Perfect Game
Page 26
Chapter Sixty-four
(Tuesday night, October 3–Wednesday, October 4)
Candace called Lauren that night to let her know the mock jury had not been influenced by Pratt’s efforts to discredit Ryan. They still voted unanimously for conviction.
“Does Ryan know?”
“Yes, I just talked to him. He’s doing much better now.” Candace didn’t apologize, but Lauren detected a tone of contrition in her voice.
Lauren was relieved not only because this meant they could still expect a guilty verdict from the real jury, but also because Ryan could stop kicking himself for a single night of indiscretion.
Lauren laughed when she found an entire box of bear claws waiting on the passenger seat, along with the morning edition of the Arizona Republic, when she climbed into Ryan’s car the next morning. “Oh my. What are you guilty of?”
“I’m afraid I was testy with you yesterday. I was mad at myself, convinced I had screwed up this entire case, and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“That’s how you act when you’re angry? If so, I’ll take it. You have nothing to apologize for. This stinking trial has been hard on all of us.”
“Thank God it’s almost over. The Defense should rest today and closing arguments should wrap by the end of this week.”
“And the jury should vote to convict shortly after that.”
“And we can all get our lives back.”
“Except for Jake.”
“Yeah, except for that rat bastard.”
“I was worried that Candace would pull you off the trial.”
“She definitely considered it, but she concluded that would make it look like I have something to hide. However, she did threaten to remove precious body parts if I so much as look at you sideways from here on out.”
Lauren nodded and began to peruse the newspaper.
“Check out the story by your friend, Doug Collier,” Ryan said.
“Wakefield Defense Attorney Found in Contempt” read the bold headline on the front page. The accompanying article described how Pratt had openly defied Judge Robles’ established limitations when questioning Detective Boyd. It was followed by a formal retraction from the editor. Lauren read it aloud. “Correction. The September 29th edition carried a headline that inadvertently suggested that Detective Ryan Boyd and Dr. Lauren Rose, both of whom are key players in the Wakefield murder trial, were involved in an inappropriate relationship. The Arizona Republic has no facts to support any such suggestion and we sincerely regret any damage it may have caused.”
“Nice work. You know how to take care of business,” Ryan remarked.
“I do now.”
As they settled into their front row courtroom seats, Candace turned around to greet them. “Can you believe this circus is finally about to pack up and leave town?”
Judge Robles opened the day’s session with directions to the jury. “Yesterday, Mr. Pratt asked inappropriate questions of Detective Boyd in direct violation of this court. As such, Mr. Pratt had been charged with contempt of court, pled guilty, and been fined. You are strongly admonished to disregard any of Mr. Pratt’s questions about a relationship between Detective Boyd and Dr. Lauren Rose, questions for which no factual basis had been established.”
Judge Robles turned to the Defense table expectantly. Pratt got to his feet. “If it pleases the court, the Defense would like to file a motion to call a witness not previously identified on the witness list.”
“Your Honor,” Candace protested, “the State objects to the Defense’s attempt to drum up new witnesses at the eleventh hour, witnesses that the State has had no opportunity to depose. This is another unconscionable effort by Mr. Pratt to distract this jury from the facts of this case.”
The judge called for a sidebar. After the hushed debate among the lawyers raged for twenty-five minutes, Robles announced, “Court will be recessed for the remainder of the morning to allow attorneys on both sides to prepare oral arguments for the motion before this court. Those arguments will be heard in a closed courthouse this afternoon. For the rest of you, court will resume tomorrow morning at nine.”
Candace beckoned Ryan over and the two of them consulted briefly before Ryan returned to talk to Lauren. “I have to try to chase down another of the Defense’s red herrings. I’ll give you a ride home first and explain on the way.”
The courthouse was already clearing of its usual contents of journalists, Jake’s groupies, and courthouse junkies. As Lauren exited down the center aisle, Buffy Wakefield smacked into her with her enormous Gucci bag. Upon impact, Buffy glared coldly at Lauren, but said nothing.
Ryan stayed quiet until they had retreated to the safe confines of his car. “The Defense is claiming to have an alibi witness for Jake. A young woman from Scottsdale. Candace is pissed as hell, to put it mildly. She asked me to dig around to see what I can find out about this woman in case Judge Robles allows her to testify.”
“An alibi witness? I thought his alibi was he was on his way to D.C. at the time of the murder.”
“Now they claim he stopped off to see this woman on his way to the airport.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name is Madison Hart. Does that name mean anything to you?”
Lauren shook her head. “Never heard of her before in my life. If Jake was really with her the night of the murder, why are we just now finding out about her?”
“That’s what I have to try to find out,” Ryan replied determinedly.
Chapter Sixty-five
(Thursday, October 5)
Lauren was surprised when she opened her door to Detective Wallace the following morning. “Boyd got busy with some stuff,” was all he offered by way of explanation.
The car ride to court was not as pleasant as usual. Lauren had mistrusted Wallace during the early phases of the investigation. She no longer felt that way, but it was hard to dismantle the wall that had been built between them. After making small talk about the weather and traffic, they made most of the trip in silence.
“Look,” Wallace finally said. “I know how hard it can be when you’ve been falsely accused. You’ve taken a lot of heat throughout this whole crazy incident. How are you holding up?”
I’m fine, Lauren almost said. But she resisted the urge to answer with the socially acceptable response. Instead, she assessed how she was really doing. She had been operating on autopilot for so long, she didn’t even know anymore.
“I’m beyond ready for this whole thing to be over,” she finally said.
He nodded. “I’m sure you are. Look, Lauren, I want to apologize for whatever role I might have played in contributing to your stress. I was pretty hard on you. I never really believed you did it, but I was hearing a lot of accusations against you and I was just trying to do my job thoroughly. I hope you can forgive me.”
“I already have.”
The courthouse was more chaotic than usual. Even more satellite press trucks than usual lined the streets and it took Wallace, who was unfamiliar with this madhouse, quite some time to navigate the traffic and locate a parking spot.
Excitement vibrated in the air. The courtroom was abuzz with unrelenting speculation about the Defense’s mystery witness.
Court was called to order and Judge Robles took his seat.
“I have considered the matter before me with the utmost gravity,” Robles opened. “On one hand is the defendant’s right to introduce witnesses on his own behalf and on the other is the State’s right to discovery which allows them the opportunity to review the statements of Defense witnesses and conduct a deposition of their own. I am not pleased with the Defense’s delay in adding this individual to the witness list. However, I do believe they did not previously intend to call this witness. I have weighed the rights of the defendant against the rights of the people and all things being equal, feel I must err on the si
de of the defendant who is presumed innocent until proven guilty. As a result, I will allow the Defense to call the witness, but they must first make her available to the Prosecution for deposition. Ms. Keene, how long will you need to prepare?”
“The better part of a week, Your Honor,” Candace answered. Candace’s body language betrayed her emotions. She was seething just beneath the surface.
“Very well,” the judge continued. “I will allow you an entire week to prepare. Court shall reconvene next Thursday at nine a.m. sharp.” He banged his gavel and court was dismissed.
Chapter Sixty-six
(Thursday, October 5–Thursday, October 12)
After months of attending the trial day in and day out, the following week was a strange liberation for Lauren. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. She scrubbed her entire apartment, caught up on all of her laundry, watched several DVDs, and even spent one entire day reading by the pool at her apartment complex, feeling oddly guilty.
LaRhonda and Ritesh insisted on taking Lauren out on Saturday night, jumping through several hoops to swap out schedules to make it happen. They went to Suede, a swanky Scottsdale nightclub where LaRhonda and Ritesh hit the dance floor with abandon. Lauren attracted a frenzy of attention there based upon her pseudo-celebrity status. Fearing photographers would show up and she would piss off Candace yet again, she begged off early, catching a taxi home.
Strangely, Lauren realized she missed the trial, that very beast from which she had been fantasizing about emancipation. Her household chores seemed insignificant compared to the mission of the Prosecution. Her days of leisure were boring relative to the endless twists and turns of the trial. Her brain didn’t feel as challenged, not even when she was at work. She missed Candace and Kyle and most of all Ryan, all of whom Lauren now realized had become her closest friends over these past few months.
Lauren knew little more than the general public as she watched the news for updates about the case. While the trial continued to lead the news most nights, very little useful information was forthcoming. The press had not yet uncovered the identity of the “alibi witness” so they were left to speculate endlessly. The trial and all of its breathless spectators were on pause.
Lauren was relieved when the week had passed and her doorbell rang at seven on Thursday morning. However, she was disappointed to find it was Wallace again.
Wallace struggled to maintain a cheerful discussion on the trip to the courthouse. Lauren managed to keep up her end of the conversation, but was weighed down by her feelings of disappointment and rejection. Perhaps Wallace picked up on this. “Boyd has been busy running down leads for Candace.” Lauren merely nodded.
Wallace dropped her off at the courthouse, citing cases he needed to return to. As Lauren entered the courtroom, her pulse quickened when she saw Ryan was already there, engaged in a hushed conversation with Candace and Kyle. She had neither seen nor spoken to him for more than a week. As Lauren took her seat behind the Prosecution table, nobody even turned to acknowledge her. Feeling conspicuously alone, she glanced around the room and noticed Jake somehow managing to look like the most relaxed person in the room. Lauren was struck by the incongruence between his demeanor and the gravity of the situation. If you photographed him, removed the background and showed the photo to a group of test subjects, they might guess he was about to be honored at an awards banquet.
When the clerk called the court to order, Ryan wrapped up his conversation with the prosecutors and took his seat next to Lauren. Lauren felt strangely uncertain. Should she look at him or not? When she caught his eyes, she saw an unfamiliar emotion there. Guilt? Anger? It didn’t look promising.
After the normal courtroom preliminaries, Judge Robles nodded to Pratt, who rose to his feet. “The Defense would like to call Miss Madison Hart to the stand.”
Everybody turned toward the back courtroom doors expectantly, eager to lay eyes on the mystery witness.
Madison Hart was not what Lauren had expected. She was very young and relatively unattractive, but meticulously groomed. Gleaming streaks of blonde and auburn were expertly woven into her own muddy brown hair, which was swept up in an elegant chignon. Her eyebrows had been plucked into flawless arches over her dark brown eyes. Her makeup was artfully applied with a heavy hand. She had slightly crooked teeth showcased by lipstick that was too red for daytime wear. Her acrylic nails were garishly long. Her suit had been professionally tailored, but still could not disguise the fact that she was carrying about fifteen extra pounds on her short frame. Lauren recognized the shoes as Christian Louboutins by their distinctive red soles as Madison clip-clopped her way toward the witness stand. Lauren was reminded of a young girl trying to look older by wearing her mother’s clothes and makeup.
She was clearly nervous. Judge Robles had to remind her to speak up as she stated her name for the record.
Pratt got right to business. “Miss Hart, are you acquainted with the defendant, Mr. Jake Wakefield?”
“Yes,” Madison said timidly.
“And can you tell us how you met Mr. Wakefield?”
“I was working at McDonald’s and Mr. Wake—, I mean Jake was one of my regular customers.”
“And when he would come in, did you know who he was?”
“Oh yes, of course,” Madison responded with more animation. “We would all talk about how he was a Diamondbacks pitcher.”
“And you saw him regularly at McDonald’s?”
“Yeah, he came through the drive-through a lot and I’m the one that would give him his order most of the time.”
“So, at first you just knew him as a customer?”
“Yes,” her voice cracked.
“But your relationship changed over time, didn’t it?”
“Yes. We started talking more and more when he would come through the drive-through and one day, he asked if I would meet him after work.”
“And did you agree?”
“Yes, and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“What kind of friendship do you have with Mr. Wakefield?”
“Oh, eventually we became like best friends,” she responded with a juvenile level of earnestness.
“Where would you meet?”
“Well…we would meet in parks or stuff like that because I still lived with my parents and Jake, uh, lived with his wife.”
“So you didn’t tell your parents about the relationship?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They’ve always been overprotective and, uh, Jake was still married.”
“Miss Hart, did your relationship with Jake evolve into a sexual relationship?” Pratt asked gently.
Madison blushed. “Yes.”
“When?”
“Jake and I first started hanging out in May of last year, but we didn’t, uh, we didn’t have sex until June.”
“June of last year?”
“Yes.”
“And, Miss Hart, did you see Jake Wakefield on the evening of July twenty-third last year?”
“Yes. He was on his way to Washington D.C. and he wanted to see me before he left town.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“In a parking lot at Kiva Elementary School near his house. We met there and I got into his car, and we talked for a little while before he had to leave for the airport.”
“What time did you meet that night?”
“At six p.m.”
“And when did you leave?”
“It was seven when we left that night. I remember because he wanted to stay longer, but he couldn’t or he was going to miss his flight.”
“What were you doing together that evening from six to seven?”
“We were talking and stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Oh, you know, we were just kissing and stuff.”
Madison blushed again. “Uh, yeah.”
“Miss Hart, you have known that Mr. Wakefield was on trial for murdering his wife that evening, correct?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Didn’t you think it was important you come forward with this information to help him defend himself against these allegations?”
“Definitely. I’ve been wanting to tell the police that Jake was with me, but he didn’t want me to. He wanted to protect me from the reporters and stuff.”
“So why did you come forward now?”
“I finally told Jake I couldn’t let him go to jail for something I know he didn’t do. He still didn’t want me to testify because he doesn’t want to see me get hurt by any of this, but I couldn’t sit by anymore.”
“And you are certain you were with him on the evening of July twenty-third between the hours of six and seven in the evening.”
“Yes, I’m positive. That’s the reason why he was sorta late to the airport that night.”
Pratt turned over the witness to Candace.
“Good morning,” Candace said coolly.
Madison licked her lips. “Good morning.”
“Miss Hart, can you tell us about the nature of your relationship with Mr. Wakefield now?”
Madison smiled nervously. “We’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“And you’ve been boyfriend and girlfriend for how long?”
“Since last May. I know it’s wrong to date a married man, but I couldn’t help falling in love with him.”
“And what did he tell you about the status of his marriage?”
“Uh, he said he still loved her, but she didn’t appreciate him the way I did.”
“And were you aware he was having sex with other women while he was out of town?”
Madison practically whispered, “That was a long time ago.”
“Miss Hart, you testified your relationship with Mr. Wakefield became sexual last June, correct?”