Accused

by Lisa Scottoline

  “So I think that Fiona and Lonnie were, you know, together, when she was babysitting me.”

  “How many times? Five? Ten?”

  “Five. I think she volunteered to babysit me so he could come over. And she knew him, they hugged and kissed. The night she was murdered, I think he went into the small conference room to meet her, to be together. He wouldn’t kill her. He had a major crush on her.”

  Mary tried to process the information. “She was sixteen, right?”

  “Right, and Lonnie was eighteen.”

  “Where did she go to high school?”

  “Shipwyn, in Bryn Mawr. It’s a private school. She didn’t board.”

  Mary didn’t understand why Allegra boarded when Fiona didn’t, but she let that go for now. “Did she have a boyfriend at school? Was she popular?”

  “Fiona was super popular.” Allegra brightened. “She was smart and funny and she was nice to everybody, not only the cool kids. Her school was very cliquey but she was never a mean girl, ever. All the boys were crazy about her, but she didn’t date anyone there except for Tim Gage.”

  Mary made a mental note of his name. “Do you think Tim or the kids at school knew about Lonnie?”

  “No.” Allegra shook her head, emphatically. “I don’t think anybody knows about Lonnie. Lonnie was Fiona’s secret.”

  Judy, who had been listening quietly, stepped over. “Allegra, fast-forward to after your sister’s murder. Did you tell your parents that you thought Lonnie and Fiona were seeing each other?”

  “Yes, but they didn’t believe me, and they still don’t. They think Lonnie was just one of the waiters. They don’t know that he knew Fiona.”

  “When did you tell them?”

  “After I heard that Lonnie was arrested. I knew his name, not his last name, but his first. I remember I even told the detectives, when they came to the house. I told my parents’ lawyers, too.”

  “Your parents had lawyers, then?” Judy caught herself. “Of course, they would have.”

  “Yes, totally. Mr. Patel.” Allegra permitted herself a tight smile. “My Dad is a really careful guy, and the lawyers are always around. That’s the weird thing about a family business. Like I remember when I was having a problem with one of the mean kids at school, Mr. Patel wanted to sue the parents.”

  Judy paused. “So you don’t know what happened after that, if the police investigated whether Lonnie knew Fiona.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Judy nodded. “The fact that Lonnie knew Fiona doesn’t mean that he didn’t kill her. In fact, it cuts both ways.”

  Mary didn’t say what Judy was thinking, which was that, if anything, it gave Lonnie evidence of motive, making him look guiltier.

  Allegra frowned. “I know, but I just don’t think it was him. He’s a quiet, shy guy. It’s just not him. He didn’t do it.”

  “You didn’t go to the trial, did you?”

  “No. My parents didn’t think I should. I was eight by then, but they thought I was too young.”

  “Lonnie took the stand in his own defense and he didn’t say anything about knowing Fiona, or that they were meeting that night. He said he heard a noise and that’s why he went into the small conference room.”

  Allegra pursed her lips. “I remember my parents telling me that, but I don’t understand that.”

  “Maybe it was the truth.”

  “Maybe not. That’s what I want you guys to figure out.”

  Judy turned to Mary, her eyes narrowing against the bright sun. “Sounds like we have our work cut out with that for us.”

  “Right.” Mary nodded, turning to Allegra. “To switch gears a moment, I have a question for you. Before I ask you, you understand that anything we talk about is confidential, right? That means we won’t tell your parents anything we discussed, without your approval.”

  Allegra nodded. “Yes, I understand that.”

  “You gave me a cell-phone number at our office that was different from the one your father gave me. Do you have two cell phones?”

  Allegra flushed under her fair skin, and her eyes flared slightly. “Uh, yes. I have a cell phone that my parents don’t know about.”

  “Why?”

  “So I could set up the interviews with law firms and make the phone calls I wanted to make without my parents’ seeing. I’m still on the family plan with them on the phone they gave me, and I even think that comes from the company.”

  “Okay, I get that. Obviously, I won’t say anything, and Judy and I will use your private cell phone to reach you. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes. I’ll keep it with me more. I guess I’m just not used to getting calls.”

  Mary patted her on the shoulder, on impulse. “Now, we do want to meet with your parents. It’s clear they’re not happy about your hiring us, or your going forward with your questions, but we think the best way to deal with this is to be as respectful as possible. That’s why we’d like to meet with them today and get their view of the case. You’re sure you’re fine with that?”

  “Yes, totally.”

  “Your parents want us to have this meeting without you, but I think you should be present.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Good.” Mary loved the kid’s strength. “Ready to go?”

  “Sure.”

  “Then let’s rejoin them.” Mary touched Allegra’s arm, and they all turned toward the driveway, trooped past the pool, and reached the Gardners and their lawyers, hoping to defuse the situation. “Thanks so much for waiting for us to finish. Now, maybe we can all go inside and talk a little further.”

  John stepped forward, his mouth a grim line, his eyes flinty in the sun. “We would be happy to meet with you and Judy, but we don’t think that Allegra should be present.”

  Mary was about to respond, but Allegra spoke first. “Daddy, why not? We can try to figure this out together. It’s about Fiona, not us or the lawyers. Mary and Judy are just trying to help us.”

  John shook his head. “Allegra, this is getting out of hand. Your grandfather’s money may be giving you the power to hire these lawyers, and they can do with you whatever they have the legal power to do. But I’m still your father, she’s still your mother, and this is still my home.” He gestured at Jane, whose expression was equally grim. “We still have some say in this house and on this property, and you are not permitted to be at this meeting, as long as it’s here.”

  “Daddy, really?” Allegra sounded disappointed, but John ignored her, turning to Mary and Judy.

  “Ladies, if you want to meet with my wife and me on this property, you will do so without my daughter present. Otherwise, we can set the meeting for another day at your office, and my wife and I will consider whether we want to attend.”

  Mary read between the lines. If she insisted on having the meeting here with Allegra, she’d never get the meeting at all. She had no legal grounds to compel the Gardners to meet with her, especially if they were going to go with the my-house-my-rules routine, which had served fathers from the beginning of time, even her own, when she really wanted a pony for Christmas.

  Neil Patel stood next to John Gardner. “From now on, I am representing John and Jane Gardner, and all of your communications regarding any putative meetings should be addressed to me.” Patel slid his hand inside his jacket pocket, extracted a leather wallet, flipped it open, and took out a business card, which he handed to Mary. “Am I making myself clear? You may no longer communicate with Allegra’s parents except through me.”

  “Daddy,” Allegra said, her tone softer. “It’s more important to me that you and Mom meet with Mary and Judy, than I be there. So go have your meeting without me. I’ll go set up my hives.” She turned and walked away without another word, and Mary looked at Judy, both of them thinking the same thing:

  Who’s supposed to be the adult again?

  Chapter Ten

  Mary and Judy sat on a forest-green leather couch across from a mahogany coffee table from Jane and John
Gardner, with Neil Patel sitting off to the side, in a matching leather club chair. They met in a large, paneled room with a separate entrance around the back of the house, like a home conference room, lined with bookshelves of leather-bound books that looked collected, if not read. Brocade curtains framed the Palladian windows, but wooden blinds forced the sun to struggle through bare slats, darkening the room. The other two company lawyers had scurried off, and there was no lemonade or cookies in sight, since Mary and Judy had behaved too badly for treats.

  “Let’s begin.” John crossed his legs in his khaki shorts, his manner relaxed and in control. “You came here to meet with us, so perhaps you would like to tell us why.”

  “Yes, well, first let me reiterate that we know the situation is difficult for you.” Mary slid a fresh legal pad and pen from her oversized purse, while Judy did the same. “We extend to you our sympathies on the loss of your daughter Fiona.”

  “Thank you,” John answered, and the firmness of his tone suggested that he was going to be doing the talking for his wife. “By the way, we are recording this meeting. I’m sure you have no problem with that.”

  “Feel free.” Mary glanced at Judy, then she paused, confused. “Do you want us to wait while you get your handheld or tape recorder?”

  “There’s no need to.”

  “Oh.” Mary guessed he meant the room was wired, which was straight-up freaky. She wondered where the microphones were, and if they had them outside too, strapped to the chickens. “As I was saying, Allegra came to us because she does not believe that Lonnie Stall killed Fiona. She asked us to investigate the case, and you should understand that we do not intend to interfere in your personal family business.”

  “And how precisely do you intend to avoid doing that?”

  “An easy way to think about this is to think of us as appellate counsel—”

  “That’s not so easy for us, because we don’t wish to see this matter appealed, in any way, shape, or form. We know that Lonnie Stall is guilty of murdering our daughter in cold blood, in my very own offices. He’s in prison, which is exactly where he belongs.” John lifted an eyebrow. “Now what were you saying is easy?”

  “Forgive me if I seem glib, because I don’t feel that way.” Mary swallowed hard. “We are charged with investigating the murder and the trial, to determine if the result was correct. While that may not be what you wish, it is what our client wishes, and my point is that it should not involve your family at all. We have already begun to review the trial transcript and the evidence in the case—”

  “Let me interrupt you. Allegra told you that Fiona was having a relationship with Lonnie Stall, correct?”

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss with you what she told me, because that’s privileged.”

  John sighed audibly. “There’s a lot about Allegra you don’t know, and none of it should be your business, except that she has made it so by hiring you.”

  Mary couldn’t miss the angry edge to his tone.

  Jane cleared her throat quietly, and John glanced at his wife, then continued. “We love our daughter, both of our daughters, very deeply, and except for this issue, we get along very well. I’m not the big, bad, scary businessman that you imagine me to be, and my wife is a wonderful mother. But you cannot begin to understand the repercussions that a violent crime like murder has on a family.”

  “Yes, I can.” Mary hesitated, then went ahead. “My husband was murdered many years ago, and I will never be the same, nor will my family.”

  “I’m sorry, and I stand corrected.” John’s cool gaze shifted sideways to Neil Patel, and Mary could read his look. Patel should have briefed him before the meeting and he’d get no lemonade or cookies, either.

  Jane interjected, “My condolences. That must have been very difficult for you.”

  John nodded. “Then you will know exactly how painful this is for us, to relive the murder of our daughter. Like you, we will never be over it, nor will we be the same as a family. But the conviction did give us some closure, which is now in question.”

  Mary wanted to reason with him. “But you don’t want Stall in jail if he’s an innocent man.”

  “Of course not, but he’s guilty. Let me give you some background, which may provide you some additional perspective.” John cleared his throat. “Allegra was a wonderful surprise to us, coming along late in our life. She was a sweet, quiet child and showed an amazing intellectual ability even at a young age.” John smiled slightly, looking over at his wife. “Jane could tell you the stories as a loving mother, but suffice it to say that at an early age, Allegra tested at a genius level. Her IQ is confidential, but I will tell you that she required all manner of gifted courses and excelled at them. She has unique reasoning abilities and uncanny powers of observation. She is lucky in many, many ways. Blessed, really.”

  Mary listened, taking only a few notes, knowing that Judy would pick up what she didn’t.

  “You may remember seeing a news item about Allegra, right before the murder. She was at recess in first grade, and she happened to notice that the mulch on the playground was lifting slightly upward.”

  Mary didn’t know where he was going with the story.

  “She couldn’t have known the scientific principles, but she deduced correctly that a vacuum was being created in the sky. She looked up but it was cloudy, so she ran to the teacher’s aide and told her there was something wrong with the sky and that the children had to leave the playground. The aide panicked and got everybody inside. Only a few minutes later, a helicopter and a small plane fell through the cloud cover onto the playground, crashing and burning.”

  Mary gasped. “My God.”

  “The pilots and passengers of both aircraft were killed, but no students were, because of Allegra. Of course, the media got involved, and they dubbed her the Girl Genius.”

  Mary began to remember reading something about it in the newspaper.

  Judy looked up from her notes, wide-eyed. “That’s amazing, but what created the vacuum? Why did the mulch lift upward?”

  “The helicopter and the small plane had flown close to each other, because the helicopter was examining the landing gear of the plane, which was evidently stuck, not coming down when the plane had tried to land at the airstrip. I’m no scientist, but from what I understand, a vacuum was created that pulled the two aircraft into each other and also caused a mild disturbance on the ground, which Allegra spotted, as she would. Even as a toddler, she didn’t miss a trick.” John glanced over at his wife and patted her leg with a smile. “We could tell them stories, right, honey?”

  “We sure could.” Jane smiled back, placing her hand over her husband’s, with a little pat.

  John continued, “You would think the attention at school would be positive, but kids aren’t like that. It turned to bullying and teasing. Her genius-level IQ became a target for some very cruel behavior. We date Allegra’s emotional troubles from then, and they were only compounded two months later, when Fiona was murdered. Allegra was in mourning, but she began to exhibit behaviors that we felt would benefit from a therapist. She was diagnosed with situational depression, and the therapist thought she would recover more easily in a different school, out of the area. We enrolled her in boarding school, where we hoped she would recover, in time, under the care of a private therapist.”

  Jane nodded. “We didn’t want her to go, we loved having her with us, but the bullying was too intense. We couldn’t move because of John’s businesses, so it made sense to send her away. Still, we missed her.”

  Mary’s heart went out to them both. It’s sounded like a nightmare, as if they’d lost both of their daughters in one fell swoop.

  John continued, “However, Allegra’s grief over her sister’s murder seemed to migrate to a preoccupation with the murder case itself, the testimony, and the witnesses, even the exhibits.”

  Mary shuddered. She had seen that before, sometimes in medical malpractice cases, when a client found it easier to transfer
their anger at losing a loved one onto a lawsuit.

  “Allegra is simply obsessed with the case. For example, she has studied the trial transcripts and can recite entire passages to you, by memory.”

  Mary tried not to show her alarm. “I didn’t know she had the file.”

  “She does, it’s public record, and she obtained it herself. Over the years, and despite various types of medication, Allegra has only become more convinced that she and she alone knows the truth about Fiona’s murder. She believes the delusion that Fiona and Lonnie Stall engaged in a love relationship, which if you read the trial transcript, he himself did not claim on the stand, and we know to be untrue.”

  Mary tried to process the information. “How do you know that’s delusional? Why don’t you think it’s true?”

  “She undoubtedly told you that Lonnie and Fiona met when Fiona was babysitting, but we never asked Fiona to babysit her baby sister. Not once, ever.”

  Mary didn’t get it, but John wouldn’t have any reason to lie. “So if she told me that, you believe she made that up?”

  “Not consciously. She believes it, but it’s not true. Professionals whom we have consulted have suggested that her native ability to focus and concentrate are part-and-parcel with an obsessiveness that you have already seen with her, whether it’s her beekeeping or any of her other interests, about which I’m sure you will hear.”

  Mary tried to keep an open mind, but she didn’t know if he was being fair to Allegra.

  “We believe, and Allegra has been diagnosed more recently as having a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder that relates to thought processes, like ruminative thinking. She thinks obsessively about the murder trial, and one therapist has even identified it as a justice obsession syndrome, with cases observed in Sweden, Germany, and other places around the world. I can send you the article if you like.”

  “Please do,” Mary said, shaken.

  “So, you understand, that while Allegra is blessed with preternatural intelligence, she also suffers as well. The proverbial blessing and curse.”