“And how did you know it was Jessica’s niece?”
“Anna used to live next door as well.”
“Anna Lempare?” Valentine questions.
“Yes.”
“And can you please point to the woman you saw in the hallway that afternoon?”
“Yes, she’s sitting there.” Thomas points at Bill’s client.
“Let the records show that the witness has pointed at the defendant, Anna Lempare,” Valentine states. “Thomas, what did Anna say to you when she saw you in the hallway?”
“She yelled at me to mind my own business. She was very angry. I didn’t say anything to her, but she told me to go back into my apartment. As she walked towards the elevator, she punched a hole in the wall.”
“She punched a hole in the wall?” Valentine again surprised. She’s not. She has practiced this testimony twenty times with Thomas Feeble.
“Yes. As she walked to the elevator, she said ‘stupid old woman,’ and then she punched the wall.”
“And what did you do next?”
“Anna was very angry, and I was scared of Anna, so I went back into my apartment. I turned the television back on, but then I was worried about Jessica. I tried to listen to any movements from Jessica’s apartment, but I couldn’t hear anything. About one hour later, I went to knock on Jessica’s apartment door again.”
“And did she answer this time?”
“No.”
“What did you do next?”
“I was still very worried about Jessica, so I opened the door to her apartment and went in. It was then that I saw her lying on the ground.” Thomas shakes his head as he fights back tears. “She was dead.”
“Take your time.” Valentine calms him down. They practiced that part as well. “When you’re ready, please tell the court what happened next.”
Thomas takes a moment, dabbing his eyes with a tissue. “I tried to check for a pulse, but I couldn’t find one. That is when I went back into my apartment and called 911.”
“Did you go back into Jessica’s apartment after that?”
“No, I went down to the foyer and waited for the police.”
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Feeble,” Valentine says softly. “No further questions.”
Judge Wilmot offers Bill the chance to question the defendant, and Bill accepts the offer. This is his time now.
“Tell me, Mr. Feeble, did you get along well with Jessica Lempare?”
“Sometimes.”
“And the other times when you didn’t get along with Jessica Lempare, would you describe your interactions as strained?”
“You could say that.”
“Yes or no, Mr. Feeble.”
“Yes. Our relationship was strained at times. She wasn’t… well, she caused a lot of trouble for no reason. She would dispute everything.”
“The hallway that adjoins both your apartments was painted earlier this year. Mr. Feeble, how would you describe your interactions with Jessica during this period of time?”
Thomas looks to Anna, seated next to Bill. Anna had witnessed numerous arguments between the next-door neighbors during that period.
“It was strained.”
“Why was that?”
“She didn’t like the tone of white that we were using to give the walls a paint job.”
“The tone of white, Mr. Feeble? Can you please elaborate further on that for the court?”
“All the other residents in the building had agreed to the use of ‘Whisper White’ as the tone of white for the new paint job. Jessica was the only person who didn’t agree. She wanted to use ‘Vintage White’ as the color. Of course, we overruled her because of the sheer weight of numbers. But when the painters started working in the hallway, she yelled at them every morning because they were using the wrong tone of white. I defended the painters, telling her that they were just doing their jobs.”
“Did the two of you yell during these interactions?”
“Yes.”
“And how often were these interactions?”
“Every morning for a week.”
“Thank you, Mr. Feeble.” Bill opens a new file in front of him. “On May 1st, were you alone in your apartment?”
“I don’t see why that is relevant.” Thomas shakes his head.
“It is relevant. Please answer the question.”
“Um… maybe. Maybe I was.”
“Mr. Feeble, that isn’t a satisfactory answer.” Judge Wilmot leans across to Thomas. “Please answer the question.”
“Um, not exactly.”
“Not exactly? Mr. Feeble, I find that very surprising. There is no mention of any other person in any of your statements about the incident that happened on May 1st.”
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“Mr. Feeble.” Bill’s voice rises. “This is a murder investigation. Everything is relevant. Who else was present in your apartment?”
Thomas’s eyes dart around the courtroom. “Carlos Perez.”
“Carlos Perez? The man that is employed as Jessica Lempare’s cleaner?”
“Yes.”
“And presumably, Carlos has keys to Jessica’s apartment?”
“Um, yes,” Thomas says again.
“Is that how you entered Jessica’s apartment that afternoon?”
Thomas shakes his head.
“Mr. Feeble, please verbally answer the question,” Judge Wilmot booms again.
“I really wanted to make sure that Jessica was fine. I was worried about her.”
“Did you use the keys that Carlos had with him to enter her apartment?” Bill is very firm in his statement.
“Yes,” Thomas mumbles.
Bill flips through the papers on his table. “Mr. Feeble.” Bill’s voice is angry. “That is not in any statement that you have made previously. You stated that you owned the keys to her apartment. Why have you been hiding that information?”
“Um,” Thomas whimpers. “I was worried that Carlos would get in trouble.”
“Mr. Feeble, how did Jessica treat Carlos Perez?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Mr. Feeble.” Bill’s voice rises again. “This man is your friend. How did he tell you that he was treated by Jessica Lempare?”
“He said… he said that she was horrible to him.”
“Horrible?”
“Yes. Really mean. Ms. Lempare was a racist, and she would say some really horrible things to Carlos.”
“Did that make you angry?”
“Of course. Carlos is my friend.”
“Angry enough to kill her?!”
“Objection!” Valentine interrupts. “Leading the witness.”
“Sustained. Don’t answer that question, Mr. Feeble.”
“Mr. Feeble.” Bill’s voice rises for the third time. “Did you ever wish that Jessica was dead?”
“Objection,” Valentine interrupts again.
“Your Honor, I can assure you that this question is leading to evidence.”
“Overruled, but make it relevant, Mr. Harvey.”
“Mr. Feeble,” Bill repeats. “Did you ever wish that Jessica was dead?”
“Um… no.” Thomas looks at Bill in confusion.
“Mr. Feeble, on January 11th this year, did you post a picture of a freshly painted hallway on the social media site Instagram, with the caption ‘Freshly painted hallway. It took a lot of effort. I wish some people didn’t interrupt the process… sometimes I wish they were better off dead.”
A look of shock covers Thomas’s face. He looks to Valentine, but she wasn’t prepared for that question. He then looks to Taylor Reaper sitting in the back of the courtroom, but he’s no position to help him either.
“Mr. Feeble.” Bill’s voice is dominant and firm. “Did you write that statement?”
“Um.” Thomas’s voice is panicked. “Yes.”
“Was it in reference to Jessica Lempare?” Bill’s question is almost an accusation.
“It wasn’t like—
”
“Yes or no, Mr. Feeble. Was that statement a reference to Jessica Lempare?”
Thomas sits on the stand with his mouth hanging open; in shock that he’s being accused of the death of his neighbor.
“Please answer the question, Mr. Feeble,” Judge Wilmot states.
“Yes, but—”
“Mr. Feeble, you we’re in your apartment alone, were you?!”
“No, but—”
“Why was Carlos Perez in your apartment, Mr. Feeble?!”
“He…” Thomas is flustered with Bill’s hard voice. “He had been cleaning Jessica’s apartment that morning.”
“And he finished cleaning at 10 a.m., which is more than six hours before you saw Anna. Why was he in your apartment, Mr. Feeble?!”
“We’re friends.”
“Friends?” Bill questions.
“Yes.”
“Just friends?”
“We… um…”
“How close of a friend is he?”
“We’re lovers,” Thomas blurts out the statement and then begins to weep. “We’re lovers. I’m gay.”
Shock sinks into Bill’s face. Suddenly, it makes sense to him.
Thomas Feeble wasn’t hiding a crime; he was hiding his lover. And Bill has forced him to disclose that secret to the world.
He feels terrible.
“We host a YouTube channel together called ‘Gay Men Talking Together for A While,’” Thomas adds. “It’s just a hobby. We just talk about life and the world, and we have a few viewers. I sit off camera because I don’t want my face to be shown, and Carlos is the face of the channel. He sits in front of the camera, and he talks to me. I think that the audience likes the mystery of not knowing who I am. And I have never come out to anyone but my lovers. But I guess everyone knows who I am now.”
“Were you on this channel at the time of the murder?” Bill enquires with a quieter tone.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you report this to the police?”
“Because…” Thomas’s head drops. “I haven’t come out. My family don’t know about my sexuality. I was waiting until after my mother passed away before I told anyone. She hasn’t got long left, but I guess, she’ll know now. She’s following this trial. Sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry.”
And now Thomas Feeble has an alibi.
“And this is all online, and available for us to check?”
“Yes.” Thomas nods slowly, still with a tear in his eye. “Carlos stopped the recording when I ran back into the room saying that Jessica was dead. I was only gone for a moment.”
Bill glances over his shoulder to look at his investigator, Jack Grayson. Jack nods; a silent communication between them to check the details of Thomas’s revelation. However, Bill has little doubt that Thomas is telling the truth.
“No further questions.” He shakes his head, disappointed with himself.
He knew something was wrong with Thomas’s statement, but he didn’t expect that.
Bill Harvey turns to the front page of his legal pad and strikes a heavy line through the first of four names. On the next line, directly below the name Thomas Feeble, he has written the name Frank Matthews, and directly below that, John Morgan.
But there is a half-page gap before he gets to the fourth name on the list. Bill Harvey desperately doesn’t want to reach the last line on the page.
Written in small writing on the last line is one single name:
Anna.
CHAPTER 20
After Bill Harvey’s failure with Thomas Feeble, Joanne Valentine confidently calls her next witness, John ‘Bud’ Morgan, to the stand.
Her case is building momentum, and she can feel the tension coming from Bill’s table.
Valentine arranges three pens on her table to form a line, starting from longest pen to the shortest pen. She has always had a desperate need to be in control. When her mother died in a car accident when she was nine-years-old, she felt like she lost control in life. For most of her teenage years, she spent her time in the throes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; however, the doctors declined to diagnose her condition as they wrote it off as a way of grieving.
When she was diagnosed with OCD in college, it gave her permission to accept and start to treat her condition. With daily meditation and specific exercises, she has most of her feelings under control; however, when she becomes stressed her need for complete control takes over. Every night before the start of a new trial, she has to turn the lights on and off four times before she leaves the kitchen, three times before she leaves the bathroom, and twice before she crawls into bed.
She concedes that the need for control is a part of her life, and to stop the OCD behavior would be to acknowledge the death of her mother.
For that reason, she will never let it go.
As Bud Morgan walks past Valentine, he looks like a man who has seen and experienced more in his life than most. His eyes portray a world of horror while his walk is rigid and stiff, and his skin looks weary.
He takes his oath, calmly sits in the witness box, and rolls up his shirt sleeves to display a small glimpse of his arm tattoo.
“Please state your full name for the court,” Valentine states when Bud is ready.
“My name is John Anthony Morgan, but most people know me as Bud.”
“Thank you, Mr. Morgan,” Valentine says while still reviewing her notes. “Please describe to the court your relationship with the deceased, Jessica Lempare.”
“I have known Jessica Lempare for many years, perhaps eleven or twelve years. I’m the CEO of Recovering Veterans, and our main contribution of donations comes from the estate of Norman Chester. Jessica Lempare is… I mean, was… the sole trustee for that estate. Because she handled the donations, we had regular interactions with her. She would come into the office about once a month, or I would go around to her apartment for a cup of coffee. Whenever we had fundraising events, we always made sure that Jessica was invited, and that she was well looked after. Over the years, we became friends.”
“And how do you know the defendant, Miss Anna Lempare?”
“Because of my friendship with Jessica, my path crossed with Anna’s. Anna used to live with Jessica, and I would sometimes come over for a cup of coffee. I also served in the army with Anna’s father, so I felt like I had a bond with her. Her father was a good man, and I have always tried to help Anna where I can. That’s what we veterans do – we help each other’s family.”
Bud is proud of his past, and he wears it like a badge of honor. It is his identity.
“And in your opinion, how would you describe Jessica and Anna’s relationship?”
“Stressed.”
“Tell me, Mr. Morgan, how would you define stressed? Would you say they argued a lot?”
“Every time that I saw them interact, there was an argument. I never saw Jessica say a nice thing about Anna, and I never saw Anna show her aunt any respect. They were… just different people who didn’t get along. I think that they even enjoyed arguing with each other. Sometimes the arguments would be heated, and at other times, they would be quite sarcastic. I cannot remember a time when I saw them talk in a normal way with each other. I think that it got better over the years, but when they were living together, they argued a lot. I remember one argument that was over the way Anna was sipping her drink of water. I went over for a cup of coffee, and they were going off at each other.”
Bill considers objecting to the line of questioning; however, he lets Valentine continue on.
“Did you see Anna Lempare on May 1st?”
“I did.”
“And can you please describe that interaction?” Valentine asks.
“Sure. I was at Tom’s Pint Bar, and I was having a drink with a few of my veteran buddies. It was early afternoon, perhaps around 3 p.m., so we weren’t drinking a lot. We were just having a light drink and telling some well-worn stories. It’s our support network. When I went to order another round of drinks, I saw Anna sitting alone at
the bar looking glum. I hadn’t seen her for a few months before that, so I sat down and had a bit of a chat with her.”
“How would you describe her mood that afternoon?”
“As we talked, it became clear that she had a lot on her mind. She was talking at a very fast rate, and she was going between feeling sorry for herself and feeling angry.”
“Angry?” Valentine questions. “What gave you the impression that Anna was angry?”
“She was gripping the beer glass so tight that her knuckles were turning white. I thought that she might even break the glass. And she had a fire in her eyes. There was a look about her. I had seen her angry before, and she had that same look.”
“Can you please tell the court what you and Anna discussed that afternoon in the bar?”
“I asked her what was making her so angry, and she described the situation with her aunt. I completely understood what she said – at times, Jessica could be a very frustrating person to interact with. Although I really appreciated what she was doing with the estate, I did try and avoid her sometimes. When Jessica had her thoughts set on something, she would rarely change for anything. Anna explained that she was trying to convince her aunt to negotiate parts of the will, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. I listened to Anna and told her I understood what she was saying, and then Anna left.”
“And did she say where she was going?”
“Yes. She said she was going to visit her aunt to convince her to change the will.” Bud emphasized the important words.
“Those were her exact words?” Valentine’s interest pipes up.
Valentine is a good player in the courtroom. She knew that sentence was coming; however, she still feigned surprise for the purpose of the jury. The jury has bought into her act. Half of them lean forward to listen to Bud’s answer.
“Yes. Those were her exact words.”
“And did she say anything else that might be of interest?” Valentine continues, although she knows the answer.
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