Immoral

"'I did see a girl going by a little bit after ten. I saw her in the streetlight. But she didn't look anything like this girl you're trying to find. She had bushy brown hair and was wearing jeans and a red parka.'"

Gale retrieved the paper from her hands. "Sure sounds like you, Sally."

"It wasn't," she murmured. "It wasn't me."

Stride murmured, too. "Son of a bitch, how did we miss that?"

"We were looking for people who saw Rachel," Maggie said. "Not other girls."

Gale shook his head in disbelief. "Someone wearing the same clothes as you, same hair as you, near Rachel's house on the night she disappeared, just a few minutes after Rachel humiliated you in the park. But it wasn't you."

Sally was crumbling. "No."

"I say you're lying, Sally," Gale snapped.

"Objection!" Dan said.

Judge Kassel nodded. "Sustained."

Gale wasn't bothered. "If we bring in Mrs. Duke as a witness, do you think she'll identify you?"

"Objection, calls for speculation."

"Sustained."

But the message was getting through.

"What did you say to Rachel?" Gale asked. "Did you warn her to stay away from Kevin?"

"I didn't see her."

"Did she answer the door? Were the keys to the van right there inside the door? Did the two of you go for a ride?"

"No!"

"You were seen, Sally. Kevin's going to know it was you. It's time you tell him and all of us the truth. Now, for the last time: Did you go to Rachel's house that night?"

"Objection," Dan repeated. "He's badgering the witness, Your Honor."

But Judge Kassel was staring at Sally, like everyone else. She shook her head slowly. "Overruled. Please answer the question, young lady."

Sally stared at the judge, then at Gale, then at the jury. She swallowed hard and nervously ran her hand back through her hair. She twisted a lock in her fingers. Tears began seeping down her face.

Then, with a sigh, she said it. "Yes, I did."

The courtroom erupted, and the judge tried in vain to quiet the crowd. Sally's next words were almost drowned out as she screamed, "But I didn't kill her! I didn't! I didn't!"

Gale waited until the chaos subsided. "You've been lying all day, Sally. Why should we believe you now?"

"Redirect, Your Honor."

Dan had no choice. He couldn't leave the jury wondering what happened next He had to pry the truth out of her.

"Tell us what you did that night, Sally," Dan said calmly.

Sally seemed anxious to talk now. "I did sneak out of my bedroom. I was so mad at Rachel. She was being cruel, playing with Kevin like that, when I knew she didn't care about him. So I walked over to her house. I wanted to tell her off, tell her that was a mean thing she was doing to him."

"Then what?" Dan asked.

"Her car was already there when I got to the house. So I figured she was home."

"What did you do?"

"I went up to the door. I wanted to talk with her."

"And did you?"

Sally shook her head. "No."

"Why not? Had she already disappeared?"

"No, that's not it. I was about to ring the doorbell, but I didn't."

"Why not?"

Sally stared triumphantly at Archie Gale. "I heard voices inside. People shouting. I could hear Rachel screaming. She sounded really upset. And I could hear-I could hear Mr. Stoner, too. I recognized his voice. He was shouting at Rachel. They were having a huge fight. So I left."

Graeme Stoner leaned over to Gale and began whispering furiously.

Even Dan looked stunned. He stared at Sally and then simply said, "That's all, no more questions."

Stride shook his head. What a fucking mess.

Gale stood up again. If he was disturbed by Sally's sudden revelation, which was as good as a nail in Graeme Stoner's coffin if the jury believed her, he didn't show it.

"Sally, Sally, Sally," he murmured gently. "So many lies, what's one more?"

"Objection."

"Sustained."

Gale shrugged. "You ask us to believe you had information pivotal to this case and you chose not to reveal it at all? Not until now?"

"I was scared," Sally retorted.

"Of what Sally?" Gale asked, looking bewildered.

"Of him. Of Mr. Stoner."

"Even after he was arrested?"

Sally stuttered, "Well, yes."

"And yet you weren't so scared that you held back on your little story about the barn. If you told that story to the police, why not the rest Sally?"

"I wasn't sure they'd believe me."

"So you lied. Nice strategy."

"I didn't want my parents to know I went out again," Sally said. "Or Kevin. I was afraid of what they'd think."

"They'd think you killed Rachel."

"No!" Sally shouted. "That's not it at all."

"The fact is, you didn't tell anyone about this phantom argument between Rachel and Graeme because it never happened, right? You just made it up here and now."

"No, that's not true!"

"No? Come on, Sally. You now admit you went over to Rachel's house, after lying about this for months. What really happened there?"

"Objection, asked and answered," Dan interjected.

"Overruled," Judge Kassel said crisply.

It was a disaster. Even the judge didn't believe her.

"It happened just like I said," Sally insisted. "I heard them."

Gale sighed. "Really? What were they saying?"

"I couldn't make out the words," Sally said.

"I see. You just heard voices."

"Yes."

"And so, furious and humiliated, after walking a mile to confront her, you just left without seeing her. Because you heard voices."

Sally nodded. "Yes, I did."

"And you never thought to mention this to anyone before? You supposedly have the crucial piece of evidence in a murder investigation, and you say nothing because you think your parents will ground you for sneaking out?"

"No, it wasn't-I mean, that wasn't it."

Gale was relentless. "Sally, can you give us one single reason why we should believe this story?"

Sally opened her mouth and closed it. She wet her lips with her tongue and didn't say a word.

"I'm finished, Your Honor," Gale said.

30

Stride didn't want to go outside. Neither did Maggie, but while they were milling in the tumult of the courtroom after Judge Kassel dismissed them for the day, Guppo paged her again, and she fought her way to the door. Stride and Dan stayed behind. He knew that the gauntlet of reporters would be waiting to feast on both of them. Gale was already outside, putting his spin on Sally's testimony, insisting it opened the door for an acquittal. But the reporters would want to see Dan and Stride, too, and hear their explanation.

Have you lost? Bird would ask.

They both knew. Yes, they had lost. It was as good as over.

Emily Stoner lingered in the courtroom behind them, looking confused and upset. She was alone. Dayton Tenby had been at her side all day, but he had left to pull his car around to the rear of the courthouse. The guards would spirit her out the back, away from the media horde.

She hadn't said a word yet, and Dan hadn't acknowledged her. But Stride knew she was the only reason Dan hadn't flown into an explosive rage.

"You told me she had an alibi," Dan said. His lips were stretched into a thin, cold line.

"She did."

"Yet a witness your own men talked to blew the alibi out of the water. And no one ever caught it."

Stride sighed heavily. "Look, Dan, what's the point of excuses? We fucked up. Pure and simple. We should have caught it, and we didn't."

"Humor me," Dan hissed. "Tell me why."

"We interviewed hundreds of witnesses in those first couple days. We were looking for people who had seen Rachel. Someone seeing a teenage girl on the street several blocks away, who didn't match Rachel's description, just wasn't going to be high on our list."

"Why the hell not?"

Stride shook his head. "Sally was never a suspect. Hell, she's still not a suspect. I don't believe for a second she had anything to do with Rachel's murder. There's no physical evidence at all to connect her to any of this."