Seeing Red (31 page)

“No.” She wanted to crawl under her chair.

“At the time you claim to have seen Mr. Alexander, did you then check to see if your cousin was in her bed—since I assume you could not see her in the bottom bunk from where you were on the top?”

“No.”

“When did you first realize your cousin was gone?”

“The next morning, around nine.”

“I see.” He looked at the jury.

Ellis started to open her mouth, explain further, but Mr. Buckley caught her eye and shook his head. She gritted her teeth instead.

“You and your cousin were close?”

“Yes. More like sisters than cousins.”

“Had she ever mentioned Hollis Alexander? Had you
ever
seen your cousin with Mr. Alexander?”

“No. And no.”

“Have you ever seen your cousin in the company of any other young man?”

“Sure. But—”

“How many?”

“That’s a stupid question.” As soon as she said it, she wanted to clamp her hand over her mouth. She didn’t dare look at Mr. Buckley now.

With a smile that made her feel totally stupid, Doogie said, “Be that as it may, you’re obliged to answer.”

“Laura knows everybody. She went to parties and ball games and school dances. I guess I’ve
seen her
with dozens of guys. But being popular isn’t—”

“But never with my client?”

“No.”

“Did Laura have a boyfriend?”

“Yes, she
does.
”

“Who was he?”

“Please stop talking about her like she’s dead.”

“My apologies. Does she have a boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Nate Vance. We know him from the stables.”

“You’ve seen Laura with lots of boys, other than her boyfriend?”

“I guess so.” Hot panic eddied in the pit of her stomach.

“And did Nate Vance ever come to visit your cousin at her house?”

“Sure. But—”

The lawyer held up his hand and said, “Thank you, Ms. Greene. That’s all.”

Ellis sent a panicked look at Mr. Buckley. This guy made it sound like Nate was the guilty one.

Mr. Buckley stood.

Good, he was going to straighten this all out.

Ellis waited.

Mr. Buckley said, “The prosecution has no further questions.”

Ellis remembered how hollow she’d felt as she’d left that courtroom. She needed absolution . . . from Nate and Nate alone. But she didn’t see him again until the verdict was read.

She read on, anxious to get to Nate’s testimony.

Mr. Coon testified about how he’d found Laura on the rocks of the breakwater at six the next morning when he’d been walking his dog. His description of Laura made Ellis’s intestines twist and cramp.

Then the forensic testimony began.

Laura’s clothing was never found. None of Alexander’s hair or bodily fluids had been found on her. The expert stated he’d found vaginal traces of a spermicide commonly used in certain condoms.

Hollis Alexander’s fingerprint was on the outside frame of her bedroom window. Two hairs had been collected from the screen in that window. Those hairs had been matched to Alexander.

They had also recovered a nylon stocking in the pathway beside Laura’s house. It also had Alexander’s hair in it.

Ellis paused. So that was what he’d been looking for.

She made a note to ask Buckley if Alexander had used a stocking over his head in the previous rape.

Ellis couldn’t believe she’d reached the end of the prosecution’s witnesses and Nate hadn’t been called.

The first two people called by the defense testified that they had been with Alexander from ten p.m. until one a.m. on the night of the attack. A third person testified that he’d seen Alexander and his two friends at the twenty-four-hour Scotchman convenience store in Mt. Pleasant at twelve-thirty a.m.

Mr. Buckley chose only to cross-examine the convenience-store clerk. Mr. Buckley asked what the attendant had sold Alexander. The attendant listed cigarettes, a
Hustler
magazine, and a box of condoms.

Ellis was surprised when the
defense
called Nate. She quickly saw how her testimony could have buried him. Nate admitted that he and Laura had had an argument in the parking lot of the drugstore in Belle Island at nine o’clock that evening.

Ellis hadn’t known this. Is that why Laura and Nate had been talking at her window later? Were they making up?

She read on with increased interest.

Defense Counsel: And what was that argument about?

Nathaniel Vance: We were supposed to hang out. She’d decided to do something else.

Defense Counsel: What?

Nathaniel Vance: She didn’t say specifically.

Defense Counsel: Did this make you angry?

Nathaniel Vance: I was used to it. She did it a lot.

Defense Counsel: What did you do then?

Nathaniel Vance: Nothing. I went home.

Defense Counsel: You just went home?

Nathaniel Vance: Yes.

Defense Counsel: So she made a habit out of dumping you at the last minute? That can be very frustrating.

Prosecuting Attorney: Objection.

Judge: Sustained. The jury will disregard that last statement by the defense counsel.

Defense Counsel: Let me restate. Did Laura make a habit out of canceling your plans at the last minute?

Nathaniel Vance: Not often enough that it would make me want to hurt her, if that’s what you’re getting at.

Defense Counsel: Yes or no, Mr. Vance.

Nathaniel Vance: Yes.

Defense Counsel: Were you and Ms. Reinhardt sexually intimate?

Nathaniel Vance: No.

Defense Counsel: What was the nature of your relationship, then?

Nathaniel Vance: We were friends.

Defense Counsel: Was your relationship romantic in any way?

Nathaniel Vance: I said we were friends.

Judge: Please answer the question posed, Mr. Vance.

Nathaniel Vance: No.

Defense Counsel: Did you want there to be a romantic relationship between you and Ms. Reinhardt?

Ellis found herself wanting to ask her own questions. All of these bare-bones answers were driving her crazy.

Nathaniel Vance: I care about her.

Defense Counsel: I see, unrequited love.

Prosecuting Attorney: Objection.

Judge: Sustained. Get on with your defense, Mr. Murdock.

Defense Counsel: In any of your time with Ms. Reinhardt, as her friend, did you ever see her in the company of my client?

Nathaniel Vance: No.

Defense Counsel: Did you ever see her in the company of other young men?

Nathaniel Vance: Yes.

Defense Counsel: And when you saw her with other young men, were they ever in romantic situations?

Nathaniel Vance: Yes.

Defense Counsel: How did it make you feel, when you saw her with other young men?

Defense Counsel: Do I need to repeat the question, Mr. Vance?

Judge: Please answer the question.

Nathaniel Vance: It made me sick.

Defense Counsel: Let’s get back to the night of the attack on Ms. Reinhardt. Did you see her again after you left her in the parking lot of the drugstore?

Nathaniel Vance: No. That was the last time I saw her.

Ellis stopped breathing.

Nate had lied. Outright. Under oath.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-THREE

N
ate had had to break every speed limit in order to make it to Savannah in time. After all, his contacts thought he was staying there. No way could he let those people get so much as a whiff about Belle Island. So he’d pretended a short-notice meeting was no problem.

He’d thought he’d had everything taken care of. Apparently, there were new faces in the game. Faces that demanded to see him in person. There was too much at stake, and he’d spent too long nursing this deal for it to go south now.

Once he’d given adequate assurance to all parties, he headed back the way he’d come, back to Ellis and an entirely different set of problems.

As he drove, his mind quickly disengaged from work matters and refocused on protecting Ellis.

Too many things weren’t fitting what he’d imagined Alexander’s game to be. Revenge. Balancing the scales.

Nate wondered how killing that girl and framing him served Alexander’s plan. Nate supposed Alexander’s twisted sense of justice could see the logic—if Alexander had been counting on Nate taking the blame for Laura. Still, something didn’t add up. It hovered on the fringes of his mind, but he couldn’t bring it to the fore.

Alexander was all about dominance and violation. Was part of his game manipulating Ellis by using her fear? Is that why he risked being caught to leave those roses? It seemed an awfully big chance to take for something that could be achieved in so many other, less dicey, ways.

Another question came to mind. Nate and Ellis had immediately assumed Alexander had left the flowers. But there was nothing to indicate it had been him. If he wanted to intimidate Ellis, why not sign the notes so she knew for certain?

Then there was the symbolic intimation of red roses—love.

Ellis had said the first note had said “some things are worth waiting for.” Could be Alexander. He thought of the cold glare in Rory’s eyes when he’d caught Ellis kissing Nate.

The second note:
Still waiting . . .

Rory wasn’t man enough to step up and confront Nate. Was he hiding behind that accepting façade? Was his technique to get Ellis back more covert?

Or am I just looking at him because I’m jealous?

He’d had plenty of practice suppressing his personal feelings in order to get a job done. He had to apply that same practice here—remove his emotions from the equation.

But could he? Where Ellis was concerned, he couldn’t seem to get a grip on those emotions.

He assured himself, despite his feelings for her, something still felt off.

Ellis stepped out of the judicial center onto Broad Street, squinting against the glare of late afternoon sun. Her efforts in the clerk’s office had added more questions about Hollis Alexander than it had answered. Not to mention a new one about Nate Vance. Why had he lied?

For some reason, his outright lie about not seeing Laura later that night seemed so much more damning than Ellis’s
nonmention
of hearing them talk as she’d been falling asleep.

Until she spoke to Nate, she would have no answer to that particular question. However, Lorne Buckley could possibly clear up her questions about Alexander. If she hurried, she might be able to catch him as he left his office. While she was talking to him, she could probe a little and see where he stood on the subject of Kimberly Potter’s murder.

Ellis would also make certain Buckley was aware of Alexander’s lurking outside her condo, his leaving those roses, his call to her home this morning, and her suspicion that he’d sabotaged her father’s scaffolding. With any luck, that would be enough for the prosecutor to have Alexander arrested on parole violation. At least that would get him off the streets while they built their case for the Potter murder.

As Ellis headed toward the solicitor’s office in the O. T. Wallace Building, excitement thrummed a chord in her chest. For the first time in days, she felt as if she had a hand on the reins of her life. Soon this would be over, for her, for Nate—