Secrets and Fries at the Starlight Diner

by Helen Cox

  ‘It was her.’ This response came out clipped. He was doing all he could to hide it, but for whatever reason, Harris hadn’t expected Jimmy to spend quite so much time with that security footage. That was his first mistake.

  ‘I note from your statement you said my client was wearing jeans and a T-shirt that evening. The security footage shows she wasn’t wearing pants at all, just black pantyhose under a sweater dress.’

  ‘It was dark and I was focusing much more heavily on her face and the gun in her hand.’ Harris glanced over at the jury as he said this and then looked back at Jimmy

  ‘You were focusing hard on her face?’ Jimmy frowned again.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But you still didn’t pick her out on the security footage?’

  ‘No.’ Harris’s voice, which had started out quite light and breezy, had degenerated into more of a growl. Only Jimmy could get someone this annoyed this quickly.

  ‘Alright,’ Jimmy said. ‘I have just one more question. Do you usually patrol South Kentucky Avenue?’

  ‘I’ve patrolled it many times.’

  ‘Yes, but is it currently your assigned area for patrol?’

  Harris paused. ‘No.’

  ‘So why were you patrolling South Kentucky Avenue that night?’

  ‘As I said, we get more trouble in that stretch around the holidays. I went down there to make sure the peace was being kept, as is my duty.’

  Jimmy and Harris stared at each other for a moment before Jimmy said, ‘Thank you, Mr Harris. No further questions. Your Honour, as previously stipulated, I’d like the right to recall Mr Harris for further questioning after we’ve heard the other testimonies.’

  ‘Yes, Mr Boyle, that request has been granted,’ said Judge Hamilton. ‘Ms Carter, any questions for this witness?’

  ‘No, Your Honour,’ Carter said.

  ‘Very well, Ms Carter. You may call your next witness,’ said Judge Hamilton.

  It was then that Carter said the words I’d been dreading. ‘Your Honour, I’d like to call Mr Francis Ray to the stand.’

  At the mention of Frankie’s name, my whole body went rigid. When I’d worked back at the Crystal Coast Casino, Frankie had been a figure to be wary of, sure. He was one of those guys who was always over-courteous in a way that told you somewhere deep inside he wasn’t exactly what he seemed. But I, like most people who knew him, I guess, figured that was all part and parcel of his casino owner persona. Hardened gamblers aren’t exactly known for their humanity and running a casino definitely isn’t a gig for the faint-hearted.

  But ever since I’d seen him pull that trigger and end a man’s life, he wasn’t that guy I’d once been wary of. He was now this nightmarish figure who would stop at nothing to make sure I took the fall for his ill deed. Now there was no atrocity I couldn’t imagine Frankie acting out. And today I was coming face to face with him for the first time since I’d seen him shoot a man dead. I’d have rather been anywhere except here.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Frankie ambled into the courtroom, dressed in a light grey suit. He was wide around the waist and fairly short and stubby for a man with the amount of power I knew he had. But wasn’t that always the way? The smallest dogs always yapped the loudest, and were the breeds most eager to bite.

  Jimmy, knowing from conversations we’d had that this was the moment I’d been dreading, looked over at me and pressed his lips together. It wasn’t a smile. He couldn’t smile right then, when he was about to concentrate on the testimony of a key witness, but it was the closest thing to reassurance he could offer me just then. I looked across at him, into his eyes, and got to thinking. I didn’t want to go to jail. Of course I didn’t. And I trusted that Jimmy would do everything he could to keep me out of that place. But if the worst did happen, if I was found guilty, at least I’d go down knowing that the people who had come to mean the most to me believed I was innocent. Esther, Jack, Bernie, Mona, Angela and, of course, my reluctant attorney. Even Nick, once he’d got over the shock, believed in my innocence. I’d drawn more strength from their faith in me than I ever could have imagined. Strength that would be invaluable if I did have to face a long-term prison sentence. Course, that’s assuming Alan wasn’t right at this minute sat in the diner, casting doubt on my innocence.

  I gave Jimmy a small smile of gratitude and, satisfied I was strong enough to put a brave face on things, he turned to watch Carter question Frankie.

  ‘Mr Ray,’ Carter began, ‘can you tell the court how you knew the deceased, Donald Reeves?’

  ‘Donny was a friend of mine for almost a decade,’ Frankie said, in his husky voice that betrayed the number of cigarettes he’d smoked over the years. It came out almost gentle and yet there was something threatening about it. ‘I first met him not long after I took over at the Crystal Coast, he was one of my best customers. I mean, he was in the casino every night. As a responsible manager, new to the position, I wanted to keep track of my regular customers. And after a few weeks I went to talk to the guy. We hit it off right away, but it soon became clear that gambling was his chief pleasure in life and although that was good for my business, it concerned me.’

  ‘Did you ever express this concern to Mr Reeves?’ Carter asked.

  ‘Not in the beginning. I didn’t know the guy well enough at that point to really say anything, so I’d just drop hints about how much we were seeing him. He never picked up on any of the hints. It was only later, when things took a turn for the worse, that we were able to openly talk about his situation.’

  ‘I see,’ Carter said. ‘Can you tell the court how Mr Reeves came to owe you such a large sum of money?’

  ‘I had a sense for a long time that Donny was spending more than he had. He worked on a checkout for most of his life, and you don’t make your fortunes doing that. Sometimes he’d win, of course. But gambling is a risk – that’s where the thrill lies for a lot of people. And Donny lost far more often than he won.’

  ‘So Mr Reeves got into debt?’ Carter clarified.

  Frankie nodded. ‘One night I was doing some checks and I found the guy in one of our bars. He was clearly distraught so I asked him what was wrong. He’d been fired from his job – his gambling habit had got so serious he’d started stealing from work and eventually the guy had got caught. He wasn’t going to be able to pay his bills that month and he was already in a lot of debt from his gambling habit.’

  ‘So what did you do about this?’ asked Carter.

  ‘I asked him how much and he tells me ten thousand dollars. I had the money and I felt part way responsible for what had happened to this guy, so I offered to loan him the money.’

  ‘And did Mr Reeves ever repay that money to you?’

  ‘Almost,’ said Frankie. ‘The night he died he’d finally got the money together to pay off his debt, but he never made it that far. Ms Brooks took the money for herself.’

  ‘Objection, Your Honour.’ Jimmy leaped up from his seat. ‘Can we have that last comment stricken from the record? It’s speculation. There’s no physical evidence to support that accusation.’

  ‘Your Honour,’ Ms Carter interjected. ‘An empty wallet belonging to Mr Reeves was found at Ms Brooks’s apartment alongside the murder weapon.’

  ‘Well, I can’t claim to have ever seen ten thousand dollars in real life, Your Honour, but if a man was carrying it I doubt it would fit in his wallet. Besides, there’s no evidence this ten thousand dollars even existed. Mr Reeves’ bank records show no evidence the money was ever in his possession.’

  Judge Hamilton looked from Jimmy to Ms Carter and then at Frankie.

  ‘Mr Ray, unless you can provide the court with evidence that this money was in the possession of Mr Reeves, that comment will have to be stricken from the record.’

  ‘Though he had no reason to lie to me, Your Honour, I had only Donny’s word.’

  ‘Very well, strike that comment from the record,’ Hamilton said.

  ‘I have no further questions,
Your Honour,’ said Carter, who then returned to her seat.

  ‘Your witness, Mr Boyle,’ said Hamilton.

  Jimmy walked over to the witness box. ‘Mr Ray, why did you lend that money to Mr Reeves?’

  ‘I already said,’ Frankie explained. ‘I felt part responsible, and I had the money.’

  ‘So you lent that money out of the goodness of your heart?’ Jimmy asked.

  Frankie looked from my attorney to me. ‘You never do anything out of the goodness of your heart, Mr Boyle?’

  Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. ‘Of course, Mr Ray. I was just checking that there was no other benefit to you in lending Mr Reeves that money.’

  ‘Well, I figured if I didn’t charge any interest there’d be no incentive for the guy to pay it back to me and he’d get in even more debt. But I set the rate low as I could and I didn’t give him a deadline.’

  ‘Really?’ Jimmy said. ‘Because his wife, who testified earlier, said Mr Reeves had mentioned several missed deadlines he’d had with you the day before he got shot.’

  Frankie looked from Jimmy over to Joanne Reeves – Donald’s widow – who sat to my left alongside other members of the public watching the trial. She looked down at the grey carpet patterned with dark squares the second Frankie’s eyes met hers. Jimmy had had to work hard at coaxing that little nugget of information out of her when she was on the stand. No doubt she was frightened to say too much in case Frankie came after her.

  ‘I had to set some kind of deadline otherwise Donny would’ve got deeper into trouble. He’d owe me on top of everybody else and that’s not helping out another man. That’s just digging him deeper. But the deadlines didn’t mean anything.’

  ‘So there was no penalty when Mr Reeves missed these deadlines?’

  ‘There was no penalty. Except more interest on top of what he already owed me, which is why Donny never really got round to paying me back.’ Frankie didn’t make the mistake of accusing me a second time, but he looked across in my direction and in my peripheral vision I could see a couple of the jury members following his gaze.

  I stared back at him, level as I could, with all my might.

  ‘Can you tell the court, Mr Ray, where you were at the time of the murder?’ Jimmy asked Frankie.

  Frankie looked along the line of jury members to his left before speaking. ‘As a dedicated businessman, I was at work at my casino. I was in a meeting with several staff members who are able to vouch for my whereabouts.’

  ‘Thank you. I have no further questions, Mr Ray,’ said Jimmy. He watched closely as Frankie walked down the few wooden steps and across to take a seat in the audience, close enough to Mrs Reeves to make her sit straighter in her seat.

  I glanced over at my family. My dad, my mama and my little sister, Karen, were all glaring at Frankie. For all their sour feelings towards me, they knew I wasn’t a killer. They also knew I wouldn’t lie about what I’d seen the night of the murder. Or maybe they didn’t know it all. Maybe they were just desperate to believe it.

  ‘Mr Boyle, the next witness is yours,’ Hamilton said from his perch.

  Jimmy turned to Judge Hamilton. ‘Your Honour, the defence calls Jack Faber to the stand.’

  I looked over at the audience and made eye contact with Esther, who’d managed to convince Bernie that she needed to be here, at least for the day that Jack was testifying. She caught my eye and raised both eyebrows at me in a ‘here we go’ sort of a way.

  At the mention of Jack’s name a woman in the audience screamed out. I bit my bottom lip in an attempt not to laugh but Judge Hamilton didn’t find this so funny. He smashed his hammer down on the wooden bench. ‘Order. Order. There’ll be no more of that. Might I remind you that this is a courtroom, not a chat show.’

  I don’t know why but at this comment Jimmy glanced over at Esther with a sort of sheepish look, and she definitely narrowed her eyes at him. What was that about? Esther hadn’t looked at Jimmy that way for a while now. Not since he’d come to the diner to return my lyric book. Whatever the story was, there was no time to think about it now. Those two could sort out their problems once I knew for sure I wasn’t going to rot in jail for the rest of my days. Despite Judge Hamilton’s warning, whispers were fluttering around the courtroom at the arrival of Jack. As the actor drew closer to the witness box, I could see Carter’s face getting redder and redder. Jack, without blinking, made eye contact with Carter as he approached her desk and her gaze followed him as he passed by. I looked over at Esther to see a little smirk on her lips.

  If it was anyone else, I would’ve expected them to be jealous of their boyfriend flirting so publicly with another woman, but there was a bond between Esther and Jack that you see between few couples. They seemed so secure in their love for one another, it didn’t seem possible for anyone else to be a threat. And they’d only been dating a few months. I’d dated people for over a year and never had that kind of connection.

  ‘Mr Faber,’ Jimmy began, once Jack had been sworn in. ‘Can you describe the incident that happened at your apartment on the 24th of January this year?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jack said to Jimmy, but his eyes were back on Carter. ‘I was reading and Bonnie was on the phone. We kept hearing these sounds on the window, a sort of whacking noise. When we went to investigate, somebody started shooting at us. And the bullets went straight through the window.’ Jack had a sorrowful look on his face that I could see was softening Carter by the second.

  ‘What did you do?’ Jimmy asked.

  ‘I pushed Bonnie to the ground until the shooting stopped. But obviously,’ he said, pointing at his arm, ‘unlike being on set, the bullets weren’t blanks.’ A murmur of amusement rippled through the jury.

  ‘Am I right in saying you invited Ms Brooks into your home in spite of the charges brought against her?’ Jimmy asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why?’

  Again, Jack looked at Carter. ‘She’s a very sweet young woman and I believe she’s innocent.’

  ‘I’d like to apprise the jury of the fact that Detective Rivera from the NYPD investigated this shooting. She filed a report, which has been included in the evidence presented to the court. She found rubber pellets outside Mr Faber’s apartment. The inhabitant of the apartment directly opposite was found dead on the banks of the East River last week. A separate murder investigation is underway to establish who his killer was but it was most likely the same person who shot at my client, Ms Brooks. I have no further questions for Mr Faber, Your Honour.’

  ‘Ms Carter, your witness,’ said Hamilton.

  Carter didn’t respond, instead gazing deep into Jack’s blue eyes.

  ‘Ms Carter?’ Hamilton repeated, at which she started and walked over to Jack in the witness box.

  ‘Mr Faber,’ she said, ‘can you be sure the bullets were aimed at Ms Brooks and not yourself?’

  ‘I’m reasonably certain. I went to the window twice to investigate the noise but it was only when Bonnie approached the window that the shooting began. The first shot missed her by less than an inch and some instinct kicked in and I dived to the ground, pulling her with me.’

  ‘That must have been frightening,’ Carter said, leaning a little closer towards Jack.

  Again I looked over at Esther, who noticed my stare and rolled her eyes at Carter’s antics. I did all I could to supress a smirk.

  ‘I was scared, I won’t pretend otherwise,’ Jack said. ‘There was no mistaking the fact that somebody wanted Bonnie dead.’

  Carter looked from Jack to me, and then over at Frankie, who was slouching in a chair in the audience. ‘Although it’s clear from the testimony you’ve provided that Ms Brooks was a target,’ she said, ‘until we find out who the shooter was, we cannot prove motive or that it was linked to this murder trial. No further questions, Your Honour.’

  ‘Alright, that concludes today’s court proceedings. Court is adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.’ Hamilton banged his gavel a couple of times to signal the end of the se
ssion. I let out a sigh and put my head in my hands. We weren’t any closer to proving Harris’s true whereabouts on the night of the murder, or linking the attempt on my life to this trial. At least Jimmy had managed to do some damage to Harris’s credibility, I guess.

  Jack and Esther made their way over to where Jimmy and I were sitting.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Esther asked me, taking my hand and rubbing it between hers.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged. ‘This is all so weird. I still can’t believe it’s happening.’

  ‘Well, Jack definitely got the attention of the prosecution.’ Esther smiled up at him and pinched his chin. He smirked in return and shook his head.

  ‘I’ve asked if there’s a back door to the courthouse. Apparently there are some journalists waiting outside for me.’ Jack eyed Jimmy as he said this.

  ‘Well, if they’re credible journalists, the back door ain’t gonna be much better than the front door,’ said Jimmy, but then cleared his throat. ‘I’ll get you outta here with minimum fuss, don’t worry.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Jack said tersely.

  ‘I’m sorry we can’t stay for the rest of the trial,’ Esther said. ‘Jack’s got more rehearsals tomorrow and in my absence the Starlight Diner crockery is at the mercy of Jean’s less-than-sturdy grip, so Bernie wants me back as soon as possible.’

  ‘It’s alright, I’m glad to see you here, even if it’s only for today,’ I said, smiling up at her.

  ‘Well, we’re just going to go and freshen up before the journey.’ Esther raised her eyebrows at Jack to check he was in agreement and he nodded at her. ‘But we’ll see you in the lobby in a few minutes, OK?’

  ‘Sure thing,’ I said.

  As they walked away, I noticed, security aside, there were only three people left in the courtroom. Mama, Dad and Karen.

  Bridget was a little model of Mama. Both had rich, auburn hair and deep blue eyes. They even had the same shape to their face, which drew to quite a sharp point around the chin. I didn’t really look like anyone in my family. I shared my features with my paternal grandmother, but she had died a decade or so ago. It’s not often I wished her gone, as I was rather close to her, but I had to admit I was glad she wasn’t here to witness this.