Presumption of Guilt (20 page)

At the end of the decision, a footnote was added.

Defendant contends that her confession was obtained through methods that lead to false confessions, and had the jurors heard expert testimony on the nature of false confessions, she would not have been convicted. I do not believe that the tactics used by the police, namely lying about her fingerprints on the weapon, and other evidence tying her to the crime, were likely to lead to a false confession. Accordingly, the testimony of Derek Deegan concerning false confessions would not have resulted in a different verdict.

Dani put down the decision. If she’d been a cartoon character, she would have had steam emanating from every pore.
How could he be so misguided?
She’d brought in a juror from that very trial who said he wouldn’t have voted to convict Molly if he’d known her father was involved with others in a massive theft. The judge didn’t even acknowledge his testimony. She stormed out of her office and into Melanie’s, threw the decision down on her desk and announced, “He denied the motion.”

Melanie looked up, startled. “Molly Singer’s motion?”

“Yep.”

“I thought we had that in the bag.”

“So did I.”

“I guess we appeal,” Melanie said.

“I want to get started on it right away.”

They buckled down to work, dividing the issues that each would research and then write in their brief to the Appellate Division. Dani was happy to be doing something productive. By burying herself in the work, she avoided, at least for the time being, sharing the news with Molly. Early tomorrow morning, before Molly had a chance to read the newspaper, Dani would drive up to Bedford Hills and let her know that her chance for a new trial had grown considerably slimmer.

The first snow of the season fell as Dani drove cautiously to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. It was early this year, perhaps a harbinger of a difficult winter ahead. It had once been one of her favorite seasons, when she and Doug would head for the slopes after the first large snowfall. Vermont didn’t get the deep powder of Colorado or Idaho, but they could drive there in half a day and be on the slopes by the afternoon. They hadn’t gone since Jonah was born. As she watched the plump drops of white hit her windshield, she thought perhaps this was the winter they’d introduce Jonah to the thrill of schussing down a mountain. After all, he was no longer a little child, a fact made clear to Dani every day as she watched him get ready for school and handle more and more activities on his own. He’d wash up, dress himself—usually in a reasonable facsimile of matching clothes—and make a sandwich for his lunch, all without Dani’s help. At times, she missed having a baby in the house. Now and then she’d think about having another child. Then she’d remember her age and shake her head. That time had passed for her. She couldn’t go back.

It wasn’t too late for Molly. Her daughter had been ripped from her arms eleven years earlier and now was a virtual stranger to her. If she were freed, perhaps she could reconnect with Sophie. If she were freed, perhaps she could fall in love again. She’d be young enough to have another child, one she could raise and nurture. If. A big
if
. Dani had been confident she’d get another trial for Molly. What had gone wrong? Her evidence was solid, her witnesses strong. How could the judge not see what a difference it would have made to the jurors if they’d known someone else had a motive for murdering Joe Singer? Unless the judge was part of the jail scheme. Everyone had become a suspect to her. She was starting to doubt her own rationality, imagining everyone a conspirator.

She turned into the prison and parked in the visitors’ lot, then trudged to the entrance. Once again, she waited in the attorney’s lounge until they motioned for her to follow a guard. The stale air of the hallways pinched her nose as she walked to the interview room. Once settled in the barren space, she waited for Molly to arrive. It was a meeting she’d dreaded since reading the court’s decision.

After a short wait, the guard escorted Molly into the room, then exited to wait outside the door. Unlike the guard escorting Molly on Dani’s previous visit—who seemed to have a grimace permanently etched on her face—this guard actually seemed human. “Just knock on the door when you’re finished,” she said with a smile before closing the door behind her.

Molly beamed on seeing Dani. “Is there any news?”

“I’m afraid so. It’s not good.”

“I’m not getting a new trial?”

“Not yet. But we’re going to appeal. I think we still have a shot at it.” Dani knew she was being optimistic. Appellate courts gave great deference to trial court judges.

Molly’s body seemed to deflate, as though it were made up of air and someone had stuck a pin in her. “I’d accepted that this is my life, that I would never be free. Sophie’s visit changed that.” Her voice was husky with emotion. “I want my daughter. I want to hold her and kiss her and protect her. I want to watch her grow into a woman. I want to teach her to treasure every moment, because you never know what’s going to happen.” Molly sank into her chair, then buried her head in her hands.

Dani reached over and wrapped her hands around Molly’s. “Don’t give up. We’re not. We’ll keep fighting until we get you another trial.”

Molly lifted her head. “You’re very kind. But if nothing else, the one thing you learn in here is to face reality. I let myself hope for a bit. I can’t do that any longer. It’s too painful.”

There was nothing more Dani could say. She left Molly without making any promises, but more determined than ever to fight for her freedom.

Finn opened the front door and found his father standing on the welcome mat. Frank rarely visited during the week, and never unannounced.

“What’s wrong?” Finn asked.

Frank stepped past him with the morning’s newspaper in his hand, still wrapped in plastic, retrieved from Finn’s driveway. He handed it over to Finn, then said, “Look at page three.”

“Just tell me what it says.”

“Molly’s bid for a new trial was denied.”

Finn said nothing, but the look on his face told his father he felt devastated.

“I’m sorry, Son. I’d hoped for a new trial, too.”

“What now?”

“I suppose her attorney will appeal.”

“What do you think her chances are?”

Frank hoped they were good. He wanted his granddaughter’s mother out of jail. It wouldn’t rectify twelve years of incarceration for a crime he now felt certain she hadn’t committed, but it was a first step. “I don’t know. At least there are five judges who’ll make the decision, not just one.”

“And if they don’t give her a new trial, then what?”

Frank knew what Finn was asking. What would Frank do? Would he come forward with what he knew? Or would he continue to mask his own involvement and deny Molly vital information? “I don’t know. I hope I don’t have to decide.”

C
HAPTER

35

B
y the next morning, eighteen inches of snow had fallen in New York City, with the northern suburbs getting four to six inches more. Jonah had woken up elated that school was closed for the day. Even Doug’s classes at Columbia Law had been cancelled. Only Dani was expected at work. HIPP never closed down. The inmates they represented, in states all throughout the country, needed their efforts to free them every day of the year. Looking out at the pristine snow piled high in their driveway, and the cloud-free deep-blue sky, Dani nonetheless decided to play hooky herself. Stashed in the garage was a Flexible Flyer wooden sled handed down from her mother to her and now to Jonah. Three blocks away was a park with a hillside that seemed to have been created solely for the purpose of winter sledding.

After a leisurely breakfast, Dani, Doug, and Jonah bundled up in their warmest coats, hats, and gloves, pulled on their fleece-lined winter boots, and headed over to the park with the Flexible Flyer. They entered the white expanse and walked past the lake. In the depth of winter, after weeks of below-freezing temperatures, the lake would freeze and skaters flocked to it. The past few winters had been mild, though, and it remained a haven for the few ducks that hadn’t yet flown south. The family stopped and Dani pulled out a bag of torn-up bread, which Jonah threw to the ducks. When the bag was empty, they continued walking to the hill, already filled with children, from toddlers to teenagers, all enjoying their unexpected day of freedom.

They all trudged to the top of the hill, then Dani and Doug watched as Jonah rode the sled down the slope. It was a long, easy decline, not too steep and not too flat. Just the perfect pitch for sledding, with no trees along the way to maneuver past. Jonah called out gleefully as it sped down the hill, then climbed up to do it again.

When he climbed up a second time, Dani opened a thermos she’d brought to the park and poured everyone a cup of steaming hot chocolate. As she sipped hers and looked around at the assembled children and their parents, she glimpsed, out of the corner of her eye, a man leaning against a tree, seemingly alone. He was tall and huskily built and wore a wool hat pulled low over his forehead. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and a cigarette dangled from his mouth. Dani quickly looked away, unnerved by him for a reason she couldn’t name.

After a few more runs, it was time to head home. Dani looked around once more. The strange man had moved to a tree closer to her family, and this time it was clear that he was staring straight at them. Dani could feel the muscles in her neck tighten. She slipped her hand into Doug’s, wrapped her other arm around Jonah, and they headed out of the park. She wondered if she should tell Doug about the man and dismissed that thought as soon as it entered her mind. Since the accident, she’d become easily spooked. Just nerves, she told herself.

They left the park, and as they turned the corner to their block, Dani saw the man again, about fifty paces back. His hands were in his coat pockets, and his head was down. She leaned over to Doug and, careful that Jonah wouldn’t hear, whispered into his ear, “I think that man behind us is following me.”

Doug stopped and looked back, then asked, “Why do you think so?”

“Because he was in the park, by the sledding hill. He was by himself, and he kept staring at me.”

“Wait here.” Doug dropped Dani’s hand and walked back to the man. Dani saw them speak, then Doug nodded. Moments later, they both walked up to Dani and Jonah.

“He kept staring at you in the park because he thought you looked like the lawyer that helped his brother,” Doug said.

The man held out his hand. “Sorry if I frightened you. I’m Johnny Dunbar. You got my brother freed from prison. Eddie Dunbar. You look different in your everyday clothes, so I wasn’t sure. But if it was you, I wanted to thank you. Eddie’s doing real good now. We’re very grateful to you.”

The tension emptied from Dani’s body in a rush. He wasn’t a killer looking for a second chance at her. Just an appreciative family member.

Just one day after a massive snowfall and the streets of Manhattan were clear. Piles of snow, already brown from soot, were lined up against the curb, but cars moved freely through the streets. Back in her office, Dani had Molly’s folder open on her desk. Melanie and Tommy sat opposite her.

“Look,” Dani said, “I don’t think we should sit by and wait for the appeal. Even if they reverse the trial judge, we still need more if it gets to a jury.”

“Yeah, we need the scum that did it,” Tommy said.

“That would be nice, but we’re not the police. We don’t have to prove someone else did it, just create reasonable doubt that Molly did.”

“Bob McDonald didn’t bring in an expert on the effects of Ambien,” Melanie said. “One of the things that hurt her at trial was that she didn’t hear anything that night. We know that the intruders woke her parents. At least one of them must’ve cried out when they knew what was happening. The prosecutors claimed she didn’t hear anything because she had killed them herself. And then didn’t remember doing it because of Ambien.”

“So, what are you thinking?”

“Well, maybe we get a doctor to testify that with twenty milligrams in her she would have slept too soundly to hear anything. Or do anything. And that there’s no evidence of anyone committing a violent act while on Ambien.”

Tommy shook his head. “Gotta stay away from that. I know of a couple of cases where people on Ambien committed violent acts and claimed to have no memory of it. And they had no history of aggressive behavior beforehand.”

Dani was silent. Was it possible Molly
had
murdered her parents and Ambien wiped out her memory of it? She’d been so sure Molly was innocent. Molly was so certain she was innocent. Could it be otherwise? No, her gut said Molly was innocent, and a few whacko claims didn’t change how she felt.

“Where are the feds on the Scoby lead?” Tommy asked.

“I don’t know. I’m meeting with them this afternoon for an update.”

Dani spread out the papers from Molly’s folder and rifled through them. “I keep thinking we’re overlooking something.” She skimmed through the summary Melanie had made of the trial transcript, then took out the accountant’s report. “Based on the overages charged for the jail, and on the amount of monies Joe and Quince took for themselves, there had to be three other people who profited from the scheme. Let’s assume Paul Scoby is one. Maybe Frank Reynolds is another. That leaves one other person.” She looked up at her colleagues. “Any guesses on who the last person is?”

“I vote for the judge,” Melanie said. “He clearly had bias toward Molly, and maybe it’s because he’s covering up his involvement.”

“I have to say, the thought occurred to me as well. But he wasn’t completely out of line with his rulings,” Dani said. “That’s what concerns me with the appeal. I’m afraid the court will find he exercised appropriate judicial discretion. Besides, judges in New York make decent money.”

“So do builders,” Tommy pointed out.

“Okay. So the judge is a maybe. Who else is a possibility?”

They were all silent. Dani knew it was because they, like herself, had no idea who else could be involved. And maybe that unknown person was the real killer.