21st Birthday by Patterson, James (ebook reader screen .TXT) 📕

Director Hallows. Now, regarding the razor blade. You’d stake your reputation on the validity of the blood test and fingerprint analysis?”

“Yes. One hundred percent.”

Yuki thanked Hallows and returned to her seat at the counsel table. She was shaken by the exchange but more sure than ever that Lucas Burke was a killer.

Would the jurors — all of them — see that?

Or would they be swayed by her theatrical opponent?

CHAPTER 102

YUKI WATCHED AS Newton Gardner — top-tier criminal defense attorney, showboat, media candy, and amateur wrestler — opened his case by calling his first witness, his client’s ex-wife, Alexandra Conroy.

Gardner was gracious to the attractive woman and gave her the expected softball questions establishing that Lucas Burke could not have killed Misty because at the time of the teenager’s death Lucas Burke was in Ms. Conroy’s arms, sobbing over the loss of his child and his privacy.

The questions were neat and short.

“What time did Mr. Burke call you? Come to your house? What was his mood? When did you arrive at Carmel? When did Mr. Burke see the murder headlines? What did you do after that?”

Questions were asked and answered in about five minutes. Then Gardner turned the witness over to Yuki.

Conroy was the key witness for the defense, and Yuki covered the same ground Gardner had done.

But Yuki was coming from the opposite direction.

She asked, “Ms. Conroy, after so many months and the very emotional circumstances, how can you know for sure that Lucas was in your hotel room at eight o’clock that night?”

Ms. Conroy said, “I checked the time before my evening spa appointment because I was going to put in a room service order.”

Yuki asked, “Did you place the order at 8:00 p.m.?”

“No. I wanted to talk to Luke first.”

“At what time did you place the order?”

“Later. Maybe nine or so.”

Yuki went to her table and returned with a computer printout. She asked the witness, “Is this a copy of your phoned-in order?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you read your name at the top of the page along with the time you made it?”

The former Mrs. Burke said, “I’m not wearing my glasses.”

Yuki couldn’t help feeling a flash of killer instinct as she homed in on Conroy, preparing to pin her with the truth.

She pointed out a line on the reservation sheet and said, “You placed your order at thirty-five minutes past midnight.”

“Oh. Well.”

Yuki continued.

“That’s time enough for Luke to kill Misty at eight and drive back to Carmel by ten. Take a shower. Have a snack, maybe a drink. Watch, say, Jimmy Kimmel.”

“Objection!”

“Sustained. Watch it, Ms. Castellano.”

Yuki said, “Sorry, Your Honor. Ms. Conroy, do you in fact know whether Lucas stayed in your hotel room?”

Conroy said, “I’m not sure. Luke was very upset that weekend. I wanted to comfort him. That’s what I did. I wasn’t watching the clock.”

Yuki said. “Thank you. That’s all I have for this witness.”

Judge Passarelli told Conroy she could step down, and Gardner called his next and only other witness.

“I call Lucas Burke.”

Gardner helped Lucas around the counsel table without knocking over his chair, then released his client’s arm and watched him take the twenty-yard walk to the witness stand on his own.

Yuki wondered what the hell Gardner could ask Lucas that could redeem him from Yuki’s crushing witness interrogations. Would he break down again? Or did Gardner have a-get-out-of-jail-free card up his sleeve?

Whatever was about to happen, he was holding the hundred and forty–odd people in Courtroom 2C in absolute suspense.

The bailiff stood behind Burke, ready to assist him as he climbed the two steps to the witness box.

CHAPTER 103

WATCHING HIM, CINDY was still shocked at how much Lucas Burke, a fairly fit, fortyish man, had declined after five months in jail.

Gardner walked up to his client and said, “I have a few questions for you, Mr. Burke. I hope they will give you a chance to answer to the situation in which you find yourself.”

“Ready and willing,” said the witness.

“Fine. Did you, possibly with good reason, kill anyone? Your wife and daughter, your mistress, anyone else?”

“Absolutely not. It’s true that my wife, Tara, and I were fighting. She was only twenty. She’d never worked for a living. She wanted a lot of clothing and accessories that we couldn’t afford on my teacher’s salary.

“We had fights, but not physical ones. We called each other names, and once, after her mother got her going, Tara threw a pot at me, but she missed. As for my little daughter …” Burke’s voice broke and he covered his face with his arm. His shoulders shook.

Gardner said, “Take your time, Luke.”

Burke put down his arm, cleared his throat, took a couple of sips of water from a plastic bottle, then said with a quavering voice, “I loved Lorrie more than anyone in the world. My little sister and my mother both disappeared more than fifteen years ago, and I’ll never get over the loss of them. Lorrie reminded me of my sister, Jodie, when she was a baby. My heart is broken. I pray that Lorrie didn’t know what was happening to her. That she didn’t suffer.”

“I’m so sorry about all of that, Luke. I must ask you about Melissa. You called her Misty.”

“Misty was the sweetest young woman, but our relationship was doomed. She was eighteen. She should have gone to college. There was no way to make sense of our relationship except that we loved each other.”

“Did you make a date to see Misty the night she was killed?”

“No, and if I had, she would be alive. We did often meet in the parking lot, but I didn’t even know what day it was. Or even think about Misty. I had just been released from jail. The police were ransacking my house. I got into my car and just drove fast.

“Alexandra Conroy, my ex-wife, had called me when she