Heartstone

by Phillip Margolin

“Bobby was just punching, you know, with his hands. But Billy had a knife.”

  “What kind of knife?”

  “A switchblade knife.”

  “Had you seen that knife before?”

  “Sure. We all had. Billy was always bragging with it how…”

  “Objection. Hearsay,” Mark Shaeffer said.

  “Your Honor, we are not introducing these statements to prove the truth of the contents. We are trying to show that the defendant’s brother used this knife on occasion.”

  “That’s not admissible, Your Honor. Other incidents may have occurred. We are talking about one alleged incident.”

  “Yes, Mr. Heider. Let’s keep this to the events of that evening,” the judge ruled.

  “Very well. When he was fighting with the knife, did Billy say anything?”

  “He…he said he would cut one of the boys.”

  “How did the fight end?”

  “Some boys had Bobby down and Billy was waving the knife and Billy said to let Bobby up and we would go and they did.”

  “When they left the party, how did Bobby and Billy act?”

  “Bobby was pretty calm. He acted like he was just glad to get out. But Billy was furious. He was yelling about rich kids and such and when I said he had started it, he stopped the car and said how he would hit me and how the rich kids were worthless. I don’t know the exact words.”

  “He was angry?”

  “Very angry.”

  “Where did you go from there?”

  “We drove around and then Billy went into an all-night grocery and stole some wine. Then we went near a school and drank it and I got pretty drunk.”

  “How much did you have to drink?”

  “I don’t know. But it was a lot. I was sick when I came home.”

  “What did you do after you drank the wine?”

  Esther hesitated.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, did you hear the question?” the judge asked.

  “We drove downtown.”

  “Did you drive on Monroe Boulevard?”

  “Objection, Your Honor. Counsel is leading the witness.”

  “Yes, Mr. Heider, I will sustain Mr. Shaeffer’s objection.”

  “Tell the jury what happened downtown.”

  “We drove around downtown for a while. All the movies were letting out and there were crowds on the sidewalks and plenty of cars in the street just showing off or driving around.

  “Then I said I wasn’t feeling well ’cause of the wine and Bobby said they should take me home. We drove up Monroe Boulevard. We came to a light and there was a car there with a boy and a girl in it and Billy said he knew the girl. He pulled alongside and raced his engine and the light changed and we started racing.”

  “Did you see who was in the car you were racing?”

  “No. Not then.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Well, Bobby had got in the back with me and he was, uh, he tried to, uh, you know, make out, and I was making out too, even though I wasn’t feeling so well. Then when the race started, it was real quick and I got scared and wouldn’t look.”

  “What happened then?”

  “Billy drove too close and we bumped them. Then the other car bumped us back and we spun around. I screamed, but Billy got the car under control and we stopped.”

  “How did Billy and Bobby feel about the other car making you spin out?”

  “They were very mad. They said they should get them and they drove very fast in the direction the other car had went.”

  “Did they find the other car?”

  “Not at first. At first they went too far up Monroe and there was no sight of them. Then Bobby said he bet they were in the park and we drove back there.”

  “What park is that?”

  “Lookout Park. We drove around, but we couldn’t find them. Then I saw the car in the meadow.”

  “Police officers have driven you to the meadow where the body of Richie Walters was found, have they not?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you were shown the car in which his body was found, were you not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was the meadow where you saw the car the meadow where Richie Walters’s body was found?”

  “Yes.”

  “And was the car you saw Richie Walters’s car?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened then?”

  Esther took another sip from her glass of water. She could feel Bobby’s eyes on her and she felt her head turning toward the defense table. She had expected to see fear or anger in Bobby’s eyes. Instead, she saw nothing in them. It was as if he was looking past her at some scene she could not see.

  “Billy drove the car onto the meadow and behind the other car and the car door on the driver’s side of the other…of Richie’s car opened and Richie got out.”

  “Could you see that it was Richie?”

  “I think it was. I couldn’t see real well, ’cause it was dark.”

  “What happened then?”

  “They were yelling and all of a sudden Billy hit the boy and Bobby crawled out of the back seat and ran around the car.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I got out to watch.”

  “Were you frightened?”

  “No. Not really. I thought they would just beat him up. I’d seen Billy do that and other fights before.”

  “What happened then?”

  Esther felt suddenly dizzy and nauseous.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, are you all right?” Judge Samuels asked.

  “I’m just…If I could have some more water.”

  “Would you like us to take a recess?” the judge asked. She shook her head. She didn’t know why, because she suddenly felt that she could not remain in the courtroom any longer. Yet she was equally afraid to move. She wished that Roy was there. If she could only see him…

  The clerk handed her back her glass. She took a drink and sat back.

  “I’m okay, now,” she heard herself say. It sounded like someone else’s voice.

  “What happened after you got out of the car?”

  “They hit him a few times and he fell down. Richie fell down. And they kept hitting him.”

  “Did you see them hit Richie with any object?”

  “I don’t know…remember if…I wasn’t paying attention, because I was looking at the girl in the car.”

  “The girl?”

  “The light was on in the car because the door hadn’t closed and you could see inside. And while they were fighting there wasn’t…It didn’t look like there was anyone else in the car. Then this girl sat up and Billy saw her and Billy and Bobby raced around the car and I walked over to where the boy was lying.”

  “Did you look at the boy?”

  She could feel the tears now and she could feel the pain in her throat when she tried to talk. She could not speak. She could only cry.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, I know this is difficult for you, but we must know. This jury must know. What did you see when you looked at that boy lying in the grass in that meadow on the evening of November 25, 1960.”

  “He had no face,” she heard herself scream. “He had no face.”

  They had to recess before she could go on. Mr. Heider and Roy sat with her in a small room next to the courtroom and Roy spoke to her in a soothing voice. She wanted to die. She told them she could never go back in there with all those people staring at her, after making such a fool of herself. They told her everything was all right and she cringed and folded up inside. In the end, she agreed to go on.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, after you saw Richie lying in the grass, what did you do?”

  “I guess I ran away. Just kept running down the hill.”

  “And where did you end up?”

  “At first, in a backyard. I ran into it and these dogs started barking and ran out at me. I ran out of the backyard and out onto the highway.”

  “Which highway is this?”

  “Monroe Boulevard.”

  “
What happened then?”

  “I started walking and every time a car would come by I would jump in the bushes so they wouldn’t see me. Eventually I felt that I couldn’t walk all the way home and that I would have to take a ride. So, when I saw lights coming I got out of the bushes and walked out and a car stopped and it was them.”

  “Who?”

  “Billy and Bobby and the girl.”

  “What girl?”

  “Elaine Murray.”

  “How do you know it was Elaine Murray?”

  “Well, I knew her from school. She was very popular.”

  “Tell us what you observed at that time.”

  “Bobby was driving and Elaine was in the back with Billy. He had her by her arms and around her shoulders and she looked, I don’t know, dazed.”

  “Did she say anything or try to get away?”

  “No.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “They just dropped me by my house. In the street.”

  “Did they say anything to you?”

  “No. Just dropped me.”

  “And did you see the Coolidges again after that?”

  “Not much. They were in an accident shortly after and in the hospital and there was the vacations and my mother said I couldn’t hang around with that crowd no more, because I was drunk and sick when I came home.”

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, did you lose anything on the evening of November 25, 1960?”

  “Yes. My glasses, a lighter and a blue rat-tail comb.”

  Heider handed Esther a plastic bag containing a pair of woman’s glasses, a blue rat-tail comb and a cigarette lighter.

  “I hand you what have previously been marked as State’s Exhibits 35, 36 and 37 and I ask you if you recognize these items?”

  “Yes. I lost these that night.”

  “Now you were contacted by the police regarding these items shortly after the murder of Richie Walters, were you not?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you tell the police about the glasses?”

  “I told them I lost them three months before they came.”

  “Why did you tell them that?”

  “I believed it.”

  “All right. Now, you have testified that you dated a Roger Hessey in 1960.”

  “Yes.”

  “And can you tell us about an occasion that occurred between you and Mr. Hessey shortly before the Walters murder in 1960.”

  “Yes. We went to a movie and up to the meadow to make out. It was where everyone would go, you know. And I was mad because he was dating some other girl and I found out, so I wouldn’t kiss him and I ran out of the car and he caught me and slapped my glasses off my face.”

  “What happened then?”

  “Well, I got the glasses and he drove me home.”

  “Did you have several meetings with Dr. Arthur Hollander during which you were hypnotized and, sometimes, put under the influence of sodium amytal?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many meetings were there?”

  “Gee, I…Several. More than ten, I know.”

  “Prior to these meetings did you recall what you have told us today?”

  “No, I did not.”

  “And today, when you related what happened on November 25, 1960, was that from your own independent memory?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “No further questions.”

  Mark checked over his notes from the tapes and transcript and made sure that the other documents that he would use during cross-examination were in order. They had dressed up Esther, so she looked like a secretary or a schoolteacher. Respectable. But nervous. Very nervous.

  He had spent considerable time going over the transcript of the hypnosis sessions. When he heard her, the doctor and Shindler speaking the words he had read, it reinforced the clinical explanation that Dr. Paris had given for Esther’s testimony. She was lying or brainwashed and he had to make the jury see that.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, I have tried on two occasions to speak to you about this case, have I not?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you refused to discuss the case with me on both of those occasions, isn’t that true?”

  Esther looked down at her hands.

  “You slammed the door in my face on one of those occasions, didn’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, we’ll discuss this case now, won’t we? Is it your story that after drinking the stolen wine, you became drunk and did not feel well?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you went cruising downtown and then asked the Coolidges to take you home?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the Coolidge brothers drove from the downtown area of Portsmouth to Monroe Boulevard, so that they could drive you home?”

  “Yes.”

  Mark stood up and carried a map of Portsmouth to an easel that stood next to the witness stand.

  “Monroe Boulevard is not the shortest route to your house from downtown Portsmouth, is it?” Mark asked.

  Esther stared at the map, then at Mark.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Well, why don’t you look at the map and tell the jury what route you usually took home from downtown.”

  “I don’t think I took any route like that.”

  “You don’t, Mrs. Pegalosi? That’s interesting,” Mark said, returning to counsel table and picking up an index card from the top of a stack.

  “Do you remember being asked this series of questions on Tape Number 5 and giving these answers:

  Question: Then you go cruising downtown, don’t you?

  Answer: I think so.

  Question: And you are on Monroe now. Can you see Monroe?

  Answer: I can see Monroe, but I’m not…I don’t remember if…

  Question: But you had to go on Monroe to get home, didn’t you?

  Answer: No. Usually I would go on Marshall Road from downtown.

  “I don’t remember that.”

  “Would you like me to play that tape for you?”

  “No, I…”

  “Is it not a fact, Mrs. Pegalosi, that the normal way, the usual way, for you to go home from downtown Portsmouth in 1960 was Marshall Road?”

  “I guess so.”

  “And is it not true that you repeatedly told Dr. Hollander that you could not remember being on Monroe Boulevard that evening?”

  “That was before…”

  “Before they brainwashed you into believing you were on Monroe?”

  Heider was on his feet, objecting.

  “I withdraw the question, Your Honor,” Mark said and returned to counsel table.

  “Is it your testimony that you lost your glasses and your lighter and your comb on the evening of November 25, 1960?”

  “Yes.”

  Mark selected a police report from the top of a stack and turned to one of the pages in it.

  “During the second week of January, 1961, do you remember being visited by two police detectives, Roy Shindler and Harvey Marcus?”

  “I can’t remember the exact date, but they did visit. Mr. Shindler came more than once.”

  “I am talking about the first occasion. This was at your home and your mother was present.”

  “I remember that.”

  “Do you remember telling those officers that the glasses had been stolen from you three months before?”

  “I said that, but…”

  “Just answer the question, please.”

  “Yes.”

  “And three months before the second week in January would be right around the time that Roger Hessey slapped those glasses off, not the date of Richie Walters’s murder, wouldn’t it?”

  “I said that because…”

  “Your Honor,” Mark said, “would you please instruct the witness to answer my questions.”

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, you must answer Mr. Shaeffer,” Judge Samuels said.

  Esther glanced at the spectators. They were silent, staring at her, accusingly.
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br />   “I guess so. I didn’t count.”

  “On direct examination by Mr. Heider, you said that you told the police the glasses had been stolen because you believed that was the truth.”

  “Yes.”

  “And when did you stop believing that?”

  “After I realized that I had information to give.”

  “And when was that, Mrs. Pegalosi?”

  “After…When I met with Dr. Hollander and I began to see that…I began to know the truth.”

  “Was it the truth that you were telling during the sessions you had with Dr. Hollander?”

  “Yes.”

  Mark selected another index card and read it while Esther waited. She was perspiring and she could feel the droplets on her brow. Her stomach was churning and the tension was making her lightheaded. She tried to imagine Dr. Hollander’s fingers on her wrist, his soothing voice. She had to relax.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, do you recall these statements on Tape Number 8?

  Question: Do you recall telling me about Monroe Boulevard and Lookout Park?

  Answer: Uh-huh. I probably lied.

  Question: You probably lied to me?

  Answer: Could I have lied about what I said?

  Question: I doubt it.

  Esther licked her lips again and looked over at Mr. Heider. Heider was leaning back in his chair with a bored look. He had told her that he would not give her support during cross-examination, because the jury might interpret it as coaching, but she needed support and wished that he would break the rule, just once.

  “Mrs. Pegalosi, I asked you if you remembered that sequence of questions and answers.”

  “I don’t remember that exactly.”

  “I see. How about this one? This is from Tape Number 10.

  Question: Where did they go?

  Answer: Into Lookout Park.

  Question: You went into the park?

  Answer: It seems like it. It couldn’t be my imagination.

  Question: No. You’re doing fine. Your memory is working better than it ever has. What happened next?

  Answer: We…I saw the car.

  Question: The car you were dragging with?

  Answer: Are you sure that I’m not just remembering this because I want to get it over with and I’m not really remembering it?

  “I don’t recall that.”

  “You don’t? Would you like me to play the tape for you?”

  “No. It’s just that…When you are under it…The drug makes you dreamy and it’s hard to remember what you said.”