12th of Never

Chapter 37

YUKI BROUGHT A box of tissues to the stand and let Lynnette take a couple of seconds to pull herself together. Yuki had made a mistake not to have realized that Kinsela was going to use Keith Herman’s gifts against Lynnette.

It was a sickening oversight. But was it fatal?

As Lynnette dabbed her eyes, Yuki thought out her redirect with the speed of a supercomputer, and when the witness seemed more or less composed, Yuki said, “Lynnette, did you ever try to hide the fact that you received gifts from Keith Herman?”

“No, of course not.”

“Did these gifts always come on holidays?”

“Yes.”

“Did Keith ever tell you why he bought you such expensive presents?”

Yuki took a slow turn away from the witness stand, headed toward the lectern, and stole a look at the jurors. They were attentive. For the moment, that was all she could hope for.

“Could you repeat the question?” Lynnette said.

She was still looking shaky, Yuki thought, but shaky was vulnerable and vulnerability was better than defiance any day.

“Lynnette, did Keith ever tell you why he bought you such expensive gifts?”

“He said different things at different times.”

“Go on,” Yuki said.

“He said that until he was free, this was the only way he could show me how much he cared.”

“Anything else?”

“He said that he felt guilty for my pain and suffering.”

“Pain and suffering. Those were his words?”

“Yes.”

“The money that Keith gave you—what was it for?”

“He gave me twenty-two thousand dollars to pay off my student loan. I appreciated the help. I don’t make a large salary.”

“Did you expect to cash in—that is, get rich—from marrying Keith Herman?”

“I knew he had money. But the only thing that was important to me was that we had a real relationship, with holidays together, and that I could be with Lily. I wanted to be able to go out into the open, to stop feeling bad because I loved someone else’s husband. And when I saw that I couldn’t have that, I tried to break it off with Keith many, many times.”

“And Keith pursued you, isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“You testified that you changed your phone number. You moved out of your home.”

“Yes.”

“On the weekend of February twenty-eighth through March first, were you with the defendant?”

“No. I was not. I was alone in the hunting cabin my father left me in Oroville. I don’t have a TV there. I don’t even get a cell phone signal. I just wanted to be by myself.”

“So when the defense tells the court that Keith Herman was with you the weekend his wife and daughter were murdered, that’s a lie, isn’t it?”

The witness winced ever so slightly. Yuki took it to mean that Lynnette still loved Keith Herman.

“Yes,” she said. “That’s a lie.”

“Thank you, Ms. Lagrande. I have nothing more for this witness, Your Honor.”

Kinsela had nothing to add, a good move on his part, Yuki thought. If one juror believed that Lynnette Lagrande was a money-grubber and a liar, Kinsela had done his job.

Yuki watched Lynnette Lagrande step down from the stand. She had recovered much of her poise. Looking neither left nor right, she walked up the aisle and back out through the front door of the courtroom.

Had the jury believed her?

All of them?

Honest to God, Yuki didn’t know.