We know who the guilty party is, but we can’t take advantage of that fact. Worse, we’ve been shown to be liars, which is to say that the jury will not believe anything we tell them for the rest of the trial.
Laurie and I take turns beating ourselves up. She feels she should have done more to check out Eddie, though there really is no way she could have in the time allotted. She would not have access to cell phone records, nor did she have the manpower at Tucker’s disposal.
For my part, I put someone on the stand that I was unsure of. In doing so, I staked the reputation of the defense on his testimony, and it took Tucker less than five minutes to leave that defense in shreds. I blew it, plain and simple.
Kevin tries to make both of us feel better, an impossible task if ever there was one. After a half hour or so he gives up, and turns his efforts toward motivating me to prepare for court tomorrow. It’s not an easy job; I would rather spend tomorrow having my eyeballs plucked.
The phone rings and I jump to get it, anything to not have to think about the mess we are in. I don’t even bother to look at caller ID; which is okay, because Willie’s voice is on the other end.
“Andy? It’s me.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, hoping to be drawn into a long conversation about dog adoptions or coffee futures or anything else not having to do with our case.
“Sondra was attacked,” he says, and I now realize his voice is shaky.
“Is she all right?”
“Yeah, I think so. She says she is. It happened in front of my house.”
“I’ll be right over,” I say, and he doesn’t try to talk me out of it.
I tell Laurie and Kevin what has happened, and Laurie comes with me to Willie’s. Kevin stays behind to go over tomorrow’s witnesses, pathetic though they may be.
Willie still lives in a very run-down area of Paterson. He bought a small house and has done a lot to fix it up. He is wealthy enough to live pretty much anywhere he wants, but feels like he would be a traitor if he left his old neighborhood. I wonder if what has just happened will change his mind, but I doubt it.
Sondra is lying on the couch when we arrive. She seems shaken but not badly hurt. Willie is more upset than I have ever seen him, even when he was on death row.
“Tell me what happened,” I say.
“We got home from Atlantic City about an hour ago. I dropped Sondra off in the front and went to park the car because our garage is filled with stuff. I came back and saw her on the steps, with this guy grabbing her from behind.”
I turn to Sondra, who picks up the story. “I couldn’t find my key, so I was waiting for Willie. The guy grabbed me around my neck; I didn’t see him coming.”
Willie takes over, describing how he ran toward the house screaming and the guy took off. Willie hesitated to make sure Sondra was okay before picking up the chase, which allowed the attacker to get away.
“If I had caught him, I’da killed him.”
I have no doubt Willie would have done just that. “Did he take anything?” I ask. I look at the alexandrite locket still around her neck. “Any jewelry or anything?”
Sondra shakes her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
Willie asks if he needs to call the police, and I say that it would be a good idea. Sondra hadn’t seen her attacker, but at least calling would alert the police to be on the lookout for him in the area.
Willie, mostly because of his past experiences, has a healthy distrust of the police, but he makes the call. He reports that they don’t seem too distressed, but promise to send an officer over to take a statement.
Laurie and I stay around awhile, mainly because I don’t want to go back and deal with the grim realities of court preparation. The doorbell rings and I answer it, fully expecting it to be the police. I am very surprised to see Kevin standing there.
“I didn’t know Willie’s phone number, but I knew where he lived,” Kevin says.
“Sorry,” I say, “I should have called you. Sondra’s fine; just a little shaken up.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” Kevin says, and for the first time, I notice he has a weird expression on his face.
“What is it?” I ask.
“There’s been another murder,” he says. “A woman’s been strangled and her hands were cut off.”
• • • • •
DENISE BANKS HAD been out dancing with friends at the Belmont Club in downtown Paterson, approximately six blocks from Willie’s house. Friends say that she complained of a headache and left the club alone at eleven P.M. Her body was discovered an hour later in an alley fifty feet from her car.
We get this information from television, along with an unconfirmed report that Ms. Banks was strangled and her hands were cut off. If the reports are correct, either the same killer has struck again, or a copycat killer has taken over.
We are all stunned, both because of the murder itself and also because of the strong likelihood that Sondra was almost the victim. It’s certainly possible that there were two attackers in the area around that time, but I don’t believe in coincidences, and I’m not going to start with this one.
We head over to the murder scene, and Willie and Sondra come along. Their report to the police is even more significant now, but in all the turmoil it may take the cops a while to get around to them.
Vince is already on the periphery of the scene when we arrive, though he has no more information than we do. I’m sure he’s upset that a woman has been murdered, but his focus is elsewhere. “You think this will get Daniel off?” he asks, and I deflect the question, mumbling that we’ll have to wait and see exactly what happened.
Laurie says, “I’ll take Willie and Sondra inside.”
I nod. “We’ll be right here.”
She then leads them into the area where the police are concentrated, able to make her way in because she knows most of the officers guarding the periphery.
Vince, Kevin, and I spend the next hour and a half standing in the same spot, waiting for their return. I see a number of people that I know leave the scene, including the coroner, Janet Carlson. She sees me and just shakes her head sadly; it’s another night of exposure to the inhumanity of humans. I wouldn’t do her job for all the money in the world.
Finally, Laurie, Willie, and Sondra come out, and I’m very pleased to see that Pete Stanton is with them.
“Let’s find someplace to talk,” Pete says.
“I know a coffee shop three blocks from here,” says Vince.
Pete shakes his head. “Let’s go somewhere private.”
I’m sure Pete doesn’t want to be seen talking with the enemy, and I don’t blame him. I also don’t want a big crowd for this conversation, but there’s no way we’re going to get rid of Vince. “I think we should help Willie get Sondra back,” I say. “She’s been through enough tonight.”
Willie shakes his head. “I don’t need no help. There ain’t nothing going to hurt her.”
I believe him totally and they head home. The rest of us go back to my house, with Pete taking his own car. I ask Laurie what she has learned, but she explains that everybody was tight-lipped, and she was going to give up when she saw Pete. He was heading out, and he agreed to fill us in.
Pete asks us not to reveal that he spoke with us, since he knows Captain Millen would have a stroke if he found out. Pete also knows that all this information is due to us in discovery anyway, so he is merely giving us a couple hours head start.
“It’s the same killer,” Pete says.
“No chance it’s a copycat?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not according to Janet. She said the angle of the strangulation and the way he cut are identical. She said it’s the same guy; she told Millen while I was there.”
“What did he say?”
“That she shouldn’t jump to conclusions, and should go back and examine the body more carefully.”
“Which she’s doing now?” Laurie asks.
“Yeah. But she told me her opinion won’t change, that there’s no doubt.”
