Ben held up a hand. “Wait. If I need to talk to you again-”
Vincenzo shook his head. “You’ll never see me again.” An instant later, he had disappeared.
Ben fell back against the brick wall. What a night this had turned into. One moment he’d been certain he was about to die. The next moment he saw his entire defense theory crumble into dust.
He supposed it was best that he knew the truth, that he didn’t try to convince a jury that Vincenzo was the murderer. But that left a gigantic hole in his trial notebook. He was a defense attorney with no defense.
What was he going to tell that jury Monday morning? How was he going to save Zak’s life?
After Doc was crushed and the truck came to a halt, everything seemed to blur for Maureen. She was aware that in the midst of their panic and horror, the remaining members of Green Rage managed to extricate themselves from the barricade. It wasn’t easy, but by relaxing their fists and twisting their arms, they were able to release themselves from the chains. Maureen was the first to get free, and the first to run back to see Doc.
Or what was left of Doc.
She hobbled off into the woods, where she spent at least ten minutes in dry heaves, sick as a dog. It had really happened, she kept telling herself. They had all known it was possible, had all talked about it. But no one had ever envisioned something so … horrible. No one foresaw this.
In the turmoil and confusion of the aftermath, in the rain that was now pounding down on them, only Sheriff Allen managed to keep his head together. He called for the coroner, then called for his homicide team members, who were getting more work in a week than they’d had the previous year. He tried to arrest the driver for reckless conduct homicide, but the man had disappeared.
Al finally freed himself from his chains. “They killed him!” he kept screaming, as if there was someone there who didn’t already know. “They killed him!”
Sheriff Allen tried to subdue him. “Sir, please try to remain calm.”
Al brushed the Sheriff aside. “Doc is dead!”
“Please, sir. I think it would be best for everyone if you-”
“Get away from me!” Al rushed past him, making a beeline for the remaining group of loggers, now all huddled together on the side of the road. “Murderers!” he screamed. His face flushed red. Veins stood out in his neck.
Sheriff Allen ran up behind him. “Sir, I’ll take care of this.”
“You can’t take care of anything!” Al screamed. “They destroyed our camp. They beat us up. They whipped Rick. They killed Tess. And now they’ve killed Doc. They ran him down like a dog. Like some cheap road kill!”
Maureen shuddered. She had never seen Al like this.
“Sir,” Sheriff Allen insisted, “if you don’t calm down, I’ll have no choice-”
“This isn’t over!” Al shrieked. He was inside the circle of loggers now, right in their faces. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done here. You’ll pay!”
“That’s it,” Allen said. He slipped a pair of cuffs over Al’s right wrist, then whipped his arm behind his back. “I’m putting you under protective custody until you calm down.”
“I will get back at you!” Al screeched, even as Allen hauled him away in the driving rain. His voice raised bumps on Maureen’s flesh. “This isn’t over. Doc will be avenged. You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
Chapter 62
On Sunday, the town of Magic Valley was angry, confused, disoriented. By Monday morning, it was bedlam.
Ben spent the remainder of the weekend trying to make some sense of the tragedy, trying to figure out what had happened and why. Doc was dead-horribly so-and the logger who had mowed him down had somehow vanished. Ben managed to see a photo of the man the sheriff was circulating. Ben knew he had seen that logger before, but he couldn’t place him at first. It was not until dinnertime that the light finally dawned.
He’d seen the man in the courtroom, the first day of trial. He’d seen him talking to Slade.
The man who killed Doc was a friend of Slade’s-more than likely an employee. That put an entirely different perspective on everything.
Meanwhile, the overtaxed coroner’s office collected Doc’s remains and did their best to reassemble them. A funeral was scheduled. Ben thought it likely it would be a closed-casket ceremony.
Ben pleaded with the remaining Green Rage members to stay the hell out of sight. Al had gone into town for groceries and had almost been lynched. It seemed the town was taking the exact opposite of the reaction Ben would’ve expected; instead of being more sympathetic to the environmentalists, they were more hostile. Troublemakers, Ben heard passersby sniff. Only got what they asked for. Never would’ve happened if they hadn’t barged in and started making trouble.
After the Al incident, the others agreed to remain either in the courthouse or at their new camp. But given the current climate, Ben wasn’t sure even that was safe enough. He was only sure of this: this town was now a powder keg, a smoldering cauldron of hate and hostility.
And in the midst of all this turmoil, he was supposed to try a murder case. More accurately, he was supposed to put on a defense.
Except he didn’t have one. Not anymore. Not after the meeting with Vincenzo. He had Molly, an alibi witness-but no theory. No way to make it stick. No way to make the jury believe it.
He spent most of Sunday preparing Molly to take the stand. To his relief, she was a fine witness-attractive, earnest, simple. Ben didn’t see how even those with an axe to grind against Green Rage could find fault with her.
He tried not to let it show, but Ben knew perfectly well that if Zak had any hope at this point, it rested with her. He walked her through her testimony over and over again. He was pleased to see she was willing to put in the time.
“I don’t care how long it takes,” Molly said, brushing her long brown hair behind her ears. “I want to be there for Zak. I’ll do whatever it takes to help him.”
“I appreciate that,” Ben said. “Very much.” He had worried that if word got back to her about Zak’s many affairs, as revealed in the courtroom, her ardor for him might diminish. Fortunately, that didn’t seem to have happened.
“Zak has done so much for us,” Molly said quietly. Her tone made him believe every word-just as he hoped the jury would. “This is my chance to pay him back a little.”
By the end of the day, she was ready to take the stand. It wasn’t much, perhaps, but she was all he had. Ben just hoped it was enough.
Monday morning, ben met Christina outside the courtroom. “Ready to go?”
She nodded grimly. “So is Molly.”
If Ben had a friend other than Christina in this courtroom, he didn’t know who it was. Except for Molly, the Green Rage team had wisely decided to stay away. Nonetheless, the gallery and the hallways outside were packed, filled to the brim with angry, hostile spectators. Ben felt as if he were walking the gauntlet just trying to get to court.
By the time he arrived, Zak was already there, and Zak had already heard the latest news. There was no possible way Ben could console the man. He didn’t even try.
All too soon Judge Pickens brought the court back into session. “Would the defense like to call its first witness?”
“We call Molly Griswold to the stand.”
Molly made her way to the front of the courtroom. She was dressed in a simple but attractive dress, pastel blue and pink. Like something a teenager might wear to Sunday school. Which was exactly the image Ben wanted to convey to the jury.
After taking the oath, she took her seat in the witness box. Ben had her introduce herself, say where she was from, and establish that she was a member of the Green Rage team.
“Do you know a man called George Zakin?” Ben asked.
“Of course. I’ve known Zak as long as I’ve been in Green Rage. He’s our team leader.”
“Do you consider yourself his friend?”
“Sure. He’s been very kind to me.”
“Are you cl
ose?”
“I think so, yes.” She bowed her head slightly. “We were … intimate. For a time.”
“Molly, I’m going to ask you to turn your mind back to July thirteenth.” Ben couldn’t rid himself of an anxious pins-and-needles feeling. Too much rested on this witness. Every question intensified the nervous gnawing in the pit of his stomach. “Where were you around midnight?”
“I was at the Green Rage camp. In the forest.”
“Asleep?”
“No. There had been a late strategy meeting. It went way overtime. It was just ending around midnight.”
“Who else was at the meeting?”
“All the team leaders. Zak, Maureen, Al. Rick and Deidre. Doc.”
“So Zak was there-at midnight.”
“That’s right.”
Ben drew himself up. “Molly, another Green Rage member, Rick, has testified that Zak left the camp about then, carrying a Sasquatch suit and a bomb. Do you recall anything like that?”
Molly looked directly at the jury. Her wide brown eyes seemed earnest and unblinking. “It’s true that he left the camp. But he wasn’t alone.” She drew in her breath. “I was with him.”
Several eyebrows rose in the jury box. Until then, they probably assumed Molly was on the stand as a character witness. Now they realized what she had to say was far more important.
“And the gear?”
“Didn’t exist. I’ve seen the suit, but Zak didn’t have it with him that night. And he certainly didn’t have a bomb.”
“Was he carrying a back pack?”
“No.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Absolutely.”
Ben nodded. Thank goodness. This was working like a charm. So why wasn’t the gnawing in his stomach subsiding? “Where did the two of you go?”
“Not far from camp. About a mile down a trail-in the total opposite direction from where the tree cutter exploded.”
“Why did the two of you leave camp?”
“Actually, it was my idea.” She paused, then glanced at the jurors, just as Ben had told her to do. “I wanted to talk to him-alone. So we had to leave camp.” She smiled. “Tents don’t afford much privacy.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Just us. Personal things. Our plans for the future. Probably boring to anyone else. But we had a lot to discuss.”
“Did he mention any anger or hostility toward Dwayne Gardiner?”
“Never.”
“Did he say anything about planting a bomb?”
“Absolutely not.”
“How long were the two of you together?”
“A little over three hours.”
Ben paused, letting the jury drink it all in. “Three hours? That would be from a little after midnight to a little after three?”
“That’s correct.”
“So you were with him at the supposed time of death. Around one A.M.”
“That’s true. We saw the flames and heard the explosion from a distance. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but in retrospect, it’s obvious that it was the bombed tree cutter.”
“Did Zak ever leave you, Molly? Even just for a moment?”
“No. Not once.”
“And you and Zak were never anywhere near the explosion?”
“That’s right. Zak wasn’t there.” She looked directly at the jurors. “He didn’t kill that man. I know it.”
Internally, Ben treated himself to a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Molly. No more questions.”
Chapter 63
Ben sat down at defendant’s table with a sense of calm like nothing he had experienced for days. Molly was so good up there, so sincere. The jury had to believe her. At the very least, her testimony must’ve planted the seeds of doubt-and that was all he needed to save Zak’s life.
He watched as Granny strolled up to the podium. He knew perfectly well what Granny’s first line of attack would be. And they were ready for it.
Granny didn’t pull any punches. “Ms. Griswold, are you George Zakin’s lover?”
“You mean now, or ever?”
“Ever.”
She nodded. “There was a time … shortly after I came to Green Rage, when he and I were involved. But it’s over now. Zak found someone else … and so have I. In fact, that’s one of the main things we talked about that night. Just clearing the air.” She paused. “So if you’re planning to suggest that I would lie to save him because we’re sleeping together, forget it. It won’t wash. If anything, by your standards, I should be hostile to him, since he broke up with me. But none of this matters, because I wouldn’t lie. Not for him or anyone else. I’m testifying today because what I have to say is the truth, and I don’t want to see an innocent man convicted for a crime he didn’t commit.”
Yes! Ben squeezed his fists together. He wanted to jump up in the air and click his heels, but he suspected Judge Pickens wouldn’t approve. Molly was brilliant, even better than in their practice sessions. He was on cloud nine.
After that humiliation, he expected Granny to give up and sit down. But she didn’t. In fact, as he peered across the courtroom, he noticed that she didn’t even appear particularly perturbed.
“Ms. Griswold,” Granny said, “are you familiar with a clothes store on Lincoln called Emma’s?”
“Sure. I know it well. I’ve been by there several times. They have some lovely dresses.”
“Have you shopped there?”
Molly smiled. “Well, it’s out of my price range. But I like to look.”
A deep line furrowed Ben’s brow. What was all this talk about dresses and shopping? What was Granny up to?
“Have you been inside?”
“Not often. I just like to window-shop.”
The corners of Granny’s lips turned up, in what was perhaps the most wicked smile Ben had ever seen in his life. “In fact, Ms. Griswold, isn’t it true you were window-shopping in the early morning hours of July thirteenth?”
Molly looked horrified. “Of course not. Maybe later in the day-”
“No, in the early morning.” She glanced down at her notes. “At one-fourteen A.M., to be precise.”
“No. It isn’t true!”
“Oh, but it is, Ms. Griswold. It is.” She walked over to the bailiff, holding a large black-and-white photograph. “This photo was printed from a videotape. The videotape was inside the surveillance camera in Emma’s-on the morning of July thirteenth. I have a copy of the original tape, which defense counsel is free to view at his leisure.”
“How about now?” Ben said. He was getting a horrible, dreadful feeling that he knew what was on the tape.
“You can have it during the break,” Judge Pickens said. “That’ll be soon enough.”
“It should’ve been produced before trial,” Ben responded. “This isn’t even on the exhibit list.”
Granny held up her hands. “This is rebuttal evidence, your honor. We had no way of knowing defense counsel would put on this witness.” She established the provenance and chain of custody of the tape and photo, then moved that they be admitted into evidence. The motion was granted.
Granny gave a copy of the photo to Ben, then passed another to the jury, so each of them could hold it in their hot little hands.
The photo was time- and date-stamped: 01:14A.M., 07/13. The photo showed the front window of the store, and just beyond the window display, a face pressing up against the glass.
Even in the grainy black-and-white photograph, the face was unmistakable. It was Molly.
“Ms. Griswold, a passerby saw you in front of the window and, after she read about the murder the next day, thought it might be important, so she notified the store. They managed to save the tape before it was automatically erased.” Granny passed another copy of the photo to Molly. “Care to explain?”
Molly stared at the photo with undisguised horror. “There must be some mistake.”
“There’s no mistake. I’ve checked and double-checked ever
ything, just as I’m sure defense counsel will. There’s no doubt about it, ma’am. You were there, in front of that store, just after one in the morning. Not in the forest. And not with George Zakin.”
Molly’s hand flew to her face. Tears began to stream out of her eyes. “Oh, God. I didn’t mean to-” Her arm reached out toward defendant’s table. “I just wanted to help you, Zak. I just-” More tears followed; her voice was choked with anguish. “I still love you, Zak. Even now. I still love you.”
“Ms. Griswold,” Granny said quietly, “you were not with George Zakin at the time of the murder, were you?”
At first she reacted only with tears. Then, after several painful moments, her head began to weave its way back and forth. “No.”
Everything went silent, dead, as if Ben were traveling in an airplane but the engines had cut out and they were in free fall, spiraling downward toward an inevitable crash.
“Thank you,” Granny said. “That’s all.”
Gradually the courtroom seemed to normalize. Molly returned to the gallery, glancing at Zak as she passed, then covering her tear-stained face with her hands. Ben felt himself reentering the stream of life as the judge called for a recess till the afternoon.
And with that, it was over. The cross-examination and, Ben knew, the absolute last vestige of hope for the defense.
Chapter 64
“You knew she was lying!” Ben shouted, after they returned to Zak’s cell. “You knew it!”
Zak was pacing back and forth across the tiny cell. “Hey, so I don’t want to be fried. Sue me!”
“You let me put a liar on the stand! That’s inexcusable!”
“Aw, clam up already.”
“I have never in my life put on a witness I thought was lying-”
“And you still haven’t.”
“But everyone in that courtroom thinks I did! They don’t know my idiot client doesn’t have the sense to tell his lawyer the truth!”
Zak pressed himself into Ben’s face. “Look, this isn’t about you, okay? I’m the one who’s on trial. It’s about me!”
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