The Bone Puzzle
Page 31
Billy nudged Robert. “We might be in trouble.”
“Wait till they see the pictures,” said Robert.
Lee went on for more than an hour, pouring everything he had into his presentation. He knew, once he was finished, it would be the state’s turn to present their case, and the holy man image he needed to maintain for his client would be chipped away, bit by bit. The bigger the monument he built now, the better the chances that something would remain later.
Judge Foley looked on with amusement. Normally, the cases he presided over were little more than he said, she said domestic disputes or petty crimes. Not this time. The big guns had been brought out—Douglas Lee was involved.
The judge knew he’d have to keep his gavel handy. Lee had a reputation for dramatics. Secretly, Judge Foley was a fan of the man’s performances. He looked forward to having a front row seat for what was surely going to be an exciting event. Being the judge, he’d have to make sure he gave the impression that he was non-biased. That meant putting a damper on Lee’s act whenever he pushed it too far. But he reasoned, it didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy his job for a change.
During Lee’s opening statement, Vaughan sat quietly at his desk, shuffling through his papers, looking bored. Thirty minutes into Lee’s presentation, he placed the files in a neat pile and poured himself a glass of water. Ten minutes later, he glanced at his watch. Ten minutes after that, he yawned a few times and began to visibly nod off. The third time his head fell to his chest and popped up, he drank another glass of water. He propped up his head on his hand and yawned again.
Robert laughed when Billy yawned in response. Billy nudged Robert, who looked over at the jury in time to see three members yawning.
Robert felt better. As good as Lee was, Vaughan wasn’t going down easily. This was going to be a fight.
Lee ignored Vaughan’s subtle antics, but the restlessness of the jury told him it was time to wrap things up. He’d sowed the seeds. He’d water them sporadically throughout the defense’s case whenever possible. When it was his turn, he’d nurture the saplings with everything at his disposal.
In the end, despite his insistence to the contrary and against his best advice, he knew Winchester was adamant about taking the stand. There was little doubt he would use it as a pulpit. It would all come down to the preacher whether he was convicted or not. It’s just as well, thought Lee. It’s Winchester’s life that’s at stake.
Douglas Lee had nothing to lose. He’d been paid up front. He’d get a lot of publicity. He was going to present a monster of a case, which would only add to his reputation and his future success at attracting lucrative cases. If he won, he’d be hailed as the best defense attorney in the state, maybe the country. If he lost, it would be his client’s doing.
It didn’t matter to Lee if Winchester was executed. No matter what cock-and-bull story Eustice had spun for him, he knew damn well that the old pervert was guilty as sin. He had no idea how the detective had figured it out, but he had. Now, however, the prosecutor had to prove it.
When Lee finished and took his seat, Judge Foley motioned for Vaughan to present the prosecution’s case. The district attorney stood up, cleared his throat, and began.
“Judge Foley, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, citizens of Pickens County, the state calls Buck McEwen as its first witness. Mr. McEwen, please take the stand.”
CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR
Buck McEwen, escorted by a burly prison guard, entered the courtroom through a door at the judge’s right. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and was shackled at the wrists and ankles. The guard paused and unlocked the chains in full view of the jury. Vaughan was furious. He had little doubt that Lee had arranged the display, probably with an unofficial contribution to the guard’s retirement fund. Vaughan made a mental note to remind Lee of the rule of reciprocation when the opportunity arose.
Buck took the witness stand, and the bailiff approached him. Buck raised his right hand and placed his left on the Bible that the bailiff held out to him.
“Do you hereby swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” asked Bailiff Tyndale.
“I do,” said Buck.
Shouts of ‘Praise be!’ and ‘Amen!’ erupted from the gallery. Winchester clenched his eyes shut and bowed his head as if whispering a prayer to the Almighty. Judge Foley reached for his gavel, but thought better of it and allowed the crowd to settle down on their own.
“That didn’t take long,” noted Billy.
“Before you know it, he’ll be leading us in prayer,” Robert said with disgust.
Vaughan approached the witness and began his preliminary questions. He asked Buck his full name, where he lived, and how he knew the defendant. Buck answered in a monotone voice, as if hypnotized. Something about the way he was talking troubled the prosecutor, but he continued his questioning, hoping for the best.
“Mr. McEwen, we’re just going to get this out into the open so there’ll be no reason to dance around it later. Have you ever been charged with a crime before?”
“Yes.”
“When was that?”
“Over twenty years ago.”
“Twenty-three to be exact,” Vaughan added. “Can you tell us what those charges were?”
“Statutory rape and carnal knowledge of a juvenile,” said Buck, his voice devoid of emotion.
Audible astonishment emanated from the crowd. Judge Foley ignored the interruption.
“Were you convicted?”
“No, sir.”
“No? Those are serious charges, Mr. McEwen.”
“Yes, sir. The charges were dropped.”
“I see. So you’ve never actually been convicted of a crime?”
“No, sir.”
Vaughan paused. He could sense Buck was itching to say more, and anything at this point could only help.
“It was a long time ago,” Buck explained. “It’s not what you think.”
“Objection!” shouted Lee.
“Overruled,” said Foley. He wanted to hear the rest.
“Mary Jo was my girlfriend. We were in love. It was her folks who didn’t like me. They put her up to it. But it don’t matter. I ain’t done nothin’ like that since. You’d think people would forgive and forget, but they never do.”
“Did you find forgiveness at the Antioch Pentecostal Church?”
“Yes, sir. Brother Eustice brought me in. He accepted me. He gave me a new life.”
“And what did he ask for in return?” asked Vaughan.
“Nothin’,” said Buck. “Well, at first—”
“Go on.”
“I soon became his favorite. I was his right-hand man. If anyone questioned his authority, it was my job to keep them in line, remind them of who the prophet was.”
“So you were his goon?” asked Vaughan.
“Objection!” shouted Lee.
“Sustained,” Judge Foley answered. “Mr. Vaughan—”
“Yes, Your Honor, I withdraw the question,” said Vaughan. He turned back to Buck and asked, “How did the others feel about your new position?”
“Objection!” shouted Lee. “Hearsay.”
“Sustained.”
“Allow me to rephrase, Your Honor,” said Vaughan. “Mr. McEwen, did you notice a change in the way the other members of the congregation treated you when you were given a higher position in the church?”
“Sometimes,” said Buck, “but it was better than the way they treated me before. I was accepted. I ain’t never been accepted before that. Brother Eustice brought me in and showed me respect.”
“In your opinion, is Eustice Winchester a man of the Lord?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is he a prophet?”
“Yes, sir. Well, I used to think so.”
“Used to? You don’t think so anymore?”
“I ain’t so sure.”
“Heathen!” “Backslider!” Shouts erupted throughout the gallery. Judge Foley did not approve.
He slammed his gavel down to restore order.
“But you were sure back in April, weren’t you?” asked Vaughan.
“Yes, sir.”
“Is it fair to say you were a devout follower of Eustice Winchester at that time?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you’d do anything he asked you to do?”
“Objection!” shouted Lee, “Leading the witness.”
“Sustained,” Foley agreed.
“Did you go on a religious retreat with the deacons of the Antioch Pentecostal Church and Eustice Winchester back in April?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where did you go?”
Buck hesitated. Vaughan waited.
“Mr. McEwen,” Judge Foley interrupted, “please answer the question.”
“We went to Memphis,” Buck said.
“What did you go to Memphis for?”
Buck hesitated again.
“Mr. McEwen,” the judge intervened once more, “you need to answer the question.”
“What if I don’t want to?” asked Buck.
“You are here to testify. Is there a reason you don’t want to do that?”
“I’ll withdraw the question, if it pleases the court,” said Vaughan. This was about to go south quickly, and he needed something from the witness to help his case before it did. “Mr. McEwen,” Vaughan continued before the judge could interrupt again, “when you came back from Tennessee, did you bring anyone with you?”
“Yes, sir,” said Buck, happy to move on from the incident in Memphis. “We brought Brother Eustice’s bride.”
“His bride?” asked Vaughan. “Did Mr. Winchester get married in Tennessee?”
“No, sir, but she was his bride-to-be. He’s a holy man, so, in the eyes of the Lord, they may have already been married. I don’t know.”
“Is that why he told y’all you were going to Memphis? To fetch his fiancé?”
“No, sir, not exactly,” Buck explained. “We needed to rescue her from bein’ a pawn in the Devil’s workshop. We did that and came back with her. It was then that Brother Eustice told us about their nuptials.”
“How old is Brother Eustice?”
“I’m not sure,” said Buck. “You’d have to ask him.”
“Sixty-seven,” stated Vaughan. “How old was his bride to be?”
Buck paused for a brief moment before answering, his voice barely above a whisper. “I ain’t sure. Young.”
“Thirteen,” said Vaughan. “What was the girl’s name?”
“Natalia,” said Buck. “She was a gypsy.”
“A gypsy?” asked Vaughan.
“That’s what we all thought. She was a gypsy woman.”
“But you know now that she wasn’t a gypsy, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that she was only a girl? And not a woman?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And her name wasn’t Natalia?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Not that it would make a difference from a legal standpoint, but did the girl come of her own accord?”
“No, sir.”
“Who brought her?”
“Junior and Jeremiah.”
“Winchester’s sons?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did Winchester tell them to?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s called kidnapping, Mr. McEwen. Are you aware of that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you did it anyway.”
“We had no choice. I don’t know. It weren’t like that. We was doin’ the Lord’s work. You don’t question the Lord.”
“Who told you it was the Lord’s work?”
“Brother Eustice.”
“Did anyone touch the girl?” asked Vaughan.
Buck remained silent.
“Mr. McEwen, perhaps you didn’t hear me,” Vaughan repeated. “Did anyone touch the girl?”
Buck nodded.
“Please state your answer out loud for the record,” Judge Foley said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Who?”
“Brother Eustice.”
“Did he rape her?”
“No,” said Buck. “They was man and wife.”
“Where were you when this happened?”
“They was in the back of the truck. I was outside, keepin’ watch.”
“You were watching?” Vaughan asked with disgust.
“No, they had the door closed.”
“Then how do you know what they were doing?”
“I could hear it. She was fightin’ him off and—”
“Fighting him off? So it was rape.”
“I, I don’t know.”
“Where were the others?”
“Brother Eustice had everyone spread out to make sure nobody was watching us.”
“Except for you.”
“I was nearby just in case.”
“As a lookout?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What did the girl say when Winchester was finished?”
“Nothin’,” said Buck. “She was dead.”
“Dead? Why was she dead?”
“Brother Eustice said the Lord took her away, but it looked to me like she’d been strangled.”
“Objection!” shouted Lee. “The witness is not a qualified pathologist.”
“Overruled.”
“What did you do then?”
“Brother Eustice told us we had to get rid of her, or the Devil would come for us all. So we—”
“You what?”
“We put her in the swamp.”
“You buried her body in the swamp?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly did you do?”
“He said we had to cut her into pieces first so the Devil wouldn’t be able to find and resurrect her.”
“So you chopped her body up and threw the pieces into the swamp? Like she was garbage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What about the other girl?”
“We didn’t know there was another girl.”
“No? When did you find her?”
“Earl brought her in his police car the next mornin’,” said Buck.
“The police brought her?”
“Earl’s a deputy. He found her on the road and brought her with him. She tried to run, but we found her.”
“Did y’all rape her, too?”
“No. Junior wanted—. No. No one touched her like that.”
“What happened then?”
“Brother Eustice said she’d been resurrected by Lucifer. We had to do the same to her as before. So we cut her up and put her in the swamp.”
“You cut her up while she was alive?”
Moans and gasps rippled through the gallery. Judge Foley and Bailiff Tyndale were too engrossed in the story to pay any mind.
“No, sir.”
“How did she die?” asked Vaughan.
Buck didn’t answer.
“Mr. McEwen, who killed the girl?”
Buck remained silent.
“Mr. McEwen,” Judge Foley said, “you are instructed to answer the question.”
“I, I don’t want to,” said Buck.
“Why don’t you want to?” asked the judge.
“I, I can’t.”
“I think what he’s trying to say is that he wants to plead his Fifth Amendment rights,” said Vaughan. “Is that correct, Mr. McEwen?”
Buck was confused. He wasn’t sure what the lawyer was talking about, but if it kept him from answering, he was all for it. He nodded his head.
Garland Vaughan walked back toward his desk but stopped before taking his seat. He turned to Buck to take a parting shot.
“Mr. McEwen, you never once asked the names of the girls, did you?”
“No, sir.”
“Laura and Lacey Henderson. I just thought you’d like to know.” Vaughan glanced at the judge. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
The prosecutor took
his seat. It was Lee’s turn to cross examine the witness. Vaughan had given him enough ammunition. How he used it could very well determine the way the rest of the trial proceeded and whether or not justice would be served.
CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE
Douglas Lee casually stood up and approached the witness stand.
“Mr. McEwen,” he asked, “can I call you Buck?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sir? Now, we don’t have to be so formal. Call me Douglas.”
“Yes, sir, I mean, yes, Douglas.”
“Now Buck, as I sat over there listening to your testimony, I was shocked by what I heard. Frankly, I was appalled. You’ve made serious allegations regarding my client, and not only my client. You’ve made serious allegations regarding the deacons at the Antioch Pentecostal Church. Then it hit me. You’ve made serious allegations about yourself. Of course, you tried to backtrack a bit by saying you didn’t want to testify and so forth. But only about your own involvement. You didn’t seem to have a whit of trouble accusing everybody else.”
“Objection,” said Vaughan.
“Sustained,” the judge responded. “Is there a question hiding somewhere in there, Counselor?”
“My apologies, Your Honor.” Lee bowed gracefully. “Buck, are you sure you’ve been completely honest about everything you’ve told us so far?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call me Douglas. May I remind you, you’re under oath.”
“Yes, Douglas,” replied Buck.
“You stated earlier that your youthful indiscretions were all a misunderstanding. You were only a child at the time, dating a young girl, and her parents didn’t cotton to your involvement. That wasn’t exactly the truth, was it?”
“It, it was a long time ago.”
“But that ain’t what I asked you. You stated that the young girl in question was your girlfriend.”
“She was.”
“Did she consider herself to be your girlfriend, or was that solely your interpretation?”
“She was bein’ pressured by her parents.”
“Is that why you beat her?”
“I didn’t. It wasn’t like that,” pleaded Buck.
“She checked herself into the hospital with a broken nose and multiple bruises. Her clothes were all torn—”
“You don’t understand.”