Immoral (30 page)

Gale crossed his arms, studying the girl. “Now, you didn’t stay at Canal Park the entire time that Kevin and Rachel did, is that right?”

“No, I left about nine-thirty or so.”

“What did you do then?” Gale asked.

“I drove home.”

“Did you stop anywhere?”

Sally shook her head. “No, I went straight home.”

Gale flipped through his notepad again. “Did you go out again after that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Gale smiled coldly. “You’re absolutely sure about that?”

“Yes,” Sally said.

“All right, then. Tell me, Sally, why did you go home early? Why didn’t you stay with Kevin? He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is.”

“But you left him alone with Rachel?” Gale asked.

Sally smiled weakly. “I was tired.”

“Oh, come on. Sally. You know what Kevin testified, don’t you? He told us that Rachel made sexual advances to him on the bridge.”

Sally said nothing. She bit her lower lip and avoided Gale’s eyes.

“The fact is, you saw them together, didn’t you? You saw what they were doing?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Gale arched his eyebrows. “You weren’t watching? Your boyfriend was riding the bridge with a beautiful girl, and you paid no attention? You simply left?”

“I told you, I was tired,” Sally repeated.

“Actually, you were furious, weren’t you? Your boyfriend was cheating on you in front of your eyes. This girl was kissing him and fondling him right there so you could watch.” Gale paused. “You stormed away, didn’t you, Sally? You were enraged and humiliated. Isn’t that right?”

Sally blinked. A tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it away. “I was hurt,” she said softly.

“So you did see them.”

Sally nodded.

“You were angry at both of them,” Gale said.

“No, not at Kevin,” Sally blurted out.

“You were mad at Rachel,” Gale said.

Sally frowned. “It was like she could cast a spell over him. She did that with all the guys. But she didn’t care about any of them. She just used them.”

“And that really upset you, didn’t it?” Gale asked.

“She was cruel,” Sally said. “I knew she was just toying with Kevin. I knew she wasn’t really interested in him.”

“But how did Kevin feel about Rachel? Doesn’t he have a crush on her?”

Sally flushed. “It was nothing. Just a crush. He loves me.”

“And yet, Sally, wouldn’t he throw you over in a second for a chance to be with Rachel?”

“No!” Sally shouted.

“But isn’t that what he did that night?”

“That’s not what happened!”

“What did happen?” Gale asked. “What did Rachel do that night?”

Sally looked down. “She kissed him.”

“What else?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t? You already said you saw them. What did Rachel do to your boyfriend in front of your eyes?”

Sally hesitated. “She put her hand inside his pants.”

“She’s up there making out with your boyfriend, and you’re left alone on the sidewalk?”

“Yes.”

“And you think she was just playing games with him? She wasn’t serious?” Gale asked.

“Yes! That was how she was! She didn’t care about him at all.”

“But Kevin cared. He was always secretly in love with her, wasn’t he? And you knew it. And now here was his fantasy girl coming on to him. You were afraid he was going to dump you, weren’t you?”

“Kevin would never do that.”

“We know he made a date with Rachel for the following night. He broke a date with you. Didn’t he?”

Sally bit her lip. She looked like she wanted to escape. “He called and canceled our date.”

“And all this was Rachel’s fault?”

“Yes!”

“So, after seeing the two of them on the bridge, you went home?”

“That’s right.”

“That was it, you just went home?”

“Yes, I did. I was upset.”

“Didn’t you want to confront them?”

“Not then, no, I couldn’t. I couldn’t look at them.”

“And what time was this again?”

“About nine-thirty.”

Gale took off his glasses. He ruffled the pages of his notepad as he closed it Sally’s eyes followed him. She started to get up, as if she thought Gale was finished, but as she stood, Gale turned back. Sally swallowed and sat back down. Gale tugged at his goatee and studied the girl thoughtfully.

“What did you do when you got home?”

“I talked to my parents for a few minutes, then I went to bed.”

Gale nodded. “Did you call Kevin?”

“No.”

“Did you call Rachel?”

“No.”

“It must have been hard to sleep, since you were so angry.”

“I don’t remember,” Sally said. Her lower lip bulged from her mouth. She was getting belligerent.

“Is your bedroom on the first floor?” Gale asked.

“Yes.”

“So if you wanted to, couldn’t you sneak out without your parents knowing?”

“I didn’t do that,” Sally said.

“You didn’t walk over to Rachel’s house to confront her? To have it out with her?”

“Objection, asked and answered,” Dan snapped.

“Sustained.”

Gale tried a different approach. “All right, let’s be very clear about this, Sally. Did you see Rachel that night after you went home?”

Before Dan could object, Sally’s eyes flew wide open. “No!”

Several of the jurors inched forward in their seats. Dan watched Sally suspiciously, then turned to Stride with an inquisitive and hostile stare.

Stride leaned down and whispered to Maggie. “What the hell is this about? Where’s he going?‘

Maggie’s honey skin looked several shades paler. “I think you’re going to kill me, boss.”

“Tell me,” Stride said.

Maggie whispered, “Her clothes.”

Gale waited until the courtroom was hushed. Then, in a quiet voice, he said, “Sally, explain this to us. If you didn’t go confront Rachel—if you didn’t leave your room that night—why were you seen on the street just a few blocks from Rachel’s house at a few minutes after ten o’clock that night?”

Judge Kassel banged her gavel as another wave of noise rippled through the courtroom.

Sally seemed to wilt in front of their eyes. “That’s impossible. I wasn’t there.”

Gale sighed. He extracted a white piece of paper from his notes and approached the witness stand. “This is a police report, Sally, from the night Rachel disappeared. It’s an interview with a Mrs. Carla Duke, who lives four blocks from the Stoner house. Would you please read the passage that’s highlighted, Sally?”

Sally took the paper as if it were on fire, holding it at the comers with her fingertips. Her voice was almost inaudible.

“‘I did see a girl going by a little bit after ten. I saw her in the streetlight. But she didn’t look anything like this girl you’re trying to find. She had bushy brown hair and was wearing jeans and a red parka.’”

Gale retrieved the paper from her hands. “Sure sounds like you, Sally.”

“It wasn’t,” she murmured. “It wasn’t me.”

Stride murmured, too. “Son of a bitch, how did we miss that?”

“We were looking for people who saw Rachel,” Maggie said. “Not other girls.”

Gale shook his head in disbelief. “Someone wearing the same clothes as you, same hair as you, near Rachel’s house on the night she disappeared, just a few minutes after Rachel humiliated you in the park. But it wasn’t you.”

Sally was crumbling. “No.”

“I say you’re lying, Sally,” Gale snapped.

“Objection!” Dan said.

Judge Kassel nodded. “Sustained.”

Gale wasn’t bothered. “If we bring in Mrs. Duke as a witness, do you think she’ll identify you?”

“Objection, calls for speculation.”

“Sustained.”

But the message was getting through.

“What did you say to Rachel?” Gale asked. “Did you warn her to stay away from Kevin?”

“I didn’t see her.”

“Did she answer the door? Were the keys to the van right there inside the door? Did the two of you go for a ride?”

“No!”

“You were seen, Sally. Kevin’s going to know it was you. It’s time you tell him and all of us the truth. Now, for the last time: Did you go to Rachel’s house that night?”

“Objection,” Dan repeated. “He’s badgering the witness, Your Honor.”

But Judge Kassel was staring at Sally, like everyone else. She shook her head slowly. “Overruled. Please answer the question, young lady.”

Sally stared at the judge, then at Gale, then at the jury. She swallowed hard and nervously ran her hand back through her hair. She twisted a lock in her fingers. Tears began seeping down her face.

Then, with a sigh, she said it. “Yes, I did.”

The courtroom erupted, and the judge tried in vain to quiet the crowd. Sally’s next words were almost drowned out as she screamed, “But I didn’t kill her! I didn’t! I didn’t!”

Gale waited until the chaos subsided. “You’ve been lying all day, Sally. Why should we believe you now?”

“Redirect, Your Honor.”

Dan had no choice. He couldn’t leave the jury wondering what happened next He had to pry the truth out of her.

“Tell us what you did that night, Sally,” Dan said calmly.

Sally seemed anxious to talk now. “I did sneak out of my bedroom. I was so mad at Rachel. She was being cruel, playing with Kevin like that, when I knew she didn’t care about him. So I walked over to her house. I wanted to tell her off, tell her that was a mean thing she was doing to him.”

“Then what?” Dan asked.

“Her car was already there when I got to the house. So I figured she was home.”

“What did you do?”

“I went up to the door. I wanted to talk with her.”

“And did you?”

Sally shook her head. “No.”

“Why not? Had she already disappeared?”

“No, that’s not it. I was about to ring the doorbell, but I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

Sally stared triumphantly at Archie Gale. “I heard voices inside. People shouting. I could hear Rachel screaming. She sounded really upset. And I could hear—I could hear Mr. Stoner, too. I recognized his voice. He was shouting at Rachel. They were having a huge fight. So I left.”

Graeme Stoner leaned over to Gale and began whispering furiously.

Even Dan looked stunned. He stared at Sally and then simply said, “That’s all, no more questions.”

Stride shook his head. What a fucking mess.

Gale stood up again. If he was disturbed by Sally’s sudden revelation, which was as good as a nail in Graeme Stoner’s coffin if the jury believed her, he didn’t show it.

“Sally, Sally, Sally,” he murmured gently. “So many lies, what’s one more?”

“Objection.”

“Sustained.”

Gale shrugged. “You ask us to believe you had information pivotal to this case and you chose not to reveal it at all? Not until now?”

“I was scared,” Sally retorted.

“Of what Sally?” Gale asked, looking bewildered.

“Of him. Of Mr. Stoner.”

“Even after he was arrested?”

Sally stuttered, “Well, yes.”

“And yet you weren’t so scared that you held back on your little story about the barn. If you told that story to the police, why not the rest Sally?”

“I wasn’t sure they’d believe me.”

“So you lied. Nice strategy.”

“I didn’t want my parents to know I went out again,” Sally said. “Or Kevin. I was afraid of what they’d think.”

“They’d think you killed Rachel.”

“No!” Sally shouted. “That’s not it at all.”

“The fact is, you didn’t tell anyone about this phantom argument between Rachel and Graeme because it never happened, right? You just made it up here and now.”

“No, that’s not true!”

“No? Come on, Sally. You now admit you went over to Rachel’s house, after lying about this for months. What really happened there?”

“Objection, asked and answered,” Dan interjected.

“Overruled,” Judge Kassel said crisply.

It was a disaster. Even the judge didn’t believe her.

“It happened just like I said,” Sally insisted. “I heard them.”

Gale sighed. “Really? What were they saying?”

“I couldn’t make out the words,” Sally said.

“I see. You just heard voices.”

“Yes.”

“And so, furious and humiliated, after walking a mile to confront her, you just left without seeing her. Because you heard voices.”

Sally nodded. “Yes, I did.”

“And you never thought to mention this to anyone before? You supposedly have the crucial piece of evidence in a murder investigation, and you say nothing because you think your parents will ground you for sneaking out?”

“No, it wasn’t—I mean, that wasn’t it.”

Gale was relentless. “Sally, can you give us
one single reason
why we should believe this story?”

Sally opened her mouth and closed it. She wet her lips with her tongue and didn’t say a word.

“I’m finished, Your Honor,” Gale said.

Stride didn’t want to go outside. Neither did Maggie, but while they were milling in the tumult of the courtroom after Judge Kassel dismissed them for the day, Guppo paged her again, and she fought her way to the door. Stride and Dan stayed behind. He knew that the gauntlet of reporters would be waiting to feast on both of them. Gale was already outside, putting his spin on Sally’s testimony, insisting it opened the door for an acquittal. But the reporters would want to see Dan and Stride, too, and hear their explanation.

Have you lost
? Bird would ask.

They both knew. Yes, they had lost. It was as good as over.

Emily Stoner lingered in the courtroom behind them, looking confused and upset. She was alone. Dayton Tenby had been at her side all day, but he had left to pull his car around to the rear of the courthouse. The guards would spirit her out the back, away from the media horde.

She hadn’t said a word yet, and Dan hadn’t acknowledged her. But Stride knew she was the only reason Dan hadn’t flown into an explosive rage.

“You told me she had an alibi,” Dan said. His lips were stretched into a thin, cold line.

“She did.”

“Yet a witness your
own men
talked to blew the alibi out of the water. And no one ever caught it.”