Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(84)

Was it Sam’s fault there wasn’t anyone else in the alley that night? She kept her mouth closed and waited for an actual question, as Hugh had instructed.

“Do you find that odd, Ms. Hutchinson?”

“I couldn’t say. I can only speak about what I heard and what I know I saw. My guess is the defendant wouldn’t shoot a girl in an alley if he thought there were people around to hear it.”

She glanced up at the judge, who seemed to be trying not to smile.

“Let’s move on to the sound of the gun. You described it as sounding airy, like a whiz instead of a bang or a loud crack.”

“Yes.”

“Was it loud?”

She rubbed her fingers along her forehead. Surely, letting him kill her would have been easier than sitting there answering these asinine questions. “It was not as loud as a normal gunshot.”

“And are you an expert in what a normal gunshot sounds like?”

“I’ve shot a nine millimeter. They are very loud. I believe the bullet pulled from the body was also a nine millimeter. I know that the gun in the alley was not as loud as the gun I fired.”

“Would you say it was half as loud as the gun you fired?”

She looked over at Hugh, hoping he would come up with some magical lawyer rule that could get her out of being annoyed to death in front of all these witnesses. He was writing on a tablet. No doubt doodling to keep himself awake.

“I would say less.”

“Why do you think it sounded different?”

“I believe the gun had a silencer on it.”

“And you know what a silencer is?”

“I’ve heard of silencers. When I described the gun to the police detective and told him what I heard, he suggested the gun probably had a silencer. I believe the ballistics on the bullets came back that they had been fired through a silencer, but you would need to talk to someone else regarding ballistics, because I am not an expert.” She added that last part to keep him from having to ask.

“So, you were close enough to see the gun clearly? To see that it had a silencer on it?”

“Yes. It was longer than a normal gun.”

“But that night while giving your statement, you told Detective Richards you couldn’t describe the man holding it.”

“That night I was rattled and had been focusing on the gun. I did see the man’s face, but my mind was blocking it out. I understand that’s quite common.”

“You didn’t mention you thought it was the congressman until the next morning.”

“I needed to calm down and, well, honestly, you don’t expect a congressman to do something like this. When I first realized it was him I’d seen, I wanted to be wrong.”

“When did you first realize you thought it was Congressman Howe?”

“That night, on the way back to my apartment.” She decided not to mention the poster on the bus. It didn’t matter. That was not why she knew it was him.

“But it took you until the next morning to report it?”

“Technically it was the same morning, just later. And I had already made an appointment to speak to Detective Richards again.”

Eventually they stopped for the day. The defense announced that they wanted her back the next day. Howe smiled at her as she got down and walked back to her seat between Justin and Angel.

Sam smiled back, hoping he wouldn’t see how terrified she was.

As the night before, her father was waiting at the suite when they got there. “Good job today,” he said proudly as he hugged her.

“Thanks.”

They chatted and sat down to the dinner that had been delivered.

“I did some digging around and I found out you’ll be moving to Utah.”

“Utah?” she said flatly. She had never been to Utah, known anyone from Utah, or even heard of anything exciting to do in Utah. She guessed that was the point.

“They don’t have your new name yet.”

“New name?” she said with as much enthusiasm as she’d had for Utah.

“It is what you make of it. If you sit around and focus on the past, I imagine it will be pretty bleak in Utah. Try to look at it as a fresh start, a clean slate to become anyone you want to be.”

“But I want to be me,” she said quietly.

He frowned, and cut into his steak. “I was trying to make you feel better. So much for fatherly advice.”

She felt bad for complaining. This had been her choice. And he was trying to cheer her up. “Maybe you should just buy me a new car,” she suggested with a wink while she ate a fry.

He laughed, but she was only partly kidding. She would need a new car. She wondered if WITSEC provided one.

“Tomorrow should be easier in court,” he said.

“Really?” She’d thought the opposite.

“They’ve already tried to discredit you. That’s the worst part. Having all your ugly secrets drawn out in front of everyone and being called a liar.”

“I never had any ugly secrets.”

“Everyone has secrets,” he said.

She definitely did now. “Speaking of which… How’s Garrett? Is he still in town?”

Her father took a sip of wine before answering. “He already gave his testimony, so now he’s taking some time off before coming back to work.”