‘Sofia, I’m trying to save your life. Let me do my job.’
She blinked, and tears fell on the papers laid out on the table.
‘He was my dad. And she killed him. She has to pay for it.’
THIRTY-ONE
KATE
Eddie’s opening speech had surprised Kate. She felt sure he was going to lay some bombshell in the middle of the court, and watch it blow her defense wide open.
He didn’t.
He wasn’t coming after Alexandra. It was a high-risk strategy, but smart. It relied on the jury taking their oath seriously, and deciding that if they couldn’t choose between Alexandra and Sofia as to who was the real killer, then they had to acquit. Technically, the argument was sound.
Bloch whispered, ‘He’s good, but that’s never going to work.’
‘Why not?’ said Kate.
‘This jury saw that photograph of Frank. If they believe one of the sisters did it, they’re not leaving this courtroom unless someone is made to pay for it.’
Kate nodded, then saw Dreyer stand and call his first witness.
‘Detective Brett Soames,’ said Dreyer.
Kate flicked through her legal pad, looking for the notes she’d marked with pink tabs. While she found the pages, she heard Soames come forward. She recognized him from the night of the murder, when she first met Alexandra in the cells. He had worn a truly awful yellow shirt. The shirt had been terrible enough to stick in mind. It was that bad.
Soames was tall, mid-fifties, with tight greying hair. The yellow shirt had been given the day off, but the replacement didn’t look much better. He wore a navy suit and green shirt with a blue and white striped tie. It looked like an odd ensemble. Kate wondered if he was color-blind. As Soames held up the Bible, Kate noticed the notch on Soames’ left ring finger. He had been used to wearing a wedding ring, until recently. Made sense – no spouse would let their man walk out of the house wearing a suit and tie combo like that.
Once Soames had been sworn in, Judge Stone told him to take a seat and then took a moment to make sure the detective had water and whatever else he needed to make himself comfortable in the witness stand.
To settle the witness, Dreyer asked some easy questions about the detective’s length of service on the force, and his experience. He was a career cop. He’d been in homicide for the best part of fifteen years. This was not his first rodeo.
‘Detective, how were the police first alerted to this crime?’ asked Dreyer.
‘The defendants both made 911 calls from their cell phones,’ said Soames. As he spoke, he made a point of turning toward the jury and delivering his answer to them. He didn’t smile, didn’t even appear friendly to the jury. He struck Kate as an honorable cop who was simply here to do his job and tell it like it was. A prosecutor’s dream witness.
‘Your Honor, I think it would be prudent at this time to play the 911 calls for the jury.’
‘I agree, that okay with you, detective?’ asked the judge.
Kate had never seen a judge be so pro-police before. You can score all the high marks you want in the bar exam, you can know every piece of case law and precedent and ace your way through every mock trial that’s thrown at you, but nothing prepares you for this. Even if you’re completely factually and legally accurate in your argument – you can still lose in front of a biased judge. This was the real world now.
Dreyer signaled to one of his assistants, and Kate put down her pen and listened while the PA system kicked into life and the first tape was played.
It was Alexandra.
Bloch opened a file and read along with the transcript. Alexandra swallowed and closed her eyes as she heard her own voice, and the fear that was rifled through each word like a fat seam of gold running through bedrock.
The jury listened too, and Kate paid close attention. They were drinking it in.
The tape finished dramatically, with the dispatcher losing Alexandra on the line, not knowing her fate.
‘And the second call, please,’ said Dreyer.
This was Sofia’s call, which had come into the 911 emergency response center almost a minute after Alexandra’s. The tremors in Sofia’s voice sounded real enough to Kate. If she had to make an assessment of both calls, she would say Sofia was the most scared on the phone.
Closing the file with the call transcript, Bloch folded her arms and leaned back. She must’ve made the same assessment.
Sofia sounded more real.
Kate had no doubt her client’s fear had been very real at the time; this just meant that Sofia was better at faking it.
‘Detective Soames, you were tasked to the scene by the NYPD response unit?’
‘Yes,’ said Soames. ‘The response unit had secured the property, and the scene. Given that both occupants of the property had blood on them, and were both reporting that the other had carried out the murder, the response officers had placed them both in custody. When I arrived at the scene both defendants had been arrested, and read their rights. I then spoke to both women.’
Kate’s pen, which had been moving across the page, making notes of every word of evidence given by Detective Soames, suddenly halted.
Soames had not previously disclosed any conversation with the defendants at the scene. It wasn’t in his deposition. This was all new. She shot a look at Eddie and saw his jaw tighten, the muscles creasing above the jawline. He hadn’t seen this coming either.
Both were in uncharted territory.
‘Who did you speak to first?’ asked Dreyer.
‘I spoke to Alexandra Avellino.’
‘And what did she say?’
Before Soames turned his head away from Dreyer, and delivered his answer to the jury, he gave Kate a passing look. Kate knew, right then, this was bad.
‘Can I refer to my notes?’ asked Soames.
The judge and Dreyer nodded. Soames reached into his jacket pocket and produced a notebook. Copies had not been served on Kate, and she doubted Eddie had seen them either.
‘Alexandra said – Arrest that bitch. She killed my father. She’ll kill me. I noted this and then I spoke to Sofia Avellino.’
‘What did Sofia Avellino say?’
‘She said – You have to arrest Alexandra, she did this. She’s evil. She’s ruined my life.’
Dreyer nodded.
This wasn’t as bad as Kate had first thought. The accusations kind of cancelled each other out – but only so far.
‘Before we go on to talk about the crime scene, I noticed that when you spoke to the defendants at the scene, neither Sofia Avellino nor Alexandra Avellino asked about their father’s condition. Did you tell either of them he was dead?’
‘I did not.’
‘And at any point, either at the scene or in the precinct during questioning, to your knowledge, did Sofia Avellino or Alexandra Avellino ask about their father’s current medical condition?’
‘No, sir. They did not. I guess they already knew because—’
‘Objection,’ said Kate. ‘The officer’s guesses are not evidence. He is not giving expert testimony.’
Kate’s knees had already bent, and she was in the process of sitting down, her objection clear, precise and one hundred percent correct when she heard Judge Stone say, ‘Overruled.’
Kate got back up, ‘Your Honor, the witness is speculating on—’