“Okay.” Judy nodded, and Mary put her hand over Judy’s.
Roger paused thoughtfully. “The conventional choice would be to hire the biggest, baddest, defense counsel in the city, with the most experience in murder cases.”
Bennie interjected, “That was my first thought, I admit. Go in, guns blazing, and back them down.”
Roger ignored her. “But I have persuaded Bennie that that would send the wrong message to the police and to the press. It raises the stakes, ups the ante, and a variety of other clichés I’ll allow you to supply. It also suggests that we’re taking this investigation too seriously. Which in turn implies that Judy may be guilty, which is absurd.”
“Of course it is,” Bennie interjected again.
“Judy, your second choice would be to have Bennie represent you. She has the requisite experience in murder cases. In my view, she’s not disqualified as a fact witness for these purposes. She had no idea that you were at John’s yesterday afternoon, nor did she know that you had an intimate relationship with him. She may have knowledge as a witness of prior conversations between you and John about the discrimination lawsuit, which took place in her presence, but they’re not determinative.” Roger held up an index finger. “However, I counsel against choosing Bennie. It raises the same problem as outside defense counsel. She’s too high-profile. She’s the big gun. This is merely an investigatory interview. That’s how we want to keep it. We need to downplay, not amplify. Do you follow me, Judy?”
“You want to minimize the drama.”
“Exactly.” Roger smiled, pleased. “That leaves my recommendation, which is that Mary represent you.”
“Mary?” Judy asked, surprised.
“Me?” Mary added, equally surprised.
Roger raised his index finger again. “Mary is the perfect choice. She has significant experience with murder cases, so she knows what she’s doing—”
“I do?” Mary blurted out. “I mean, I do, but this is Judy we’re talking about. This is my best friend. You’re putting her life in my hands.”
“Who better?” Roger asked, again calmly. “Let me explain. Mary strikes the perfect note. She’s not as high-profile as Bennie or outside counsel, which is consistent with downplaying the investigation. In fact, she’s your friend, so she looks as if she’s along for the ride, not necessarily as counsel.”
“That’s true,” Judy said, cocking her head.
Mary could see why it made sense for her to represent Judy, but she didn’t feel a hundred-percent confident about it. Then again, she never felt a hundred-percent confident about anything.
Isaac interjected, “If I might add that, with Mary, the optics are excellent.”
“Isaac, are you nuts?” Mary almost started laughing. “Have you seen my optics lately? I’m retaining more water than a swimming pool. I’m a fishbowl with feet.”
Isaac smiled. “That’s what I like about your optics. You’re pregnant, very pregnant. Imagine the photos of the two of you, you and Judy, side by side, entering the Roundhouse”—Isaac put his hands up in a U-shape, like a Hollywood director—“two women, one very pregnant, alone against the world? It makes a vulnerable image, online and on TV. People like pregnant women. They want to protect them, not prosecute them.”
“So we’re pimping out my pregnancy?”
“I heard you did it at the police station last night and it worked.”
“True,” Mary had to admit.
“You need to look like victims, not victimizers.”
Bennie cringed. “Isaac, we’re strong women. We’re not victims.”
Isaac frowned. “You’re crime victims, Bennie. No matter how strong you are, you’re victims of crime, and you have to play that to the hilt.”
Mary ignored Isaac and looked over at Judy, rallying. “Okay, let’s do it. I’d love to represent you, if you want me to.”
“Aw.” Judy smiled, obviously touched. “I’d love you to. I know you can do it and I feel better with you being there.”
“Done!” Mary hugged Judy over her photogenic belly. “So folks, I know the defense-lawyer drill. Go there, say nothing, right? Don’t give them any information at all?”
“Correct,” Roger and Bennie answered in unison.
Bennie added, “I called Lou but he’s still canvassing the neighbors, so there’s no new news. A lot of the neighbors aren’t home because it’s such a nice day. Maybe we’ll get lucky later. DiNunzio, you can anticipate what the detectives already know, can’t you?”
“Yes, like we talked about.” Mary found her emotional footing. “They probably have surveillance film from some camera somewhere, showing Judy on John’s street, coming and going. So let’s assume they can place her there around the time of death.” Mary was thinking aloud. “And maybe somebody heard them fight.”
“Exactly.” Bennie nodded, satisfied. “I don’t think they’ll know anything that will surprise you, so stick to the script. Act cooperative even though you’re not cooperating. DiNunzio, let her state her innocence and don’t let her answer a single question. Or confirm or deny anything.”
Isaac interjected, “Don’t speak to the press, except to say that we’ll have a comment later. Don’t frown or appear angry. That won’t play well.”
Roger nodded, pressing his hands together at his chest. “And remain calm.”
“Calm, me?” Mary rolled her eyes. “I’m Italian-American, have you heard?”
“That’s merely a label, Mary. Don’t label yourself. Say to yourself, ‘Be here now.’ Do you understand?”
“No.” Mary smiled, jerking his chain. “Where am I now? Am I here or there? Or is it neither here nor there?”
Roger ignored her, closing his eyes lightly. “Visualize this with me. Sit in the interview with Judy. Try to breathe deeply. Find a space of conscious mindfulness. Say to yourself, ‘Go inside to serve outside.’”
“Whatever, let’s go!” Bennie clapped her hands loudly, startling Roger. “Once more, into the breach!”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Mary and Judy sat in the interview room opposite Detectives Krakoff and Marks, and Detective Marks had taken notes while Detective Krakoff had conducted the questioning. Mary thought it had gone well, since Judy had refused to answer any questions, remaining composed even when they’d Mirandized her “out of an abundance of caution.” Mary wasn’t fooled. This was custodial interrogation, and they were narrowing their suspicions on her best friend, which meant that Mary morphed into a bulldog. A pregnant bulldog, at that.
“So Ms. Carrier.” Detective Krakoff crossed his legs in his dark suit, dressed oddly formally. “Are you refusing to cooperate with us?”
Mary interjected, for Judy, “Not at all, Detective Krakoff. Don’t try and bully her. She’s already made her statement.”
“So Ms. DiNunzio, you’re here in an official capacity, as her lawyer?”
“Yes, in case she needs one.”
“And from now on, should we desire to communicate with her, we should do so through you?”
“I can’t imagine why you would want to, given what she’s already told you, but yes.”
Judy’s mouth set firmly. “Detective, as I said, I don’t know anything about John’s murder. I have no idea who killed him. I have no facts whatsoever that would further your investigation.”
Mary interjected again, “If we knew anything helpful to the police, we would tell you immediately. All of us are devastated over John’s murder, and we want you to find his killer and bring him to justice. That’s exactly why I came here last night with our law firm’s founding partner, Bennie Rosato.”
Detective Krakoff returned his attention to Judy. “Ms. Carrier, did you have a romantic relationship to the victim?”
Mary interjected, “She’s not going to answer that. You and I both know that no putative defendant would, in the circumstances.”
“What circumstances? We haven’t charged her. She’s not a suspect. She’s not even a person of interest.”
“You Mirandized her,” Mary shot back. “Detective Krakoff, why don’t you tell us the information you have so far, so we understand why you called us down here? After all, last night, you refused to give me or Bennie any information or answer any of our questions.”
Detective Krakoff smiled slightly. “By the way, how are you feeling, Ms. DiNunzio? I would hate for you to have another contraction that would cut short the interview.”
“I feel much better, thanks.” Mary arranged her face into an expressionless mask, though it wasn’t easy since she had labeled herself Italian-American, before she’d found out that labels were bad.
“Glad to hear that.” Detective Krakoff faced Judy again, his mouth a firm line. “Ms. Carrier, I’ll lay my cards on the table. Our investigation is in the preliminary stages, but we have already developed facts supporting a theory that you committed this murder. We believe it is in your interest to consider making a deal and we are prepared to offer—”
Mary interrupted, “Detective Krakoff, none of this makes any sense. I was told that John was killed in the course of a burglary.”
“No, that’s incorrect.”
“But that was what Detective Azzic told me last night.”
“He was mistaken.”
“He heard it directly from you.”
“He did.” Detective Krakoff didn’t blink. “But I didn’t confirm or deny to you last night, if you recall. Before your contractions, that is.”
Mary let it go. “Why did you tell him that, if it wasn’t true?”
“We may have believed that initially, given the signs of struggle and the disappearance of the victim’s electronics. But there was no sign of forced entry, so that didn’t square.”
“I see.” Mary found herself wondering instead if Detective Krakoff had misled Detective Azzic, playing close to the vest with his investigation, which seemed likelier. If so, Detective Krakoff was no pushover.
“As I was saying, I don’t have the authority to offer your client a deal, but we can informally explore—”
Mary interrupted again, “And as I was saying, I’d like to hear the facts that you found. That was the question I asked you, and I reiterate that my client is completely innocent of John’s murder. Otherwise we’ll just end the interview.” Mary fake-reached for her purse. “We were at work today and we have a major case to prepare for.”
“Fine.” Detective Krakoff pursed his thin lips. “The medical examiner has performed his autopsy and placed the time of death as between nine o’clock and eleven o’clock last night. We know, Ms. Carrier, that you were the victim’s girlfriend and that you were at his apartment at that time last night, engaged in a quarrel.”
Mary controlled her expression, though she felt fear bolt through her. “What evidence do you have for that?”
“The next-door neighbor heard arguing in the apartment for much of Friday night and into Saturday, up to and including the relevant time period. She was able to identify Ms. Carrier’s voice as the one she heard, and she identified her as the victim’s girlfriend.”
Mary felt her heart sink, but didn’t let it show.
“Emergency dispatch received a call from another neighbor at nine fifteen concerning arguing in the apartment. She lives across the back and she saw Ms. Carrier and the victim arguing in the apartment, though it was too far to hear them. She worried because she has a personal history of domestic abuse by an ex-boyfriend. She said she felt ‘triggered’”—Detective Krakoff made air quotes—“and suspected it may have been a domestic dispute. She identified the woman in the apartment as Ms. Carrier. In addition, there was a dog barking constantly in the victim’s backyard on Friday night, which annoyed her. She works at home, a website designer.”
Mary took mental notes, since he was filling in the gaps in her information. So the detectives had an eyewitness and an earwitness, which was substantial evidence.
“Although emergency dispatch got the call at nine fifteen, an officer was not dispatched to the scene until later. As you may have heard, there was a double homicide in the Northeast last night, which drew uniformed resources. So it wasn’t until 11:16 P.M. that a patrol officer went to the domicile and discovered the victim, who was deceased.”
Mary kept her game face on, and so did Judy.
“The facts lead us to believe that the victim was killed by someone he knew, someone he felt free admitting to his apartment, or even had her own key, like a girlfriend.” Detective Krakoff glanced at Judy. “The medical examiner confirmed that the victim was killed by blunt force trauma to the back of the head. There was a heavy Luxor lamp on his desk, and the killer used its base. We believe it was opportunistic. Somebody lost her temper, like a girlfriend in a fit of anger.” Detective Krakoff eyed Judy hard. “That’s why we brought you in for the interview.”
Mary bore down, setting her emotions aside. “Detective, my client had nothing to do with any of that, even assuming that scenario, which I might add, involves a great amount of speculation.”
“Ms. DiNunzio, these are facts, not speculation. We find the facts and we follow where they lead, and in this case, they lead to your client.” Detective Krakoff spread his palms. “As I mentioned to you, we have seen the videotape of the press conference. We know about the reverse-discrimination lawsuit that was filed against your firm. It quotes the victim stating a position contrary to the interests of the firm’s partners, of which Ms. Carrier is one. We believe that the fight that night concerned the victim’s statements in the Complaint and at the press conference. I think we can prove that, if we have to.”
Mary said nothing but told herself to stay the course, since she had answers to the questions. It wasn’t a great picture for the defense, but it was hardly airtight on the part of any prosecution.
“I know you haven’t spoken with the assistant district attorney yet, and I’m talking out of school, but I bet that he’d make Ms. Carrier a reasonable deal. She could plead out and get fifteen years.”
Mary masked her fear. It terrified her to think of Judy spending even a moment in prison. She felt herself break a sweat, not daring to look over at Judy. “My client has nothing to confess. She’s completely innocent, as she told you.”
“What about the videotape of her on the victim’s street?”
“The fact that you think you captured her on film doesn’t prove that it was her. Plus Old City is a busy neighborhood, especially on a Saturday night. There’s tourists, restaurants, bars, and clubs. It could’ve been anybody on the videotape, including a burglar whom John may have admitted, mistakenly.” Mary kept going, wanting to make him doubt his own conclusion, so they didn’t bring any charges against Judy. “Are there traffic cameras on both ends of the street? I don’t recall that there’s an intersection at the other end.”
“We’re checking into the other video cameras.”
“Then you jumped the gun, obviously. If you don’t have a camera at that end of the street, that leaves open the possibility that the killer could’ve come in by the other end of the street. There’s a myriad of other possibilities.”
“Like what?” Detective Krakoff’s eyes narrowed.
“There are other ways to access John’s apartment, Detective. In fact, I’ve been there myself, and I happen to know there’s a fire escape right outside the living-room window, in the back of the house.” Mary sensed she touched a nerve when Detective Krakoff’s brow furrowed just the slightest bit, a micro expression that gave him away. “John’s apartment is only on the second floor, and the house backs onto a narrow backstreet where residents park their cars. If I’m not mistaken, John parks there himself. Anybody could’ve entered through the back and not used the front door at all.”
“And what about the dog?”
“I don’t recall the last time a dog convicted anybody.” Mary reached for her purse. “That’s all, we’ll go. You don’t have enough to charge her because she didn’t do anything wrong. Judy Carrier is a partner in our law firm, which is o
ne of the best in the city. She’s a skilled appellate lawyer and one of the most prominent members of the Philadelphia Bar Association. You can’t seriously think she would murder someone, much less an associate at our firm.”
“Come on, Ms. Carrier is hardly the conventional lawyer.” Detective Krakoff’s eyes strayed to Judy’s pink hair.
“How dare you,” Judy said, taken aback.
Mary felt anger flicker in her chest. “If you think that her hairstyle is going to convince any jury she’s a murderer, you’re out of your mind. You should be trying to find the real killer, not coming after my partner based on some tenuous connection with a reverse-discrimination lawsuit. We don’t kill people who sue us, Detective Krakoff. We beat them in court.”
“Hold on one minute.” Detective Krakoff reached his hand into his jacket pocket and extracted a pair of purple latex gloves, which he proceeded to put on, with some difficulty.
Mary didn’t know where this was going. “What are you doing, Detective? Am I dilating?”
Detective Marks burst into surprised laughter, then silenced quickly.
“Bear with me a moment.” Detective Krakoff reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a brown-paper evidence bag. “Ms. Carrier, before you leave, I’d like to show you an important piece of evidence. We found it in the victim’s apartment. We’d like to know if it belongs to you.”
“Fine.” Mary glanced at Judy, who seemed intrigued, so they stayed put. If Detective Krakoff had evidence against Judy, they needed to know it now rather than later.
“Give me another moment, please.” Detective Krakoff dug into the bag with one hand, making much of the process, as if he were intentionally keeping them in suspense.
Mary snorted. “Detective, we don’t have time for whatever game this is.”
“Here we go.” Detective Krakoff produced a small black-velvet box from the evidence bag, and in one fluid motion, he held it in front of Judy and opened the lid, as if he were presenting it to her. It was a ring box, and inside was a sparkling diamond engagement ring.
Judy gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh my God!”
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