I nodded.
“Then I’ll take care of it right now.” Declan stood to go.
“Hang on a sec. What’s Vanderhorn been saying lately?”
Declan gave a little conspiratorial smile. “Not much. He’s doing more listening than talking-”
“I hope you’re recording this rare event-”
“It’s going into my earth capsule. He keeps asking me how Russell’s doing, what he’s saying, that kind of thing.”
“And since Russell isn’t speaking to any of us, you tell him…?”
“That Russell’s in a holding pattern and he’ll be grateful when it’s all over and done.”
“If I had a daughter, I’d want her to marry you. Go make the call.”
Declan laughed and headed for his office.
“We’ve got to put someone on to talk about Hayley’s last days and hours. If it’s not going to be Raynie, it might have to be Mackenzie,” I said.
Bailey looked pained.
“What? She’s pretty articulate, and she’s likeable.”
“It’s not that I don’t like the kid. It’s just that she’s not going to give us as much bang for our buck as the mom.”
I nodded. No argument there. “But we’re moving fast. Even if we don’t put Raynie on Monday, we might very well be at the end of our case the day after. So, basically, we’re out of time. If we can’t use her, we go with Mackenzie…and someone from the studio for the screenplay issue.”
“I’ll line ’em up.” Bailey stood. “And I’ve confirmed everyone for Monday. They’ll be on deck at eight sharp.” She left, and I started reviewing my notes on Mackenzie.
By eight forty-five Monday morning, I had all my witnesses lined up on the benches outside the courtroom. Declan hadn’t been able to reach Raynie, which meant I’d have to use Mackenzie. When I said good morning to the jury, I got a couple of real smiles. Much more than the perfunctory nods I’d gotten up till now. Cheered (maybe more than I should’ve been) by that small sign of goodwill, I called Hayley’s best friend.
Mackenzie, in a light gray skirt and white blouse that tied at the neck, looked like she was about twelve years old. As Bailey guided her into the courtroom, she darted a nervous look at the crowd that packed every square inch of seating, then cast her eyes back down and watched her feet all the way up to the witness stand. Even when Tricia administered the oath, she only glanced up briefly to say, “I do.”
In as gentle a voice as possible, I told her not to be afraid to ask me to clarify any question she didn’t understand. She nodded, and I took her through a description of her friendship with Hayley, how she was a new girl in school, lonely and friendless, how Hayley had taken her in, and how they’d become inseparable. Then I had to get into the less lovely part-information I’d learned only after the news of both Brian’s and Hayley’s murders broke.
Every witness, every single piece of evidence, is a double-edged sword. There’s no such thing as a witness who doesn’t have a downside. So the issue is whether the benefit is worth the cost. Mackenzie helped me humanize both Hayley and Brian. A big benefit. And I needed her to show that Hayley and Brian had cooked up the kidnapping scam-if only so I could prove that Ian Powers had stepped in and turned their amateur scheme into a double homicide. Proof that the victims had tried to pull a kidnapping scam was a necessary cost. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the only downside to Mackenzie, so I’d thought long and hard about whether I really needed her. I’d decided I did. Now I hoped I wouldn’t regret that decision.
If I have negative information about my witnesses, I bring it out myself. I don’t want the jury to think I’m trying to hide anything, and if I’m the one who brings it out, I can sometimes cushion, or at least minimize, the impact.
“How did Hayley and Brian meet?”
Mackenzie swallowed and licked her lips. “He, uh, Brian worked as a manager at a jewelry store in the Galleria near our school. I went in one day…”
“So you met him first?”
“Yeah…yes. The salesgirl had taken out some bracelets for someone and she left them on the counter.” Mackenzie fidgeted with her skirt and looked down as she spoke. “I…uh, took one.”
“You mean you stole it?”
She nodded. “I put it in my bra. But the security guard caught me at the doorway and brought me back.” Suddenly she looked up. “I don’t steal. It wasn’t for me. I just wanted to give Hayley a present for her birthday. But I didn’t have the money. At least, not enough to get her something really nice…”
Mackenzie dropped her head again and I waited a moment before asking the next question.
“Mackenzie? What happened after the guard caught you?”
She reluctantly looked up at me. “He brought me to the back room, to Brian’s office, and told Brian. I gave him back the bracelet right away and I begged him not to call the cops. It would’ve killed my dad.”
“And did he call the cops?”
“No. He said he’d seen me with Hayley and asked if we were friends. When I said we were, he said if I’d introduce him to Hayley, he’d let me off.”
“And did Brian and Hayley become good friends?”
Mackenzie nodded. “At first just, like, friend-friends. But then they were, like, really tight. After that, I almost never saw Hayley alone anymore.”
“Did you hang out with them when they were together?”
“Yes.”
“Did Brian have a laptop?”
I needed to establish this, because the ransom note likely came from Brian’s computer, though we’d never found it.
“Yes. He kept it in his car. He always had it with him.”
“When was the last time you saw Hayley?”
“The night we went to Teddy’s.”
I had her describe their night out at Teddy’s. It was a Thursday night. The “kidnapping” happened the following Monday.
“You spent Thursday night at Mr. Antonovich’s house in the Hollywood Hills?”
“Yes.”
“Was anyone else in the house? Any adult?”
“No. It was just Hayley and me.”
“And did you see Hayley the next morning?”
“Yes.”
“So actually that was the last time you saw her?”
“Yes.”
“What did Hayley say to you?”
“That I wouldn’t see her around or hear from her for a while, but not to worry about her. She said she’d be fine, that everything would be okay. And that I couldn’t tell anyone she’d told me that. She made me promise.” Mackenzie’s face crumpled on those last words, and she delivered the rest between tears that fell like raindrops into her lap. “And I didn’t! I should’ve told someone, but I didn’t want to let her down! Now she’s dead, and it’s all my fault!” Overcome, she covered her face with her hands, and her sobs filled the courtroom.
I know some lawyers prep their witnesses to get emotional, even cry. I never do. Mackenzie’s outburst was one hundred percent genuine, and the jury knew it. Several looked at her with pity.
I’d hoped Terry would leave her alone. No such luck.
“So you and Hayley stayed at her father’s house all by yourselves?”
“Yes.”
“And you did that quite a lot, didn’t you?”
Mackenzie shrugged. “We did it sometimes.”
“And sometimes you’d throw parties there, isn’t that right?”
“Just a few times.”
“But of those few times, the cops were called at least once, isn’t that true?”
Mackenzie fidgeted with her skirt. “It was just because it was a little noisy. No one, like, did anything bad.”
“But you had older boys at those parties, didn’t you?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Terry pulled out a handful of photographs and passed them to me. I looked them over with a sinking heart. I wanted to object but knew it was pointless. The defense would claim that those older boys were potential suspects who might have used their access to frame Ian.
Terry had the photos marked as defense exhibits and placed the first one on the monitor.