The Hate Crime

by Rachel Sinclair

  Cameron was referring to the fact that my client occasionally did clean-up work for Jordan’s boss, Vincent Sharpelli. I already knew that, so I wasn’t too put-off by Cameron’s testimony about that.

  “So you’re saying that Adele wanted Beck to help her, but he wouldn’t do it, and that was a source of tension between the two of them?”

  “Yeah. They were always fighting about it. You know, Beck knows lots of people, and Adele wanted to open up her distribution channels. Adele knew that Beck knew a lot more people than she did. She was getting tired of selling to only Charlie all the time. Charlie was kind of a jerk to her, to be honest with you.”

  I could have objected to that line of questioning, as Cameron was definitely getting beyond the scope of what Alayna was asking him. At the same time, however, what he was saying about Charlie was going to bolster what evidence I was going to bring into the court later on about him. So I decided to go ahead and let it go.

  Alayna recognized that what Cameron was saying was going to help me later on, so she decided to move on and try to get him on a different track. “Is it safe to say that Mr. Harrison and Ms. Whittier had words that night?”

  I stood up. “Objection, Your Honor. Counselor is leading the witness.” I sat back down.

  “Sustained.”

  “What was the overall tenor of the conversation the night of June 5?”

  “You mean what did they say to each other?”

  “I don’t want to know what Ms. Whittier said to Mr. Harrison, but I do want to know what Mr. Harrison said to Ms. Whittier that evening.”

  Cameron shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I think it was the same old, same old. I think he was mad because she kept bugging him to help her distribute pharmaceuticals, but I don’t know why it was that she wanted him so bad for that. I heard that the cops were gonna arrest her for doing what she was doing. I think Beck knew that too. I think Beck knew that, and he didn’t want to get involved with a sinking ship.”

  “I have nothing further for this witness.”

  “Mr. Harrington, your witness,” Judge Grant said.

  I approached Cameron. The first thing I was going to have to do was try to rehabilitate Beck on the gay thing. I didn’t think that Alayna showed much damage as far as the fact that Cameron apparently was discombobulated about Beck’s relationship with Adele. He was. So what? What did that prove? As for the rest of the questioning, I was going to try to flesh out why it was that he thought that Charlie was kind of a jerk, and what kind of relationship he knew that Charlie had with Adele. That was going to be the most important thing to me.

  “Mr. Jackson, it seems that you found out for the first time today that your friend, Harrison, was dating a transgendered woman. Is that right? You didn’t know that before this proceeding?”

  He shook his head. “No, man. I had no clue.”

  “Is it safe to say that Mr. Harrison’s relationship with Ms. Whittier was a shock to you?”

  “Yeah. I had no idea.”

  That, of course, contradicted what Alayna had promised to the jury in her opening arguments. She had promised them that she would elicit on the stand testimony that indicated that Beck had told his friends that he was struggling with his sexuality. Clearly, this witness would not be able to testify to something like that, if he had no clue that Beck was gay before this.

  “Is it safe to say then, that Beck never confided in you about having sexual feelings about men?”

  “Yeah, that’s safe to say. To say the least.” He shook his head and looked down at the stand. “No, Beck never told me nothing about being into dudes. If he had told me about that, I would’ve told him that he was sick.”

  I wondered how this testimony was setting with the jury. On the one hand, this testimony was establishing that Beck never told him about any kind of deep, dark feelings that he had about men. That directly contradicted Alayna’s opening statement, where she promised that she would have testimony on the stand about Beck’s confession about these feelings. But, on the other hand, this guy was clearly hostile towards gays, so if the jury was thinking that Beck held the same views as this guy, that would bolster the prosecutor’s argument about Beck killing Adele because of animosity born out of his frustration regarding his own dark sexual feelings for her.

  I decided that this was a potential landmine, so I knew that it was time for me to move on. I was more excited, anyhow, about asking this guy about Adele’s relationship with Charlie. It seemed like he knew something about that, and it sounded like Adele’s relationship with Charlie was contentious, to say the least. That was safer ground for me, so I decided to attack that point.

  “Now, you testified on direct that Charlie was treating Adele with a lack of respect. Is that correct?”

  “Yeah, I think that’s right. Charlie was an asshole, I hope I can say that in open court, because that’s how I feel. He was getting pissed at Adele, because he wanted Adele to find new buyers for his stuff. He was always threatening her, telling her that she better get more aggressive in finding buyers. That’s why she wanted Beck to help her out. She knew that he can find lots of buyers on the street, so they were always fighting about that. I think that Beck kind of knew that it was only a matter of time before Adele got nabbed. You know, it’s one thing dealing with regular drug dealers on the street, but it’s another dealing with somebody stealing from a hospital. Cops be taking that shit seriously. You know, the opioid addiction that has been so in the news lately. It was safe to say that Adele was going to go down hard. And Charlie would’ve cut her loose like a stinking fish.”

  “And so why was it, exactly, you thought that Charlie was disrespectful to Adele?”

  At that, Alayna stood up. “Objection, Your Honor. This cross-examination is clearly moving beyond the scope of the direct.”

  “Actually,” I said, “The state opened the door to this very line of questioning. If you can recall, on direct, the witness said that Charlie was a jerk to Adele. So, this line of questioning is actually within the scope of the state’s direct examination.”

  Judge Grant shook her head. She turned to the court reporter. “Could you please read back the testimony of this witness that would indicate that this witness was stating that this Charlie was a jerk?”

  The court reporter read back that exact statement, and Judge Grant looked at Alayna. “Ms. Wilder, while I would agree ordinarily that this line of questioning would be beyond the scope of the direct examination, your witness did state on the stand that Charlie was a jerk to Ms. Whittier. I know it’s always a problem when your witnesses blurt out things that you don’t want them to, but live by the sword, die by the sword. I’ll allow this testimony about Charlie. By the way, what is Charlie’s last name?”

  She addressed that question to Cameron.

  “Williams,” Cameron said into the microphone. “His name is Charlie Williams. He be a drug dealer in town, and Adele worked for him. She be stealing drugs from the hospital for Charlie to sell.”

  “Counselor, you may proceed.”

  I was secretly thrilled how this was shaping up. I wasn’t expecting to be able to question Cameron about Charlie and Adele. And, if it weren’t for the fact that he just blurted out about how Charlie treated Adele, on direct examination, I wouldn’t have been able to go there. I was going to be able to elicit testimony from this witness that was going to reinforce the testimony that I was going to get later on from Charlie himself.

  “On what information do you base your observations that Charlie was, as you say, a jerk to Adele?”

  “Charlie, he’s always pressuring Adele, more and more, and, let me tell you, he was super pissed when Adele tells him that she’s not gonna steal drugs for him no more. I was there. I was there in the room when Adele tells him she’s not stealing drugs for him no more. He got so pissed about that, he beat her ass.”

  I had admit that this testimony was shaping up to be better than I had thought it would be. I had a feeling that Charlie was the
one who killed her anyways. Cameron’s testimony reinforced this in my mind. He was just building the blocks and the foundation that I needed to show that Charlie might have done this.

  “ So, Charlie was very angry at Adele when she told him that she wouldn’t be stealing drugs for him anymore. Do you know why he would have been so angry about that?”

  Alayna was on her feet again. “I would like to renew my objection, and I would also like to object to the speculation that Mr. Harrington is trying to get from this witness. He’s basically asking the witness to read the mind of this Charlie Williams.”

  “I can ask a different question, one that is more specific on the facts, if need be.”

  “Please do, counselor. I’ll allow limited questions regarding how this witness would know that Mr. Williams was so angry with Ms. Whittier. Emphasis on the word limited.”

  I nodded my head. That was reasonable. “Thank you, Your Honor.” I was going to have to be careful not to elicit hearsay, yet try to get his impression as to why it was that Charlie was so mad.

  “Charlie be having problems in controlling his turf. He’s not making the kind of money he was before, and Adele had the good stuff. You know, lots of people be scared of the street drugs, but they be thinking that the pharmaceuticals are all pure and pristine. Lots of people know that dealers be putting rat poison into your heroin, and you never know what you gonna to get on the street, but the same people know that this ‘Hillbilly Heroin’ don’t have the same problems.” Hillbilly Heroin was the street name for OxyContin.

  “So you said that he had problems controlling his turf. What did you mean by that?”

  “I mean that Charlie was hoping to get a new clientele, you know, the people who got money. The people who live in those big houses on Ward Parkway and Mission Hills, the people who could keep him in business. He be trying to work the street, but he be having a war with some of the other dealers on the street. Those dealers, they all be fighting amongst themselves for the scraps. Charlie wanted out of that, so he wanted to be selling the legit stuff like OxyContin and Percocet to these richie-riches. He only had Adele working that line, so yeah, when she told him that gravy train was soon going to be gone, he got really pissed.”

  I had to admit that Cameron knew much more about Adele’s dealings with Charlie than I ever would’ve guessed. That surprised me. I didn’t know that he knew so much. I didn’t think that Beck knew that either – if he did, he would’ve told me that Cameron was going to be a gold mine.

  Then again, it was weird that Charlie would be so willing to kill his golden goose. It still gave me fruitful avenues for my direct examination of Charlie, which would be happening soon.

  “I have nothing further for this witness.”

  “Ms. Wilder, do you have any further questions for this witness?” Judge Grant asked Alayna.

  “No, Your Honor.” I was sure that she was kicking herself for how this witness went. She didn’t get anything out of him that hurt us, while opening the door to testimony that clearly hurt her side.

  I thought that Alayna learned a lesson with Cameron, so I doubted that she was going to go ahead and call Beck’s other friend, Pete.

  Indeed, Alayna chose to rest after Cameron’s testimony. I didn’t blame her. She did enough to show that Beck possibly killed Adele, just by showing that Adele’s body was found in the alleyway by his apartment, next to a dumpster, and that he and Adele left together from the Zoo Bar that night. It was circumstantial evidence, but it was still powerful, so I knew that if I didn’t bring it, we probably were going to lose. I simply had to show that somebody else was involved in this murder.

  I knew that I had my work cut out for me.

  After the prosecution rested, it was time to take a break and go home. By that time, it was already 4 o’clock, and the judge just let everybody go home early. “We’re going to recess for the day,” Judge Grant told the jury. “The court shall reconvene tomorrow morning at 9 AM.”

  I was excited about presenting my case. Yet, I could not foresee how everything was going to break. And I really couldn’t foresee the piece of information that possibly was going to break everything wide-open.

  Chapter 34

  I met with Tom that night, as well as Harper. Tom had texted me while I was in trial, asking me to meet him that night. He told me that he had come across some new information that was something that could possibly be important.

  As the jury left, I turned to Harper, and showed her the text that Tom sent to me. “What do you think this means?”

  “I don’t know, but it sounds enticing. To say the very least. I wonder what kind of information he’s going to give to us?”

  “At any rate, we’ll soon find out.”

  We met Tom at my office. One of the reasons why we didn’t go to our usual bar, was because of Harper. She was still struggling with her sobriety. She confessed to me that it was something that she white-knuckled every day of her life, and during periods of stress, which trials inevitably were, she explained to me that she really felt like drinking. Because of that, I decided it was best that time that we just met at my office. Plus, that was where everything was for the trial. Harper and I did our usual trial preparation, spreading out all the witness statements and key pieces of evidence in our conference room.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Tom when he arrived that evening.

  “Did you happen to put David Harrison on your witness list?”

  “Of course, I did.” I tried to be thorough with my witness lists. That meant that I put on the list anybody who I could conceivably think I might call during the course of the trial. That meant, of course, that I put Beck’s father on that list. “Why do you ask that question?”

  “Because I found out some information about him, that I think you need to know. His prison cellmate, John Marelli, is not his cellmate anymore. In fact, he just got out of prison himself. He’s on parole.”

  My heart started to race. I kinda had a feeling about this. Early on, I wanted to look at the father more carefully, but I didn’t do it. I was too focused on looking at Larry Rodriguez, Jordan Kennedy, and Charlie Williams. They all seem to be looking good to me as far as alternative suspects. Truth be told, it was a problem with my not really wanting to bother with subpoenaing David Harrison for court. I felt that he didn’t have a reason to have killed Adele, plus, he was in prison, so how was he going to kill her? Granted, he could’ve easily gotten one of his men to do that, yet I couldn’t see a connection between him and Adele, so I just didn’t even consider him.

  “Well, you better issue a subpoena to the Cameron prison, and get David Harrison into court tomorrow. John Marelli contacted me. He told me that he needed to speak with me, because he knew that I was doing investigations for Beck. I’m guessing that John somehow was following the Adele case, because he told me that he had information about the case that was important.”

  “What’s the information that you’re talking about?” The more Tom spoke, the more intrigued I became. I was mentally kicking myself for not thinking about David as a possible suspect. In hindsight, it seemed so obvious that David might be behind all of it.

  “Well, here’s what I found out. This is what John told me. He said that David was getting extremely agitated, and angry, because he was hearing that his son was possibly a homosexual. You have to understand one thing about David Harrison. He’s a hateful person, and his hate extends far and wide. He’s not just hateful towards people who are brown, black, or Jewish, but he’s also extremely hateful towards people who are gay and transgendered. I’m surprised that Beck never told you about this, but David Harrison not just killed Tyrell Washington, the co-worker whose murder ended up sending him to prison for the rest of his life, but he also killed a gay man by the name of Sean Maddow. From what I understand, this John Marelli told me that David killed Sean Maddow simply because Sean was gay. Again, Sean was a coworker, and I guess that David saw Sean out at a bar one night, saw him kissing and dancing with
another man, followed him out to the parking lot, kidnapped him and killed him.”

  “Was that murder ever solved?”

  “No, it wasn’t. Apparently, he had a cleaner, who got rid of the body.”

  Cleaner. My heart started to race. “Who was the cleaner?”

  “Now, don’t jump to conclusions. Consider the source, this is a felon telling me these things, but I just thought you should have a heads-up about all of it. Let me continue on with the story. I’ll answer that question in a bit. But I need to tell you the rest of the story. I don’t what you to get too bogged down in the weeds.”

  I felt impatient, but I knew that Tom had to tell me in his own manner. I couldn’t rush him. “Go on. Tell me the rest of the story.”

  He took a deep breath. “Here’s what else Sean told me. He said that David has been hearing about his son being gay. I’m not sure who told him about this, although I imagine he probably heard about it from some people on the street. Information gets into the prison, through various ways, and I think that one of the felons who David hangs out with, knows a father of one of the guys who is Beck’s friend. Again, I’m not really sure exactly how the information filtered through, but suffice to say that David found out about his son being gay, or bisexual. At any rate, David now knows that Beck had a romantic relationship with a man. And, he found out that this man, William, became Adele, and found out that his son had a romantic relationship with her as well.”

  I suddenly knew where this was going. But was I going to be able to prove it? I was definitely going to have to go ahead and issue an emergency subpoena for David to come and testify the next day. I had a feeling that my entire trial strategy was going to go out the window. But that was okay, because I had a feeling that this lead was going to be the best one of all. “Go on. Tell me the rest of the story.”

  “Well, you might know what happened once David found out that his son was dating a transgendered woman. Not to mention the fact that Beck was romantically involved with that transgendered woman, when she was a man. He became enraged. He contacted his men on the outside, and told them that he wanted his son to be close to him in Cameron Prison, because he wanted to quote keep an eye on him unquote. He told anybody who would listen that he was going to make sure that his son was where he could see him, and keep an eye on him. He told John that if it was the last thing that he did, he would make sure that his son would end up behind bars, because he was going to make a man out of him yet. That’s what he said to John.”