14th Deadly Sin

CHAPTER 68

IT WAS DAY two of the trial.

Yuki had had a rough night. She and Brady were at opposite sides of the justice system, and the so-called Chinese Wall was in play. She couldn’t talk to him about her case, he couldn’t talk to her about his, and that made conversation forced and sleep barely possible.

She was at her desk at quarter to eight, and Natalie arrived a few minutes later with coffee. They picked apart Parisi’s opening statement, guessed about what he might be planning to do with their witnesses. Natalie told Yuki not to worry.

Zac arrived and stopped in the doorway.

“About a dozen people texted me about your opening yesterday,” he said to Yuki. “Mazel tov. And thanks to both of you.”

Yuki’s mood lifted and, feeling freshly caffeinated, she drove with Natalie to McAllister Street and parked the car in the underground garage.

Once in the courtroom, Natalie gave the videodisc to the clerk and joined Yuki at the counsel table. They spoke softly to each other as the courtroom filled. The proceedings were called to order.

When it was time to present the plaintiff’s case, Yuki rose from her seat, walked past the lectern, and approached the jury box. Today, everything depended on the video.

She said to the jurors, “Good morning, everyone. When I made my opening statement yesterday, I said you would see portions of the police department’s sixteen-hour interrogation of Aaron-Rey Kordell.

“I also said that this case is about one thing: whether or not Aaron-Rey was coerced into making a confession. Because if a confession is coerced, it’s not a confession. And if Aaron-Rey didn’t confess, then he should not have been jailed, and if he had not been jailed, he would not have died.

“I’ve selected portions of the interview to show you, but you’ll be able to read the transcript of the interrogation in its entirety.”

Yuki told the clerk to play the videodisc. The lights dimmed and the video came up on the flat-screen. Aaron-Rey, heavily built and easily six feet tall, sat across a scarred wooden table from two police officers who introduced themselves as William Brand and Stan Whitney.

Whitney was in his thirties; he had a close-cropped beard and round, wire-rimmed glasses. He looked more like a science teacher than a narc. From his posture and tone of voice, he appeared to be sympathetic to Aaron-Rey’s distress.

He said, “Is this how it happened, A-Rey? You got scared? Those dealers. Freakin’ lethal dudes. Armed and dangerous, right? They threatened you and you surprised them, right? You shot them and ran. Because if that’s what happened, you were protecting yourself, and anyone would understand that.”

Aaron-Rey said, “I didn’t shoot them. I didn’t even know they was shot. I found the gun on the stairs and I thought I could make fifty dollars. That’s wrong because it wasn’t my gun. I’m sorry about that.”

Whitney said, “Aaron, listen. You don’t have to lie anymore. What you did is all gonna come out. But if you tell us, we can protect you. That’s what you need to do, son.”

Yuki showed five minutes of Whitney befriending Aaron-Rey, telling him it was safe to confess. “Don’t you want to go home, Aaron-Rey? Don’t you want this to be over?”

“I want to go home.”

Whitney passed a piece of paper across the table. He said, “This paper says that we told you what your rights are and that you’re waiving them because you don’t want a lawyer. You don’t want to complicate this, do you, A-Rey?”

“I didn’t shoot anyone,” Aaron-Rey said.

Brand said, “Good for you, A-Rey.”

He handed the boy a pen, and Aaron-Rey signed his name on the line where the detective put his finger. Brand hardly waited for Aaron-Rey to lift his pen before he whipped the paper away and took it out of the room.

Whitney said, “Feel better now?”

“No,” said Aaron-Rey.

Yuki used the remote to fast-forward to hour six, which was the point where Inspector Brand took the lead.