by Taylor Anne
Since she was the first witness to be called, Abby didn’t have to wait long. But it was long enough to mess with her mind. Feeling overwhelmed, she was almost in tears. Which then caused her to argue with herself. Suck it up, get on that stand and do your part to put these criminals behind bars where they belong.
Frustrated that a simple nightly walk had come to this, she trudged up to the witness stand and focused on a spot at the back wall while the prosecutor questioned her. She had to keep telling herself he was the good attorney. He was on her side and wanted to see justice done as much as she did. They ran through the events of that night again. Yes, she went out at night to go to the store. No, that was not anything uncommon. She did it all the time. So did other tenants living in her apartment complex.
“Abby, what made you stop at the alley?”
She twisted her hands together in her lap. “I heard voices, people arguing.”
“What exactly did you hear?”
“Objection. Hearsay.” Her heart dropped at the loud interruption from the defense attorney.
The prosecutor pinned the defense attorney with a cold stare. He turned back to Abby and spoke softly, not condescending, but comforting. “Okay Abby. You heard people talking. Let’s move on.”
He and Laci had instructed her on the process. Only answer the questions asked of her. She was not to give away anything more, especially when the defense was questioning her. That was all so jumbled up in her head, it made her a bit lightheaded. But she pressed on. The sooner she answered them, the sooner she could get on with her life.
“Abby you said you stopped at the entrance of the alley at that point. Is that correct?”
“Yes, I didn’t want to cross the path of the alley not knowing what was going on.” She looked over at Graeme. He was nodding his head. Good. She felt better. She was so thankful he was there with her. His support meant a lot.
“Thank you. Abby, what happened next?” The attorney turned to face the jury while she related the next actions she had witnessed.
“I heard a gunshot. That’s when I peeked around the corner and saw two men standing in front of a van.”
He slapped a picture on the counter in front of her. The same image projected on a screen so the rest of the courtroom could observe it. “This is a picture taken from a camera located at the back entrance of one of the businesses in the alley. It was taken on the night in question. Abby, is this the van you saw that night?”
Abby picked the picture up and stared at it. LJ and Alonzo were standing next to the van. Memories of that night flashed through her mind. “Yes. Yes, this is the van I saw.” Her hands burned from the picture. She held it out so the attorney could take it from her.
“And the men you saw that night standing by this van, are either of them in the courtroom today?”
Dammit. She knew he was going to ask that question. He told her she would have to point them out, but only when he directed her to. He said that may not be until he recalled her to the stand later in the trial. Abby’s hands were sweaty. God, she hoped he did not ask her to point LJ out right now. She was not ready for that. She couldn’t handle it. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to take a deep breath.
Again, he questioned her, “Are either of those men in the courtroom right now?”
Her head bobbed up and down, but knew that was not enough. She forced her eyes open and focused on Graeme’s grim face. “One of them is here.” Please don’t ask me to identify him. Please.
“Thank you Abby.” He turned and started walking back toward his seat. As if another thought occurred to him, he stopped and turned back to face her. “One more thing, Abby.”
Damn. Her heart was in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. Inhaling deeply, she tried to calm her nerves.
The prosecutor eyed her before he spoke. “Abby please point out the man you saw that night standing by that van.”
A hush fell over the courtroom. Abby felt like she was going to throw up as bile rose in her throat. Her hands shook. She lifted one hand and pointed at the man she had seen that fateful night in New Orleans. Movement caught her eye. Graeme stood up, stared her dead in the eye, and walked out of the courtroom. Abby bit back the hurt. Why would he leave while she was still on the witness stand? Without him in the room for moral support, she had a hard time concentrating on what the attorney was saying to the jury. Thankfully, he was not asking her any more questions.
Once she was dismissed from the stand, she walked back toward her seat. Her legs were wobbly like jelly, she wasn’t sure if she could make it without falling down. The courtroom doors opened and Graeme walked back in. A scowl lined his face, his brow knotted. He strode down the aisle to Abby and placed a hand on her elbow, guiding her to her seat.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear, “You did good, baby.”
She didn’t feel so good. Confusion with the trial was bad enough. Add to that Graeme walking out while she was on the stand. Abby was sweating although it was not hot in there. Most of the women were hugging sweaters around their shoulders. Nerves, she told herself. Take a deep breath and calm down. After a few more minutes, court dismissed for lunch. Abby and Graeme walked into the lobby. She inhaled the open air. It was good to be out of the stuffy courtroom.
“What’s wrong?” She placed a hand on Graeme’s arm.
“Nothing. Let’s go grab a bite to eat. You’re probably starving considering you skipped breakfast.” Graeme led the way down the hallway, toward the cafeteria.
Abby’s stomach was in knots, but she knew she needed to eat something, otherwise she wouldn’t make the rest of the day. She settled for a grilled chicken salad and bowl of tomato soup. Graeme loaded his plate with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. His appetite didn’t appear to be affected by all of the courtroom drama.
“It won’t be long now. After the defense questions you, you should be free to leave. You don’t have to stay for the rest of the trial.”
She smiled, but didn’t feel happiness. “Can’t be over soon enough.” Graeme stabbed his fork into his meat with a little more force than the ground meat required. Abby reached out to him, placing her hand over his free one. “Are you okay? Something happened back there. What is it?”
“Nothing,” he grumbled.
So for the most part, they ate in silence. She was concerned about his change in attitude. He insisted he didn’t want to talk about it. He was concerned about her state of mind after testifying. And she damn sure didn’t want to talk about that.
After eating, they made their way back to meet Laci, who was already sitting behind the desk. Abby took her seat, Graeme took Laci by the arm.
“I need to talk to you for a minute.”
Confused by his actions, Abby could only stare after them as they stepped a few feet away. They were just far enough away that she could not overhear their conversation. Graeme’s back was to her, and he was blocking her view of Laci. Abby’s stomach twisted into knots on top of the knots already eating at her.
A few minutes later they joined her again, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Abby looked at Graeme, then at her best friend. “So, what was that all about?”
They both shook their heads. “Just official police stuff.” Laci said, avoiding eye contact with Abby. She took her seat and turned to speak. “Abby the defense is almost ready to call you on the stand.”
“Why?” She barely got the words out. She knew why, but was not ready.
“Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. Just remember what we discussed.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just different this time. The prosecutor is on our side. The defense attorney is not. And he looks like a total asshole.”
Laci rolled with laughter. “He is. Just take your time and think about what you say before you say it. Don’t let him intimidate you. Because believe me, he will try.”
Great. Just wonderful. Now she had to endure the opposing questions from a jerk. Graeme put his hand on her arm. H
is touch was comforting, but his eyes had lost the warmth from earlier. What happened when he stepped out of the room earlier? Did he get a phone call that upset him? Did Cooper need his help at the bar? And what was the private conversation between him and Laci all about? Abby couldn’t get that out of her head.
Minutes later she found herself in the witness box for the second time that day. The defense attorney was questioning her ability to identify the men from down an alley during the night.
“It wasn’t all that dark. The moon was full that night.”
“But you said the streetlight was burned out. So how is it that there was enough light for you to identify the van as well as my client?”
Abby took a deep, calming breath. Okay, so his superior attitude infuriated her more than it intimidated her. “Yes the streetlight next to me was burned out. But, like I said, the moon was full. And the streetlight next to the van was…” Her voice broke off mid-sentence. Graeme stood, stuffed his cell phone in his pocket, ran a hand through his hair, and walked out of the courtroom. Confusion filled her head.
“Miss Monroe. Please continue.” The attorney’s voice resonated through the silence in the room.
“I, um, I was saying that the streetlight next to the van was working properly. There was plenty of light that night.” That was the second time Graeme had left the courtroom while Abby was on the witness stand. What the hell was up with that? She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the trial at hand. She answered several more questions, keeping an eye on the door at all times. But it never opened. This time Graeme never returned.
The attorney laid several pictures in front of her. He pointed to one of them. “Isn’t this the picture you saw earlier when you pointed out my client to the jury?”
She studied the picture. “Yes, it is.”
He then pointed to one of the other pictures. “If you notice the time stamp on this picture you will see that it was taken five minutes after the first one. Both of these were obtained from the same camera. Do you notice anything different in these two pictures?”
Abby lifted both pictures and stared at them. “I don’t see any difference.”
“Look again, Miss Monroe. You can tell there is another person in the vehicle. In the first picture he is in the driver’s seat and totally inside. In the second picture we see that his arm is outside the van and he is leaning his head toward the side window.”
Why hadn’t she noticed that before? Did Laci realize there was another person in the van? Because of the way the van was facing that night, Abby never saw the other person.
The attorney waited while she examined the pictures. “So, Miss Monroe, do you agree that there was another person at the scene of the crime?”
She stared the attorney in the eye, “Yes.”
“So isn’t it possible that my client is not responsible for this murder? Isn’t it possible that this mysterious third person could be the one who fired the shot?”
Her heart fell to her knees. That was not good. What was the jury going to think now? Would that put enough doubt in their minds that LJ was innocent? Or did the prosecutor have a strong enough case that that would not be much of a setback?
Here she was, stuck in the courtroom for the rest of the day, not able to find out where Graeme disappeared to. In that same room with her was the man she witnessed and identified committing murder. Graeme was gone. Left without a word. She could give him the benefit of doubt and assume he was feeling ill and stepped out. Maybe he needed to tend to something with the bar. She didn’t know. And she really didn’t want to deal with any of that right now. So instead of giving in, Abby sucked in a deep breath and listened to the attorneys until she was dismissed.
Once outside the courtroom, she searched the foyer and hallway, but had no luck in locating Graeme. She tried calling him. The call went straight to voicemail. Not knowing what was going on, her stomach twisted into knots. Why wasn’t he answering? Where had he gone?
Laci walked up. Concern lit her face. “What’s wrong? Where did Graeme disappear to?”
Abby shook her head. “I don’t know. He left and is not answering his phone. I don’t understand what’s going on.” She shivered as a chill ran down her spine. Something wasn’t right. “I was hoping you could tell me where he went.”
Laci’s eyes closed for a brief second. She exhaled loudly and gave Abby a hug. “Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Come on. I’ll take you back to your apartment.”
“What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing. Everything is okay.” Laci took her hand. “Let’s just finish this trial so you can get back to a normal life.”
Chapter Eleven
Graeme stood in the middle of the bar surveying the mess. He put his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth. He wanted to scream and throw something, but that would only add to the destruction he faced right now. It was seven thirty at night. The bar should be full of customers, not policemen and firemen. How the hell did this happen? The inside seating area of the bar wasn’t destroyed, but the stench of smoke permeated the furniture and air. The walls were smoke scarred, but the fire was contained and extinguished before the inside of the building had been ruined. It was the outside room that took the hardest hit. He walked outside to assess the damage done there. Walking through the door, he kicked the smoldering chunks of wood. He ran a hand through his hair, stopping in the middle of the open patio. It was totally demolished. The canopy was nothing more than a heap of black fabric lying on the sand. Tables and chairs lie on the sandy floor, broken and charred. Cooper and a few of their regular customers hauled pieces of wood to the dumpster. Graeme couldn’t bear to stand there any longer, so he headed back inside to the bar.
Glass mixed with liquid had formed a sticky mess on the bar and the floor. Most of the liquor bottles were smashed, like someone took a baseball bat and drug it along the wall, crushing the bottles along the way. His anger boiled. He wanted nothing more than to smash his fist into the remaining few bottles that were untouched. He clenched his fists and jammed them in his pockets before he did more damage to the bar he loved.
“Damn.” All of the hard work that was put into renovating the bar was ruined. The place was nothing more than ashes and broken glass. Even though the entire bar was not damaged, it would take weeks to get things back to normal again. What the hell happened there? Was this a random act by a group of hell-raisers? The lump in the pit of Graeme’s stomach convinced him otherwise. The damage done there was planned. Deliberate. But why? And by whom?
Graeme was at the trial with Abby when he received the call from Chief Colby. He told the chief to call Cooper until he could get there. It didn’t dawn on him until the words were out of his mouth, but Cooper would have already known about the fire since he was a volunteer for the fire department. The drive from New Orleans to Orange Beach was nerve wracking. Graeme stayed on the phone almost the entire time trying to get some answers.
Abby tried calling him several times. He dismissed her calls. He hated dodging her, but he was not ready to discuss the fire, or the reason he walked out of the courtroom the first time. He didn’t want to hear the sympathy in her voice. And he certainly didn’t want to hear the anger at what his words would bring. His gut feeling at the time told him the fire had something to do with Abby. He didn’t want to try explaining that to her over the phone. She had enough dealing with the trial. Although he hated leaving Abby without an explanation, he didn’t have time to wait around until the judge decided to give them another break.
“Graeme,” Colby was shaking his head as he walked over. He motioned to the man with him. “This is Captain Mike from the Orange Beach Fire Department. He wants to go over some things with you.”
Graeme shook hands with the fire investigator. “I would say nice to meet you, but…”
Mike cleared his throat. “I understand. Sorry for your loss here. We’re almost done with our preliminary onsite investigation. Our gu
ys are taking more pictures and going through the rubble again, searching for any other evidence as to what started this fire. You say you were out of town when this happened?”
He ran his hands through his hair. “Yes. I was in New Orleans at a friend’s trial. Why?”
“I’m sorry, Graeme. I’m just trying to get all the facts down.”
“I understand. Do you have any leads or suspicions?” he sighed heavily.
“We’re working a few different options.” The captain checked a message on his phone and turned back to Graeme. “I hate to burden you with questions and all right now, but have you made any enemies lately? Trouble with women? Received any threats? Anything out of the ordinary?”
Graeme shook his head. “No. Nothing.” He couldn’t tell the captain about Marcus searching for a connection between the fire and Abby’s situation. Graeme’s gut told him the two cases had something in common. Only he wasn’t sure what that connection was just yet.
Captain stared at him intently for several seconds, glanced at Colby, then turned back to Graeme. “You said you were at a trial with a friend. What is that all about?”
“Abby is the key witness in a drug deal and murder that went down. She saw everything and has identified the suspects. I left her in New Orleans to rush back here to handle this. She’s been here in Orange Beach laying low, waiting for the trial. But this all happened in New Orleans. Why would you even ask about that?”
“I just want to make sure the two are not connected in any way. I have to tell you we did find what we believe to be an accelerant. There was a small gas can next to the outside window. We’ve taken samples and will get them over to the lab for processing.” Captain Mike made a few notes on a notepad. He flipped the book closed and said to Graeme, “Keep your eyes and ears open. When something like this happens people usually talk. If you hear anything, or think of anything at all that might be beneficial to the case, call me.”
“Certainly.” Graeme took the man’s business card, slipping it into his pocket. Getting the okay to start cleaning up, Graeme left Colby and Mike to finish their discussion while he went back inside and took stock of the bar. He pulled a trash can over and started throwing away the broken bottles. Every bottle he dropped into the trash irritated him more and more.