The Twelfth Child (Serendipity #1)(84)

“I never said that!”

“What if I told you the defendant has a recording of this very incident?”

“Well, I might have said the words, but I didn’t mean it the way you’re making it sound.” Elliott’s face was as hot and puffed as a boiled dumpling.

At that point, Charles told Judge Kensington that he was finished for now, but would like to reserve the right to recall the witness for additional cross.

As they left the courthouse for the day, Destiny looked at Charles with a bewildered expression, “It’s true that Elliott said those things about Miss Abigail,” she confided, “but I never had a recording of it.”

He smiled sheepishly. “Oh, no? Well then, I must have been mistaken.”



The second day Hoggman called Albert Friedlander, the chief accountant for Malloy Brothers Development. “In nineteen-seventy-nine,” he asked, “did your firm purchase a parcel of land in Chestnut Ridge, Virginia, from William Lannigan?”

Albert Friedlander, a timid man with frightened eyes peering from beneath an overhang of grey brows, answered, “Yes, sir.”

“What was the purchase price?”

“One million, three hundred thousand and eighty dollars, sir.”

“That was the amount of the check that William Lannigan received?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was any part of the purchase price designated as the payout for an outstanding mortgage on Mister Lannigan’s property?”

“No, sir.”

“So,” Hoggman took a deep breath and hiked his shoulders up another inch, “far as you knew, William Lannigan was entitled to keep every cent of the money.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Friedlander apologized, “But, I can’t honestly say. I’ve only been with Malloy Brothers Development for three years. What a person did with the money we paid for a property is not something that would be written in our books.”

Hoggman gave the man a disgusted grunt then turned him over to Charles for cross.

“No questions,” Charles said, and Albert Friedlander hurried from the courtroom.

Hoggman’s next witness was Martin Kroeger, the Branch Manager at Middleboro Savings and Loan. He showed up carrying an armful of file folders and testified that he was indeed familiar with Abigail Lannigan’s accounts and knew Destiny Fairchild. “Miss Lannigan added Miss Fairchild’s name to her accounts three years prior to her death. She submitted this request.” He pulled a slip of paper from the topmost folder and handed it to Hoggman. “See, it directs the bank to add Miss Fairchild’s name to both of the accounts and restructure them so that either party could write checks or withdraw funds.”

“An old woman suddenly signing her accounts over to someone who was in no way related, didn’t that make you suspicious?”

“I didn’t handle the transaction; I’ve only been at this branch for two years.”

“Since the conversion almost every check drawn on the account was written by Destiny Fairchild, are you suspicious now?”

“Objection!” Charles declared. “Whatever suspicions Mister Kroeger may or may not have, has no bearing on the facts of this case.”

Judge Kensington rapped his gavel once. “Sustained.”

“Let me then ask,” Hoggman huffed, “who wrote the majority of checks on this account?”

“Miss Fairchild.” Kroeger handed a thick folder to Hoggman, “Here’s a master printout and a copy of every check. Miss Fairchild wrote almost every check, but there were a few written by Miss Lannigan.”

“And to whom were the checks written by Miss Lannigan, made payable?”

“Mostly, Miss Fairchild.”

“Ah,” Hoggman said with the greatest of pleasure, “So, Miss Fairchild was taking the money out with both hands.”

“Objection!” Charles shouted.

Judge Kensington instructed the jury to disregard the statement, then turned to Hoggman and told him to watch himself.

The admonished Hoggman turned back to his witness, “Please tell the court,” he said, “what is currently the remaining balance in Abigail Lannigan’s accounts.”

“Both accounts, checking and savings, total one-hundred and fourteen thousand dollars and seventy-six cents.”

“Have you any idea what happened to the one million dollars that is presently unaccounted for?”

“Me?” Kroeger’s eye started to twitch.

“Yes. Six years ago, Abigail Lannigan inherited her brother’s estate, which according to all indications should have been worth substantially over a million dollars and now you are telling the court that the total of her accounts is a mere one hundred and fourteen thousand. Can you explain that?”

“Not me.” Kroeger said nervously. “I’ve only been at the bank for two years, and there’s no record of such an amount ever being in Miss Lannigan’s account. I’ve got all the files, and there’s no record of anything close to that amount.”

“Is it possible that Miss Fairchild got it away from Miss Lannigan before she had a chance to deposit it?”

“Objection!” Charles shouted, “Your Honor –”

“Sustained.” Judge Kensington rapped his gavel twice. “Mister Hoggman,” he said, “persist in this line of questioning and I’ll find you in contempt of court.”