Уильям Макгиверн - Summitt

“ Thank you, Mr. Thomson.” She paused. “But you weren’t upset, merely puzzled that someone had made off with your very expensive turbocharged car?”

“Let me explain that. What I meant was that I wasn’t worried, ma’am. That Porsche is a very distinctive car, and I figured it would turn up.”

“What did you do when you discovered it was stolen?”

“As I said, I didn’t realize it was stolen until later.”

“You assumed some friend had driven it off as a joke.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Being the victim of that joke, what did you do?”

“I walked to the Bellflower diner and called home. I told Miguel Santos what had happened. Our regular chauffeur wasn’t there...” Earl smiled. “I have the feeling we’ve been through this, ma’am.”

“Do you find it tiresome, Mr. Thomson?”

“Not at all. I’ll dot every i and cross every t if you want me to. I told Miguel where I’d be waiting and told him to come over to Muhlenburg and get me.”

Brett adjusted her black-and-white-checked scarf with a seemingly distracted gesture, as if she herself weren’t quite sure of her next question. Then she said, “Why did you choose The Green Lantern for your meeting with Charles Lee?”

“I figured that would be convenient for both of us.”

“But The Green Lantern is seventeen miles from your home in Wahasset, Mr. Thomson. It’s more than nine miles from Hosckessin in Delaware, where Mr. Lee works. What made you decide The Green Lantern was convenient for either of you?”

“Let’s put it this way. I knew where it was. That’s probably why I suggested it. At least I was sure I could find it.”

“You know that area well then?”

“I’ve driven by there, yes.”

“You know that The Green Lantern is only a half mile from Fairlee Road then?”

“Objection, Your Honor. The question is irrelevant.”

“Sustained.”

Brett said, “According to your testimony, Mr. Thomson, you parked your expensive car in front of The Green Lantern. It was in clear view of at least a dozen homes and shops on Route One. Correct?”

“I wouldn’t swear to the exact number, but if you say a dozen I’ll take your word for it.”

“Did you go to any of those shops or houses to ask if anyone had seen who drove your car away?”

“No, I didn’t. I’ve told you, I was running late.”

“That jokester acted with a lot of confidence, wouldn’t you say? Acted just as if he owned the car. Knew how to start it, shift gears and so forth. Isn’t that how it must have appeared to the people in those shops and homes?”

“Maybe, ma’am. I wouldn’t know.”

“Do you have a jokester friend who physically resembles you, Mr. Thomson?”

“Well, I’ve got lots of friends, ma’am. Maybe some of them do look a bit like me.”

“Then any witnesses to the taking of your car might have thought it was you yourself climbing so confidently behind the wheel, and driving off so expertly? Isn’t that a possibility?”

“Objection, Your Honor. That insinuation is unsupported by any evidence.”

“Sustained.”

“Mr. Thomson, when you discovered your car was gone, did you suspect which friend of yours had borrowed it?”

“I told you, ma’am, I didn’t know who’d taken it and I didn’t waste time worrying about it. I half expected to find it waiting for me at home.”

“What was the other half of your expectation?”

“That was only a manner of speaking.”

“Did you half expect your car to turn up where it did turn up that night? At Vinegar Hill, or the Taggart Place?”

“ Objection, Your Honor. I ask the court to admonish People’s counsel for that inference.”

“The question will be stricken. The jury will ignore it.”

Brett inclined her head, a gesture of submission in marked contrast with the apparent confidence in her expression. “Mr. Thomson, I find your lack of interest in the whereabouts of your expensive automobile difficult to understand. Weren’t you worried that your jokester friend might have, say, been involved in an accident?”

“I wasn’t worried, no. That suggests a careless attitude, you may assume. But people worry because they don’t know how to think. That’s what they drilled into us at Rockland. My car was gone. That was a fact I couldn’t change. So I didn’t waste time worrying about it.”

“Let’s go back over what you’ve told me. You left The Green Lantern, found your Porsche gone. Being late for your dinner engagement, you walked to the Bellflower diner, called Miguel Santos and told him to drive over to Muhlenburg and pick you up. Is that it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“But, Mr. Thomson, the Bellflower is more than a mile from The Green Lantern. Why didn’t you go back into the Lantern and call Mr. Santos from that phone?”

“I don’t think you’ll understand my answer to that but I’ll try... I’d had my fill of that place. I’d gone out of my way to keep an appointment there, Charlie’d stood me up for one of his sort’s typical reasons. He could have sent that shotgun over with a friend, or hired some Puerto Rican to stand in at the mushroom shack. But Charlie took the short-range view, make a buck today, let tomorrow take care of itself. It never occurred to him that I’d adjusted my schedule to suit him.” Thomson’s mouth tightened with exasperation. “It may not seem logical, ma’am, but I didn’t feel like asking favors from The Green Lantern crowd.”

“Even though not using their phone would make you that much later for dinner with your mother?”

“She would understand, I was sure.”

Changing direction, Brett said, “Isn’t it true, Mr. Thomson, that you told no one in Muhlenburg — no one at The Green Lantern or the Bellflower, no one in the homes and shops in the area — that your thirty-five-thousand-dollar car had been stolen?”

“You say stolen, ma’am, even though I’ve testified I didn’t think it was. But, no, I didn’t tell anybody my car had been borrowed.”

“What time did you call Miguel Santos?”

“About six o’clock, I think.”

“What time did he arrive in Muhlenburg?”

“About six-thirty.”

“Where did you wait for Mr. Santos?”

“On the sidewalk in front of the Bellflower.”

“It was beginning to rain, then, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You waited in the rain for half an hour?”

“I didn’t want Miguel to miss me.”

“To your knowledge, Mr. Thomson, did anyone see you standing there in the rain?”

“Maybe somebody did. I wouldn’t know.”

“Did you speak to anyone?”

“I don’t remember. Maybe I nodded to someone, I don’t know.”

“You weren’t tempted to get out of the rain and wait inside the diner?”

“Objection, Your Honor.”

“Sustained.”

“Mr. Thomson, did you speak to anyone in the diner when you made your telephone call? Did you ask the cashier for change?”

“I had no reason to.”

“No reason to speak to anyone? ”

“I was in a hurry, ma’am. I was in no mood for small talk.”

Brett pushed her wooden bracelets higher on her wrists and glanced thoughtfully at the big wall clock behind Flood’s bench. “Mr. Thomson, your mother testified that you returned home from Muhlenburg shortly after seven o’clock. You showered and changed then. When you returned to her suite, she testified, you were not wearing your wristwatch. Is that also your recollection?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Miss Cluny from The Green Lantern testified that you were wearing rings and a chain necklace in addition to your wristwatch. You removed them too before showering?”