A Stranger on the Beach(75)

Lisa Walters scribbled furiously in her notebook. She looked up at Aidan over her glasses.

“Aidan, what did I say? No confessing. I only killed the guy because he was mean to his wife. That’s a confession.”

“I’m saying if I killed him.”

She paused, tapping her pencil against her notebook. Her fingernails were long and painted a deep crimson.

“Stark abusing his wife and hiring a hit man? That would be an interesting avenue of inquiry if it weren’t so far-fetched.”

“I know it sounds crazy. But I saw it with my own eyes. I followed Stark—”

“Okay, stop right there. You followed her husband?”

“Only because I was worried about her. And nobody knows I did it, that I’m aware of. Except Caroline. I told her.”

“This is very bad for your case.”

“I see how it might be.”

“There may be things we can work with. Caroline Stark is their star witness, so if she had a motive of her own to kill her husband, we may be able to use that. The best way to convince the jury you’re innocent is to convince them somebody else is guilty.”

“Wait a minute. You mean, put suspicion on her? I don’t want to get Caroline in trouble.”

“She has no problem getting you in trouble. Your brother is spending his kids’ college savings to pay for a lawyer for you. What are you, an ingrate? Besides, if she didn’t do anything, they wouldn’t actually charge her. It’s just an explanation that we feed to the jury in your case.”

“I don’t think she did anything. She asked me to kill him at one point, then she changed her mind, and reconciled with the jerk.”

The lawyer’s mouth fell open. “Caroline Stark solicited you to kill her husband?”

“But I said no.”

“But you discussed killing him. Is it possible that she recorded that conversation?”

“No way. She would never do that. We’re in love. We’re going to be together.”

“Aidan, this woman is turning state’s evidence on you. I assure you, she’s not dreaming of a future with you. If she asked you to kill him, and you did it on her behalf, maybe we can go to the prosecution and make a deal. You testify that she solicited you—”

“No. Absolutely not. You’re not listening. I didn’t agree to kill him. I told her I would never do something like that. And she backed off.”

“You say you would never do something like that. But I see in my paperwork that you have a prior manslaughter conviction. Are you being straight with me?”

“That wasn’t my fault. Me and my best friend were down by the beach. We were fighting over a girl. Matthew hit me, and I hit him back. He fell and whacked his head on a rock, and he died. It was a terrible accident. I still have nightmares about it. I loved the guy.”

“Okay, look. I think I can keep the prior conviction out of court. But I need you to be honest with me.”

“I am being honest.”

“I’m hearing a lot of excuses and frankly, some crazy stuff. This blackout thing,” Lisa said, and rolled her eyes. “Maybe you killed him, but you don’t remember?”

“I know you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“So what do we do? Are you going to dump me as a client?”

Lisa sighed. “No. I promised your brother. I’ll do my best to work with what you give me. On the blackout—do you have a history of seizures, neurological impairment, psychological disturbance, anything that would show up in medical records?”

“No,” he said. “There’s nothing.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Drug addiction?” she asked.

“Nope. Never touch the stuff. Booze, yes, professional hazard. But not to excess.”

“Were you drinking last night?”

“One shot of—what was it? Bourbon I think. With Caroline. It was kind of heinous stuff, but not enough to make me drunk.”

“I’m going to request a psych workup and a complete tox screen of the blood sample they took at the time of your arrest. It’s a Hail Mary, but you never know. Maybe there’s something we can use to support a claim of a blackout.”

She looked at her watch.

“All right, that’s enough for our first meeting. You’ve given me a lot of information, Aidan. I need to get started right away following up on these leads. I’m going to remind you again, don’t talk to anybody about the case. Understand?”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts. You keep your mouth shut unless you want to spend the rest of your life in jail.”

“But I need to talk to Caroline. She’s the only one. I won’t talk to anyone else.”

“Ugh, don’t you listen? What have I been telling you this whole time? Caroline Stark is the main witness against you. She’s the last person on earth you should talk to.”

“But she was there. She knows what happened.”

Lisa threw her hands up. “Exactly my point. She was there, and she says you’re guilty. If you talk to her, whatever you say, she’ll rat you out to the police. It can only work against you.”