Joel Goldman - Stone Cold

“The best I can with what I’ve got.”

Kate leaned forward, reaching her hand toward Alex. “Is that what you want me to do for you?”

Alex pulled back, dropping her hands in her lap, deflecting Kate’s question. “I’m sure that’s what you did when you helped pick the jury and I’m sure that’s what you’re doing when you tell us how the jury is reacting to the evidence.”

“That’s only part of my job. I also evaluate the witnesses whether the prosecution calls them or we do.”

“And I’m sure Claire and Lou think you’re doing a great job of that too.”

“Thanks for that, but I’m more concerned about being able to do my job if you take the stand. Both of us need to be ready for that, and I’m not sure we are.”

“Well, if I decide to testify, I promise you, we’ll be ready.”

Kate let out a breath, smiled again, and straightened, tapping the table with her palm. “Good enough. Let’s have a look at that flash drive.”

Simon Alexander had organized the contents of Gloria’s phone into folders for e-mail, text messages, phone calls, photographs, and video. They started with the e-mail, taking their time, Kate using her iPad to create a spreadsheet for the names of people that appeared in the messages. Half an hour later, nothing had jumped out at them. Kate looked at her watch.

“We better get back to court.”

“E-mail the files to me so I can go through them tonight.”

“Sure.”

Kate sent the e-mail and they left.

“Whose idea was this anyway?” Alex asked when they were in the elevator.

“What are you talking about?”

“Getting you and me alone in your hotel room for a heart-to-heart chat. Was it Claire or Lou? Or was it your idea?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that whatever is on Gloria Temple’s phone is too important for Lou not to have been through it the first chance he got. And there’s no way he was going to let us have the first look while he made some phone calls. I can’t believe what a lame excuse that was.”

Kate grinned and shook her head. “I told him it wouldn’t work, that you’d see through it.”

“So Lou thinks I’m holding something back and he asked you to find out if I was by gazing into my eyes over a club sandwich.”

The elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened, Kate following Alex into the lobby, taking her arm.

“Is he wrong?”

“Absolutely,” Alex answered, her face flat and her eyes steely.

“Ms. Shelburne,” Claire began her cross-examination, “I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to lose a child.”

“You got any kids?” Odyessy asked as she fidgeted, her arms shaking slightly.

“No, I don’t.”

Odyessy wrapped her arms around her middle, her voice rising unsteadily. “Then you don’t know nuthin’ ’bout it!”

Claire was pleased with Odyessy’s answer, using it to her advantage. “You seem very angry.”

Odyessy stuck her chin out. “Course I’m angry.”

“How angry?”

“Whadda you mean, how angry am I?”

“Are you angry enough to have lied to the police and the prosecutor and the jury about what happened just so Alex Stone would go to jail?”

“She shot my son and everybody know it! Ain’t no need to lie ’bout that.”

“And it would be hard for you not to want to punish her, wouldn’t you agree?”

Odyessy narrowed her eyes, sensing that she was losing her footing, uncertain what to say, snapping her answer. “She had no call to murder my boy.”

“That’s what you want the jury to decide, isn’t it, that Alex Stone murdered your son?”

“That’s right. That’s what I want,” she said, repeating her answer, drawing out each word. “That. Is. What. I. Want.”

“And you want it badly enough that you’ll say anything to convince the jury to find Alex Stone guilty, isn’t that so?”

Ortiz jumped to his feet. “Objection. Counsel is badgering the witness.”

“Your Honor,” Claire said, “I’m doing nothing of the kind. It would be hard to find a more hostile witness. I’m just trying to get to the truth.”

“Overruled, but if you’ve got something more than that, get to it, Ms. Mason.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Ms. Shelburne, please answer my question. Are you so angry over your son’s death that you’ll say anything if it will help convict Alex Stone?”

Odyessy squirmed, shifting her weight. “I ain’t lyin’. My boy waddn’t doin’ nuthin’, and she jus’ shot him.”

“And you were in your room upstairs when you heard the gunshots, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Odyessy said before catching herself. “I mean no, I was comin’ down the stairs like I said before.”

Claire smiled. “My mistake. You were in your room when you say you heard Alex threaten to kill your son.”

Odyessy nodded, her head bobbing up and down. “Yes, I was.”

“There are three bedrooms on the second floor of your house, aren’t there?”

“That’s right.”

“And your bedroom is the one at the back of the house and farthest from the stairs. Isn’t that so?”

“That’s right.”

“What were you doing in your room?”

“Nuthin’.”

“Were you watching television?”

“No.”

“Reading a book or magazine?”

“No.”

“Listening to music?”

“No.”

“Taking a nap?”

“No.”

“Well, what were you doing?”

“Like I said, nuthin’.”

“Were you taking drugs?”

Odyessy’s eyes popped wide open. “No, ma’am, no way. I was clean and sober.”

“You testified this morning that you’ve used drugs since you were ten years old.”

“I was gettin’ clean. Dwayne was helpin’ me.”

“He was helping you because you’d been using drugs a lot while he was in jail for allegedly killing Wilfred Donaire. Isn’t that so?”

“I ain’t proud of it.”

“In fact, three days before he died, he was arrested and the police found vials of crack cocaine in his pocket that he claimed belonged to you. Isn’t that so?”

“That’s what I mean. He was keepin’ me clean.”

“Every drug user I’ve ever known always kept a little stashed away for emergencies. Did you keep your stash in your bedroom?”

“I done tol’ you! I was clean and sober and I saw what I saw!”

“And you’re clean and sober right now?”

Odyessy shook her head like she’d been slapped, stuttering, “C-c-course I am.”

“Tell me, Ms. Shelburne, what did you do during the lunch break?”

“I went to a meeting.”

“What kind of meeting?”

“Narcotics Anonymous,” she said, tossing her head.

“And if I told you that my investigator followed you during the lunch break and observed you in an alley a few blocks from here buying crack cocaine and getting high, what would you say?”

Her eyes popped wide open as she clutched the top of her blouse tight against her neck. “I’d say he’s a liar.”

“And if I told you he videotaped you buying crack and getting high and that I am prepared to show that videotape to the jury, would he still be lying?”

She hung her head, her voice soft and low. “No.”

“So, a moment ago, when you told the jury that you’re clean and sober, that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she said, chin down.

“And when you told the jury that you weren’t getting high in your bedroom when your son was shot, that was also a lie, wasn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Ms. Shelburne, you have to answer out loud,” Judge West said.

“Yeah.”