Desperate Measures (48 page)

“I sent an assistant along with her and her aunt to find out how bad she is. But we assume she will be well enough to testify tomorrow. And at that time the state will rest its case.”

The judge looked at Barbara. “Will the defense be prepared to open its case tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Barbara said, then added, “But, Your Honor, today, during this afternoon recess I would like to give a preview of my opening statement to the court.”

“A rehearsal?” Novak said. “Preposterous!”

She directed her comments to Judge Mac as if she had not heard. “I reserved my right to make my opening statement until after the defense presents its case. I would like to give you a preview of that statement.”

“Why?” Judge Mac asked.

“Your Honor, we all know that when the state rests, I'll ask for a dismissal of charges without prejudice. The state's two key witnesses, Daniel Marchand and Isaac Wrigley, perjured themselves, and when Rachel Marchand takes the stand, she will also commit perjury. I will call her back as a hostile defense witness exactly as I will call back her brother, and I will force both of them to admit to the truth on the stand in public. Daniel can't explain the discrepancy between his story and the stopwatch except by telling the truth. And to save her sanity, Rachel must recant her accusation of stalking. I am very much afraid that Rachel in particular is near the point of no return emotionally and psychologically. Dr. Minick has been observing her closely, and he is of the opinion that she is near psychological collapse. I don't want to be the one to precipitate a crisis. Nevertheless, my first duty is to my client, and I will do whatever is necessary to safeguard him, even if it puts Rachel at risk.”

Novak was sputtering angrily. “This is blackmail. You can't try your case in chambers!” He swung around to face the judge. “The girl's afraid of Alexander Feldman. She's afraid to speak out because he's running around loose instead of being locked up. We'll reassure her, post guards for her, whatever it takes to calm her down.”

Barbara ignored him and kept her gaze on the judge, who looked troubled.

He was silent for a moment, then he said, “Ms. Holloway, this is a highly irregular procedure, but I also have been observing the girl and I am also disturbed about her mental state. It may be that Mr. Novak is correct and she is simply afraid, but she may also be seriously ill. With the understanding that anything you disclose here may have an influence on whether the state rests following the testimony of Rachel Marchand, we will return to court and I'll announce a recess until nine in the morning, following which you may give us a preview of your opening statement.”

After leaving him, they hurried back to their tables in the courtroom, where Barbara's group opted for going to Frank's house to await them. Novak huddled with two of his assistants, who scurried away before the judge returned to the bench.

Then, ten minutes later, they were back in chambers once more. This time there was a pitcher of iced tea with glasses on a low table. Judge Mac stood up and came around his desk to pour himself tea, then sat in one of the upholstered chairs as if to emphasize how unofficial this was going to be. “Please, help yourselves,” he said, motioning toward the tea. No one moved, and he nodded at Barbara to begin.

Briefly she spoke of Alex's childhood and youth. “Without intervention, if he had lived, he probably would have become a dangerously violent man, but he had intervention from a leading authority in the field of juvenile violence. And today he is a gentle, reclusive artist who avoids contact with strangers altogether. He has come to terms with his appearance and his life.

“But others see only his face and react with pity, revulsion, hatred, or fear. Gus Marchand hated and feared him, and taught his children to hate and fear him.”

She described the incident with the sex-education book, and the reason for the meeting between Hilde and Leona. “Witnesses will testify about Rachel's makeup, her clothing, her skipping class to go out with her boyfriend. We will introduce photographic evidence to substantiate their claims. Witnesses will testify that on two occasions she spent the entire day with him in his parents' home while they were both at work. Then Gus learned something of her behavior; to save herself, she accused Alex of spying on her and claimed that she had accepted rides out of fear of the devil next door.

“Gus called his friend, Deputy Calvin Strohm, to confront Alex. But Gus Marchand did not press charges or ask for an official investigation.”

She was on her feet with no recollection of having stood up. She poured a little tea and took a sip, then continued with recounting the incident of the sex-education book and Gus's reaction when he found it. Witnesses from the middle school would testify to the scene, she said.

“He had forbidden Rachel's attending sex-education classes, and said publicly that fornication led to hell and that's all children needed to know about sex before marriage.”

She repeated what Dr. Minick had said about Leona's plea for birth-control pills. “I have a copy of the receipt from a pharmacy in West Eugene for the prescription and a package of condoms. It is dated June fourth.”

“This is all background for the day of the murder,” she said then. “That morning after the children went to school, Leona prepared Gus's dinner and put it in the refrigerator. Then she went to school to help prepare for the graduation. She returned home at five-thirty to reheat the food, put the casserole in the oven, the chops and gravy in the skillet. While they were heating, she made a salad, set the table, and even poured his milk.

“Gus liked to eat at six, and no doubt she had it all ready by six; then she went upstairs to bathe and change her clothes. When she went down again, she saw at a glance that he had not touched the food. And on the table she saw the birth-control pills, the condoms, and a leather belt. Gus had switched the legs of the children when they were small, and later used a strap, but this was a heavy leather belt, and she knew instantly what his intention was. He planned to punish Rachel.”

Novak jerked up from his chair and headed for the table with the tea. “I think this has gone far enough,” he said. “You're making up a story that works for your client, not because the facts are there.”

“They are there,” Barbara said heatedly. “After Rachel was born, Leona underwent a tubal ligation. She had her tubes tied to prevent another pregnancy. She had no need for birth-control pills or condoms. They were for Rachel.”

Novak had reached for the tea and stopped his motion. He completed it slowly, his back to her. “The condoms were Daniel's,” he said.

She shook her head. “A mother doesn't buy her son condoms. He can buy them himself. Leona bought them. And they were not on that table from June fourth until the ninth, not in that household. Gus found them and put them there and she knew the reason.”

She took another sip of tea. It was tepid and evil tasting. She put it down. “Leona killed him to save Rachel. To save her soul, Gus Marchand certainly would have scarred her, damaged her, but he might have gone beyond that and killed her. I think Leona acted by pure reflex.”

“And collected her thoughts enough to wipe off the hammer,” Novak said meanly. “It won't work.” He sat down again, scowling at her.

“I don't think she gave the hammer a thought. She probably walked out in deep shock. I have statements from people at school describing her as strange, fearful, not quite there. They believed she was afraid that Gus would come later and make another scene.

“As she drove away from the house, Daniel ran toward it. He went in by the back door, the way he always went in. And he came across his father's body. He had seen his mother leave only moments earlier; he knew what had happened. He wiped her fingerprints off the hammer with the dish towel, then tossed it on the counter. He turned on the stove burner, took the lid off the skillet, and probably prayed for a fire to destroy all the evidence of murder. He did what he had to do to save his mother.”

“You can't prove a thing you're saying!”

She took a deep breath and sat down, cradling the terrible tea in her hands, just to have something to do with them. “This is my opening statement, Mr. Novak. Let me finish it.”

He shrugged, still scowling fiercely.

“When the boys got to The Station, Daniel didn't go in with the others. He didn't have any money; he never got it. He didn't have time, and probably forgot all about it. He was seen at school sometime before seven, and even asked someone where his mother was. Then the deputy came to tell Leona that her husband was dead. Maybe it was like snapping out of a nightmare for her; maybe until that moment she didn't believe he was dead. We don't know. We do know that she deliberately headed for the most dangerous road in the county, a road that few people ever drove on, and we know that she was doing eighty-five miles an hour on it. If she thought of it at all, she would have realized her fingerprints were on the hammer, she would be charged with the murder of her husband. She effectively committed suicide.”

She tried the tea again; it had not improved. “Later, while they were waiting at the hospital for their mother to come out of surgery, Mrs. Dufault, Leona's sister, told Daniel to go get them all something to drink. She said he was so restless, he couldn't sit still; she just wanted to give him something to do. He had no money. She gave him money for drinks.”

“Why didn't she mention the birth-control pills?” Novak demanded when Barbara came to a stop then.

“I doubt she ever saw them,” Barbara said. “Ask her. When they got home, after their mother died in surgery, Daniel went straight up to his room, crying. Rachel was in shock, not crying. Mrs. Dufault took Rachel to the kitchen to give her a glass of milk and a tranquilizer the doctor at the hospital had provided. While she was at the refrigerator, she heard the girl give a little cry and run to the bathroom off the kitchen. I think Rachel grabbed the pills and the condoms, and it came to her that it was all her fault: she was to blame for her parents' deaths, both of them. And she's been lost ever since. Gus was right: fornication led her straight into hell.”

A lengthy silence followed when she stopped talking. Judge Mac pulled himself from the easy chair and walked around his desk to resume his seat behind it, and Novak did not say a word, as if awaiting a reaction from the judge.

“That's the gist of my opening statement,” Barbara said then. “I have many witnesses, including Mrs. Dufault, to confirm the statements I have made. Testimony already given confirms more statements. There is no motive for Alex Feldman. The girl's story will be discredited with the first questions, and there was never a possibility of changing the zoning laws to allow a housing development in that area. Furthermore, Alex had the option of moving at any time. There is nothing to connect him to the murder. A drawing pencil in a family with schoolchildren! No one knows when it was dropped or by whom, or even where. Daniel did not see him or anyone else by the blackberries that day; he admitted that he doesn't know what he saw, if anything. Isaac Wrigley made up the entire story about Hilde Franz, a tissue of lies from start to finish. This has been the flimsiest of all circumstantial cases, with no direct evidence, no motive, no opportunity. All it had from the start was an unfortunate young man who looks like a monster, and investigators who immediately rushed to judgment.”

She drew in a breath, then said, “Alex Feldman is on trial for murder because through an accident of birth he has the face of a demon. And because Gus Marchand, often called a God-fearing man, was more afraid of the devil than of his God, and he equated Alex with the devil he feared. I have no doubt that he was sincere in his hatred and fear of Alex Feldman. He spread his hatred and fear throughout the community of Opal Creek. I have a stack three inches high of hate mail, posters, leaflets, all demonizing Alex Feldman. Koenig's testimony is worthless: he has no firsthand testimony to offer; he believed Gus, who believed the devil was loose in the country.

“Three people are dead; two young people are at grave risk; Isaac Wrigley will be tried for murder, and the cost to his family will prove staggering; and Alex Feldman's life is endangered, all because Gus Marchand was a zealot who was determined to impose his belief system on everyone around him.”

“If that's your case, let me tell you, it's dead on arrival!” Novak snapped. ‘'I'll shoot it down faster than you can raise it. No jury will accept blaming the victim—” His eyes narrowed and he subsided abruptly. “You've been rigging this trial from day one,” he said then, as if in disbelief and even amazement.

Barbara kept her gaze on the judge, who had leaned back in his chair and, to all appearances, was engrossed in a study of the ceiling.

Finally he straightened and regarded Barbara. His gaze was distant, bleak and icy. “That's the essence of your opening statement?”

“Yes, sir. I have evidence, witnesses, statements, and medical records to back up every assertion.”

“Your Honor,” Novak said hurriedly, “this is blatant emotional blackmail. The counselor is placing the burden of action on the court instead of answering to the charges that have been brought against the defendant. It's not enough to say Feldman could have moved out of the area. If charges had been brought, he could have been sent to prison!”

“That's exactly one of my points!” Barbara cried. “Gus Marchand didn't bring charges, and he would have if he had been sure of the facts. There was plenty of time for him to take action, and he never did.”

“Koenig was sure he was committed to acting.”

“He wanted him to file charges, that's all his statement amounts to. Koenig never even spoke to Rachel about it. She was in the area for months following the murder, but she probably dodged him at every turn.”