“Aline, I’m going to share something with you that I really shouldn’t. I want your assurance that this conversation stays at this table.”
Aline nodded.
“I went to the Chapman home the other day and talked to Jamie. My office is currently processing several pieces of potential evidence. We’ll know a lot more when we get the results.”
Aline knew she had to be satisfied with that. “Just to let you know, Mike,” she said, “my mother agrees with me that Jamie would never hurt Kerry. And she saw Jamie all the time in the three years I was gone.”
“Aline, I want to find out what happened to Kerry. I’m going to pursue every lead to its conclusion.”
He decided to change the subject. “What’s new at school?”
“The usual. Right now the seniors are under the gun to finish their college application essays. I’m spending a lot of time working on them. As you can imagine, some of them are so torn between what schools to apply to.”
“I’m not surprised. This is the first really important decision they’re making in their lives.”
“I do have one student I’m worried about. She started at the school in January after moving here from Chicago. For no apparent reason her marks have gone down. She’s very withdrawn. Her parents are worried sick.”
“Do you think drugs are involved?”
“No, I don’t. But I can sense she’s holding something back. I just don’t know what it can be.”
“Does she have any friends at school?”
“Even though she’s two years younger, she was very close to Kerry when they played lacrosse last spring. I’m told that Kerry was her confidante on the team. And now she misses her very much.”
“Are you worried she might hurt herself?”
“Yes, and so are her parents. They tried to get her to see a therapist. She refused.”
“Typical, unfortunately. I really hope the problem is homesickness and, with time, she’ll get over it.”
Their orders came, and Mike was happy that as the meal went on, Aline’s spirits brightened considerably.
Mike walked her to her car and opened the door for her. It was an effort to resist the urge to put his arm around her.
62
On Saturday morning when the doorbell rang at Marge’s home, she was surprised to see Mike Wilson.
“Mrs. Chapman, I have applied for permission to take Jamie’s fingerprints. You and Jamie have the right to appear with your lawyer in court. A hearing is scheduled for Monday morning at ten o’clock, and then the judge will make his decision. Here is your copy of the paperwork.”
Visibly flustered, Marge said, “Our lawyer is Greg Barber in Hackensack. He’s very smart. I’m gonna call him right now.”
“Okay, here’s my card. If Mr. Barber wants to contact me before the hearing, he can do so.”
As she watched Wilson drive away, Marge was already dialing Greg Barber’s number. His secretary connected them and Marge read the document she had been given.
“Marge, let’s stay calm. I’m not surprised by this. Even though Jamie is not under arrest, the judge can order that he submit to fingerprinting. I’ll go to court with you and Jamie tomorrow. I’ll object, but I’m pretty sure the judge will order it.
“And since we’ll be in court tomorrow morning, I want you to bring Jamie to see me tonight at seven.”
• • •
Monday morning at 10 A.M. Greg Barber appeared in the courtroom of Judge Paul Martinez, ironically the same judge who had arraigned Alan Crowley. Barber was with Marge Chapman, who looked dejected and frightened, and Jamie, who looked excited to be there.
Greg had spent more than an hour speaking to Jamie and Marge the night before. Every instinct in his body told him that Jamie had not committed this crime. Those same instincts, however, told him that Alan Crowley had not committed the crime either.
Barber spoke to the assistant prosecutor, Artie Schulman. He told him that he would object to the application for fingerprints, but he conceded that the judge would probably grant it. He indicated that he represented both Marge and Jamie, and that no one should speak to them without his permission.
During the brief hearing, Schulman put on the record the reasons for the application and the interview of Jamie Chapman. While Chapman’s account admittedly was not entirely clear, it would, if true and accurate, exonerate Alan Crowley. It was obvious that the judge was taken aback by this new information. He ordered that Jamie submit to the taking of his fingerprints.
Greg then gently explained to Jamie what would happen when he went downstairs, and that he would be there with him.
Jamie and Marge quietly followed their lawyer as the detective walked them to the Prosecutor’s Office on the second floor of the courthouse. Marge waited on a bench outside in the hallway as Greg and Jamie went in.
• • •
Within thirty minutes of the end of the hearing, Prosecutor Matthew Koenig was inundated with calls from the media demanding to know more details about Jamie Chapman, the new suspect in Kerry Dowling’s murder.
The angriest call he received was from Alan’s attorney, Lester Parker. “You know, Prosecutor, I recognize that you can’t immediately share every single development in the case. Obviously, your investigation has a long way to go. But I have an innocent eighteen-year-old who is so depressed that his parents are worried he’s going to harm himself. When you go into a public courtroom and admit to these developments and I have to hear it from a member of the press, that’s just not right, and you know it.”
Koenig responded, “Look Lester, I took your call because you deserved an explanation. We were hoping that this would not be picked up by the press until after we got his fingerprints and we see if it helps the investigation one way or the other. We have no obligation to call you unless we come to the conclusion that Alan didn’t do it. And we are very far from making that determination. I’m going to end this call now. If
