Brian Freeman - Immoral

"Is that what you think?"

Dan sighed. "I really don't know, Emily. I'd like to believe her. It makes sense, given all the other evidence. If Sally had come forward with this immediately, we'd have a conviction now, no doubt about it. Under these circumstances, I'm afraid it makes it worse, not better."

"But why?" Her voice was plaintive.

"Well, it may open up reasonable doubt in the jury's mind. They may be sufficiently concerned about Sally's testimony that they feel they can no longer be absolutely certain that Graeme is guilty."

"He is guilty," Emily said passionately. "He did this. I know it."

"Many of the jurors may think so, too. The question is, are they sufficiently convinced to convict him?"

The reality seemed to dawn on her. "Are you telling me the son of a bitch could be acquitted? He could walk out of here?"

"I'm afraid that's possible," Dan said. His voice was hoarse and angry, as if that reality were only now dawning on him, too.

Stride looked up, hearing the thud of the courtroom door. Maggie was inside again, hurrying down the aisle, beckoning to him. He saw urgency written in her face. Without a word, Stride left Dan and Emily, pushed through the swinging gate, and met Maggie in the middle of the aisle.

"We found a body," Maggie said breathlessly. "Guppo's on the scene."

"Rachel?"

"No way to tell. It's just skeletal remains. The son of a bitch tried to burn her. Could be Rachel. Could be Kerry. Could be someone else."

Stride closed his eyes. A month ago, this would have been tremendous news. Three months ago, even better. One of Gale's best theories, that Rachel was really still alive, might have been stripped away.

"Where was she found?" Stride asked.

"Just a few miles north of the bam. If our search radius had gone another mile, we might have found her."

"Does Guppo have the scene sealed off?"

"Yeah. The medical examiner is up there, too."

"What's he say about it?" Stride asked.

"For now, not much. All he'll say is that the skeletal structure is consistent with that of a teenage girl. Otherwise, we'll either have to wait for the DNA or dental records or hope something turns up in a search of the surrounding area."

"Not a word to the press yet," Stride said. "Play it cool. I'll tell Dan, and then you and I can go up there."

Stride looked back at Dan and Emily and wondered how you break news like this in front of the girl's mother. He took a deep breath and told Maggie to wait for him. Returning to the front of the courtroom, he saw Dan and Emily watching him. There was no gentle way to say it.

"We've located a body in the woods north of the city," he told them.

Emily's eyes widened, and her hand flew to her open mouth. "Oh, no!"

Dan said, "Shit." He repeated it several times.

Emily crumpled into a seat. She sat there silently, like a piece of broken eggshell, then finally looked at Stride with bloodshot eyes. "Is it-is it her? Rachel?"

"We don't know yet," Stride said. "I'm very sorry. We only have skeletal remains, so it's going to take time to identify them."

"How long?" Dan asked.

"We'll probably have to wait for DNA tests, unless we can do something with dental records. Either way, it's likely to be a few weeks."

Dan shook his head. "We don't have a few weeks. We don't even have a few days."

Stride nodded. "I know."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"The trial is almost over," Dan told her. "Without positive identification, we can't raise the issue in front of the jury. Our suspicions aren't evidence."

"But we have her body now," Emily pleaded. "You can't let that man continue to pretend to the jury that she may be alive."

"Unfortunately, we don't know yet that it is her body," Stride reminded her gently.

"This is insane," Emily said, shaking her head "I can't believe this. My God, they can't just let him walk away now. They have to postpone the rest of the trial. They have to give you time to prove it's Rachel."

Dan sighed, and Stride knew what he was thinking. It was too little, too late.

"That's up to the judge," Dan said.

"A continuance?" Judge Kassel's eyebrows twitched, and her voice climbed an octave. "Mr. Erickson, please tell me this is an example of your charming sense of humor."

Dan spread his hands plaintively. "I realize this is unusual, Your Honor."

"Unusual?" Gale snorted. "Try outrageous."

The two men leaned closer to the judge's bench. Behind them, the courtroom was packed again, with hushed conversation buzzing through the crowd. Judge Kassel banged her gavel, but it did little to quiet them. Graeme Stoner sat alone at the defense table, his face stoic. Today, Emily sat immediately behind him, as if she wanted Graeme to feel her presence. Her eyes burned into her husband's neck. Graeme, after noticing her there when he first sat down, hadn't looked back once, but it was obvious that he could feel her there, close enough for her scent to reach him.

The jury was absent, secluded in the jury room while Dan pleaded for more time. They were the only people in the state of Minnesota who had not awakened to the headline splashed across the newspaper:

RACHEL'S BODY?

"No one could have anticipated something like this," Dan said. "But in the interests of justice, we simply must take the time to analyze the remains."

"He wasn't concerned about a body before, Your Honor," Gale said.

Judge Kassel stared down her nose at Dan. "That's true."

"He felt confident enough to make his case without any proof that the girl was dead," Gale continued. "He's had his chance."

"I haven't rested my case," Dan pointed out.

"Yes, but he has nothing more to add, Your Honor. I don't see any evidence. I don't see any witnesses."

Dan shook his head. "Much of Mr. Gale's defense was predicated on leaving the jury with the impression that Rachel might still be alive. He used that implication to try to establish reasonable doubt. If we can prove conclusively that Mr. Gale's insinuations were false, the jury deserves to know that."

The judge crossed her arms and leaned back. "Mr. Gale?"

"The whole situation is prejudicial," Gale argued. "The jury has heard all the evidence. It's fresh in their minds. Giving the prosecutor time to let the jury's memory fade is both unfair and unreasonable. The body could well turn out to be unrelated to this case, and it will be too late to repair the damage. Besides, we have no idea how long it will take them to make a conclusive identification, assuming they can do so at all."

"Archie, you should want the delay," Dan said. "Your Honor, even sequestered, the jury may very well know about the body. It's too easy for news to seep through one way or another. They'll conclude it's Rachel. It will influence their decision. We should allow them to decide on facts, not innuendo."

Judge Kassel offered a faint smile. "That's very charitable of you, Mr. Erickson. But the fact is, the jurors will not hear anything about any body if there's no delay. As soon as you called me last night, I shut down all phone calls in and out. That was before Mr. Finch's little broadcast, thank God. There are no televisions and radios in the rooms. Their transport this morning was closely monitored. They don't know now, and they won't know when they start deliberating in a day or so if we take appropriate precautions. I'll clear the courtroom if I have to."

"You could declare a mistrial," Dan suggested. "We could start over."

Gale opened his mouth, but Kassel waved him to silence. "I'm way ahead of you, Mr. Gale. No mistrial, Mr. Erickson. There's nothing wrong with this one."

"Your Honor, the people shouldn't be penalized because the defendant did such a good job of hiding his crime that we didn't find the body until now."