The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 (43 page)

When asked why she was willing to sell out her boss in such a fashion, the assistant replied that Breathwaite promised her that when he came back to DOCS, she would get a raise and a promotion. She defended her actions by saying she stopped spying when Kate caught her at it.

In a highly unusual move, a couple of reporters took the stand to admit that Breathwaite had been the predominant source for several of the negative stories they had written about Kate. Those reporters had subsequently tendered their resignations.

Although Wendy had offered to testify, Kate had urged Levon and Sarah to use her only in the case of an emergency. Putting her on the stand and introducing the audiotape of her conversation with Breathwaite would have resulted in disclosing details of her personal life that would
The Cost of Commitment

have caused her great pain and also might have led to her being fired from her job.

Basher, while admitting that he had struck a deal for a light sentence in exchange for his testimony, established that he had been hired by Breathwaite to have some of his inmate buddies stage the riot, capture Kate, and kill her. His testimony was followed by that of by Antoine, Zack, and Kumar, all of whom corroborated his story and added details about the deal to let the three correction officers go at Breathwaite’s behest, along with the order to “kill the bitch already.”

Jay, who, unlike Kate, would not be called to testify in the trial, had sat through every witness since that first day. She was impressed with Sarah’s poise and ability to handle the witnesses, and told her so on the one occasion when they bumped into each other in the hallway.

The testimony, itself, however, was occasionally difficult for Jay to stomach. She squirmed and struggled through some of the more graphic descriptions of her lover’s captivity, glad that trial rules prevented witnesses from hearing the testimony of other witnesses.
As if,
she mused,
hearing about it secondhand in the news reports was a lot better.

She thought about her discussion with Kate the previous night as she waited for the prosecution to call its next witness.

“Are you sure you’re okay, love?”

“Fine, baby, really. I’m more worried about you. I’m not the one
sitting through the testimony day after day.”

“Yeah, but I’m not the one they’re talking about.”

Kate massaged her shoulders. “In some ways, Jay, I think it must
have been worse being you—not knowing exactly what was going on and
feeling helpless to do anything about it.”

“I wasn’t in any imminent physical danger, though—just in danger of
losing the only thing that mattered in my life.”

Kate kissed the top of her head. “It’s over, sweetheart. Here I am,
safe, sound, and where I belong—snuggling with the woman I love.”

“Honey, as much as I appreciate the sentiment, we both know this
won’t really be over until the jury has had its say and those two morons
are locked away for good.” She turned around in her lover’s arms and
kissed her on the shoulder. “Besides, the hardest part comes tomorrow
when you have to testify. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’m going to get.”

“Maybe we could get Levon to agree that you don’t need to take the
stand.”

“Sweetheart, if I don’t testify, it will throw the whole case into doubt.

Everyone will wonder why the woman who is at the heart of the case isn’t
testifying.”

Lynn Ames

Jay pouted. “It doesn’t mean I have to like your being put through the
experience a second time.”

“I love your protective side, baby, you know that? The therapist and I
have been working on this for a few months. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

“Just the same, I’m going to be right there with you. All you need to
do is look to the first few rows and you’ll find me.”

“I know, sweetheart, and I appreciate that more than words can say.

But if we don’t get some sleep, I won’t be worth anything by the time they
get to me.”

Jay was jarred back to the present when Levon Davis announced,

“The prosecution calls Ms. Katherine Kyle to the stand.”

The buzz rippling through the crowd intensified as the double side doors opened and Kate strode in, confident and beautiful in a perfectly tailored deep navy suit with a sky blue blouse, sheer navy pantyhose, and matching shoes. With no apparent effort, she commanded the attention of every person in the room, with the notable exception of the defendants.

Neither of them so much as looked her way.

The district attorney handled the questioning himself, taking Kate through the events of the six months from the time she was offered the job as DOCS public information officer to her rescue and recuperation.

She related the incident with Marisa, along with Redfield’s refusal to dismiss the assistant. She described the meeting in her office with Breathwaite during which he’d threatened to out Jay. She explained how he told her she didn’t know what hell was, but that she would soon.

Finally, just as the DA was about to take her back to the day of the incident, the judge declared a short recess.

“How’re you holding up, honey?”

“So far, so good, Jay, but the fun is just about to begin.”

“I know.” Jay rubbed her back soothingly. “It will be over soon, Kate, and then we can get on with our lives.”

“I can’t wait.” Kate smiled lovingly. “Jay, are you sure you want to stay for this next part?”

Jay stiffened.

“I just mean,” Kate put her arm around her, “this will be the hardest part for you to hear. I love you, sweetheart, and I’d like to spare you that.”

“No,” Jay said determinedly. “If you can live through it again, so can I.”

“You can be so stubborn. Have I ever told you that?” Kate bumped her with a hip.

The Cost of Commitment

“Maybe once or twice, it’s hard to recall.”

Kate grew serious. “Thanks, Jay, for being here for me.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d want to be, love. We’d better head back.

I’m pretty sure the ten minutes is up.”

They strolled back toward the courtroom from the antechamber where they had been allowed to spend the recess, away from the prying eyes of reporters.

“Ms. Kyle, can you recount for this court the circumstances under which you came to be captured on the morning of December 20, 1987?”

Kate told the story of being paged, going to the office, the decision to go out to Attica, taking the governor’s plane, and arriving at the prison.

She described her first trip through Times Square to update the media and the three subsequent trips prior to her capture. As she reached that fateful last trip, her posture unconsciously stiffened and her facial expression intensified.

“Ms. Kyle, I know this is very difficult, but could you tell us what happened from the time you entered Times Square just before you were taken to the time you were rescued?”

“I can tell you about the parts of that time that I was conscious, yes.”

“Of course.”

Kate narrowed her focus, shutting out the courtroom, the people, and the noise. “I had just finished having a conversation with Randy Garston, who was the deputy commissioner for operations. I remember walking into Times Square, stepping on some of the broken glass that littered the floor, and thinking about what I wanted to say to the media.” She paused and took a sip of water from a glass the bailiff had thoughtfully placed within her reach.

“I was two, maybe three strides into the room when I was grabbed from behind. I struggled, kicking one man in the shins. Then I remember being punched several times in the face and midsection.” She winced. “I felt my ribs break and my cheekbone fracture. I tried to keep fighting...”

The action became so real to Kate as she recounted it that she visibly flinched, as if from a blow. She shook her head.

“I have a vague recollection of being dragged through one of the cell block corridors. The next thing I remember is waking in a cell, hearing angry voices nearby.” Kate closed her eyes as the sounds of Antoine, Zack, and some of the others arguing over her fate overwhelmed her.

With effort, she opened her eyes again. She focused on Jay, who was halfway out of her seat in the first row of spectators, a worried expression on her face. With her eyes, Kate told her it was okay.

Lynn Ames

“One of them wanted to rape me before they killed me.” She tried to keep her voice level—matter-of-fact. She purposely didn’t look at Jay, knowing that seeing the expression on her face would be her undoing.

“Another just wanted to kill me outright. A third man argued that the man, as he referred to him, should have done his dirty work himself and that perhaps the best course of action was to turn me over to the authorities. A fourth, a man who seemed to be in charge, told them that I would be left alone until it was time to do away with me.”

“Do you know who he was?”

“I heard the other inmates call him Kumar. I do not know if that was his first or last name, or perhaps a nickname.” Kate took another sip of water before resuming her story. “When the others had dispersed, Kumar came and talked to me. He told me that kidnapping and murdering me was not their choice, but that it, as he said, afforded them an opportunity and they had to take it.”

“What happened then?”

Kate screwed up her face in concentration. “I’m not really sure. I lapsed in and out of consciousness for a period of time.”

“You had a severe concussion, in addition to your broken bones.”

“Yes, I was hit in the head a number of times, hard. My vision blurred occasionally and my head throbbed.”

“But you are sure of the conversations you have related?”

“Positive.” She nodded. “The next thing I remember is waking to hear the inmates fighting amongst themselves. I pretended to be asleep or unconscious when one of them came by to check on me.”

“How much time had passed?”

“It’s hard to say—the concept of time in there was measured simply by the moments I managed to stay alive.” She could hear Jay gasp from the spectator’s section. She tried to send her a reassuring look.

“Understandable. What’s the next thing you remember?”

“There was a commotion, and three men appeared in my cell. They handcuffed me with my hands in front of me.”

“Your wrist was broken?”

“Yes. The pressure of the handcuffs was excruciating.”

“I’m sorry, go on.”

“They shoved me out of the cell. I asked where we were going. I was told that we were going to talk to the media. I looked for a means of escape but couldn’t find one. Along the way, one of the inmates argued to keep the other three hostages.”

“The three correction officers?”

“Yes, they were also taken to the media.”

“Did you talk to them?”

The Cost of Commitment

“No, I did not have the opportunity. In fact, that was the first time I was even aware that there were any other hostages.”

“Okay, go on.”

“When the one inmate argued for keeping the three correction officers, Kumar answered that it would jeopardize their position to do so—they were not part of the deal.”

“So he indicated that the other three hostages weren’t supposed to be kidnapped and killed?”

“Right.”

“Is that why they let them go?”

“Objection, Your Honor!” Breathwaite’s attorney was on his feet.

“Calls for speculation.”

“Sustained. Do not answer that question, Ms. Kyle.”

“Kate,” the prosecutor began again, “what happened next?”

“Kumar, two of the other inmates, and I entered Times Square, while the others stayed behind with the three corrections officers. I was allowed to answer one or two questions from the reporter, then I was taken back to my—back to the cell they were keeping me in.” Kate experienced once again the feeling of helplessness that had enveloped her when the cell door had slammed shut with her inside again. She fought against the tears that threatened.

“It’s okay, Kate. Take a minute. It was a traumatic time.”

“They began arguing amongst themselves again about whether they should kill me right away or turn me over to the authorities and beg forgiveness. I guess killing me must have won out,” she shrugged,

“because someone—Kumar, I think—gave the order to ready the TV

room.”

“Why the TV room?”

“That is where they planned to execute me.” Her heart ached at the terror etched on Jay’s face. She looked away.

“Did they try to execute you?”

“They injected me with a drug that I guess was supposed to knock me out so that I wouldn’t struggle. I fought with them, trying to keep them from putting the needle in me.” She was back in the cell, fighting for her life, twisting, turning, scrapping. She used every bit of remaining strength she had left trying to fight them off. She was sure that this was the end. But it couldn’t be. She wouldn’t leave Jay this way—she couldn’t. “Jay, I’m so sorry,” she whispered brokenly, just before she lost consciousness.

“What? Kate? Did you say something? Are you all right?” The prosecutor approached the witness stand. “Your Honor, may we have a moment?”

“Of course.”

Lynn Ames

“No,” Kate said, returning to the present. “I’m fine. Let me finish.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. After the drugs took effect, the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital, with friends and family by my side.” She smiled lovingly at Jay, who still looked pale and shaken.

“Very well, Kate. Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Nepperson, Mr. Green?”

Breathwaite’s attorney stood. “Ms. Kyle, first, let me say how very sorry I am for your ordeal.”

The only thing you’re sorry for,
Kate thought,
is that your client got
caught.

“Ms. Kyle, did you ever, at any time, hear any of your captors refer to my client by name?”

“No.”