Brian Freeman - Immoral

That's right."

"She could easily have been killed, couldn't she?"

"I guess."

Gale's eyebrows rose. "You guess? Kevin, you were terrified, weren't you? You ran to save her."

"Yes, I did."

"Had she ever climbed up on the bridge like that before, that you know of?" Gale asked.

"No."

"Why, on that night of all nights, would she have been risking death?"

"I don't know," Kevin said.

Gale continued. "You said Rachel made sexual advances toward you that night?"

"Yes."

"In front of your girlfriend?"

Kevin frowned. "Well, Sally was on the ground. We were up on the bridge."

"But she could see you, couldn't she?"

"I suppose."

"Had Rachel ever done something like this to you before?"

Kevin shook his head. "No."

"So, on this night of all nights, she makes a sexual advance on her oldest friend, someone she's known her whole life, for the first and only time?"

"Yes." Kevin's voice was almost inaudible.

"I see. Now, about the date. Was this the first time Rachel had asked you out?"

Kevin nodded. "Yes."

"The first time ever?"

"Yes."

"So again, on this night of all nights, Rachel decides for the first and only time to ask you out on a date."

"That's right."

Gale smiled. "So really, there wasn't anything ordinary about that night, was there?"

Kevin hesitated. "I guess not"

"Why was Rachel behaving so strangely?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, Kevin. Let's talk about something else. You knew Kerry McGrath, didn't you? The other girl who disappeared two years ago?"

"Objection!" Dan practically screamed. "Counsel's question is irrelevant and outside the scope of direct examination."

Judge Kassel slammed her gavel down, and Stride thought she enjoyed the opportunity to do so. She eyed Dan impatiently. "Settle down, Mr. Erickson."

Then the judge stared down at Gale. Her attractive jaw settled in a hard line, but her eyes were intrigued. "Now, Mr. Gale, please tell me you have a point to this question. Because, despite counsel's outburst, I'm inclined to sustain his objection."

Gale knew he had piqued her interest-and the jury's, too.

"I hope the court will indulge me a little while on this line, Your Honor. I want to explore some facts that will play a vital role in my defense. The prosecution's witnesses have testified that there is no link between Kerry's and Rachel's disappearances. I wish to impeach those conclusions, and that is certainly relevant. What's more, Mr. Erickson opened the door by exploring the witness's personal relationship with Rachel. I'm entitled to explore whether he had a personal relationship with another girl who disappeared under similar circumstances."

Kassel 's lips curled into an almost imperceptible smile. Stride couldn't tell whether she was enjoying the drama or savoring the possibility that Gale might have an ace up his sleeve with which to embarrass Dan.

"We'll indulge you briefly, Mr. Gale. Very briefly."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Gale said.

In the silence that followed, the whole courtroom focused its cold attention on Kevin, squirming in the witness stand. Gale repeated the question.

"Sure, I knew her. We were in the same class."

"Did the two of you ever go out on a date?"

"No," Kevin said.

"Did you ask her out, and she said no?"

"No." His voice was a whisper.

"Your Honor," Dan pleaded.

"Mr. Gale?" Judge Kassel demanded. "Our indulgence is running out."

Gale shot his next question in quickly. "Did she ever ask you out?"

Dan rose to object again, but before he could open his mouth, Kevin let out a giant sigh and said, "Yes."

Dan slowly sank back into his seat. The jury and the rest of the courtroom were transfixed. Judge Kassel put her gavel down and eased back into her chair.

"When did Kerry ask you out?" Gale asked.

"It was the week before she disappeared."

A murmur swept through the courtroom.

Stride glanced at Maggie. She looked back at him in confusion. They had worked the McGrath case inside and out, and Kevin's name had never come up. There was no evidence the two of them had ever been together. Then, a second later, they understood.

"Did you say yes?" Gale asked.

Kevin shook his head. "No. I told her I was already seeing Sally."

"So you never actually went out together?"

"No."

"How did Kerry take the rejection?" Gale asked.

"She was okay about it She said maybe another time."

Gale nodded. "How about Sally? How did she like the idea of another girl asking you out? Just like Rachel did that night."

"She was kind of pissed off. I told her it was nothing. We didn't talk about it again."

"And a week later, Kerry disappeared, just like Rachel did."

Kevin swallowed. "Yes."

"You don't have very good luck with girls asking you out do you, Kevin?"

Dan shouted another objection, and this time Kassel directed her anger at Gale, sustaining the objection and instructing the jury to ignore the question. Gale raised his arms in surrender.

"I don't have any more questions for you, Kevin," Gale said quietly.

Before Kevin could get up, Dan quickly got to his feet "Redirect, Your Honor."

Judge Kassel nodded. "Go ahead."

"Kevin, please tell the court where you were on the night Kerry McGrath disappeared."

"I was in Florida. I was at Disney World with my parents."

"And on the night Rachel disappeared, what did you do after she left you in Canal Park?"

"I went home."

"Did you see your parents there?"

Kevin nodded. "We watched a movie on television in the living room until after midnight."

"Thank you, Kevin."

"What the fuck was all that about?" Dan demanded, taking a bite from a portobello sandwich. "'A vital part of his defense?'"

Stride played with a paper clip, folding and unfolding it. "It's obvious, isn't it? He's going to try to paint Sally as a jealous serial killer. 'Anyone comes after my boyfriend, they disappear.'"

"But you told me that's a nonstarter," Dan said. "You said she's got an alibi."

Stride nodded. "She does. I don't know where he thinks he's going with this, but he obviously thinks he can make it play with the jury."

"Well, if I yank Sally off our list, we can't put Graeme at the barn. Besides, Gale will just call her himself, which will make us look like we're trying to hide something. That means in half an hour she goes on the stand. So you tell me, could this girl have done it? Should I be concerned?"

Maggie shook her head. "No way. I've talked to the girl. She may be a jealous bitch when it conies to Kevin, but I don't see her taking girls off the street and killing them. And she wasn't making it up about Graeme and the bam. I talked to her. The girl was telling the truth."

"Then why the hell does Gale seem to think this is his Get Out of Jail Free card?" Dan asked. "Do we know where Sally was when Kerry disappeared?"

"No," Stride said. "Her name never came up."

"We know she wasn't with Kevin," Maggie pointed out slyly. "You made sure of that on redirect. He was in Florida."

Stride intervened before Dan could explode. "She didn't do it, Dan. But you can bet Gale has already checked, and Sally doesn't have an alibi for that night Or she doesn't remember where she was. Hell, it was almost two years ago. It's still smoke and mirrors. A coincidence. Give the girl a chance. She convinced Maggie. She'll convince the jury, too."

Dan slammed his briefcase shut and gave Maggie a malevolent stare. "All right. We don't change our strategy. We ignore the Kerry McGrath issue. By my estimate, we're still ahead on points. If the jury went out now, they might think about it for a while, but they'd convict. But if Gale can muddle their brains with another false suspect, he might talk them into reasonable doubt. And let me make one thing very clear. If we lose this case, the two of you are going to be scraping bird shit off statues in public parks for the next ten years. So you better damn well hope you've given me enough to put this pervert behind bars."