The Last Alibi

96

Shauna

Some of the spectators didn’t immediately place the name Marshall Rivers, but all of them have heard of the North Side Slasher. The judge gavels loudly, but it takes her a couple of times to establish order. These are small courtrooms, and when it gets loud, it gets loud. The criminal courts, I’ve come to learn, are a lot rowdier than the civil courtrooms where I typically roam.

The north side murders were officially “solved”-if that’s the right word-one week after Alexa was killed. I remember seeing the Wednesday, August 7, edition of the Herald in a grocery store, the headline “We Got Our Guy” above a photograph of the mayor, the police superintendent, and several police detectives gathered at a news conference. Word had leaked over the previous weekend that the police believed they had broken the case, but it wasn’t until the following week that the rumors were made official.

“He was your client, Jason?” asks Bradley John.

Jason lets out a chuckle of bemusement. “Yes. I mean, under an assumed name, and wearing a disguise. He never told me he was going to kill anybody, nor did he outright admit he had killed anybody. And he never gave me his real name or showed me his real face.”

Technically, explaining what a client didn’t tell you isn’t a breach of the attorney-client privilege. But Jason’s getting in the vicinity of being too cute.

“So yes, he was my client, but he was also a mystery to me. I think he blamed me for his time inside and he wanted me to know that he was killing people, and there was nothing I could do about it, because of the privilege. He wanted to torture me. And it worked.”

“Jason, are you certain that the man who came to your office was Marshall Rivers, wearing a disguise?”

“I am,” says Jason. “I’ve seen many photos of him in the newspaper since he was found dead. Put a red wig on him and one of those fake fat suits for a belly and it works.”

Roger Ogren is not having a good half hour. He would have the typical anxiety of any prosecutor when the defendant takes the stand, having no idea what he’ll say and expecting to have to audible a cross-examination. Roger’s done that many times. And I assume he would regard Jason, his former colleague, as something other than your ordinary defendant, so he knew this might be a rough one for him. But surely he didn’t expect this.

He probably assumes we have a lot more evidence to put in, more witnesses to call, additional facts to bolster our theory. So this final question-and-answer may be a pleasant surprise to him.

“Jason,” Bradley asks, “do you know for a fact that Marshall Rivers killed Alexa Himmel?”

“No,” he answers. “I would have no way of knowing for certain. I was arrested only hours after Alexa was murdered, and I’ve been locked up since then.”

Bradley John looks over at Roger Ogren, then at the judge.

“No further questions,” he says.