The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club #17)(52)

“I’ve transcribed these messages by hand,” said James Giftos. “We also recorded the time-stamped audio. Of course, we preserved the original messages on her voice mail at the agency.”

Giftos handed his pen-and-ink transcript of the three phone messages and a pocket tape recorder to Judge Rathburn.

Judge Rathburn passed the transcript to Yuki and asked Giftos to play the recorder.

He did it.

As Giftos had said, the calls had all been made within a week of the incident. And the technical quality was good.

Yuki said, “Your Honor, these calls are vague and ambiguous.”

“I’m allowing them in,” said Rathburn.

Yuki felt a vortex opening under her feet, but she steadied herself, dragged herself back from the terrible sinking feeling. She wouldn’t go down. She couldn’t go down.

She followed Judge Rathburn back to the courtroom.

Back at their table, Art said so quietly only she could hear him, “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. You’ve got this.”

If only she could be sure. There were two opposing stories. Only one of them was true. Which one? And whom would the jury believe?





CHAPTER 76


MARC CHRISTOPHER WAS fidgeting in the witness box, staring out over the heads of the court officers, looking to where his parents sat in the gallery.

Judge Rathburn pulled his chair up to the bench, appearing to Yuki as if he’d crossed his maximum irritation threshold. Even the jurors looked like they were ready to scream—Come on, already.

As for James Giftos, Yuki knew that he was on his mark, all set, and good to go.

Giftos stood and, holding notes and sheets of paper in his hand, walked across the floor and addressed the witness.

He said, “Mr. Christopher, I have here a transcript of your deposition with my associates and myself on March 1. Could you please read the highlighted section aloud?”

Giftos handed the papers to Marc, who skimmed the transcript and then began to read:

“‘J. Giftos: What did you and Briana talk about in the restaurant bar before going back to your apartment?’ I answered, ‘I don’t really remember. I was getting pretty drunk. I just wanted to go to sleep.’”

Giftos thanked Marc and took back the paper.

“Mr. Christopher, you just testified to something very different from what you swore to in your deposition. You told this court that you broke off your relationship with Ms. Hill during dinner. That she was clingy and hysterical, and that she insisted on spending the night so you could revisit the issue in the morning.

“Is that still your testimony?”

“That’s what happened. I mean, yes.”

“How so, Mr. Christopher? You’ve made two opposing sworn statements; one in my office and one in this courtroom, isn’t that right?”

Marc said, “You do realize that this is a complicated issue, Mr. Giftos. I was raped by a woman I had feelings for. This is not a linear situation. I’m still trying to understand how she got over on me. I could work on this in therapy for the rest of my life …”

“You made two opposing sworn statements, yes or no?”

“This isn’t a yes-or-no kind of thing, I’m telling you.”

Giftos said, “Your Honor, permission to treat the witness as hostile.”

“Go ahead,” said Rathburn. “Mr. Christopher, answer the questions. Don’t hypothesize. Don’t rationalize. Don’t make excuses. Get me?”

“Yes, sir. Your Honor.”

The judge said to defense counsel, “Mr. Giftos, please proceed.”





CHAPTER 77


JAMES GIFTOS STUCK his hands in his pockets and said, “Mr. Christopher, do you need me to repeat the question?”

Marc looked more annoyed than chastened. “Yes,” he said. “Good idea.”

Giftos said, “You’ve made two opposing sworn statements about what transpired between you and Ms. Hill in the restaurant, yes or no?”

Christopher said, “Both are true. We made small talk and she got hysterical when I tried to break up with her.”

Giftos said, “In fact, neither story is true, is it? While you were drinking together in that bar, you told Ms. Hill that you’d like to experiment with a sex game, didn’t you?”

“No,” said Marc. “I did not.”

“Isn’t it true that you told her that you’d like her to act out a rape scene in which she threatened you with a gun and you pretended to be the victim?”

“No. Definitely not.”

Giftos said, “Isn’t it a fact, Mr. Christopher, that you suggested this sexual role-playing with a plan in mind to entrap Ms. Hill?”

“No. No way. I did not. That’s totally crazy,” said Marc.

“Let me ask you this. Did you know that it is illegal to record a person in a sex act without his or her knowledge?”

“I thought she was going to kill me.”

“Really? Mr. Christopher, did you know that Ms. Hill had just come into a sizable inheritance?”

“I guess so. Yes.”

“Mr. Christopher,” Giftos said pleasantly, “we’ve uncovered some voice mails from you to Ms. Hill that were left on her office phone. Could you tell us if this is your voice?”