An Innocent Client jd-1

by Scott Pratt

  July 24

  2:15 p.m.

  “Call your first witness,” Judge Green said.

  Martin called Dennis Hall, the manager of the Budget Inn, to the witness stand. Hall told the jury that Reverend Tester had checked in late in the afternoon, said he was in town to preach at a revival at a friend’s church, and asked him where he could get a good burger. An hour after checkout time the next day, one of his maids told him Tester’s “Do Not Disturb” sign was still on the door. Hall went to the room, opened the door, saw all of the blood, and called the police.

  When Martin was finished with his direct examination, I stood and straightened my tie.

  “Mr. Hall, did you see Reverend Tester return to the motel at any time after he left for the restaurant you recommended-the Purple Pig, I believe it was?”

  “No, sir. I got off work at seven and went home.”

  I touched Angel’s shoulder. “Have you ever seen this young lady before?”

  “No. I would have remembered her.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You can step down,” Judge Green said. “Next witness.”

  Martin called Sheila Hunt, the clerk who was working at the Budget Inn the night of the murder. She said she saw Tester’s truck pull into the parking lot around midnight, followed by a red Corvette. She said a woman got out of the Corvette and followed Tester up the stairs. Martin didn’t bother to ask her whether she could identify the woman.

  “Ms. Hunt,” I said when it was my turn, “it was raining when you saw Reverend Tester return to the motel, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Raining pretty hard?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that made it difficult for you to see, didn’t it?”

  “Yes. The rain, and I wasn’t paying that much attention, I was watching Jay Leno.”

  “And didn’t you tell the police that the person you saw was wearing some kind of coat or cape?”

  “It had a little hood. I remember thinking she looked like Little Red Riding Hood, except I don’t think it was red.”

  “So you can’t identify the person, can you?”

  “No, I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about, ma’am. You can’t tell us whether this person was old or young, can you?”

  “No.”

  “Tall or short? Heavy or slim?”

  “No.”

  “Can’t tell us whether this person was black or white or brown or yellow or red?”

  “I don’t think she was black,” she said. “But that’s about all I can say.”

  “You can’t really even say with certainty that it was a woman, can you?”

  “I think it was.”

  “But you’re not certain, are you?”

  “I don’t know. I think it was a woman.”

  “You think it was a woman. A young lady is on trial for her life here, ma’am. You need to be certain. You’re not, are you?”

  “It was dark and raining.”

  “Thank you. Let’s talk about the car for a second. You weren’t able to get a tag number, were you?“

  “I didn’t try.”

  “Because there wasn’t anything that alarmed you, right?”

  “That’s right. I wasn’t alarmed.”

  “People come and go at the motel all the time, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t see the driver, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t know if it was a man or a woman?”

  “I didn’t see the driver at all.”

  “Didn’t see where the car went after the passenger got out?”

  “I just glanced over there for a second. Then I went back to watching my show.”

  “Didn’t see the car leave or return?”

  “I told you, I went back to my show.”

  “Thank you.”

  Martin looked as confident as ever, but he had to be at least a little worried. His case wasn’t exactly off to a flying start. His first witness had found a body and called the police. His second witness testified that she didn’t really see a thing.

  I glanced over to my left and saw Deacon Baker and Phil Landers walking toward the prosecution table.

  “Call your next witness,” Judge Green said.

  “May I have a moment to confer with Mr. Martin?” Baker said.

  “Make it snappy,” the judge said.

  Baker leaned over and whispered something in Martin’s ear. Martin nodded and whispered back. The two of them turned toward the judge.

  “May we approach, your honor?” Baker said.

  Green motioned them forward, and I got up and joined them.

  “We need to speak to you in chambers,” Baker said.

  “We’re in the middle of a murder trial, in case you haven’t noticed,” Judge Green said.

  “I apologize,” Baker said, “but something extremely important has come up. It has a direct bearing on this case.”

  Judge Green agreed to a fifteen-minute recess, and the judge, Baker, Landers, Martin, and I walked into his chambers. He shut the door, hung his robe on a coat tree near the window, and sat down behind his desk.

  “What’s going on?” he said.

  “There’s been an important development in this case,” Baker said. “The TBI found a red Corvette in a barn up on Spivey Mountain this morning. The car belongs to Erlene Barlowe. Their forensics people are examining it now.”

  “I fail to see what that has to do with this trial.”

  “It may exculpate Mr. Dillard’s client,” Baker said. “Back when we made the arrest, we had a young lady who worked for Barlowe at the strip club who told us that Barlowe and Angel left the club at the same time as the victim in this case. She told us they left in Barlowe’s red Corvette, and they didn’t come back to the club that night.”

  “I remember that,” the judge said. “That and the fact that Ms. Barlowe had been untruthful were the primary reasons I signed the search warrants to search her home and her club and to allow you to get hair samples from Barlowe and the girl.”

  “That’s right,” Baker said. “We’ve also had another witness contact us since who said he saw a woman fitting Ms. Barlowe’s description standing beside a Corvette on Picken’s Bridge a little after midnight on the night of the murder. He said she was alone. We think Ms. Barlowe was dumping the murder weapon and the reverend’s penis. The problem we ran into was that the car disappeared. We couldn’t find it anywhere, and because we couldn’t find it, we believed it probably contained evidence regarding the murder. Now we’ve found it, and from what I understand, there are what appear to be bloodstains on the seat.”

  “So now you think the Barlowe woman killed Reverend Tester?” Judge Green said.

  “It makes sense, especially if we can eventually prove she killed the Hayes girl, which is what we suspect.”

  “You people have made a mess of this entire case,” the judge said.

  “Please, judge,” Baker said. “Not now.”

  “So what do you want?” Green said.

  “I want a little time. All we’re asking is that you recess the trial for a week. We should get our lab results back from Knoxville by then. If Tester’s blood is in Barlowe’s car or if we find a murder weapon, we’re going to dismiss the charges against Mr. Dillard’s client, provided she’ll cooperate with us, and arrest Barlowe for Tester’s murder.”

  Fat chance of Angel cooperating. They didn’t have enough evidence to convict her in the first place, and I couldn’t think of a single reason why she’d want to help them.

  The judge looked at me. “Any objection, Mr. Dillard?”

  “Absolutely no objection. If there’s a chance they’ll dismiss against my client, I’m not opposed to giving them a week.”

  “All right.” Judge Green pointed his finger at Baker. “I’ll give you some time. But if there’s still a charge pending next Monday, we’re finishing this trial.”

  July 24


  3:00 p.m.

  The judge didn’t tell the jury or anyone in the courtroom why he was granting a week’s recess, he just told them to come back next Monday.

  Angel wanted to know what had happened. I told her I’d be over to the jail to explain it to her as soon as I could. The jurors filed out and as the courtroom began to clear, Erlene Barlowe walked up to me. She’d been sitting outside in the hallway with the rest of the witnesses. Junior Tester hadn’t moved from his seat.

  “What’s going on, sugar?” Erlene said.

  “The police say they have some new information in Angel’s case. The district attorney asked the judge for a continuance so they could develop some evidence. He gave them until next Monday.”

  Landers was walking out of the judge’s office, where he’d apparently been holding court with Baker. When he saw Erlene he made a beeline for us.

  “Don’t leave town,” he said, pointing his finger at Erlene. “You’re mine now.” He turned and walked out the door.

  “What was that all about?” Erlene said.

  “They don’t tell me anything,” I said as I started to walk away. I wasn’t about to tell her she was more than likely going to be in custody sometime in the next week. With my luck, she’d disappear and I’d wind up with an obstruction charge. “I have to go over to the jail to see Angel and let her know what’s going on. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Before I left the courthouse, I took the elevator upstairs to Deacon Baker’s office.

  “Interesting dilemma,” he said when I walked in.

  “For you,” I said. “I’m still in the same boat. Innocent client.”

  “Let’s stop beating around the bush,” Baker said. “Bottom line, if there’s anything in that car that links it to Tester’s murder, we’re going to charge the redhead. I’ll dismiss against your client if she’ll agree to help us.”

  “Erlene is her only friend in this world. I doubt she’ll be eager to rat her out.”

  “She was with her, Dillard. She knows what went on in that room.”

  “You can’t prove that.”

  “Will she want to take that chance? Barlowe may have something to say about her when she finds herself facing a first-degree murder charge.”

  “All Erlene has ever said about Angel is that she’s innocent.”

  “And if her lips are moving, she’s lying.”

  “You’re stuck, Deacon. The jury’s been sworn in Angel’s case. If you dismiss, you can’t try her again. Double jeopardy. If you come back and resume the trial, you’re going to lose, even with my sister’s testimony. Do you know what I’m going to do to her on the witness stand?”

  “I was planning to make it a point to be in the courtroom for her cross-examination,” Baker said with a smirk. “Wouldn’t want to miss it. At least run my proposal by your client. Go over there and tell her I’m offering to dismiss a first-degree murder.”

  “I’ll talk to her, but don’t get your hopes up.”

  When Angel came into the attorney’s room at the jail, I was surprised to see her still wearing her clothes from court.

  “The guards are searching my cell block,” she said. “I’m still in holding. I guess they weren’t expecting me back so soon.”

  “Strange day, huh?” I said.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It’s good and it’s bad. The TBI found a red Corvette in a barn out in Unicoi County this morning. The barn belongs to Erlene, and apparently so does the car.”

  Angel gasped, and I watched her closely. Her face turned pink and her bottom lip was trembling. She sat there, shaking and saying nothing. I reached into my briefcase and brought out some tissue. I’d been carrying it ever since that first visit at the jail. I handed some to her just in case, reached across the table, and put my hand over hers.

  “Angel,” I said, “the district attorney now thinks Erlene killed Reverend Tester. He wants to dismiss the case against you, but there’s a catch. He wants you to tell him what you know about Tester’s murder.”

  A faraway look came into her eyes, as though she wasn’t really taking in what I was saying.

  “Angel? Did you understand me? He wants to dismiss the case against you. They’re probably going to arrest Erlene for Reverend Tester’s murder.”

  “They can’t do that!” she burst out, then laid her head on the table and started crying. I moved to the chair next to her and put my hand across her shoulders.

  “Take it easy,” I said. The door was two inches of steel and the walls were concrete block, but her sobs were loud. I didn’t want the guards coming in and asking questions. “Talk to me,” I said. “It’s all right. Talk to me. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can tell me. I’m on your side no matter what.”

  She suddenly sat up, wiped her eyes, and became very still. She looked at me pitifully.

  “Can I trust you?” she said in a small voice.

  “Of course you can. You know you can.”

  “Can I really trust you?”

  “I’ve been here for you all along. Whatever you tell me, I promise I won’t tell a soul. I’ve already explained attorney-client privilege to you.”

  I could see her make the decision. And having made it, she sat up straight and squared her shoulders, as if a great burden had been lifted.

  “I did it, Mr. Dillard. I killed him. I can’t let them blame Miss Erlene.”

  I’d mildly suspected it since the day I talked to Tom Short, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Even now, even though the words had passed her lips, I didn’t want to believe it. I took her hand, knowing that if I continued, if I asked her about the details, everything about our relationship, and my entire strategy if the trial continued, would change.

  “Think about what you’re saying,” I said. “We’re winning this trial. If you tell me you killed him, it changes a lot of things.”

  “You want to know the truth, don’t you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  I looked at her smooth young face and my heart went out to her. Something told me that if she’d killed Tester, the circumstances might justify it.

  “I’m sorry, Angel. Yes, I want to know the truth. What happened?”

  She bit her lip and shuddered.

  “Can you tell me about it?

  She nodded slowly.

  “Okay, but I don’t want you to get hysterical. I don’t want anyone else to hear, so you have to keep control of yourself. Can you do that?”

  “I think so.”

  “Go ahead.”

  She took a deep breath and squeezed my hand so hard that her fingernails dug into my skin.

  “Everything I told you before was the truth except for the last part. Miss Erlene didn’t just ask him to leave when he got so drunk and was bothering me and making a fool of himself. She asked me if I’d help her with something. She said she wanted to teach the preacher a lesson. She said all I’d have to do is ride with her to the man’s hotel room and she’d take care of the rest. I told her I’d do it.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Miss Erlene went over to talk to him, and he went out into the lobby for a couple of minutes. When he came back, she told me to get my coat. Miss Erlene went back into her office for a couple of minutes, and then we went out and got in her car. We followed him out of the parking lot to the hotel. Along the way, she told me the man thought I was coming to his room to have sex with him. Then she handed me a small bottle of scotch. She told me when we got to the motel, I was supposed to go into his room and offer him a drink first thing. Miss Erlene said she put something in the scotch so when he drank it, it would knock him out. As soon as he was passed out, I was supposed to run back to the car and get her. I think she was planning to take his money.”

  “Something obviously went wrong,” I said.

  She put a fist to her mouth and whispered, “Yes.” Her eyes looked distant. It was the same expression I’d seen when she told me about the oatmeal incident.

  “We g
ot to the motel and I got out of the car and went up the steps with him. Miss Erlene waited in the parking lot. I walked into the room and he closed the door behind me. I took the bottle of scotch out of my purse and asked him if he’d like a drink. He took the bottle out of my hand, set it on a table, and when he turned back around he said he didn’t bring me there to drink. He had this awful look on his face, like he was possessed or something. Then, before I knew what was happening, he hit me in the face. He hit me so hard it knocked me onto the bed. It almost knocked me out.

  “I remember him taking off all his clothes, then he pulled off my panties…” She paused and took a deep breath. “He rolled me over on my stomach and he put his thing in my, in my…” She pointed to her bottom.

  “He sodomized you?” I said.

  “What?” She didn’t know what the word meant.

  “Never mind. Can you keep going?”

  “It was like it was happening to someone else,” she said. “Like I floated to the ceiling, and I watched him do it from there. It was the same thing that used to happen when Father Thomas did things to me. I remember he was cursing and preaching at the same time, calling me names, and then he took his thing out of me and went over and grabbed the bottle of scotch and took a long drink. He started to stagger and he sat down on the bed. It was like he didn’t even know I was there any more.

  “There was a knife on the table. I guess it was his. I remember watching myself walk over and pick it up. It was one of those folding knives. He was already snoring. I opened the knife and walked back to the bed and I just started stabbing him. I stabbed him until I couldn’t stab him any more, until I couldn’t lift the knife. And then I think I just walked out the door. I didn’t even put my panties on.”

  “Do you remember what Erlene did?”

  “I think so,” she said. “I remember she came running up to me on the stairs and she put her coat around me and took the knife out of my hand. She put me in the car and asked me what happened, and I tried to tell her. I saw her go back up to the room, but I don’t know what she did in there. She took me home and took me into the back yard and washed all of the blood off of me with a hose. She said she didn’t want any blood in her shower. Then she took me inside and said she had to leave for a little while. She was gone for a long time.”