he was nervous, tremblin’. I said, ‘Well, what he got was nothin’ to what you’re going to get if you don’t tell the whole story, right now.’ And he said, ‘I don’t know nothin’,’ and I said, ‘Okay, Lord, go out and get the boys. After we work him over, he’ll talk all right.’ Kahahawai started to rise up and I pushed him back down and said, ‘Ida talked and told plenty on you. Those men out there, they’re comin’ in and beat you to ribbons.’”

Tommie’s voice began to quaver.

“Kahahawai was tremblin’ in his chair,” Tommie said, “and I said, ‘Last chance to talk—you know your gang was there!’ And he must’ve been more afraid of a beatin’ than the gun I was holdin’ on him, ‘cause he blurted it out: ‘Yeah, we done it!’”

Darrow paused to let the courtroom savor the moment. Finally he asked: “And then?”

“That’s the last I remember. Oh, I remember the picture that came into my mind, of my wife’s crushed face after he assaulted her and she prayed for mercy and he answered her with a blow that broke her jaw.”

“You had the gun in your hand as you were talking to him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you remember what you did?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know what became of the gun?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know what became of you?”

“N…no, sir.”

Tommie swallowed hard; he seemed to be holding back tears.

Darrow stood before the jury box, arms folded, shoulders hunched. He gave his client a few moments to compose himself, then said, “Do you remember anything of the flight to the mountains?”

“No, sir.”

“What’s the first thing you recall?”

“Sittin’ in a car on a country road. A bunch of people were comin’ up to us, sayin’ something about a body.”

“Do you remember being taken to the police station?”

“Not clearly.”

Darrow sighed, nodded. He went over and patted Tommie on the arm, then ambled toward the defense table, saying, “Take the witness, sir.”

Kelley rose and said, “Are you proud of your Southern heritage, Lt. Massie?”

Darrow almost jumped to his feet. “Objection! Immaterial, and intended to imply racial bias.”

“Your Honor,” Kelley said, “if the defense can explore the defendant’s state of mind, surely the prosecution has the same privilege.”

“You may do so,” the judge said, “but not with that question—it is misleading as it presupposes all Southerners are bigots.”