Dowhanuik.”
There was a burst of nervous laughter in the courtroom. When Howard remained mute, Zack wheeled closer. “Were you standing on your tippytoes, Mr. Dowhanuik? That’s a question.”
“No,” Howard said.
Zack’s face wrinkled in exasperation. “Then how did you see what was going on?”
“I … there was a little stepladder against the fence.”
“A little stepladder – that’s right. Constable Gerein noted that too. So you heard a man’s voice, picked up your little stepladder, and moved it to the fence so you could see what was going on. Is that correct?”
Howard flushed crimson. “No, I was standing there.”
“On your little stepladder?”
“Yes.”
Zack made a moue of disgust. “Why ever would you be doing that?”
“I was watching.”
“You were watching Ms. Morrissey?”
Howard nodded.
“The court clerk needs your answer in words, Mr. Dowhanuik.”
“Yes,” Howard said. “I was watching Ms. Morrissey.”
“Was this the first time you spied on Ms. Morrissey when she was in the privacy of her yard?”
Howard’s face was an unhealthy crimson. “Not the first time, no. I’d been watching her for a week. Since the book was excerpted in the paper.”
“What are you, some kind of peeping Tom?”
Garth exploded from his seat. “Objection. Objection, m’Lord. Objection.” Rat-a-tat-tat.
Arthur Harney winced at Garth’s volley, but he sustained the objection.
“I’ll try again,” Zack said agreeably. “Mr. Dowhanuik, tell me why you were standing on a stepladder spying on your neighbour.”
Howard’s fire might have been dampened, but there was still a spark. “I wanted her to know that I was watching her.”
“Were you attempting to intimidate her?”
“I wanted to remind her that I was there.”
“You wanted to remind her that you were there?” Zack repeated the explanation mockingly. “After you moved next door to her, you and she spent many intimate hours in each other’s company. Ms. Morrissey’s a well-known journalist. Did she need you standing on your little stepladder peering in on her to remind her that you were her neighbour?”
“She needed to know how it felt to have her privacy violated,” Howard said defiantly. “She needed to know what it had been like for Charlie and me.”
“So you were angry at her for what she’d written about your family in her book.”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you didn’t go to her aid after she was shot?”
Howard’s head dropped. “I called 911,” he muttered.
“But after you called 911, you didn’t go to Ms. Morrissey to ascertain how badly she’d been wounded or to reassure her, did you?”
“No.”
“You weren’t in any danger, Mr. Dowhanuik. The assailant had fled the scene. You’ve testified to that. But instead of doing what 99 per cent of the people in this courtroom would have done, you left Ms. Morrissey out there bleeding and alone and you … What
Howard seemed confused. “I called my son,” he mumbled.
Zack sighed. “Now again, that doesn’t strike me as the course of action 99 per cent of us in this room would have followed. Why did you call Charlie?”
The casual use of Charlie’s name hit a nerve. For the first time, Howard seemed to realize that the defence knew more about his actions that afternoon than Garth Severight had led him to believe.
Zack withheld his next blow, but he made certain Howard knew it was coming. “I asked you a question, Mr. Dowhanuik,” he said. “The jury has heard your son’s version of what happened after he arrived at your condominium. What’s your version?”
“Charlie advised me.”
“Really. Now that is interesting. You hadn’t committed a crime. Unless we count the peeping Tom incident.” Zack waved his hand towards the Crown’s table. “I know. I know. I withdraw the characterization of the witness. But, Mr. Dowhanuik, this is where I’m having a problem following your thought processes. I know you were angry at Ms. Morrissey, but she’d been shot and you had witnessed the shooting. Why would you just hop off your ladder and leave Ms. Morrissey out in her yard alone and bleeding while you called your son for advice?”
“Because I was drunk,” Howard said.
