12th of Never

the witness herself.

“Ms. Lagrande, what was the Christmas gift that Mr. Herman gave you?”

“A diamond necklace.”

“Do you know the value of that necklace?”

“Not really. Maybe twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“And do I understand correctly that you kept the necklace?”

“I kept it. It was for pain and suffering.”

“Really? A legal term. Well. Ms. Lagrande, did you also accept a new Lexus sedan from the defendant in January of last year?”

“Yes. Keith gave me a car. It was a birthday present.”

“I believe the going rate for that car is in excess of sixty thousand dollars, is that correct?”

“I don’t know.”

“You kept the car.”

“Yes.”

“It’s worth more than your annual salary, isn’t that right, Ms. Lagrande?”

“Yes. I suppose it is.”

Kinsela walked to the witness stand, then asked loudly, “Did the defendant ever give you money?”

The witness tossed her hair defiantly. Yuki leaned forward. Lynnette knew Kinsela was going to go after her, and Yuki had coached her to remain calm and matter-of-fact—take a moment to think before answering if she were attacked.

But the witness answered angrily, “I’m not a whore, Mr. Kinsela. Do not call me a whore.”

“Your Honor?”

“Ms. Lagrande, you must answer the question or I will be forced to find you in contempt. Mr. Kinsela. Please ask the question again.”

“Did you receive cash from the defendant? Yes or no.”

“Yes. And so what?”

“Did you tell him that you liked nice things?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Ms. Lagrande, were the expensive gifts and cash the reason you dated the defendant, who was, after all, a married man?”

Yuki stood, said, “Your Honor, objection. Opposing counsel is badgering the witness.”

“Overruled, but get to the point, Mr. Kinsela.”

“Okay, Your Honor. Ms. Lagrande, were you looking for a big payday when Mr. Herman finally left his family? Is that why you accepted expensive gifts even though you plainly didn’t return the defendant’s feelings?”

“I did return his feelings. I did love him. I still do.”

“I believe that you do love Mr. Herman. That’s why you spent the weekend with him at the time someone else was murdering his wife and child. In fact, weren’t you making love with the defendant that entire weekend, Lynnette?”

“No, no, no. I was not with him that weekend. No.”

“When the murders were discovered, and Mr. Herman was arrested, and this whole sordid affair was coming to light, you decided to finally cut him loose so that your reputation wasn’t trashed, isn’t that right? You’d rather betray your lover than tell the truth about your actions, right, Lynnie? You say you’re not a whore, but exactly what kind of woman would you say you are? Would you say that you’re fickle? Or disloyal? Or would you just call yourself a user? Which is it?

“What kind of woman are you?”

John Kinsela continued to glare at Lynnette Lagrande even though Yuki objected loudly, even though the judge repeatedly slammed his gavel against the block and found Kinsela in contempt. Even though Kinsela’s questions were stricken.

Kinsela looked triumphant and Yuki felt his triumph like an ax through her star witness’s credibility. Kinsela had bullied the first grade schoolteacher with the heart-shaped face, painted her as a gold digger, muddied her character, cast doubt on her testimony, and threw a bright light on the legal concept of reasonable doubt.

Yuki felt blindsided.

Nussbaum said, “Redirect, Ms. Castellano?”

Lynnette had her head down and was sobbing into her crossed arms.

Yuki didn’t know what she could do to rehabilitate the woman who had taken great big gobs of money from the man she said she loved.

Chapter 37

YUKI BROUGHT A box of tissues to the stand and let Lynnette take a couple of seconds to pull herself together. Yuki had made a mistake not to have realized that Kinsela was going to use Keith Herman’s gifts against Lynnette.

It was a sickening oversight. But was it fatal?

As Lynnette dabbed her eyes, Yuki thought out her redirect with the speed of a supercomputer, and when the witness seemed more or less composed, Yuki said, “Lynnette, did you ever try to hide the fact that you received gifts from Keith Herman?”

“No, of course not.”

“Did these gifts always come on holidays?”

“Yes.”

“Did Keith ever tell you why he bought you such expensive presents?”

Yuki took a slow turn away from the witness stand, headed toward the lectern, and stole a look at the jurors. They were attentive. For the moment, that was all she could hope for.

“Could you repeat the question?” Lynnette said.

She was still looking shaky, Yuki thought, but shaky was vulnerable and vulnerability was better than defiance any day.

“Lynnette, did Keith ever tell you why he bought you such expensive gifts?”

“He said different things at different times.”

“Go on,” Yuki said.

“He said that until he was free, this was the only way he could show me how much he cared.”

“Anything else?”

“He said that he felt guilty for my pain and suffering.”

“Pain and suffering. Those were his words?”

“Yes.”

“The money that Keith gave you—what was it for?”

“He gave me twenty-two thousand dollars to pay off my student loan. I appreciated the help. I don’t make a large salary.”

“Did you expect to cash in—that is, get rich—from marrying Keith Herman?”

“I knew he had money. But the only thing that was important to me was that we had a real relationship, with holidays together, and that I could be with Lily. I wanted to be able to go out into the open, to stop feeling bad because I loved someone else’s husband. And when I saw that I couldn’t have that, I tried to break it off with Keith many, many times.”

“And Keith pursued you, isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“You testified that you changed your phone number. You moved out of your home.”

“Yes.”

“On the weekend of February twenty-eighth through March first, were you with the defendant?”