One of the jury members gasps in shock. That is a fairly damning statement when it is said only one hour before the murder.
“And by ‘old bat’ do you believe that Anna was referring to her aunt, Jessica Lempare?”
“That’s correct, yes. We were talking about Anna’s relationship with her aunt, and Anna was talking about the scenarios with the estate.”
“Did Anna say anything else that might be of interest?”
“She said that she was sick of listening to her aunt. I know what Anna meant because Jessica had very strong opinions about life. Once Jessica started talking about her opinions, it was hard to stop her. But I thought Anna was just talking casually. I mean, if I knew what she was going to do, then I would have stopped her.”
“Objection,” Bill jumps in.
“Sustained.” Judge Wilmot doesn’t need an explanation for the defense objection. “Mr. Morgan, you’re required to stick to the facts when it comes to your testimony. Please don’t make assumptions in this courtroom.”
“Yes, Your Honor. Sorry, Your Honor,” Bud replies meekly. His respect for the chain of authority is still obvious.
“Thank you, Mr. Morgan. No further questions, Your Honor.”
Valentine smiles.
She thinks the testimony is a win for her, but Bill Harvey has other plans.
CHAPTER 21
Bill Harvey focuses on the list on the front page of his notepad. Bud Morgan is one of his four suspects, and he desperately hopes that he doesn’t make it to the last name on his list.
While Bill reviews his notes, Bud sits on the stand, looking down at his hands.
This is Bill’s moment to pounce.
His chance.
This man could hold the key to proving Anna’s innocence, and Bill doesn’t care if he has to tear him apart to prove it.
“Tell me, Mr. Morgan,” Bill begins, still seated. “What was your relationship with Jessica Lempare like?”
“I would consider her a friend.” Bud shakes his head. For a man who has seen a lot of death, he still struggles with the event. “I mean, I did consider her a friend.”
“However, you have just stated that she was ‘very frustrating’ and that you ‘tried to avoid her sometimes’?”
“Yes. Sometimes, she was hard to deal with. She could be very hard to deal with sometimes. There is nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is perfect. But despite our differences, I had respect for her. She had a lot of respect for veterans, and I appreciated that.”
“Did you ever hit her?”
“Sorry?”
“Mr. Morgan, I’m asking you if you ever hit Jessica Lempare. Can you please answer that question?” Bill asks while pulling out two pieces of paper from his briefcase. He holds the pieces of paper up just long enough for Bud to look at them.
“No…” Bud shakes his head.
“Really, Mr. Morgan? Because I have a police report here, dated only five years ago, that states what you’re saying isn’t entirely true.”
“There were no charges laid,” Bud defends himself. “The police didn’t press charges. I didn’t have a criminal conviction recorded against me, so you can’t use that.”
“Did you hit her?” Bill asks again.
“She didn’t press charges!” Bud snaps.
Bill opens his eyes like he’s shocked by the outburst, but he isn’t at all. This is what he was playing for.
The act is only for the jury members.
With a glance to his left, he sees the surprise on an old lady’s face in the jury.
Well played, Bill, he thinks to himself. Men like Bud Morgan are ticking time bombs. All Bill needed to do was push the right combination of buttons.
Bud Morgan holds his emotions inside, letting the negative emotions bubble and boil away for years. For Bud Morgan, emotions are to be avoided at all costs.
But this intense build-up of feelings only needs to be touched softly for the pain to explode.
“Why don’t you tell us what happened, Mr. Morgan?”
“Nothing happened! That’s what I just said! There were no charges laid against me. There is nothing to tell. There were no charges laid against anyone at any time.”
“Interesting…” Bill returns to his desk, ruffling through his papers. “Because I have a statement here from Jessica Lempare to the police about that incident. Your Honor, I would like to present this statement as evidence to the court.”
Bill passes the statement to Judge Wilmot, who glances his eyes over the paper, and then nods his approval.
“It’s not true. Nothing happened.”
“The statement says that you hit her.” Bill hands copies of the paper to the prosecution table, and then to the jurors.
“That’s not true…”
“Isn’t it? Her statement says that it isn’t the first time you hit her. Her statement says that you hit her repeatedly over a number of years. The incident that led to this statement was the worst. You hit her three times, leaving her with a brutal black eye.”
Bud doesn’t reply.
Picking up the police photos off the table, Bill circulates the report and photos to the Judge, Miss Valentine, and the jury. They all recoil in disgust as they view the pictures of Jessica Lempare’s blackened eye.
“Did you hit her, Mr. Morgan?”
“There were no charges laid,” he whispers his response, still avoiding eye contact.
“That wasn’t my question, Mr. Morgan. My question was if you physically struck Jessica Lempare. You haven’t told us what happened that day.”
“She fell.”
“After you hit her?” Bill can tell that his line of questioning is starting to grate Bud Morgan and he’s playing right into his hands. Bill’s approach is a textbook character attack, and he’s going to keep prodding until he gets the result that he wants.
“There were no charges laid against me. I have never been charged with hitting anyone.”
“But that is also not entirely accurate, is it, Mr. Morgan?”
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I have never been charged with any criminal offense in my life. You can check my police file. It should all be there – or not there – because there is nothing to find. You can’t just start accusing me of criminal behavior when I’m not a criminal. I have never been charged with anything criminal in my life.”
“If I check your police file, I won’t find any criminal charges. That is correct, Mr. Morgan.” Bill takes a long pause and looks over the papers on his desk. “But why don’t you tell the court why you were discharged from the army?”
Bud’s face goes pale.
“Mr. Morgan?” Bill questions.
He doesn’t answer.
“Is it true that you were discharged from the army because you hit a female nurse across the face? She was trying to help you, Mr. Morgan, and you hit her.”
Bud looks at his hands as his darkest moment is revealed to the court.
The pain of his most humiliating moment is being relived. Bud Morgan has suppressed that memory for as long as he can, but he can no longer avoid it.
“You see things in war…” he mutters. “Things that people should never have to see. I didn’t… I didn’t have control…”
Bill’s heart sinks for him. The men and women that serve their country have his utmost respect. “Go on.”
“I couldn’t help the way I reacted. I had just seen… children… women…” His eyes glaze over, looking to a far away place. “I saw things that weren’t right. I was in shock. And this nurse… I didn’t mean to hit her. I didn’t mean to do that. It was just how my body reacted. I couldn’t control it. Something inside of me snapped.”
“Is that what happened when you hit Jessica?” Bill asks softly.
“Jessica?” he questions. “No. I spent a lot of time with Norman Chester, Anna’s grandfather. He was the first one who helped me. He introduced me to other men that had been through the same thing. It was sort of like an unofficial
support group. That is why I started the Recovering Veterans charity. I wanted to help people the way that Norman helped me. I would be dead if it weren’t for Norman. That’s when I first met Frank Matthews as well. He helped me too. He was a part of that support group. I spent years in therapy trying to recover from the shock. I recovered from my post-traumatic stress disorder with their help, both Frank and Norman, and my support group.”
“You recovered?”
“Yes. I owe those men everything. I would be dead if it weren’t for them. Sometimes I get angry, but they are always there for me. I owe them everything and I would do anything for them. Anything. That’s who I was having a drink with the afternoon that I saw Anna in the bar, my support group. They are my support network. Without them, I would be nothing.”
A thought grows in Bill’s head, and he stalls for a moment, letting the thought develop.
“Was Frank Matthews at the bar that night?”
“Yes. He’s one of my strongest supporters.”
Bill Harvey’s mind races back to his conversation with Jessica Lempare.
“Did you serve with Frank Matthews?”
“No. He served at a different time.”
“Did anyone in your support group serve with Frank Matthews?”
Bud looks at Bill confused. “No, I don’t think so.”
“And who is set to gain the most from the passing of Jessica Lempare?” Bill becomes lost in his own thoughts.
“Anna. She’ll receive half the funds, and the Recovering Veterans charity will receive the other half,” Bud states, a little confused. “And her ex-partner, Frank Matthews, inherited what little she had.”
As Bill stands in the courtroom, staring at the respected veteran, he has a moment of clarity.
Bud is innocent. He has no doubt of that now.
But that reduces his list of killer options…
CHAPTER 22
Bill Harvey quietly sits down behind his table, his mind a blur of connecting thoughts. He gazes into the distance; barely hearing Judge Wilmot call to adjourn the court for the evening.
“Bill.” Investigator Jack Grayson taps him on the shoulder as the crowd starts to file out from the courtroom. “Bill?”
“Jack…” Bill slowly turns around. “I need you to do something for me.”
“What’s going on?” Anna asks with a desperate tone in her voice.
He looks across to Joanne Valentine’s table and sees that they are all listening intently to Bill Harvey’s next move. He offers Valentine a smile, gathers his files, puts them into his briefcase, and stands up proudly.
Valentine offers a smile back to him. “Bill Harvey, you’re the only man I know that could take on this case, and still look confident. But I must say that your confidence is misplaced. You can’t win the case from here. If your client would like to negotiate a deal, then we can still listen.”
Valentine closes her laptop before sliding the thin computer into her bag.
“That is the difference between you and me, Joanne.”
“What’s that?” Valentine asks, confused by his statement.
“You rely on the punching of a keyboard to guide your case. Your case is built on formality and process. Our case is not. Our case is built on intuitive feeling. You won’t see a computer on my desk. You’ll see handwritten notes that encourage thought, rather than typed words that follow a process.”
Valentine sighs. “Each to their own, Bill. Regardless, intuition won’t get you out of this corner.”
Turning back to Anna, Bill smiles. He leans closer to her, whispering, “It isn’t time to run yet, Anna. Go home and rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.”
She nods, having complete faith in the man defending her. His resilient confidence soothes her nerves.
Nodding for Jack Grayson to follow him out the door of the courtroom, Bill stops after they have left the room and reached a quiet corner of the courthouse. When the passing crowd has moved by, and he’s left alone with Jack, he turns to him, looking him in the eye.
“Your play didn’t go to plan,” Jack states. “You made Bud look even more innocent than he already is. The jury is going to have no choice but to find Anna guilty at the end of this case. Right now, it looks like she’s going away for a very long time.”
“And if she’s guilty of murdering her aunt, then that is justice,” Bill replies. “She deserves to go to prison if she has committed a murder.”
“But it’s not exactly doing the best thing for your client.”
“Maybe,” Bill says. “And maybe it is. If she did kill her aunt, then prison will teach her to control her anger. Prison may rehabilitate her before she kills someone else with that rage.”
“Do you really think she’s guilty?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m quickly running out of options.”
Jack spots the prosecution team walking close by and stalls their conversation as they pass. The prosecution team unconsciously lean closer to Jack, trying to listen in to any hint they can gather. Although they are in front regarding the case, they are wary of Bill’s reputation.
Once they have passed through the corridor, Jack returns his attention to Bill. “How many options do you have left?”
“Two.” Bill Harvey thinks about the days ahead. “And I don’t want to get to the last option.”
“I guess your last option is Anna. If you look at all the evidence, then it does point to Anna. She was there at the murder scene, she was angry, and she had the motive to strangle her aunt. If we step back and look at the bigger picture, then she does look guilty.”
“None of that proves her guilt, Jack. It makes it more likely that she’s guilty, but none of it proves that she killed her aunt. None of the evidence is definitive in saying that Anna is the one who is guilty. All we have to do is say that it is reasonable that someone else could have been there. Of course, that job is made easier if we can present someone as another reasonable choice.”
“We have already lost two of the reasonable choices. So, who is left as a reasonable choice?”
“Jack,” Bill states firmly. “I want you to find out everything that you know about Frank Matthews.”
“Frank Matthews? I’ve already gathered information about Frank. It’s all in the file. He’s a respected veteran, a former boyfriend of Jessica Lempare, and he works for the charity. He’s connected to this case in many ways, but none of that makes him a reasonable suspect.”
“And thank you for compiling that file, Jack. It was exactly what I asked for at the time. But it’s all surface information. There was something about Frank Matthews that didn’t sit well with me when I first met him. There seemed to be something bubbling under the surface of his personality.”
“What am I looking for?”
“Anything suspicious. There was something about him that set alarm bells ringing the first time we met. I think he’s hiding something. And I think that he was trying to control Jessica – to make sure that the will never went to Anna. I’m not sure why he would be doing that, but I think that if we figure it out, then we might give ourselves a stronger chance in this case.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Bill, but some of the jury members reacted really well to Bud’s statement. They obviously have a lot of respect for Bud and his war history. Frank Matthews would be the same. He’s another respected veteran, Bill.”
“There was something about the way Frank avoided my question about the war… If I didn’t know better, I would say that he was lying.”
“Are you saying that he was lying about being a veteran?”
“I’m not sure what he was lying about. But when I asked Frank about the Gulf War, he had some of the tell-tale signs of lying. There were two key indicators that he did when I asked him about the war. One: he tried to dissipate some of the anxiety by grooming his immediate surrounds, and two: he had a very typical hand-to-face activity that indicated a lie.”
“I’ll look into it, Bill.” Jack nods. “And remi
nd me to never lie around you.”
“You’re like an open book, Jack. I don’t have to look that hard to know when you’re lying.” Bill winks. “But sometimes it’s best to leave the little lies alone.”
Jack laughs. “I’ll dig a bit deeper into Frank Matthews’ past and see what I turn up. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to the Recovering Veterans office and having a chat with the man himself.”
“This man could be a killer, Jack. If he killed for the sake of that estate, then I’m sure that he could kill again. Would you like me to come with you?”
“I’m a big boy, Jack. I can look after myself.”
“I know you can.” Jack pats his friend on the shoulder. “But my worry is that you seem to find trouble wherever you go.”
“I always do my best to avoid trouble,” Bill says with a cheeky grin.
Yet both men know that his statement is far from the truth.
Trouble is a fundamental part of Bill Harvey’s life.
CHAPTER 23
The drive to the charity office is quick, giving Bill little time to overthink the situation. Bill prefers it that way.
When given the chance, he can think about the same situation one hundred times, running over the possibilities time and time again. When Bill Harvey went on his first date as an eighteen-year-old, he wrote down every possible outcome he could imagine. Despite the sixty-four pages of detailed notes, he didn’t plan that his blind date would be the daughter of a well-known gang leader. From that day forward, he has tried to control his need for overthinking.
When he walks into the entrance of the Recovering Veterans charity office, the secretary sends him straight through to see Frank in the main office.
As Bill opens the tall glass door, he sees that Frank is seated behind the large corporate desk. He’s hunched over, squinting at the documents, desperately trying to read the words.
“Acting CEO today Frank?” Bill quips as he walks into the spacious, clean office.
Frank Matthews looks up from the paperwork in front of him. The air in the office is cold, but with no blinds on the floor-to-ceiling windows, the cooling cost runs through the roof.
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