Acts of Malice

by Perri O'shaughnessy

  ‘‘Yes.’’

  ‘‘And what were the circumstances of your overhearing this conversation?’’

  ‘‘I eavesdropped,’’ said the girl defiantly. ‘‘The coat room was right next to the office, and I could hear them from in there.’’

  ‘‘Who did you hear?’’

  ‘‘Mr. Strong senior—Philip Strong, and Jim Strong.’’

  ‘‘Anybody else?’’

  ‘‘No.’’

  ‘‘And how did you know whose voices you were hearing?’’

  ‘‘I’ve talked to Philip several times. I also knew his office adjoined the place I was standing. And Jim Strong was my boss. I knew his voice very well.’’

  ‘‘What did you hear?’’

  ‘‘Well, it was about Gene. Jim had told him he was fired. Mr. Strong wanted Jim to back off, but Jim was stubborn. He said Gene was a loser and he wanted a girl. Mr. Strong didn’t like that, and Jim just told him to butt out, that he was the manager of the lodge and . . .’’ The girl went through the conversation, bit by bit, that had been covered in the interview summary in Nina’s possession.

  ‘‘What else was said in this conversation?’’ Collier asked finally.

  ‘‘That was about it. Then they were interrupted and that was it for the conversation.’’

  Collier paused for effect. Then asked, ‘‘And when did you say these events took place?’’

  ‘‘I didn’t. Between one-thirty and two o’clock on October twenty-first, two days before Alex died.’’

  ‘‘Cross-examine,’’ said Collier. He sat down.

  ‘‘Hello, Miss Beloit,’’ Nina said, giving the girl a hard stare.

  ‘‘Hello.’’

  ‘‘You say you quit because of Jim Strong, the man sitting beside me?’’

  ‘‘Uh huh.’’

  ‘‘In what specific way did Mr. Strong cause you to quit?’’

  ‘‘He made my job miserable. He was continually in the restaurant, watching every move any of the employees made. He shouted at me and called me incompetent. I don’t have to put up with that. The money wasn’t worth it.’’

  ‘‘So you didn’t like the way Jim supervised you or the other employees?’’

  ‘‘To say the least.’’

  ‘‘And how does that make you feel about Jim Strong here?’’

  ‘‘It seemed like a good job at first. I thought I had the whole winter planned out, but I couldn’t stay with him as my boss.’’

  ‘‘How did that make you feel about Mr. Strong?’’ Nina said again.

  ‘‘Upset, of course.’’

  ‘‘Angry?’’

  ‘‘I suppose.’’

  ‘‘Oh, come on. You’re furious at him, aren’t you?’’

  ‘‘I wouldn’t send him a valentine.’’

  ‘‘You’d like to see him suffer like you’ve suffered, am I right?’’

  Miss Beloit actually seemed to think that one over. She was a forthright girl, and Nina thought for a moment she would agree, but she thought better of it. ‘‘No,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m not vindictive like you’re trying to make out.’’

  ‘‘Isn’t it true that you were so angry that when you heard that Jim had been charged with a crime involving his brother, you called Mr. Hallowell here and told him a lot of lies about this whole incident?’’

  ‘‘No.’’

  ‘‘You wouldn’t even tell him your name, would you?’’

  ‘‘I didn’t want to end up testifying like this, but I thought he ought to know—’’

  ‘‘You didn’t dare say under penalty of perjury the things you told him?’’

  ‘‘I thought the information might help him understand why Jim would want to kill Alex.’’

  Flaherty lifted his head at this and gave the witness a keen look. Her statement unfortunately cut through all the legal smoke Nina had been blowing. Trying again, Nina said, ‘‘Move that the witness’s response be stricken as nonresponsive and speculative, Your Honor.’’

  ‘‘She has a right to explain why she called me,’’ Collier said.

  ‘‘I’ll allow it,’’ said Flaherty.

  Nina decided she’d better meet the statement head-on. ‘‘All right,’’ she said. ‘‘You say that Mr. Strong suggested to Jim that he might be replaced by Alex at the lodge?’’

  ‘‘It was stronger than that, like Mr. Strong had made up his mind.’’

  ‘‘Both men were angry? Saying things they hadn’t really had time to think about?’’

  ‘‘Mr. Strong kept his temper the whole time. He was very calm, considering.’’

  ‘‘Did Jim say anything like, this job is so important to me I’ll kill anyone you try to replace me with?’’

  ‘‘No. I told you what was said.’’

  ‘‘Did Jim threaten Alex at any time in this conversation?’’

  ‘‘I thought his tone was rather threatening.’’

  ‘‘But all he said was, ‘It’s always Alex . . . well, not this time’? That was the sum total of his reaction?’’

  ‘‘Yes.’’

  Nina turned to the judge. ‘‘Your Honor, I’m going to move that all testimony of this witness be stricken. There’s not a shred of evidence that goes to any element of the case, just a lot of prejudicial fluff by a disgruntled employee. All the testimony is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.’’

  ‘‘Mr. Hallowell?’’ said the judge.

  ‘‘It goes to intent, Judge. Malice. The testimony is that the defendant had a reason to commit a murder. Jim Strong was going to remove the man who would take his place as manager.’’

  ‘‘That’s not the testimony,’’ Nina said. ‘‘The testimony is that in the course of an argument about something else, Philip Strong essentially said something critical of the way the defendant had handled a business matter. In all fairness, this conversation between Philip Strong and the defendant does not have any probative value as to motive. It should be stricken.’’

  ‘‘Well,’’ Flaherty said, ‘‘I’m not going to strike the testimony. I suppose it could be said to have relevance to the issue of criminal intent. Your argument goes to how much weight should be accorded the testimony, Mrs. Reilly. I have to say, I’m not too impressed with this testimony but I will weigh it along with the rest of the testimony at the conclusion of this hearing. Any more cross-examination?’’

  ‘‘No, Your Honor.’’

  ‘‘Any redirect?’’

  ‘‘No, Judge.’’

  ‘‘The witness may step down.’’

  On her way past Jim, Miss Beloit moved her lips into a loud mock kiss. ‘‘Creep!’’ she said in a low voice.

  Jim lunged up and Nina grabbed him.

  ‘‘Order! Order! We’ll take the afternoon break.’’

  ‘‘Call Gene Malavoy.’’

  He had been waiting out in the hall, with every court clerk under the age of forty taking a peek at him. Gene Malavoy was barely twenty years old, but he was well aware of the stir he caused. Six foot four or more, angular and broad-shouldered, with a strong face, a jutting man’s nose and long hair casually brushed back, he strode to the stand and sat down, legs stretched out. He wore an old tweed jacket with his jeans and a thin gold chain around his neck, the kind that makes a woman imagine it on a bare chest. Nina would have been as impressed as everybody else if she hadn’t seen him whimpering like a baby under the bleachers.

  ‘‘As night host, I greeted people as they came in and escorted them to the tables, gave them menus, watched the waiters, kept people cheerful when there were long waits,’’ he said as Collier led him through the preliminaries. His French accent, more pronounced than Marianne’s, added to the overall effect.

  ‘‘And are you acquainted with the defendant, Mr. Strong, sitting over there at the counsel table?’’

  ‘‘Not any more,’’ he said. ‘‘Not since the day he fired me.’’

  ‘‘And what was the date of that termination?’’

 
; ‘‘October twenty-second.’’

  ‘‘Please explain for the Court the circumstances of your termination.’’

  ‘‘The circumstances? Oh, yes. I had worked at Paradise seasonally for two years. Alex Strong had been my supervisor the whole time, and we got along great. My performance ratings were always excellent. Then, this year, Alex went into Operations and Jim came in. Within two weeks after the opening, Jim called me in and said that Alex had told him to let me go.’’

  ‘‘He said Alex Strong had demanded your termination?’’

  ‘‘Yes. He said that Alex had warned him about me. I couldn’t find out any more. I kept asking him what I’d done wrong. I couldn’t believe it. He called security. I was escorted to my car.’’

  ‘‘What did you do?’’

  ‘‘I went home and tried to call Alex. I wasn’t feeling too happy about any of the Strongs right then. I felt that Alex must have had something against me that he was too chicken to tell me. I felt that Alex had treated me in a sneaky way. When I couldn’t reach Alex, I called Mr. Strong. The owner. I told him what Alex had done and I said, ‘Philippe, you can’t be doing this to me.’ ’’

  ‘‘What was Mr. Strong’s reaction?’’

  ‘‘He said he’d look into it.’’

  ‘‘Did you subsequently have a conversation with Philip Strong?’’

  ‘‘He called me the next morning and said—I don’t remember how he said it—I think that I was better off to move on. Things weren’t going so well at the lodge. That was it. He was my final hope.’’

  ‘‘Your witness,’’ Collier said to Nina. He had used Gene Malavoy to corroborate Gina in an indirect but very effective way. It was clear that at least some of what Gina had testified to was true, unless he and Gina were conspiring to perjure themselves with the same lie. The notion that Alex had been murdered because he was going to take Jim’s job wasn’t that compelling, but it was all Collier had. Although Flaherty didn’t need to know why a murder had occurred in order to bind Jim over, he was a judge who preferred to have what he called ‘‘a sense of the case.’’ So Collier had given him a motive of sorts.

  Of course, Malavoy’s testimony could twist another way.

  ‘‘Mr. Malavoy?’’ Nina remained seated at the defense table, conspicuously not bothering to get up. ‘‘Things have been tough for you since you were terminated, haven’t they?’’

  ‘‘I’m getting evicted from my apartment, so I guess you could say that.’’

  ‘‘Do you blame Mr. Strong here for that?’’

  ‘‘Absolutely.’’

  ‘‘Tell the Court about your relationship with Gina Beloit.’’

  ‘‘Objection,’’ Collier said. ‘‘Outside the scope of direct.’’

  ‘‘Overruled. You may answer.’’

  ‘‘There was no relationship,’’ the young man said.

  ‘‘You worked together, didn’t you? Didn’t you talk about your problems at work?’’

  ‘‘No. I knew who Gina was, but we never socialized. She might have had ideas, but I wasn’t interested in her.’’

  ‘‘You have never discussed this case with her?’’

  ‘‘No.’’

  She wasn’t getting anywhere with that, so Nina moved into her flank attacks.

  ‘‘You have heard Gina Beloit’s testimony here today? In which she says that Jim Strong told his father that he, not Alex Strong, made the decision to fire you?’’

  ‘‘Yes.’’ He stuck his chin out and the muscles of his jaw worked picturesquely. ‘‘I have known for several days.’’

  ‘‘But you believed Alex Strong had done this to you as of October twenty-second, didn’t you?’’

  ‘‘Yes.’’

  ‘‘Did you act on your belief?’’

  ‘‘Objection. Vague, speculative, irrelevant, immaterial.’’

  ‘‘Can you rephrase that, counsel?’’ Flaherty said.

  ‘‘Sure, Your Honor. Isn’t it true, Mr. Malavoy, that you waited for Alex Strong to get off work on the night of the twenty-second of October and isn’t it true that you challenged him to a fight and when he refused to fight you, that you knocked him down before leaving the Paradise parking lot?’’

  He looked surprised. ‘‘How did you know that? It’s true, I admit it.’’

  ‘‘Why did you do that?’’

  ‘‘Like I said, because of Jim. Jim lied to me and told me it was Alex getting me fired. I never should have believed him, but—who would imagine he would blame his brother like that? It was a dirty trick on Alex to turn my anger toward him. It worked. I was boiling about Alex all day and drinking too much and I went at it with Alex without giving him a chance to explain. I just took a wild swing and took off. I didn’t hurt him.’’

  ‘‘You were outraged, infuriated at Alex on that day, would that be fair to say?’’

  ‘‘Of course. I don’t mind saying it. It’s true.’’ His hand smoothed back a stray lock of hair.

  ‘‘That was the afternoon of the twenty-second?’’

  ‘‘Ye-ees.’’

  ‘‘Marianne Strong, the victim’s wife, is your half-sister, isn’t she?’’ Flaherty’s eyebrows went up at this revelation, and Nina heard a sharp intake of breath from Collier. So he hadn’t known! Tony hadn’t had an easy time finding it out.

  ‘‘Yes, she is. She helped me come over from Chamonix two years ago. We have the same father.’’

  ‘‘You very much enjoyed working at the ski resort, wouldn’t that be fair to say?’’

  In a tight voice, Collier said, ‘‘Is there a point to this, or are we just going to jump all over the place like fleas in a flea circus?’’

  ‘‘There’s a point,’’ Nina told Flaherty.

  ‘‘Make it then,’’ Flaherty said. Turning to Malavoy, he said, ‘‘Answer the question.’’

  Shrugging, Malavoy said, ‘‘Yes, I liked it very much. I love skiing, being around the resort atmosphere. Of course, I didn’t belong in such menial work there. I’m not just a waiter.’’

  ‘‘No? What’s your ambition in life then, Mr. Malavoy?’’

  Collier rolled his eyes, but Flaherty indulged her. ‘‘My ambition? To meet many lovely girls.’’ A dashing smile.

  ‘‘I mean, in terms of work.’’

  ‘‘Well. To own my own resort.’’

  ‘‘You’ve talked about this ambition with some of those lovely girls, and—’’

  ‘‘I talk to everyone about it—’’

  ‘‘And you’ve talked about it with your stepsister.’’

  ‘‘All the time.’’

  ‘‘Now, Marianne Strong inherited Alex Strong’s interest in Paradise Ski Resort, didn’t she, upon his death?’’

  ‘‘She told me she did.’’ Collier stood up to complain but Flaherty just raised a hand and said, ‘‘I know it’s hearsay. Let’s just get on with this.’’

  The moment had arrived. ‘‘Now. Isn’t it true that from the day of Alex Strong’s death you have repeatedly urged Marianne Strong to sell out this interest and to use the money to return to Europe with you to invest in a ski resort there?’’

  Malavoy thought about this. So did Collier. So did Flaherty.

  At length, Malavoy said, ‘‘Yes, it’s an idea I have talked over with her.’’ He had become very still, as though he realized that a blow was about to be administered.

  Nina administered it.

  ‘‘All right,’’ Nina said. ‘‘All right. Let’s see if I understand your situation on October twenty-third correctly. Please note that I am talking now about the day of Alex Strong’s death. You were in a rage at Alex Strong and you had attacked him the previous day. Furthermore, you knew that if Alex was dead your stepsister would inherit a considerable property, and you have very strong ideas on the subject of what she should do with it.

  ‘‘Isn’t it true that on the twenty-third of October you followed Alex Strong off-trail, watched him have an accident as he was skiing with his brother,
and took advantage of his helplessness by stomping him to death?’’

  ‘‘God! No! I never saw him the next day!’’

  ‘‘Oh, brother,’’ Collier said for all to hear.

  ‘‘How well do you know the mountain at Paradise? In terms of skiing?’’ Nina went on.

  ‘‘Everybody knows the mountain.’’

  ‘‘Where were you on the afternoon of the twenty-third of October?’’

  ‘‘At my place, unemployed, getting drunk! I didn’t kill him. I was— I wouldn’t do anything like that. You’re just trying to get your client some breathing room, that’s what it is.’’

  ‘‘He’s denied it,’’ Collier said. He had been listening with an angry frown. ‘‘There isn’t a shred of evidence Mr. Malavoy had anything to do with Alex Strong’s death. I object to any further testimony being taken on this line of questioning.’’

  ‘‘I’m merely demonstrating that Mr. Malavoy is just as likely to have killed Alex Strong as the defendant,’’ Nina said evenly.

  ‘‘Gather ye motives as ye may,’’ Flaherty said. ‘‘You’d need more than that to make such an accusation at trial. Now let’s move along.’’

  ‘‘Certainly, Your Honor. I just have one last question. If I may?’’

  ‘‘If you must.’’

  ‘‘What brand and size of ski boot do you wear, Mr. Malavoy?’’

  ‘‘What brand? Dalbello.’’

  ‘‘What size?’’

  ‘‘Size eleven. I hit him the day before, that’s all! I swear it!’’

  ‘‘The record will show that this witness wears ski boots previously identified as having bottoms which could match the patterns on Alex Strong’s skin.’’ Nina said. And Collier jumped up to raise some hell, but Flaherty was staring at Malavoy’s clenched fists and pale face, and Nina knew she’d made her point.

  Later, Jim said, ‘‘Oh, man, you laid into him like— like—he was cringing. Even though I knew you were going to do it to him, I didn’t realize how bad it would look. You almost had me convinced. But he couldn’t do anything like that. He hasn’t got the guts, no matter how much he drinks or shoots up. He thinks he’s such a hot shot. I can outski his ass anytime, any place. He thinks every woman on earth would like to climb into his bed—what did you think of him, Nina?’’