“Anyway,” the lawyer was saying, “the investigators found out that the death certificate reads ‘natural causes’ and she is still living in the condo she’d shared with Brian and driving a new Corvette.”
“Yes, Brian bought that car last year.”
“We felt that she was living far beyond the means of her nurse’s salary . . .”
“Yes,” Vivian interjected. “Apparently Brian was having some trouble meeting their bills, even after he got that nice promotion.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, I remember when we all had dinner together last Christmas. Adrienne wanted to take a cruise somewhere. She explained how Brian really needed a vacation and he kept saying that they couldn’t afford it. I offered to lend him the money for the cruise, if he really needed a vacation, but he said that he didn’t need a vacation and that Adrienne just wanted to take a cruise. He insisted that the matter be dropped.”
“That’s interesting,” Price said thoughtfully.
“I’m sorry I interrupted you, Bob. What were you saying?”
“Oh, yes, I was telling you about her lifestyle. So, I decided to have her bank records subpoenaed.”
“What did you find out?”
“Interestingly enough, she deposited nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in her account just a couple of days after you said that the two of you had lunch together and you signed over the CDs.”
“So that proves it! She did steal my money!”
“Well, it convinced me that that’s what happened. Now I’ll just have to convince the DA.”
“But that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s all right there.”
“Not quite. The only thing that proves is that she deposited approximately the same amount of money that you say you signed over to her. She can still say that you gave it to her.”
“But that’s a lie! Why would I ever give her that kind of money?”
“What we have to prove is that you were under duress.” He paused for a long moment and Vivian waited. “Tell me, when you first found out about Brian, were you under a doctor’s care?”
“Why, yes, I was. I had such a hard time dealing with the fact that he was gone.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m still having some difficulty.”
“I understand. Who was the doctor?”
“I went to Benjamin Hoag. I’ve gone to him for years.”
“Did he give you any medication?”
“Oh, yes, several things – an antidepressant, I think some kind of tranquilizer or nerve medication. I really don’t know what all.”
“Do you think he’d be willing to testify to your mental state at that time?”
“Oh, I’m sure he would – if you think it’s necessary.”
“It could be, if the DA finds our evidence convincing enough to take the case to a Grand Jury. How about the bank officer you saw that day you went in with Adrienne?”
“Mr. Morgan?”
“So he knew you before that day?”
“Oh, yes, I’ve dealt with him ever since I’ve been at that bank.”
“Well, Vivian, I think we may have the beginning of a strong case. You take care of yourself and I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Bob.” Vivian hung up the receiver with a smile and, humming under her breath, went into the kitchen to fix a cup of tea.
Chapter 19
When Brian entered the courtroom he first noted that Adrienne, looking as beautiful as ever in a dark, fitted suit and white blouse, sat next to a distinguished-looking man, probably in his early forties, at a long table along the left side of the room. They faced the jury box where thirteen people of varying ages were already seated. Directly in front of the railing was another table with two gentlemen that Brian didn’t recognize. Must be the District Attorney and possibly an assistant.
The hallway door opened and Bob Price entered, taking a seat in the second row of benches.
The DA murmured something to the man beside him and rose from his chair. He came through the gate and leaned toward Mr. Price. Brian glided closer so that he might overhear their conversation.
“Is your client here?”
Bob nodded. “She’s waiting in the witness room.”
“So, she’s ready to testify?”
“If that’s what it takes, but it’s really going to be hard on her.”
The DA nodded his head firmly. “Tell her I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s any way around it. I think she should go on first and then the others can simply corroborate what she has to say.”
“Okay, I’ll tell her.”
The DA returned to his seat and, a moment later, Bob Price slipped out of the courtroom with Brian following.
As the attorney took the chair next to her, Vivian smiled wanly. Brian noticed that she looked tense and nervous. “They want you to take the stand right off,” he told her. She nodded and, with a faint smile, said, “I guess it’s better to go ahead and get it over with.”
“Exactly and, once you’re done, you can go on home if you want.”
“I think I’ll probably stick around – just to see how it’s going.”
“It’s up to you.”
Brian left them and returned to the courtroom. The attorneys sat shuffling through papers at their respective desks; the various members of the jury glanced around the room, their gazes lingering on the various players, while Adrienne surreptitiously surveyed them.
All eyes turned toward a door in the back of the room that suddenly opened and the bailiff entered. Standing straight as an oak, he bellowed, “All rise!”
Obediently, everyone in the courtroom stood and waited while the Judge entered and took his seat behind the bench.
At the Judge’s request the Court Clerk stood and read the charges that had been brought against Adrienne. “. . . charges that the defendant, Ms Adrienne Porter, did fraudulently obtain moneys from an individual citizen for her own benefit.”
Brian’s mind wandered while the jury was sworn. Fraud. That’s what they’re charging. I guess that’s true when she told Mom she’d invest the money for her. The Judge instructing the jury recaptured his attention.
“Please remember that under our laws, everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is the duty of the Prosecutor to convince you that it is most likely, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant actually committed the act of which she is charged. If you are so convinced, then you must bring back a verdict of guilty. If you are not so convinced, you must find the defendant not guilty.”
The Judge turned toward the Prosecutor. “Mr. District Attorney, are you ready to proceed?”
The DA rose from his chair. “We are, Your Honor.”
“Very well. You may call your first witness.”
“The State calls Mrs. Vivian Forrester.”
Brian watched the Bailiff get up and proceed through a side door, returning a moment later with Vivian at his side. Although she looked calm enough, Brian knew from her grip on her purse and her compressed lips that she was extremely upset. I wish there was some way we could spare her from all of this.
Vivian was sworn in and, subsequently, directed to the witness stand. The DA rose and smiled at her. “Now, Mrs. Forrester, will you please tell the court what occurred on the morning of September fourteenth?”
“Well, I was just finishing cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast when the phone rang. It was Adrienne calling to ask me to meet her for lunch.”
“The Adrienne you refer to is the defendant, Ms Adrienne Porter?”
Vivian nodded. “That’s correct.”
The DA asked, “And how did you know Ms Porter?”
“She . . . was my son’s girlfriend. I hadn’t spoken to her for quite some time. Not since my son disappeared.”
“And is this Adrienne Porter in the courtroom today?”
“Yes,” Vivian answered, barely above a whisper.
“And will you point her out for the Court?” Vivian po
inted toward the Defense table.
“Let the record show that Mrs. Forrester identified the defendant. Now, Mrs. Forrester, will you please tell us exactly what occurred at that luncheon?”
Vivian again began to relate the conversation at the restaurant. As she got to the point of the accident her hands began to shake. At the ‘mangled body’ her voice broke and tears flowed.
The bailiff rushed to place a box of tissues on the stand next to her and then hurried out the door. Brian saw Adrienne lean over and whisper something to her attorney, who nodded. The bailiff returned with a glass of water that he also placed on the stand. The courtroom was silent except for Vivian’s sniffling and blowing her nose. When she had regained her composure, the DA asked, “Are you ready to continue, Mrs. Forrester?”
Vivian nodded, and then whispered, “Yes, I think so.”
When she got to the part where Adrienne suggested that she be permitted to invest the money for her, Adrienne cried out, “That’s a lie! She gave me that money!”
Just like I died of ‘natural causes’, Brian thought as the Judge’s gavel banged over and over.
“Order in the Court! Order in the Court! Mr. Bates, you’d best advise your client that this is a court of law and such outbursts will not be tolerated!”
“Yes, Your Honor,” the lawyer mumbled as he shot a harsh glare at Adrienne.
“Mr. District Attorney, you may proceed.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. Mrs. Forrester, will you please continue?”
Vivian continued her story of how she and Adrienne had gone to the bank and transferred the CDs, and then she turned to the Judge with a puzzled frown. “Why would I give her, or anyone else, that money? That was my life savings, I’m retired and needed that income to help me survive.”
The Defense Attorney leaped to his feet. “Objection!”
“Sustained,” the Judge intoned.
The DA rose. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Does the Defense wish to cross?”
“We do, Your Honor.” Rising, he took a couple of steps toward the witness stand.
“Now, Mrs. Forrester, isn’t it true that, on the morning of September 14, you actually called Ms. Porter and invited h er to lunch?”
Vivian’s face flushed with anger. “Absolutely not! I haven’t called that house since my son disappeared! Besides, when she called me, she apologized for the short notice and said they had a ‘full staff’ that day.”
“No further questions, Your Honor,” he said, returning to his seat. The Judge looked at the DA. “Re-direct?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“Witness is dismissed.” He turned toward Vivian. “You may step down.”
Vivian stood, took a deep breath and followed the bailiff from the courtroom. A few minutes later she returned with Bob Price and they took seats in the back row. Brian moved to Vivian’s side and tried sending her encouraging thoughts.
“The State calls Dr. Benjamin Hoag to the stand.”
The bailiff brought a short, heavyset man with a fringe of gray hair into the room. Carrying a file folder in his hand, he proceeded up to the witness stand. When he had been sworn and was settled into his seat, the DA rose. “Now, Doctor, would you please tell the Court your full name and your occupation.”
“Of course,” he said, looking directly at the jury. “My name is Dr. Benjamin F. Hoag and I am a Family Physician.”
“Now, Dr. Hoag, do you have a patient in your care by the name of Mrs. Vivian Forrester?”
“Yes, sir, Vivian’s been my patient for – oh – nearly thirty years now.”
“And how is her overall health?”
“Objection! Relevance,” the Defense proclaimed.
The Judge looked at the DA who responded, “I think, if you’ll give me a moment, Your Honor, we will show relevance.”
“Granted,” the Judge said.
“Dr. Hoag?” the DA reminded the witness.
“Well, overall, she’s always been in excellent health – for her age, of course – ever since I began attending her.”
“And, now? What is her condition at this moment?”
“Well, she was fine up until a few months ago – when she found out about her son’s death certificate.”
“Objection! Relevance.”
“I’ll allow it,” the Judge responded.
“And what happened then?” asked the DA.
The Doctor shook his head. “She did a total turnaround, suddenly becoming very nervous and chronically depressed.”
“And you treated her for this depression?”
“Yes. We tried several medications before we found the combination that seemed to offer the best results.”
“And she improved?”
“Yes, she had improved considerably – until . . .” he consulted the file folder,
“September fifteenth. Vivian called my office that morning and asked if she could see me right away. My office staff squeezed her into my schedule.”
“And her mental state at that time?”
“Oh, she had regressed to a drastic degree. She told me that she’d had lunch with Brian’s – her son’s – girlfriend the day before and had been told about a traffic accident. She was terribly upset by the fact that her son’s body had been unidentifiable and she hadn’t been notified of his death.”
“Do you have, in your files, a record of that visit?”
“Oh, absolutely.” The doctor opened the folder, extracted a sheet and passed it to the bailiff, who took the sheet and left the room. He reappeared a few minutes later with the original and a copy, which he handed to the DA, before returning the original to the Doctor.
“Your Honor, the State would like to introduce this medical record into evidence.”
The DA handed the paper to the Judge, who perused it for a moment and then returned it. He then handed it to the Defense Attorney who looked it over and then nodded. The DA marked it, placed it on the evidence table and looked up at the Judge. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Cross?” he asked the Defense.
The attorney rose. “Not at this time, but I would like the option to recall.”
“Granted.” He turned to Dr. Hoag, “You may step down.”
When Dr. Hoag had left the courtroom, the DA rose. “The State calls Mr. Henry Morgan.”
The bailiff entered, accompanied by a tall, thin man of middle age. The man was sworn and stepped into the witness stand.
“Mr. Morgan, would you please tell the court your full name and your occupation?”
“My name is Henry Morgan and I’m the Vice-President of Accounts for the Greenwood National Bank.”
“Now, Mr. Morgan, you service the accounts of one Mrs. Vivian Forrester, do you not?”
“Yes, sir, I’ve handled Mrs. Forrester’s banking needs for twenty years or more, ever since I was a junior officer.”
“And you know Mrs. Forrester well?”
The man blushed and shrugged slightly. “As well as a bank officer ever knows a client.”
“Very well. Now, Mr. Morgan, do you remember Mrs. Forrester coming into your establishment on September fourteenth with the defendant, Ms. Porter?”
“Well,” he said slowly, “I don’t remember the exact date, but I do recognize the defendant as the person who came into the bank with Mrs. Forrester sometime in midSeptember.”
“Perhaps this will refresh your memory,” the DA offered, taking a sheet of paper from a folder on the table in front of him and approaching the witness stand to hand it to Mr. Morgan. “Now, Mr. Morgan, will you please tell the court what the date on that sheet is?”
“It says September fourteenth.”
“And what is that document?”
“It’s a form for transfer of ownership.”
“And what does it transfer?”
“It says here it’s for two certificates of deposit.”
“And it transfers ownership from whom?”
“Vivian Forrest
er.”
“To whom?”
“Adrienne Porter.”
“Thank you, Mr. Morgan. Your Honor, I’d like to enter this document into evidence.”
When the copies were made, inspected by all parties and entered, he continued. “Now, Mr. Morgan, do you remember seeing Mrs. Forrester on that day?”
“Oh, yes, sir.”
“And how was she?”
“Objection. Personal conjecture.”
“Sustained.”
“Did Mrs. Forrester seem like her normal self as you were used to seeing her?”
“Well,” he answered slowly. “No, she didn’t. When she usually came in she was all cheerful-like, you know, with a smile for everyone and asking about everybody’s family and all. That day, she seemed – sort of, down. Distracted, I really don’t know how to describe it, but she wasn’t her normal self.”
“Would you say she seemed under duress?”
“Objection! Conjecture.”
“Sustained.”
The DA responded, “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Cross?”
“No questions.”
“We will take a recess for lunch,” the Judge announced. “Court will reconvene at one pm.”
Chapter 20
Vivian and Price silently left the courthouse with Brian accompanying them. Outside on the street Vivian turned to Price. “So tell me, Bob. How do you think it’s going?”
“I think it’s going very well, but it’s hard to say what a jury will decide. I’ve been watching them and they’re impossible to read.”
“I just hope they’ll get me back my money. I really need that.”
“Well, if they find her guilty, the Judge will probably order restitution of some kind, but who knows how much they’ll be able to get – or even if she still has it.”
“I wonder if Adrienne will take the stand.”
She wouldn’t dare put herself under oath, Brian thought. Price shrugged. “Hard to say, but regardless, the jury’s not supposed to hold it against her if she doesn’t.”
They slipped back into the courtroom a few minutes after one o’clock, just as the Judge was settling in at the bench.
“Mr. District Attorney, are you ready to proceed?”
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