by Virna DePaul
As the bed sheets started to catch fire with her still on top of him, Toby screamed, “Why? Why are you doing this?”
Why? Her brow crinkled when the lick of heat against her skin made her gasp.
Once again she thought of the man who’d sold her the Rapture.
She shrugged. “Why not?”
Chapter 11
Several days after visiting Tony in the jail infirmary, Linda sat in the courtroom audience as Neil handled Tony’s preliminary hearing. While Neil questioned one of the responding officers, Tony sat with his defense attorney, Roger Lock, a man who had an impressive reputation for getting his clients off the hook. At this point in the proceedings, however, Lock’s skill was hardly necessary. Neil simply had to establish probable cause that Tony committed murder so the court could hold him over for trial. As soon as the judge learned about Tony’s confession, that standard would be met.
“Who discovered the weapon on the defendant?” Neil asked.
Scott Anderson, a baby-faced police officer, leaned toward the mic, his gun belt creaking softly. “The EMTs. They were there when my partner and I arrived and were already working on the defendant, who was unconscious. They pointed out the weapon they’d found on the defendant’s person.”
Linda glanced at Tony. He sat sprawled out and loose limbed in his chair, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Nonetheless he seemed unusually subdued. Was he still feeling the effects of Moser’s beating? Was he in unbearable pain? Or was he so high on painkillers that he really was lost in his own world?
“Who took possession of the weapon?”
“I did. I bagged it. Took photos of the defendant before he was transported to the hospital.”
Neil had the officer authenticate the wrench and then continued with his direct examination.
“Was anyone besides Mr. Cooper there?”
“There was a dead body. Of a man later identified as Mark Guapo.”
Neil stopped to pull out some photographs, which he then marked. “Your Honor, I’d like to mark these photographs as People’s Exhibits 7 and 8.”
“They will be so marked,” the judge said.
“Now, Officer, in Exhibit 7, is this the man, Mark Guapo, you’re referring to?”
Anderson studied the picture that Neil held out. Linda knew what that photo looked like—not pretty. “Yes.”
“Did you take this photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Does this photograph accurately represent the man’s condition that night?”
“Yes.”
Neil held out another picture. “And in this picture, Exhibit 8, is this the man you found unconscious?”
“Yes.”
“Was the man injured?”
“Yes.”
“Can you please tell us if those injuries are reflected in the photographs?”
Once again Linda looked to Tony. This time he lifted his chin and stared at her, a tight line in his jaw. But his eyes didn’t hold the same anger and insouciance they’d held the first time she’d seen him in court. He looked away again.
The officer pointed out the injuries as he spoke. “He had trauma to his head and leg. He was bleeding from both.”
“And it appears you’ve taken a close-up of those injuries in Exhibit 8, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Now, do you recognize the man in those pictures in the courtroom today?”
“Yes.”
“Please identify him for us.”
“He’s sitting at the table with defense counsel. Wearing the orange jumpsuit.”
The officer pointed at Tony. The bruises he’d sustained from the other inmate’s attack stood out, adding to the picture of a career criminal in the making.
A twinge of pain passed through Linda as if her body experienced his pain in sympathy.
“Your Honor, may the record reflect that the officer has identified the defendant?” Neil requested.
“The record will so reflect,” the judge said.
“Thank you, Your Honor.” Neil walked to his table, took a sip of water then turned back to face the witness. “At some point, Officer, did you obtain further information connecting the defendant to Mr. Guapo’s death?”
“Yes.”
“What was that information?”
“His confession. When Detective Derek Humphries interviewed him.”
“Were you present for that confession?”
The officer glanced worriedly at Tony. “No.”
“So how do you know about the confession?”
“Detective Humphries relayed the defendant’s statements to me.”
“What did the defendant tell Detective Humphries?”
Again the officer hesitated, as if waiting for Tony’s attorney to object, which of course he didn’t. Unlike at trial, hearsay was perfectly admissible at a preliminary hearing. Even if it hadn’t been, statements by the defendant fell under a hearsay exception. “The defendant said he’d killed Guapo to protect what was his.”
“Thank you, Officer.” Neil sat down.
The judge turned to Tony and his defense attorney, Roger Lock. Given the state of the evidence and the way these things normally went, Linda was expecting them to say they didn’t have any witnesses. The defense often let the prosecution’s evidence speak for itself at preliminary hearing. Even so, she once again willed Tony to look at her. She wanted to know what he was thinking. How he was feeling. She wanted to know if he indeed viewed Neil’s appearance as the prosecuting attorney as another abandonment on Linda’s part. Or if he was even thinking of her at all.
“We’d like to call Detective Derek Humphries, Your Honor.”
Linda stiffened at the defense attorney’s words. She’d questioned the thoroughness of Humphries’s investigation herself but it was still unusual that the defense was calling him at this point in the proceedings.
She watched as Humphries took the stand.
Linda didn’t like him. She didn’t like his methods. Most cops were good ones, and truly cared about finding out the truth, not just scoring an arrest. But despite the rumors of dirty cops still going around, Linda believed Humphries had good intentions. Unfortunately he still lived by the motto that the ends justified the means. If he could walk the line to get a confession, he’d do so. Sometimes it worked to his advantage, sometimes it didn’t.
Would it work in this case? She wasn’t sure.
“Detective Humphries, you heard the officer tell us that Mr. Cooper confessed to killing Guapo. Was he correct?”
“Yes.”
“After Mr. Cooper regained consciousness from his wounds, how long did you wait to start questioning him?”
“I was there within an hour.”
“And you read Mr. Cooper his Miranda rights?”
Humphries practically rolled his eyes. “Yes, I did.”
“Uh-huh. And he understood his rights?”
“Yes, he did.”
“How do you know that?”
“Excuse me?”
Tony’s defense attorney walked closer to Humphries. “I said, how do you know that he understood his rights?”
Humphries laughed. “He said he did. He waived them. Voluntarily.”
“But he was in severe pain, wasn’t he? Was in the midst of fighting off an infection?”
“He seemed uncomfortable. But cognizant.”
Roger Lock nodded. “How long did you question him before you got him to confess?”
Neil raised his hand. “I object to counsel’s insinuation, Your Honor. There’s no evidence that Detective Humphries coerced a confession out of Mr. Cooper.”
The judge shook his head. “Well, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it, Mr. Christoffersen? Ove
rruled.”
“How long, Detective?”
Humphries shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “Two hours.”
The attorney raised his eyebrows dramatically. “Two hours? You questioned Mr. Cooper, who was obviously ‘uncomfortable’ and probably high as a kite on pain meds, for two hours? Did you offer him a drink? A break?”
Humphries glared at Tony. “No.”
“Did you obtain a written confession from him?”
“No.”
“Why not? Isn’t that standard police procedure?”
“It is. But...”
“But what, Detective?”
Detective Humphries mumbled something unintelligible.
“Speak louder,” the judge commanded. “The court reporter needs to get this down.”
“He was too weak to write. But I recorded his oral confession.”
Linda’s eyes widened. “What?” she whispered to Neil. There hadn’t been an audio recording in Tony’s case file.
Neil stood. “Your Honor, we don’t know what tape is being discussed here.”
Tony’s defense attorney held up a tape. “This is the tape, Your Honor. It’s the defendant’s oral confession. We learned of its existence after interviewing Detective Humphries. Since Humphries is an agent for the D.A.’s office, I assume the D.A. has no issue with us playing the tape now? Unless, of course, they have doubts about Detective Humphries’s...veracity?”
A tense silence pulsated around them. Damn, Lock was good. If Neil questioned Humphries’s motivation in providing the tape to Lock, it would be virtually the same thing as challenging the accuracy of the confession he’d taken.
Neil settled back in his chair. “We have no objection to the tape at this time,” he clipped out.
“Proceed,” the judge said.
Lock smiled. “Thank you, Your Honor.” He turned back to Humphries. “You signed this. Just so we’re clear, is this the tape you sent to my office?” He handed the tape to Humphries, who studied it carefully.
“Yes, it is.”
“Your Honor, with your permission, I’d like to play a portion of the tape.”
“Granted.”
The defense attorney stuck the tape into a tape recorder he had placed on counsel table. The tape started right where he’d wanted it to.
Humphries’s voice warbled distinctly from the machine. “Come on, Cooper, admit it, so we can all get out of here. You killed him!”
Next, Tony’s voice. Quite a bit weaker. Shaky.
“The guy came after me,” Tony said.
“Don’t feed me a line about self-defense. You were taking over his drug business and didn’t want to give it back to him.”
There was a long pause before Tony spoke again.
“Yes. Okay. I killed him. Killed the bastard so I could take over his business. Now can you leave? Have you gotten what you wanted?”
Tony’s defense attorney stopped the tape. Linda shifted in her seat, wishing Tony would look at her.
“That an accurate recording of your conversation with Mr. Cooper?”
Humphries looked decidedly uncomfortable...and all of a sudden Linda wondered if his discomfort was an act. But that couldn’t be right. Could it?
“The tape’s accurate,” Humphries said.
“And Mr. Cooper was correct. You got what you wanted, right?” Tony’s defense attorney looked at the judge. “We’re done, Your Honor.”
“Very well,” the judge finally said. “I don’t like what I’ve just heard. I especially don’t like that the tape you played came as a surprise to the District Attorney. Even so, given the evidence, I find there’s sufficient evidence to hold Mr. Cooper to answer on the offense charged in the information. Is there anything else?”
Despite the fiasco with Humphries, Linda wasn’t surprised the judge held Tony over. However, she was surprised when Tony’s attorney stood again. “Yes, Your Honor. We’ve filed a motion asking that Mr. Cooper be released on his own recognizance pending trial.”
The judge frowned. “And what supports such a motion? Given he’s charged with first-degree murder?”
“He’s charged with the first-degree murder of a known drug lord, Your Honor. And there are indications Mr. Cooper was acting in self-defense, just as he told Detective Humphries, since he sustained an injury to the back of his head. Plus, there are court records that will confirm Mr. Cooper acted as a confidential informant against Mr. Guapo, leading to the man’s initial incarceration. That’s further evidence, not only of Mr. Cooper’s willingness to cooperate with authorities, but of Mr. Guapo’s motive to attack Mr. Cooper without being provoked.”
Linda kept her gaze on Tony, who seemed to be breathing more heavily.
His attorney was making a good argument. It wouldn’t have been enough to win the preliminary hearing, but with the issue of bail and Humphries’s strong-arm tactics to get Tony to confess when he’d been in the hospital, the judge had a lot more latitude. The motion would probably still fail, but did Tony know that? Or had his attorney raised his hopes? She couldn’t tell. He hadn’t changed positions. What little she could see of his expression was blank. As if he had no preferences about whether he stayed in jail or was released, even for a short time. She knew Neil would oppose the motion for bail but—
“Your Honor, the prosecution has no objection to Mr. Cooper being released on bail.”
Linda’s eyes widened and her gaze shot to Neil. What? That was completely contrary to office policy.
Obviously the judge knew this. He raised a brow.
“So you agree with Mr. Lock that the defendant is not a flight risk or a risk to society if released on bail?”
“Based on this record, I do,” Neil confirmed.
The judge shrugged. “Very well. I’ll release Mr. Cooper on his own recognizance. I hope you know what you’re doing, Mr. Christoffersen.”
As soon as court was dismissed, Linda asked Neil, “Why didn’t you object to bail being granted?”
Neil looked slightly surprised. “I thought I was doing what you wanted me to do. Giving your friend a fair shot at proving his innocence.”
Linda shook her head. She hadn’t asked any favors of Neil. Had he misunderstood? “I didn’t ask you to bend the rules.”
“Not in so many words. But I was reading between the lines. Especially after hearing that recording of Humphries’s. You don’t think he’s guilty, do you?”
She hesitated. In her gut, she still doubted Tony’s guilt. But why wouldn’t she? She still had lingering feelings for a man who looked nothing like the one now sitting at the defense table. “That’s irrelevant,” she said, forcing herself to be objective. “I had a prior relationship with him. That’s why I asked you to take my place. So that you’d be impartial.”
“And that’s what I’m being,” Neil said. “Everything Lock said was true. Added to that is the fact I have faith in you, Linda. If you’re not sure about his guilt, then neither am I.”
* * *
Tony fought off the nausea bubbling in his stomach and concentrated on a spot on the courtroom carpet a few yards ahead of him. Released on OR? How the hell had that happened? On the one hand he was overjoyed. He wasn’t sure he could take living in a crowded jail anymore, not after all his body had gone through in the past few days.
But on the other hand?
Getting out of jail meant once again leaving Linda and immersing himself into a world of drugs and vice. That prospect made jail look like paradise in comparison.
“Unbelievable,” Roger Lock, Tony’s defense attorney, told him. “I hope you realize just how lucky you are to have been granted bail. Are you friends with the prosecutor or something?”
His gaze automatically landed on Linda, who was talking to Neil Christoffersen.
“No,” he said softly, his stomach churning again, only this time the nausea wasn’t from the pain in his back and leg. He wasn’t friends with Linda and he wasn’t friends with Christoffersen. Far from it. He saw the way Christoffersen looked at Linda. If the man hadn’t already had her, he was planning on changing that really soon.
Had he failed to object to bail in the hopes of gaining points with Linda? Had she asked Neil to provide the very leniency that she’d told Tony not to expect? And if she had, what did it mean? That she still cared about him? That she didn’t believe he was the lost cause he was portraying himself to be?
The thought made hope spark inside him, but he swiftly pushed it aside.
Having her visit him in the jail infirmary had made him soft. His future more uncertain than ever, he’d started to wonder again. Hope again.
That’s why this had happened, he realized. That’s why he was getting out on bail. It was the universe telling him to get back on track. Away from Linda.
So focus, Tony. He’d copped to killing Guapo to increase his street cred. Maybe that same street cred could help him end this mess once and for all.
He needed Linda to believe he’d turned to the dark side. He needed everyone to believe it if his plan was going to work.
He thought about stopping to talk to her, but that would only create more suspicion about her involvement in the judge’s decision. It was best to leave her alone.
He’d use his time out of jail to convince everyone once and for all that he was ruthless. Selfish. Immoral.
The kind of man that Linda would never have anything to do with. The kind of man who’d never care for her.
Then he’d disappear. For good.
Deliberately keeping his gaze away from Linda, Tony turned toward his attorney. As he did so, he caught sight of someone hovering a couple of feet away. The woman stepped forward and they locked gazes.
It was Justine. Damn it, what was she doing here? Was she crazy? She should have been halfway across the country by now.
“Tony?” she whispered, her brown eyes wide and shining with tears.
He sensed Neil and Linda stop talking and knew they’d turned to look at him. Linda had watched him throughout the preliminary hearing, trying, he suspected, to find some evidence of the man she’d once known. He’d wanted so badly to turn to her, profess his innocence and beg her to love him again, but that yearning only proved to him how weak he still was.