“Oh, please.” Paul rolled wet eyes.
“No, truly. I had therapy after Mike died. It helped me deal with my grief.”
“Idealtwith my grief.”
“What if you haven’t, really?” Julia asked, gently. “You said you haven’t been happy, and maybe that’s what’s making you unhappy. You’re making Courtney unhappy.”
Paul frowned. “Did she say that?”
“Did she have to? When you missed the flight, weren’t you pushing her away? Aren’t you saying ‘I want out’? We know Courtney. She’s not going to pretend it didn’t happen, because you matter to her. You may think you don’t, but you do. She kept hoping you were going to come. She kept checking her phone.”
Paul groaned, looking away and shaking his head.
“She was arrested, and you weren’t even there. Do you really want her to be so alone? Did you want her to figure out how to live without you, even if she gets out of jail? Because that’s what you’re teaching her.”
Suddenly a police cruiser glided down the street, passing them slowly. It was the brown-and-yellow paint job of the Buckley police, and the cop turned in their direction, the bill of his cap moving.
Julia’s mouth went dry. “Why are Buckley police patrolling here? New Dover has its own police force.”
“He’s going way slow, isn’t he?”
“He’s making sure we see him. If he just wanted to see what we were up to, he would have followed in his own car or an unmarked car. He’s trying to intimidate us.”
“Shit, you’re right.” Paul clenched his jaw.
Julia didn’t feel safe here, either. “Let’s get back to the motel.”
32
Julia, Paul, and Bennie opened a pizza box in Courtney’s motel room, releasing a tomato-and-cheese steam. Everybody took a slice on a paper plate, and she tried not to notice her best friend’s mascara or gold hoops lying on the bureau. She closed the curtains, paranoid after seeing the Buckley cruiser, and sat down on the bed with her pizza. She tried to set her emotions aside as she sized up Courtney’s lawyer.
Bennie Rosato turned out to be an imposing presence at six feet tall, still trim and ripped in her fifties, like a former athlete. Her face was pretty but devoid of makeup, and she had clear blue eyes set wide apart, with deep laugh lines around them, a strong nose, and a full mouth. Her unruly blonde hair was in a messy topknot, and she was dressed in a no-nonsense navy suit, a white oxford shirt, and a pair of Gucci loafers that looked well worn.
Bennie chewed her pizza. “First, the good news.”
“There’s good news?” Julia asked, hopeful.
“Everything is relative.” Bennie wiped her hands on a napkin, then set it aside.
“The good news is we’re going to win. They have a weak case.”
“How so?”
“To put it simply, they have to prove motive and opportunity. Their claim of motive will be Courtney inheriting Kay’s farm and estate, which is about four hundred seventy grand combined. Also she’s the beneficiary on Kay’s life insurance, but Courtney’s not sure of that amount. Either way, that’s enough for motive.”
“Hold on.” Julia set her pizza aside, realizing she had no appetite. “I know it’s a lot of money, but Courtney didn’t need it. She just got a promotion. She was making great money.” Julia didn’t know how much exactly, so she turned to Paul. “Right?”
“Right, $225,000 a year, with commissions.”
Bennie nodded. “I know, and that will be our argument. But you have to remember that this will be tried to a jury of locals who make a lot less than that, and they’ll think it’s an amount worth killing for. In my experience, it’s certainly sufficient for motive.” Bennie crossed her muscular legs. “The Commonwealth’s proof of opportunity is also adequate, since Courtney placed herself on the scene by calling 911. It becomes a credibility contest as to whether you believe she killed her grandmother for the money.”
Julia’s heart sank. “So why do you think their case is weak?”
“The weakness in their case involves the murder weapon. They can’t have her prints on the gun because they didn’t have her prints until they booked her. Her prints aren’t in any federal or state database because she has no priors.” Bennie took the lid off her fountain Coke, then took a gulp. “That means they arrested her solely based on wherethe gun was found, namely here. That’s too circumstantial, and I don’t think that’s enough to prove reasonable doubt. They can’t prove she touched the gun, either, because she didn’t.” Bennie turned to Julia. “The fact that your room is connected to hers almost got you charged as a putative co-conspirator. They verified that you were in Italy at the time of Kay’s murder, so you didn’t get charged. We’ll talk more about your role later.”
“Okay.” Julia wondered if Courtney had told Bennie about her alleged psychic abilities.
“Secondly, and it’s a related argument, is that they can’t prove Courtney fired the gun because they didn’t do a residue test on her hands. A residue test retrieves certain chemicals from the skin after someone has fired a gun. There are some differences with a ghost gun, but they’re minor and the cops didn’t do any residue test.”