Blood Defense

FORTY-EIGHT

I’d thought-hoped was a better word, I guess-that I wouldn’t have the nightmare. I was bone tired and the past two nights had been peaceful. But it came back with a vengeance. This time when his hands clamped around my arms, I felt a hot laser beam drilling into my stomach. When I woke up-at five a.m.-I was clutching my belly. I didn’t even want to try for any more sleep and give that dream a chance to come back.

But on the upside, it gave me time to pound a lot of coffee, so I was fully operational with all systems go by the time Xander picked me up at seven thirty. Nikki-the Pussycat Doll of the neighboring building (I could just picture her singing, ‘Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?’)-and Janet Rader were scheduled for the morning session. I ran into them just outside the snack bar across the hall from the courtroom.

Nikki was ready for her close-up-false eyelashes, plunging neckline, and all. This was her chance for major-league camera time, and she wasn’t about to waste a second of it. When she saw me walking up the aisle, she approached me with a nervous look. “Where do they have the camera?”

It was tempting to lie and watch her pose for the wrong angle, but I decided to give her a break. “It’s in the wall above the jury box.”

You’d think she’d be grateful, but she just nodded and turned away. I should’ve gone with my first impulse and lied. I headed into the courtroom and knocked on the door of the holding tank. The bailiff let me in and warned me, “You’ve got five minutes.”

Dale looked a little better today. His eyes weren’t so red. “I see you managed to get some sleep. Nice tie.”

He nodded and looked down as he straightened it. “Thanks. My next-door cellie picked it out.”

“The juicehead? Really?”

“Yeah, he’s got surprisingly good taste.” Dale smiled. “Kidding. What’s on today?”

“Nikki, Janet, and then some crime-scene cops and techs.”

“Have you heard back from the stuntman yet… what’s his name-”

“Storm Cooper.” Dale nodded. “No, we haven’t. He’s got a website, but it doesn’t look like he ever updates it.”

“And he’s not with an agency?”

“Not anymore. According to our research, he fired his last agent a couple of years ago. I guess he’s doing okay on his own.”

“It’s weird that the IO didn’t track him down.”

“Kind of. But Wayne Little isn’t exactly a fireball. And from what I’ve heard, Storm was kind of a fringe player in Paige’s life.”

The bailiff tapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s move. The judge’s about to come out.”

I nodded and whispered to Dale, “Remember, no laughing, no smiling, no frowning.”

Juries always watch defendants for their reactions. Laughing is never okay. No innocent man on trial for murder laughs. At anything. And unless someone tells a riotous knee-slapper, smiling’s off the table, too. Frowns make them look-you know, like a murderer.

I noticed that Zack had his main man, Detective Wayne Little, with him today. I’d wondered more than once if he was the one who’d leaked the rape charge. He struck me as the lazy but ambitious type who’d pull a stunt like that. But he had a lot to lose if he got caught. Hard to imagine he’d think it was worth that risk.

The gallery was so packed I didn’t see two inches between the bodies. I noticed Edie and Brittany weren’t there. They were probably still at Chloe’s apartment building doing standups. I’d seen Edie on the morning news before I left for court. She’d been gesturing to the apartment building behind her and speaking in tragic tones about the first day of testimony.

The air in the courtroom crackled with energy, and the voices of reporters and spectators created a dull but rising roar. It should’ve come to a grinding halt when the bailiff announced the judge. But instead, the roar only lowered to a loud hum.

Judge Traynor stomped up the stairs to the bench and stood glaring at the crowd, looking like Moses on the Mount. He thundered, “You will be silent or you will be banned from this courtroom.”

All voices stopped abruptly. Then one titter leaked out. The judge zeroed in on the source and pointed to a young guy in a brown bomber jacket. “You. Leave my courtroom now. And don’t come back.”

I could see the furious red spread across the young guy’s face as he stood up and sidestepped out of his row. The courtroom was silent as a tomb. The only sound was the chafing of his jeans and then the squeak of his sneakers as he moved down the aisle. When the door closed behind him, the judge sat down and scanned the gallery. “I want you all to make note of this silence. This is the way it will be from now on-whether I’m on the bench or at sidebar.” He looked at Zack. “Call your first witness.”

That episode had a chastening effect on everyone. Like a bunch of third-graders after the class cutup gets sent to the principal’s office, everyone sat up and looked straight ahead. You could practically see the haloes over their heads.

Zack did the typical prosecutorial trick of calling a family member to pull on the jurors’ heartstrings. And Chloe’s little sister, Kaitlyn, was the perfect one to do it. She was a sweet, somewhat paler version of Chloe. She testified to her phone conversation with Chloe the night of the murders.

I could’ve objected when Zack asked her if Chloe said she was going to break up with Dale during that phone call, but I let it go. I knew it’d come in when Janet Rader testified. And Zack returned the favor by not objecting when I got Kaitlyn to say that the jewelry stolen in the burglary-a gift from an unknown admirer-belonged to Paige.

Next up was Nikki, who acted like a slightly less slutty version of herself, though when the judge told her not to answer until he ruled on the lawyers’ objections, she looked up at him and batted her eyelashes, Marilyn Monroe-style. Still, I got her to admit Dale might’ve been looking for the burglar when he was driving around, and she cut back a little on her “creepy” description of him.

When we broke for lunch, I called Michelle at the office. “Have we heard from Alex?”

“Yes. He went to the apartment building and talked to Chas Gorman this morning. You were right. Scott was a friend of his, but he swore he didn’t know where Scott was hiding out.”

“Where’s Alex now?”

“Staking out Scott’s place. We tried to find an address for his brother and sister, but the ones listed in Scott’s last probation report are no good.”

This sucked. I had a plan, but it was drastic-and risky. It might lose me any chance of ever getting my hands on that phone. I decided to hold off for now and told Michelle I’d call when I got out of court.

Zack put Janet Rader on the stand. I tried like crazy to get her to admit someone could’ve come to the apartment after Dale left, but she refused to budge. My only hope was that someone on the jury would be skeptical of her absolute certainty.

The rest of the day held no surprises. Crime-scene testimony is always a combination of boring and horrifying. But since none of today’s witnesses were there to talk about test results, there were no fireworks.

When we broke for the day, I told Dale I had to get moving.

“Sure, okay. How do you think we’re doing?”

“Pretty much as expected. It’s way too soon to get a grip on what the jury’s thinking. For now, just try to get some rest, okay?”

Dale nodded and I stood up to go. “Samantha? I just wanted to tell you again that I’m sorry I lost it like that when you told me about Sebastian-”

I sat back down and looked around. “Careful.” We couldn’t talk about it at Twin Towers in case they decided to file charges against him. But it wasn’t that much safer here.

Dale scanned the area behind me then whispered, “And I don’t want you to think that’s how I got with Chloe. I was mad at her, but not like that. I don’t know what made me hit her. I’d never done that before. Maybe it was because I was a little drunk. But… anyway, that’s what I’ve been wanting to say. I didn’t mean to upset you. I don’t think I’ve ever been that angry in my life. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

I looked into his eyes. I didn’t know whether to believe him about Chloe-or whether he’d ever been that angry before. But I knew his fury had been genuine. “It’s okay. I… I kind of appreciated it in a way.”

The bailiff put his hand on Dale’s shoulder. “Time to go.”

I stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I wanted to skip the circus act with the press. I had a lot of work to do to get ready for the witnesses tomorrow, and I was anxious to see if Alex had found Scott. But I didn’t dare piss off the reporters-or miss a chance to counter whatever Zack had been saying.

I slapped on a smile and got through it as fast as I could, then called Michelle from the car. “And?”

“Nothing. Alex doesn’t think he’s been home since he got released OR. There’re some fliers and throwaways on the doorstep.”

“Where’s Alex now?”

“Still staking out the place. What do you want him to do?”

I stared out the window at the passing cars on the freeway. “Good question.”