Mackey was about six feet tall and had a shaved head. He had one of those long thin faces and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I could hardly meet his eyes.
He appeared to be amused to see us.
“What fine pieces of tail you girls turned out to be,” he said, grinning.
Tracy jumped up threw her chair against the wall. Both Julia and I jumped.
“Look, we’re wasting our time here,” she said. “Come on girls, let’s go. I guess this piece of garbage decided he would rather get the death penalty.”
He looked panicky, “Hold on. I thought the deal was life.”
“The deal was, you apologize and they get to ask questions and you answer them. That didn’t sound like an apology to me. Did it to you girls?” We shook our heads no.
Tracy let out one long sigh as she sat back down.
“Okay, let’s start over,” she said. “Just so you know, I’m not wasting my time with you. We’ve already talked about this and you’re not stupid. So stick with the agreement.”
No one said anything for so long that I began to get jittery, which was probably another way for him to intimidate us. I glanced over at Tracy and she sat staring at him like she hated his guts. He finally cleared his throat and said, “I’m…I’m sorry.”
Tracy snorted and shook her head. “Judith, ask your questions so we can get the hell away from this piece of shit.”
“I need you to fill in the missing years for me. Where was I taken after you took me from the Reynolds house?” I asked.
“I took you to my sister, Trisha’s, house. You were her birthday present. She always wanted a kid and never got to have any. Or I should say, she thought she wanted a kid. She didn’t realize how much trouble you would be. All you did was cry and whine.”
“Of course I cried. I was only three years old and you took me from my home. What did you think, that I was going to be happy?”
My outburst seemed to give him great pleasure, like he took pleasure in other people’s pain. I decide I wouldn’t give him the pleasure. Instead I would have Tracy’s attitude.
I gave him a long hard stare and said, “Then what happened?”
“After about three days of your squalling, she called me and told me to come get you. It was cold and you didn’t have many clothes, so I wrapped you up in a blanket and dropped you off on the side of the road the way you would any stray.”
It took everything in my power not to burst into tears and he would have loved that so, to cover, I jumped up and slung my chair against the wall. It pleased me to see him actually jump.
“I’m done,” I said, “There’s nothing else I want from this scum.”
Tracy asked Julia if she had any questions and Julia asked, “How does it feel to be such a dirt bag?”
“Ask your daddy. He should know. I know what I am. At least, I don’t fuck little girls.”
Julia’s head snapped back like he had slapped her and I was glad she had completed the therapy she had done. But he wasn’t finished.
“Yeah, I know all about the whole club with the judges involved both in St. Augustine and in New Orleans. I know about the judges who give young girls to the dirty old men for a price, runaway girls that is.”
He looked at Tracy, “You want to earn some brownie points with your boss? Make me a better deal than this and I’ll give you some stuff to make your career.”
He turned to the guards, “I’m ready to go back to my cell now.”
As we were driving away, I said, “I need a shower.” Julia nodded, “Me too.”
We were silent for most of the trip back. Each of us was thinking her own thoughts. I kept thinking about judges giving runaway girls to dirty old men and wondered if I had been part of that ring he was talking about.
I always wondered why no one came after me when I ran away from the Lessiter house. Was it because the judge was afraid of what I would say or was Mr. Lessiter afraid to report it?
We had one big hurdle out of the way and now we had the trial to look forward to. Tracy said she was hoping that Mr. Reynolds would be offered a plea so we wouldn’t have to go through a trail. But Julia said she still wanted to confront him even if there wasn’t a trial.
We decided to spend New Year’s Eve and New Years day quietly. Julia said we had to eat black eyed peas for New Years, for luck, and collard greens, for money. We ate this disgusting meal in the cafeteria and I was surprised that a place that served such good food ordinarily would serve this. I really didn’t think it was necessary, since I didn’t see how much luckier I could possibly get.
Dr. Anna and Tracy joined us and I noticed that although most of us picked at our food, Julia and Tracy ate like they were starved to death. We all laughed at them.
CHAPTER 25, 1984
The trial was set for January sixteenth, which was on a Monday. Tracy said it wasn’t necessary for us to be there on the first day, and maybe the second day, because it would only be jury selection, but all three of us wanted to be there from start to finish. Tracy came over the night before and gave us directions to the Duval County Courthouse.
We all wore business suits and laughed when we saw many people in the courtroom, in jeans. I had seen many courtroom dramas on TV and this looked just like that. We had seats directly in back of the prosecuting attorney and as I sat down, I wondered if Julia’s heart was pounding like mine, probably more.
We had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity when they finally brought in Mr. Reynolds. I expected to see him shackled and in an orange jumpsuit, but he was wearing an expensive looking gray suit with a white shirt and royal blue tie. He wasn’t shackled.
That really pissed me off. I wanted so badly for him to be humiliated. I glanced over at Julia and saw that she had her hands balled into tight fists. Her face was bright red. I put my arm around her and she seemed to relax a little.
My hair had grown out and Mimi had insisted that I have the natural color put back in the week before. Julia and I had decided to wear our hair in ponytails and we looked just alike. Even Mimi had a hard time telling us apart. When Mr. Reynolds looked our way, he did a double-take.
I didn’t understand a lot of what happened in court that day. Before jury selection, the defense attorney stood up and made a bunch of motions. The first was a motion to dismiss. I thought only an idiot would make such a motion with all the evidence stacked against the defendant, but apparently this is what they always try to do, according to what Tracy told us later during lunch.
The defense attorney had stacks of these things and they all seemed to have something to do with what evidence was going to be allowed to be presented. It seemed like this part went on for hours.
Finally, they called the first group of potential jurors. They were questioned by both attorneys and some were accepted by both sides and some were rejected. It all seemed random to me.
Some of the people who I thought would be good to have for our side were rejected by the prosecutor and some of the ones who seemed like they would be good for the defense, their attorney rejected. Then the ones that they kept didn’t seem to make any sense to me either, but the whole process was interesting.
I was both surprised and pleased that the whole process was over by lunch. The judge who was a short round man, named Truman, believe it or not, looked at his watch and said we would take a recess until 2:00 p.m.
The four of us walked around the corner from the courthouse to an old fashioned looking diner. During lunch, Tracy explained to us that one of the things the defense attorney wanted to have thrown out was the tape recording of the death bed confession of Mrs. Reynolds. He claimed it was hearsay, but since it was a deathbed confession the judge would allow it to be admitted into evidence.
The defense had planned on this being thrown out, and without it, they would have the word of a convicted criminal, Mackey, and the memory of Julia who they were going to try to say that Mimi and I had convinced to lie. It would be her word against his and he was so sure of his
reputation that he knew no one would believe Julia.
When we got back in court that afternoon, the defense attorney had another stack of motions before the jury could come in. The defense attorney’s name was Jeff Crocker. He had a high whiney voice and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to use him. I didn’t think he would make a good impression on the jury.
The prosecuting attorney was Carl Graham. He was writing the whole time that Crocker was going on and on about the unfairness of allowing Mrs. Reynolds’s taped testimony.
Finally the judge said, “Mr. Crocker, I’ve ruled on this. Let’s move on. Bailiff, call in the jury.”
The jury filed in and I notice one of the jurors, a tiny gray haired grandmother type, had brought her knitting and started knitting as soon as she sat down. I thought the judge would make her put it away but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Mr. Graham, would you call your first witness please?” the judge said.
“I call Tracy Carr to the stand.”
Tracy was wearing a dark green silk pants suit with a lacy camisole underneath and black high heeled pumps. She had her hair pulled back into a chignon and wore light makeup. I thought she looked beautiful. She was cool and collected as she was being sworn in, and I decided then and there that I wanted to be like her when I finished growing up.
“Ms. Carr, you’re an FBI agent, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true that from February of 1983 through October of 1983, you were assigned undercover in the home of the defendant, his wife, and adopted daughter, Julia?”
“Yes.”
“Would you describe for the court why you were assigned there?”
“We had suspected for some time that Mr. Reynolds was somehow involved in the kidnapping case that had been unsolved for 13 years.”
“And what led you to suspect that?”
“We were approached first by Julia’s uncle, Mark Rogers, in January, when he came across a letter from the defendant addressed to his mother. In it he was telling her that he wasn’t going to give her any more money.
“He wrote that it was a one-time deal and she had received the amount of money they had agreed upon. When he noticed the date of the letter, he brought it to us. We had always suspected that Mark’s mother was involved, and was in the process of questioning her when she skipped town.”
“Your honor, we’d like to enter this letter into evidence…”
Both Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Crocker jumped up at once, “I object…”
“I didn’t write that letter.”
The judge hit his little wooden hammer on his desk, “I’ll have order in my court. Mr. Crocker, if you can’t control your client, I’ll have him sent back to his cell. Both counselors approach the bench.”
When both lawyers got to where the judge was, the judge put his hand over the microphone while both lawyers appeared to be in a heated argument. After this went on for some time, both lawyers nodded and went back to their tables.
“The letter may or may not be introduced when Mr. Rogers takes the stand, but for now disregard it. Mr. Graham, you may continue, but no more about the letter.”
“What happened next, Ms. Carr?”
“We were contacted again in February by Mark Rogers. He had met Judith McCain, Julia’s twin sister. He suspected she was one of the twins because he said she looked just like her mother.”
“Objection! Hearsay.”
“Sustained. Mr. Graham, perhaps you should limit your questions to Ms. Carr’s own experience, while living in the Reynolds household and let Mr. Rogers talk about what he experienced firsthand. You know this. This is basic law 101.”
“Ms. Carr, would you tell the court what you witnessed while you were in the Reynolds household?”
“I witnessed several nightmares in the middle of the night when Julia would wake up screaming. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds wouldn’t let her talk about the dreams.
“Later, when Judith, the twin sister came for a visit, I saw Mr. Reynolds first try to buy her off and then threaten her if she didn’t stay away from Julia. Also, the Reynolds’ told Julia she wasn’t adopted even though it was obvious that Mrs. Reynolds was too old to have had her.”
“Objection, your honor, is this witness a doctor besides being an FBI agent?”
“Objection is sustained. Move on counselor.”
“A few months ago, were you with Mrs. Reynolds when she was dying?”
“Yes.”
“And did Mrs. Reynolds make a confession which you taped?”
“Yes.”
“If it pleases the court, I’d like to play this tape now, Your Honor.”
Again Mr. Crocker tried to object saying this was hearsay, but the judge told him he had already ruled on this. A tape recorder was brought in and set up. While they were doing that, Mr. Graham walked over to his table and took a sip of water.
While the tape was being played, Mr. Reynolds sat with his head down, shaking it from side to side. At one point he leaned over and said something to Mr. Crocker, then glanced at Julia and me.
When the tape was finished, Mr. Graham said, “I have no further questions for this witness. The tape speaks for itself.”
“Your witness Mr. Crocker,” said the judge.
“I have only one question of this witness. Ms. Carr, do you know if Mrs. Reynolds was sedated or given any pain medication before you taped this so called confession?”
“No, I don’t.”
The little shit smiled at her and said, “No more questions.”
“You may step down Ms. Carr. Call your next witness, Mr. Graham.”
“I would like to call Mr. Mark Rogers to the stand.”
On his way up to the witness box, Mark stopped and squeezed mine and Julia’s shoulders. Then we took each other’s hand and squeezed.
“Mr. Rogers, when did you first meet Judith McCain?”
“Objection, relevance?”
“Mr. Graham, is this line of questioning going to be relevant to what we’re doing here today?”
“Yes it is, if the court will have a little patience with me.”
“Objection is overruled for now. The witness will answer the question.”
“I first met Judith at the home of Mr. Dave Beaudreau.”
“And when was this and what were you doing at that home?”
“This was last February and I was attending a Mardi Gras party.”
“Would you describe this first meeting?”
“Judith was supposed to be my date. When I met her, the first thing I noticed was that she looked exactly like Jennifer McCain, whom I used to date before she married Phillip McCain Jr. The next thing I noticed was the necklace she was wearing. It was the necklace Phillip was fastening on Jennifer’s neck when they were both murdered.”
“How did you know it was the same necklace?”
“It was unique. It had a unicorn on a chain with a curved horn instead of straight like most unicorns.”
“When was the last time you had seen this necklace?”
“I hate to say it but my mother had picked it up off the floor, the night of the murder and kidnapping. When I got home from my date that night there was a lot of confusion. They had already removed the bodies and the paramedics were tending to my mother who had been hit in the head. Mr. McCain, who had had a heart attack, had been taken off in the ambulance. When the paramedic who was tending my mother turned his back to get more bandages, I saw her reach down and pick it up off the floor and put it in her pocket.”
“Did the police question both you and your mother?”
“Yes they did but I had been with my girlfriend and she verified that. They decided to finish questioning my mom the next day because she told them she was in a lot of pain. But she disappeared during the night.”
“One more question, Mr. Rogers. Where do you live now?”
“I’m still living in the servant’s quarters at the McCain estate.”
“So you still get alon
g with Mrs. McCain?”
“She’s like a second mother to me.” When he said this Mimi nodded her head and smiled at him.
When Mr. Crocker stood up to question Mark he had a smirk on his face. “Isn’t it true, Mr. Rogers, that Dave Beaudreau’s house was in fact a whore house, and isn’t it true that Judith McCain, who’s alias at that time was Victoria Masters, was a prostitute?”
I could feel my face turn red like it was on fire. I didn’t look at Julia or Mimi but could feel them looking at me.
“Dave is a friend of mine. I went there to a party. I didn’t sleep with anyone there.”
“But you had in the past, slept with one of Dave’s whores, isn’t that right?”
“Objection Your Honor, he’s badgering the witness and it’s not relevant why Mr. Rogers was there.”
“Objection sustained. Move on Mr. Crocker.”
Mr. Crocker went to his table and started shuffling some papers. “Are you done with this witness counselor?” the judge asked.
“No I’m not your honor. Mr. Rogers, isn’t it true that you’re Phillip McCain’s son?”
This time the judge had to hammer a long time before he got order.
“One more outburst and I will clear the courtroom. Do you want an answer to your question Mr. Crocker or were you just trying to stir things up, because I fail to see the relevance of that question.”
“Never mind your honor.”
“I’d like to redirect your honor. I just want to let the defense counselor get all the bull out of his system before I moved on.”
Everyone laughed and the judge looked like he had a hard time trying not to laugh.
“Mr. Rogers, would you tell us about the letter you found in January.”
“Objection your honor, this is supposed to be a redirect. He’s bringing up new stuff (I’m not kidding. He really did say stuff). Will I get to cross on this new information?”
“Yes you will. Mr. Graham, you need to, in the future, follow the procedures of the law.”
“I apologize, your honor. Mr. Rogers, tell us about the letter.”
“I had reached the point where I was ready to admit to myself that my mother wasn’t coming back. I had decided to do some major clearing out to make room for my own things. Most of what she had left was junk. But then I opened one box that was full of papers.
Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker Page 17