The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club #17)(61)

Parisi told the two men in his office to hang on a minute, stepped out into the corridor, and asked Yuki what was wrong.

“Paul Yates,” she said. “He tried to extort a professor when he was in college.”

“And? Where does that go?” Parisi asked.

“Okay,” Yuki said. “Ten years ago, when he was at UCLA, Yates threatened to expose his sociology professor for using inappropriate language unless he gave him a passing grade. The professor addressed it head-on and took it to the dean, who called the cops. Yates was arrested. Judge gave him a year of probation, and Yates was kicked out of school.”

The spur of the hallway outside Len’s office was starting to fill up. Yuki turned her back and continued.

“Len, I would never have believed Paul Yates was capable of extortion. He’s … timid.”

Len said, “It’s a red flag, I agree, but it doesn’t mean that he perjured himself against Hill.”

“I’m connecting the dots this way,” Yuki said. “Paul knows Marc and he tells him about his UCLA escapade. Briana has testified that she was starting to lose interest and Marc got the message. He feels aggrieved and also greedy. Paul’s extortion gives him an idea. So he sets Briana up and tries to blackmail her. Hill tells him to bug off.”

Parisi said, “So now Marc is mad.”

“Correct. He’s warned her and she’s not going for it, so it’s time to make her ‘pay up.’ Marc takes the sex video to the cops. He’s emotional. He’s got faded ligature marks on his wrists and ankles. He’s got a video. Of course they buy it, and so do we. We charge Briana.”

“Theoretically.”

“Len, my theory that Marc and Paul colluded is speculative. This thought occurred to me when Marc told his new and improved story on the stand. Were old memories just coming to him? Or was he lying? And if he was lying, I have to ask. Is his whole story a lie?”

Len looked perturbed, but he was hanging in with her.

Yuki said, “In sum, we’ve got a witness with a history of extortion. I can’t prove that Marc was untruthful, but I’m questioning his veracity. As for the defendant, her testimony was heartbreaking.”

“Heartbreaking as in good acting? Or heartbreaking, she’s been framed?”

Yuki shrugged. “I’m on the fence. I want some evidence before we ditch.”

The prosecution had a legal obligation to withdraw charges if the case against Briana Hill was wrong. If Yuki proceeded without confidence in the defendant’s guilt, she could get disbarred.

She said, “I need to talk to Yates again. If he changes his story, says he made up what he said happened between him and Briana, I’ll go back to Marc and squeeze him until he yelps.

“Can you ask Rathburn for a continuance?”

“I’ll give it a shot,” Len said.

Parisi used Toni’s desk phone and called Judge Rathburn. In twenty-five words or less he explained the new situation to the judge, who agreed to recess court until tomorrow morning.

“It’s a gift,” Parisi said to Yuki. “Make the most of it.”





CHAPTER 91


AS YUKI HEADED toward her office, she phoned Arthur and left him a message, updating him on the situation, including that court was adjourned until morning. She had just gotten back to her desk when her phone rang.

She said into the mouthpiece, “Art?”

“It’s Cindy.”

There were very few people Yuki would be willing to talk to in the middle of this mess, but Cindy was on the short list.

Yuki said, “I’m kinda in a rush.”

Cindy said, “Me, too. Did you hear?”

“Maybe not,” said Yuki. “Tell me.”

“This is a girlfriend-to-girlfriend heads-up,” Cindy said. “I got it off the police scanner and I made a couple of follow-up calls to confirm. Paul Yates. He’s your witness, right?”

“Right. What about him?”

“He committed suicide this morning. He hanged himself.”

Yuki sat down hard behind her desk.

“Noooo. That can’t be true.”

Cindy assured her that her sources were good.

“I’m posting a cloaked version of this story to my crime blog in about ten minutes,” Cindy said. “Claire should have Yates’s body by now, so talk to her.”

Yuki sat for a moment, trying to put this news flash in the context of her meeting with Parisi and her past meetings with Yates, and to consider the impact of his death on her case, which was coming apart at high speed, the wheels flying off and littering the roadway.

Cindy said, “Yuki? Yuki?”

“I’m here. I’m just stunned, that’s all. Thanks, Cindy.” Yuki hung up with Cindy, phoned Claire’s office, and was told that Claire wasn’t available. She asked to speak with Claire’s lab assistant, Bunny Ellis. After several crazy-making minutes of ’80s Muzak, Bunny got on the line.

“Bunny. This is ADA Castellano. Do you have the body of Paul Yates?”

“Uh-huh. Claire’s with him now.”

Yuki had to know for sure. Was Paul’s death a homicide, a suicide, an accident, or undetermined? She said to Bunny, “He was a witness in my case. How long before we have a determination in manner and cause of death?”